" Mia? How did you know she was outside? Lin asked his Nana.
"Well you see, I know quite a lot of things. It's part of who I am now. I have been seeing a lot of all these years. Sometimes it's like a nightmare going to sleep with all those visions. But it become a habit now., " Nana said looking beyond the Fox fortress.
" Why do you say we shouldn't let her wait outside? What's out there? What was the evil that we felt? " This was Lin's first question that poured out instinctively, though he had a hundred stacked in his mind that he wanted a clarification to.
" It's the ghost of our pasts. The evil of our ancestors. " Nana shuddered a little as she it, " It's nothing like a living being. And it has its eyes set on its prey. "
Before Lin could understand what Nana was saying, she went into her trance-like state in the of her sentence. Lin desperately tried pulling her down but she kept being afloat mid air.
However she didn't speak like she usually does. She was simply levitating when her eyes bleeding and she opened them with a jerk.
" Lin, Mia. Take me where you left her. We need to go. Now. " Nana commanded with panic in voice.
" Your eyes Nana, they are bleeding, " Lin tried wiping them, looking at them in horror.
" It's nothing. Now hurry up, " She commanded.
Lin obliged and came right outside where he had left Mia. As soon as they landed Lin started around.
"Mia.Mia." He was calling out at the top of his voice.
Nanako however did not move even an inch. She kept staring in horror as more blood trickled her eyes.
"It's here. He was really here. It really was him. " Nanako shrieked as if in pain and agony. Lin running to her in confusion.
" Nana. What happened? Are you all right? Oh! My goodness, your eyes are bleeding again.
Let's take you to the healers. Let's go. I can't even find Mia. Let's drop you at the healers and I need to get a search party for her. Where did she go? I hope she is alright. " Lin was split.
He didn't know where he should go.
Nana held his hand and looked him in the eye, " I am alright. It's part of my curse. No healer can anything about it. As for Mia, no search party will be able to help her in any way. Harness senses Lin, can't you tell if she went anywhere or was taken? "
Lin had the feeling the moment they had landed, but he was deliberately trying to avoid it.
Thinking that he might be over thinking.
The area reeked of the smell that had come at them from nowhere. It was the same smell of evil that of a wolf. Lin could feel his heart picking up the pace as its beating became more and chaotic.
" What is Nana? What is this thing? Where did it take my Mia? Why? Lin asked with his teeth fist clenched.
" It's former wolf prince Jin. More like his grudge, " came a reply from behind. A tall figure towards them from the dark. It was Xie. He had come along with some of the foxes but stopped at the entrance as the shield wasn't still lifted. He was sent by his father to check his sister Mia. He was also sent to give the foxes some warning about what was coming, so were better equipped to fight it off together.
"Jin? The wronged wolf prince? But why would he take my Mia? Besides this thing stinks of , utter evil. " Lin was very confused.
Xie looked at Nana and bowed to give his greetings. She smiled back. Strangely, her blood eyes or her unkempt look did not bother Xie even a little. He just took a good look at and then turned towards Lin with urgency, " It sure is evil. And it sure has Mia. Lin, my sister in grave danger right now and so is your unborn child. Listen to what father had to tell me real , because we don't have much time on our hands. Every moment we waste could be very for Mia. "
Lin had no words to utter, he just looked at Xie with attention.
"Father said, the then fox king, that is her father, " He said pointing at Nana, " wasn't satisfied by killing his newborn grandson and putting a curse forbidding blood ties between the two . He had sealed Jin away in a tower, I can't remember where father said. It's in some other . He wasn't killed because that, the fox king thought, would be too easy a punishment his actions. He had Jin cursed to have perverted feelings towards anybody from his tribe, would follow in his footsteps. " Xie stopped to look at Nana who nodded her head, giving consent to carry on.
" Jin was someone with high cultivation, supreme knowledge and grit. He wasn't somebody who easily give up even in the face of complete doom. Though his life was now meaningless, didn't want himself to be deemed so low. Though his powers were restricted in that tower, he able to isolate his inner self from the outer. "Xie paused and looked at Lin.
" He split himself into two? Is that even possible for a living being? Lin asked with shock filled in voice.
" It's sure isn't possible for someone living. But the state he was in wasn't exactly living. Nor was dying. It was easier for him to tear off if subconscious and conscious selves apart that bear the forever. We don't exactly know about the two entities himself broke into, but the one that us was his grudge, his lust. It no longer can be called the prince Jin but a evil entity out of him. It's worse than one's demon. Because it only caters to its basic instincts. It reason and on top of all, it bears the curse upon it. Mia is the one to follow in his footstep his tribe. Hence she is his natural and immediate target. He is able to cross all limits of . Incest isn't an issue for the devil and this thing is nothing less of a demon as of now.
