The Darkness

Chapter 30 ~ Flashback

     • The Stranger •

"How do you know who I am?" I backed away, prepared to cast a spell. "Answer me!"

     "My... advissor educated me all about you." She stepped closer, tail dragging along the dirt. "He warned me of your powerssss."

     "Who?!" I shouted, fist clenched.

     "Surely you remember your old acquaintance..." Her words echoed and I plummeted back into my dark memories...

———————

     I sat up in the isolation room. Something was different. My senses were hyperactive.

     "Somehow absorbed... spectral magic... dragon..." I heard bits and pieces from the other side of the glass. "Stronger than anything we've seen before... immortal..."

     My eyes widened. Was this person talking about me? Am I really immortal?

     "He hears us..."A new but similar voice hushed. "Open the doors."

     Suddenly, the door unlocked and swung open. There was a man standing there. He stepped inside and shut the door behind him. It was the man from the day I was kidnaped.

     "You-!" Rage burned through my blood, but I was weak from this strange new power and fell to the floor. "What have you done to me?"

     "Not what we did to you." He folded his hands behind his back. "You did this to yourself."

     "Impossible!" I defied through gritted teeth. "I jumped in the way to save that woman and her baby."

     "And in doing so you were exposed to the spectral fires of the dragon." He sighed, like lecturing a child. "Somehow you absorbed that dragon's magic and managed to kill it."

     "Why... why was that dragon even at the kingdom? Why am I here?" I sat up, frustrated.

     "Hm." He grinned. "All in good time."

     "Let me go! You have no power to do this to me!" I stood, leaning against the wall. "Who do you think you are?!"

     "Professor Zeymah." He bowed, almost mockingly. "We don't wish to kill you-"

     "-I heard." I interrupted.

     "Heightened senses..." He noted. "Extraordinary. As I was saying, we merely wish to understand your new powers."

     "You mean run tests on me?" I grimly corrected.

     "Hm." He grinned again. "You're a tough one, aren't you? No matter. We have ways of dealing with this..."

———————

     I shuddered at the memory. At what that monster did to hurt me since I couldn't die.

     "Ah, you do remember." Lintu grinned.

     "Remember what?" Sithra worriedly looked to me. "What's going on?"

     "The Professssor is offering a very large reward for your return, Onix." She sneered. "As for the otherssss... well... They're no use to him."

     "No!" I shouted and raised my hands to the stone above Lintu. "Butio!"