Chapter 10

The hood. The crow. The magenta eyes. Ah, this was an unexpected development. I felt the healing wounds on my shoulder blades throb lightly at the sight of my blast from the past. My Mother had warned me several times that there were consequences for anything under the sun, and running and hiding from my past sins had it's consequences as well.

I was a freaking coward for not once questioning my parents when they sent me a way. I would have soon rather be shipped away from the home I had ever known when everything blew up in my face and blood covered my hands than face my mess.

The figure outside of the class was the consequences of my past sins. The thing I called my punishment, or perhaps you could also call it my hell. Either way it had come to find me, it had come to remind of what I had done, what I was trying to bury away in my consciousness.

I stood up from the chair. The figure with black hood on and magenta eyes similar to my purple ones. Tch, how bothersome. As I headed out of the class I could feel Stoner's confused eyes on me, but I ignored her and began my journey out of the main building of the school.

With each step I took towards outside my heart ached, and the wounds that were originally healing were beginning to throb and hurt like they did that day. My hands that held onto the pole edges of the stairs were covered in blood.

….. Just for a split second I saw those hands painted red but as I blinked they shuffled back, clean, and stainless. It was happening again, the punishments.

Reaching outside, I thoughtlessly approached the figure standing in front of me with burning eyes. It was right in my face, I made sure of it. It's magenta eyes looking at all from beyond that black abyss within it's cloak.

I wasn't sure what I had initially planned to do when I came out to see it, because now I found my throat dry for a moment. Dry and wordless, I could only stare at the ugly thing that appeared at the lowest point of my life. It was funny when I thought back at that moment, if you asked anyone else maybe they would not dread this thing as much as I did but…..

Those people were naive. Just like I was at first. This figure was what taught me the utmost and binding rule of Sorcery— In the face of true horrors magic users were useless. Magic was a small fry fish in the face of life and death. Even better, I was a small fry fish in the face of life and death.

"..... Why….. Why must you be here?" It was stupid question because I knew why it was here.

It was my punishment, so it would follow me till the day I dropped dead.

Those magenta eyes shimmered with a knowing song. "Persephone….. Persephone is stupid." The voice was dry, and hoarse, something dreadful and awful to hear.

Persephone is stupid. I certainly was, no doubt, still I asked. "Why am I stupid?"

The magenta eyes began looking from my left eye to my right, as if it was earnestly searching for something. "Why else would I be here?"

Why else indeed.

"Someone is about to die." It's hand hidden behind the black robe began to rise, and then it pointed behind me. "Persephone will mourn many deaths here."

Cow! Cow! The sounds of crows screeching above me made me look up. They had been circling above us for a while but before my eyes settled they began to fly in the direction of the roof of the School.

What I saw was Caspian standing behind a black haired girl I recognized to be Blair from that night. He was holding her in a choke-hold, while she struggled on his grasp, eyes looking down at the long distance she would fall from if Caspian suddenly let go.

"Sorry, Persephone."

Shit. I glanced back at the thing that had just spoken, only to find that nothing was there. It wasn't even up for consideration, the compulsion that had before pushed me to involve myself in matters that never concerned me propelled me to begin to run to the top of the roof.

This was wrong. It had finally found me, and I was not sure if this was the natural order of things or if this was another punishment but I didn't even care. I had never stood back in the presence of wickedness.

Not when Hilda the cultist struck. Not when the bully of a teacher struck, not even when I messed up. I didn't care about other thoughts, I didn't care to weigh my options, I didn't care to even care, all that mattered was…..

Someone would certainly die if I didn't help. I didn't have enough skin to save everyone, hell as a matter of fact after how I messed up back home I didn't have any skin left to save ANYONE, but even then my burnt and charred skin placed a life above anything else, perhaps I would until my skin had turned to ash.

It was immensely stupid, but my legs didn't stop running upwards. I finally reached my direction.

There was somebody else besides me when I reached the roof. It was a boy with bronze-brown hair and bottled green eyes which were staring blankly, emptily at his brother.

Sin. He was speaking already. "Your ways are as crude as ever brother, Drusilla forced my hand so you must spare the witch."

I was heaving heavily when I reached the roof. The words coming from Sin's mouth were unexpected but Caspian's response was not so much.

I noticed Caspian roll his eyes even from the back view and when he turned his face I felt the creeping horror and coldness of fear from his appearance. Dark, his eyes had turned darker than any shade of red I thought existed. His smirking mouth had two canines which looked like jagged fangs that would belong to an animal….

A Wolf. I nearly recoiled from the beast-like appearance.

"Brother you expect too much from me, this Witch will die here and now." Caspian said casually.

Sin cocked his head to the side. "This is ridiculous Caspian, we have the right cards to tilt the power balance in this Prison, but you would murder our ace for petty reasons?"

Caspian blinked, a flitting light of questioning passed through his red eyes. But it was only flitting for a reason because it vanished the soonest it appeared.

"Don't be idiotic, Wolves don't negotiate with Witches and I am not a fucking Poker Card, Sinui!"

I tried. Fuck I tried but the magic didn't fill my fists fast enough to catch her when Caspian's feet kicked Blair in the gut and his other hand let go of her neck. Watching like I always did, Blair fell and fell, until I could only assume she fell into her death from my position.

Cow! Cow! The crows were screeching again. Someone had died. It was the girl that tried to drown someone in the name of Harrowing, still yet I couldn't stop the bile that grew from my throat.

I vomited.