Weaving Destinies

I opened my eyes groggily. My head was pounding, and everything seemed to spin around me. I tried to sit upright but failed.

“A-Alec?” I managed to croak. A malicious laughter rang through the dark room.

“The highly praised Faith has finally met her match,” Callagroth’s voice seemed to come from all directions. “Or is she not as amazing as the prophecies said she would be? Surely not. She succumbed to such a weak spell.”

I groaned and tried to stand up. I shook on my hands and knees. I had never felt more dizzy in my entire life. The laughter started up again as I finally wobbled on my feet. Someone pushed me over, and I fell heavily to the hard stone floor.

“Where’s Alec?” I swallowed to provide liquid to my parched throat.

“I’m afraid your little prince is in no position to help you. He isn’t even close by!” Callagroth replied. I could easily imagine the smirk that was probably on his face.

“Liar! He has to be near me!” I argued.

“Oh, and why is that?” Callagroth asked.

“Because… well… um…” I had given away too much already. Alec had told me to not tell anyone.

“Foolish girl. Do you think that I am not aware of the consequences of my own spell? Don’t forget that I was the one who forged it out of nothing; I can do whatever I want with it. Unfortunately I also put a permanent lock on it, which means it will not break until one of our threesome dies. This also means that it will be broken some day.”

“What?”

“I see shadows three: Alec, Faith, and Callagroth. I see blood from Julia’s dagger drip. And hark! a shadow falls to never rise again,” Callagroth recited. It was that stupid prophecy yet again! “One of us is doomed to die and by Julia’s dagger, no less. Alec most certainly does not own this illusive artifact that killed Nayan so long ago, and I of course do not have it. That must mean it belongs to you.” A pair of yellow eyes glinted from the shadows. “Tell me, Faith. Where is it?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I answered truthfully, a hint of fear in my voice. Could he mean Julia Elgin? That wasn’t possible. There was no way she could know about all of this, but she was the only Julia I knew.

Callagroth gave a small laugh of amusement.

“Oh, we are ignorant, aren’t we? Or are you simply trying to hide it from me? Don’t worry; I don’t plan to take it from you.” Callagroth was suddenly right in front of me, staring into my eyes with his own icy ones. “Use it, Faith. Kill Alec. Kill him.”

Strangely, I felt myself nodding slowly. A desire to kill Alec filled my heart. I had never really trusted him in the first place. He was just using me to get to his full power. There was no way any guy could really sincerely love me that much. He was too good to be true. He had selfishly kidnapped me and trapped me on Torm. I felt rage boiling inside of me. I wanted revenge for Alec taking me away from the last remaining people who cared about me. And then he expected me to love him? He was insane!

“Yes,” Callagroth hissed in my ear, pulling me off the ground and to my feet. “Hate him. Let your rage surge throughout your body.”

I had a sudden moment of clarity. What was I doing? I couldn’t kill Alec!

With a wild cry, I flung my hand towards Callagroth. He stepped aside easily; my movement threw me off-balance as I crashed to the floor again.

“Stop it, please,” I begged. “I don’t want to kill anyone! You don’t understand!”

“Oh, that was only a small taste of what is to come,” Callagroth grinned evilly. A small light suddenly appeared over a plain wooden chair. I stood up, and he shoved me towards it. I fell into it and rearranged myself so that I was sitting upright.

“Now, to begin your training,” he said. A piercing light suddenly filled my mind. It was like lightning, screaming across my eyes and ears. It burned a path through me as I cried out in agonizing pain. It felt like tiny needles were being poked through my skull, destroying my brain little by little. The feeling died away; I was back on the floor now, on my knees and holding my head.

“The first time is easiest. It’s all uphill from here,” Callagroth grinned. “Again!” Once more, the lightning entered my mind. Screaming in pain, I twitched like a madman trying to free my mind from this horror. I couldn’t think; I could only scrape my nails against the floor as the tears fell one by one. The lightning pricked every corner of my mind before fading away. Over and over again Callagroth did this to me until I lay on the floor, unable to move and sweating from fear and pain.

“Very good. Much improved indeed. Let’s try something else, shall we?” Callagroth suggested.

“Oh, please. No!” I moaned feebly, but he only laughed at me.

Callagroth reached out a hand, and a small stream of darkness slithered out of his middle finger. Unable to move properly, I could only watch as the snake-like shadow came towards me and entered my brain through my forehead. I could feel its evil like a dark slime ooze its way through my mind, searching for something. Finally it pulled away and returned to Callagroth’s hand. He smirked in pleasure.

“There were so many to choose from, but I think this will do,” he said. With a snap of his fingers, the room around me vanished.

Looking around, I realized where I was.

“No, no!” I screamed desperately. “Not this again! Please, bring me back!” There was no answer, only the buzzing of the streetlight beside me.

“Hey, keep it down!” an all too familiar voice whispered loudly. I turned to see Lucas walking towards me and grinning. My eyes filled with tears as I saw him.

“Please, let’s not do this! We can’t go to the party!” I exclaimed.

“What? But everyone is expecting us!” he frowned. “Livvy, what’s gotten into you?”

“Please, Lucas. Please believe me when I say that we shouldn’t go,” I pleaded. I was so happy to see him, to talk to him. I couldn’t control myself any longer. I wrapped my arms around him and buried my face in his chest, breathing in his wonderfully familiar scent.

