Kill The Luna

55

The agonizing pain tore through my palm like white-hot lightning, and a loud, piercing scream erupted from my throat, echoing wildly off the damp stone walls of the cavern. Tears instantly blurred my vision as I stared down in absolute disbelief at my soft, bleeding hand. The sight made my stomach completely turn; the silver blade went straight through my flesh, pinning me flat against the hard surface as if I were being nailed directly onto a wooden cross. I began to weep uncontrollably, my whole body shaking violently against the heavy iron restraints as I gripped the handle of the weapon with my free left hand, desperately preparing to pull the sharp steel out of my skin.

Elda didn't even flinch at my cries. She simply took a few slow, casual steps backward, crossing her arms over her chest as she watched my desperate struggles with a cold, unyielding stare. "There is absolutely no need to do that, Fedora," she murmured, her voice chillingly calm and steady over my loud sobbing. "If you manage to pull that knife out, I am simply going to take it and drive it straight through your second hand anyway. There is no point in fighting a brutal battle that you have already completely lost."

I clutched my bleeding wrist with my free fingers, gasping for breath as a sharp, throbbing ache pulsed through my entire arm. Elda took another step closer, her features softening into that same fake, unsettling look of motherly affection. "Take heart, my dear, and please try to understand the reality of this situation," she whispered, tilting her head with a look of deep sympathy. "I am truly doing all of this from a genuine place of care and understanding. I really do care about your safety, but you have become an extreme danger even to your own self."

She gestured with her hand toward the dark cave entrance, her eyes narrowing as her tone grew dead serious. "Letting a girl like you roam around freely out there in the world is exactly like letting a ticking, walking bomb move through a crowded street. If I don't take the necessary steps to safely detonate this power right now, it is eventually going to explode on its own with time. When that happens, countless innocent lives will be ruined. It is much better for one single person to suffer a little pain right now than for hundreds of people to die in a massive disaster later."

"Wait! Just stop and tell me the truth!" I shouted at her, my teeth gritting as I tried to ignore the hot blood dripping into the stone bowl beneath the altar. "How exactly are many people going to get hurt because of me? You promised me last night that you were finally going to explain every single detail to me today!"

Elda’s lips pressed into a flat, tight line, and a brief shadow of hesitation crossed her face before she quickly masked it with a proud shrug. "That is simply what the ancient prophecy dictates," she stated coldly, refusing to meet my eyes directly. "The old texts make it very clear."

A sudden realization hit me like a physical blow, freezing the breath in my lungs. Looking closely at her tense posture and her vague expression, the truth finally clicked in my mind. She didn't actually know the full story at all; she was just using the old legends as an excuse. Elda was completely clueless about the deeper secrets of the curse, but she was desperately greedy to steal whatever raw, supernatural power was hidden inside my veins.

"You don't even know anything, do you?" I mocked, a bitter, breathless laugh escaping my lips as I glared up at her through my tears. "You were just blabbing a bunch of meaningless nonsense to trick me! That day you saw me step out of that roaring fire completely untouched, your greed took over. You wanted whatever magical protection I had for your own selfish gain! You have been practicing and preparing this sick ritual for years just to steal powers from people, and that is the only real reason you didn't kill me on the spot!"

A wild wave of desperate adrenaline completely overrode the agonizing pain in my right palm. Gritting my teeth until they clicked, I wrapped my left fingers tightly around the hilt of the knife. With a fierce, guttural scream, I ripped the sharp blade straight out of my hand and immediately flung it across the short distance, aiming directly for her throat.

Elda’s eyes widened in brief shock, but she reacted with terrifying speed, bending her neck sharply to the side as the bloody silver knife sliced through empty air, clattering loudly against the stone wall behind her.

"Nice work," she purred, a dark, dangerous smirk spreading across her face as she straightened her jacket. "It seems like you have finally figured out my little secret, Fedora. But unfortunately for you, it is already far too late, my love."

She snapped her fingers sharply toward the shadows. One of the massive guards stepped forward instantly, reaching into his tactical belt and handing her another pair of small, gleaming silver daggers. Elda snatched the weapons, her face turning completely expressionless as she lunged toward the table. Before I could even attempt to swing my arms, she grabbed my mangled right wrist and drove the first dagger clean through my palm, pinning it deep into the wood. In a split second, she grabbed my left hand and slammed the second dagger straight through the flesh, nailing it down right beside the first one.

I collapsed back onto the cold stone altar, a loud, broken wail tearing from my throat as I lay there in absolute agony, completely paralyzed by the pain and unable to move a single muscle.

Elda quickly reached under the table, sliding a second stone bowl across the dirt floor to make sure it caught the fresh, dark streams of blood pouring rapidly from both of my hands. Just as the metallic scent of copper filled the heavy air, a soft, rhythmic rustling sound echoed from the dark entrance of the cavern. Twelve older women, all dressed from head to toe in flowing, pure white ritual robes, marched silently into the chamber. They immediately formed a wide circle around the stone altar, bowing their heads as they began chanting loudly, their voices rising in a strange, guttural language that I had never heard in my entire life.

The chanting grew faster and louder, the heavy words vibrating through the very stone beneath my back. Elda smiled triumphantly, lifting one of the heavy bowls filled with my dark red blood up toward her lips, preparing to take a deep, deep drink to seal the stolen power.

But just as the rim of the bowl brushed against her mouth, a massive, deafening explosion rocked the entire cavern.

The ground shook violently, knocking several of the chanting women off their feet as dust and shattered rock rained down from the stone ceiling. The heavy iron gates at the mouth of the cave were completely blown inward, melting into twisted pieces of scrap metal.

Through the thick, swirling smoke of the blast, a sudden, powerful warmth flooded through the cold room, answering the desperate cry of my soul. I didn't even need to see through the dust to know who it was. A wave of pure relief crashed over my chest as I felt his familiar presence approaching through the fire.

Michael was finally here.