The darkness doesn't last long, and I'm soon slamming against hard ground and rolling down a steep slope. I continue to plummet down the deadly cliff, fortunately, the trees soften my fall; but, the excruciating pain that passes through my body as it collides with each tree branch does not stop me from passing out as soon as I strike solid ground.
I'm not sure how long I'm out but the numerous voices above me and the footsteps force me to open my eyes. I'm being pulled on a wooden sled—my eyes instantly shut when the pain of the arrow and bruises from the fall triggers my body.
"Why are we wasting our time?" One of the men that is pulling me grunts.
"—you saw what happened back there?" The other man responds. "He touched her wound and died. The arrow is poisonous."
"—so?"
I hear a quick smack on the younger boy's skin who is currently carrying Sasha's sword, Athene. The other man grunts, "The Crowned will reward us in unlimited gold if we deliver this body alive. We will never have to starve ever again boy."
I try to roll off the wooden sled as my heart begins to accelerate—I'm in immediate danger and I didn't even know where I was—or the others. The man turns and drops the wooden sled before stalking towards me. I try to fight him off but it was futile—I was too weak and battered to fight. He knocks me out cold, instantaneously.
I wake up on top of a metal table in a panic, feeling around my upper chest for the arrow, which is missing. Metallic red blood is running down my naked chest. All around me, I can hear people screaming in metal cages. Two of the men from before are now facing away from me, and there is a third man. I scan the room for any weapons, but my gaze is drawn to someone locked inside the metal cage. He puts up his finger against his lip silencing me—
"—so, I'm right?" The man speaks. "—it's dark witchery and she's the one The Crowned been looking for—she's a demonic. It has to be true—the poison should have killed her but it didn't."
"I believe we just got lucky—" The additional man replies. "—the arrow and this small sample of her blood will prove that she is the demonic The Crowned has been searching for."
I quickly transform into a demonic, with rage and adrenaline coursing through my veins. I snap the first man's neck and I'm upon the next man before the first man body even hits the ground. I slash across the second man's neck with my deadly claws—I scream in agony as something sharp penetrates my shoulder. I spin around with a vicious snarl and wrap my hands around the final man's throat, cracking his neck—his body hit the floor lifeless.
Blood seeps from my wound as I remove the chopping knife from my upper shoulder. I sway, my adrenaline depleted, and drop onto the table, desperately searching for a way out.
"Release us—" One of the men from the cages screams.
I glance at him and all the others for a millisecond—I didn't have time to help them, I needed to find Sasha and the others—plus, how could I even trust them.
"You won't make it a mile with that wound." The man pushes. "I know a healer—you free us and I save your life."
I choose to ignore him and step forward but my steps are unbalanced and vision blurry. I turn with a growl and set them free. I snatch him by his dirty shirt and growl, "If I don't make it—no one will." I know my eyes flash purple by the way he gasps in fear. He swallows and we get moving. I luckily find Sasha's sword, Athene, tucked away in the corner.
Once we're on the outside everything seems surreal. The sky is dark—it's difficult to breathe. "Here." The man passes me a wet cloth. "Try not to inhale the smoke—come hurry."
We trek for miles—the sky is covered in black smoke, bodies scattered across the lands, and large creatures hovering above us. My vision is still blurry and I trip over a hidden branch and grunt in pain when I hit the ground. The creature above us shrieks loudly and all the free prisoners fall to the ground. The man drags my body behind a tree and whispers, "You must be quiet—" He orders. "—or we will all die."
I snatch away from him and peak above the thick branches and plants that were shielding us. The creature hovers in laps before finally moving on. We continue silently and finally, we are upon a dark tunnel that is tucked away from the smoke and creatures. I collapse into the nearby chair, exhausted, and desperately trying to stay awake.
"Where is the healer?" I snarl.
The man orders the woman to find the healer—she moves quickly and when she returns, she doesn't return with a healer but a drunk who is swaying while holding a bottle in their hand and a hood covering their features. I can smell the scent of cheap alcohol from where I am sitting and when the healer comes closer—I almost puke.
However, the healer takes another swig and slams their hand on top of my wound that was caused by the chopping knife. I cry out in pain and then sensation as the wound begins to heal. Soon, I'm thrown on my back and the healer is eyeing the stitches from the arrow—that Sakiya caused.
