My name is Aria Monroe, I turned eighteen yesterday. Guess what? I celebrated my birthday with my cellmate Amelia in a cell. Yeah I'm slave, I've been living as a slave since I was fifteen.
Trust me I don't know where my mother or father or siblings are. I don't even know if they are alive or dead. Ever since my own family sold me to slavery, I deleted them from my heart forever. I only have one family and that's Amelia, she's been good to me, she's like a sister to me, this is my story.
"Aria" Amelia called me as I lay on the cold ground, they didn't even give us blanket to sleep at night. I raised my head to look at Elia'sworried face. "Yes " I answered as I sat up.
"You're thinking again aren't you? " She's said." Yeah sometimes I'm usually lost thinking, not about my dumbass family but a way to escape this disgusting and smelling cell.
"I'm sorry Elia, stop worrying about me ok, you know I'm always planning on escaping here with you" I said.
A guard walked passed our cell, I hate that particular guard what's his name again , oh I don't care about his fucking name.
He usually gets on my nerves always finding fault in me. One day I'll give him his own piece of cake.
Suddenly the bell rang, the bell means it's time for us to bath as it was morning time. We got out of our cells and form two straight lines.
We were all wearing tattered clothes, I couldn't remember when I wore a better clothes or even eat better food or had a very warm bath.
"Aria" Elia called me tugging my left arm. "What?" I answered.
"Look down" she whispered to me as she looked down. I looked around to know why she said that, ' oh ' I said in my mind.
Leonard the man who owned the slavery was standing at the entrance of where we going to take our bath.
He doesn't like anyone looking at him in the eyes, else you'll be taken to the punishment room.
Trust me, you wouldn't want to know what kind of punishment that are given in that Godforsaken room. I quickly lowered my eyes as we passed him by.We finally got to the place we usually had our bath. The place was wide like a field, the place is do dirty and disgusting. But the worse part was that , they tell us to take of our clothes and bath right in front of them.Godforbid I'll never do that, I had a secret place me and Elia usually sneak to have our bath secretly. As we were thousands of slaves, we can easily sneak out without us getting caught.I almost got caught yesterday though. "Elia be fast else we will get caught" I said peeping through a hole incase there was anyone or guards coming our direction.By now most of the slaves are done taking thier bath in shame so the place was getting scanty. " I'm almost done , give me two minutes" Elia said to me. When she was finally done ,
"Both of you come with me" Lennon said with a smirk on his lips. We followed immediately. He took us to a different place entirely, I have never come across this particular place before though it's within the building of the slaves. We finally reached the punishment room, there was traces of blood everywhere. The room stinks with blood. The room was darker than any other place in the slaves prison.There was only one light glowing and it was not bright enough. Lennon opened the the lock of the door and pushed us in and locked it back. "I finally got hold of you wretched girls, you'll spend three days here without food and water, I'll make sure I torture you myself" Lennon said licking his lips irritatingly making my skin crawl.I just ignored what he said but Elia didn't " we didn't do anything you pig" she said angrily. Why are we spending five days here anyway when we did nothing wrong I couldn't glad her.Bu
Today was the third day of me and Elia staying in the punishment room.The wound under my feet already closed. Three days of no food or water, we just laid on the cold ground as though we were dead.We haven't seen light since three days now, my throat is sour due to no water to drink.I heard the entrance door opened means someone was coming. I quickly tapped Elia to wake up as she was sleeping. "Elia, Elia, wake up" I called.Elia woke up weakly rubbing her sleeping eyes "hmm what ?" She said."I think someone is coming" I said. Just then the door to the punishment room was opened .I could see Leonard and Lennon and three other men I haven't see before. We quickly looked down.Leonard stepped in the room and the others followed. " Well well, I thought you both will be dead by now, seems you're still strong enough for more punishment".I have never seen that man smile or even smirk before , maybe because I don
