Page 79 of Rising Out of the Darkness
Two strong hands wrapped around my arms and shook. My father was shouting at me, but for the life of me I couldn’t make out what he was saying. He continued to shake me until I slammed back into my body and back into consciousness.
“Elena, go! Find your mother—I need to find the other guards.” He gasped. “You need to run, Lena!”
“I—Father!” Everything was happening so fast that I couldn’t seem to form words.
“GO, ELENA!”
My father shoved me hard in front of him, and I sprinted towards my house. After a few seconds, I mustered the courage to turn around, but he was already lost in the sea of bodies.
I dodged and leapt around the chaos that filled the streets. Finally arriving at our cabin, I made my way around the side when I noticed our door was wide open. The light from inside spilled onto the ground.
Slowing to a stop, I crept towards the door. When I went to reach for my bow, I let out a hushed curse. It must have fallen off my shoulder in my sprint over here, and my new dagger from my birthday was still sitting on top of the dresser inside the cabin.
Shards of rock lay askew around my boots. I wrapped one tightly in my clutches as my heart thumped rapidly against my chest. Inches away from the front door, a muffled cry emerged, followed by a vengeful laugh.
My lungs collapsed, cut off from air entirely. I pushed forward. My grip tightened around the rock, nails scraping against its jagged edges. When I set foot in the doorway, my legs went weak.
Nausea hit me like a tidal wave as I saw my mother standing in the middle of our cabin, hands held behind her back, a sword held against her neck.
“Elena,” she mouthed silently. “Run!” Desperation pleading through her eyes.
So many emotions were flooding into me, and I began to feel the onset of panic.Gods, not now. I needed to be strong. I needed to protect my mother.
But every muscle in my body tightened, freezing me in place as my mind spiraled uncontrollably. As fear took over, I lost control over my limbs, and the rock I was gripping crashed to the floor with a resounding thud.
The hooded man whispering threats into my mother’s ear was alerted to my presence. A gasp escaped my lips as his ferocious, amber eyes locked on mine.
His mask was pulled down, allowing me to see the malevolent smile that rose on his lips. “How the gods bless me today…two stunning ladies under my blade instead of one.”
A growl was all I could muster from beneath my clenched teeth as tears flooded down my cheeks, my body still frozen stiff in the doorway. Grinning at my discomfort, the man ran his nose through my mother’s gorgeous locks. My mother winced, but kept her gaze pinned to mine, trying her best to shield me from what was occurring.
“You smell like heaven, angel. Such a shame I have to end your life today.” A wicked smirk flooded his mouth. He ran his foul lips against my mother’s ear, as he spoke loud enough for us to both hear. “You don’t mind if I have my way with that one do you?” His hungry eyes rolled towards mine as bile crept up my throat. “I’ll be kind and let you watch. Maybe I’ll even let you join in.”
My mother flinched, and whispered the last words that I would ever hear grace her lips.
“I love you.”
She threw her head back, crashing it into the man’s nose. Frozen in fear, I watched helplessly as he cursed out loud, grabbing her before she could reach me. His blade sliced through her neck and he threw her to the ground. The thud of her delicate body smashing into the wooden floor reverberated all the way down to my soul.
Everything felt too heavy. The shock sent my body crashing to the floor. Sobs rushed out of me and every muscle in my body convulsed as I lay helpless on the floor in our entryway.
Heavy boots echoed against the wooden floor and the smell of leather wafted in front of my face before I could open my eyes. I felt the sting of his blade as it sliced down the inside of my arm. Again, all the air fled my body as his boot crashed into my stomach. I groaned in agony between endless sobs. The man spit on the ground next to me before stepping over me on the way out the door.
“Pathetic. You’re not even worth my blade.” He hissed and stormed off to find another innocent victim.
I dragged myself over to my mom and slumped down next to her. With the little strength I had left in me, I pulled her limp body onto my lap, rocking her back and forth as I combed through her hair with my hand.
Why, gods … why?
Eyes almost swollen shut, I prayed to the gods that this was a horrible nightmare that I would wake up from soon.
My subconscious knew that indeed it was. Unfortunately, everything that occurred in this nightmare had happened for real and it played repeatedly in my mind as a reminder each night. Biting down hard on my tongue, I tried desperately to wake myself back up. I couldn’t take the pain anymore.
Guilt began to consume me, and the light inside of the cabin dimmed. An eerie wind blew in from the open door as a deep, otherworldly voice chuckled. Another hooded figure stormed through the door, this one familiar as well, but I’d never been able to see its face. Only darkness resided in the depths of its hood. It was followed by a dark beast.
They stood beside me as the beast’s void eyes sliced deep into my soul. Raising its beastly head, dripping with a foul, black sludge, it howled a guttural howl. I tried to cover my ears, buta barrage of voices flooded my head. They were the voices that haunted me—everyone I had lost, everyone I had let down.
“You never do enough.”
