Hearing the seeker hounds howling in the distance, Jayde lifted her head tiredly staring bleakly in front of her. She had resigned herself to her fate — today would be her last day. While she was terrified of dying — there was a small part of her that was happy. Finally, her endless struggle to survive would be over.

The past ten years of her life had been soul-draining, it had exhausted all her strength just to make it through every day. As the yips, screams, and howls of the excited seeker hounds drew closer, Jayde climbed to her feet wearily.

The seeker hounds raced into the small clearing where Jayde was located, surrounding her they lowered their heads and growled at her, warning her not to move. Jayde straightened her shoulders and stood up straight, waiting for her second uncle and his elite guards.

She had caught glimpses of her second uncle on his Fire-Tailed Stallion as he raced up the mountain path hunting her. Even from a distance, she could feel his murderous aura.

A couple of minutes later her second uncle galloped into the clearing.

"Whoa boy," he yelled pulling his Fire-Tailed Stallion to a stop.

Even though Jayde was scared, she couldn't help but admire the Fire-Tailed Stallion, standing over two meters tall is had a beautiful flame-colored short coat, its long mane flickered with small flames, and its long tail was made out of pure golden and red flames. The Fire-Tailed Stallion was built for speed and endurance, you could see this by the lean, hard muscle on its chest and thighs.

Jayde was really tempted, to pet the Fire-Tailed Stallion. She couldn't help but take a step forward. The seeker hounds seeing she moved growled even louder, bearing their long ivory fangs at her — the spine chilling growls brought her back to her predicament.

Kato jumped off his spirit beast yelling: "Don't you dare move," as he lumbered his way towards Jayde.

"I might have to bring you back alive—but no-one said you still needed your legs attached," he threatened.

Kato's threat stop Jayde cold. She believed her second uncle would have no problems carrying out his threat.

"Where's the Divine Tome?" Kato demanded.

"W...w-hat Tome?" Jayde stammered confusedly.

"Don't you dare play games with me, little girl, you are centuries too young," Kato roared. "Now where is the fucking Divine Tome?"

Jayde was really confused, was he talking about the golden book in the glass case, she thought.

"The gold book?" she asked timidly.

"Of course, the gold book you stupid bitch," answered Kato glaring at Jayde.

"I don't have it, I didn't take it—it's still there in the library," Jayde said helplessly, lifting her hands to show she had nothing to hide.

"Don't lie to me, you little shit," snarled Kato.

Did this little bitch really think that he would buy her story that she didn't take the book, he thought. He had to find that damn book, if he came back empty-handed, suspicion might fall on to his son, and that was something he couldn't afford.

Turning to his guards, he ordered: "Grab her!".

Kato could not return to the Freehold Estate without the Divine Tome, he was worried if he did then this debacle would land squarely on his shoulders. The elders were already looking for someone to blame, and knowing clan politics the way he did, he knew if he returned empty-handed they would find a way to make him a scapegoat.

He had grabbed this mission to gain quick glory, thinking just how easy it would be to catch a thirteen-year-old teen, and if the gods were on his side, he would finally outshine his brother. He knew from Edvard there was no enemy clan involved.

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He thought Jayde had stolen the Tome for revenge, so while he would be the hero who caught the little thief and returned the Divine Tome to the clan, Za'thul would end up bearing the shame of having a daughter who bought calamity to the family.

The elders were already unhappy with Za'thul because his child was a null. They still hadn't recovered from the embarrassment of her Reading Day. Many of the elders were already maneuvering in the dark to remove him from power.

While Kato wasn't as talented as his brother, he did have a flair of sucking up to the elders and was popular with them. He was quite sure if they removed Za'thul as Clan Leader then he would be the one chosen to succeed Za'thul as the next clan leader.

The guards grabbed Jayde and dragged her to Kato.

"Search her," he ordered.

Rough hands tore at Jayde clothing, patting her all over. No matter how much she struggled to avoid those horrible hands, she was too weak to get away. Utterly humiliated all Jayde could do was bear with this awful experience.

"Nothing Master," one of the elite guards told Kato.

Kato's eyes widen in surprise, the book must be here.

"Search the surrounding area," he ordered the guards.

Pointing to one of his elite guards he ordered: "Guard her if she escapes I will have yours and everyone in your family heads strung up outside the estate walls."

While the guards searched the surrounding area, Kato kept on questioning Jayde where the Tome was, but each time she gave the same answer that she didn't know where it was.

Finally losing his temper, Kato grabbed Jayde by the throat.

"Last time you pathetic little bitch, where is the f*cking tome?" he roared, his spittle hitting her face.

"E..e-dvard—he must have taken it," Jayde choked out.

Clenching his fist, pure wrath filled Kato body, she dared, she actually threatened to frame his son. If the guards reported this back to the elders, it would raise their suspicions. The repercussions of this would exterminate his whole branch.

Kato knew Edvard would never hold up under interrogation and if the elders and Za'thul found out everything was due to Edvard and Saphira instigations, the backlash would be unimaginable.

Without a thought Kato backhanded Jayde across the face, forgetting at that moment how weak she was. That one fist shattered Jayde cheek and jaw, the pain was beyond comprehension. Tears streamed from Jayde's eyes, dark spots danced in front of her eyes as she barely managed to stay conscious.

Feeling the weight of the guards' stares, Kato was filled with dread he had to find that damn tome, no matter what.

"Master, she might have already handed the tome over," Oki his second in command said softly.

"Mmm," agreed Kato.

Then grabbing his short dagger, Kato had the guards tie Jayde to a nearby tree, he ordered most of his elite guards to backtrack their way to the Freehold Estate. They were to search for any tracks that might indicate that Jayde had hidden the tome away or handed it off to someone.

Once the guards left, Kato stalked up to Jayde tied to the tree, she was barely conscious. The pain from her shattered cheek and jaw was overwhelming.

"Ah little girl, you should have told me where you hid the Divine Tome, you are now in for a world of pain," Kata said menacingly.

Jayde tried to speak, but with her jaw shattered all she could do was make small grunting sounds.

Jayde's nightmare had just begun. Her second uncle showed no mercy as he started to flay her alive. With his sharp dagger, he slowly began to peel the skin away from one of her legs. After Jayde fainted the first time, her second uncle fed her a pill that would ensure that she could not faint again.

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With her jaw shattered she couldn't even scream. The blood-replenishing pills her uncle kept on stuffing into her mouth made sure that she couldn't die from blood loss.

After removing all the skin from both her legs and arms, her second uncle then proceeded to break all her bones. By this time Jayde was nearly mad from the pain. She prayed and begged to the gods for death, but her pleas went unanswered. Jayde could feel her sanity slipping away.

Just then some of the guards returned, they were very excited. They explained to Kato they had found tracks a while back, the tracks were about four hours old, six demon scaled horses according to the tracker.

Demon scale horses were scarce in the Lower Realm, they were the fastest breed of spirit beast one could have. Only one of the elite families in the Lower Realm could afford them.

Shocked that Jayde had handed over the Divine Tome to some mysterious group, Kato rushed to his Fire-Tailed Stallion, the group they were chasing had a four hour lead on them, he had to catch up to them, no matter what.

In his haste to retrieve the Divine Tome, Kato forgot all about the broken girl lying in a large pool of blood on the ground, pieces of her flesh discarded around her.

As Kato and his group of elite galloped out of the clearing, Jayde eyes started to blur, she could feel death finally approaching. As the sound of horse hooves faded, Jayde finally closed her eyes as death embraced her.

With a grateful smile on her small face, she left her miserable life behind.

Free. She was finally free!