She pushed away from him and saw that she was drenched. Diane looked around in confusion. She was in a shallow stream and was probably brought out from there. It was so shallow that she could see the sand underneath. Draven, Leo and Lara gathered around her, fluttering about.“What’s the matter with you?” Draven hissed. “Are you begging for death or something?’Diane looked up at him. He was sort of holding her up. She saw that his legs and hands were drenched too, which told her that he had been the one who pulled her out of the water. He was looking at her now with the kind of judgmental eyes people looked at those who were selfish enough to kill themselves.Diane shook her head adamantly. “I didn’t do this, I swear!” she said desperately. “It was Timothy! It is all his doing!”“Who’s Timothy again?” Leo asked on a side note.“He’s the one haunting her; the owner of the game,” Draven responded.“Ahhh, the one who built this game,” Leo smirked as he looked down at Diane. “You tried t
“You do know that none of this is our business,” Leo said as they began their journey. “I know we agreed to help you, but this is as far as our help go. No one is staying awake just because you can’t sleep.”“He can perforate you guys’ dreams!” Diane argued hotly. “I’m trying to protect you, don’t you understand? I’m trying to protect all of you!”“It is your dream that he can come in, not in ours. You’re just trying to make everyone as miserable as you are,” Leo said.Before they could start arguing, Draven raised his hand in the air.“Guys, let’s not start. We’re all going to sleep… except for you, Diane.”She grunted in frustration. “Ugh, what do you guys think this is? Some child’s play where anyone can do whatever they want?”“We know it’s not a child’s play,” Leo said. “We’re just not trying to be actively involved in your fight with this guy.”“You’re traveling with me! You’re potentially now a part of my crew—”“This is our crew, Diane. You just came out of nowhere and joined
The search spanned into midnight. They searched and searched and searched, but Diane was not satisfied with the couple of materials that they came up with. She wanted more, and so they moved to a couple of other different locations.Draven did not fail to see how each location was a little darker and quieter than the last. They were all exhausted from moving too much, but she didn’t seem to mind. She wanted more, wanted to check out so many spots, wanted to see a better quality of crystals.“I know a witch’s lair around here,” she said at last, when they got to the last location and didn’t come up with anything reasonable.Draven grabbed her hand and drew her close to him so no one would hear. “Why do I feel that you’ve been leading us by the tail since morning?” he asked.“Why would you even think that I’ll do that?” Diane asked him. “You’ve been sincerely helping me despite our past relations, so I won’t want to spoil that by playing you guys, would I?”“Good, because if I suspect a
Draven and Diane ran in with hands full of stones and valuables needed for the ritual. When they reached Leo, they dumped everything on the floor and tried to attend to him.“You were three minutes late!” Leo yelled, and then shifted.Everyone stood still. There was Lara, twitching so hard that it started the beast. The bear shifted away from her, whining into the midnight as her skin burned the grass underneath. Her body was so red they could practically see it burning.“What the fuck is happening?” Diane asked, scared.“Damn it if I know,” Leo shouted. “I just came here and met her like this.” He touched her skin and then pulled back, biting his lips so he won’t scream again. “Fuck, she’s burning.”“It’s Timothy,” Draven suddenly realized. “He’s the one. Just as you predicted, Diane, he got into our head.”“He got into her head and she’s asleep,” Diane corrected.“There’s no time. Is there anything we can do to draw her out of that nightmare she’s obviously on?” Leo asked desperatel
“It’s important that I bleed her,” Diane quickly explained. “It’s actually even better that she refused me. Then it would mean that I was taking from her without her consent.”“Isn’t it bad that you’re taking her blood without her consent?” Leo asked.“I already asked that you let me do what I’m supposed to do and not interfere,” Diane said harshly. “Besides, the better she resists me, the better for her.”With one long look at Draven, Diane stood up and went back to the blue fire that was now fizzling out. She poured the content of the bowl into the fire—the bear’s heart, her and Lara’s blood, with a ton of other concoction she mixed in there. The fire hissed and roared while she stood above it, allowing the burn to dance on her skin. She looked like the goddess of destruction who was burning away the world.Leo went to stand beside Draven. Seeing Diane like that scared him a little bit, especially since the burn seemed to affect Lara. Diane was the one standing above the fire but it
It was Timothy.Draven drew back and raised his sword in defense He didn’t know how he knew it was Timothy, considering that he’d never seen the man before. However, every hair on his body stood and stold him that this was the man. No other person could sneak up on him so easily and have such strong aura. Matter of fact, he didn’t even see the man coming. It was almost like he’d been watching him from a time away and then materialized himself where Draven was.Draven began to look for a reason why this man with the strong presence could be Timothy. As the man approached him again, he held his sword strongly in his arms and relaxed his muscles. There must be something… well, apart from the fact that he had a strong aura and he recognized him as Draven, there was a fiery burnt mark at the side of his face, like his face had been in a romantic dance with fire.Wait a minute…Diane had performed the ritual two days ago. Draven and Leo never asked her the exact concept of the ritual bit it
“Draven, who were you speaking to just now?” Diane asked as she hurried after him.“That’s none of your business, Diane.”“None of my business, Diane.”“None of my business? I saw you talking to him!”Draven stopped abruptly and rounded on her, forcing Diane to take several steps back lest she fell into him.“I didn’t know you had a problem with me talking to myself. Are you delusional, Diane? Do you think everything revolves around you?”“Right now, everything does,” she replied hastily.Draven gave her one look before turning on his heels. He didn’t know why Timothy had disappeared so fast. He didn’t even understand the real history between Timothy and Diane. When she was telling her story, she seemed truly repentant of her sin. Even if she was not repentant, at least she acknowledged her sins. She knew it would bring others down and she was trying to help. Draven knew deep down that she was also actively trying to save her own skin. Besides, if Timothy could so easily get into Lara
“What the fuck…” Leo said but his sentence died off.This was more than he bargained for. Were they really arguing about lovers right now? Were they still in the same conversation space of had something happened that he was not aware of? He looked back to find Lara sitting on a tree log, watching them with crossed eyes. That was the way she was; always hiding at a corner to watch them when they started to argue.Diane stopped rubbing her neck but she still kept her hand there. “What the hell are you talking about?”Draven laughed sarcastically. “Are we going to start this back and forth shit now? Is that what you’re playing at, Diane?”“No, I really don’t know what you’re talking about.”“Is that so? Well now, let me spell it out for you. Are you and Timothy lovers? You’re so invested and obsessed with him that I’m obliged to think that you both have been lovers.”That was a huge bomb, and bombs comes with the silence of an attack. Leo looked back to Lara, whose mouth was agape in sho