The One Who Was Chained

28

They were here. But how? How could they have found this place? I had tried everything to get that chain off my wrist. No matter how hard I struggled, it just seemed to tighten. And now Alan had them too. I had held my breath as Sybin lunged upwards, almost bringing them down. Finn must have had the instinct to fly up. Alan just watched with searching eyes of hazel.

"You wanted to know why I don't want to die?" I didn't respond. He launched into his explanation. "I was an outcast, Mairen, just like you. I have made it my mission to rise to power. To make them pay for what they did to me."

"And what does this have to do with me?" I asked.

"Your parents were the organizers of my torture."

"So that disease... it wasn't an accident." I remembered how both of my parents had fallen ill when I was six. Just barely old enough to understand what was going on. They died shortly afterwards. "Why are you making me pay for their actions? I wasn't even alive!"

"Because your association with them is enough. How can I trust you not to do the same thing that they did?"

"You must be mistaken." I shook my head. "My parents were the kindest people that ever lived. They wouldn't have hurt a soul."

"Everyone has a past, Mairen. No one is born inherently good or evil. It is a path that they choose, or are forced to choose. And I chose the path that would allow me to rise to power."

"So destroying our world is how you will rise? If you are to be a supreme leader, how will you rule a civilization of dead people?"

"Oh, I'm not talking about this world. I will rule the mortal realm. And I'm starting by destroying this world. So no one with magic will ever be able to challenge me." I shook my head. I didn't understand. My parents could not have hurt him. It wasn't true. I refused to believe it. "You, Finn and Queenie are the last threat to my power. And I will not stop until you three are dead or submit to me."

"I would rather die than bow to you." I held my chin high.

"Good. You will die alongside your friends, then."