Death was to come to the Kaijan girl and they believed I was one. No matter how many times I protested, begged and fought, they stood their ground. In Baria's eyes, I was the enemy and those who stood with the enemy were subjected to death. Though I yearned for their help, I was glad they remained Baria. They didn't deserve what was to come to me.

Jonga threw me to the ground. The gravel floor pressed into my back. Pain pricked my spine as Jonga picked me up once again and dragged me to a post in the middle of a dark room. I craned my neck, trying to familiarize myself with my surroundings but I couldn't figure out where I was in the castle or if I was even in the castle anymore. My vision was blurred, head spiraling. It was hard to tell what was what through the anguish. Jonga tied my hands behind the post and walked over to a table on the other side of the room. He opened a drawer and rummaged through it. The sound reached my ears as it slammed shut.

"There are many ways to make someone talk," he claimed, picking up a needle.

"Please," I begged, chest thumping as my brow sweated. "I have nothing to do with what happened."

He turned, lifting a brow. "Are you certain?"

I nodded, tears stinging my cheeks. "I am."

He shook his head. "I am not."

He opened another drawer, pulling a vial full of dark red. Inside, it sparkled and whirled like tiny cells were present. The sound of him closing it did not come but instead his footfall did. Jonga stepped closer to me. "Madness can do many things," he began. "It can sometimes even help the truth to be revealed." He stuck the needle into the vial. I watched as it filled.

The pain. The ache, the burn. I wouldn't be able to take it.

My lip quivered as my scars burned once more. "If you want me to be guilty, I will be, just please, please, don't hurt me anymore."

"Kaijan girl," he began, walking toward me once more. "I don't think you've realized anything yet."

Realized?

"What am I supposed to realize?" I asked, my hands shaking behind the post. "Please, just tell me!"

"You are the enemy." He flicked the needle. "To everyone, you are hated. Even if you were innocent, you wouldn't be. You are different and unwanted. If you were to die today, not a soul would care about your death."

A shock overthrew me as realization hit. "I'm guilty for no reason."

He leaned down. "Precisely and always will be."

I tried to kick back, pushing into the post. I drove my back further into it and kicked up dirt. A gust of dust blurred my vision. "No, no, no!" I cried as it disappeared and he moved toward me. "Please, no!"

He reached out with his other hand and grabbed my arm. His fingers dug into my flesh. I felt the burn. The terrible burn I feared.

A scream nestled in my throat as he stuck the needle in the crevice of my arm. Liquid entered my bloodstream and I closed my eyes, trying to fight whatever awaited me.

"My parents were killed by Kaijans," he started, pulling the needle from my arm. He set it onto the floor. "I went through my entire childhood not knowing that. But I was shown the truth."

"I had nothing to do with your parents death," I wheezed, the liquid coursing through my veins like a hungry animal. "Nothing."

"Perhaps not you, but your kind," he growled, staring at me, the shadows shaded under his eyes. "Your filthy, filthy, blood."

My cheeks burned again. The tears blurred my vision as my body kindled like a flame to grow.

"They slaughtered them," he continued. "One by one. They took my family from me and my home. I watched as the blood poured, as they drove the sword into their chest over and over. The wounds were deep and so were their cries. I could have helped but I didn't. I was a coward. I ran from the village, into the woods and hid. I couldn't remember what happened when I met Baria for the first time but now, because of the Rabaka, my memories have returned." He paused, seeming lost to a memory. "Now I remember letting my family die and who did it."

"Memories?" I whispered, remembering that my own were lost.

He sneered. "Yes and so my hatred has returned with them."

"I am not a Kaijan," I whispered, desperation thick in my broken voice.

I was tired of the constant pain, the unknown, and the constant ache of my body. Everyone called me this thing and somehow, I knew I wasn't it. I could imagine myself to be a part of something so horrible. Kaijans were monsters and all I wanted to do was save others. There was no way that the two of us were the same.

"Your appearance betrays you," he spat. "White hair, mystical colored eyes, and pale skin. You look like a Kaijan to me and everyone else."

I winced, the burn creeping. It climbed, reaching my arms. "I-" I tried to speak, but my tongue numbed as the pain moved, reaching my thighs.

"Just tell the truth!" he spat. "Tell me about the despicable creature you are!"

"I'm not," I answered, roaring as the pain touched my fingertips. "I have done nothing wrong to you or anyone here."

The pain touched my calves, burning the scar Jonga made.

"You will pay for their deaths."

"What of the other Kaijan?" I pried. "The girl from before. She came to Udan and faced no ill repute."

"I didn't know Kaijans killed my family. I didn't even know my family before," he spat, pausing to sport a sinister smile. "But she suffered a worse fate than you."

I shook my head as chills crept up my spine. "Please, have a heart, please."

"No!" he screamed. I was beginning to believe there was no chance in reasoning with someone who appeared inhuman. "I follow orders from my queen and only my queen!"

Anger built against the pain. If they thought I was a monster, I would be. Baria put me here. She drove me to madness and pain.

"The queen can drink piss!"

A look of dismay crossed his face as he pulled the needle from my flesh. He stood, stepped back and studied me. "Finally, showing some truth," he said. "Filthy, filthy Kaijan. You've betrayed yourself by showing your emotions."

I breathed in hard, my lungs constricting and fought everything inside of me.

"I have injected you with the blood of the Guardian," he explained. "Men who have partaken of it have died in time. You shall do the same."

My chest tightened as the thought of dying came into my mind. I wasn't sure if at this point I welcomed death or feared it. I looked down at my forearm, my veins fluctuating violet like riverbeds. My head lightened as the pain grew, tracing unknown parts of my body.

I thought of the name he said and remembered Baria mentioned it before. the Guardian... she was looking for it.

My mind became feral, no longer mine. My thoughts were far away, hiding. I was no longer a person, I was the monster he called forth.

Jonga jolted in shock as I pulled against the wooden post, the ropes taunting. My neck pulsed as my eyes flickered, trying to keep a clear head but it was clouded and my mind no longer belonged to me no matter how much I fought.

I had to remember something to keep my humanity. The itch was so desperate to move further and devour me, to replace the person I had become. A new feeling swelled, bubbling in my blood. I wished it would end. I needed it to go away. The itch transformed, feeling as if I was suffocating in tar. My mind lost its battle and told me one thing.

Kill.

I bolted forward, forgetting the pain igniting my body as my shoulder blades arched. "You!" I sputtered, letting the words soar toward him like daggers. "I will kill you!"

Without hesitancy, he snatched my head with one hand, his fingernails gouging into my temples. I battled against him, slamming my skull to the post again and again. Even though there should have been a rush of pain, there wasn't. Only the itch screaming to be released from under my flesh, begging to taste the blood of the enemy.

His eyes shifted to red. I wasn't sure if it was in my head or not. The itch had full control. "Dying is too good for your kind," he hissed. "I want you to suffer everyday until it's your time. Nasira wouldn't forgive me if I killed you now."

He stomped downward, crushing my knee. My eyes rolled back and as my knee cracked, a scream expelling into the air. The pain was unbearable, the fragments of my knee shifting. My throat rawed as my pain forced the screams to grow louder. He altered his foot, provoking a shattering echo to reach my ears. I huffed, biting my lip as my knee twisted and nausea rose.

Blackness took over my vision and the pain caused me to faint.