Nightwalker

Chapter Fifty-Four

The forest burned to ashes wherever the great zhavorsa's flaming breath touched. It was a magnificently deadly sight that was more beautiful than anything I've ever seen.

"No!" Silver eyes screamed looking utterly and completely horrified as she looked at the forest.

I flittered in front of her faster than eyes could see when she was about to run off. "And where do you think you're going?" I asked her with a smile. "We're not done here yet."

"You idiot! You fool! Stop it! Stop him from burning the forest! God damn it Athena's in there!" She screamed at me and I was shocked when she pushed me like a child having a tantrum. "You'll kill her!"

"Athena?" I wondered out loud my body frozen from hearing the name. A memory of a small warm body thin enough to easily be snapped like a twig curled up against my own whispered through my mind followed by the image of a little girl with rugged black hair, sunken skin but with a smile brighter and warmer than the sun.

Silver eyes pushed me again with tears streaming down her face before she dropped her hunting knife and ran off into the forest. What was happening? Why couldn't I move? A spark of pain from the conditioning speared through my head but I easily ignored it when the wall in my mind began to crumble.

I picked up the hunting knife only to have a pale white fist slam into the side of my head coming from out of nowhere. I fell to the ground and looked up in shock to find a partially translucent woman looking both angry and sad beyond belief.

"You promised to protect her!" The woman shouted at me. My body convulsed as pain laced through it as the wall crumbled and the hold master Enrique held over me was broken... and I remembered.

Sylvia glared down at me with pain and heat in her eyes. "You promised." She spat at me.

I looked towards the burning forest with dread filling my soul. How could I have done this...? Am I really that weak to have not even known that I was being controlled? I was going to kill them... I was hurting them and I didn't even care. I cried out from the searing pain crashing through my body.

The wall might have broken down and I might have remembered who I am, but that didn't stop the pain of the conditioning Enrique put me through wasn't still intact. It made excruciating pain race through my body like nothing I've ever felt before, not even when I was in the cell Enrique placed me in whenever I managed to break conditioning before.

"I see... so this is the real person who summoned me." I opened my eyes barely to see the little dragon standing in front of me looking into me like he could see my soul. "That creature Enrique really did a number on you didn't he little one? I'm surprised you're still conscious with the amount of pain you must be in. I never liked that man, if you can call him that, but to do this to someone as pure as you..." The dragon shook his head. "The nightmares and pain you'll go through if you survive... it'll be better if you died today." He sighed then. "But that's not my place to decide. Summon me again if you survive little one, you're going to need all the help you can get in the future if you do."

I closed my eyes tight as I fought to gain control of my spasming body.

"What a disappointment." I growled at Enrique's voice that echoed through my mind. "You were so perfect in every way. Dangerous, powerful, bloodthirsty. Everything I needed and wanted in a perfect pet. If only you weren't so susceptible to stupid human emotion. That's the only thing that makes you so weak. Love, companionship, family." He spat out his words with disgust. "Pathetic and silly emotions that creatures like us don't need. But oh well... one day I'll have you again and I'll make sure that you'll never escape, I'll completely lock your mind away making it impossible for you to defy me... I'm looking forward to it my little pet."