I wake up in a dark cave with Titus standing next to me. I frown standing up, “What did you do to me Titus?” Titus looks at me

“Helping you.” He disappears as I hear whipping coming from down the cave. My back starts to feel warm as I gulp down some fear. My body starts to move toward the sound even though I try to stop it. I see a large opening and inside is the whipping chamber from the church. The priests are whipping a child strap down to that fucking altar. I regain control of body as I feel anger building up inside of me. I start to walk toward the main priest as I rip the the dampening stone from around my neck. I drop it and I feel my body start to burn with such hatred for everything here. The head priest stops whipping the child and looks at me.

“I am glad you are here Zona.” I stop in my tracks feeling the anger be replaced with fear. My tormenter. “You know why this is happening. Now tell me what you did wrong.”

I slowly back away from him as I feel a wall behind me. I start to panic, “Nothing! You are the issue. I never did anything wrong!” I scream at him. As the man gets closer to me and I can see his horrible face. Blackness fills it.

“That’s wrong Zona. Just tell me what you did wrong. You know I hate to punish you.” I feel his hand touch my face as I wince. I start to have a panic attack.

“Lupa!” The man tsks at me as I fall to my knees hugging them tight.

“She won’t help you. No one will Zona. You are nothing.” I feel the whip hit against my arms. I feel myself not being able to breath. I clutch my legs tighter trying to regain my breath. “No one will ever love or care about you.” Clam down Zona. You are okay. “The only reason why people like you know is because they are using you. You are just something to be used and thrown away.” I hide my face into my legs trying to calm down. “Even Lupa will learn that you are just a mistake.” That causes me to pause as I feel my panic attack slowly leave me. “You are bet...” I look at the man. I stand up breathing in deeply

“I am not a mistake.” The man pauses as flames engulf him. The flames stop as he stumbles backwards.

“You.. are worthless.” I walk to him flames engulfing him again.

“No. I am not worthless. I am not a mistake. I am done letting the fear control m.” The man pauses and starts to laugh as I focus on him. Flames engulf his body as it burns away. The only thing remaining is his face as the flames engulf it.

“It doesn’t matter! I was always be apart of you Zona! You can never get rid of your fear!” Before his face can be fully uncovered, I burn the rest of him away. I take a breath doubling over.

“I did it..” I feel this intense heat surrounding me. I look around confused as I look up to see a giant flaming bird in front of me. The wings are made out of a bright blue flames. The bird stares into my soul as I realize that I am back in the cave. I look are more confused. Titus appears in front of me.

“I am sorry Zona. I needed you to believe in yourself and get over your fear.” I frown at him but pick up the dampening stone.

“I should be pissed at you but I feel better. Thank you Titus.” Titus smiles holding up a stick. I roll my eyes and focus on the stick expecting nothing. Out of nowhere, the stick lights up. I pause getting excited. “I did it!”

“A little faith in yourself goes a long way Zona.” I roll my eyes at the comment but remember the bird.

Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

“I do have a question though. I saw this bird thing and..” I stop smelling smoke in the distance.

He looks concerned. “We need to leave now.”

I run after Titus to the opening of a cave. Once there, We both see a large amount of smoke close by. We ran to the cart as Aleem is packing everything up. Lupa and Alistar is nowhere to be found. I frown and start to call for Lupa.

“Lupa! Luuuupa!” Titus closes his eyes for a second and I feel a weird energy coming off him. I look at him as his eyes open.

“He is coming. So is his the army. Aleem prepare yourself. We will be in a fight.” Aleem frowns at him.

“No. We need to leave now. They can fend for themselves. We need to hurry up and leave.” Titus glares at him for a second and he backs down. “Fine.” Titus looks at me,

“Don’t use any magic. I will make sure everyone gets out of here alive.” There is something in his voice that doesn’t make me believe him. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Lupa and Alistar running toward the cart. Lupa runs straight towards me and starts to act protective of me. Alistar looks at Titus.

“The army is coming Master.” Titus nods and gets close to him. He whispers something in his ear that causes him to become shocked. “But.. Titus.. It won’t…” He gets cut as an arrow gets shot into the cart. Lupa growls to the forest as we all look towards it.

Slowly military men come out the forest with bows and swords. Bows are trained on us as the men with the swords slowly walk to us. They stop about twenty feet away from us. Alistar and Titus look prepared for something. Lupa keeps growling at the soldiers in front of me. Aleem is hiding behind the cart. You could cut the tension in the air with a knife. Both sides seem to be waiting for the other to act, someone to make the first move. I notice Lupa growl louder as a familiar suit of armor walks into view. The black suited demon walks past the soldiers with swords. He stops ten feet away from us.

“Zona Everlast. This is your final chance to turn yourself in. If you do not, you will die.” His voice sounds cold. Like his only in purpose in life is to kill. He draws a black long sword and waits for my decision. I frown and slowly reach into my pocket. I could kill all these people. I stop myself before taking out the dampening stone. Titus told me not too. The man doesn’t wait for an answer as he quickly charges toward us. Lupa charges him and he uses the dull side of his blade knocking her out of the way. Alistar tries to lift him up off the ground. The man jumps out of the way and charges after him. Titus steps in his away and the man flies back to a few of his men. He lands on his feet but his men fly backwards. The man stares at Titus and Alistar. Lupa gets up running back towards me. “Very well Zona Everlast. You left me no choice.” The sky slowly starts to go dark as Titus frowns.

“Aleem take these children and run! I will hold off this demon.” The sky is covered in dark clouds but we can still make out everything around us. The man in the demonic suit slowly fades within the shadows until he is gone. Aleem grabs me and Alistar pulling us into the cart. I try to fight from his grip but Alistar grabs onto me too. Aleem gets in the driver seat and quickly wacks the horse. The cart jerks forward as we speed away. I try to get out to go to Titus but Alistar blocks my path.

“He is saving us Zona.” I frown realizing what is going on. I push Alistar out of the way. Lupa quickly jumps into the back of the cart. Titus starts to shout words of magic around him. I look at him as he looks at me. In my head I hear his voice.

“Be the best person I know you can be Zo…” He can’t finish as a sword is driven into his gut. The dark clouds disappear as the demoic suited man stands there. Titus drops to his knees as the man pulls his sword out of him. I make a noise that I don’t fully understand as the man raises his sword swifty decapitating Titus. My eyes go wide as my back flares up. I reach into my pocket throwing the dampening stone straight down. My body feels on fire as I focus on the man with all my concentration. Within seconds a large column of fire engulfs that entire section of forest. The fire has a dark color to it as it builds expanding slowly. I feel like screaming but I hold my voice. I get this feeling of pleasure washing over me as I can feel the men dying within the fire. I can barely feel Alistar give me the dampening stone as the column diseapears.

From the distance we are now, not much is left of that section of the forest. I get this overwhelming feeling of exhaustion as I drop to my knees. I feel Lupa nuzzle me slightly I hold onto her. I barely look up and see that demonic suited man standing there in the distance. I go to say something before passing out.