I hastily get up. The nerves are coming back, the fear rising. He's the friend. I'm so confused. I want to just puke, but I remain standing. Speechless to what I'm seeing.

How can a private businessman be in cahoots with a shady director like Vartwild? It doesn't make sense. Even if he tried to convince her that I shouldn't be here, that I'm not crazy. But really, him?!

How he knows about Level 8. Is one of his many secrets, involves working in Level 8 while sideling as a bookstore owner. Could Level 8 be underneath his bookstore at this minute? I look up, anxiety running through my body. Is it that all this time I was up there working as a book seller, and his basement was Level 8.

Is Terra working here as well? I rub my temple on the side of my head. Her and those other teens were they helping him, or were they forced to watch as that poor guy got torched. It has to make sense. I then startle when I hear Emmet speaking again.

"It's okay, Naven. I won't hurt you."

I suddenly back away until I can feel my back, hitting the padded wall. Emmet walks closer. I don't see him. I try backtracking sideways, my head turning away from him.

"Naven, you can trust me."

I then stop. I wait a couple of minutes, until I look back at him. "Trust you." I then lean back at the wall, not knowing what to expect from Emmet. He already lied to me. I wonder what else he has been lying about. "You've been withholding a lot since you hired me."

Maybe the reason he hired me so fast was to keep using young people like me, to cover-up his dealings down here in Level 8. And with audacity, Emmet reaches out his hand. Ignoring his gesture, I continue to back away; my head turning left. I really don't want to see that lying face. Why should I trust him? Is it wise or is it blind stupidity.

That's what I been feeling lately.

"I know you must be thinking this is awkward." He says.

I don't think it's awkward, most likely unsafe. Emmet pleads out to me again that he wants to help me.

"I have others willingly to help you find the girl."

"I don't believe you. Why are you even here...in Level 8."

"One of the perks of being the Director's friend."

I can't fudge it, how can Emmet work with that woman. This place is already creepy and now seeing Emmet. It makes me wonder. Is Level 8 underneath the bookstore? I look back up in the padded ceiling. Just wondering how far down is this place.

The bookstore might be a honey trap to bring kids and other mages, and then secret members abduct them down here to experiment. I can't see Terra, that girl with the emerald eyes being a Level 8 worker.

No one can hear our yells.

Could I be next in this experiment? I look back at Emmet, just wanting to know more about this place. Why is it so secret?

"How you know about this place?"

"I actually don't like being here." He replies adamantly.

"What is this place?"

"None of your concern."

"Why not?" I glance around the room, imaging what's beyond that door. Who else is here? "Is the rumors true about Level 8."

"That's not my priority. Mines, is to help you find that girl. That girl was your girlfriend right."

I nod slowly.

He walks closer inches towards me. I stand in dismay, my eyes lowering down. Should I really trust him?

"You have to believe me." He says softly. "Trust me."

I still feel hesitation, not wanting to open that emotional lid. I feel this pressure building up, my nerves circulating into my belly. I feel nauseous placing my right hand over my belly, taking short breaths. I then see Emmet leaning his hand onto my left shoulder. I glance back up.

"If you can trust me, tell me that figure you mentioned that night. Describe him again."

I want to answer, but something inside me like an eerie voice. This voice doesn't want me to say anything. Then I stare at Emmet, he wants an answer.

"I need to know. Do you want to see Anita, right?"

"Of course."

"Well, go on." He pats my shoulder. "Describe that figure."

I'm just paralyzed, not wanting to reply back. It could be too much. I still mumble underneath my breath. "Is he worth trusting?"

"I understand what you have been going through." He continues, "Why you had to be in this same situation again."

I pause, as I look back at those stern brown eyes. "Again?"

His lips ready to move. Feeling something terrible coming, I can sense another secret reeking out of Emmet's mouth. It can't be-that same situation-he has knowledge about my family fire.

Is that one of the perks of being the director's friend?

I don't want to believe it. But I need to know, I try to stay calm as best I can. I look back at him.

"You know?"

Emmet refuses to respond to what I say; instead "I told you a question, why I'm not getting an answer. You have to answer."

Me? He should answer. But a sudden feeling gets to me. He doesn't have to say it anymore. Because I already know what the answer is going to be.

He already knows.

I thought the fire was kept classified between few people. How did that hooded figure know? How does Emmet know? It doesn't make sense.

Suddenly, I can feel those images creeping in. I can feel the temporary walls closing in, those images...

