~ 14: Agony of The Truth ~

The first thing I did was slap him across his face for daring to try and test me. Firstly, I couldn't digest the fact that I had been taken for granted after having spent a major part of my childhood with him. Even Efrain and Yusra didn't fall in that category. Secondly, I wasn't able to believe that I had been tangled in their mess when my life was short and frail like a thread.

"What gave you the right to enter my mind and converse with me or hear all those words?" I asked with a grave expression on my face. "It is highly impossible for anyone to hear words in someone's head when such telepathy doesn't exist."

"Is that all I deserved to hear after such a mighty slap from a human?" he asked, his eyes flickering between his brown ones and his golden ones. "I surely deserve more."

"Men, even as werewolves, are shameless, embarrassing, rude and — Mmphff"

His hand was like a plug that couldn't be taken out at any cost. My mouth was sealed and that brought peace to his mind and soul. I had quite a few words to curse but I couldn't find a way out.

"I will give you some other time to use all the curse words in the world that you have in your pocket to use them against me," he said in a low voice, keeping his hand clammed on my face for a few more seconds, before putting it down. "For now, you will have to come with me to meet —"

"I have no reason to meet your so-called King, who may or may not have come from an ancient era," I interrupted as the words he was saying was not something I wanted to hear, now or ever, when he had become my enemy with what he was going to do.

He scoffed and came to block my moveable paths by placing his arms on either side of me. I huffed with impatience and frustration. Then I quickly slid down the wall with my feet, but he seemed to have known about that trick better than me. He went down the wall along with me, tilting his head yet always keeping his eyes on mine.

I looked at him with an annoyed expression on my face and gave out a sigh. He was unrelenting, like me. And I knew that stubbornness couldn't fight with stubbornness. I had to fight my way out as words were beginning to put me in a bigger trap than before.

The last thing that was on my head was this idea, but I did it anyway. I counted up to three, waiting for him to make the space I needed. Since he did exactly what I thought he would, it made it easier for me to use my escape plan.

I pretended to wrinkle my nose in an attempt to sneeze. He moved away a little before realising that he was paving a way out for me by giving in to my acting. But I finished off my acting by doing a full-blown sneeze with my head butting onto his.

Before long, I was running for the main door, sidestepping whenever I felt the threat of his weapon cleaving through my back. Although nothing seemed to be thrown my way as I paved my way through the confusing path, my alert mind managed to find the right pathway after many confusing turns.

I left enough obstacles on the way, but with the distance, it made it easier for him to dodge them easily and come through easily. I couldn't help marvelling at his speed in getting through them although he was quite far behind me. It wouldn't take him much time to catch hold of me, but he, it seemed, decided to keep that distance between us so that.

The door seemed far yet near, reminding me of how I had spent a night in that impossible passage in a nightmare that felt real. I couldn't unnerve the fact from my head that even in his room, the lights were placed in the same old fashion as he had lived in that era. I shoved the thought out of my head and raced to the door with all my remaining strength to forget my other thoughts and focus on the present.

"Didn't you say you wanted to get rid of this world from such beastly creatures, who have kept their entire existence under lock and key before having such major slip-up?" he asked just as my hand reached the doorknob to turn it around. "Would you really not be a part of this cleansing process when you have something that can save the world?"

"I am not falling for your tricks," I answered as I felt the hitch of my heart and my head swirl from the sudden emergence of thoughts that would have been better kept away for as long as possible.

"Help us remove their existence. You're our only hope."

I turned around to face him as my hand turned the knob and swung open the door to exit this apartment complex of his.

"That means I should be starting with you, something that is going to take more than just courage" I answered, before closing the door behind me and running down the corridor to where I assumed was the lift.

As I dashed for the elevator that felt like a promise to help me leave the building, the thoughts of the precious words of my parents entered my head. Words that said that it was my duty to protect the lands, not as a warrior that was sent out for war against other nations but for fighting for one's rights when it came to putting the greedily powerful in place.

'So this was their job,' I said in my mind, letting the tears of sorrow trickle down my face like a stream. 'By saving the world, they meant me to kill such beasts who have no control on their leash. It only seems right to kill each and every one of them for killing and turning people.'

'What else did you think they meant when they wanted you to save the plight of this world that would be coming to an end soon at this rate?' asked my usually silent mind. 'You will have to erase such faces from the earth by being a hunter like them. Will you be able to pluck up your courage and do it?'

'I shall do this willingly unless someone can prove me wrong. If there is something that they need from me, that only means that I have it unless they have picked on the wrong person.'

'The second one is impossible as you have witnessed the rise of your own powers. You will need more help to control those to the extent you need them.'

