Page 75

Ignatia

Amias collapsed on the stage.

My heart jerks at the image on the TV, begging to go to him after his speech, but it wouldn't do anything for either of us.

I'm too late.

Godusa's silhouette disappeared when I was on the hill.

I was close enough to see the dot of him on the stage, but not close enough to get to him on time.

I kept running towards it when I picked up the sound of a TV inside of the Royal Bar on the side of the road nearby.

There, I witnessed him falling to the ground.

Clearly this bar isn't made for someone like me and it's near the castle for a reason. The bar stools of rose gold and golden marble counter with candle light screamed expensive. Amare flowers hang from above and decorated the shelves of alcohol.

The TV hangs above the bar stools, which I stare at from the outside window.

My body trembles, watching Amias' wrist twitch as Amara walks over to him. She doesn't sit him up or touch him in any way. She only stares at her work with her lips tugged in an unserious pout and her eyes drooling with fluid.

What kind of Gift of Love is she?

There is no sign of love as her eyes glow red and she mumbles something that even the subtitles couldn't pick up. This goes on for a minute, as if unemotionally casting a spell on Amias. Suddenly the glow fades and she speaks louder for everyone to hear.

“It's terrible how he’s succumbed to such horrors,” Amara sighs, her voice loud enough for the crowd.

Her gaze is fixated on Amias. “You see how dreamscreechers can affect their victims. The assault and manipulation he has been through must have been torturous and traumatizing for him to be like this.”

I clench my fists. This pathetic piece of shit!

“Once Amias awakens, he will have a true chance to set himself free,” Amara announces, finally looking back at the crowd, and walks over to him.

“He will have forgotten all the damage the dreamscreecher has done. And to ensure this situation never happens, he will kill the dreamscreecher that abused him.”

People cheer in the crowd while my teeth stab my tongue. Of course. Just as they did to Lydia - forcing her to kill the person she loved.

I walk away from the bar, my nails digging into my palm. There's a throbbing between my brows. My head tightens like my skull’s about to burst. There's the tang of blood in my mouth as I keep going towards the woods, prepared to face my enemy.

I could've had a chance if that bitch didn't attack me. Everything would've been fine if she never came along.

This cleansing ceremony wouldn't have happened if it weren't for her.

“Come out!” I yell. “You wanted to fucking fight! You wanted to fight when I had no fucking reason to!”

I glance around. Vasilisa’s dead as soon as I lay eyes on her.

“You wanted to fuck around! You wanted to! So do it you fucking coward! Fight me!”

There's no response, but I've already picked up her foul scent ahead. I take a deep breath, focusing myself to turn into dreamscreecher form, letting the itching of fur prickling through skin consume me. I doubt anyone will find me in these woods.

In my dreamscreecher form, I unsheathe my claws and bare my teeth. I'm no longer afraid of her. What reason is there to be? She can't take anything away from me now. She kept me away from saving Amias. She's killed my father. My friends. Taken everything from me.

I'm done with her. I'm done knowing that she still breathes after all the agony she's caused me.

Hearing the air whistle, I duck as Vasilisa jumps from behind me, only for her to tumble onto the ground in front and scramble to her feet.

I stand over her. Fuck this bitch.

I leap for her, letting my claws rip into skin. We both shriek and tussle on our back legs. I sink my teeth into her shoulder. I yank at the skin, only to get a mouth full of fur as she snaps towards my neck.

Driving my body into her, we fall onto the ground, keeping my claws in her neck and reaiming my bite to her throat. I kick her belly, making her twist away and yowl.

I leap back before she has the chance to take advantage of me laying on the ground. “You don't deserve to live!”

She snaps her teeth at me, lying at her flank with her paws up, prepared to slice me back.

It doesn't stop me from striking her head again, throwing claws and teeth her way. I leave deep wounds on her head, shoulders and belly, and she's able to return the favor, leaving me bleeding in the same spots.

With our determination to kill, the fight lasts hours. We exhaust ourselves to the point we have to rest before attacking each other again.

Now I stand at a distance, my legs shaking, about to collapse beneath me. Vasilisa is a lot harder to kill than I thought, but she's already collapsed. Her breath quivers, shuddering the longer she stays alive.

