Chapter Seven

Sickly looking spirits hovered on air in their numbers with their empty socket that felt like looking into a void, the dark mist that individually enshrouded them magnified as they stood in groups surrounding Fidal.

Another ear-piercing whistle rang the place and Fidal direct felt herself stagger.

They were screaming in groups and it was all directed at her.

Her heart pounded fiercely, the continuous sharp sound making her uneasy.

She just wished they'll shut up but it seems the heavens had other plans as more loud whistling echoed.

With a breath, she willed herself to calm down and make an escape before her eardrums exploded and she became deaf forever.

Thump, Thump, the sound followed each other as huge dead trees possessed by the whisperers stood on their roots and walked towards her.

Whoosh, a tree branch swung towards her and she had only ducked narrowly.

The branch attacked again and she jumped backward.

Without waiting for another attack, her frame ducked under the branch and she took to her heels towards the water barrier.

The trees followed her and the whisperers screamed, without looking back, she dived into the barrier but just at that moment, a spirit whisperer darted at her and passed right through her heart.

she jumped out and landed on the barren land then quickly ran towards the dead tree that brought her in the first place.

The whisperers and Trees thumped and screamed, hotly on her trail.

She dived into the dead tree which slowly coiled its branches around her as the whisperers drew closer.

Her heart thumped in anxiety and her ears rang in pain.

Right before the spirits got to her, the tree swallow her and threw her out, back into the wet soil.

Immediately she stood on her feet a sharp pain tore through her heart bringing her to her knees.

Not minding the thick damn soil that was already reaching her knees she rubbed the left side of her chest, where the heart is located but the aggressive and painful thumping didn't cease.

A muffled scream rang through the dead tree and caused a tingle in her ear.

She needed to get out of there.

With one look, she got up on her feet and swiftly took to her heels before the spirits could catch up.

*

The door swung open and closed lightly which caught the attention of Barrie who was hovering around in her candle circle.

A pale Fidal stumbled in with her brows frowned in pain.

"What happened?" Barrie asked upon seeing her pale look.

"Nothing" Fidal dismissed and tried to straighten only for her to double over and collapse.

Barrie's eyes widened in surprise.

"What do you mean?! Where are you hurt?!" she questioned loudly making Fidal wince.

"Don't yell, my ear feels like it's ringing," Fidal whispered.

Fortunately, Barrie understood and kept quiet as she watched Fidal who lay pale on the ground worriedly.

Sweat glistened on her forehead and her lips loosed color.

After a minute, Fidal got on her feet by relying on the wall. She rubbed her chest as her heart felt like it was on fire.

"What happened to you, Did you get what you wanted?" Barrie asked lowly again.

"Yes," Fidal answered and pulled the dull orb from her bag and showed it to her.

"A whisperer passed through my heart." she gritted out.

"oh dear," Barrie said, "the heart can't withstand such pain, most especially now that your body is gradually rejecting it."

"I know," Fidal said as she returned the orb to the bag and supported herself in her room.

"I'll rest and it'll be fine." She said as she shut her door closed.

Barrie looked at her transparent hands and realized this was one of the few times she hated the fact that she was dead.

She was otherwise useless and the only thing she could do was talk and possessed small animals.

She decided to stay, at least she could try to call for help if it was needed.

Fidal slid down the floor in her room as her heart throbbed painfully. It felt like it was being ripped apart.

She groaned as her heart squeezed and black veins stretched from her inner wrist to her jaw and spread out across the sides of her face.

Her dark eyes glowed silver and fangs stretched from her teeth while her skin turned ghastly cold.

She curled in a ball, the pain overwhelming her senses. Her ears were ringing, her heart thumped and her body felt like it was on fire despite being cold.

A sign of rejection.

Her body was rejecting the life core she swallowed from the mermaid's heart.

Her body was still human after all and that was one of the reasons she needed to transcend.

A mermaid's life core held its evil.

How did she get so pathetic?

It was very simple.

Seventeen years ago, she met a man who she loved with all her heart.

Having grown up in an orphanage he was the first person who was unendingly caring to her and she fell hopelessly in love.

The man in question was regal and noble but he easily bowed his head to her.

She loved him so much that he gradually became her home, her safe harbor.

They spent time talking about how they wanted to live their lives together and grow old in each other's company.

Shortly after he proposed to her, she got pregnant.

They were both ecstatic about the new arrivals in their lives.

Happy days were endlessly blooming.

But one night, everything changed.

That night she was set to welcome their child into the world.

A woman came. She was dressed richly and finely and her aura was heavenly.

She was his fiancée.

It turned out all she thought she knew about him was a lie. A fat one. The woman gave him an option, choose to stay and forfeit his place or leave with her.

Without hesitation, he chose to leave when she and her baby needed him.

He didn't even hold his child or look at her.

The woman had stayed behind and gave her a mocking look, he was a god, destined to be the king of the gods with her help she told her.

she was just a mere mortal, what could she do? she was only an extra burden he needed to carry that's why he didn't hesitate.

Being referred to as a burden hurt all the little dignity she had left.

The woman looked at her baby and a wave of uncontrolled anger surged in her heart.

She placed a hand on Fidal's chest and to her surprise, the woman's hands went through.

With a clench, the most painful sensation she's ever experienced in her life shot through her heart.

The woman pulled a transparent red string from her heart.

Her life, the woman told her it was.

"Your soul and your body shall disappear and you shall wander around like a spirit without rest." The woman had cursed.

She felt her life slip from her. The last thing she remembered was the cry of her baby.

When she woke up again, months had passed and her baby was gone.

To make the blow more fatal, no one could see her and she became invisible to the world.

In her ghost state, she had watched her child die miserably.

To come back, to become alive again, she covered her hands with blood and swallowed a mermaid's heart core.

Fidal held on to her hurting chest, the black veins subsiding.

Her jaw clenched in defiance.

She wanted revenge, payback and she will get it.