CeliaMy heart pounded in my chest as I took that fateful step into the swirling vortex of darkness. One moment I was standing beside Jasper and the other I was being sucked into a never ending pit.My heart raced, and I felt like I was being sucked into a nightmare. The world around me twisted and contorted, and I was enveloped in an overwhelming sense of foreboding. The very air felt heavy with an oppressive darkness that seemed to seep into my very soul. I could not understand what was happening or how to fight the sudden claustrophobic sensation engulfing me.I could not find ground to put my feet on. Everything around me was moving at a dizzying speed and all I could see was blurred images of something around me.Was it trees? The library walls?It was hard to make sense of it and the effort made my head ache.Hence, I shut my eyes tightly, and pulled my hands closer to my chest, trying to curve into a ball in an attempt to escape the suffocating grip of this place. It felt like
Celia I looked up so fast that I thought I had almost snapped my neck. The voice sounded raspy and rough. I tensed and looked around, fearing the shadows were again after me. However, I could not find anyone. Had I imagined it? I began questioning myself and clutched my chest nervously. “W-who is there?” I asked, but was met with silence. The shadows kept swirling around the huge black pillar and cast an ominous eerie gloom on my already petrified heart. I looked back at the portal and was relieved that it was still there. But all of them were still staring at me in anticipation. Had they heard the voice too? “Jasper, did you hear the voice?” “Maybe he didn’t” Rain spoke in my head and I was so startled that I doubled back. My wolf had gone eerily silent and was simply observing the things. I looked nervously through the portal but slowly some of the shadows stopped circling the huge pillar. They began drifting towards the portal, slowly blocking my view of Jasper and the
CeliaI was not sure how long I lay on the ground but I had passed out. When I woke up, I expected to see was surrounded by a familiar place, a place too familiar.One I hadn’t seen in years.I was in my childhood home. My mother was in the kitchen, the windows thrown open and soft sunlight peeking through it.Something was sizzling hot on the pan mom had just placed on the stove. And behind her was a big table where a little girl and a toddler was seated.The little girl was playing with the toddler, waving a soft toy in front of him and they were giggling together.“Ma” I cried out upon seeing the face of my mother after all this time. They were all so happy, so content with their lives.But when I tried to reach for them, my hands went through empty air, right through them.That was when I realized I was watching a memory-my memories of my family from childhood.Tears stung at the back of my eyes when I saw the happy family, my family.My mother was making pancakes while me and Lia
CeliaIsadora’s voice reached my ears, stroking my fury, my pain.I had gone limp as a vegetable, staring at the shadows without a reaction or a sound. I had relived my worst memory…or so I thought.“Do you think you are doing a good job by saving them?”Isadora asked. She was standing quite far from me but then she came near me in an instant, as if she had teleported herself from her previous spot to be in front of me in the blink of an eye.Up close, she looked even more hideous.The pale skin had turned ashy and the black veins were throbbing over her face, neck…every exposed inch of skin that was visible to my eyes.I should have shrieked, I should have cried in horror to see those veins bubble under her skin like a vicious serpent…or several worms.“Oh now you just made it boring,” She said when I did not react or make a sound.“I have been tied here for years, waiting for someone to show up, hoping to find someone who would be brave enough….and who did I meet? A pathetic, weak w
CeliaThe words of their message changed but my family asked me to do just one thing- to not associate myself with the race that had caused us so much pain.Then the voices stopped just as abruptly as they had begun. I had shut my eyes tightly when I could not bear it anymore but now that they were suddenly gone, I slowly opened my eyes again.My mother, Liam and father was gone. Only the shadows and the dark witch, Isadora remained.Isadora, the woman, I had stayed with in Ivan’s castle. She had been Ivan’s right hand and always stayed by him through all our interactions. She had been there when there was an attack on the castle, and also when the new fletchings rose.But how?Isadora was the dark witch? She had been hiding in plain eyesight all these years? My brain was reeling due to the avalanche of thoughts it was trying to process.“You…you are…” I tried to speak but the voices of my family were too apparent in my head.“Yes. Me. After all this time. Fooled all of you, didn’t I
Celia“Yes, second chance. First was when I tried to kill your beloved lycan but his father and Xenos got in the way, foiling my plans. I, a high witch, had to take the help of a filthy vampire named Ivan to stay alive. I had to see you and Jasper laugh, and have fun when my child died…he…he still would have been alive. He would have been your age. But no, they killed him.”She said clutching her ashen hand to her chest. My gaze went to her hand and I realized it was shaking a little.Either she was feeling too emotional or too weak. The veins in her hands still looked jet black but it felt like something was bubbling inside of them again.I tried not to flinch at that grotesque sight. “But were you not supposed to be Ivan’s subordinate? How could you attack him and his people?”Isadora looked up at me with her eyes gleaming maniacally. It looked like she had lost her rationality long ago.She tilted her head again and I heard a few more bones creak.“Dark magic. It gave me everythin
Celia “No!!” I screamed and ran behind her but my legs were too shaky and wobbly from hours of being pulled at by the shadows. Isadora had a grim look on her face as she advanced towards the portal. The shadows were thinning, she was losing her magic but I feared she would still be able to hurt my people. Thus she ran towards the portal and waved her hand in front of it, discarding all the shadows at once. It became clear all at once and I saw the shocked faces of everybody on the other side. Xenos had his eyebrows furrowed in concentration, his arms extended as he was trying his best to keep them open while Nymeria too was doing the same. And Jasper had brought a big pole from somewhere and was about to jump in when they all saw me at once. “Celia…are you okay?” “Where is the dark witch?” “The dark mist was everywhere, we could not even see anything” Their worried and panicked voices reached my ear as Isadora stood by the side, hovering just a few feet above the ground. Thei
Celia I whirled around so fast that I think I almost sprained my ankle. And there was none other than Vasil standing in front of us. Isadora looked at him with contempt and he muttered, “I should have known you were the one” He said and jumped on her. Nymeria let out a pained gasp as Vasil jumped just as Isadora tried to slice into Nymeria’s neck. Vasil was too fast for us to keep track of. I recalled the way he had disappeared from the place after hastily saying goodbye. He had turned into a blur at that time and he did the same right now as he zoomed at her. Vasil raised his hand and she went up into the air, flying like a bird before he brought his hand down, hard. Isadora was smacked on the floor with a thud and the floor cracked as she desperately fought to break her fall. Her shadows were growing thinner and weaker by the minute. “You? You pathetic scum. How dare you attack me?” She snarled and Vasil merely shrugged before answering “You should have thought of the con