The Fate Weaver

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

He was running. Rather, he was running toward me, two knives clutched in his hands, his face scrunched up in a vehement expression I could not recognize at first. Or, rather, did not want to recognize.

He was running towards me, mouth articulating words that did not reach my ears. Everything was dark around us- like our surrounding was wrapped with black wallpaper. But there were no walls, no corners, no rooms, no floor, no ceiling, nothing.

We were in blackness- he was running towards me. At first I wanted to believe that he was trying to help me, running towards me to help me get out of another ridiculously dangerous situation. Then I realized- then I forced myself to recognize the expression on his face, and his ultimate motive.

The expression could only define one thing as he swung his arm and the knife slid out of his grasp, cut through the air, towards me.

That expression, was murderous hate.

The moment the knife was about to the shoved into my beating heart, I awoke with a great start, almost convulsing, a choked gasp released from my agape, dry lips. But I still could not open my eyes- I somehow continued to know. What was going to happen next.

Was I going to die? Why did it end? Why was it so vivid? It had been- I could see the very whitening his knuckles as he clutched his knife, the crumples of his blue jeans, and the veins at his forehead that were bulging, and the murderous expression.

I had seen he- the one who was trying to kill me- he, Art, my brother.

Voices of panic and pandemonium rose around me, as I squeezed my eyes shut stubbornly, like willing myself to see.

"Is she having a panic attack?"

"Should I get cold water and ice cubes?"

Amazingly, it worked. The voices blurred to drones, and slowly, they silenced. I was in the darkness again- the world without any shapes and dimensions. It was like when I had dreamt about 'Jack' , the boy 'who was Anna and Terrence's son', when I had not known about all these.

Jack had been running towards me then. But he was the one who was 'being attacked'- past and present events blurring around him, and then the whole thing cracking, like he was just an image in the mirror.

Art was not there anymore. Was he gone? How could I do this? Was this my ability?

Disappointment coursing through like gushing water, I willed myself to open my eyes. It scared me a lot, like a lot, when I couldn't. My eyelids- they didn't feel like 'glued' to my face, like books described. I just felt like my soul was trapped in my body, not inside my body.

I could not feel my body- my fingers- my lids- anything. I could not hear myself breathing, even. But I could distinctly hear the surrounding people.

"Physician Anna, Terrence, do something!" commanded an authorative voice that threatened to shook any moment, belonging to a man, gruff and thickly Senalian accented.

"We do not know what is happening to her," admitted Anna, slightly choked. "I'm sorry, Your Majesty. I have never seen such a condition. She is quite pale, but her heart beats very normally- there is nothing wrong with her. She breathes well. She is not in coma- her brain and heart are both actively working."

"I cannot read her mind either," said the man callled Your Majesty- the king, my true father. 

Something swelled in me- like, emotions. My father. Yes, he could read minds- all royalties could.

Then their voices began to muffle again, and a new voice floated into my brain, as I wandered in the blackness, only my eyes working in the complete voidness.

"Long time no see, lovely Athena. Do you remember my voice?"

It was a male's- quite young, maybe my earth age.

"W-who are you?" My voice could be escaped now- clear and loud.

"No fear, no worry. I'm Enrick, your fiancè."

I was supposed to marry him. He was my counterpart- much stronger than I was in the ability we both shared. I could not remember his yet unseen face- but his voice, the accent, the slight simper that always existed, was familiar to my ears. I tensed, my breath hitched in my throat. 

"What are you doing to me?" I articulated boldly.

"I just wanted to talk to you in a...private place," said he slowly. "I will be visiting soon. And I will be brief- shall not drag for long and make your beloved people worry."

There was always a drag, a drawl, a simper, a sneer in his voice- it only depended on the situation, whether it was strong or light.

"I love you," he said, sending a chill down my spine.

I'd thought proposes- especially the ones I got first- should be nice, sending a pleasant tingling through my fingers, and maybe that'd lead to a very sweet first kiss. But this proposal was the total opposite- the very words sent my brain into a knock-out, my words stuck in my throat, fear lodging itself in my intestines.

The cheesiness in his way of speaking barely hid something else- the threat, the possessiveness, the confidence he had in himself to make me his again.

"I love you more than the universe," he continued, "and you will be my wife very soon. We will marry, we will kiss, we will give birth to very strong children. We will rule."

"I don't know much, but I'm not very stupid like you think, Enrick," I spat, making his name a curse word as I articulated the part venomously. "What? Marry? Kiss? Give birth? Wife? Love? Do you even know what love means?"

"Calm, fianceè," he cooed, sneering at the same time contrastingly. "Calm. I also want to say that Magnus is completely under my control."

When Magnus' name was pronounced on his tongue, the word sliced me like a knife through butter, easy and conquering.

"What?" It came almost as a whimper.

"Magnus has spat out blood. I have put in a venom into his body. It's like a  bacteria- it eats Magnus in the inside- his heart, his lungs, and everything vital for his life functioning," Enrick said like he was talking about the weather. "He will eventually die. But after a long, long time, because I want him to suffer. Pay the price of loving my girl."

"I AM NOT YOUR-"

My eyes flew open- not according to my will, but suddenly, and took in a ray of blinding light. I blinked, trying to adjust to the sudden light that had spilled into my lashes.

"Athena?" The gruff Senalian voice said in a whisper, barely a whisper.

When I saw the face towering over me, all the memory-erasing power was not working, at least then. The dark stubble on the stubborn jaw. The same originally straight and white teeth like mine. The white hair, wavy. The teenage face- which belonged to a very, very old man.

My dear father.

Without a word, I flung my arms around his neck. No words were needed- for now.