Chapter 136: Lack of control
It was silent. Gloomy. And dark.
She was here again.
A shiver ran through her. Lucrezia’s eyes widened at the sensation. She could feel the chill of the weather seep through her bones, and the memory tightened her stomach.
The pain within her chest lingered, although bearable. Perhaps she was here, but this time, she was truly here. Inside the memory, just like the other day.
Lucrezia swallowed. She stared at the castle that looked ahead, buried deep within the dark sky and a swirling mass of violet and iron lightning.
Again, she was drawn to it, like a pulse that matched the rhythm of her own—still calling her, seeking her by her name.
For a moment, Lucrezia didn’t move, the strange wind tugging at the hem of her dress. An unsettling caw broke the silence, and her attention diverted towards the sound.
Her eyes drifted upwards. The familiar raven flew past her, before returning, circling over her like some kind of conventional practice. Lucrezia knew what it attracted, and her steps faltered as she took an instinctive step backward.
Run, she told herself, just like she did when her instinct was sharper than any other rationality. It had become the natural thing to do, seek an escape, only to return to them and be killed over and over again.
There was no distinction.
However, this time, she felt different.
The sort of difference she could feel. Like she had control of her body. Like she had possession of her own mind. She could feel the tremor that glided along her skin, coursing through her veins. It was soft, almost feathery, but powerful.
Something she once had no control over. Now, it was there, almost frightening.
What is this? She thought, searching her body.
Just then, a faint tremble of the earth wrenched her focus, and her eyes darted toward the horizon sharply, searching for the cause of the upheaval.
A low thunder rolled across the valley, dust swallowing the distant hills in a churning haze, followed by massive unrelenting footsteps that matched unseen behind the bruised clouds.
The sound grew louder and closer carrying the unmistakable cadence of beasts moving as one, lunging forward.
But she remained.
They looked closer as an army of something vast and undeniably hungry. Every instinct in her screamed the take-off word, but her body obeyed her.
She could feel the tension in her shoulders, and the power in her veins, aching for a release. It was something she’d never felt before—something that made her feel powerful.
The earth trembled beneath her feet as the army closed the distance. Closer and closer they got, until she could feel them a few yards away.
As usual, she found herself drawn to the sudden presence at the jagged cliff. There he was, his long hair moving in consonance with the unnerving wind, one hand holding a staff—watching, observing.
She couldn’t make out most of his face, like there was this haze obstructing her vision. But those bright scarlet eyes burned with savagery, face blackened like stone and heavy with scars. And beside him stood the same woman.
The familiarity was stronger now, but she couldn’t place her fingers on it. The more she tried, the more useless it seemed.
Lucrezia looked away. The army was already a few inches away. It was only a matter of seconds before they closed in.
The release became stronger; she could almost feel it seep through her fingers. It was suffocating now, especially as she tried to fight it. The feathery power she once felt transformed into a stifling sensation that scorched her veins.
It suddenly became something she couldn’t control, and still something she couldn’t fight any longer.
Heavy beads of sweat broke through her forehead as she clenched her fist, almost trembling from the suffocation. Lucrezia could feel her spike crack from its weight, but she held still.
Barely.
Her teeth quavered. Her body screamed for release until she couldn’t endure it any longer.
"AHHH!!!" A painful cry tore from her throat as a bright concussive blast escaped through her, expanding in a wide arc that shattered the air. It descended upon the armies in a swallow, immediately splintering their forms into dust.
Pain became everything until Lucrezia could no longer tell where her body ended as the agony continued, power surging through her without restraint.
It tightened around her, swelling a pain-blinding power that answered from within. Her body arched violently against the power strain that she could feel divide her in half.
"My lady!" Nalia’s voice brought her straight into consciousness as she woke up with a long gasp.
Her breath burned as though she’d been held underwater for too long, as her chest rose and fell in a panicked gasp.
She dragged in uneven breaths, the cold rushing back to claim her skin now that the heat had vanished. Her body trembled, although a faint trace of warmth held her.
It was at that moment she realized she was in her chamber now. The perpetual twilight that usually filtered through the smoke-glass windows had deepened into a dull, bruised grey.
Nalia stared at her, eyes widened in different emotions; shock, disbelief, confusion, and dread. It was at that moment Lucrezia allowed herself to look, truly look at her chamber.
It was almost unrecognizable.
She barely had time to grasp the situation before her until voices reached her ears. It was disorienting, instantaneously blending one after the other, creating a sharp deafening sound.
𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦
No, no, no, no.
Lucrezia flinched, her hands flying to her temples in an attempt to fight the sound from proceeding. But it was too clear and sudden; it struck her senses wrongly, overwhelming and painfully disorienting.
Even Nalia’s panicked breath seemed louder in her ears. She could hear the rapid rate of her heartbeat, and the strong sense of fear from that short distance.
She wasn’t spared crackles from the hearth either, its sound colliding with the whisper of fabric against her own skin and the subtle scrape of a shoe against the stone outside.
She needed to leave.
Lucrezia swung her legs over the side of the bed, her feet meeting the cold floor. Nalia remained unmoving beside her—still from shock or fear, she couldn’t tell, as she approached the door and fled out of her chamber.