02

NYX

Nyx stood with her head hanging low, tied in both arms before the counsel of the Guardians. She knew that her fate had already been decided. All it remained was the announcement.

"Nyx has had leveling charges of theft over the past years and we will no longer condone such behavior." One of them spoke up.

"Thereby we are sentencing her to the..." The other added, adding to the suspense in the air.

"Black Forest." The last one completed and Nyx's head jolted up in shock.

Her eyes widened in fear and her lips parted. The Black Forest.

"P-Please, I b-beg... I did not do it. I-" She stuttered.

"This would serve an example to everyone of you who wants to get into such dirty acts. Take her away." The Head Guardian instructed the guards who wasted no time as they carried Nyx who struggled against them.

"I did not do it! Please don't take to that awful place. I promise you!" She cried but the guards held her tight.

The last person she saw before they went further into the woods was Sandra, she watched how she struggled against them with a satisfied smile.

She had framed her up. That was all she knew.

~~

Nyx felt like something was shaking her. She slowly opened her eyes and came face to face with a wooden floor. She smelled the wood and scrunched her nose at the stench smell of urine. She slowly sat up and fell back on the holder supporting her. She looked around and saw that she was in a wooden cage.

How did she get here?

Panic flashed through her face as she looked outside. It was still in the midnight.

What was she doing here?

Then suddenly a strong ache hit her fully in her head and she gripped it. She winced out as she remembered what had happened and how she got here. Her eyes flew open.

Those men she saw last were the one who brought her up on this cage. That was when she also noticed there were other people in the cage.

She glanced at each of them, none of them looking familiar. She gulped hard again and looked through the hole. She saw even more men.

Where were they taking her to?

"What happened?" A girl's silent voice came from beside her, making her jerk back.

She blinked hard when she saw that girl was not wearing anything below. She fought her gaze away and licked her lips, only to taste the strong metallic tang of blood.

She remembered how the men had slapped her across the face after she tried to hold unto them in the Black Forest.

She released a deep sigh. "Nothing." She whispered.

"I am Ann." The girl introduced.

Nyx turned to her. "Nyx." She said.

The girl managed to pull a small painful smile.

The carriage soon halted to a stop, making them jerk forward. The men climbed down and opened the gate of the cage. "Come down!" He ordered.

They all began to jump down. It was then Nyx noticed the chains that was used to tie her hands and legs. She knew there was no way to run away.

The men led them through a bushy path and finally got to what looked like a pack house.

"Move! Why did you stop?" A whip against someone who screamed made them rush forward. They led them through the secret path into the dungeons where the rest of them were kept.

Nyx's eyes widened when she saw the people that were inside. Some of them had their skeleton showing alone while she could see some skulls of men and wolves. They had eaten themselves up.

Nyx and Ann were placed in the same dungeon which Nyx was really grateful for. As they settled in, the men locked the door and left.

One of the former people that were already there before howled so loud and went on a rampage. The new people rushed towards the entrance and watched how he went wild in his cage. There was no one with him which was quite good.

This wolf was no ordinary wolf. He was a lycan! It was visible in his body. His eyes were golden and his fingers were now claws.

The men that had left earlier came back with whips that had sharp edges. This was even sharper than the one that she had seen with the Head Guardian.

The Lycan did not stop hitting himself against the door.

The men stood, determined and eyes hard on him. He stretched his hands out of the door, trying to grab any one of them. One of the men pulled something that looked like a powder and blew it into the lycan's cage.

The lycan staggered back and fell to the ground, whimpering and clutching his heart as if he could pull it out but a lycan was never capable of killing himself.

Nyx watched how this horrendous act went on. She had shifted when she was fifteen and had passed out by the lake that evening, she even slept there through the night. But since then, she hardly ever heard her wolf speak and she tried to shit, nothing happened. It was until years later, she learnt Sandra had made her drink more wolf bane than she drank water, she had lost her wolf which made her weaker.

She closed her eyes, not wanting to remember that look of satisfaction on Sandra's face when she was being dragged into the Black Forest.

The men walked out again.

~

Some hours passed by in a blur and Ann laid her head on Nyx's shoulder. Nyx had given her her torn top to cover her waist area. Footsteps rattled against the floor and every one opened their eyes, sitting at alert.

Some of them now understood what they were doing here. This was a slave ring. A dangerous one for that matter.

The men glanced around and everyone began to hide their faces. One of the men noticed Ann and pointed towards her. "You!"

Nyx looked up. "Me?"

The man nodded to Ann who seemed scared now.

"M-Me?" She stuttered.

"Yes, you." The man said and entered the cage. He picked her by her arm but Nyx was not going to let him take her away from him like him. She struggled against him and the next thing she felt was a hard slap against her left cheek and she fell back. The men ganged up against her and began to hit her as the rest dragged Ann who was crying away from her.

Who knows what they want to do with her.

When the men were satisfied, they left her all beaten and weak.

She had just lost a friend she met. What a fate.

A scream resounded from another place in the place and her heart broken because she knew who that scream belonged to. Ann had been killed.

Angry tears rolled down her face as she mourned for her friend, she cried more than she ever did when she was being dragged into the Black Forest.

This was the first time she felt a connection with someone. A the connection she would have loved to protect.

A genuine connection.