In The Name of Shadows - A Darklina Story

Chapter 22: Dreams

Publishing date: 05/13/2022

Note: This is the first of five chapters which take place during a journey to Shu Han and during our characters' staying in Ahmrat Jen.

Warning: In the beginning of a third part of this chapter appears some very soft and short mature content. But please, proceed it carefully.

Alina was feeling it from the tips of her toes to the tips of her long, milky white hair. Her body was torn by a dull pain that was starting somewhere deep inside her, then was radiating to her skin, searching for a way out.

Looking for release.

This release, however, did not come out of nowhere. The girl's skin was an impenetrable boundary for this stirring ache, which was stopping the wall of pain inside her body and returning this murderous wave straight into Alina's soul. The young Grisha was unable to gather her thoughts because of this unbearable hurt. Her mouth opened as the terrifying scream was trying to get out of there, but no sound was coming out between her lips.

It was a forced silence. The silence that should never have come, yet it sounded like a voice of death.

Please don't do this. I am begging you, no...

Rebyo'nka...

Burning, stretching, jerking. Alina was feeling as if someone had put her on a kind of torture bed and was pulling all her limbs with all their strength, trying to tear them out of her torso. The girl was praying that it would finally happen, but the end of her torment was not coming. Her bones were holding her body in one piece and would not release it from their claws. Alina was drifting on the verge of losing her mind, but each new wave of pain sharpened her perception of reality.

Again, and again. Piece by piece.

I am begging you...

Rebyo'nka...

The white-haired girl had the impression that someone was bending over her. She knew it, because she could feel this person's eyesight focused on her. The young Grisha had no idea how she knew it, but she understood that this person had piercing black eyes. They were the eyes devoid of emotions.

Suddenly a vein in the crook of the elbow began to burn Alina with a living fire. Death was pouring over her body, slowly penetrating her entire blood system. The light under the eyelids of the young Grisha suddenly faded out as the accumulated wave of pain, that was taking away her awareness, spilled over Alina's interior, taking the last drop of her life.

Taking all her powers and leaving behind only a void.

Rebyo'nka...

Rebyo'nka...

Rebyo...

Alina jumped up sharply to the sitting position, panting heavily. She was sure that this terrifying sound that was now echoing in the silent room was her own scream.

The girl started to pat the sheets around her with her palms which were wet with sweat. Everything looked familiar. The young Grisha was still in the large bed that belonged to Aleksander Morozova, into which she had laid a few hours ago. Alina felt her hair stick to her forehead, and she flinched at the chill that filled her body, and that seemed to refuse to disappear.

Rebyo'nka... Why can't I forget this word? The Havoc Summoner thought, knowing that the memory of death would never leave her mind again.

The Darkling's bedroom was bathed in a familiar twilight. The girl always left one oil lamp on for the night, and it was now shining unchanged. Its glow was casting the long shadows on the high walls of the room.