Hidden Magic

Chapter Fourteen

I am standing in a dark forest, I don't bother struggling anymore, already knowing that there was no escape, I was stuck here, trapped into this nightmare until it saw fit to release me. It was strange this dream, it didn't feel like a dream, more like a memory, but it wasn't mine, that I was certain of now, if only for the fact that I kept waking up knowing things I hadn't known before I went to sleep, it wasn't much, but little things, how to better manipulate the elements, how they could be used as a weapon or a shield. Each time I arrived in this strange dream-like memory what was blurred in darkness before, is partially revealed, more and more with each dream, sadly even if I knew this wasn't truly happening, it never made the pain any less real, any less brutal to endure night after night, to feel the cuts on my wrists only to wake up and realize they were never there.

It was driving me crazy, I wanted to tell someone, to share this insanity, and yet something always stopped me, something told me not to say a word, that it wasn't time yet, there was something I had to see first, but I feared it would be weeks before the full truth to me was revealed. I didn't bother trying to wake the strange men surrounding me, all tied up to me similarly, I didn't know them and yet they felt familiar to me, so did the woman who would come for me.

I hear that same twig snap, my head whips up unable to stop this reaction, to keep from looking at her, to see if anything has changed. Seeing that beautiful woman walking towards me, that dreaded knife glimmering in her hand, even in this dark forest. I don't move as she stalks closer towards me, no tears trail down my cheeks or whimpers leaking from my throat, I am merely expectant, bracing to endure the pain I know is coming.

She raises her knife and swings the blade down at me, no mercy in her eyes at all, resolute in having to this for some stupid reason that I don't know. I scream as I feel the burning in my wrists that are bound above my head, feel the warm blood dripping down my arms and onto my head after she savagely slashed through my wrists, even if I had already experienced it, more than once, it felt worse every time, as if while the dream was becoming clearer so was the pain I had to experience.

It almost felt like my price to see more of this strange vision, my pain in order to find out the truth, even if it was only a few extra seconds each time, and even though the pain overwhelmed me, I knew it wouldn't last long, that once I awoke most of it would be gone, leaving only the barest traces of phantom pain that I knew my mind conjured up to deal with this strange vision.

"Tabitha, please don't do this!" The words burst from my mouth with a strange desperation, and yet they aren't words I spoke, not voluntarily at least, this woman's name was Tabitha, I knew that for certain, felt it in my chest like a lead weight, the sudden knowledge filling my chest that we used to be friends, that I had trusted her, and she had betrayed me.

She shows no care towards my words only shoving the goblet against my lips, forcing me to drink it, the need almost seeming manic, like something else forced her to do this, or something convinced her it was the only way, I struggle against her but there is no point, that same liquid still goes down my throat, and it burns like acid, there was no way my blood was the only thing in there. She finally lowers the goblet and laughs, this crazed maniac laugh that makes my ears ring and then bright light is hitting my eyes, blinding me. "Your death will not be the end, it is only the beginning for you, and the men who care for you." Her words still confuse me, no knew knowledge suddenly coming to me, at least not in the form of names, as my head whips around wildly, it is not of my own will.

The panic in my chest, the fear, dread, and utter agony at the thought of losing these men is not mine, and yet I know that I love them with my entire being, that to lose even one of them would break me irrevocably, we were pieces of a whole, and to lose one of us would make us broken, scarred, unable able to be together the same ever again. I glare at Tabitha, the hate filling in me, mine and yet not, the burn in my chest, the rapid pounding of my heart, it's thudding echoing loudly in my ears. I scream and feel as if my heart leaps from my chest, no not my heart, something else, something strange, and powerful, the purpose for all of this suffering, the reason Tabitha was doing all this, I know it, the reasons are on the tip of my tongue, my mouth forms words, but no sound leaves me as darkness surrounds me and then light is shining in my face.