Survival Of The Cursed

𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 10᯾ 𝕷𝖔𝖘𝖎𝖒𝖌 𝕬 𝕻𝖗𝖎𝖓𝖈𝖊

After the beast dropped dead, Asa's gaze caught up with the army of beasts. Although they were a hundred meters away, one could see the flaming city turn red from afar and their silhouetted figures as they ran toward the giant's hall.

"Lock the doors!" She commanded. Two slave girls rushed towards the door as the huge door slammed shot.

"Block it!" She demanded. So that the army of beasts won't find a way in, anyway.

'Things were getting terrible, Would there be any out of these?' the thought played on her mind.

The girls rushed to block the door with the long wooden table, and everywhere went quiet for a while.

A long slow exhale escaped the dying Prince's nostrils. The distant echo of the night wind settled in. He closed his eyes and listened. He could hear the ghosty silence calling him. And he longed for it. He longed for peace.

"A..sa," Yotifa called but his hoarse whisper ended up with a sharp cough of blood.

He was surrounded by the servants, each of them had tears in their eyes and sobbed silently.

"Save your breath, my prince." Shock laced her eyes as she watched him bleed. His chest was scratched out by the Ninki Nanka's deep claws. As Asa moved closer, tears filled the space in her eyes. She couldn't believe he got scratched. She hoped something or someone, somewhere would revive him back.

"T...there's no need to weep for me. I'm going to meet the gods and dine with them. There is no death, Asa. Only a change of worlds." The words followed his shuddering breaths.

His eyes were scared yet, he wore a smile. At least, he tried while struggling.

"Stay with me, brother." Ajoke gasped in pain. She knelt beside Yotifa. She placed her head gently on his chest, listening to his racing heartbeats. Feeling his warmth, one last time her tears lingered. "Don't do this, please. I need you now, more than ever!"

"I n...never thought we would be faced with beasts let alone, conquer them." He muttered. Yotifa's bloodshot eyes turned to Asa as his hand slowly held hers. Asa raised her gaze at his as a single tear rolled down his right eye. For the first time, she felt like a failure.

"I'm going to m..iss you, Asa. You're the best thing that ever h... happened to me. Your courage makes me do things I never imagined." His voice cracked up in another choky cough.

His breathing went heavier, irregular, and raspy as if trying to survive in a windstorm.

"I'd miss you too, Prince Yotifa. I wish I could be of help." A few tears trickled along with the words.

A small smile formed on his lips. "Of course, t...there's something I need you to do for me". He took his sister's and placed it in her hands.

The girls' eyes met each other in confusion.

"T..take very good care of my younger sister. It feels like yesterday, we came with her at hand. When all of these are over. Make sure she's m..married to a guy that's worth it, make sure she finds true hap..piness."

"I will," Asa muttered, with sincerity in her eyes. She sniffled and watched the prince one more time.

Ajoke's intent looks settled, like a lamb that has lost its way. Her gaze met her brother's watery eyes. His black eyes glittered like captured starlight. A cold chill ran through his spine while enduring the touch of death. The painful feel of it.

Just then, Yotifa's hand slipped and fell to the ground in a single thump.

"Is he dead?" Ajoke's small voice whispered.

Asa nodded vacantly in agreement to the sad question.

"No! No.....Brother!!!" And with that, the tears burst forth in gasping sobs that shook her violently. Ajoke buried her eyes onto Yotifa's face. She held her brother's face in her hands and pressed their heads together. With this, she couldn't feel his breath, or his racing heartbeats, anymore.

Gentle gasps and whispers filled the room. Some that couldn't hold their tears like Ajoke, burst out in sorrow and tears, while others comforted them. It was a sad day indeed. Two dwarfs got scratched and died in the same manner. About fifty people got slain by the dreadful, giant reptile.

Asa on the other hand, expected more from death. Whether it came as the moon hovering over the endless night the birds twittering over the roof of the giant hall's shrine or just the tangled anxieties of her subconscious. She had always imagined that death comes at the right time when one's mission in life is completed. Or at least, as a tangible feeling she could share with others who witnessed a long, slow death-"Definitely, Death must be proud." The sense of a spirit passing on, perhaps, a lightening, a change of atmosphere in the room, a kick to the head, a pierced skin, the last flow of blood- however it came, she expected it to at least, respect the prince of Odo-Ara. The only hope for royalty and the mastermind behind their escape to freedom. But no, death was again cruel.

Only five men successfully made it out of prison. The old man in a magical cloak walked around without anyone, noticing. Hungry, he went in search of food, going from room to room, to get their leftovers.

"Uh, who let you out?" One of the escaped prisoners raised an eyebrow, rolling his eyes at Prince Awade as he strolled up.

"They're not completely dead yet, I got one trapped downstairs." He replied, pointing his thumb, back.

"What did he say?" Banjoko asked Sanmi, concerned.

"He said there's still one downstairs."

"Good, we should finish it off."

"He suggests we finish it off!" Sanmi explained.

"What are they?" Ajoke asked Asa wiping off her tears.

"Let's find out." She stepped over the drummer's dead body while the chief, naked man, and King Otun stood together in a corner, watching.

Ajoke, Prince Awade, and Shade followed. They wanted to know what the creature would do. If possible, Iretiola, the Witch could study its blood.

"Let's escape. Let's run!" The naked man suggested to the other two.

"We need to know what we'd face behind the door before we escape. We can just go outside and start running, we'd meet our deaths."

"We need to go now!" The naked man gritted his teeth at the chief. "Isn't it a greater shame if they're going to kill us?!"

"You better keep quiet now else..." The chief smacked him hard on the back.

"We're going to die in here. .. we're going to die." He trembled.

The king stood, watching the both of them argue. A smile spread on his face as if he had a plan. Or a mysterious escape plan, somewhere.