The Allure of Darkness

4

Emrys

I could feel her fear falling off of her like water. I could hear her mind working. The pieces coming together for her.

I look across that table and I smile at her.

Her eyes are turning a glossy green color. They are shifting from my brother to me.

Her hair is thrown up into a bun onto the top of her head. Little pieces of hair flying from her face. Creating a delusional that she has been through a fight.

Her scraps that she calls clothes are practically peeling away from her body. She looks disheveled even as she tries to look calm. It's not a good look on her.

I lean back into my chair and see her feet underneath the table. Her legs are bouncing up and down creating a vibration that flows throughout the room.

She's all covered in grim and mud. She looks awful. She looks terrible. She looks monstrous.

Loki shifts slightly in his seat beside me. Bringing me back to reality.

"What's your name?" I say. I already know it. I know everyone's name here. It's my job to know.

"Bree," she says quietly. She never shifts her gaze from the fire. It's a lie. I've known her name since before we even took over her camp. I've spoke her name more times than I could count.

"No. I don't think that's your real name, Bree."

She looks up from fire and closes her eyes. I know what she's saying. Who she's pleading too. No god will ever answer. They are too selfish.

"Azia we need you to answer a few questions about your camp. It will only help you," my brother says in a quiet tone I don't recognize.

"Will it help me bring back the dead? Or help me go back to living a free life? Or is it gonna help me die quicker?" Her voice slips on the words. She's scared or frightened I can never really differentiate between the two.

I look to her face and she's not very good at hiding her feelings. It all shows on her face.

"No but it will help you have a life. A life where you get to live. Live under the King of Arsher."

"That's not a life I want to live or think about."

She's lying. She will live under the king if it meant she gets to live.

No one can ever lie around me. I can always tell when they do. I can tell a lot about people. What they think. How they feel. I can destroy their minds and put it back together in a different order if I want to.

I click my tongue and stand up. I look at Loki and I hope he leaves the room for this. He can never stomach torture. Of any kind. Physical or mental he could never bare watch. It's a pity for him that he cares.

AZIA

Emrys stood up from his seat. Shaking his head as if he lost in thought. A funny thought perhaps.

I look over to Loki who looks scared of his brother. His forehead has a crease that wasn't there before. Sweat is forming on his face. Making him look like he's been in the sun for ages.

I look back to Emrys and I freeze. He is observing me. Like I'm a mouse and he is the cat. Like this is a game to him. What does he want with me?

"What I want Azia is information. And let's not pretend that you don't know what I am. And don't forgot of what I can do." Emerys states as if this was a speech he's been planning.

"So it's true. Your a mind reader. You can slither into anyones head and take what you want from them?"

"Yes and more things." Emrys says as a smile starts to form on his face. "I can read your mind, shatter it if I want but I can also feel your emotions. Like right now you are scared out of your wits and you feel trapped.... Am I right, Azia?" His eyes turned into a darker shade of green by the end of his sentence.