Chapter Song:  I Ran (So Far Away)-Epic Trailer Version by Hidden Citizens 

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1 hour before...

I screamed out as I yanked on the chains, restraining me to the cold sewer tunnel. I could hear them coming. The splashes of water echoed down the dark tunnels as did each drip of water off of the grimy ceiling creating ripples around my submerged ankles. The chains rattled the more I yanked on them. 

They found me. They know where I am.  

I thrashed harder, hearing the dreadful snap of my wrist before I felt it. I didn't let myself stop as I reached for anything under the water to smash off the other chain. I cried out at the force I needed to use to grip the rocks littering the ground underneath the dirty water. I brought it up smashing it against the chain, just below the cuff. It chinked the metal, but it wasn't enough to break it. I slammed the rock against it again smashing it as hard as I could. 

I nearly cried out in relief at the sight of the broken chains. Nearly. 

The roars and slamming of feet against the water made my momentary feeling of relief short-lived. 

The dirty skirt of my white dress was getting caught on jagged pipes that cut up through the floor, peaking out of the nearly black water. 

Come say hello to us, darling. 

Mom? 

I went to turn around when a hand grabbed ahold of me, another one covering my mouth before I could let out a scream. 

"Shh." I heard Theo whispered. He pulled me through a divot in the side of the wall. I could hear the creatures move faster and soon they passed the spot we were hiding in. 

"I got you." He whispered, his breath fanning against my cheek. I nearly gagged at the putrid smell. I blinked several times only to come face to face, with the eye-less, soul-less monster. 

"NO! NO! N--" A hand muffled my mouth again, dragging me deeper into this crevice.

---

15 Hours Before...

"What do you mean?" I whispered across the table; Theo was leaning against the doorframe staring me down.  

Miss Dalaris sighed clearly frustrated with me. "You. I made you." She laughed clapping her hands together. Julian was sitting at the table watching me, clearly expecting me to have a more violent reaction to this. 

"M-My parents, let you do those things to me?" I breathed my voice breaking as I swallowed down the sob that threatened to bubble in my throat, but I wouldn't allow myself to break. Not in front of them. 

"They were hesitant. But it was a desperate time." She shrugged picking at her golden painted nails as if this conversation couldn't be more boring her. 

"I-I can't." I whispered pushing myself up to my feet and hurrying out of the kitchen. I felt my hands shaking as I rubbed them against the skirt of my black dress. My heart felt like it was ramming against my ribs at an uncontrollable speed with no sign of slowing. I brought a shaky hand up to my hair, gripping at my brown strands. 

I rushed into the shed, slamming the door shut as I sank to the ground clutching at my chest. 

Mom and dad are the reason I am so broken. They did this to me. I was five years old; how could they do this to me. The nightmares, everything. It was because of them. Silent tears wracked through my body as I wrapped my arms tightly around myself. My dress pooling on the ground around me. 

"Hey." I jumped, unconsciously wiping the tears on my cheeks. There stood Theo on the other side of the room, his arms crossed against his muscular chest. Now is not the time. 

He walked over before crouching in front of me, at his towering height, I was still nowhere near eye-level. 

"Come on." He whispered, offering me a hand. I looked at him hesitantly earning a raised eyebrow. I placed my hand in his rough one, before he gently pulled me up and led me to the couch I have been sleeping on.

"Humans, are pieces of shit." He spoke quietly, glancing at the dimming fire. 

"You are truly making me feel better about this." I rolled my eyes but gave him a small smile that didn't quite reach my eyes. 

"You don't really count. You don't have that shitty quality to you." He shook his head, his devastating silver eyes, meeting mine for a split second. 

"A-Am I going to die here?" I whispered to him after a few seconds of silence. "I-If what she said is true." I was always comfortable with the idea of death. Sometimes it felt like a better alternative. 

"I won't let anything happen to you." His voice had gone dark as he pinned me with a glare. If he wasn't such a doofus, I would probably think I was about to get murdered. 

"What does she really want with me?" I asked him, pulling my knees up to my chest. He looked like he was battling his thoughts, his eyes landing anywhere but me. 

"Fuck it." He muttered. "She needs you to summon a demon." 

"H--What?!" I snapped at a loss for words. 

"I don't know much about it, just that I can kill it." I shook my head standing up to pace in front of the couch as thoughts slammed through my mind. 

"I-I don't understand what you have to do with this." I spoke meeting his curious eyes. 

"I was bored." He shrugged leaning back against the couch. 

"W-What can you do?" I asked him with a raised brow. What made him powerful enough to be able to do all the things he could. 