The flames

The burnt wood

The three bodies

It's coming back. I didn't take those memory-blocking pills Dr. Ryland prescribed to me. The last time was several hours ago. I begin to lose my breath. I can feel my chest tighten up. I stammer quietly, my head lowers feeling this anxiety cranking to the extreme. My head begins to shake. And I just let it continue to shake.

"Naven?!" As I hear only echoes of Emmet's voice. He's standing right by me, but I'm not hearing him coherently.

Then I collapse down on the padded floor, my back leaning on the wall as I can see everything spinning. I close my eyes, as I take more breathers. The images are haunting me once again. I see them, slithering their way into my subconscious. I have no shelter to crawl into; all I can do is watch.

View the fire as it wipes away my family. I can hear my sister Merissa, struggling to get out of the burning house. My parents lying motionless, their pleas for help become soundless as the flames annihilate their existence. Then there's the hooded figure taunting me. He begins to hurt Anita.

I can hear her screams. And then there're others. All of them coming at once. It's like I'm standing alone in an abyss, and the only thing I can hear are the screams.

I then force my eyes open as I shout, "Go away!"

My head bangs hard against the padded wall several times. Then as I try my best to get the images out of my head, I feel Emmet's hands pressed firmly on both my cheeks.

"Stop it!" He yells, "You're not crazy, you're not! You have this calm down. I'm here to help you." He suddenly lets go of his hands.

I try to strive back my tears, feeling some drops sliding down my face. Something's wrong with me, but looking at Emmet's eyes. He's certain I'm not going manic. Whereas the others feel something is desperately wrong. Could I be off the rails? I check my hands still shaky, my nerves getting the best of me.

As few minutes go by, I begin to compose myself. Everything slowing down, but it's like on standby ready to implode again.

"I need to know Naven, if you're ready." He says, as he begins to stand up. "Describe the figure that night. Describe who took Anita."

After getting a hold of myself, I let him know what that freak looked like. How that hooded figure look like a human male, his whole skin is solid black, and has golden tattoos all over his arms, neck, and face area. And as well I inform him about those two trollish lackeys that were helping the figure.

I glance back up to see Emmet pouting. His head turns a bit, he's trying to think. I then have a funny suspicion, a rumbling thought.

"You wanted me to tell you, what I saw because you already knew who he was."

Emmet hesitates to say something, his mouth still close. His eyes off me. But he suddenly replies, "The description is familiar." A few seconds later, he stares back at me with those stern eyes.

"The tattoos...describe them."

I lean my head down slightly. My eyes glare at the floor. I want to remember exactly what those markings look like, but it's pointless. "They're something I haven't seen before." That's the best I can say.

"You don't have to tell me."

He admits he knows what I'm talking about. That these tattoos have a name to them. Emmet lets me know, those tattoos are daemonics. The daemonics are ancient demonic runes, only two beings stamped their bodies with it. Treating it as sacred. Those two are dark mages and malefics.

I remember hearing about those kinds from a teacher whose heavy involved in mage history. He told me and several fellow classmates, that mages are known for their light magic. Yet mages who practiced with black magic are dark mages. Malefics are the vile magical creatures that are made of black magic.

"The hooded figure who took Anita." Emmet states. "We're dealing with a demonic malefic."

"What's his name?" I ask.

"His name's Raudan, the head of the Acolytes."

Now I know the freak's name, but what's this about the Acolytes. I try to get Emmet to tell me why he said the Acolytes. What are those, a group of malefics that kidnap people and torture them?

"It's not your concern. What Raudan is trying to get from you is."

"I don't know what that freak is after."

"You have to know. If we know, we can use it as our advantage."

Or maybe one step closer to find Anita, and brining her back here safely. But I ponder when he mentioned we. Is he talking about us or another?

Emmet resumes, "Raudan came that night. He knew. He's a powerful malefic. He's not dumb. He can sense other powers, and whatever you had or still have. He felt that power."

I'm resolute in what I told Raudan that night. I didn't know what he was after.

"Come on, you do."

"No, I don't!"

Emmet rushes at me, grabs hold of both of my shoulders. He keeps shaking me back and forth. He irks me with the same question repeatedly, "Remember what Raudan wants?"

Still shaken, he then slaps me. The hard sting vibrates off my left cheek. He demands me to remember, he slaps me again.

"Remember!" He shouts.

What do Raudan want?

As it stigmatize inside my head, I start to freak out. As Emmet tries to slap me again, I quickly grab his hand. I make him stop. Emmet backs away, not knowing what I'm going to do. I slowly get myself up, my body straightens out. But I rub my temple; I could have another nervous breakdown at any minute.

Then within a flash, I see the half-stone piece.

