Chapter 28: Chapter 28

Langrion’s voice sounded sinister as he breathed his words, “Didn’t you know that it’s bad luck to lose a shoe, deary? And it’s even a far worst luck to meet some stranger in the woods at this dreadful hour...”

After he spoke these words, he grabbed one of Shia’s arm, which made her lose her balance. With a loud thud, they crashed together hard on the ground.

Shia’s head seemed to spin a little from the fall. When she came about, she realized that Langrion’s muscular body had landed on top of her. She tried to move about, but she can’t. She looked down and saw that his face had buried itself near her stomach, but his hands gripped both of Shia’s shoulder so forcefully that it hurt quite a lot.

“Let me go, Langrey. You’re hurting me,” Shia said. She was waiting for Langrion to laugh at her anytime now and tell her that he had simply missed a step or that everything was a joke. She waited, but he said nothing. A twinge of panic began to rise in the pit of her stomach.

He did not stir after hearing her pleas. After a while, he lifted his head and began to curiously look at her.

As he continued to gaze at her sickeningly, Shia realized that she was staring at not just one but both of Langrion’s ocean-blue eyes. She blinked once again. ‘No… This person’s eyes actually looked more purplish rather than blue!’ She began to notice that he was not wearing his mask at all, and he looked like he was a different person from the Langrion that she knew: a positively wicked, sick, and dangerous person!

She wanted to scream, but he quickly covered her mouth with his heavy hand while elbowing at her chest, which pinned her down successfully to the ground. Tears formed at the corner of Shia’s eyes. There seemed to be no way for her to escape him...

He leaned closer into her body and moved his head upwards from her waist to her heaving chest, and then finally towards her pallid, frightened face, with his eyes still locked upon hers. Shia could hear his heavy breathing getting closer and closer until his face was in full view of hers.

“My, my,” he whispered quietly towards her ears. “Why do you look so terrified, my dear? Aren’t you enjoying our little game?”

He began to remove his hand against her shivering mouth. “You going to murder me with your eyes now, aren’t you? But by the gods of heaven, you do look quite dazzling in the moonlight!”

All of a sudden, he landed his violent lips upon hers. Shia screamed as hard as she could, but they were muffled by his forceful kiss and his warm tongue that had began to invade the insides of her mouth.

He tried to kiss her roughly once again, but he missed. Shia thrashed around so hard that part of her sleeves was torn away.

“You are one wild creature, dear! But I do like wild,” he remarked under his breath.

A piece of his undershirt had come to be exposed with all her squirming, and for a brief moment, Shia saw an inked figure of a bird imprinted at the right side of his neck – the mark of the Devil!

Shia mustered all the strength she had to free her right hand from his grasp. She succeeded, and the tips of her fingers fell so hard on Langrion’s face (or whoever it was that looked like him) that it clawed part of his flesh.

The man’s eyes turned fiery with rage as blood immediately dripped out from the rough scrapes caused by Shia’s fingernails. He began to raise his hand towards her, aiming to strike her down.

All of a sudden, Chibi began to snarl and howl wildly at them. He quickly arched his body in a threatening way, ready to pounce on the man that bore the face of Langrion.

Unfortunately, the man was far quicker. He was able to immediately stand up, and he hurriedly disappeared from behind the trees like a thief in the night.

Chibi tried to chase after the man, but he was unsuccessful. After circling around the perimeter a few more times as if to check if the coast was clear, Chibi’s huge form quietly came closer to Shia’s weak and shaking figure. By now, she was able to sit still, but she cannot force her legs to stand up. Chibi whimpered softly towards her and licked her face immensely. Shia did not know what else to do. She just sat there, crying and hugging his golden mane.

Perhaps some time had already passed when Shia and Chibi began to hear another shuffling sound.

She did not realize that darkness had already fully settled by the woods. Shia lifted her head and saw a blinding white light shining upon her face. She could not see who was holding the light towards her. She raised her hands against her face and asked, “who’s there?”

