It's Shirin's POV still, I apologise if this is proving difficult to understand with the changes of POV. By the way, I have no idea what a God of Fate looks like so I've just used my imagination.
Chapter Fourteen: Fate's Wrath
Slowly my senses returned to my body as my eyes eased open. Where was I? I looked around, I was in some sort of large grey tent; I was laid on the floor with my hands and legs tied with scabrous rope that was cutting into my ankles and wrist, probably causing a bright red rash. There wasn't much in the tent – but it had a slight eerie atmosphere about it. I twisted my body, pushing myself sideways. I saw some sort of book, it looked old, the pages worn, yellowed and probably only just holding onto the spine with the aged binding. It was opened up on a page, nearer to the beginning then the end. I did not understand the characters or words, they were neither Farsi nor Indian; they were less consistent than these languages with small symbols. Not that I was even that good at reading, my writing wasn't that good either. The room was incredibly dimly lit, and the deep depressed feeling was so dark inside of me that it made the small hours before dawn seem bright. How had I ended up in such a situation? I didn't know if the Prince was around, and my knowledge was pretty limited about the whereabouts of Farah too. I pulled myself up, to try and find out some more about where I was. Nothing inside the tent seemed familiar to me...the only thing I had learnt about the tent's owners was that s/he had very bad taste. How could I joke at a time like this? I shut my eyes to heighten my other senses; maybe they would prove more enlightening. I heard people outside, a lot. I also heard the crackle of a dancing fire. I suddenly heard something that made me jump.
"Will you wake up!" It was Farah's voice! She was alive! Although I was hardly her friend, it was good to hear her voice and it sounded near, however, she was probably in another tent. I heard someone enter a near tent and tell someone – more than likely Farah – to be quiet. This gave me a feeling of confirmation that the Prince was also alive – otherwise who else would she be trying to wake up? I didn't really like waking up in tents; I had all reason not to, last time it had happened I was almost murdered because I was thought to be a demon – me? A demon? What sort of dumb idea is that? My alertness suddenly grew as a flap on the tent opened and someone stepped in. It was one of the brothers that were twins. He was wearing the oriental-styled clothes but he didn't have the mystical stone with him, but he held the double-bladed staff in his right hand.
"Okay, putting this as nicely as I can: who the heck are you and where are my friends?" I demanded immediately. Half of the man's face pricked up into an extremely canny smile.
"You're a very brash girl, aren't you?" he smiled, in a dark voice that terrified me but I didn't show my feelings.
"Hey, you're ugly but I don't complain! Now who are you?" I demanded again, trying to be as offensive as I could without letting my defences down. He didn't appear to offended at my remark – which was good, because I was treading on a incredibly fine line here.
"I am Neelkamal, my brother, Durjaya, and I captured you and your companions. We tracked you down, you are a demon," started the man, I slowly rolled my eyes and under my breath I muttered:
"Here we go again..."
"My brother, myself and our followers are the Demon Catchers," Neelkamal continued, almost proudly – yeesh, I had only met this guy yet I had the sudden urge to either kill him or myself!
"Oh the irony..." I murmured while looking at the floor.
"We will slay you at dawn, it is nearly time, your friends will also be killed, you have corrupted their minds," Neelkamal continued. I rolled my eyes and looked at him harshly.
"C'mon Neelkamal! Do I look like some sort of evil, demon, I-destroy-everything type of person?" I asked, though this was a futile thing to ask, as Neelkamal was obviously a zealot in his work. Neelkamal didn't answer my question and went on to put me down more as he explained that none of my odd powers would work.
"We have cast a hex on you that has diminished all your demonic powers, so any thoughts or attempts of escape will be done in vain," he warned and then left me alone, awaiting my demise. I looked back at the aged book; it must have been a book of black magic or something crazy like that. Just great! I escape one lunatic to only have to meet another...or two – whatever! Well...I would escape, I always did. My options were limited though; I couldn't teleport, I couldn't manipulate time in any way, I had no weapon, I wasn't strong enough to snap the rope...I had no options.
The realisation that I could not escape and it was more than likely that I would be killed was dawning on me rapidly. No matter how much I wanted to shake the pessimistic thoughts, they still lingered in my mind...what was I going to do? I struggled, pointlessly, trying to snap the rope. However, all my efforts just ended up with me in a sorrowful, tearful state with my wrists probably looking very raw with an exposed layer of flesh. I couldn't be killed...I was too young – and I wasn't even a demon! Why the heck wouldn't those stupid bastards just figure that out! I was feeling so angry, so my breathing was heavy yet I was scared and upset so tears were tracing their way down my face. I hadn't heard much from Farah...I had heard a loud cry a while ago, but that was it. Time teased me so badly, everything taking so long. Had the others given up too? It seemed so as I just waited, I wished someone would come, come and help me; so I stared, fixated, on the tent's front thinking any moment someone who I knew would come in and help me. But I knew that wasn't going to happen...the feeling of weakness grew inside of me as half of my mind kept on telling my body 'just give up now, you can't go on, they're going to kill you'. Why was I feeling so bleak? Why had I given up so easily...surely...surely...there was something I could do? Wasn't there?
