The Awakening [Hellbound Academy] (sneak peak) slow

000 - Sneak Peak

SYNTHIA

The story of how the world ends starts not with a bang but with a squelch as the knife retreats from my body, life blood seeping from the multiple wounds in my back.

I can't speak, it hurts too much to even draw in a breath.

My killer circles me, the dagger whining and hissing as they etch something into the timber floor. They mutter under their breath, the language foreign and frightening to my senses, the words high pitched and gravelly at the same time.

They pass my vision again and stop, their hooded head twisting to stare at me, a sneer on their scarred mouth.

I flinch back with my failing energy, their face distorted and grotesque, like someone had taken a carving knife to their face, repeatedly. Their features flicker and then their face is plain again, forgettable. There one minute, gone the next.

They move on, the muttering deepening, growing stronger, faster. Their movement rapidly increasing until they blur as they circle once more.

The air is stifling, like fire licking at my wounds and steam hissing against my eyes.

My vision wavers, eyes falling shut. Darkness crawling in before a pop and a hiss fills my ears.

My eyes slam open and silence greets me.

No scuffing of feet, crazed rambling or rustle of fabric sounds.

I use my energy to twist my head to the side behind me, staring at the wall that calls for my attention, like a mother to her long lost child.

A star glows on the dining room wall. The outline dimming and thumping in time with my heart.

Above me it repeats and I stare at the roof, a circle drawn and a five point star interconnected - a pentagram. The five points dripping blood.

Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.

My head starts to ache, a sledgehammer pounding against my skull as I focus on that middle point as it flickers with the same glowing light.

A flash on my other side and I look to the other wall, another five point star beginning to glow dully before growing brighter.

Heat surrounds me, needles stabbing me through the back as the three pentagrams glow brighter and brighter.

A ringing fills my ears, a hiss and a crackle before a thundering pop.

The light extinguishes itself and the breath leaves my lungs in one sorrowful exhale.

Time of death.

11.59pm

It was cold that night. Not just any type of cold but the type that seeps into your skin and leaves a layer of frost on your quaking bones. A chill that freezes your blood and has your heart pumping faster as you run from the monsters that appeared at midnight.

That night was the start of The Awakening.