Serene’s POV

I gasped at the sight which was unraveling in front of me. My eyes had adjusted to see in the dark and I found myself looking at a grotesque-faced figure with chunks of flesh missing revealing bones and veins below.

She was taller than me and seemed to be emitting black smokey energy from her body. Everything about her smelled rotten as she ejected a putrid smell, enough to burn someone’s nose.

Her eyes were like red slits as she looked down at me with them holding malice. Her cheeks were sunken and a piece of flesh was missing from her right one. Her nose was mere bones and flesh, there was no skin on it.

The brown garment covering her frail body had gaping holes in at least ten places. It hardly covered her breasts and lower body. Her skin was brown and black in places and was missing in patches from her belly, arms and legs as if it was still forming.

I was still processing her presence and appearance when she reached down with her bony finger and touched my crown. A wave of excruciating pain rippled through my head and travelled throughout my body. My brain struggled to push her mind-control abilities out and I screamed.

Her fingers intertwined with my hair and she yanked them lifting my head and exposing my neck more. Bringing her face closer to mine, her fangs slithered out. Her other hand clutched my face, it was cold and damp, and her protruding fingernails dug into my skin.

Without a warning, her face descended on my neck and I could feel her fangs dig deep into my flesh. She was ferocious in her actions and I could feel my blood being sucked out. I tried to jerk away from her hold but my body was paralyzed due to the toxins they had injected into me earlier. And the creature behind me held me down as well, in case I tried to escape and the toxins didn’t work.

She had no plans of stopping and after a while, I began to feel dizzy, she was draining me fast and I could sense my life force dwindling.

My throat had gone sore from screaming and I was finding it difficult to breathe. Everything ached as creatures around me shrieked at my screams.

She finally decided to let me go and pulled her fangs out, throwing my head back in the process. I slumped to the wet and cold ground below and she towered over me and spoke for the first time:

"I never thought Sahala’s progeny would be so weak and pathetic, although your blood tastes good." Her voice sent chills to my bones for it was the same voice I heard in my nightmares. She smiled menacingly at me, revealing a rotten set of teeth. I had read Sahala’s diary and I knew exactly who she was and what she wanted.

"Why don’t you fight me fair and square and we will see who is weak?" I squealed at her, anger seeping over me. Although I was in no position to be making threats, I inclined that she wasn’t going to kill me just yet.

She grabbed my hair again and pulled, gesturing to the creature holding my legs. It let me go instantly but my legs were numb now. She began to drag me with my hair and my limp body followed, leaving a trail of blood behind.

"Once I am done with you, you will wish you hadn’t even been born." Her words held contempt, I knew she hated us after what went down between her and Sahala.

My scalp seemed to be on fire as every hair was pulled, I had no energy to even scream. Shrieks behind me told me that creatures followed behind.

"Where are you taking me?" I growled at her but she didn’t answer and continued to haul me. My mind wandered back to my friends, Kilamin would be so disappointed right now. I knew he would be furious that I was taken right from under his nose.

The ground was strewn with thorny vines, twigs and fallen leaves. Thorns and twigs pierced my skin as my clothes began to shred from being constantly dragged. The cold seeped into my skin and bones and my teeth began to chatter.

The pain was unbearable and I knew I would soon pass out. Trying to fight the darkness, cold and drowsiness that threatened to engulf my whole existence, I tried to stay awake. Knowing I might not wake up again if I fainted. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

The landscape had changed and we were near dead trees and I could feel the energy pulsating from the boundary spell. Struggling under the hold I cried out again, realizing what she intended to do with me.

She paid no heed to me and continued to drag me toward the barrier. Reaching it she let go of my hair. The wolf-like creature which had dragged me to her earlier came forward, a wide receptacle made up of small leaves, twigs and hardened soil was resting on it.

She picked it up with her bony hands and brought it towards me. Grabbing my hair again she lifted my head and brought it near my face. It seemed to contain some foul-smelling liquid. She pressed it near my cheek and sliced it with her sharp nails. Pain seared through me as a gash opened on my cheek and she began to collect blood which spilled out.

When the container was filled to the brim she let go of me and walked toward the boundary spell. She immersed her hand in the blood and coated it with my blood and whatever else she had added. I watched in horror as she placed her bloodied hand on the jelly-like boundary which divided our world from theirs.

She was about to break the spell and my blood was the last ingredient she needed and now she had it. Our world was about to get exposed to the perilous dangers our ancestors had toiled hard to shield us from.

"Nooo, don’t," I screamed at her but she was about to fulfill a dream she pursued more than 500 years ago. Nothing I could say at this point will abstain her from achieving it. I tried to get up but my limbs refused to move. I watched helplessly as my blood seeped inside the jelly-like spell but it didn’t dissipate or break. It thinned a bit though from the point where her hand had touched.

I heaved a sigh of relief, her calculations had failed and I felt at ease, thinking that I wasn’t going to be the cause of breaking the spell.

She turned and stared at me with squinted eyes and then spoke in her throaty voice: "I was right, your blood alone won’t break the spell. I need the blood of your brother as well. But don’t worry, he will be here soon, looking for you."

My vision was becoming blurry, was my mind playing tricks on me as well? Had I lost too much blood that I couldn’t comprehend what she was saying because it didn’t make sense? What brother? I didn’t have a brother. I was an only child.

"What are you talking about? I don’t have a brother." I yelled at her, my voice sounding gruff from all the screaming.

"Oh! You poor child. You know nothing. Soon everything will become clear to you." She then chortled, revealing her hideous teeth in the process, and licking my blood from her bony hands.

She carefully placed the container on one side and walked over to me. Bending down she placed both her hands on my temples and I screamed as her mind control began to override my senses. The shield I was constantly using to push away her mind control was dissipating quickly. I hardly had any energy left and for now, I have been using the shield only to protect my brain from falling under her control.

She pushed hard, her nails digging into my temples as I screamed in terror, my eyes growing wide, I struggled under her power. I fought till the last drop of energy in my body but my shield finally broke with a snap and every cell of my body felt her invading my brain.

I was losing my senses fast as my consciousness crawled to one side and she took over my brain and body, turning me into a zombie under her control. I wanted to scream but no voice escaped me, my body, my actions and my mind were under her full control.

"Good girl," she patted my head as if I was her favorite pet. "Now we wait for your brother and you are going to fetch me his blood so I can break this bloody spell for once and all. I can finally satiate my hunger and unleash these hungry monsters on the wretched world which had imprisoned us for far too long."

She then dragged me to the barrier because my limbs were still numb and threw me out of Dark Realm, my body hit the barrier and passed right through it as I landed just outside it.