TW/CW
Child abuse (verbal, physical, psychological)
Gore and blood
Death mentioned
Cult themes/Religious trauma
Childhood trauma
Manipulation
Mutilation
Ableism (r-slur is used but censored)
Corpses/Death pits
Regan regretted slashing Kai's hand. She should've stabbed his stomach (or her own).
It was one of those days where he was sparring her. He wasn't concerned about a twelve-year-old killing him. And he wasn't going to kill his own "child" (Gaea, she hated that idea).
As he coached her, dodging her blade, he continued to call her Ivella. She couldn't even bring herself to protest the pet name, even silently.
When she saw his hand open, indicating her to cease, she didn't. It was as if something possessed her in that moment. Like her body was convulsing out of pure rage. like, for just a moment, she wasn't afraid.
She slashed her blade across his hand - maybe trying to slice it off. Kai shouted in pain, dropping his sword and clutching his bleeding hand.
Regan stared for a moment, as if registering what she did. There was blood dripping from her blade. Gaia, she hated blood.
Suddenly, Kai flew into a rage. He dismissed the injury and grabbed her arm. Regan dropped her blade.
"You absolute r-." He hissed. With a sudden motion, he backhanded her face. The girl fell back, holding her nose. it was bleeding. "I am losing my patience with you." She felt his hand grab her left horn.
Like that, all the rage inside her subsided to fear. Her body refused to fight or even tremble out of terror. All her body did was freeze. It was like the fight or flight system in her body had malfunctioned.
A great, striking pain exploded in her head, like someone bashed the back of her head against a wall. The pain refused to lessen her nerves coming alive and screaming for forgiveness. Her throat couldn't make a noise. She felt like she was shutting down.
She suddenly fell to the ground and landed on her back in the dying grass. Something fell beside her. Regan glanced at it.
Her horn. She felt sick.
"Get up, don't just lay there pathetically." Kai demanded. Regan forced her body to move and sit up.
Kai sat down in front of her, his angry expression now extinguished. He dropped his knife on the grass. "There, now we've both gotten our anger out."
He reached over and patted her head, his red-soaked hand easily gliding over to bloody stump where her horn was. "Now, Ivella." Again, that wretched name that she answered to. "Have you learned why you shouldn't defy me?" He asked gently.
Regan didn't respond, staring at the discarded knife. She didn't really learn. She still wanted to grab it and kill. She still didn't know who. Kai grabbed her arm again, making the child face him. Everso calmly, he kept petting her hair with his other hand.
"Are you trying to sleep with corpses?" He whispered, almost concerned. Regan's breathing hitched. She knew what Kai was talking about. The death pits that surrounded the clan. He'd thrown her in one a few weeks ago. Regan still didn't know if he was trying to kill her that day.
She shook her head. "Do we need to visit them?" Kai asked gently.
"No... no, n-no!" She tried begging for him to have mercy - just once - but it didn't work. Kai just grabbed her other arm and dragged her further into the woods.
His nails dug into the child's arms until they drew blood. Regan's terrified shrieks did nothing to deter him as he continued to the nearest death pit.
After what seemed like forever in Regan's weary, terrified mind, they were standing before a trench. The hole was almost full, bodies and mangled remains tossed in carelessly.
"Do you see this?" His voice was low. "Do you need to get closer?" Kair easily threw Regan to the ground. The girl caught herself with her hands before she could fall in. Her hands were burned by the ground, but she hardly noticed. She was facing a few inches away from a corpse's eyes.
"These people, Regan," he said her name with venom in his voice. He was acknowledging the terrified child who hated him, not Ivella- this sick fantasy of what she could be if she listened. "These people were what our clan can't accept. They were stupid, disobedient, and fearless."
He dig his nails further into her skin. "That's what you are. You're stupid, disobedient, and fearless. You think you can escape. Don't you, you little r-?" Laughed laughed. Regan still stared down at the corpse, not daring to looks away or close her eyes.
"Well, Regan Margo," he suddenly pulled her upward. He grabbed a clump of hair and forced her to face him. "I just want you to know that you'll never escape." he said plainly.
"I doesn't matter if you run, it doesn't matter if you kill me, you will never escape. I will always hunt you, I will always haunt you- I will never leave you or let you escape."
He smiled almost kindly. "Because I am your god. I am Gaea's preacher. And you," Kai gently tapped her nose- almost playfully. "Are so very dear to me."
With his other hand, he flung her head to the ground, hardly pressed her into the dirt and grass. She let out a startled cry. "Do you understand, Regan?"
Regan didn't respond. Ivella did, though, quickly nodding and pleading apologies and gratitude.
"Good." Kai pulled her back up. "I'm going home. Just remember, no matter what you do, I'll always find you."
With that, he left she spent the night outside, shivering with the dead grass.