Derek shifted into a wolf as soon as he felt his mate life was in danger. He ran as fast as he can not caring if Magnus was still following him or not.Derek finally got to the slavery prison after some minutes. Derek shifted back to his human form.He could smell his mate's scent more now. He believed she was here. He saw two guards standing at the entrance door. Derek shifted into a guard and walked towards the guards.Derek composed himself as he nodded at the guards and walked past them, they nodded back to him as a form of greeting.Derek walked into the building even though he doesn't know where he was going, he was just following Aria's scent his mate.Derek finally reached a long passage way. At both sides where cells where the slaves are placed in. He saw some slaves laying on the cold ground, whole some were holding the bars of the cell not caring about the world outside there.Well he didn't care abou
I woke up in a strange place, all my body was in severe pains. I looked around where I was, wait! I was in a room. I sat up on the bed which was very big and wide, the ceiling was very high too. Talk more of the huge door which was almost reaching the ceiling but it has two handles. One up and one down what for?. "Where am I?" I said out loud. "How will I get down from this high bed? Wait where's Elia?". Now I realised I wasn't in the slaves prison anymore. All my memories before I passed out came flooding back to my head. I remembered Lennon's head fell of his neck ane his blood splashed on my body, but I couldn't see who was behind him. I need to get out of here, I need to find Elia " hello is anyone here" I called out. My throat felt sour, Gosh I need to drink water. At the same time my stomach growled angrily. Aish! I'm so hungry . I remembered I haven't eaten anything it even taste water f
I watched as the beautiful man walked towards my direction. And the closer he gets to me the smaller he become, so I wouldn't stress myself looking up.Venetia had her head down showing respect ' what was he some Kind of prince or something ' I said In my mind."How are you my love" he said to me ' wait ! Who is he calling my love , maybe he mistake me for someone else.He's handsome though but that's not the problem right now ' I said in my mind again."I'm not fine , Master........" I trailed off as I don't know his name. " You can call me Derek" he said " why what happened why are you not fine". " Please I need to go back to get my friend " I said as tears dropped from my eyes and I sniffed. Derek couldn't understand why Aria was crying for another person, but he didn't like it when she cried. " Don't cry my love" he clean
I watched as master Derek transformed into a big grey wolf, my eyes widened in fear as I took three steps back. So this was he meant when he asked me to promise him not to be scared of him."He won't hurt you" Magnus said to me.I swallowed my saliva as I turned around to look at Venetia but she was not there anymore. I saw Master Derek's wolf lower down to my level so I could get on his back. But I was still scared to move close to him"Don't be scared, he won't hurt you" Magnus said to me again. I looked at him and saw that he was serious about it " you have my word, if he hurt you I'll punch the hell out of him " Magnus said as he demonstrated with his fist in the air.I breathed in and out before I managed to take one step at a time closer to the wolf. I finally got close to Master Derek's wolf as I used my shaky hand to grabbed his grey fur and climbed on his back as I sat comfortably."See it's easy" Magnus said to me as he smiled
"Are you ok?" Master Derek asked me with concern laced in his voice and worry in his blue eyes as he dropped me gently on the ground. The ground was cold I was thankful for the fur coat Venetia gave me to put on.I nodded my head when I've calmed down, " yes I'm fine I...... I had a bad dream" I managed to talk with harsh breath. " I... I saw myself back at the slaves prison. I saw him stab Elia and he stab me too with a knife" I said as tears dropped from my eyes." Shhh" Master Derek shushed me up as he patted my head softly " it's ok I'm here now" he said to me. "Sleep my love"I shook my head saying no " I don't want to have another bad dream again" I said as I looked up at him. Derek wiped away the tears from Aria's eyes."You won't have bad dream again, trust me my love" he said to me with a gentle smile on his lips. " Do you trust me? " He asked me. And I nodded my head saying yes."Good sleep now, you need to rest. Look we're almost there"
