Don't Hug Me I'm The Chosen One: Bound With Fate (Book 2)

sacrifice ritual

I've travelled through the mist. For quite a while, I couldn't see anything nor could I even touch or feel anything. The sound of the screaming lost souls and furious breeze faded away. Soon, I reached the end of the mist and found myself lying on a stone platform that is surrounded by candles, inside some kind of crypt. Cultists whose faces were covered by the hoods of their cloaks surround me. What's so remarkable by their costume is that they wore robes eerily similar to mine.

"What is this all about?" I asked.

"Our king, Malcolm is furious and starving," said one of the cultists. "You have failed the test so he shall feast on you tonight."

"WHAT NOOOOO!" I shouted in fear. "I'M NOT TASTY ENOUGH! THAT THING YOU CALL YOUR KING WOULDN'T LIKE IT ONCE HE GETS A BITE OF ME, I SWEAR!"

"No no, he doesn't wanna eat your flesh. He wants something else in you," replied another.

Immediately, I realized something's off. I tried to get up but I couldn't. It seems as if I froze in one place. But then I started to realize that my hands and feet were strapped tightly at each corner of the platform. I got nowhere to escape, unless I do something. Using the energy I have in me, I tried to break the straps but it was no use. I just struggled and struggled. Someone, which I assume is Shrignold, approaches me. Scared of what he might do, I tried even harder but it just feels like as if my ankles and wrists were being squeezed.

"C'mon, keep on trying to escape," muttered Shrignold. "Malcolm will be satisfied."

Between a crowd of hooded cultists, Michelle comes forward to me. She seems to be wearing some kind of black lipstick but I didn't mind. My heart beats faster as she kisses my forehead and each of my cheeks, hoping she'd secretly help me out of here. But I was wrong. Instead, she takes out a knife, rips my cult robe open, and slightly slices my chest. My heartache, which was caused by my own crush betraying me, hurts even more than the huge wound she created on my chest did.

"He's not bleeding even if I've sliced deep," reported Michelle. "He's indeed the chosen one."

"Thanks for your help, young lady. We shall start the ritual," Shrignold replied with an evil smile.

"MICHELLE, WHY ARE YOU DOING HERE THIS TO ME?!" I questioned, tears starting to form from my eyes. "I THOUGHT WE'RE FRIENDS! WHY ARE YOU HELPING THEM SACRIFICE ME?!"

"Looks like it's only now you've realized this all part of a plan," spoke the statue head of Malcolm.

"W-what...?!"

"You were The Destined Boy, as prophesied by Emre, the great seer wizard in history and you were said to be the one who will take me down, yet it was so easy for you to be lured in my trap. How pathetic of you."

I started looking around frantically. It's still so hard to believe that Malcolm is the he-who-must-not-be-named villain everyone is talking about. And I can't believe I've went face-to-face with him.

"I've sent bounty hunters to capture you but they're so absurd enough to fail," he added. "It seems Shrignold is the best one I could trust to help me get my hands on you."

"I DONT UNDERSTAND THIS! WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO CAPTURE ME?!"

Malcolm laughed. "You've possessed such abilities, enough to 'defeat you-know-who'. So I've seem interested in you. It's just easy, if you wanna be spared, join my side and be part of my powerful army. But you rejected that option so I'm left to no choice but harvest your powers instead."

"NO! NO PLEASE!" I begged desperately, tears now falling down my eyes. "MY ABILITIES ARE THE ONLY THING I HAVE TO HELP MYSELF AND MY FELLOWS!"

"OHOHO too late! You've stepped into my spiderweb so now you must accept you fate. START THE RITUAL!"

Shrignold holds his hands flat on the air above me and everyone else started chanting random ass words I couldn't understand. Soon, some kind of white green light that looks like a whirlwind comes out of my body and makes their way into Shrignold's hands. I felt like as if something's sucking my breath away and my organs felt like they're being squeezed. It was so painful, I helplessly screamed really loudly, hoping someone would hear and come rescue me.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"

All of a sudden, I heard an explosion. Everyone got distracted and the ritual stopped, causing the white green sphere light thing to return into my body and spread sensation over my body that eased my pain. I looked around and saw something glowing white near the crypt gates, which were destroyed. After a few seconds of the thing fluttering around and wrecking pillars and small statues, I managed to recognize it as the ghoul-like creature that I accidentally summoned during my panic attack. Malcolm's eyes glowed burning red in anger.

"CAPTURE THAT PEST!!" he roared. "IT HAS DISRUPTED THE RITUAL!"

Few of the cultists attempted to do as Malcolm commanded but failed. They immediately got knocked over by my panic attack creature. It crashes into the platform I'm strapped on and makes it collapse. The straps on my wrists and ankles snaps, giving the chance to escape. My panic attack creature then flew towards me. At first, I got scared that it might kill me but my expectations were crashed. The creature enters the large cut on my chest and makes it fade away miraculously.

I felt some kind of warm feeling crawl through my vines and made their way into my head. The second it enters my head, memories of the days before I was lured by Shrignold into this cult flashed through my head. I started to remember everything, who my adoptive fathers are, the whole reason why I'm in Dehamis, and more. That's also when I've realized, the nightmare I had back in the cottage my dads and I are currently staying in, is actually a warning of what might happen to me in the future.

"WHAT ARE YOU ALL WAITING FOR?! RECAPTURE THE BOY!" Malcolm commanded furiously.

The cultists chased me all the way out of the crypt. I ran and ran while trying to remember how to get back to the realm of critters. Hiding in a random chamber was such a bad idea because they immediately found and cornered me, Benny being in lead. Luckily, before they could even seize me, I managed to punch him exactly where I saw the 619 tattoo. The same events that happened when I freed Paige from Malcolm's slavery happened again. I squinted my eyes and covered them with my arm as the bright rays spread around.

"Oh oh my gosh! Where am I?!" Benny asked frantically while looking at himself and around. "Wait a minute...I think I remember now...OH GOSH!"

However, the others were furious. "WE'RE LOSING ONE OF OUR MOST IMPORTANT CULT OFFICIALS! SEIZE HIM!"

They teamed up and captured me. I struggled and wrestled with them, accidentally freeing some of them in process, causing the whole chamber to glow in such blinding light. Soon, a huge fight between the liberated cultists and manipulated cultists broke out, giving me enough time to escape. Benny escorts me out while the others are distracted.

"You go free the others from Malcolm while I find us a way out of here," he told me.

I tried to find the others but instead I stumbled into the same vines maze that I escaped during the 2nd task. After seeing the giant crawlies all over the labyrinth, an idea develops into my head.

"If Malcolm can manipulate Dehamians into joining his army, why shouldn't I try the same with the Dehamian creatures?"