Word Count: 2385

For a moment, there's just darkness, and then I hit water.

I don't manage much of a scream as I plummet into the icy cold grasp of pure obsidian coloured water. Pushing up toward the water, I remerge, gasping for air as I cough water from my mouth. Paddling to keep myself afloat, I look up, seeing a bright hole in the shroud of darkness, where two heads look through. I seriously fell from all the way up there?

I've either fallen into some elaborate trap created by a hunter, or I'm in some kind of underground pool.

"Akara!" Tai and Marek yell in unison.

"I'm okay," I reply uneasily, looking around to see nothing but darkness, aside from the small amount of light dancing along the surface of the water. "I'm in water."

Suddenly, a light appears not far from my face, and then another, followed by another. In amazement - and terror - I watch as specks of light increase, winking in an out of sight, creating what looks like a stars against a black canvas. Were it not for the small hole in the ceiling of whatever this is, I could be convinced I'm staring at the night sky.

"It looks like a cave down here," I realise, noting that I've seen these strange bug-like creatures before that illuminate a brilliant amount of light.

I gasp in amazement, as I look around me, the water having turned from ebony, to an ineffable mix of rich emerald and azure blue colours which bleed together with the sudden source of light. The walls of the cave a short distance from me are slate grey, vines hanging from the ceiling sticking against them. And in my line of sight, a small sandy bank.

"How deep is the water?" Marek calls from above me. Swallowing my fear, I refuse to look down, not wanting to imagine what creatures dwell beneath the surface, despite how beautiful the water may be coloured.

"I don't want to think about that. I'm going to swim to some land nearby," I tell them.

Wading quickly, I make it to the sand, my knees nearly giving out from under me as I crawl onto the bank, collapsing onto my back as I regain my breath. As frightening as that was, I'm now relieved to see that I've stumbled upon a very natural creation in the Jade province. A cave system.

"We are coming in after you," Marek announces. For a short moment, I hear Tai protest, before a splash of water ensues. Getting to my feet shakily, I turn, looking toward a particularly thick bunch of vines hanging from the ceiling. Pulling them apart, I wince at their slimy surface, before tearing some down, letting them fall into a heap before me. Whatever is beyond casts far more light into this part of the cave, revealing more to see.

All the little lights on the cave walls wink out as both men fall into the water, before slowly reappearing.

The water is crystal clear, tinted a vivid emerald green that's breath-taking. Beneath the water, there are no creatures, just settled earth and a myriad of different coloured rocks.

"What the hell is this place?" Tai questions as him and Marek step up onto the land, brushing his dark hair back in a move that sends water droplets spraying everywhere.

"The Jade Province is a wet place with plenty of caves dwelling underground. This is likely part of an elaborate system," I explain, ignoring Marek's intense gaze which sweeps over me, likely checking for injury. "You should travel throughout your own Province more."

Tai's eyes narrow.

Marek begins unbuttoning from the top of his shirt. "For a girl who claims she isn't well educated, you sure do have a lot of knowledge."

I shrug, looking away. The last thing I need to be doing right now is concentrating on the taut planes of Marek's chest and abdomen that he is exposing more of which each undone button. Unlike Tai, he leaves his deep bronze locks plastered to his forehead, water dripping down his cheekbones and along his jawline.

"Only on what I've experienced myself. I used to play in cave systems when I was younger, but none with this much water," I admit, motioning around us.

Tai winces, pulling back from touching one of the vines. "I'm imagining that's how the Beast gets around...does all it's killing, you know."

I release a sigh, tugging my own jacket off my shoulders. I'm glad I allowed Marek to convince me out of having to carry my own pack, as I would have surely been dragged under the surface had it still been on my shoulders.

"We don't know that this is at all related to the Beast," I remind Tai. His eyes are almost the exact same colour as the water that laps at the stark white sand, as if nature had admired the look so much it had to recreate it for itself.

Tai looks past more of the vines while Marek and I wring out our clothing. He suddenly pulls away, closing his eyes for a moment as he breathes in deeply, before composing himself.

"I'm going to take a wild guess and say it is," he mutters.

Noting the horror in his eyes, Marek and I follow his gaze.

"What makes you say that?" I ask, before realising what I'm looking at. "Oh."

Marek steps forward, not bothered that the vines he had moved from his way had fallen back against Tai, who now stumbles back uncomfortably. "Bones. And they aren't animal bones."

He kicks a small cluster, which practically turn to dust at the touch. I recoil, my stomach turning over as I come to terms with what that means. That's a person, like myself or Marek or Tai. And by how quickly those bones fell away to nothingness tells me that whoever that person was, I may not have even been born in their time.

"The sand is powder," Marek notes grimly, kneeling down to pinch some between his fingers. When he looks back up at me, his stinging blue gaze strikes me. "Like ground down bone."

Tai turns away, hands on his hips. "I think I'm going to be sick."

I can't swallow, my throat is too dry. If I allow the reality of this to sink in, I will have the same visceral reaction as Tai, whose face is paled, eyes squeezed shut as he fights of nausea. How long have these remains had to have been here to eventually to dust like this? I've always known the Beast is centuries old, having dwelled privately within this expansive forest since it's creation.

Warm hands touch my back. "You okay?"

Looking back at Marek, I note his concerned expression. He is less bothered by what he is seeing, likely having witnessed far more horrific sights, concentrating instead on my wellbeing. Right now, everything seems so foggy, so uneasy. All the memories of praying for the Beast, for what it could do for us...they all come rushing back. Even if it's not confirmed this is the Beast's doing, it seems fairly obvious. What else would inflict this must damage?