I showed that to Anita before she was taken. With the sudden flashback, a fractured piece of my memory starts coming back. I can remember. It's scratchy, but I can see.

The rock was near me on the grassy ground. I was laying ten yards away from the burning log house. I can see the flames flickered. Giant smoke engulfed the night sky. The house fire was surrounded by trees; some of them too were on fire.

Could it be, when it happened? I was in the forest. I never knew I lived in the forest. All this time I thought I was in Dawning. There are small wooded areas in Dawning, yet it's not big enough to have houses.

My aunt couldn't have lied to me. She told me I lived in Dawning all my life, just my house was burnt to a crisp. There are charred remains of a house near the edge of South Dawning. But that's not mines. My childhood home was never in Dawning.

And that piece of rock I have now, why do I have it. I don't fully remember if I had the other part. If so, the other part could be missing.

But why it was left for me. Was it a sign?!

"What happened?" Emmet asks.

"I know now." I try to exhale for a bit. "Raudan is after the rock I have."

"What rock?"

"The rock that I had when I survived that fire."

Emmet remains there, he cogitates. His hand holds his chin. He turns around for a minute, and then back to me. "Show me."

"How?! I can't leave this place. Director's orders."

"Don't worry about it, leave everything to me." He then walks close, clutching his hand on my left shoulder. "You need me. You need us."

***

It's almost non-recognizable. Staring at what was my apartment; the front door still bent backwards, the burnt kitchen, broken wooden pieces plastered everywhere on the floor, and the couch flipped on its side. Glancing at the four windows, there are the two windows busted from the outside-in, the glass shards mostly lying on the dining room.

I can still remember that awful night as it's happening all over again. Even though I'm melancholic about this place, I'm elated I'm here instead of Level 8.

I didn't get a chance to explore. I accepted Emmet's terms to be blindfolded. He walked me out of the place unseen. He then took of my blindfold once I was inside his hovcar.

Why Level 8 is so secret?

Still stunned over what I see here, I get startled when Emmet asks me about the rock's location. I escort him to the bedroom. Once inside, I pause when I see the messy matbed.

I remembered Anita and I was kissing there. We almost went all the way if it wasn't for Raudan.

Then I snap out of it as I head to the closet. I get down, trying to search for that stupid rock. I'm thankful Raudan and his lackeys didn't come here. They got scared, but took my girlfriend for insurance. They wanted this rock.

Why?! What makes this rock so special?

I then stop as I finally found it, hiding beneath a pile of shoes. I grab hold of it. I view the rounded bottom, and the uneven top. I give it to Emmet, as he knows that's it. I get up as I hear him say something that perplexes me.

"This isn't an ordinary rock." He continues, "It's part of a stone tablet."

He then looks worried; his stern eyes lean down in fear. I can see that fear in him, a first for me. He rubs the uneven edge, he looks back at me. "There's another piece to this. Do you know where it is?"

I shake my head, I really don't know. That's the only part that was with me since the fire. Emmet mentions to me that this piece has power, but it is not the full power.

"We have to find the other piece before Raudan suspects this."

I sit down on the end of the bed. I glance back at him, as he continues to talk.

"I'm going to bring this to a friend of mines. And don't worry, it's not the Director. I have others that will take care of the rest."

"What about me?"

"Stay, if not, go back to your aunt."

"NO!" I then get back up.

"You led me to what Raudan is after, I thank you for that. You did your part. Now my group can take it from here."

"Bring me."

Emmet looks dumbfounded; he folds his arms ignoring my plea.

"My part is more than this. You need me to find Anita, and in some way you know it too."

He stares at me and then back to the rock. He doesn't say anything. He just shows off that rock-hard face.

"Please!" I say.

Emmet's face is still emotionless, not reacting at all. He then walks to the door, the half-piece tucked to his waist ready to leave.

"I need you guys, remember." I state, reminding him what he told me before. They want to help me, so I want to see who these guys are. We could join forces, and we can get to Anita. I don't hear anything back. I'm longing for a response. Emmet likes doing this being so stubborn to talk to. He tries to be so soothing back in that Level 8 cell, but now he's reverting back into a hard-headed fool.

I mention straight up, "I want to meet them."

Emmet quickly turns back to me, yet waiting for that answer. He just walks away along with the half-piece.

I lean my head down upset. About to sit back down on my bed, I lay down. My head lands softly on the unsteady covers. I stare at the ceiling, viewing the crackly surface. But I pause. Emmet's voice is shouting out from the living room.

"What're you waiting for?"

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**Please comment/vote on what you read so far. I really appreciate it.