He just shrugged again, "I am just amazing what can I say." He gave me a goofy grin before standing up. I took a step back, not realizing the heap of clothes that had magically appeared behind me. My eyes widened as his hands wrapped around my waist faster than I can blink, pulling me upright. My heart was beating so fast in my chest that I was certain he could hear it. 

He bent lower so his face was near my ear. 

"Do I make you nervous, Eleia?" I gulped audibly, the hairs on my arms and the back of my neck rising. Dammit. 

I went to step back again, somehow forgetting about the fact that there was a pile of clothes still behind me. 

"How the fuck have you survived this long?" He muttered shaking his head before releasing me. "Change, you are starting to stink." I just glared at him sticking my tongue out, before turning to look at the fabrics that were conveniently laid out on the floor behind me in a heap.  

"I'm not used to seeing dresses this pretty." I knew he heard me, because he moved closer but didn't say anything. The intricately sewn dresses, each somehow drastically different. They all ranged from a soft white to a deep black. I noticed a dress that had silver stitching, with a silver corset strung through the fabric. 

It was the same shade of his eyes. 

I launched that thought as far as it could go out of my brain the second it entered. 

He still stood there staring at me like I had three heads.

"What?" I asked with a raised brow. That seemed to snap him out of whatever trance he was in. He just shook his head and headed towards the door. 

"Come back to the house when you are done." With that I heard the click of the door. I walked over and pushed the couch towards the door before rushing towards the divider set up, where a wooden, who knows how old, tub laid. I turned the faucet and winced at how cold the water was. I was going to have to make this quick. I tied my hair up in a messy knot, atop my head before submerging myself in the freezing water. My teeth were chattering as I scrubbed at my skin, getting as much of the dirt and sweat off of my skin that I had accumulated over the past few days. 

Once the water turned a murky shade, I launched myself out of the tub as quickly as I could. My body shaking uncontrollably from the cold. I wrapped myself in a towel before throwing a blanket around my body. I huddled close to the fire, as warmth regained itself in my body. I picked up the white dress and undergarments and tied the silver corset before pulling on my boots. 

I noticed something lying on the couch as well. It was the cloak that Theo had let me keep after that night. I quickly threw it on over my shoulders and walked towards the couch I had moved to block the door. I pushed it back to where it was originally when something caught my eye. I crouched down and gripped at the paper that was poking through a hole in the fabric. 

I reached in and pulled it out.  A cloud of dust coated the air and now floor as I shook out the crumpled paper. 

It was a charcoal drawing. 

It was a family from what I could tell from the seemingly ancient child's drawing. I looked closer and noticed print at the bottom of each figure. The bottom of the page was signed by Theron Black. 

Was this Theo's?

Why was it left here for so long? I laid the picture on the small broken table deciding to look more closely at it later. 

----

When I got back into the house, they were all siting at the large dining table. The seats at the end were larger than the rest, clearly meant for someone of high power and importance. 

"About time." Miss Dalaris hissed when she noticed me. "Come here, now." She spat out. I glared at her, not caring how terrified I was inside at the small action towards her. I wouldn't show it. 

She just rolled her eyes and motioned to the seat next to her. Oh, come on. 

I swallowed louder than I meant to, feeling my cheeks heat from embarrassment. I sat down quickly and met everyone's eyes. 

"We are going to attempt something now." She spoke rolling her sleeves up to reveal the skeletal-like hands and forearms. "This is Rellyn." She spoke indicating to one of the men sitting across from me. His eyes meant mine, but they seemed dead. Soulless. 

"He is a necromancer; they all look dreadful." 

"Watch it, Zayla." Rellyn spat at her. She tsked her tongue snapping her fingers once. His body visibly tensed. What just happened?

"You may be of use to me now dead boy, but the second you are of no use to me all those little remarks will catch up to you." I would've crapped my pants if I were him. I need to shut my brain off. 

"Lie on the table, human." She spoke turning to me. 

"What? No!" I hissed at her. "You haven't even explained anything to me." 

"Do as she says." Theo spoke from the head of the table. I froze glancing back at him, only to meet his emotionless eyes. What had happened in the time since the shed? 

"No." I snapped at them. 

"We need to try this, to buy us more time. You fucked us over its the least you could do." She snapped gripping my wrist. 

"L-Let me go." This was reminding me too much of...

She snatched her hand away as if I had burned her. She looked down at her arm to see the dying skin above the bones withering away past her elbows. 

"Now." She screamed, slamming me against the table, my head bashing against it. I winced at the harsh pain echoing through my skull at the contact. 

She shoved the rest of my body on top of the wood. I met Theo's enraged eyes through blurry vision before everything went dark. 

---

Theo's POV

"PUT ME IN THERE NOW!" I roared, my control was faulting. 

Every candle was nothing more than smoke.

