CHAPTER EIGHT
1680 Words
Armani....
The eerie voices were in my head again, I could hear them slithering tauntingly through my mind.
You can't run from us,you cant hide,you are the key.........
I heard footsteps thundering behind me but I paid no attention to it,I was going crazy.
I felt myself collapse to the floor when the torturous voices scream loudly in my head, I found myself unable to decide what foot to put first and which to leave behind, I found my footsteps unsteady, walking suddenly seemed impossible.
Armani...
"Stop,please stop". I whimpered against the floor in the empty hallway. "Please go away".
"Crystal! Crystal!". I heard Zain Carter saying, panic evident in his voice.
I couldn't begin to think of standing up at the moment, all I wanted to do was scream, or cry, or claw my face off, anything that'd give me a grip on reality.
"Are you okay? What's wrong?". He said as he pulled me up to a sitting position so my back leaned on a wall.
The voices in my head didn't relent,they had never been louder.
Come home Armani.....its time.
I pressed my palms against my ears and shut my eyes tightly.
"Leave me alone,please". I cried quietly.
My lungs were swelling with undescribable feelings ,I felt the tears slide down my cheeks freely.
"Listen,open your eyes,look at me". Zain Carter was saying.
His voice sounded far and faint ,I was drifting slowly, not into blissful silence and darkness but into tormenting screams and pain. Was I going to hell?,was that my home?
Yes Armani,come to us,come home.......
"No". I said silently.
Slowly but surely I felt myself drifting into a torturous world of darkness and pure evil.
Was this eternal damnation?. I thought.
Were these the infamous reapers dragging me to hell?
What strength I had was draining fast, I was tired of struggling, tired of fighting, I was generally tired, perhaps it was time I let go, perhaps in the darkness I'd find comfort, the screams though, I wasn't sure, I knew I'd find something in them, but not comfort, no, never comfort, perhaps I'd get use to them.
Perhaps my struggles were pointless, there was no need clinging onto what sanity there was, maybe I had already lost my mind and this was all in my head, indeed it was time to let go, it was time to.......
'Armani,don't let go'.
Huh?
I hadn't expected a calm and controlled voice to tell me to hold on, truth be told I hadn't expected any voice to tell me to hold on, not an eerie one and certainly not a calm one.
Unlike the eerie voices this one was clear in my head, as though I spoke to a person directly, I held on to it using it as my anchorage to sanity.
It was as though I had developed a kind of telepathic link with the voice, I found myself at an advantage for telepathy worked both ways, I could speak to it just as it spoke to me without having to actually speak.
'Help me,I don't want to go'. I said to it through the new found link.
'What's wrong?'.
Almost like I had been compelled I heard myself saying :
'The they're taking me away,the voices in my head'.
It was then I realized that the moment I had heard this voice the others had silenced.
'Open your eyes now, they're gone'.
And just like that I felt an emptiness and there wasn't a single voice in my head, not the horrifying screams, not the eerie whispers and not the calm and controlled voice ,there was silence ,sweet sweet silence.
It didn't last for long though.....
Something was disturbing my silence ,a faint voice in the distance calling my name.
"Crystal, hey open your eyes!". It was saying.
Slowly I began to pull my thoughts together, I could hear the voice clearly now.
Zain.
I opened my eyes slowly and stared up at his face which wa hovering over mine, his brows were drawn together in concern, his eyes held urgency and slight panic.
"Hey,can you hear me?". He said.
I nodded slowly.
"What's wrong?". He asked.
"I.....I". I trailed of as I could no longer hold my thoughts together, I was drenched in weariness and I felt my heavy eyelids drooping.
"I called Tyler ,we're gonna get home". He was saying.
After that I heard nothing,just blissful silence and comforting darkness.
~~
"Hello? Hello?". I said slowly, uncertainly.