We must hurry Lin. We must find Mia immediately at all cost. "
Lin stood there unable to move as the horror started seeping in slowly numbing his senses.
" Why did he have to leave her behind? Why didn't he just stay put with her? Where was she?
What state was she in? She had begged him not to leave her alone, " guilt was rushing in like water from all directions, unable to bear it all, Lin let out a loud growl full of despair and .
******
Abducted
"Where am I? Where? What is this place? " Mia whispered in her own mind, slowly gathering courage to open her eyes. There was a murky smell around her and a stench of feces. It a very horrible place to be in. Moreover Mia had a severe pain at one side of her head .
She was leaning against a damp solid something that was supposed to be a wall. Mia felt herself with both her hands. Her clothes were all wet and there were blood strains here there all over her body. But strangely, apart from her head, she didn't feel any pain else. She tried getting up but right at that moment something sharp clawed at both legs.
Mia immediately fell back as she let out a cry of pain. But she was quick enough to cover her mouth with both her hands so as to stop the sound from echoing. There was water logged and there all around her. The place she was in was swampy yet the surface was solid as . Her hands were free though her legs were trapped in some sort of a jaw that gnashed its deep into her flesh if she tried to move. Mia wisely made herself as comfortable as she and tried recollecting what had just happened with her.
She was sitting tight at the place Lin had left her. Even though her gut feeling was begging her run as far as possible from the place, she had stayed put for Boshu to arrive just as Lin had .
It was dark. It was still. Not even the leaves moved in their branches. The only sound that her was the distant noise of arms clinging and soldiers yelling. It was coming from Fox camps. It was good though. It was better than being left all alone. It was giving Mia to think she was in some sort of a company.
Just then, all of a sudden, Mia had felt somebody looking over her shoulders. A creepy, chilly that makes one's throat dry that makes the stomach coil, that makes it feel as if there was ice cube placed just inside the core of our heart. There was somebody, something, watching
Mia from the back. She turned back with a sharp move and took her pocket dagger out to face it was.
" Who is it? Who is there? Come out right now. " She took a step back as she commanded, " I . Come out already. "
Then there was a scuffling sound and from the darkness emerged a figure even darker. As the was its cloak, it blended with the absence of light in the area. Its very presence reeked of .
"Who? Who are you? Mia asked to take some more steps back with urgency.
It kept on coming at her equally spaced without bothering to give an answer. Mia kept going swinging her dagger at random full speed trying to keep the intruder at bay, till help . However there was nobody else in sight.
Mia tripped on one of the pebbles trying to run at that moment, knowing full well her dagger no chance at the enemy in front. She tripped and fell on one of those hay stacks, kept as fodder. The moment she fell, there flew from amongst it, a million fireflies, lighting the with a moment of light.
As Mia turned to check how far her pursuer was, she saw a very familiar face bending down in direction.
"Father? '' Mia's voice acted of its own accord, involuntarily. It wasn't her father though. She was of that. The face looked very much like her father but much much younger and smaller. Its were enhanced too. But there was something wrong with the face. It had no color. No . No life. Moreover it had a foul aura about it. It was elegant yet ugly. Though Mia's senses 't work as aptly as Lin or her father, she could tell very well that it gave her the same feeling she had when they were almost attacked at the wolf lands. The thing that had come at them the thing in front of her was the same. It didn't take Mia very long to figure that out.
It extended one finger and traced the outline of Mia's hair. Mia shuddered at its touch. Her heart to beat in fear. The thing then took its sweet time inhaling its own finger with joy as it left
Mia's face.
"Ahhhhhh! How I have longed for it. " His eyes were growing moist and big with pleasure.
He jumped in front of Mia, looking eye to eye. Mia trembled as its breath burnt her face. It slowly up then grabbed Mia by the hair and pulled her up face to face as well.
Mia yelled in pain. That made it smirk. It grabbed Mia with the other hand at the hip and pulled close. Mia closed her eyes, unable to take any more of it. It brought its mouth close to Mia's and said, " I like it. Cry out a little more. " With a smile so evil, even the devil would be of it. It pulled Mia with a jerk by the hair, but she kept mum . He smiled a little wider at . It released Mia's hair and brought its hand in front of her eyes, so she could see it . It slowly let its claws unsheathe as Mia looked in horror. With yet another smile he his claws into Mia's skull as she let out a blood coiling yell for help. Everything after that faded from Mia's eyes . Her hands were covering her unborn child. Just like a mother bird she puts herself in harm's way, trying to protect her eggs, when a snake invades her nest.