Jail of Freedom

Schemes

"You are all so easy to manipulate. I guess your human blood is still more dominant than your enchanted forms. No matter how you tried to keep your reputations clean, it is easy to fabricate lies and distort the media articles to blame you. I guess the mythical stories that I published on children's books made them more scared of your existence rather than thankful." I can see what she is doing. She's trying to prolong their torment as I watch them twitch in pain.

"Chelsea – calm down listen to us. We will tell you something very critical from this point. Don't let her consume your emotions. Focus." It was Eric's low voice that spoke to me. He was crawling slowly towards me. He is paying attention on the distance that he accumulated for it not to appear too suspicious.

"I am impressed how you took note of what I said 19 years ago, that I will haunt her down as she reached the fullness of her powers. You fell victim to my publications as well as you become nosy to human ways of living. The blood moon saga and the ritual both served as baits that you willingly swallowed. The messed up time line in this place helped me a lot since you are all barely new here, you didn't know that it takes 10 years before it resumes to a normal cycle. I think I should thank Makiling for not educating you well. Hihihi!" As she walked closer to us, the arrows followed her too making our space limited for any escape.

"Whatever it takes, we will protect you. Trust us." Minwoo just reached the same distance that Eric occupied. All the other four are slowly but surely moving towards me. It's a decision that they already made ever since the witch appeared. I can tell that they no longer care about their own lives. How worthy am I to be saved?

"During the years that you spent to master your powers, I leisurely maximized my time to locate where she is. I already had the gut feel that it was her from the moment of her birth, to her orphanage records and at the same time her unnatural abilities to escape natural disasters. She even beats a cat for having 9 lives on her field of profession. You see Chelsea, you weren't sent on those harmful assignments under storm surges and underground explorations for nothing. It is also not that you were brave or anything but – you were meant to prove that you can do the impossible and that is always to get out alive. You always say that you were just minute away from death but in reality, you were favoured because you were your mother's heir and your father's daughter. You are that gem that they failed to recognize from the very start." She looked at them with an insulting tone. Her pride seems to be very overwhelming for taking the lead on this case.

"Chelsea, we will try our best to distract her please don't pay attention to anything that she will do okay? Don't worry about us. We've done this before so we can do it all over again." Junjin shot me a weak smile as he whispered towards my direction while the witch is so pre-occupied on her self-appreciation.

I can see their eyes having a soft dwindling tint of their usual colours. It's like they are trying to do their best to gather their remaining strength for a last desperate move. Looking at them from where I am standing made me notice that they are a lot nearer to me now; each of them reaching to one another's hand to form a circle around me.

"The only thing that I needed the most as a proof of your ability is – for you to be able to come back here effortlessly because in real life, without out your royal Diwata blood nobody enters Vayanhan twice. They will be automatically redirected with unexplainable circumstances or sometimes they will just neatly forget. When I realized that you turned around and entered this place normally once more ahh – I must have been a genius from the very beginning. Now, should I start torturing your heroes before I take your life?" After saying her last spiel, a bunch of sharp arrows pierced through their flesh in a blink of an eye. The murky fluid was like acid against their skin and it sent them to a deep agony at the same time. They groaned with pain all over their body but she hasn't noticed yet what they are trying to do.

"This is nothing – it doesn't hurt at all. Don't cry Chelsea." Hyesung said with his gritted teeth. It's obvious that he is doing his best to act that everything's fine.

The second wave of arrows charged to me ruthlessly and to this they stood up and covered me like a declared sacrifice. The witch waved her wand and got them out of her way. There were chains on the end of the arrows and it all started to trace from the ceiling, with this they were pulled hanging like live bloody puppets with strings. They were hooked in dire torture and here I am standing trembling without any scratch because of what they did.

"STOP – stop this insanity and release them! I am the only one that you need right? Let go of them and you can do what you want. I'll come with you." I shouted at her without thinking twice. I can't even equate my life's importance compared to them. I don't even understand why they are trying to save me from my wretched destiny. I can't just stand here and watch after all of what I've heard and after all of what they've been through because of me.

My immortality, if that is even true is never my advantage if I can't even protect my loved ones. It will be excruciating for me to live the rest of my life full of guilt and grief. I can't even imagine the six of them being apart. I don't even want to think about the possibility of having one of their lives put in vain just because of my existence.

I walked towards her voluntarily. I can feel the air slowly suffocating me from my anxiousness.

"Chelsea! Stop being stubborn and get away from her! Where is the thing that I gave you? I told you to always bring it right?" Dongwan screamed at the top of his voice while struggling from the chains that held him.

The raincoat, I took it off and put it inside my bag. I left it in the orphanage while looking for the cat.

"Looks like you are out of cards now. Come here dear and let's begin." The evil lady discovered a very crucial point of advantage on her end.

"Promise me first that you'll set them free." I struggled as I pull my courage to speak to her calmly.

"Okay – I will." She answered with a rotten smile.

I dashed to her direction after hearing her words and as soon as she held my hand, a few more arrows whizzed towards their chest. She – she betrayed me.

"Well, I promised you I'll set them free but it's your fault for not asking me how. This is how I set them free; killing them is the easiest way. Hihihi!" Her laughter was like that of an insane person. I lost my control all at once.

I shouldn't have trusted her so easily how can I be so stupid after all of what I've heard about her wickedness. For the first time in my life, my senses started to crave for vengeance. I looked at my brothers for the last time as I saw them miserably paint a smile on their faces with a dying glance. I can hear their heartbeat – I can tell they are almost coming to their end and with this I screamed with a desperate cry for rescue. The build-up of emotions swallowed my consciousness and I lost myself as I dropped on the floor in total darkness.