The shadows exploded outward, swallowing the room in a suffocating wave of cold. The torches flickered wildly before snuffing out, plunging them into near darkness.Elia clutched Elizabeth tightly to her chest, backing away as Magnus’s body convulsed, his form twisting unnaturally. His once-familiar features contorted with something inhuman, veins pulsing like blackened roots under his skin.Derek gritted his teeth and moved between Magnus and the others, summoning his power in an instant. His hands glowed with crackling energy, ready to strike if needed. “Magnus, listen to me! You can fight this—”But the voice that came from Magnus was not his own.“Fight?” the distorted voice mocked, echoing through the chamber. “There is no fight. There is only surrender.”Then, the shadows moved.They lashed out like living tendrils, striking at Derek first. He barely had time to react before he was thrown backward, crashing into the stone wall with a brutal force.“Derek!” Aria’s voice rang out
The weight of Magnus’s confession settled over them like a thick fog. Alan’s power wasn’t gone—it had shifted, latched onto Magnus like a parasite waiting to consume him. They couldn’t afford to keep this to themselves.Derek was the first to move. He helped Magnus to his feet, his grip firm. “We need to tell the others. Now.”Magnus flinched at the thought. His body still trembled, his skin clammy with sweat. “Elia…” His voice cracked. “How am I supposed to tell her?”Aria’s chest tightened. Elia had already suffered enough—first with Alan’s magic corrupting Magnus, and then watching her husband struggle to control himself. Now this?“She deserves to know,” Aria said gently. “All of them do.”Magnus ran a hand through his hair, exhaling shakily. “What if I lose control in front of them?”Derek shook his head. “Then we make sure you don’t.” His tone was absolute. “Let’s go.”Aria hesitated, her hand drifting instinctively to her stomach. Something about all of this felt… wrong. The da
The weight of their decision settled over them like a storm cloud, thick with unspoken fears. Aria’s fingers remained pressed against her stomach, as if seeking reassurance from the life growing inside her. She could feel her magic humming beneath her skin, stronger than ever—but also unpredictable.Derek crossed his arms, his gaze sharp. “If we’re going to do this, we need to be careful. Alan’s magic didn’t just disappear. It’s somewhere, lingering. And if we go looking for it, we need to be prepared for whatever we find.”Magnus leaned against the stone wall, his expression unreadable. “You don’t think I know that?” His voice was rough with frustration. “It’s inside me. I feel it every second. And every second, it’s getting harder to fight.”Aria studied him closely. The way his hands trembled, the slight flicker of shadow clinging to his form—he was holding himself together by sheer force of will.“We can’t wait any longer,” she said. “We need to find a way to trace the remnants of
Magnus took a step back, shaking his head. “No.” His voice was low, strained. “You’re wrong.”Aria felt a cold weight settle in her stomach. “I want to be wrong, Magnus. But I’m not.”He clenched his fists, his breathing heavy. The air around them shifted—charged with an unseen force.Derek reached for his sword instinctively. “Magnus, stay with us.”“I am with you!” Magnus snapped, but the darkness in his veins pulsed. His pupils dilated, and Aria saw it again—that flicker of something inhuman in his eyes.Derek moved between them. “Aria, if he loses control again—”“I won’t,” Magnus ground out, but even he didn’t sound convinced.Aria reached for him. “Magnus, listen to me—”He flinched at her touch, and suddenly, a force erupted from him, slamming into the walls with enough power to shake the room.Books flew from their shelves. Candles flickered and died. The air turned suffocating.Magnus gasped, doubling over as if in pain. His fingers dug into the stone floor, his breathing rag
