I woke up to the shutters on the window above me slamming open and closed as a storm began to blow through.

The wind knocked out a few of the candles, and in the same breath, I began to hear chains dragging from the corners of the room. ‘Ok Siya I know you hate getting up early but you better get going without coffee this time.’

The wind chilled my bare shoulders to the bone, but my hands were sweating as I regripped my hammer, trying to ignore how badly my body wanted to go back to sleep.

‘This thing feeds off fear… So all I have to do is not be afraid right?’ I tightened my grip “I don’t suppose you’ll let me get some coffee before we fight will you?”

‘I knew it wasn’t just in my head.’ The windows bounced closed, as more of the candles got put out. They weren’t going out from the wind though, something inside was suffocating them.

I forced the windows open, locking them in place for what little light I could get from outside. Rain began to pour down on top of me but as long as there was light I didn’t care.

‘If this was a part of the test it wouldn't be able to be so far away from the tower, right? It doesn't make any sense. That only means This ghoul Is real. It has to be.’

I smiled knowing I was right, but felt conflicted, obviously not thrilled about what that meant. As the chains got louder I began to hear shrieks and whispers. Every fiber of my being told me to run, that I didn’t have a chance of fighting.

On instinct, I ran to my door, but somehow it had been locked from the outside. I kicked it as hard as I could but it wouldn't budge. “HELP!” I yelled as loud as I could before running back to the window as the final candles began putting themselves out.

‘Well so much for plan A. Father… For your sake you better hope that this demon is somehow the one locking that door…’

The moonlight dimmed from the clouds and the chains began to drag across the floor, peaking out from the darkness. “I'm not afraid, I'm not afraid,” I said over and over hoping if I said it enough times it would be true.

My breath quickened but remained under control. I certainly wasn’t calm, but I wasn’t panicking either. It wasn’t like before. I had already faced it once. ‘What beating could this monster give me that I haven’t already taken.’

“COME AT ME THEN! WHY ARE YOU HIDING? OR MAYBE YOU’RE THE ONE THAT’S AFRAID!” The shadow stopped for a moment as the moon peaked through the clouds. ‘I guess it isn’t just the day that you don’t like.

‘I hope it really gets hurt by light. That gives me a plan C’ I firmly gripped my hammer ‘Let's try this first, but it needs to move…’

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I griped and regripped the hammer countless times, waiting. ‘If it will only move in the dark… Then let’s turn out the lights.’

I closed the shutters, leaving my spear resting against one so that it would never become pitch black.

Thankfully, because of everything that I had been through, my eyes felt like they were still perfectly adjusted to see. It was like time slowed down, and while I couldn’t exactly read its movements, knowing where it wasn’t was almost as good as knowing where it was.

‘If you're going to flip sides of the room when I look towards you, that means that when I look over here.’ I glanced to the side. Before I even turned my gaze I started my heavy-handed swing of the hammer.

‘It means that.’ “YOUR RIGHT HERE!” I yelled.

The hammer slammed against the metal sword closest to me and rattled so hard that I was forced to drop it, the muscles in my hands starting to twitch from the resonance as it rang out so loud I almost thought my head would explode.’

Suddenly my room lit up with enough noise to tell a whole country they were under attack, and the screeching from the monster no longer even made it to my ears.

‘I knew it. You can’t see, so you’re sensitive to vibrations.’ I quickly locked the windows open with my aching hands and grabbed my spear, freezing time the moment I locked my eyes on it.

Its body was warped and twisted as the chains started to hold slack. One of its massive hands completely covered its head while the other was getting ready to slam the ground. ‘I’ll probably only have one shot at this.’

As I resumed time, I lunged forward, sticking the arrow right under its arm and through the ribs. I was sure I pierced its heart, the only question was if I pierced its heart deep enough to kill it.

With a swift wave of its hand, it smashed the ground, nearly caving in the floor as it shattered the shaft of my brother's arrow.

It screamed, crashing its body all around and slamming it into the swords sending them flying across the room, slashing itself open in the process.

Still, it wasn’t dead, and somehow I only felt more in danger, as one of my own swords flew right next to my head, slashing some of my hair as it stuck to the window shutters next to me.

‘There goes plan B… I didn’t get the spear deep enough, its skin must be too tough…’

After its brief rage had been completed, it calmed down. The chains lost their slack, and it almost felt like we were back to where we began, only with a lot more black blood painting my room.

‘That’s not going to come out is it…’ I gulped, slowly watching it drift back into the shadows.

“You want some more!” I yelled a little unsure of what more I had left.

A void appeared swallowing up all light in the back of the room, just like it was back in the tower. “You better end this fight quickly…” I said putting my arms on my knees. “If you don't… I'll kill you.”

Lightning cracked behind me. The flash of which shrank the dark void, and with a shriek it grew again. “I knew it! You are afraid!” I yelled out taunting it and possibly projecting a little of what I was feeling myself.

We were at a stand still neither one willing to move an inch. On the one side, a demon, and on the other a little girl. The tension built up within me until it started to become too much. I screamed as loud as I could, ripping the heavy sword from the wall next to me.

“Being afraid, being weak, being frail, bullied, beat down, having my life threatened again and again by my own family… Come and take my life, I don't want it anymore anyway. I never asked for a second chance, I gave it a pretty dang good run the first time!”

I finally snapped. A part of me was just trying to convince it… To convince myself that I wasn’t afraid, but the other part of me meant every word.

My skin began to darken before my eyes. ‘That's right. Even if I die it’s not a big deal… I will feel bad I let Agis down but that’s all.

My head pounded as my skin continued to turn dark ash gray, starting from my chest and running down my arms. I regripped my sword, trying not to let it distract me.

The ghoul finally came out of the void, walking on its long slender legs, dragging its chains across the ground. They were weighty and brambled, tearing holes in the wood boards with every step it took.

“There you are,” I said, ready to finally face it head-on. “Let’s fight.”