I tried to argue that it couldn't be me, but it made no sense since the people around me at that time had always been different. But then again, the colour of the light glowing around me each time and the colour of the ring had always matched.

'Don't you think removing this chain and giving it to someone else might give me the exact answer to my question?' I inquired from the voice in my head that I sought for this knowledge.

'Even then, you would disbelieve, don't you think?' it asked back. 'You haven't been the easiest person to convince. All the more to add to that obstinacy of yours.'

'Then maybe I should give that a try to see if you turn out to be true. I might as well test my limit and see where I stop believing in the truth that lies in front of me.'

'Do whatever you like, dear crazy lady. The result has always been the same and will not change even in the near future.'

I made a light frown as I absent-mindedly wait for the elevator instead of using the stairs. It was only when I heard the footsteps that I realised that I was supposed to do something that was necessary for my survival.

I turned to run towards the door that led to the staircase, but my movements had slowed down with the lack of energy. I was pulled back and thrown at the wall right adjacent to the lift's doors. I gave out a gasp at my mistake and the fact that I had to face someone who had made me live one hell of a night the previous day.

"Just what do you want from me?" I yelled at him as his hands pinned my shoulders to the wall so that I could find no way to escape unless I beat his strength. "What will you get by forcing me to do it?"

"Get my life back, I suppose," he answered in an ambiguous voice that irritated me rather than making me worried about him. "I will not be the only one needing it. You don't realise how you play a game-changer in this role."

"Are you sure it's me and not someone else who deserves to wear this ring?"

"I am sure about it."

"How sure about it?"

His momentary silence was enough to answer my question. I felt that I was right about having to possess a magical item, which funnily only got activated at this point of time when I was faced with danger. It made me wonder if this was the game-changer in my parents' role until they thought they could live without it and cast it away for someone special to wear it or to keep it safe from the eyes of the officers, who might have been wondering about how they were alive. Or maybe even to spare me from any harm from the officers, although I was innocent.

Whichever it could be, it only deepened the fact that I couldn't be the special person they thought me to be. It only applied to the fact that this chain had something against werewolves and there was no way I could protect myself with my bare hands. I was glad to have it but frustrated that it was creating a rather large misunderstanding.

"Let go of me," I said through gritted teeth. "You have no right to hold me against my will."

"First of all, I took you in after your fainting spell," he retorted to my angry words. "And secondly, you were the one to make chase you for something that I told you is important. I surely have the right to withhold you for the promise I gave to my King."

"He's 'your' King, not mine. You find a solution to that problem. I have nothing to do with this. And if you need a bigger proof, you might as well go and put this on other people."

With that statement, I opened his palm roughly, forcefully put in the chain that I had tugged off my neck and dropped it in his hand. Then I pushed him off my front and trudged away towards the staircase instead of getting tangled in another mess.

But, this time, he caught hold of my waist, jamming my right arm against my body while holding the left arm tightly. Then he made me face the front of the elevator and pointed a cold metal at my head. My dizzy head couldn't recognise what it was until it saw the long L-shaped metal on the reflection of the doors of the lift.

It wasn't even a moment later before I heard a rasped growl from the man in front of me. The chain that he held in his fist glowed a light purple before growing stronger by the second. When the light engulfed him in a sphere, I heard his guttural sounds that indicated pure pain. A little while later, the chain slipped out from his veiny hands. Then he crashed on his knees to the floor, clutching his heart tightly while groaning in pain, as if his black heart was going to be ripped right out of his chest.

In the same instant, my head had started to turn and show me many images at once. I couldn't understand the head or tail out of them. I saw rivers, a den in a steep, snowy mountain, a grassland with something black prowling in it. Then I saw the death of my parents repeatedly in front of my eyes, though I had never seen it myself.

I screamed at the agony fate was creating in my heart and head. Perhaps, for saying such a "vile" sentence, it was punishing me with the blessings the universe had bestowed on me. Blessings for other people, but definitely a worse curse on me for a mistake that was not my fault. I only hoped that it wasn't a torment I had to suffer on the behalf of my ancestors because they did something ridiculous.

My screams didn't stop until I felt the cold metal hole being pressed against my head. Even then, I couldn't stop the horrid thoughts of blood flowing out of different shredded beings, who could be innocent.

A slap resounded across the hallways. I felt my head reel as it was brought back to reality. I let out a sigh as Gean's rough hand came to my jaw while pinning my exhausted self against the wall adjacent to the lift doors. With the gun pointed at my head, there was no way I could escape from my predicted death.

A moment of silence passed as I heard the creak of him pulling the trigger halfway. But it never came along since the next moment, the lift doors opened and showed us the face of the very man who I never thought would visit the person holding me captive at this hour.