Chapter One

"Over here! The witch is here! Let's kill her!" shouted an old man, pointing to a girl who was thirstily drinking with her bare hands in a nearby lake.

Upon hearing what he said, hundreds of angry people came running with axes and knives. The long robes of black and grey and the ancient beasts masks that they wore made her think about the stories of ghosts that her father used to tell her. But what terrified her the most was their will to avenge their loss unto her.

She thought that the lives of her loved ones were enough to pay the price. But the truth is, they were just waiting for her to show up and kill her. After all, she was to blame why her family died. But the only thing she's sure of, the blame for the death of others, was not hers to take.

"You unfortunate girl! It was you who brought the tragedy! You will pay for it!" a woman who seemed to be the leader of the group, interjected and pointed her knife to the prey.

"Kill her!" she shouted and fixed her robe that was about to fall off from her shoulder. Her wooden necklace that were shaped from different mythological creatures rattled the moment she moved.

"Kill!" everyone shouted in unison and stormed towards the helpless girl to end her life.

The girl was utterly scared and didn't know what to do. She was shaking and clutched her long, faded orange dress on each side. She couldn't even move a muscle, realizing that she has nowhere to run. She tried to step on the ground and the black smoke appeared again. It pierced through the skin of her bare feet and blood came out. A tingling pain made her hiss but she had no other choice. She ran above the ground that made her enemies stop for they fear the touch of the ground.

"Stop! Let the monster ground feast on her!" ordered the woman.

The enemies were astounded when the girl managed to run freely in a far distance without being hurt. How did she do that? One thing occurred in their mind was that the monster ground was gone.

"Madame! Look! There's no more monster ground!" a teenage girl exclaimed from the back of the group.

"Good! After her, you fools! Kill her! Kill the ominous witch! Kill her!" commanded the woman. And so everyone followed and seized the pitiful girl. Little did they know that their leader was too smart. She stayed from the stone pathways together with her right-hand man. She wanted to make sure if there was really no more monster ground.

In a short span of time, the black smoke appeared again and it was too late for her subordinates to retreat. With only rattling bones left, all of them died helplessly and the girl was nowhere to be seen. Luckily, the two of them stayed behind. But she couldn't just let go of the girl. So she drew three arrows from her back and put it together with her bow. Standing in an accurate position, she fired it to the direction where the girl has ran off.

"Let's go," the woman said with an annoying smirk and left the place together with her right-hand man. "She'll definitely die sooner, anyway," she added.

The girl was running as fast as she could. Her waist-length, dark brown hair swayed messily upon the blow of the strong chilly wind of the cloudy weather. The long flowy robe of faded green that she wore above her dress reached her bare heels, making her steps difficult. But with the help of her cold and shivering hands, she managed to kept it higher by clutching it sideways.

Suddenly, she felt something sharp pierced through her back and another one on the lower side of her back. It slowed her down for a couple of seconds. The pain brought her hand to the burning side of her stomach. Her hand trembled as she felt a sharp and slender object showing its tip that barely made its way through the cold skin of her grumbling stomach. Blood flooded out of it. But she continued to flee for her life after letting out an excruciating grunt, forcing her feet to move forward. Step by step, a hot sticky liquid stained her back. The pain gradually intensified. Her vision doubled and sometimes a black patch would wave to and fro, a sign that her body might gave up any second now. But her will to live let her spot a place to hide.

Not far from where she was standing was a cave with the entrance covered with wild vines. She rushed into it even though she was walking groggily. The moment she entered, a flock of startled bats flew their way out. Out of shock, she fainted. It was too late for her to realize that she was already floating in the air. She couldn't do anything but wait for her body to fell from someting like a bottomless pit. Flashbacks of both painful and wonderful memories was the only thing her mind could do. She know she's not going to last any longer but something lit her shattered heart into a raging fire of desire for revenge and justice.

'Mother, father, I promise...I will make them pay,' her fainting mind said. A tear fell from her left eye before she closed her eyes.

"Méah... wake up..."

"Méah, run!"

"Wake up!"

"Méah..."

"Méah!"

"Méah, wake up!"

Méah woke up when she heard voices calling her name, telling her to wake up. She opened her eyes lazily and saw nothing but vast darkness. She realized she fell flat on the surface. When she was about to stand up, she heard her left ankle cracked. The unbearable pain made her bit her arm unknowingly. A sudden streak of headache and an overwhelming pain on her back followed. Later she found herself gasping for air as her heart beat became shorter and shorter. She was about to close her eyes when she felt many strange things crawling on her skin and it made their way towards her face. It brought her back to her senses although, she's still weak.

And then, a sound of something creeking echoed out of nowhere. Lighted torches appeared on both sides of the walls. She tried to calm herself down and bravely took a glimpse on what were crawling unto her. Hundreds of thousands of spiders and centipedes and cockroaches were on their way to her face. They almost covered her whole body. Just then the torches became brighter and brighter. It scared the insects away back to the darkness. A sigh of relief escaped from her dry mouth.

"Come...this way..."

"Come...follow the lights..."

"This way..."

"Follow the lights..."

"The lights..."

A voice echoed again and it made Méah felt dizzy. She didn't know if it was inside her mind or it was the place where she was right now. Unconsciously, she followed the lights. She felt like she was being controlled no matter how tired and injured she was. But what scared her the most was seeing herself walking very fast, dragging her left foot because of her broken ankle. How could she walk like that?

