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It was that reaction, that instinct to freeze instead of attack, that got Ariella captured.
I am not too familiar with fear. The stragglers that wander into the forest are nothing but meals, and there is not a single weapon made that makes me shake, but Everan’s magic is different. The way it crept under my skin is a feeling that has never faded. I may have attempted to conceal the memories, but they never disappeared.
The sky is dark, and it’s only thanks to my keen eyes and nose that I know where I’m going. There’s nowhere else that Everan would’ve taken Ariella to play his sick and twisted mind games.
I fly silently but do not attempt to conceal my position by diving into the trees. Let the guards see me. Let Everan be aware of the doom that is coming for him.
“I will make you suffer just as much as I did,” I growl as the manor gets closer. “Every scar on my back you shall receive tenfold. And every scratch you put on Ariella is another hour of torture you will endure.”
The thought of Ariella screaming in the lonely halls just like I once did makes my wings beat faster. The dark elf guards in the courtyard spot me, just like I planned, and a few of them raise their bows to shoot. Some of them scream for the alarm to be raised, and others follow those orders to ring the bell that will warn everyone of my arrival.
I let them.
The arrows are nothing to me. Most of them miss as I begin my quick descent to the ground, swooping the soldiers off of the pillars with my back claws and throwing them against the stone walls and jagged earth. I cannot take as much time with them as I’d like to because Ariella needs me, but I hope the devastating injuries I can give them all in this short amount of time will be enough.
As I run through the manor’s courtyard, I realize that not much has changed. It’s dark with no light except those from the candles that line the walls. The doors are barricaded with a steel beam, though I’m not worried about that being an obstacle for me.
The alarm bell sounds, ringing through the entire area and loud enough that it echoes in my head, and it reminds me of the day I escaped. Its rings are identical to the ones that soundtracked that day, and my mouth goes dry from the memory.
To remind myself of the present, I furiously shake my head and focus on cutting down guards one by one. The blood that sprays in the air serves as a reminder that things are not the same.
I will not be frozen in terror again. I will not let Ariella slip through my claws just because of a littlefear.
The steel barricade breaks apart like splintered wood under the force of my power, and I begin my sprint down the halls. I smell Ariella, of course, I do. I would recognize her sweet floral scent anywhere.
“You will be alright,” I growl. “You will be safe.”
Battle cries, weapons clangs, and fierce shouts are all around me. I cut down another dark elf. I chew up a bone. I run along the long, desolate hallway.
I try not to think of how similar this is.
With their armor, the guards all look the same. Were it not for the phantom ache along my scars and body, I would be back during the most torturous period in my life. If I turn around and run back towards the doors, it would be exactly the same.
I shake the thoughts loose once more with a growl and focus on the one thing that is different. Ariella.
Despite my inner instinct yelling, screaming, that it is her fault we are back in this hell, I know in my heart that it isn’t true.
She’s not the reason I’m reliving my nightmare, but the reason I’m willing to do so. I cannot live without her.
As I move, the scent is getting stronger, and I realize that it’s moving.
Ariella must have escaped Everan’s sight somehow, a fact that makes me most impressed, but she’s still only human. She’ll be caught eventually.
The thought makes me run faster.
It’s… foreign, this feeling in my chest. The way that I long to keep her safe and warm. The relief that sweeps through my body when I realize she is well enough that she can run from a monster like Everan. I barely recognize it or am able to name it, but that does not mean it doesn’t exist.
I want to see her again. I want to hold her in my arms.
She’s getting so close.
When I push past a set of old wooden doors, I stop in my tracks. I smell Ariella, she’s here, but I also smell magic. It reeks of Everan, and my body is pulled in different directions at once. Toward Ariella as fast as it can go, toward the exit.
I take a carefully measured step forward and inhale deeply. I focus on the sweet ambrosia scent of this woman who has taken hold of me and hold my breath deep in my chest so it aches just like the hole she left when Everan took her.
I exhale.
“I’m coming for you, Ariella,” I murmur. “I’m here.”
