Into Damnation

Chapter 1: The begginning

Time can be such a fleeting thing. Changing constantly, one second you are tucked in bed
sleeping peacefully and the next screams echo through the night and the smell of burning flesh taint the air. Katya woke up to her mother bursting through her bedroom door, "Run Katya!" She screamed mere seconds before an axe ripped through her skull and she lay on the floor, blood pooling on the ground. Within seconds Katya was out of bed and climbing through her bedroom window. Men yelling at each other to catch her but Katya was a woodland nymph who grew up playing in the trees. Adrenaline fuelled her to move faster as the sound of the pounding of her own heart loudly echoed through her ears. Her feet thumped loudly against the grass at the bottom of her tree house, the morning dew had already began to form on blades of grass but her wet feet not her fear stopped her as she took off running through the town. The screams of her neighbours echoed through the night air as she dodged falling piece of wood, set ablaze by the terrible humans who had decided to get rid of their neighbourhood pests.
"Please god help me!" A young girl screamed out as two men grabbed her by the arms and pulled her inside. For a split second Katya stopped. This girl was someone who she had seen around the village, everyone knew everyone here even if you had never talked to them before. She watched as the men dragged her inside a house, each carrying what looked like bloody axes. If this were Katya she would want anyone to come to her aid and rescue her but she was not brave enough, she was a coward. "I'm sorry" she whispered before continuing her descent away from her home that slowly burnt to a crisp behind her. She knew she should have stayed, she should have done anything to help but she was no hero and her selfish motives to keep herself alive overcame any notion of saving those she held close to her heart.

For hours Katya ran and she didn't stop running until her foot stomped down into murky water. 'What is this?' She asks herself, disgusted at what her foot had just landed in. Picking her foot out of the water she tried to shake some of the muck off her foot but it was to no avail. 'Gross' she thought as she took a step backwards and scrunched her face. Now that she had finally stopped running she looked around at her surroundings. This would be the first time Katya had ever left her village, the farthest she had ever gone. The surroundings were unfamiliar, her old home was located in a bright happy forest surrounded by deer and friendly rabbits. The place she now found herself in was completely different, the tall trees covered any light that would have come in if it could and the ground was covered in slimy water.

Movement caught the corner of Katya's eyes, she turned her head to look just in time to see a giant crocodile swimming right for her. "What is this creature?!" She screams as she runs for the nearest tree, pulling herself up as quickly as she could. The crocodile jumps up at her, snapping it's teeth and just narrowly missing her ankle as she desperately tried to climb up the tree. It snarled and circled her for minutes as Katya sat in the tree, her body shaking in fear at almost being this strange creatures lunch. With one final jump and attempt at trying to reach her the crocodile finally gave up and started swimming away. Even after the beast had left Katya's sight she sat upon that tree for hours, to scared to move and to tired after running for her life from the humans who burned down her home.
"What am I doing?" She asked herself, bringing one hand to her forehead. "I can't survive out here" a tear fell from her eyes as she finally thought about what just happened. "Mama..." she said before bursting into tears, letting it all out. There was no one around to hear her so cried as hard as she could, "oh god, oh god" she kept repeating as the reality of what happened finally sunk in.
"I'm so stupid, leaving marked me for death if I had just stayed at least i would have died together with my family" she sobbed. A strange noise caught her attention as she looked around frantically. "This stupid swamp!" Katya said frustrated, everything here made noises, the monsters, the bugs, even the trees blowing in the wind. The birds sounded different and everyone time one chirped Katya would look around frantically, hoping it wasn't another thing trying to kill her.

Katya sat in that tree but a growl in her stomach finally pushed her to stop sitting in that tree and keep moving. She moved slowly, constantly checking her surroundings to make sure she was safe. Her feet hit the damp mud and slid a bit causing her to clutch onto the tree for balance. The last thing she would want right now is to fall in the disgusting mud, it should be not get eaten by some beast in these lands but her priorities were dead set on staying out of the muk. Trudging along she tried not to think of how horribly wet and cold her feet were or how mad her stomach was for being so empty.

