I woke up bound and gagged in a very cold and dark place. I could hear water dripping somewhere far off. The smell of mold and dirt filled my nostrils while the wet, cold air penetrated my clothing made me shiver. I pulled at the power I had stored inside me, but it was gone. It felt as if I had been completely drained. I even felt drained of life.I wiggled in the grime until I was able to free my gag. "Hello?" My voice echoed off what sounded to be stone walls.I could be anywhere. For a moment, I thought I was dead, but I think I was too uncomfortable to be dead just yet. After much struggling, I was able to sit."Remi?" I whispered. "Angie? Sandriel? Natalia? Anyone? Can anyone hear me?""No one can," a familiar voice echoed.It surprised me at how close it was, maybe only a few feet in front of me. The deep smooth female voice was easy to place. The water dripping in the background grew silent. Even the air around me stopped."Karma," I said."Oh, aren't you just so smart
Yes, I was looking at a freaking Dragon in front of me. It must have been three stories tall. What is that, thirty feet? It was freaking huge. Its black scales glittered in the moonlight, and if I weren't shaking in my boots and worried about being eaten alive, I would have thought it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. Atlas, it was terrifying. Complete and utter terror gripped my throat, even more than the ominous darkness that used to chase me home from work. This thing had fangs and claws and wings! It was the embodiment of a predator and it was assigned to kill me.The thing reeled back its head after in a great roar as if to bellowed out fire on me, the tiny figure standing in front of it. I instinctively rose the Aurora sword in front of me. Instead of normal flame, it blew out a steady stream of black and purple fire. The sword sliced it in half, protecting me. After the breath, it turned its head and gazed at me with one bright golden hazel eye. The fearsome intel
I don't know how long I lay there crying and wailing and sniffling. I couldn't believe he was gone. I'd been played. I'd let the darkness use him and use me. I needed to be smarter. I needed to figure out what she was doing before it happened. How did one even learn those sort of skills? I was no hero. I was nothing.The deep pit of depression pulled at me throughout the hours as I lay on the cold hard ground. I couldn't pull myself up. I couldn't go on. I had killed Mila and now I had killed Remi. I let Kezia and Matei die. No matter what I did, I was never good enough to save the people I loved. I'd even killed my own mother. What was wrong with me? I was living ball of bad luck. Bad Karma.I raised my head. Had Karma done this to me? Was that the reason? I slowly pushed into a sitting position."Karma!" I screamed. I had nothing left; otherwise, I would have pushed so much power into her name; it would have knocked the rest of the castle over. "Karma! Did you do this to me!?" M
KiraI turned the key. The engine clicked twice. I sighed as I let the ignition turn back. With another twist, I tapped the pedal. The engine clicked then clicked some more.I looked out the window to the darkened grocery store. I hated closing. It was the worst. The lights above from the "Discount Grocer", which was missing the last four and the first word completely, cast a yellow glow through my windshield.I sighed heavily. I didn't much like the dark. I only lived five minutes away by car. I could walk. But... I didn't like the dark. With another flick and a kick, I tried the key again. The car responded with a series of clicks that sounded like a ticking bomb. I released my hold. I slammed my hands down on the steering wheel as a slew of curses left my lips. This was just fuckin' great.I stared out the window down the street towards home. So close, yet so far. There were street lamps, but not the whole way. Well maybe there was, but a good portion of them have been burned ou
I walked across the parking lot. My eyes locked on to the street corner. As my heart beat faster, the thoughts of the surrounding darkness pressed in. I held on to my anger. What did I have to lose? A crappy flip phone? Half a college education? Or even a one bedroom apartment I shared with a roommate. There wasn't much here to hold on to.Well, my roommate wasn't so bad. My anger lessened a little as I thought of the spunky little Mila. In a fucked up world, she somehow made everything a little brighter. Sometimes her bubbling over happiness was a bit annoying, but she had a heart of gold and was the only reason I managed to pay the bills. Without her, I'd never be able to afford the apartment on my own. It was nice having someone with a rich daddy.I got excited for a moment. Maybe I would catch up with her. She could be out here waiting for me and I wouldn't have to walk home in the dark. But, probably not. She should be home by now. Maybe she was even making dinner and she always
I scrambled across the ground towards her. The man yelling at me jumped out of the way. I didn't register what he was saying."Mila, I'm so sorry." My hand wrapped around her arm. She was cold. "Mila?"She lay still. Too still. Her face was frozen in a silent scream. Her eyes looked like she was in shock. They were too big, too wide."Mila! Oh my god." I spun on my injured knees, grounding them into the asphalt. I looked up to the man still shouting obscenities at me. "What did you do? Did you kill her? Did you rape her?" I screamed at him."What? No! Fuck no! She's my sister. Damn it. Who are you? How do you know her?"I ignored the man and turned back to her. My arms closed around Mila's body as I pulled her into a hug. My breath still came in gulps as my lungs spasamed. Her body hung limp as I held her against me. I felt awkward. I wasn't really a hugging kind of person, but Mila was my friend. And now, she was dead. She was the only good thing in my life and now that had been
As if from a distance, I registered the scramble of Anton's footsteps. He was speaking to me, I think, but I couldn't process it. I just kept staring into the empty alleyway. Absently, I rubbed at my aching arm, the pain eventually drew me out of my state of shock. I looked around as if I had just come back to my body. The dark pressed in around the pool of lamp light. My purse's contents lay scattered about the circle. Mila was gone. There was nothing, just the empty alleyway that slowly took shape as my eyes adjusted to the light again. Behind me I heard footsteps and heavy breathing. When I turned around, Anton was booking it like his ass was on fire."Hey!" I shouted after him. "Where are you...? This isn't over!" I'm not sure what I meant by that, but I said it anyway.I sagged heavily as he turned the corner. I was left alone again surrounded by darkness. And Mila was dead. And she was gone. I reached for my fallen phone, but the fingers on my hand twitched with pain from the d
Very slowly, I collected my contents into a pile. With a few scooches of my ass, I was able to reach my broken purse. After an armload of stuff, it was full again. The broken strap lay useless next to it as the fake leather lay like bloated roadkill on the asphalt. I needed to cut down on the stuff I carried, but that was a problem for another day. Today's problem was to get home.I crawled to my feet. My left shoulder screamed in pain with the movement, but I soldiered through it. If anything, that was one thing I was good at. I could soldier through a lot of pain, because I got hurt a lot, but mostly because I was raised to be tough, at least physically. I had to get home. I couldn't stay here all night, especially if I was losing my mind. I bent over slowly and picked up my purse. The gravel in my hand and the fresh blood stung. I knew I was getting blood on everything, but I just needed to get this done. When I was finished, my purse hung by the singular strap as I pinched it to