Ready For Battle
1118 Words
Elena’s whole body was screaming. Her skin cracked open like dry earth in a drought, blood trickling down from places she didn’t even know could bleed. She could feel her ribs making a crackling sound every time she breathed, like they didn’t want to stay intact anymore.
But she didn’t stop. She couldn't.
She knew it. She had known it when she smelled that faint, sweet smell under the herbal bitterness. That woman never gave anything without knives hidden beneath the kindness.
But... did she really have any better choice back then? Wasn’t this still better than losing the last bit of honor and dying here?
Still, Elena sat cross-legged on the stone floor, her back pressed against the cold wall. Her body was shaking like hell, her skin was cracking open continuously, but her hands... they stayed steady. Just steady enough to hold that one broken leaf of Moonlight grass between her fingers.
That’s all she had. Just one. And even that was broken. Just like her.
But she didn’t need much for now.
As she was not planning to heal completely.
Just enough to reach Merina. Just enough to fix the thread between their soul. To keep the last spark of hope alive. And escape from this hell.
She guided it slowly, painfully, toward the gaping cracks in her soul. Toward where her connection with Merina had been cut.
“Come on,” she whispered, breath shallow. “Come on... just a little…”
But suddenly her arms started shaking violently. Her skin began to burn, itching, splitting.
‘What the hell...?’
‘Did I miss something? That woman couldn’t have used the ghost flower…right? ’
She hissed, biting her lip to stop from crying out as sharp pain shot across her cheek, down her arms, and across her back.
Her skin…
Her vision swam, and she doubled over, gasping.
‘Still, it is better than losing my mind with lust.’
She tried to control the poison. Her heart was beating so loudly it was like thunder in her ears.
She bit her bottom lip hard. A sharp, metallic taste hit her tongue. But she didn’t cry out.
She couldn’t.
She’d already cried too much. For too many people who didn’t deserve a single tear.
And then, realization hit her like a slap across the face.
“You wanted me to die horribly without a body, didn’t you, Fiona?” Elena thought bitterly, eyes narrowing as she tried to suppress another wave of nausea. “Using the ghost flower with snake fruit. How generous! No wonder even I got fooled…”
Still, Fiona seemed to be able to guess that Elena would choose this bowl. That was why she put so much effort into it.
But Fiona had no idea Elena could twist it around. She was not the Healer Queen in name.
"Turn pain into power," she whispered through clenched teeth. "That’s what Mom taught me. That’s what I’ll do."
Using the healing energy gathered from that broken leaf till now, she reached deep, deep into the place most people avoided. Her soul space. It was cracked like shattered glass, hanging on by threads. But still… still, she injected the healing energy inside. Slowly. Stitching it together. Trying to fix just enough to reach…her last hope.
“Elena!”
That voice, the one she was waiting for.
Her heart skipped a beat.
“Merina,” she breathed slowly. Her eyes stung, but she didn’t stop. Her mind kept going, gently pushing the Moonlight energy where it needed to go. She couldn’t waste even a second.
“Stop,” Merina said sharply, with a panicked voice. “Elena, you’re forcing yourself too far. That grass is broken. Not enough for repairing our connection totally. With this much energy, I can only be with you for no more than one hour.”
Merina paused for a moment, but her voice sounded within Elena's mind. “Also, your body’s breaking faster because of poison. Stop before it’s too late.”
Tears slipped down her cheeks, mixing with the sweat and blood. But she smiled.
“Merina…” she whispered aloud. “I can’t stop. Not now. I need you. I need you more than ever. If I don't do this... I can’t even protect what little dignity I have left.”
There was silence. Then a long sigh filled her mind.
“Elena… How many times have I told you? You give too much. Always. You used everything for that bastard of a mate. Even your soul. And what did he do?”
Elena flinched. She didn’t need reminding.
Merina’s voice was softer now. Sadder. “He used you until you broke. Rejected you when you were injured. Then severed our bond with wolfbane and gave Luna’s position to another woman.”
“I know,” Elena whispered, voice tight. “I was a fool. I took the lifesaving grace too seriously. I thought… I thought he would love me even if I was nothing.” She shook her head, fury returning.
There was a pause. Then her voice hardened.
“But I’m done with that. I just need to survive. I need to get out of this nightmare. If I have to live, I will only live with respect, Rina.”
There was a pause. Then Merina’s voice came steady and calm.
“Then listen to me. Use what little power you have left to heal your body. Just enough to shift partially. It’ll be messy, but they won’t expect it.”
Elena nodded and followed Merina’s suggestion and slowly healed her injury as much as possible while collecting the poison on her claws, but still, a crescent moon-shaped scar was left on her forehead.
When she opened her eyes, her reflection stared back from the broken mirror hanging on the wall. Pale skin, bloodshot eyes, a white torn dress socked in blood hanging loosely off her bones.
And that scar.
A mark of betrayal. And rebirth.
She smiled.
“Let this scar be the lesson,” she whispered to herself. “Let's never love anymore.”
She washed the blood off slowly. Let the water carry away the old pieces of herself.
Then she turned to the cupboard. Only one dress inside. A Red baby doll dress, she once wanted from Ray. Simple. Clean.
She didn’t hesitate.
She slipped into it fast like it was her armor.
And just as she was done, she heard it.
CLANG.
The sound of the lock turning.
She didn’t move. Just hid her claws back, calmly, hiding in the darkest corner.
Let them come.
Let them walk into the trap.
Because this time?
She wasn’t the one who’d be bleeding.
- Writer