"I can't heal this wound—" The healer voices out loud. She's female and her voice sounds familiar. She throws the hood off her head, revealing her face. "It's dark witchery—Hal?"
"Sasha?" I ask because I'm not quite sure. My vision is blurred and this person doesn't look like Sasha at all. This person reeks of alcohol, hair is longer and not shaved on the sides, and this person looks to be older. "No." I shake my head clearing my vision. She has a long scar that starts from her left eyebrow and loops around her cheek meeting her chin.
"Where have you been?" This imposter hisses. "I've been searching for you for years?"
"—years? What?"
Sasha scowls and the way her eyes twitch, annoyed, confirm this is definitely Sasha. "No one told you to blindly jump into the portal—" She snarls. "—both you and Sakiya went in but only Sakiya came out. Then, everything went into chaos. That happened twenty years ago—"
I begin to hyperventilate.
Sasha runs her hand through her curls and it's odd seeing her hair down, falling to her shoulders in messy, thick curls rather than being pulled up, sides shaved. Sasha turns her head when she hears people approaching, "Play dead—"
"—what?"
"Play dead." Sasha snarls. "Before I knock you out."
I immediately shut my eyes when the man from earlier approaches us, I cannot see but I can hear everything. "She's gonna die." Sasha explains.
"Impossible." The man replies. "I heard the doctor from earlier. She's a demonic."
"Well, the man who enjoys eating human brains was wrong—not that I'm surprised. He was insane." Sasha pauses and I can imagine her bored expression. "—thanks for wasting my time."
"No." The man shoves Sasha aside. "I saw it for myself—I saw her eyes." There is an intense pause. "The Crowned will deliver us food if we trade. We won't have to see women, children, and men starving."
"—you want to make a deal with the devil?" Sasha pushes.
"No." He answers. "I want to hand over the devil."
Sasha shakes her head, "You're making a mistake. You're going to give her—the most powerful being in the world up for food." Sasha pauses. "That's even if they deliver. Once they find out where we are she will take Hal and burn all of us alive."
"Hal?" The man questions. "How do you know her name?"
"I asked." Sasha lies.
There is another long pause and the man finally breaks it, "No. You've spoken of her before. Cursed her name during your drunken moments and screamed it in your dreams—"
I immediately open my eyes and kick the man in the chest with all the power in me. He flies back and hits the wall. Sasha eyes me and says, "Ignore that—"
I roll my eyes and grab Athene from the wall and the two of us disappear out of the cave and into the night. Sasha pulls onto my hand and drags me through the woods. We can hear men chasing behind us but we quickly lose them by sliding down a hill and entering another tunnel. Sasha grabs two hanging robes and we put them on and squeeze through a crowd of people. There are children, men, and women all around—some are trying to sleep while others are staring ahead—lost in their thoughts.
Sasha pulls me into another cut and we sit down, "They won't expect us to hide in plain sight."
I nod my head and try my best to get comfortable but it was pointless. The stitches on my upper shoulder have broken free again. "A few more hours and I should be able to completely heal you—" I nod my head and Sasha leans forward to grab Athene from my grasp. Her eyes sparkle as she reconnects with her lost weapon.
I look around and question, "Where is Atlas—Iris?"
Sasha clenches her jaw, "Atlas died in battle five years ago. I couldn't heal his wounds because of the dark witchery." Sasha explains while taking in her sword. "He ran in blind." She shakes her head, annoyed. "I should have seen it coming—he wasn't the same after Iris death." Sasha opens her canteen and takes another swig. "She didn't make it through the 13th winter." She pauses. "It's just me—and I guess you now which is pointless. It's probably best to trade you for food."
"That's drunk talk." I snarl snatching the canteen from her fingers. "I'll fix this—we'll fix this and bring them back."
Sasha ignores me and gets comfortable before falling asleep. Sleep doesn't come easy for me. I can hear a child shivering nearby. The tunnels protected everyone from the smoke but not the cool night. I stand and toss the child my blanket before heading back to our hiding spot. I pull myself in a ball as the cold wind hits my skin. I don't notice my chattering lips until Sasha is kicking me in the shin. "You gave your blanket away huh?"
"—it was a child."
