Page 1 of All Your Bloody Lies

Xeraphine

Prologue

My heart lies quiet, its rhythm stilled to silence. Yet I remain acutely aware that my lifeless body is being callously dragged by my hair. The revelation is staggering – the illogicality of being both dead yet still vividly alive puzzles me.

Part of me wishes it would just hurry,death, so I can finally escape this world. The torment I experienced, there’s nothing that can compare to it. Never before have I experienced such extreme pain.

The sky unfolds in a breathtaking tapestry of oranges, pinks, and deepened purples; a celestial fusion that will be my last vision as I fade to the Beyond. I can’t fathom I’ll find myself in the Vayl. I’m too much of a sinner to ascend to a realm of purity and godliness.

My scalp is on fire, but no more so than the open gash in my throat, which I’m surprised has yet to go numb.

The memory of them taking the blade to the five points of my body—my throat, wrists, and heels—veils my vision into darkness. They were going to make sure I couldn’t run, no matter what it took.

There are five of them, and I can hear each of their feet crushing against the fall leaves. One smells of burnt wood, the fragrance of a wooden cabin, and an open fire filled with spruce. Another smells of whisky and a sour substance I had no means of identifying.

The next two smell equally the same, and I know they are twins by the way they felt. They have scents of grass and mud, as though they work outdoors.

The last is the one currently dragging me, he smells of citrus and blood. I know by how brutal he was that I am not going to be his first kill—nor will I be his last.

The sharp tug of my hair being yanked from my scalp echoes loudly as he forcefully hurls me, leaving me feeling utterly powerless. The sensation of my body being dead is not as numbing as one would think. No, I was vibrating internally. As though my body was fighting to come back to life. Except, I still don’t understand why I am watching the man with bright emerald eyes kneel down and scoop me up from the floor. Why am I still conscious?

My head falls back, the gash in my neck splitting open further, and as much as I want to scream, I can’t.

“Her head, we should separate it before we place her in the casket, don’t you think?” One of the twins says—but I can’t distinguish which of them it is.

“There is no need. It makes no difference for her kind.”

I don’t understand. I am Mundane! A Mundane, there’s nothing special about me, please!I want to voice the words. Trying to reclaim that I am a nobody, and that this was a mistake, just as I had countless times as they violated me mercilessly.

It didn’t matter, because I'm dead. I can’t move my frozen lips or raise a hand to ask for a turn to speak.

They treat me as if I am some filthy creature that deserves nothing but torment. I had just been selling cheap pastries! What had I done to deserve this?

The sudden drop of my body sends my mind into a frenzy. Three tight walls surround me, giving barely enough space for me to turn if I could do so.

I was already afraid, but now, I am terrified. Were they going to leave me in here?

A sensation of darkness creeps across the edges of my vision. I try to breathe for the first time, but only find my throat filled with liquid.

My heart finally beat.

I wish it didn’t.

The five figures towering six feet above me disperse,one by one, leaving me in their chilling aftermath. My arm feels heavier than lead as I stretch it up, the gash on my wrist so deep that I can see the tendons shifting as my fingers tremble. Their method was calculated - cutting from north to south - leaving no doubt in their intent to ensure my death.

Except, I am not dead.

“Please…” I’m unsure how I get the word out of my mouth.

They return not as my saviors, but as agents of my continued captivity. The once beautiful sky, a source of hope for my soul, vanishes swiftly as my entrapment closes around me.

Thump.A dull thud echoes in my confined space.

“No—”

Thump.The impact is becoming more muffled, slowly suffocating me in agonizing fear.

The thuds become softer, and soon, nothing but rustling noises of the dirt settling filter into my ears.