As Katya walked through the swamp a delicious smell hit her nose causing her mouth to instantly water. "What is that?" Katya asked herself in a dreamy state. She let her nose direct her on where to go and it led her to a campsite with a huge fire in the middle and humans sitting around it. Katya gasped and ducked behind some bushes. Humans! Her stomach told her to go to the camp and try to steal the food but her brain told her it was to dangerous. Sitting in the bushes she observed the men, maybe she could wait until they decide to go to bed and then sneak in but the sun had just risen in the sky and she knew she would have yo wait all day for that to happen. Katya had been sitting in those bushes for barely three minutes pondering on her next move when a man walked by her, clearly coming from where she had just walked up from. 'How long had he been following me?' She thought. He turned and looked at her with a quick smirk before walking straight into the camp.
"Hello boys" he said cockily, the men quickly got to their feet with their weapons drawn.
'What is this idiot doing?!' Katya thought to herself as she watched a lone man walk unarmed into a camp of men who all had weapons at their disposal. 'I guess it wouldn't hurt to stay and watch this fool' she thought as she sat back a little and enjoyed the show. "Hello boys" the man said cockily as he waltzed into their camp. One of the men by the fire got up and charged him, the man quickly dodge his attack and grabbed him by the throat lifting him off the ground with ease. His hand plunged into the mans chest as she ripped out the man's heart. Katya watched in awe as why she had before assumed was a human walked into the camp and murdered every single person in their. When everyone lay on the ground dead the man turned around and started walking towards her. Katya began to panic, 'w could easily do that to a camp of humans what is going to do to me?!' She thought as she looked around frantically. Grabbing onto a thin branch from a tree nearby she ripped it off the tree pointing the sharp pointy end towards the man. "Stay away from me!" She warned, her voice shakey and filled with fear. Her hand visibly trembled as she geld onto that branch. The man stopped and sighed, "what is it with you nymphs and always thinking things are going to kill you" he says dramatically. "Put that stick down, If I wanted to kill you I could easily do so with or without that stick". Katya held onto the stick tightly but realized the man was right, she was a fool to think that a measly stick would be enough to protect her when she just watched him murder multiple people in front of her with his bare hands.
"Okay" she said with much hesitation as she dropped the stick to the ground.
"Good girl" his voice was deep but smooth as he walked closer to her, "Now tell me, what is a Nymph doing so far from home?"
"My.. my home was pillage and raided by humans" she said, saying the word humans with disgust.
"Human's are quite despicable" the man agreed making Katya look at him with a confused look.
"Wait if your not a human then what are you?" The man fake gasped like he had just been insulted, "I am a demon" he said as he bowed in front of her, "and my name is Apollyon, what is yours?"
"My name is Katya, I am sorry for calling you a human" she said, this was the first time she had ever met another creature that wasn't human. Most of her life she had spent in the safety of her grotto, knowing nothing else but Nymphs until the humans came.

"Well Katya it is a pleasure, so since you have no home anymore what ever do you plan to do?" Apollyon questioned her. She stood there thinking for a minute, she truly did not have any plan at all.
"I don't know.." she finally says breaking the silence.
"No plan? Do you know how to fight?" Apollyon questioned again.
"Well.. no"
"Do you know how to hunt?" This time Katya was feeling pretty stupid for the fact that she had no survival skills.
"No but I know how to forage"
"Forage? In your grotto maybe but can you tell me which one of these mushrooms is edible?" Apollyon asks pointing to a tree that had a few different types of mushrooms on it. Katya walked over to the mushrooms and examined them all, having no clue on which one was edible or poisonous she decided to point to the little brown mushrooms.
"Wrong, those ones will make your tongue swell until it suffocates you" he said shaking his head.
"Then what am I supposed to do?" She asked getting a little hot headed.
"Let's make a deal, just because I enjoy your company. We will stick together and help each other out. I am sure you have some use to you" The demon said as he held his hand out to her, "do we have a deal?" He asks grinning down at her.
Katya hesitated for a second, one should never make deals with demons but at this moment, after seeing how well he fought she knew he would be an asset to her. She nodded her head and shook his hand.