How the Emperor trapped a Witch

Chapter Fifty-nine: What is reality?

Note: Violence and blood. Plus cussing.

Alaric

"What did I do?" Radna chuckles, holding Celestia tightly in his arms with a leer. "I tried to be kind, but eventually had to use such drastic measures...."

He grabs Celestia's chin and forces her head to face us. "Unfortunately, she resisted my love and goodwill too much and became a pretty little doll."

"Let. Go. Of. Her. Now!" I growled, tensing up to lunge towards him but was stopped by Quinn's restraining hand. I start to look back at her, when she suddenly appears before Radna and attacks him, pulling Celestia away in one smooth movement- throwing her towards me.

I quickly ran forward and caught her carefully, her hip bones hitting my stomach and her arms so thin that my hands could easily wrap around them twice. Kimbra and the rest of my party jumped into the fight, giving me time to move away and gently place her in my arms more comfortably.

"You d*mn inferior beings!!!!!"  Radna roars, spreading out his wings as dark magic spread across the entire room, circling around us. "Get out of the way!"

"Tia!" I lightly shook her as she stared up at me with blank eyes, devoid of their usual shine. "Tia! Please answer me!"

If I was not holding her in my arms right now and could feel her weak heartbeat, I would of thought that she was dead. I even tried pinching her on her arm and got no reaction from her at all. 

"Alaric! A little help?!" I heard my name being called by the others and knew that they were out of their league, fighting against the Demon King. I set her down carefully, using my cloak as a pillow for her before standing up and drawing out my sword then turning to face Radna: there was no way in h*ll that I going to allow him to live after doing this to Celestia.

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

Celestia

I watched the fight unfold before me like I was watching a movie on a screen; unable to interact with any of the characters in there. 

But no matter how loud I screamed or tried to shake the screen attached to the wall, I was unable to get them to hear me at all. Whatever Radna had done to me, I was now trapped inside my own mind with a small part of him.

I wanted to keep watching, but I had to get moving. I could hear him chasing me, testing me, teasing me. I had tried fighting back which ended badly- he had almost taken all my control that I had left of my mind so now all I could do was run.

I started having feelings of deja vu as I ran and realized that this was my dream before I was kidnapped. It all made sense; the long hallways full of doors which won't open, the cuffs and collar that stayed on me within my mind.

If I could find the hallway with the window, I might be able to escape from this place.

I ignored the amused voice calling out to me, running as fast as I could through the maze of identical hallways until I finally found the window that opened and swung my legs over the side, holding onto the ledge of the window and looking down at the sharp rocks below.

I turned to look back at him; smiling widely as his faded and reached for me. I fell, watching the widow quickly recede above me and closed my eyes before hitting the rocks.

::::::::

"Hmm." I stumble back a little, holding my head as sharp pain ricocheted around- I had managed to regain control. "Ugh..."

The stars cleared from my eyes and I raised my head up to look at my surroundings. I saw that I was in the same throne room that I had seen from the screen and that Alaric was standing in front of me.

Alaric! No sound came from my lips as I race towards him, happiness blooming inside me as I barely registered that I still couldn't speak.

Alaric starts to turn towards me as tears of joy weld up in my eyes and I reached for him; that was when I noticed that something was wrong. Sticking out of his chest, right at his heart was a dagger- blood pooling around his feet as bled from multiple wounds.

I froze, staring at the blood.

"C-celes-stiaa...." He groans, holding his chest before falling to his knees. "W-why?"

I was confused at first, until I looked down at my hands and realized that they were covered in blood: his blood.

In that moment, it was like something had shattered within me. I felt like I had been sucker-punched in the stomach while being choked as my nails were pulled off. I couldn't breathe; my legs started to shake as my hands trembled, dripping the blood all over the floor.

I held them up to my face, seeing how dark red the blood was and knew that the wounds I had made were mortal- Alaric was going to die. Because of me. This was my fault.

Guilt, sadness, anger, and helplessness overwhelmed me as the sound of myself screaming echoes throughout my head. I felt my power start to running amok- breaking the floor beneath me and lifting me up as tears flowed down my face.

I didn't care anymore: what was the point? Living without Alaric for a year was hard enough, even knowing that he was still around in the world. But having to live without him and he was completely gone- was too much for me to bear.

'I can't do this. How did this happen? Please let this be just a bad dream. Please.' I begged inside my mind.

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

Alaric

"Tia!!!!!!!!" I yelled over the roar of power that swirled around the room and shook the walls. "What the h*ll did you ?!?!?!?!" I roared at Radna who was grinning at the sight of Celestia.

"I made her see her greatest fear!!" He starts laughing maniacally before I cut off one his remaining four wings. We had cut two of them off before Celestia had stood up and unleased her power. "She thought that she had escaped!"

"YOU SON OF A B***H!!!!!!!!!!" I wanted to lunge at him again, but the ceiling started to fall, separating us.

"We need to leave!" Kimbra grabbed on to my arm and pulled me along behind her as Quinn, Barrett, Reid, Blair, and Nolo quickly retreated.

"We're not leaving without Tia!" I yanked my arm away and started to approach Celestia.