The land was empty. The traces of the fire were still there. Burnt trails that you could see if you looked closely. Rain had poured down to water the earth but it couldn't wash those or the scent of death that still lingered in the air.

A month had gone by since we fell. The nights after that felt colder than they were supposed to be, nights filled with the nightmares of my own people.

The wildlings had driven metal poles into the ground. It was our place now. Day and night, sun and rain, we remained chained to these metal posts. Learning a lesson. Learning to crawl. Learning to let go because of the choice we no longer had.

I would often see her passing by on her way, her face ghostly pale now, the shackles she didn't have binding her hands there – in her eyes every time she would gaze our way. Her eyes would stop at me, the corners of her lips would start trembling as if she could barely hold her tears and then she would rush her steps to carry her faster to her destination.

I had seen them. I knew they were hiding in the shadows. Watching us. Watching her. And perhaps, she knew it too. Perhaps, it was why she kept her head low and never looked past the point where she could find them. Just a few meters ahead, it's how far her gaze reached.

However, as often as I would see her, I would never have the opportunity to speak to her. Scarlet never approached us.

It was that woman, that demonic creature who kept her company when she wasn't occupied by haunting the camp. Sometimes, they would do that together.

It was the late afternoon of that day marking the month of our captivity when they stopped in front of my pole. The demonic woman and my Scarlet stood a few steps from where I sat on the ground, hushed words flung back and forth between them.

"Please, just not him." I could hear her say. "Choose anyone else, just not him, Leila."

"I'm doing this for your own good, Scarlet. Giving you the proper motivation seems to be the only way now."

"It's not that I don't have motivation, Leila. I just don't know how to do what you're asking from me. I can't do it. Please--"

"Quiet!" the woman cut off, then nodded her head.

"Come now, Scarlet. He'll be waiting for us after dinner," she said and turned away from me.

With her shoulders dropped in defeat, Scarlet followed.

A few hours later, I was approached by a group of wildlings. There were five men, if 'men' was what they could be classified as.

Hideous creatures, neither man nor beast but something in between, humanoid in their pose as they were bestial in their appearance, the stink of their flesh hit me as soon as the first came closer to me.

The creature sidestepped me to stand behind me and a few seconds later, I felt his clawed hands touch my skin every once and then. By the sound of metal clanging every time he shifted his hands, I knew he was trying to undo the chain connecting me to the pole.

Doing a poor job at it since those clawed hands were not meant for such a meticulous task. A few minutes later, a soft click sounded letting me know the man had managed to unlock the padlock of the chain.

Without a single word, the creature pulled on the chain still connected to the shackles twisting my arms in a way that forced me to stand up if I didn't want a dislocated or broken arm.

The others formed a circle around me as the man holding my chain leash behind pushed on my back. The one who stood on my right motioned for me to move with a growl.

"Alright," I uttered softly, trying not to choke on the stink that came from their bodies so close to mine and followed the one walking in front of the group.

Several minutes, a few bumps and grows later, we reached the heart of the camp or what was left of it anyway.

There was a single tent that remained and by the looks of it, it was certainly used by someone. My bet was on the green-eyed woman. Leila.

Taking my eyes off the tent, I shifted my gaze at the sight that stretched in front of me.

What had been a circle of bare land once had now a pyre and a wooden altar-like table elevated in the middle. Two sets of shackles were attached to the wood.

"What are you playing at, folks? Witch hunters?" I asked, my voice much lighter than my heart.

The beast holding my chain behind me shoved at my back, the claws on his fingers sticking into flesh deep enough to draw blood without seriously harming me. The one standing on my right growled and motioned toward the ritual table.

"You want me to lay there, don't you?" I questioned.

Another growl, this time from the one behind me as the beast at the front of our procession stopped next to the altar.

"Do I have a say in the matter?" I said, watching the wildling run his hand palm up across the carved wood. He then spun around, his mad yellow gaze locking with mine as I felt the rest of the wildlings still around me.

And then, the moment the man tilted his head down in a nod, I felt the rest of the beasts spring into action.

Hands holding me, claws sinking piercing my skin and sinking into my flesh, pulling me toward the altar as I tried to dug and nail my feet into the ground.

"Let me go, bastards! Let me go! Damn you!" I screamed.

All effort futile.

Dropping me face down onto the wood, one of them clasped his hands over my wrists as the rest held me in place.

"Come on. Just let me go. You don't need to do this."

They didn't even bother to growl at me now. Instead, quietly they worked together to hold my thrashing body down.

Minutes later, I felt the metal slide from around my wrists and then my body was spun around. The one who had led us here took a grip of my wrists once more, then raised my arms to rest above my head and a new set of metal shackles were clasped around them. The same one rounded the altar to stand on the side of my feet and gripping one ankle he attached a shackle to it, then repeated the procedure to my other foot.

Rending me helpless for whatever it was they had planned to do to me.

I turned toward the one who had given the others the command to bring me here, rotating my head in order to keep him in my sight until it felt almost uncomfortable.

"Why did you have to do this?" I said to him, knowing how stupid it was to question what they had been doing all along but wanting to know all the same.

Monsters were not monsters simply because they could be.

Some took pleasure in it. Others deemed it necessary. But whether it was a pleasure or a necessity, there was always a reason that stood behind it.

What was their reason?

"They did it because I asked them."

Turning my head in the direction the voice came, so abruptly it was a miracle that my neck didn't snap from the sudden movement, I saw the woman who had become Scarlet's shadow during the past month walking toward me.

Not even raising her eyes to look at me, Scarlet walked right by her side.

"They attacked your camp and also brought you here tonight because I commanded it." A smile slipped on her face. Her hand went across Scarlet's shoulders. "And your friend here will do as I command too but first things first," she said, taking her hand off Scarlet and turning sidewise to someone I couldn't see.

"The boy is ready for you. Come out now," she called out seemingly to no one in particular but I knew better.

Even if I hadn't known, a moment later, a shadowy figure peeled itself from the darkness, each step it took closer making it look more substantial.

A man made of darkness. A man with no face or substantial body. All that he had were two slits of burning red.

They eyes of what the sups* called the soulless.

And these eyes were looking right at me, hungry for something I wasn't even sure I had to give.

My soul.

#A/N:

Since I know you must be wondering what sups is, then let me explain for you. 

sups = short for supernaturals (all creatures who are not entirely human)