Chapter 1:

...Crunch... crunch... crunch...

The taste of sand in her mouth, the sweat drizzling from her forehead, and the hard, uncomfortable floor she was lying on made Raxiel awaken from a hard yet almost pleasant sleep.

...Crunch... crunch... crunch...

Her eyes slowly opened. Even though her mind was telling her to get up and to examine the area, her eyes only opened halfway, and her body, too weak to even barely move, only strained her to keep still and sleep more.

...Crunch... crunch... crunch...

"But wait..." she thought in her mind, "Why is my body so tense about moving? Is there something wrong with me? I wonder if I was attacked while I was unconscious...

...Crunch... crunch... crunch...

"If something is wrong with me, I wonder what it is. I don't feel any pain, no blood...-"

...Crunch... crunch... crunch...

"And what the heck is that crunching noise? That's really starting to bug me."

...Crunch... crunch... crunch...

Finally convincing herself to get up, she slowly moved her arms beside her chest and raised her head and part of her chest up with her hands pushing into the ground. She could barely see anything with her eyes only being half open. "How irritating," she thought to herself. "My muscles are barely able to lift my eyelids. Come on! Work!" But seeing as though her muscles could barely work, she closed her eyes for a few seconds, and, as quickly as she could, she opened them as much as possible. As soon as her eyes were open to their fullest, she saw another obstacle in her way. The sun beat down into her eyes like a bright flashlight shining directly into her eyes, straining them and giving her a headache. But she did not let that stop her from her goal of getting up. She raised herself up a few more inches, hoping her muscles were getting back to their normal self.

...Crunch... crunch... crunch...

Raxiel could smell a very powerful stench that smelt like an old body... an old, dead body.

"What is going on here?" she thought.

As soon as she stopped looking at the ground and looked at eye level, suddenly she could see a person's shoes. Confused as to why as could be seeing shoes, Raxiel looked up and saw a person in front of her. His face was covered by a mask, and his figure was somewhat thin. As soon as she was done staring at the man dumbfoundedly, she finally took attention to something else.

"So that's what that 'crunch' noise is."

In his hand, the masked man had an apple almost halfway eaten. Realizing that the annoying sound had come from him, Raxiel smirked at him. Noticing her body had recovered somewhat, she tried to stand up. As she was about to get on her feet, she could feel her muscles contracting. She stopped herself and decided just to sit up.

While Raxiel had been trying her best to wake up form her unconsciousness, the man had been watching her from the rock while eating the last half of his apple. As soon as Raxiel had sat up to a regular, comfortable position, the man became more intrigued by her. About to take the last few bites of his fruit, the man abruptly stopped. Quickly, he smirked and jumped off of the rock. Raxiel noticed a shadow movement, and looked up to find the man looking down at her. Laughing to himself, the man kneeled down beside her, the apple extended towards her. With a mysterious and enticed voice, the man began to speak to her.

"I've been wondering when you were going to wake up. You look tired and hungry. Here, I'll share this with you."

Moving the apple closer to her, the man looked into her eyes playfully. Raxiel notices the man's awkward behavior. Without hesitation, she began to scoot away from the man. Still looking at her trickily, the man stood up and started to walk towards her. Now lurking over her, the man stood still holding the apple to her face, each second the apple getting closer to her mouth. Raxiel, with enough energy and adrenaline to move freely, moved her head to look another way as to reject the piece of food the was being held to her mouth. The man, still creeping towards her, laughed to himself.

"What's the matter? All this is is an apple with a little spit on it."

The man very ruthlessly spitted in Raxiel's face. Raxiel grimaced at him. As her adrenaline rushed faster in her body, she slapped the man's arm hard and stood up as fast as she could. The man flinched, now getting more impatient and frustrated at her. Shaking off his irritation, the man stood up laughing once again. He tossed the apple into the forest a few feet away from them and stared at her, smiling.

"You wanna play now?" he said in a playful way.

Getting more frustrated at the man, Raxiel looked around to make sure no one else was with him. Getting ready to attack her, the man took out a dagger that was sharp and ready for killing. Raxiel soon readied herself for the fight that was about to begin, and she quickly slid out her two trusty blades from their sheaths. Quickly she readied her self for his first attack.

But what she didn't know was that she really wasn't ready for what his first move was...

Suddenly, without knowing, the man took his hands and put them into the ground, causing the ground to shake and make what seemed like an earthquake. Raxiel fell to the ground from not bracing herself for the surprise.

"Great... right where I started from," Raxiel thought as she glared at the man.

The man seemingly smiled as he slowly rose up and walked towards her. He stepped on her arms, trying to break them by putting his full weight onto them. Raxiel yelled in pain as his full weight was forced onto her arms. He kneeled down onto her lower stomach and grabbed the collar of her shirt. Raxiel forcefully began to be lifted up. The man took the dagger he had and put it to the left of Raxiel's face. He caressed it to her face slicing her skin open. As Raxiel flinched, the man put the dagger to her throat and caressed it downwards causing her to bleed again. Raxiel looked at the man with anger. The man noticed her rage and raised her shirt up farther. leaving enough space to put the dagger in between her and her shirt. In a quiet and revengeful voice, he spoke to her one last time.

"I hope you're not... too attached to this. -"

"I wouldn't hope for anything," came an unknown voice from behind the man.