Shackles Of The Past

Chapter 12

Whom the gods wish to destroy,

they first make mad.

~Sophocles.

***

Black eyes. Those venom sucking eyes glared intently at her. The look was like hot melted iron poured on her skin and she held her breath at the sight. She found herself again paralyzed by this and her impassive expression carved from granite.

The irises seemed to twitch in a certain way that caused her to hold her breath, the eeriness spreading every corner of her mind like flames burning a terrorized body.

Within a blink of an eye, Esther found herself flying backwards. The air brushed her skin hard with force that she could hardly breathe, causing her to slam herself at the empty drums.

Sharp needle-like woods entered her, shocking her, bruising her. The pain was harsh and brutal that left open cuts.

Everything happened so quickly that she was hardly given enough time to justify what exactly had happened. It was as though the world was against her.

She hissed at the pain, holding the ground or anything she could reach for, for support and scrambled backwards as best as she could. With her body weak and aching not under her command, her body kept betraying her.

She reached for the wood stuck on her left thigh. With one deep breath, she plunged it out. "Ah!" she cried at the pain, blood rushing off the wound. With much effort, she tore her garment and tied the injury to prevent blood from escaping, the pain suddenly blinding her for a moment.

Backed against the wall, Aelin began to slowly disappear. The darkness surrounding the stable became much terrifying especially when the soul kept drawing their unholiness to her favor.

Luckily, Esther spotted a lamp and turned it on. It was bright enough but this place was dark. Terrifyingly dark. There was nothing but the lamp. Her back ached almost unbearable and she wasn't even lifting anything or trying to reach anything anymore, just holding the lantern that felt like the only support she had.

"Medusa," she said in anxious gasps, her pretty face gleaming with a thin polish of sweat. "Take back your body.”

There was a loud noise, a hit. Aelin had been thrown to the other end of the stable. She rolled on the floor at the pressure of the force she was pushed with, her body viciously colliding with the drums and other things she came in contact with.

Medusa turned to Esther. And for the nth time, she held her breath at the intensity of once the dead blue eyes to another irises she was certain belonged to the abyss of darkness. Darkness carrying the weight of hell, the aura of another frightening creature.

With those eyes as dark as hell, the power illuminating her steps as she took one forward. Then another, and another, until she started walking towards Esther.

Standing on her feet, each step were excruciating for her. Then quite suddenly, she felt the breeze wash over her. Her body was slammed against the wall, with Medusa holding her neck like she was the real enemy.

Esther grabbed the hand on her neck, trying to peel it off, but it was impossible. With great difficulty, she reached out to the iron bucket at the top of the drum besides her and slammed it hard on Medusa's head.

The grip on her neck loosened a bit, and Esther took hold of the opportunity to release herself by twisting Medusa's arm, giving her the space to keep her distance. Clinging to the wall for support, Esther coughed, air rushing back her nostrils.

‘You should have left when you had the chance to. Perhaps, I wouldn't consider killing you this much.’ Esther moved backwards as Medusa sauntered forward. ‘But what can I say. I'm enjoying this also.’

"Whatever you are, let her have her body back. You cannot control her body forever.”

‘Seems you know much about me and I must say, that's interesting,' Medyse tilted her head as she spoke through her. 'As long as it pleases me, I will control this body because it is mine.' Sarcasm filled those words, yet her face gave no expression to the way she spoke or the tone of her voice.

"Medyse,” she raised her voice shrilly. "I know…” she paused. “I know what happened to you in the past. I saw it when I touched you and even before you existed. Again," she said. "Those people… those people were only trying to save themselves. It was-”

'It's connected to stupidity,' came the blunt echo in Esther's head. Medusa had been on the same spot, glaring at her, but her voice was challenging and domineering as it had always been.

"They were desperate-"

'That includes taking the life of those you cherish for your belief, doesn't it?'

Esther looked at her.

It took Esther few seconds to realize her words had double meanings. And it struck her hard at the memory she had thought was once buried. Though, she didn't try to conceal her shock and surprise when she said, "That has nothing to do with this.”

'We all have what we sacrifice for our benefit. You can tell as much as I do.'

"That's not true," she declined, suddenly feeling miserable. "You don't know anything about me. You don't even know what is about love. You don't know how it feels to be loved. It is one of the greatest thing one wishes for, even if it means sacrificing something to protect it.”

'It is also referred to as trade, isn't it? Sell something and gain its profit,'

"You know nothing,"

'You can't hide it. You feel miserable, just the way you feel desperate to revive your loss, just the same way I feel desperate kill you.' The tone had this certain coldness that had brought another emotion swirling in Esther's expression which she didn't bother to conceal.

"How about forgiving and forgetting their sins."

Medyse glared at her, shooting daggers straight to her soul. The very soul she always planned to destroy and still plans to.

'Don't torture yourself. Just accept your hands are stained and you seek revenge just as I do.'

"I don't." Esther spoke back. "Your attempt to lure me into believing all the lies you spew but it cannot work on me."

'Claim you love and holds it. Kill the trust and abandons the heart. Then sacrifice the soul for yours to stay. Isn't that what you convince yourself not to believe?'

"You don't know anything about that. Stop diverting your problems to get mine."

'Are you scared?'

The eyes Esther looked at Medusa were raw, charged in emotions, too full with obvious conflict. "Shouldn't you be answering to that?"

'I could do this all day and even more,' Medusa trailed. 'But your sins will always hold you tight, even if you try to let it go. It can be buried but it will always resurrect, haunting your nights and turning your peace into pieces.' Her dark words replayed in Esther's head that caused her heart to race.

"My heart differentiates what's good from evil, isn't that what makes us humane even if it meant risking yours to stay?"

'Your story is different,' Medyse said. 'You never risked it. You always wanted to.'

A flash of pain, small and mean and deep for all its quickness, "I'm not like you,” she spoke in clenched teeth, "I'm not like you with hands stain and proclaims it clean. I'm not like you, Medyse.”

'Are you sure?' she taunted, boring into her very soul with an intensity that crept her skin like sins spouted by a wistful sinner, causing her move back in reflex. 'Are you sure it isn't what you are doing right now?'

[Music recommendation: Breathe by The Prodigy]

The silence between them was both thick and domineering. Yet none spoke another word. Just the glares and stares.

After a while, "Let her take control of her body."

'Would that change anything? Or perhaps the disturbing truth you discovered? I own this body and I own the soul. I choose to stay and live, or decide to allow 'me' take my body and lead,'

"Don't try to fool me because I know who you are and you aren't the Medusa I know."

'Good.' Medyse said. 'Or are you perhaps trying to have two souls like me? One with vengeance and one who seeks revenge?'

Esther became silent at the revelation.

'Speechless?' asked the master. 'I will take that as a green light of you thinking about my offer.'

"Never," rejected Esther bluntly. "The last thing I would be doing is forming an alliance with you, even if it's my last day on earth." She spoke firmly.

'Not to worry, your days are already numbered.' Esther could imagine a creepy smile on her face accompanying her dark words. And her face fell.

The master's eyes diverted from Esther, searching for her prey. The one she intended killing. Aelin laid there on the floor, her hands on her chest still heaving for air.

'Wait for me.'

As expected, the environment returned to normal. The day finally returned, looking peaceful and serene but to their disappointment, they people around it felt otherwise.

Medusa's eyes had changed from black to blue but that didn't stop the glare she passed to Aelin. The door finally burst open as more than six guards stumbled in, their faces contorted in fury, "You bloody witch!"