Nila's Nightmare [Part 2]

Darkness.

That was all she could see at the moment. She had witnessed this a lot before but it felt different this time. She knew because not only was she deprived of her own vision but even her sense of touch, hearing, and movement.

'Where am I?' She tried to speak but nothing came out of her mouth. Then, she attempted to recall what happened before she passed out.

'Did he do this!?' Enraged, she thought about the culprit behind her current situation. 'Why?' She couldn't believe that of all the people who had to betray her it had to be him, of all people it just had to be the one who touched her heart with his seemingly genuine words.

Before the incident, she was a sweet young girl who liked to be spoiled by her parents; that's why she worked harder just to impress them.

She knew about the etiquette of the nobles and a bit of how noble society worked because of her parent's former nobility lineage. When Noel came to her, she already knew that he was a noble, judging by how he was dressed even with his mask on.

It came as a surprise to her when Noel suddenly made an oath to protect her, not caring about how much of a scene he made. Tears started to form in her eyes as she heard his declaration. Looking at the masked person her heart started to beat faster and sporadically. She was experiencing an emotion she has never felt before.

Now, it all made sense. He was planning on torturing her this entire time after all. Or else why would a noble try to help her when she has nothing to offer she thought.

To nobles, an oath is a sacred promise that must be kept. Breaking the oath would mean tarnishing one's family name. This would lead to their prestige plummeting greatly, similar to how "trust" worked with the merchants' trading system.

She vowed to never trust anyone ever again. With nothing to do she recalled the things that happened in her life before ending up here.

*****

Nila managed to escape from the knights that were chasing her thanks to the help of the mysterious person in her pendant. She then went directly to the place her mother told her to go.

When Nila arrived she saw a cabin near a lake right next to the lake was a huge tree spanning over 30 feet tall. A person was in the tree looking in the direction of the ruined village. He was dressed in black from head to toe, Nila couldn't see his face as the hood was covering it.

As Nila was examining him the person also spotted her and with a deep voice, he said "Who are you? How did you find this place?" He stared down at Nila, a dagger was drawn out of his clothes.

"M-mm-y… mom..to..go…here" Nila stuttered every word she said, fearing that the person might try to kill her if she gave a wrong answer.

Luckily for her, the person didn't seem to be offended, instead, his expression changed to that of interest.

"Who is your mother?" He put the dagger he was holding back into its hidden sheath, his vigilance gradually fading.

"Zyra Rosefield" when she saw him putting back his dagger, Nila tried to stop her quaking voice barely managing to say her mother's name.

When the man heard the name his expression changed greatly, "Young Lady" he said.

Nila learned that the person's name was Sebas and a former servant of the Rosefield state. She told Sebas about what happened to the village, not leaving a single detail behind, asking if he can save her parents.

Sebas expression darkens, upon hearing her story. He gave her a reassuring smile and said, "Don't worry everything will be alright now" he lightly patted her head trying to comfort the child.

Nila was still wary of the man but still chose to trust her mother and follow the butler.

After experiencing the gruesome scene done to her village and how she almost died twice. Nila was now more cautious than ever. Despite her mother's words she still has reservations about the man in front of her.

They both went inside the cabin.

Nila looked around, all she could was old wooden furniture with spiderwebs all around the place, and a smell of decayed wood. The place looks like it was abandoned.

Nila was confused as to how Sebas managed to live in such a place. She stared at the man with wary eyes. She prepared herself to run away if she found any suspicious movements toward him.

The man looked back, this made Nila flinch as she took a step back. Sebas oblivious to this, with a smile on his face, asks her "Are you hungry, young lady?"

In her mind, Sebas was like a wolf in sheep's clothing wanting to eat her, combined with his ferocious face and predatory smile. She became even more terrified and was about to run away, but a sudden noise interrupted her.

Grrrrr

Instinctively she grabbed her stomach, embarrassed she forgot what she was thinking, and just nodded her head.

Sebas stared deeply at the child and said "Follow me"

The cabin wasn't big, It only had three rooms. All the doors were open and she called to see the bathroom and a bedroom, but all of it was almost destroyed by time. It looks so old that it looked like it would turn into dust with just a touch.

She decided to not think about it as her mind was occupied with something else.

They went to the room where the bedroom was located. She saw a drawer and a simple wooden chair and a desk, atop it was a broken lamp.

Nila was confused as there doesn't seem to be anything here. But then she saw Sebas turning the broken lamp, and somehow the broken lamp lit up.

"The thorn shall be unleashed once again," he said

Creak

A hidden compartment opens up in front of the door. The interior was a stairway made of stone heading underground.

"This way"

A/N : I'm planning on making a new novel, if you like this, then please read my new novel when its release.