Although Chibi barked wildly and the person coming towards her seemed to be saying something, Shia could not hear or understand any of the sounds that have been coming out. Everything felt hazy; everything seemed to move in slow motion for her. She just sat there and continued to look at the light as it came closer and closer towards her.

After a while, a thought flashed in Shia’s mind. What if it was her attacker once again? Afraid that the man may have returned one more time, Shia began to scream, “Don’t come any closer!”

The light continued to come closer, however, and Shia’s head continued to spin. She felt the lights spiralling around her, but she could not make out who it was that was coming...

The next thing she knew, she had bolted upright in a bed inside a spacious room. She was sweating profusely and shaking uncontrollably as if she had just woken up from a nightmare.

‘A nightmare,’ she thought, ‘perhaps it was all just a dream...’ She tried to raise her hands to where she could see them, and her gaze fell on the black and blue bruises at her wrist, her shoulders, and possibly her arms as she cannot seem to raise them properly. That was how she knew that the encounter in the woods wasn’t a dream at all!

“Shia, are you awake?” a familiar voice said from amongst the shadow.

Panic began to rise as Shia looked over and saw the worried face of Langrion – or was it her attacker?

He was taking a step towards her, but Shia spoke abruptly, “Stop right there. Don’t come any closer.”

Surprisingly, her voice was solid and steady although the insides of her heart and her stomach were turning wildly in fright. He stopped in his tracks and looked at her, his eyes filled with worry.

“Move to a place where I can clearly see you,” Shia instructed the man – the entity - further. He abided by her wishes and moved closer to where the night lamp stood.

“Now,” she said, “unbutton your shirt and show me your neck.”

His brows went up in utmost surprise. “Shia, I-”

“Just do as I say... Please...” Shia replied. Her voice seemed hard and detached, which was actually in contrast to the wild frenzy of emotions that threatened to engulf her mind and her heart.

Slowly, the man unbuttoned the top part of his sleep wear. He opened a few buttons on top, and he exposed his neck and his chest for her to see.

Only when Shia had positively saw nothing - no tattooed figure of a bird in his neck or any clawed fingernail marks on his chest and face - did she started to cry openly and to call his name.

“Langrey! Langrey!”

The prince moved closer towards her and embraced her. Her skin flinched. She could not understand all the emotions that came pouring down on her. She wanted to pull away from him, but at the same time, she wanted to be comforted by him. Strangely, she was feeling repulsed by his touch, but the muscles on her arms and wrists felt so badly beaten, it felt too difficult to move away or to even breathe under his embrace. She just sat there, stiff as a wood as she cried and cried in Langrion’s arms.

When it felt like the rivers of Shia’s tears had stopped, Langrion slowly asked. “What happened to you?... I heard Chibi barked loudly, and I saw you in the bushes... Who did this to you?”

Shia could barely speak. “You did...”

“What?!”

“You did this to me.... Or someone that looked so much like you...”

Langrion stood up in horror and disbelief. “Someone...who looked just like me?”

“Yes... I thought he was you, but he wasn’t.... He was different... He looked somewhat sick in the head...”

Langrion’s eyes seemed to have remembered something. Perhaps trying to avoid her gaze, he started hugging her tightly once again. “What did he do to you?...”

“N-nothing...” she answered. “He just kissed me... He pulled me down to the ground, and he kissed me roughly...”

“I’m so sorry...” Langrion replied, patting the back of her head softly. “I’m so sorry, my Shia...”

“Why are you sorry?.... Do you even know him?...” Shia said quietly.

Langrion froze when he heard her questions, and for the first time, Shia was able to comprehend his thoughts. He unclasped his arms around her and began looking directly at Shia’s eyes.

“If you know him,” Shia began to say to him with a voice that was too icy and hard that it did not match the glint on her eyes, which fully showed the depths of her rage, “if you know him, Langrey, then show him to me. Show me where to find this mad man that you call brother!”