Page 38 of Immortal Alliance

I gave this... cold, heartless being my body, and he failed to keep his promise. My foot slips as I lunge for him, brandishing my dagger dangerously close to his heart. He takes advantage of my slip by overpowering me, then slamming me to the ground. The blade goes flying.

“You killed them! This is your fault!” I scream at him.

“I didn’t kill them.”

“You didn’t keep your promise! You might as well have killed them!”

I struggle to free myself from his grip but he’s strong. He keeps me pinned as I glare at him.

“Calm down,” he orders and I spit in his face.

“As soon as you release me, I’ll just try to kill you.”

“I know you’re upset, Eilish,” he starts.

“Upset?” I scream and wrestle against him but he keeps me pinned in place. “If you value your life then kill me now because if you don’t, I won’t stop hunting you until I slit your throat from ear to ear.”

“I don’t want to do this to you, Eilish, but you’re leaving me no choice.”

He narrows his eyes and repeats something in a language I don’t understand. All of a sudden, coldness descends over me and I can’t move. My entire body is as frozen as the tundra surrounding us.

Cambion releases me and sits up, removing a small black book from his breast pocket. He opens the book and begins to read in a hissing voice that crawls across my skin and sinks into my bones. My vision fades over and over again until there’s nothing but sounds and shapes as I float through oblivion…

***

Bright light burns my eyes and I roll onto my belly. A chilling breeze flows through the building and encompasses me in its cold embrace. I take a deep breath and roll onto my back before I push to my knees and then stand. I walk towards the window and that’s when I realize I don’t recognize my surroundings.

And I’m the only one here.

Something is wrong, but I don’t understand what or why.

The door opens and a handsome elven man with golden hair and skin approaches me.

I feel my expression contort into one of bewilderment. “What happened? Where am I and who are you?”

He approaches me and then reaches forward, tilting my head from one side to the other with a scowl on his face. “I’m sorry,” he whispers.

“Sorry? For what?”

“What do you remember?”

“I... don’t know,” I answer as I look at him and wonder why he acts as though he knows me. “I don’t know you.”

He snatches his hand back and glares at me. “Impossible. I’m…” Then he stops speaking and stares at me for a few seconds. “Do you know who you are?”

I shake my head before my mind can catch up with his question. The man leaves, but he returns again and again and again. Each time he returns, his face isn’t familiar to me.

But he brings me something that numbs the frustration and the pain, that allows me to escape the fact that I don’t know who I am or where I came from or where I am. He brings me a syringe and teaches me how to medicate myself. And I inject the bright green liquid and it thrums through my veins and causes me to lose myself.

“I’m sorry, Eilish,” the beautiful man whispers. “I’m sorry I have to do this to you but it’s the only way to ensure no one knows the truth of my mistakes.”

For two months, I remember nothing of the man, even as he continuously returns and brings me food, treats, clothing, and the glowing green liquid he calls Atacomite. I eat and I sleep, wandering aimlessly through the halls of this immense palace that means nothing to me. But this morning the man doesn’t come. This morning, I let myself out of my room and I follow the hallway down the stairs to the large double doors that lead outside. And once outside, I follow the pathway through the courtyard, beyond the flowing fountains and the sculpted rose bushes and into the forest.

And I lose myself within the trees as a horrible growl fills my ears.

A man—no, not a man, but something man-like—stands tall in the distance. He turns to me and I scream. The head of a beast rests on his shoulders, and he transforms into a hideous monster.

I run as quickly as I can until I can’t run anymore.

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