His Demoness

57 ⚔️ Mayhem

In the dark of the night, a burning arrow streaked through the starry sky like a falling star.

When it struck a bale of hay a few feet away from the pair, the burst of flames startled them. The fire grew in mere seconds and smoke started spiralling through the air.

Zhijian cursed under his breath. He grabbed Xiaoyu's arm and they immediately dived for cover underneath the watchtower that was located at the fortress gate.

His eyes searched for the source of the attack. There was movement at the side of the steep mountain – little specks of red. From the same direction, more arrows came raining down on them in bright, fiery orbs; hitting the roofs, the fields, the barns. Everything that the villagers had worked for was slowly being destroyed.

Within minutes, the place was covered in flames. The screams of terror began as people scrambled out of their burning homes and ran for safety.

"What's going on?" Zhijian's face darkened as he kept a lookout for any arrows. "Who's attacking us and why? Why does trouble keep happening one after another today?"

He may not have figured it out yet, but deep down in Xiaoyu's heart, she knew exactly who was capable of planning this attack.

Leader Jiang.

She gasped suddenly, remembering that she was together with Lanying before her sleepwalking started. "My sister! She went to look for the village leader because you guys were taking far too long. We've to go look for her!"

At the thought of her being in danger, Xiaoyu almost ran out but Zhijian wrenched her back into the safety of the watchtower. "No," he insisted. "You stay here, I'll go and bring her. Jiang Yuhan went straight home earlier, so I'm certain he's with his son now."

She gripped his arm tightly, suddenly feeling afraid to be alone. "But–"

"It will only take a few minutes, I promise." His eyes shone with determination. "Stay here and don't go anywhere."

Before she could protest, he was already gone, his absence making fear clutch at her heart. She crouched down on the floor and stayed close to the wooden pillar, watching as the growing flames licked the houses nearby and spread to the surrounding structures.

They shouldn't stay here for too long. When Zhijian would return with her sister, they really needed to leave.

From where she stood, the sight before her was horrendous. Some were struck by the arrows, some tripped over their feet and were run over by the rest of the people behind them.

Xiaoyu's mouth went dry. Watching as bodies fall to the ground, nausea washed over her and she felt sick in her stomach. Knowing that she was the reason why these innocent people were getting hurt didn't help at all.

It was like a vicious cycle; everywhere she went, the people around her would get hurt and her guilt would grow tenfold each time.

She was a walking curse. An abomination that brought harm to others. If the ones closest to her were hurt, what would she do? How could she protect them? How could she defeat Leader Jiang when he had control over her?

The sound of a child wailing jolted her from her thoughts. Her eyes snapped towards the source, noticing a small girl crying for her older brother – a boy who looked no older than eight years old. He laid on the ground, writhing in pain over his bleeding leg. A pitchfork rested by his side, one that was discarded in the midst of this pandemonium, and he had probably tripped over it when they tried to run.

Nobody spared them a glance. They rushed past the children, clearly terrified by the rain of arrows that they couldn't stop to help them. As more bodies fell around them, her fury intensified.