I blinked and tried to get my eyes to adjust to the darkness ,it was cold and dark, really really dark, like night kinda dark, pitch black darkness ,I couldn't see a thing, I was alone and scared, it felt like I was in a dark cold tomb ,trapped and left to die............or was I already dead and buried?
I wasn't sure how I ended up here.
"Armani". I heard a voice say.
It wasn't the eerie voices that tormented me but one that I recognized,the one that had chased the voices away.
"Where am I and where are you?". I said.
"Your mind,we're in your mind".
My mind? I was trapped in mind?
Surely my mind couldn't be so dark.......could it?
"Who are you?". I asked after I'd tried and made peace with the fact that I was crazy.
"Kalain,my name is Kalain, Crown Prince of Avrolon".
There was and edge of authority in to the way he spoke.
He did say he was a prince.
For some reason the fear I felt earlier had lessened and now I was just curious.
"Avrolon ,crown Prince, I don't understand, what is Avrolon, what are you?". I asked.
Maybe I had truly lost it.
"Avrolon,that's where you belong,and like me you are a Serile"
I would have laughed had I thought this funny but I didn't.
"Am I crazy?". I asked flatly, I needed to know, had I lost it or was all this real.
I heard a small chuckle and I could tell from where exactly it came from.
"Where are you?". I said as I turned around ,my eyes met only darkness.
"I'm not actually here, like I said ,I'm in your mind, you may be wondering if this is all part of the delusions of a crazed person but its not, I've formed a telepathic link with you,I can reach you at any time,all you have to do is reach out to me and I'll be there".
I was right about the link....
I had so many questions that needed answers, I had so much to say,I needed so many things explained.
"What is a Serile and what do you mean I am one, I don't understand". I said .
"Do you believe in magic?"
This shocked me,I wanted to scoff and tell him what I thought about magic but trailed off as I recalled what had been happening lately.
"Magic". I repeated quietly,then more loudly I said "I......I don't know".
"Seriles are creatures,the purest of all ,we garner our magic from nature herself".
I remained quiet,was this some sort of joke or something?
I was talking to a voice inside my head, the mere knowledge of this disturbed me.
"I'm not here to teach you about your genetics and all ,I need you to tell me what happened to you earlier".
The memories seeped in gradually and I recalled those unforgiving voices in my head trying to drag me out of sanity.
"There were voices.....mean voices,they were dragging me away,telling me its time to go, I was so scared, they said I belonged with them". I said.
There was silence,I listened for any sound but I heard nothing but my heartbeats, I took a deep shaky breath and tried to steady my heartbeats.
"You need to return to Avrolon Armani".
I was almost startled when I heard him.
"You don't understand, I'm not Armani, there has to be some kind of mistake,I'm human,I don't know what you're talking about".
"You don't know anything, you don't belong here,you need to return to avrolon to know everything".
"No,I'm crazy,this isn't real,its all in my head". I said quietly. "You're just in my head".
"You don't have a choice,you won't be staying here for much longer,you're either returning to avrolon or they drag you all the way back to the Isle Of The Cursed, its not a joke,it is time to return"
When he said 'they',I knew he was referring to the voices in my head,I didn't want to be dragged to a place call led the isle of the cursed,I felt a chill run down my spine and I shuddered at the thought of it.
"What do they want with me?,I don't understand". I repeated again.
"They're demons,they mean to use you, your body is like a vessel containing extraordinary powers ,they want that,this may sound like a bluff but its not, you must return to Avrolon where you will be protected".
I was shaking, not because of the cold I felt but because of the fear surging through my entire being.
The fear which I thought had lessened only intensified.
"And if they get me first?". I asked.
"They take over your body and the world would be at their mercy ,you should have been told about all this but you were lied to and made to believe you're nothing but a weak and powerless human,you never should have been taken away in the first place,your parents are the cause of all this and their punishment awaits them".
My parents?
Punishment?
The hell with that.
I wanted to ask for an explanation but the emptiness I felt told me he was gone,I crumbled to my knees and shut my eyes tightly .
- Writer