More time passed and I lay on my stomach so as not to cause anymore pain on my hands (they were tied behind me). I felt so empty and thoughtless. The voice, the voice that I was becoming more and more aware of, fluttered around me. I knew the voice was there and I now it felt so natural it being there, it didn't startle me, I knew the voice...I felt close to the voice. 'Why have you given up?' the voice asked me. A harrowing male voice that seemed to fly around me like a butterfly.
"What else can I do? I haven't any clue. I suppose when I do die, it won't be so bad, I suppose it will be like fleeing from this world," I murmured quietly, my eyes glazed, my vision unfocused. I sensed the near presence of someone, but I knew no one was there. 'That is a unusual thought, especially from someone who isn't even from this world' the voice pointed out. My understanding of whom the voice belong to was unreliable...I knew, yet I didn't know – I always felt it was my father, but even I didn't know where this belief came from. I thought about my past, my childhood...no one had ever been there, no one, not when I fell and needed picking up, not when I was being called a freak...and again, no one was here now, the streams fell faster and harder as memories ran through my mind. "If you are my father then why do you leave me here? Why are you going to let those I care about die? Why are you going to yet me die? Why do you never show yourself?" I yelled, my tears running down my face. The voice remained a low, deep, calm pitch. 'Who said I was going to let you die?' I heard the voice ask. I was silent; I didn't know what the voice meant. However, I was soon going to find out. In front of me, some sort of creature began to loom into my vision, as if all the shadows in the room had drawn into some sort of living, breathing creature; the breathing was some sort of loud, ghostly drone. The creature did not seem terribly human-looking; the black shadows had formed into something that was probably suppose to have the shape of a human, but the limbs and digits were to overly exaggerated with hands more like talons and the ribs protruded so much it made the figure look like a skeleton. I couldn't make out the face, it seemed almost as if the creature hadn't a face. The creature didn't even seem to have a solid form and seemed purely made up of flickering shadows and darkness. The figure was frightening; it was some sort ghostly creation that wasn't of this world, yet I didn't feel scared, in fact, this was the first time since waking up that I actually felt safe. I felt the tightness of the rope loosen, as if a snake had stopped constricting itself around me. I stood, shakily, beholding the creature in front of me. Who was it? I didn't know. What was it going to do? It was going to kill everything in fight. So simply said, and so simply done by the creature. I saw a guard run into the tent, he had obviously felt the sheer tremors that were moving across the lands, tremors I had seen but not felt as I felt somewhat de-sensitised from everything around me. The creature turned to see the guard and it seemed almost with a simple glare he killed the man. The man suffered a death that was probably agonising as the blood from inside him bled over lips and dripped down into the ground, the ground that he soon found himself on. I found myself teleported outside, I didn't do it; he took me here, the creature. The campsite was made up of several tents, large ones mainly. It barely took seconds, yet those seconds must have seemed like hours to those who felt the Wrath of Fate. They knew something must have been approaching, something they couldn't handle. Their eyes became fixated at the disturbing creature, their faces dropped and the colour drained from their faces as they were filled absolute pure fear. They were all going to die, and personally, I didn't care. With a roar that seemed to come from the centre of the Earth, the terrible shock waves moved across the ground and it appeared the creature was dragging up the ground, making it uneven. I wanted them all dead! My thoughts became darker and twisted as I seemed to fall into some sort of trance, my thoughts all set on the extermination of all those in front of me. With a blood-curdling cry, the creature sent out a golden shock wave across the ground, freezing everything except for itself and me. The creature conjured up a sword, a black one that had a sharpened edge – the sword was not a human-made one, it couldn't be, for it even seemed to have a black glowing aura around it. The creature, moved from one body to the next, cleaving each one of them! I heard the tearing of flesh, the cracking of bone – but I didn't care! I knew there were loads of them! But they were all going to suffer a painful death! Each member of the Demon Catchers had a golden slash mark on them, a mark that was a symbol; a symbol that would condemn them to death as soon as time started again! Every single one was marked, the creature finally stopped; he turned back mildly to look at me, the creature was the owner of the voice, but the voice had many forms, this was just one of them. Another shock wave moved across the ground, but this time it hit me and made me fall. It made me snap out of the dark trance I was in and then the reality of what had happened hit me. Time caught up with all those who stood in front of me, the strikes all came to pass and I heard them scream in pain as the pain from being cleaved in half struck them. I looked up, I saw the dead bodies; it looked like some sort of massacre had taken place. Blood rushed to my head and I suddenly had the urge to be sick. Had I done this? Was all this split blood caused by me? I felt so shaky and scared. Suddenly I remembered the Prince and Farah; I had to find them. I managed to get up, though I wished to be sick again, and run to a nearby tent.
I'll write a chapter from the Prince's view of what happened now. Hmm...I've just realised something, Shirin and her family (dad to be exact) are the original neighbours from hell, the dad will kill you if you brake any of his things or mess his daughter around and the daughter will nick all your stuff – hm, nice! By the way, I may take a while to write the next few chapters cos I've got some script work and since that has a deadline it kinda does take priority.