T. Grey: Ties That Bind

He shook his head. That couldn’t be right. His mind was messed up, not acting correctly. He’d seen Telal’s spell tear into his Arianna, saw the life die from her eyes. He choked, tears wetting his eyelashes. He stumbled, tripped, and fell hard to the ground. He grunted, and pulled out a rock from beneath him that had jabbed against his hip.

Rolling onto his back, he stared up at the sky. Night had come. How long had he been walking?

“Arianna…” He choked on her name, saying it seemed to squeeze the pain around his heart even tighter until it reached an unbearable level. He wanted to curl on his side and cry until every ounce of his strength was sapped. Leave himself there to die. Let the animals get him. He didn’t need to live. He was a monster.

No. He had to move. Bracing one hand, then the other, he slowly sat up, put one knee on the ground then the other and pushed himself up. He wobbled but he kept walking. His mind was the only thing he had in the silent woods. And his mind was working overtime.

Telal hadn’t killed him. God, he wished he’d done it. Ended his unnatural, dark existence once and for all. Was that why he no longer felt anger at him? No…no. His thoughts spun, twirled, and came together slowly as he walked further and further, the sky growing hazier with night.

No, only one person deserved his wrath. Only one person was the cause of all this. The master manipulator using him, turning him from who he used to be. If not, then he’d still had enough goodness in him to heal Arianna.

I could have saved her .

His arms flexed, bunching hard until pain flared up. He gave a harsh shout and slammed his fist into a tree. The whipping crack and broken branches that rained down over him relieved his anger—if only slightly.

His eyes cleared from the tears. He stared off into the night with a clarity he hadn’t felt in a long, long time. The realization was so sudden, he quickly glanced down at his hands, wondering if they’d be golden again.

His hands curled into hard fists at the sight of the dark black color. No, it wouldn’t be that easy. Nothing was. His mother. She was the answer to everything. He had to find her, and he had to kill her.

A garbling sound, crackling like teeth clicking together stole his attention. Alrik’s head whipped to the side his ears twitching to hear. A high-pitched cry tore through the air, then running steps came straight towards him.

Fuck. Alrik tore off to the side running as fast as his weak body would take him. The sounds, the cries came closer. Idummi . He focused as his chest pumped hard and his lungs burned. Four of them, eight feet stomping into the ground after him. He had no goddamned weapons on him or he’d relish the fight. Alrik slowed at the thought. A fight…the thought brought him to a stop, turning around.

With Arianna’s death fresh in his mind, he stood, waiting and let them come to their death.