12. A fight that leaves you empty
Zara flinched, turning to her right with her eyes tightly close. She heard a clank as the axe hit the stone ground, then everything went silent. Zara blinked open her eyes and turned her head towards the axe, it had gotten stuck in one of the gaps between the stones. An unusually tall and beefy man, wearing a mask was trying to take the axe out, he grunted as he struggled but his attempts were of no use. Zara got up, she could feel her heart pounding. "You are Leo's brother aren't you? Why are you doing this?", Zara asked glaring at him. The man scoffed as he started walking towards her leaving the axe as it was. "Yeah I am, so you really don't know.....once you're here only one of us can leave this place. Alive", for a moment he thought he shouldn't have said that but he shrugged that thought away.
He pinned Zara to a wall by grabbing on her neck with one hand and with other he punched in her abdomen using his full strength. Zara endured the pain as she took a deep breath. The man had an evil smile hiding behind his mask as he bends a little to take a peek at her face. He intended to kill his prey slowly, watching her struggle for every breath to survive.
In the wedding hall Ava rose from the crowd, she walks up to John. "Mr. John I think there is something you need to know", she said in a formal tone as she switches on the projector. Lawrence glared at Ava. The video starts playing, a wave of gasps were heard. Leo entered the wedding hall, he was able to connect the dots now. The video had disturbing images of the school bathroom where Sofia, Zara's classmate was lying down, smeared in blood. The video ended with how the case was dismissed due to lack of evidence. "Thank goodness her real face is exposed like this. She even tried to gaslight me many times. Who would marry such a women?", John said trying to sound furious. Two men raised their hands in the crowd, Leo and Lawrence, "Me!". They look at each other, Lawrence was already peeved. Mr. and Mrs Lee looked at the two confused.
Leo scoffed and said to John, "You aren't that innocent either". All heads turned towards Leo and he started walking towards him. John started sweating from nervousness. "I-I-I'm not going to marry her", he stammered and went out of the hall quickly through the door near him. Ava was awestruck, Leo was tall, had a well defined body that wasn't very muscular, just perfectly toned. His facial features forced her to look at him longer. Just as she wanted to get more of his handsome face he turned around to leave the wedding hall.
John had left his belongings in the dressing room. He entered and hurriedly went through the stuff on the table, Leo grabbed and twisted his arm behind his back as he pushed him onto the table. John screamed in pain, "Why are you doing this?". "Give me Zara's number", he ordered. "Why do you want that? Don't you know her?", he asked with a hint of annoyance in his voice. Leo twisted his arm more and John yelped. He quickly unlocked his phone and gave it to Leo, "Here, here now let go of my arm", he said anxiously. Leo types in the number and called, it was out of reach. He pushed John away and went outside as he texted Zara - "Where are you? It's Leo".
Zara's face was full of bruises but it was the buff man grunting and breathing heavily. He was growing frustrated because Zara was all calm, she didn't even try to get away. Was she thinking something? Zara's phone buzzed, it was Leo's message, she thought she had left her phone in the car earlier. She surreptitiously pulled out her phone from her pocket, held it firmly and hit it straight on his nose. The mask didn't help much, he retreated and stood in one place as his nose had started bleeding. Zara pushed him and the man fell on the axe, the handle broke into two parts with the axe still stuck where it was. The man was lying on the ground when Zara took the broken wooden handle. She straddled him and was about to stab his chest with the sharp, pointed broken side of the handle when she stops, a few centimeters away. "What are you thinking? You better kill me now, this is the only chance you get", the man said with a dry chuckle. "Let's not kill each other. We will leave this place without any further violence and part ways. How does that sound?", Zara asked with hope. What Zara suggested was actually possible.
If two contenders agree to stop the fight at any point it will result in a tie. The current king will no longer be able to hold this position again and the participant will be disqualified. But this has never happened due to the hunger for power. The man had a mini knife hidden in his pocket. He stabs Zara with it, "I guess I'll walk out alone", he laughed and continued, "Because the blade is poisoned". Zara felt a burning pain on the side of her waist. Similar to the way she felt when Leo bit her neck. She stabbed the man with a deadpan look, piercing his chest with the wooden handle. The man's eyes widened in shock and fear, he was seconds away from his death. She gave one last push to the handle and it went through his heart. "N-No", the man mumbled his last words, he was disappointed as he was dying before he could even claim his victory. As per his expectations Zara was about to die in a few minutes and it was him who would have walked out that door as the king.
Zara eyes were filled with tears as she saw the man lying down lifeless. The wooden handle still stuck on his chest. She got away from the man and sat down on the ground. Suddenly her vision got blurry, she felt dizzy and lost consciousness.