I pulled my dagger from my belt and pressed the metal against Zayla's throat, watching as a line of blood began trickling down her pale skin. 

"If. I. Have. To. Ask. One. More. Time." I pushed it closer. I felt her posse of weapons get closer to us. One of them even having the nerve to reach for me. I felt my power erupt from my body as pure, raw power from the under realm, weaved its way in his body, ripping his heart out of his chest and now staining my hardwood floors. 

"You may not be able to find her. She is important to them; they likely have her already." 

"I. Don't. Care." I spat. I walked over to her body. The look of betrayal she gave me was imprinted in my mind. I shouldn't care about those fucking things. So why the hell was I?

"We need you to protect her. If you go in there, anything could happen to her physical body. Stop acting like a foolish, lovesick child." 

"Your days are numbered." 

I withdrew my sword. 

----

PRESENT

Eleia's POV

I landed with a harsh crash. Not again. Not fucking again. Where the hell was I?

I pushed myself up to my feet, I was in some sort of dimly lit tunnel. Now was not the time to let my claustrophobia take over. I inhaled a shaky breath before grabbing a torch off of the wall. Bad idea. Terrible even. Roars echoed in the distance and screams, so many screams. I needed to get out of here. Now. 

I began sprinting down the tunnel, bunching up my dress and reaching for the dagger. I gripped the hilt in my hand before darting as fast as I could in the opposite direction of all the terrifying sounds, I would rather not be a part of. I glanced behind me as all the noise seemed to stop. I glanced back hesitantly, not stopping my speed, before halting to a stop when the growls sounded from in front of me instead. I stopped dead in my tracks at the sight of the monster in front of me. 

It bared its teeth at me, taking steps the size of me, in my direction. I squeezed my eyes shut, ready to accept death. I just hope it is quick. 

I felt something reach out and nudge my body. I opened one eye, and I am truly surprised I didn't die from heart failure instead. In front of me stood a creature, that towered over me. It looked like dad. But this being was dead. 

I took a hesitant step back but that only seemed to anger it. It reached for me, but I drew my dagger, slashing at it. I was about to hit him again, when a force sent me back. I winced as I crashed into the stone wall, hard. 

I heard talking, but it was in a language I didn't understand. 

I was yanked up harshly to be greeted by a woman. She appeared identical to Miss. Dalaris. But she looked long dead as well. Her skin was a damaged shade of grey, with cracks visible everywhere. Her eyes were a soulless grey as she seemed to stare through my soul. She got closer reaching out and tracing her bony, ice-cold fingers across my cheek, before her sharp nails, cut along my cheek bone. I winced trying to get out of her grip. 

She muttered something to the other being, before revealing her bloodstained sharp teeth in a blood chilling smile. 

Before I could react, he dragged me towards the beast, throwing me atop it as if I weighed nothing. 

The beast took off, lighting fast in the direction I had been running. I gripped onto the straps on its back, praying to any gods that would listen that I wouldn't fall off. Knowing that would hurt more than anything at this speed. But probably wouldn't kill me. 

I watched with wide eyes as I took in the scenery. The sky was a deep shade of red with black clouds. Everything appeared dead. The tress, or what I assumed were trees, were nothing more than jagged sticks, protruding from the seemingly grey ground. I could see a castle not too far from us, that seemed to be falling apart, but the same deep red as the sky. I debated jumping off of the creature at this moment to run but decided against it.

When we got inside the palace, the creature tossed my body in front of his, holding me against his side with one arm. I nearly screamed as the creature stood on its back legs, my body was dangling several feet in the air, if this creature let go, I would be done for. It walked through the hallway before reaching what appeared to be a throne room. There sat the Miss Dalaris and dad imposters. She sat on the throne with the dad lookalike perched on the armrest next to her. Both their dead eyes pierced through me like a knife. I was placed gently on the floor several steps ahead in front of them. 

Their language sounded like garbled noises. I didn't have the slightest clue what they were saying when she stood up walking closer to me again. I hesitantly stepped back. 

"W-Who are y-you?" I whispered cursing myself for letting my nerves show. 

She seemed surprised to hear my voice and just showed me her vicious smile again, it seemed to grow wider the closer she got to me. I took another step back when she reached out pulling me closer to her. I tried to get away, but she wouldn't loosen her grip. She practically dragged me over towards the throne before snapping her fingers. The same way Miss. Dalaris does. 

A smaller third chair appeared out of thin air. Settling next to her large one. I walked closer and nearly fainted at the sight. 

'Eleia' was inscribed in the grey stone plaque. 

I shook my head and thrashed against her trying to get away. 

"L-Let me go." I cried out, not caring if my fear was showing. 

  I felt pressure erupt throughout my skull before a voice whispered, "Sleep my child." Then darkness filled my vision.