My saviour took off her hood, revealing herself and the two spherules of liquid sliver that sat in her sharp eyes heavily outlined by charcoal. Tiny droplets of blood had tainted her hazelnut cheek and were trailing down her neck.

Someone was trying to put pressure on my bleeding wounds but it was pointless, I was growing numb more and more as the clock ticked away with each of my breathless attempts to fill my lungs with air. And despite my slowly flickering out life, something about the silver eyes was so compulsive that it was almost physically impossible for me to look away.

I could hear furious screams echoing louder and louder as the heavy thumping of beasts marching towards us grew closer. But, my saviour stood fixed. Her eyes momentarily glanced towards the darkened windows that lay embedded in the stone wall multiple feet above the ground before falling onto the guards that screeched to a halt after one look at their master's ashes.

Flashes of red filled their eyes; they glared at her with enough poison to choke a whole city. My eyes widened when the one on the front bared his fangs at her before pulling out a knife and racing towards her like a bull let loose. "How dare y—"

Before he could finish the sentence, a deafening blast like that of glass bursting into pieces froze him and a wooden spike lodged itself in his chest, the flames returned to devour yet another offering as blood poured from his crumpling mouth.

Shimmering shards of broken glasses fell on the ground, reflecting the moonlight that now peered into the room at different angles. But the splinters glittering like shattered diamonds weren't the only thing that touched the cold stone flooring, with them, hooded shadows crashed through the windows and landed on the ground, forming a circle between the guards and where I lay.

The guards broke out of their stupor and screamed before drawing out their weapons, charging with absolute fury. Complete mayhem broke out as blood started painting the cold grey stone walls, casting them in crimson splashes.

A whimper escaped my lips as I felt liquid spilling through my mouth and running down my chin, my vision no longer captivated by swirling silver, started getting enveloped by clouds of darkness.

"She's dying!" someone cried right beside my ear as the person stopped trying to hold blood from spilling out of my wrist and abdomen. "There's too much blood!"

But the plea for attention went unheard as each of the hooded ones tackled the attackers one by one, stabbing them with wooden daggers and raising an inferno to form a chaotic circle.

"Save her!" my saviour yelled at someone that stood untouched by the havoc.

And even though I lay quite far from the obscured figure, it would have been impossible to miss the hazel orbs that settled on me, for around them swirled an aura of mesmerism and authority so strong that I could feel it seeping into my marred form.

My body quacked with agony as my vision turned black, the last of my breaths fought to pump more oxygen in my lungs and my ears still rang with the sounds of slaughter. A flicker of sensation touched my body in the form of ice-like fingers, momentarily pushing away the black clouding my vision just enough to reveal scarlet orbs peering down at me.

" . . . turn . . . left . . . her . . . save."

I gasped painfully, panicking when even the voices started fading out. I could feel my hand stretching in thin air, trying to grab onto the remnants of life that still floated around me.

I didn't want to die!

I wanted to scream but only blood choked my throat before spilling out of my mouth like a dying waterfall. Everything hurt so badly, I felt stuck between wanting to die just to end the pain or wanting to live for everything I had planned ever since my first escape.

My vision faded out again and voices left my ears. Just when I felt myself falling into eternal sleep as death raised its scythe to reap my soul, something sharp pierced the flesh in the crook of my neck, clutching me away from its grip and causing my eyes to spring open.

An inhuman cry left my lips as my eyes rolled back into my sockets and someone pushed something wet against my lips, spilling its liquid to fill my mouth and seep into my throat. It was as if my complete body was set on fire while blood left my veins dry, only to be replaced by the liquid seeping down my throat.

My sensations started returning to an extent where everything became too overwhelming. My body felt like it was slowly tearing itself apart before stitching back to life, I felt every single thing, including the bones in my ankle crackling back to their rightful place and the torn bits of my flesh moulding together. The pain was tremendous and worse than anything I had ever had to suffer in my life.

The liquid on my lips, I realised, was blood that was setting my veins ablaze. I could taste the metallic edge in it and yet it wasn't humanly. I had tasted my own blood when I would suck my wounds after accidentally cutting myself, but the blood I was tasting now was so unlike, there was a touch of darkness and lure to it so strong that I couldn't help but curl my fingers around the source of it and suck like my life depended on it.

My vision flashed back and forth from red to normal, the images turning distorted before coming back to focus. The bloodshed had come to a stop and ashes coated the ground, the hooded ones standing with their eyes fixed on me. My eyes travelled to the moonlight seeping in from the cracks caused in the wall at all angles.

I caught the blonde mop of hair, she stood completely fine as if she had  never been the one laying immobile with broken ribs, wrapped in a cloak as her wide eyes gaped at me.

My attention returned to the source of my life when it was harshly snatched away from my hold, leaving a certain sweetness on my taste buds.

The scarlet orbs returned to obstruct my vision, enveloping me in a soft daze before claws pierced through my flesh, causing me to thrash my hands in futile attempts to push them away. But before I could, agony returned home like a snake slithering back into its burrow as my spine was snapped in half and tenebris swallowed me once again.

The death I thought I had escaped from, now laughed at me mockingly as I fell and fell into a bottomless pit.

Maniacal laughter coated my ears as a cloud of bats enveloped me, their wings almost merging into my own skin until they scattered away right before I fell into a partially frozen crimson lake. The water encased me and I closed my mouth for the fear of choking on it.

My eyes bounced with unrest before I caught another body floating in the water towards the surface. I pushed my hands down, allowing the water to push me up towards the floating body.

The cold surprisingly stopped bothering me as I neared the black hair waving with the water. I reached out towards the body's shoulder, turning it, only to gasp with terror as my own face stared back at me with empty sockets where my eyes should have been.

Realisation struck me when the water did not choke me as it would once have.

I'm dead . . .

But it was as if my dead form itself had heard me thinking and the paper-white lips curled up in a smile.

"Are you?"

🌙

So many souls that lost control
Where did they fall?
Into the deep, what do they seek?
Where did they fall?
Where did they fall?

Hearts will dream again
Lungs will breathe in
Wash away the sins
It's where it begins
Feet won't fail you now
Arms won't let you down
Wash away the sins
It's where it begins

– Under the Water
(Aurora)

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(WORD COUNT: 1320)

QUESTION OF THE CHAPTER:
Do you believe in after life? What do you think happens when a person dies?

AUTHOR'S NOTE:
This chapter is dedicated to Queen_of_life_Heba for being such a loving reader/friend. Thank you for dealing with my inconsistent update schedule, lol <3