We load up, this has become second nature already, and head to the Belladonna patch in the Northeast corner of the island. The forest here is so lush and green. I don’t normally run this part of the patrol. We don’t tend to get a lot of ocean based attacks so we patrol here, but it is light. I instantly love it here though.
The sun is shining through the trees and I can see the individual rays that are sliced by the branches. As I look out the window I see a clearing, similar to the first two. The Belladonna is another beautiful plant With deep indigo blue purple flowers that look like little bells.
I haven’t been able to wrap my mind around such beautiful things causing so much pain and sorrow. But I guess it isn’t the plants, it’s the casters taking the plants abilities and bending them to evil tendencies.
We all walk out knowing our positions by now. This time Oliver is to my left, Cam is on my right and Dakota is behind me. It’s so funny how they can interchange their rolls in this and I don’t feel uncomfortable at all. Gentry is talking, but I don’t listen. I feel a little bad for that, but I am already locked in on the magic. The dark blue is like paint floating in water.
There is no shimmer to it at all, but it is beautiful all the same. I have been forced into my worst memories and my worst fear. I wonder what I will endure today? I think knowing that it’s going to attack me personally helps. I won’t be blindsided necessarily. I just never know what it is going to do.
The chanting begins and the magic swirls. This is thicker than the last two and more sluggish to move, but it does, reluctantly. I watch the magic and see the fuzzy images start to form in front of me this time. I am watching as if they were on TV in front of me not consuming my whole focus.
The blue haze floats along the ground and I see fighting. Wolves and humans alike are fighting everywhere. Some faces I recognize, but others I don’t and yet feel a pull to protect them. I want to save all of these people from the fight they are being forced into. No one wants to be here, I can feel it. I see a man, absolute fear in his eyes as he attacks a wolf twice his size.
They battle for mere moments before the wolf rips out his throat. Another woman is fighting a faceless warrior for her life. He sends a bone cracking punch to her face and she hits the ground hard and does not move again. I am stuck, powerless to help any of them. I am watching all of these people die for someone else’s self centered cause.
I can feel the hot tears running out of my eyes, but I can’t look away. They all deserve to be seen if I can’t help them. I will watch each one of them fall and carry that memory with me forever. The scene shifts and what I see stops my heart. Sierra on the ground, eyes open, not moving. Sam,not two steps away from here with the same look. Lil, Wyatt, Nathaniel, Mateo, Jena all in heaps on the ground.
I don’t know if any of them are alive. A hulking figure stalks towards me. I can’t see his face under a large hood pulled down to his nose, but I know it’s the Rogue King, that’s the only person who could bring this kind of destruction. His walk is labored and it takes me way too long to figure out why.
He is dragging something behind him, making the walk slow and fumbling. I am ready to fight, there is no way I am getting out of this without one. When he stops, he drops three ropes at my feet. No words are spoken, but I don’t need them. My guys are bound at the wrists, arms over their heads, bleeding from more points than I can count.
Oliver’s eyes are open and I let out a wail. He can’t be… He’s always just been there and been solid and dependable…No. Cam’s eyes are closed, but his neck is at an odd angle. I want to sink to my knees, but I can’t even do that, my body is frozen. Dakota looks like someone dragged their claws over his body over and over again. Who would do something like that?
I let out a yell of pain. I can feel my body heating up and I hear a low rumble of laughter. “It’s just a matter of time, my special girl, then you will be mine. Right where you were meant to be. And as you can see, no one can stop me.”