Sasha huffs, annoyed, and pulls her blanket up. I arch my eyebrow but quickly move when my body breaks out into chills. Sasha wraps the itchy blanket around our body and I move impossibly close into her. Sasha doesn't mutter a word and I don't either—sleep comes easier. We wake early the next morning because of the nearby chattering. Sasha yawns and pulls me closer into her body. I crinkle my nose and push her away from me. She frowns in her sleep and I wiggle from beneath her, "You stink." I finally break free and Sasha's brown eyes finally open. She looks exhausted—tired as if there is no more fight left. The scar on her face catches my attention. I trace it with the tip of my finger, "Why didn't you heal yourself?" I question.
"Too busy dragging Atlas body out of the fire." Sasha explains. "I tried healing it days later but it was too late—already a battle scar. It reminds me of Atlas." Sasha pauses. "He said he would tell Eliza about how I chose him over my perfect face—" Sasha looks away. "—he died moments later."
We travel—it's as if we go back into our old routine but it doesn't feel the same because Atlas and Iris are missing. I push Sasha into a river and now she smells less bad when I throw the single duvet over our bodies, one night in the dark cave, surrounded by a small trickling fire.
"How did you survive?" I ask randomly into the night.
"Drinking?" Sasha grunts. "—sometimes drugs."
"No." I shake my head and trace the battle scar on her face. "The arrow—at the portal. It was poisonous."
There is silence for a long moment but then, "—when Sakiya came back out of the portal Dimitri tried to fight her but she was too powerful by then. She returned with an army and those winged creatures that fly throughout the night. She killed Dimitri and healed both Elijah and I—" There is another pause. "—she wanted me to suffer through all of this. She said dying would be the easy way out."
"We'll reach the sinister key soon. I can feel it." I explain burying myself underneath her to protect me from the biting cold. Sasha just grunt and shut her eyes. I trace the scar on her face before the trickling fire lulls me to sleep. "I'll bring them back." I promise.
Days stretch into weeks as we continue to travel through the woods and hide from the deadly creatures that fly above us.
"We must hurry." Sasha mutters pulling me impossibly closer into her warm body. "Winter is here."
Sasha is never the one to exaggerate but I'm thankful she didn't listen to me when I argued we didn't need to steal winter clothes. The biting cold cut through the fur coat and thick boots and I couldn't imagine surviving this with my old attire. Sasha and I move with our heads down through the thick storm. We hurry and find shelter and huddle together next to the fire. "We've been traveling for weeks, demonic." Sasha sneers. "Are you sure you feel the key?"
I grunt and bury my nose into her chest—shivering
"We won't make it into the next week." Sasha admits—which gains my attention. I look up and catch her settle face—it is as if she is ready. "I'm exhausted." She mumbles as if she can read me without looking at me.
I snuggle in closer. "Not yet." I tell her. "Not yet."
The next day is cold but sunny—Sasha doesn't speak of her confession last night I don't push the subject. We trek harder and take advantage of the warmer weather. It seems as if luck is in our favor until we are attacked.
Sasha pulls her sword—Athene with a smirk on her face. I follow her lead and twist the new and battered daggers through my hand.
Sasha and I defeat and attackers quickly. Sasha pushes one over with her foot. "Scouts from the caves. Idiot. He's been trailing us the entire time." Sasha explains as she cleans the blood off her sword with the deceased man's shirt. She then stands and gives me a wolfish smirk that makes her look younger. "I still have it."
I shrug, "You're a tab slower." I nudge my head in the direction of her bleeding arm.
Sasha scowl and brush the scar away as if it's nothing. I give her a smile in return. Sasha turns her back and salvage what she can from the dead bodies. "Honestly though—" I speak glancing at the numerous bodies. "—that was too easy—Sasha!" I roar and sprint forward to push her forward to dodge the huge boulder that comes rushing down the hill. However, I don't have time and it connects with my body with so much aggression that it pushes me over the cliff and into the raging river.
I don't have time to register the pain from the boulder because the freezing river is hitting my body like a box of knives and slicing through my skin. I kick toward the surface for air but the river is forceful—aggressive and pushes me forward and back under. I frantically try to stay above surface and hurry and kick as much as I can and reach for the branches but they snap underneath my fingers. I slam into another block of rocks and hit my head into it before being knocked unconscious.