Chapter 4

"Only if you open your eyes, my dear,"

Fear and nervousness crept into me. That name, that is the name my mother told me in my dreams. W-what does that suppose to mean? I held my breath when I saw a pregnant woman running. She is covered in blood, but I see no wounds on her. Is that the man's blood on her?

She stopped near me, seemingly looking for a hiding place. She was crying and panting. What's going on? Why am I here? Is it because of the light that came out from the book? Did the book bring me here?

Now I am even more scared, not only for my life but also for this woman. What will I do? How can I help her if I am still weak?

When she saw a large rock quite far from me, she immediately hid. Only then did I notice how she looked. Her curly hair is long, she is also redhead like me, and her emerald-colored eyes are shining. Her eyes lit up the whole place around her, it is glowing and that is why I could see her well. 

I could see the terror in her eyes, and we both knew that by the time they saw her, she and the child in her womb would be dead.

We were startled as we heard footsteps approaching us. One of the steps was heavy and slow, and he appeared to be in discomfort. That, I believe, was the man who had earlier yelled.

The man this woman is hiding from.

“Give this to me, Helga! We will be the most powerful in the world if you give her to me! ” the man said loudly.

I'm right. A bloody man stopped in front of me, with a large wound in his neck and a stab wound to the chest. Even so, the man still looks strong. I held my breath as I looked at him and the strange creatures behind him.

This is a group of men who look different. It has large horns, they are naked, their skin is red, and saliva drips from their large mouths with large teeth.

Is t-that… W-What?! N-No way!

It’s an army of a demon! What in the world is this place?! Where am I?!  

"Power, wealth, and an eternal life, Helga, those are the things the Lord promised me if I could give him everything he desired," he spoke again, and my heart nearly burst out of my chest. As it turned to face me, my hair stood straight end. My life appeared to come to an end, my twin, Michelle, and the people I would leave behind passed through my mind.

His enormous, red eyes were staring at me, and the heat from his eyes appeared to be burning my body. He's terrifying! Blood continued to flow from his wounds, it left a trace on them going through excessive bleeding.

I thought I was going to die when he punched me. I closed my eyes tightly as I waited for his fists to hit me. But I only heard a loud noise, as if something had hit the hard rock. A few more seconds passed before I opened my eyes.

His fist didn't hit me, h-he couldn't touch me! Did he just penetrate through me? 

His fist was right in the middle of my face. I finally fell and sat up because of the softening of my knees. My whole body is trembling. I slowly turned to him and saw that his fist was still in the spot where my head had been.

They can't see me!

I cried a lot when I realized they couldn't see me. I couldn’t stop crying out loud, because I thought I was at the end. I thought I would never be able to make up for my parents. I thought I would never see Michelle again. I thought it was my last day. 

“I know where you are, my wife. From my place, I can smell your fragrance. I won't look for you right now, Helga. Let's talk first. ” He said then slowly leaned himself in the place where I had been hiding.

I remained seated while watching them. I saw that the eyes of the woman he called Helga widened. Helga didn't seem comfortable with what was happening, I think she was also planning to run away but she stopped when the man spoke again.  

“You told me, you trust me. You also want our gradual enrichment, don't you?! Do you know how I did that?! I scammed some of the men in our town, Helga, I told them to invest in the business that we will build so that Dako Paroon can recover. But of course, I just fooled them. I offered them to him, Helga. I thought that was enough! But the Lord is also greedy, he is as greedy as me,”

I could feel the anger in his voice. Did he kill men for money? Who in the right mind would do that?!  

“He told me she needed a mate. Lilith doesn't like him, so his partner in evil should come from me. I was scared too, Helga! I was scared too! ” his voice echoed all over the place. Fear crept into my body, as time went on I became more and more afraid for Helga's life. 

I feel sick of disgust at what I hear. Does he intend to sacrifice his daughter to be the mate of a demon? Fear gripped me, I wondered how his child would feel if this happened. You have no freedom to love what you want because of your own father. If my father did that to me, I would be angry and afraid of what he could do for power and wealth. 

"I was planning to impregnate someone else, Helga, because I love you," sadness showed on his face. It seemed he is holding back the tears, he seemed to hurt as well. But just a moment later, the man's frightening aura returned. “I don't want to sacrifice her as well, but you got sick. At the same time, our income has decreased, he seems to have discovered my plan. He warned me, Helga! He said that I should never fool him. He said he will not only take our child, but you as well, all of our relatives, and all of our properties. So give this to me! We can have more children, my wife, no matter how many more you want! Let me do it! I am doing this for you,”

The last things he said were almost a whisper, but it was clear to my ears. His love for Helga will not hide the fact that he is greedy. When I looked back at the woman, there was anger on her face. Helga shook her head violently.

"Stop fooling me, Ramon!" she groaned. “Your love for me was gone a long time ago when you met that demon, he poisoned your brain. You have become greedy! You even offered my own brother to that demon, you made him one of those monsters with you! I will never forgive you if you do the same to our future child! ” she cried.

My eyes tear up, there was a pain in my heart when Helga said that. All my life, I felt like no one loved me, that only Michelle cared about me and when we broke up everything was gone. Helga's love for her child, that's the kind of love I've wanted to feel for a long time.

I felt jealous of the child in her womb. I wish my parents loved me that much that they were willing to die for me. Which is funny, because our relatives think I was the reason they died.

Anger flashed in the man's eyes, in a flash he was holding Helga by the neck as she continued to cry. Helga didn't fight anymore, she just closed her eyes tightly, as if she is waiting for her end. I tried to run closer to them to rescue him, but I realized I couldn't touch them. I only penetrated when I tried to stop Ramon. I suddenly felt angry because I could do nothing to save Helga.

“No! Let her go! ” I tried screaming but they can’t really hear me. I heard Helga pray in a different language. My focus is on them when I suddenly felt that some energy is pulling me. I tried to fight it but it grew stronger and stronger until I slowly fade to air.  

“Don’t worry my wife, it will not hurt,” that is the last thing I heard from Ramon before he stabbed Helga to her chest.

I cried out loud when I realized that I am back in the condo. It hurts so much, I feel like I’m Helga’s child, so I’m in so much pain. I was holding my chest because it was so tight. "Mama!" I didn’t know why it hurt so much. What I couldn’t understand even more was why I suddenly mentioned mama as I slowly laid myself down, I feel weak.

Tears kept flowing from my eyes, it didn’t stop. It took me a few more minutes to cry before I fell asleep again as I hugged the last thing I was holding.

The book.