Before she dove deeper into such thought, a strong earthquake came. Méah looked up and witnessed huge cracks above her. Crack after crack, water fell out of it. She wondered why there was water from above. She wanted to take cover but she couldn't control herself and continued walking. She tried to hold onto the wild vines hanging on the wall but a strong force kept on dragging her to nowhere. In a couple of minutes, the earthquake stopped. A half kilometer away, she saw rays of light. As she drew nearer, she realized it was an exit. The rays of light probably came from the sun outside. When she finally got out, all the pain came back and she was not ready for it. She collapsed on the soft grass.

The morning sun was shining brightly. The chirping of the birds were like music to the ears, coalesced by the smell of the morning dew from the flowers and grasses and trees nearby. A chilly breeze softly caressed Méah's pale face. She slowly opened her eyes. She scanned the place and found out that it was an unfamiliar one by looking at the fancy décors in the room. From the silk, peach-colored curtains to the chandeliers and the red velvet ceiling—wherever she landed her sight on, she could tell that everything she saw weren't affordable for a peasant like her. The place looks luxuriously intimidating.

"You're awake," a cold voice of a man greeted her. The moment he spoke, a dead atmosphere soared.

Méah suddenly sat down and pushed her self to the corner of the bed upon realizing that a stranger was talking to her. She couldn't think about anything else but her instincts told her to be cautious. What if he also meant to kill her? But, the moment she moved, she felt torturous pain on some parts of her body, mainly on the side of her stomach and on her back.

Fear crept throughout her whole body. Even though how weak she was, she had managed to move quickly like that of an adrenaline rush. In a blink, the tragic memories flooded her mind. She was shaking uncontrollably, hugging her knees and burying her pale face above it. Her breath became heavy like she just had the scariest nightmare in her whole life.

'I can't cry...I can't... Méah, please don't cry. Don't cry...' she mumbled in her mind.

"Stop it. You're too old to cry," he scolded her, annoyed. "Here. Eat this so I won't have to baby-sit some strangers anymore," he added sounding more annoyed on the way he spoke.

Méah automatically raised her head. All the words that he said, only those that she needed the most had caught her a attention. My! A tray of foods! Its mouth-watering smell made her empty stomach growled. Regardless of the man's treatment towards her, she swiftly grabbed the tray of food and ate it messily. It was like she hadn't eaten anything for years. He was looking at her with disgusted expression, pursing his lips.

"Be careful. The soup's hot," he warned her. Words are just words. He showed no hint of sincerity either.

But, it was already too late. Méah had took a mouthful sip and eventually spat it out. She felt like her tongue had split into halves. Sticking out her tongue, she gently massaged it. His face turned sour, obviously grossed out by her act.

"I told you to be careful. It's not my fault anymore," he said, washing the blame off him. "Looks like you haven't eaten anything for years."

Méah didn't mind what he said. The pain had subsided and she's now busily satisfying her stomach. After she finished it, she handed the empty bowls to him asking for more with puppy-like eyes and a pout. But he's not the one to gave up on such an overused act. In fact, it even irritated him.

"No more," he took the tray and decided to go but he paused midway, "and have some sleep," he added and left.

Méah couldn't do anything but to watch him disappear through the open door and gave his back a disappointed stare. For some reason, something inside her aroused, troubling her. It was something uncontrollable. In no time, a small compartment of a cabinet in the corner of the room, opened.

A sharp knife floated in the air and pointed at the direction where the man went. It twinkled upon being struck by the rays of sunlight that peeked through the half-opened window curtains.

'What's happening? No! This isn't real!'

Méah didn't know what's happening. She can't control what she's doing. The more she resist it, the more it took a hold of her. She just found her neck slowly twitching from side to side, eyes fixed to the open door, followed by a demonic glare and a mischievous smirk that would make anyone shake in fear.

As soon as the knife moved its way with full force towards the door, the man entered.

"What—" the man was left frozen outside the doorway, "the hell?!" He could only move his widening eyes.

A knife! A knife was pointed on the middle of his forehead! Its strong force could be clearly seen transparently circling on it. One move and he'll drop dead in a second!

A cold air slowly crawled in the room. It was an unnatural one for a warm morning like this. Deep inside, he wanted to run away. Yet, it was like he's body had turned into stone. He can't move let alone speaking a single word.

Méah was still figuring out what's happening but failed. Looking at the man's situation, her concentration corrupted. She got scared of herself and for the man! What if she'll kill him? But in the first place, how will she stop this?

'It's not me... I'm not criminal! It's not me! Stop!'

Méah was filled with guilt. Her family. Her neighbors. The little children. Her hometown—she'd turned it into their graves! Everything flashed back to her. A splitting headache attacked. Her ears rang that made her grit her teeth.

All of a sudden, her body went numb. It was like all of her strength was drained instead, despite with a full stomach. Before her eyes drowsily closed, that she couldn't even lay herself properly on the bed, the knife fell to the smooth, red-colored floor. A clattering sound roamed throughout the room.

The man fell to the floor chasing his breath. It took a couple of minute for him to compose himself back. He can't believe it happened in no less than five minutes. He felt like he had lost half of his life!

'Damn you, idiot!'