Her now red belly is marked with wounds I made every time I kicked her there. The eye I clawed at and nearly gouged, is closed. She barely lost, considering the sting from the wounds on my stomach, flanks and face. Maybe it's the fact I'm twenty years younger that I'm still able to stand.

I just need to leave and let her die in these woods. I'd kill her myself, but my legs won't hold me up long, and I don't want to be next to Vasilisa when it happens.

She's getting what she deserves. She deserves to suffer slowly alone.

Taking a heavy breath, I growl through a throbbing throat. “This is what you deserve. After everything you've done. After all, you've made me suffer through.”

She remains silent. The only thing I can hear are her heavy breaths.

“I'm glad your death isn't peaceful. I'm glad I've made you bleed to death. I can only hope the other side of life will torture you too.”

As she stares blankly at me, I snarl and turn away when she speaks pathetically, “I'm proud of you.”

I growl under my breath as I look back at her. She crackles through her short breaths. “You wouldn't have fought me back In Somnia. You're stronger than when you left Somnia.”Blood drips from her injured eye, mimicking tears.

I bare my teeth at her. “You have no right to be proud.” I've become stronger without her.

Her words only feed my drive to kill her, but my body can't take it. One wrong move being this exhausted, she could drag me to the floor and kill me too. I scoff at Vasilisa and use whatever energy I have to walk into the forest and get away from her.

It hurts to walk. Everything aches. Every step is weak and shaky.

I just need to be away from her and hidden in the forest. I don't have the strength or focus to turn back to human. I just need a place to rest before I figure out my next plan.

I'll have to save Amias while he's trying to kill me.

After five minutes of wandering, my legs buckle beneath me. My body thuds on the ground as I glanced around me. It's a thick part of the forest, but there's nothing but bushes shielding me from sight. Maybe someone could still see me.

I try to get up on my front paws but they buckle under me again.

Fuck me. I don't want to go out this way.

I'm forced to lie down with my head on the ground, breath clawing up and down my lungs

Then there's rustling.

My ears perk up and I lift my head as I turn to the noise. Is Vasilisa up? No, she can't be! An Amarian!

Shit! I'm dead!

“Princess Ignatia?”

I bare my teeth and growl as dark eyes face me. It's a woman I don't recognize, her skin golden brown and her dreads nearly as black as her eyes at the roots, but the color is sandy at the tips. She's dressed in a black cloak.

Fuck! I can't be defenseless against an Amarian!

“Relax, Princess,” the woman soothes and puts her hands up defensively. “I'm not here to hurt you.”

I narrow my eyes on her. What is she on about?

There's more rustling from behind her before another woman with blonde hair in a black cloak appears.

I snap my jaws at them, hoping to scare them, but they don't react. They're going to kill me!

“No, Ignatia,” the first one says. “It's okay. Look at me.”

I glance at her irises that have turned completely black and that two canines are sticking out from under her lips. I look away only to whirl my eyes back. She's a dreamscreecher?

“Lumi told me to look out for you, so I came to the cleansing ceremony hoping to find you. I wandered the woods a bit and found your scent. I'm Minerva by the way.” she murmurs as her teeth retract. “Camila here is an ally. The cloak is a symbol of that. We're only here to help.”

I noticed the cloud, clasping her cloak at the neck. The same cloud is on Minerva's cloak. I've never seen that before.

I don't reply, not wanting to waste more energy on it. I don't have a lot to spare.

She sits beside me, putting her hands down. “We know you're exhausted, and we're going to get you to safety. Rest now. We’ll take care of you while you do.”

I scrunch my nose. It's not like I have a choice.

It's comforting to know that there's another dreamscreecher here. How or why, I can't make sense of, but at least there's someone of my kind.

Would've been nice to know that there were others in this city beforehand.

I rest my head on the ground, as Minerva and Camila start to discuss things. Meanwhile my eyes can barely stay open. I need to sleep. I desperately need it.

Just before I let myself sleep, there's a sting in my shoulders. I yelp meekly, but don't have the strength to react otherwise.

“It's okay. It's only to turn you human again.”

Only seconds after Minerva's words, my fur retracts. My body transforms but only a few seconds in do I stay conscious before falling away into a void of darkness.