For three days her flock searched for the reptile. They all knew who the suspect was, none however could find him. Every day a person died in their sanctuary; each death more gruesome than the last. No one walked outside alone, no one could even sleep alone or go to the bathroom without company. It was what the reptile wanted, a state of perpetual fear. Yet despite his acts of terror, no one wanted to leave. They still had faith in Nashra with the future she promised and the will to stop the brutal monster that hid around the darkest corners.

It was 8 am when the news broke out. The mother of her 2-year-old boy sobbed out in the open with their child’s corpse. It wasn’t a brutal murder; the reptile only strangled them to death while the child slept next to their mother. That was the death that broke everyone’s spirits. The message was clear for them all, they were not safe even with Nashra there. The fifth murder was the one that broke their faith.

In her room, Nashra watched as the majority of victims of the Cascade left. She knew she couldn’t do anything to stop them from leaving. There was no speech she could provide that could warm their terrified hearts, no magical display that could repair a faith that was shattered. The chance to do so was long gone. Only twenty devoted servants stayed behind but were heartbroken by the mass exodus. It was nearly dark when the last person left the facility. Isolating Nashra and her devotees with the reptile that came for her.

Jamie took out his cigarette to smoke, his hand shook as he hovered the lighter in front of him. He struggled to sleep for a few days at that point because he was incapable of processing what he saw, the brutality of the murders displayed for the world to see and how he had to hide them from the outside world. Nashra was unfazed by it all, she dealt with horrors for most of her life but even she had to remind herself that her underlings were not familiar with the type of death that she grew familiar with. Outside, it made her look strong. People believed that the deaths only made her devotion to the cause grow. It wouldn’t come to anyone’s mind that she was simply desensitised.

‘What’s the plan?’ Jamie asked, ‘what are we going to do?’

‘Find him, that is all we can do.’

Jamie rose from his seat and pleaded to his leader. ‘We can’t do it! No one can. He is out there and no one can find him. He is like a fucking ghost! We need the police…’

‘No!’ Nashra shouted, ‘they won’t do anything to help. They will only look at our struggle and shrug like it is nothing to worry about. You should know this!’

‘But… it would be something.’ He whimpered, he wanted to beg for outside assistance. But he knew it would be pointless, there was nothing he could do to convince her.

Frustrated, Nashra looked out of her window again. She tried to formulate a plan to combat the reptile, anything that could guarantee her survival even if it would cost her the lives of her followers. They were all replaceable, and there would always be more potential recruits out there. But only if she survived her conflict with the Order’s dangerous psychopath.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Then, it hit her. On the ground near the door of the hospital was the dead body of one of her devotees, their neck slit open. The reptile was on the move. She flinched when a loud bang was heard from downstairs, followed by a scream that was swiftly cut off. He’s here! Nashra said to herself.

Jamie wasted no time to wedge his chair against the door. He racked his shotgun and aimed it at the door with a steady breath while he hid behind a wall. Nashra prepared a fire spell, something that to her understanding should be hot enough to melt steel.

More sounds could be heard downstairs, though it wasn’t sounds of combat but of footsteps followed by audible thuds. Nashra could tell that the engagements were quick and effective, like the reptile orchestrated where her followers entered the room and how best to dispatch them. Nashra and Jamie waited in silence, they didn’t want to give away their positions to the monster outside of their room.

Sweat trickled down Jamie’s brow, the more he waited, the more he wondered what was outside. He wanted to know why the reptile did all of this, why he killed his closest friends whom he considered family. For almost a week he blamed himself and the event that changed him, he couldn’t imagine that the person he was defending was the cause of his and everyone’s suffering.

In the end, he would never know. Underneath him, two hands crashed through the floorboards and latched onto his feet. Before he could react, he was pulled through the floor that showered the room in dust. Nashra deactivated her prepared spell as she coughed and tried to wave the dust away from her face. Panicked, she ran to the door and threw the chair out of the way. The moment she swung the door open to bolt out of the room, a sharp sting was felt on the side of her arm. She looked down to see a needle.

Her mind became dazed, her thoughts tired and sporadic as if her mind was having a violent tug of war. She tried to take a step, only to collapse to the ground. Her breathing slowed down, her heart rested as if to tell her it had enough, while her mind screamed for her to go to sleep. But she knew better, she knew she couldn’t stay. With her only functional arm, she dragged herself, or at least attempted to. She only needed to go downstairs, away from her room so she could hide.

A reptilian foot with three toes wrapped around her arm, Nashra looked up to see the reptile glaring at her. She realised that she could do nothing. He won. The only thing she could do was rest and hope the trial back at Olympus would be quick.