Morning came too quickly. The tension that had settled over them the night before hadn’t lifted, and as they prepared to leave for the archives, Aria couldn’t shake the feeling that they were walking into something they weren’t ready for.The journey was quiet, save for the sound of their footsteps against the cold stone halls. Aria kept a hand on her stomach, a subconscious habit she had developed since realizing she was pregnant. She hadn’t told the others—not yet. Not until she understood what was happening to her.Magnus walked beside her, his movements more controlled than before, but there was still a weight to them, as if he were forcing himself to keep the corruption at bay. Derek led the way, his grip tight on the hilt of his sword. He was always prepared for a fight, but this time, Aria knew his concern was for her.They arrived at the archives, an ancient chamber buried deep beneath the castle. Dust clung to the air, illuminated by the soft glow of enchanted lanterns. Rows
Aria sat beside Magnus, exhausted but determined. The session had drained her, and yet, she knew this was only the beginning.Magnus exhaled heavily, his fingers twitching as he clenched and unclenched his fists. “I almost lost control again.”“But you didn’t,” Aria reminded him, her voice gentle but firm. “That’s what matters.”His jaw tightened. “What if next time I do?”Aria hesitated. There was a next time. There always would be.But she wouldn’t let him fall into doubt.“You won’t,” she said, gripping his wrist. “Because I’ll be here. We all will.”Magnus looked at her, eyes clouded with uncertainty—but there was something else there, too. A flicker of belief.Before he could respond, the chamber doors swung open.Derek stepped in, his expression grim. “We need to talk.”Aria turned to him, immediately sensing his unease. “What is it?”Derek’s gaze flickered to Magnus, then back to her. “It’s about you.”Aria frowned. “Me?”Derek nodded, stepping closer. “I’ve been watching, Aria
The next morning, as the first light of dawn painted the sky in hues of gold and crimson, Magnus and Aria stood in the clearing beyond the castle walls. The air was still charged with tension from the previous night, but this was the first step toward reclaiming control.Magnus flexed his hands, feeling the restless power still writhing within him. He was afraid. Afraid of losing himself again. Afraid of hurting someone. Afraid that no matter how hard he tried, he would never be the same again.But then he looked at Aria.She stood before him, steady, unshaken. There was a quiet strength in her now, something deeper than before. Her presence alone was grounding.“Alright,” Aria said, drawing a slow breath. “First, I need you to close your eyes.”Magnus frowned but obeyed.“Feel the magic inside you,” she continued. “Don’t fight it. Just listen.”He tried. At first, all he could sense was chaos—wild energy rushing through his veins, sharp, erratic, unpredictable. It was like a storm he
Magnus collapsed to his knees, gasping as the remnants of darkness flickered around him like dying embers. The magic inside him had not vanished—it still pulsed within his veins—but it was no longer in control. The corruption had been tempered, its hunger subdued by Aria’s power. He trembled as he lifted his head, his once-shadowed eyes now holding a glimmer of clarity. Aria stepped back, her breathing unsteady. Her body swayed slightly, exhaustion weighing her down. Derek was by her side in an instant, his strong arms steadying her before she could collapse. He gazed at her in awe, then concern. “Aria, that was incredible,” he murmured. “But you shouldn’t have pushed yourself so hard.” She shook her head, pressing a hand to her belly. “I had to. It was the only way to reach him.” Frederick took a cautious step toward Magnus, his fists clenched at his sides. “Is it over?” Magnus let out a shuddering breath. “No,” he admitted, his voice hoarse. “I can still feel it inside me…
Amid the chaos and the crumbling stone, a deep, resolute calm began to emanate from Aria. Her eyes, wide with determination, fixed on the writhing, tormented form of Magnus. The dark energy that had taken root in him pulsed like a malignant heartbeat, threatening to consume everything in its path. But in that moment, something within Aria stirred—a power she had never fully acknowledged before. Her hand pressed against her belly, and for a moment, the world seemed to hold its breath. A soft, luminous glow began to spread from her, as if her unborn child were a beacon of hope amid the encroaching darkness. The golden light was warm and steady, contrasting sharply with the inky shadows and her she thought of Magnus and decided it time to step in, at the same time she’s scared of the dark power surrounding magnus and not wanting anything to harm her unborn child. She left her room for the dungeon upon seeing magnus in this state her heart sank and she couldn’t take it. She saw how exhau