“Whoa, what are you doing?” Lucas laughed nervously. “I’m glad to see you too, but you know how Sophie gets.”

“Please, let’s stay here,” I begged softly. “Please!”

“Madison!” Lucas suddenly exclaimed, and I pulled away to see her lurking in the shadows of my house.

“Sorry. Am I interrupting something?” she asked, her dark eyes shining in excitement. She gave me a look to tell me that she wanted to talk to me in private as soon as possible.

“No, nothing at all!” Lucas continued to laugh shakily.

“We can’t go to Josh’s party tonight!” I exclaimed. “Madison, you have to understand!”

“What, cold feet? I expected this,” she sighed. “You’re too much of a good girl, Livvy. Lucas, help me get her in the car.”

Despite my struggling, they managed to shove me in the passenger seat of my car. Madison stole the keys and started the car as Lucas climbed into the back.

“You won’t regret this!” Madison promised, driving down the street. I stared at her, trying to memorize everything. Her brilliantly red hair seemed to glow in the dark, and it was perfectly straight, hanging just below her shoulders. Her eyes were lined in black, and she wore a pale pink lipgloss. Her dangling silver earrings matched her low-cut silver top, and her dark jeans clung close to her long legs. There was a small freckle on the top of her right shoulder, and her arms were well-muscled from volleyball.

“Livvy, why are you crying? What’s wrong with you tonight?” Lucas asked.

“We can’t do this. Please, we can’t!” I wept, but Madison refused to stop the car or turn around.

We picked up Liam and Aldo, who piled into the back with Lucas, and we then went to Sophie’s house. We idled in the driveway until Kiyoshi finally came out of the house.

“She’s still getting ready,” Kiyoshi rolled her eyes. “You know how she is.” She examined the car, which was already filled.

“You can sit on Livvy’s lap!” Aldo suggested. I shook my head fervently.

“Oh, come on. I know we don’t know each other that well, but it’ll be fun!” Kiyoshi laughed, opening the car door and sliding onto my lap. She closed the door before I could object.

I stared out the windshield at the dark night sky. This was horrific. I was reliving the worst night of my life. I had to put an end to this.

I dove for the key and pulled it out of the ignition. It was my spare key, the one I used in situations where I didn’t have pockets and didn’t want to bring a purse. It wasn’t attached to any key chains or other keys, so I would stuff it into my bra and keep it there.

“What the hell, Livvy?” Aldo shouted.

“Not cool,” Liam frowned. “Not cool.”

“Seriously, what’s wrong with you?” Madison asked, looking hurt. Both she and Kiyoshi tried to grab the key from my hand. I pulled out of the way, but Kiyoshi’s fingers were forcing their way into my hand.

In desperation, I shoved the key into my mouth and swallowed it. It scraped painfully against the sides of my esophagus. I felt like I was choking. Everyone in the car shouted in shock and disgust.

“Olivia Jones, you need help!” Lucas exclaimed. I closed my eyes, struggling to fully swallow the key.

I opened my eyes again and saw that I was back in the dark room with Callagroth. He was smiling wickedly at me. The feeling of something stuck in my throat was still there. I gagged until I finally threw up, splattering blood on the ground as if a key had actually ripped into my throat. I coughed the last of the blood away, the acids from my stomach creating a terrible burning sensation in my mouth and throat.

Suddenly, a knife whizzed past my head, barely missing my ear. I glanced up at Callagroth, who was holding several daggers in his hands.

“Let’s play a game,” he said in that malevolent way of his. I managed to push myself off the ground and started running for the shadows. The knives were hurled after me as Callagroth’s laughter echoed through the room as it did when I first awoke in this torture chamber. The room was seemingly endless. Every shadow hid a nasty surprise; every door was a trap. There was no escape.

I quickly lost track of the time that I spent with Callagroth, but after what could have been hours or even days there with him, everything seemed to disappear. The moments blurred together in my mind, and it was becoming increasingly harder to think clearly. I was reduced to an animalistic desire to survive.

Callagroth’s specialty in magic was apparently mind control. He loved to prod my memories and make me relive the worst of them. He could inflict pain directly into my head without so much as lifting a finger. But one day, out of nowhere and probably by accident, a memory was triggered. It was simple, only a brief image of Alec smiling and laughing, but it was enough. I remembered that Alec had to be nearby.

With a shout of rage, I pushed Callagroth out of my mind. The element of surprise was on my side now. I flew at him and hit him over and over. His physical training had made me stronger. He had trained me far too well.

Without really thinking of how I was doing it, I somehow tapped into his mind and discovered the way to escape. I sprinted away in the direction I was supposed to go. A large demon sprang at me from the shadows, but I ran straight into its open mouth.

A light filled the hidden tunnel, and I found myself in a dark, narrow hallway. I heard Callagroth behind me, so I kept running until I reached a dark green door on my left. I opened it, and the limp body of Alec fell out, along with some of the supplies we had packed long ago when we first started out. I somehow sprawled Alec’s body over my shoulders and grabbed my bag. Walking quickly, I reached a pair of black doors at least twenty feet tall. I pushed against them, and we were free.

I raced outside into the meadow, Callagroth's fortress of illusions disappearing behind me. I continued onwards for a little while, squinting against the strong light of the sun, before falling down on the grass into a deep sleep.