"How could I not have known about all this? How could I have been so blind?" I croak, my voice almost being lost as what feels like grief and despair grasp my throat. I wish I could share this with my mother to show her how wrong she is.

"Even those disbelievers wouldn't know it's been this bad," Marek assures me, although his comforting words don't reach me.

"I knew there was a lot of missing cases in my area, in just my village alone, but my family made it seem like it was normal," I explain, each flashing back with painful vividness, searing into my consciousness.

"Denial is a crazy thing," Marek murmurs.

Wiping my hair back from my face, suddenly remembering I'm still wet from falling into the water. I shiver despite being numb, a earthy scented breeze dancing it's way through the vines, coming from the other end of the cave that must come up at the surface.

"I need to get out of here," I muster up, hoping I can find enough courage to get out of here and back to the life I stepped away from. Suddenly I don't have the heart to start looking for the Beast again, or waiting here for it to return. This all seems like too much, like this is bigger than the three of us.

"You may want to see this first..." Tai says uneasily, his voice distant.

Looking around, I realise he has disappeared through the vines into another part of the cave, where the white bone dust starts to mix with the dark sentiment atop ancient rock. Marek follows me through the vines, both of us wincing at the slimy residue it leaves on our hands as we brush them out of the way.

"What is it?" I say absently, gaze finding Tai's back, seeing where he faces a wall sprawled with all kinds of markings, some in what looks like white chalk, others in red.

"It looks like a bunch of drawings. None of them make sense," Tai notes, reaching out to touch a particularly bold marking. It's the most recent, all feral and incoherent looking. Just seeing it makes my stomach turn over, heart jumping into my throat.

"It's a story. A diary of sorts," Marek notes grimly. He seems sure of this, like he's seen aspects of this before. When I look at it, trying to make sense of what it could mean, I see nothing but scribbles and messy ramblings. "It starts of coherent, as if drawn by a hand. Then it gets progressively more feral, as if something else entirely has taken over."

Marek points from the left side of the cave to the right, pointing out what I was missing. None of this is meant to be words, but pictures, symbolising what was going on inside the deranged mind of whoever created it.

Tai looks uneasy, flinching in time with the occasional drop of water from the cave roof onto the rock before us. "You're saying the Beast wrote this?"

"These look ancient. It could be possible that it was making note of it's transition from human to beast," Marek explains.

I blink in confusion, looking closer for anymore clues. Once every Tani was a human, or animal of some description. When over night, the magical stream known as the Forbidden River forged its way throughout all the Provinces, some drank from it. Most died, however, those who survived transformed into magical beings, in whatever sense of the word. To this day, no one truly knows the origin of purpose of the river.

I've never seen the river outside of depictions of it in books. It's strictly prohibited to go close, since it's likely to kill you if you take a sip. But yet on the wall, I see a few messy lines that look as though it may be what I think it is.

"The Forbidden River," I note, pointing at it uneasily. I don't want to touch it, unsure of what dwells on these walls, glossy in some places and waxy in others.

"Who cares about that. The jarring part is the all these depicting death," Tai murmurs, motioning around a spot on the wall I hadn't paid much mind to.

Now I see it.

"Maybe we should get out of here. This place is creepy," I mention, deciding that I don't want to face anymore of this. It's all so overwhelming, seeing the depictions of blood, of poorly drawn figures without heads, or other limbs.

"And young children," Marek says slowly, each words coming from his mouth pained, a struggle to pronounce. "I think he had a thing for young children."

Both Tai and I shudder uncomfortably, exchanging glances. Those warm, emerald green eyes don't look as though they belong here, as if they should be isolated to a single point of time, a single situation. Not this...not with all this confusion, this horror.

Marek continues. "A lot of literature says that the original drinkers from the river had their powers influenced by the reflection of their inner self. The original Summoner was an insecure young girl, who wanted to be someone she was not."

Delving my hands into my damp hair, I fight the urge to cry, the feeling burning at the back of my eyes.

"So you're saying the Beast is...well, a child-eating beast because it was creepy pervert as a human?" Tai asks unnervingly, unsure if he wants an absolute answer. None of us want this. I can tell we all have that uncomfortable feeling lingering over us, accompanied by a feral rage to kill whatever disgusting creature this predator has turned into.

"It makes sense, doesn't it?"

"Seriously, let's get out of here," I say firmly, cutting Marek off from saying anymore. The hunters instincts within him will urge him to find this vial creature and dispose of it, but he will understand that I can't be here anymore, I can't face this yet until I've had time to come to terms with what it means.

Looking up to gauge both their reactions, I realise neither of them are looking at me, but at something else deeper into the cave, their breathes hitched.

And then my eyes find it...I don't have to guess to know this is the Beast, towering in the distance, having caught.

There will be no more turning away, no more running, I realise. Because I'm staring at the most terrifying creature in existence. And we have to kill it.

💜••💜

If you guys want to read ahead, you can read more of KING'S POSSESSION on Radish! It's chapters ahead of Wattpad (:

🦄••🦄

I'm officially rewriting Alpha Jasper's story now on Radish! It will be following the same storyline with the same characters, but with revised scenes and some new ones!

I love Jasper's story so much that I wanted to go back and rewrite it. I hope you guys will enjoy it, you can find it now on Radish (:

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~Midika 💜🐼