Complete darkness.
Nisha rose to her feet as quickly as she could. She turned to look back at her villagers, but all she could see was darkness.
By Ma'ku, she couldn't see a thing!
Had the fog taken her sight.
Her breathing became loud and fast. She pulled off her hat and blinked vigorously as she looked around quickly; she still couldn't see.
Then she heard a scream, and she went still. But the screams didn't stop; in fact, more screams echoed all around her, followed by beastly growls and howls that consumed the night.
She put her hat back on, slipping her hand through her dress for a weapon, but before her hand could grab the hilt of her dagger, massive wings swooshed right past her and knocked her down. She stifled a gasp of pain as her body slammed into the rocky ground.
No! They were going to hit her. The monsters were going to devour her right there and then; she would never get a chance to execute her plans. She had thought even if they wanted to eat her, they would keep her around for a while - a while enough to ruin a strong front and turn them against one another.
This hadn't occurred to her in her plans at all!
She grabbed the hilt of her dagger tightly, and she sat there frozen on the ground. She thought of running, but not being able to see anything didn't help; she didn't want to run towards a den of monsters, but she didn't want to run towards the monster that flew by her either.
Hopefully, the monsters were also blind like her. By Ma'ku, this was another thing she hadn't planned. How would she do this without her sight?
Before she could dwell on her fearful thoughts for too long, a rush of red flames unleashed towards her direction, the color jarring to her eyes as she jumped to her feet and ran in a direction to avoid it.
They could breathe fire!
Her heart thundered in her chest.
The bridge!
She had to run back to the bridge.
Her legs were moving even before she could form the thoughts, following the mental map that the momentary fire had brought to her mind.
The place looked barren, and there was no fear that she would run into anything, but before she could run for too long, she slammed her head against metal bars, and she fell back. She stood up immediately, stretching her hands forward to feel the obstacle in front of her, but she soon realized that in every direction she turned, there were metal bars.
Caged!
She was in a very big cage!
Growls rang sharply through the fog, and soon enough, more of those flying monsters banged against her cage, snarling and trying to get in. She crumbled to the floor of the cage, holding her dagger with trembling hands, tears streaming down her cheeks as she mumbled a protection chant to Ma'ku, praying that the monsters wouldn't unleash their flames on her, hoping that she would survive this to avenge her people.
But when that red colour caught her eyes again and she looked back at the ball of flames in one of the monsters' throats. It unleashed in a heartbeat, but the pain and agony she was expecting never came; instead, it seemed something shielded the cage from all the effects of it. For a moment, she watched, mesmerized, as the flames wouldn't reach her.
What was this sorcery?
But there was more for her to wonder about, as the space between the bars of the cage immediately sealed up with more metal, leaving only little holes for her to breathe.
Her heart raced as she returned to complete darkness once again. While her mind became overwhelmed with different thoughts of what was next, she felt her cage being dragged away.
That was it. She knew it deep in her mind that she was being finally taken to the ones who had requested her.
An uneasy feeling settled in the pit of her stomach, her hands clutching the hilt of her dagger as she chanted even more to Ma'ku.
"Please, just keep me alive enough to kill them all," she said in a whisper she almost couldn't hear.
——-
——-
Nisha wasn't sure how much time had passed by, but she suddenly could see light seeping in through the holes of her cage. The darkness didn't exist all over the fog then.
But the carriers of her cage suddenly stopped.
What was going on?
Where was she?
Now that she was noticing it, she had long stopped hearing the growls and snarls that the mobsters who had transported her had been making at the beginning.
Were they still there?
By Ma'ku, what if they wanted to sacrifice her? They worshipped Ina, a deity who relished in violence and blood.
Stupid, stupid, stupid!
Why didn't she think of this?!
She would never get a chance to avenge her people before——
The cage suddenly swung open and tipped to the other side, sending her tumbling to the ground.
Fools! What if she had not kept her dagger? She might have hurt herself with it and died, would she be a good sacrifice then?!
They were as stupid as they were monstrous.
Nisha looked around, blinking as she tried to adjust her sight to the harsh light that greeted her eyes after the darkness she had been stuck in.
She took a step back when she could finally see the creatures around her clearly. The floating torches that hung in the air aided her.
This place was riddled with different forms of sorcery. This place was evil!
And the creatures of Ina?
By Ma'ku, they looked nothing like she had ever seen before. Although they looked like her villagers in their basic structure, they had some monstrous deformities. They all had different, strangely coloured skin, some had horns, some with scales, some with wings, and some with tails.
They were hideous!
"She's so ugly." She heard one of them say, and she quickly turned in the direction from which she had heard the voice, but she couldn't figure out who the culprit was; from the looks on their beastly faces, they all seemed to agree.
What?!
Ugly?
She wasn't ugly.
She was one of the most beautiful ladies in Batura. When she joined the Oracle's apprentice, suitors wept at their lost chance of ever having her.
They were the ugly ones. All of them were ugly!
Their strange clothing was ugly; everything about them was ugly.
Suddenly, they all started banging their staff sticks against the ground, banging their fists against their chests, and chanting a song as they seemed to clear a path for her.
They stripped her of everything till she was bare, their chants increasing even louder.
Nisha's heart raced.
They were indeed beginning the sacrifice.
No, no, no, no! This couldn't be happening!
She couldn't let this happen. She had to stop this; she had to try. She refused to die before killing them all!
"I will make for no good sacrifice—— " she began to yell.
"Silence!" A voice thundered with a growl, and silence reigned. It was only then she realized that a distance ahead of her, at the end of the path that had been cleared for her, was a stair leading to a throne, and seated upon that throne was probably the ugliest of the beasts she had seen tonight.
He was grey-skinned in a loose black robe, monstrously huge with dark horns, and scales around his face. Were those wings behind him?
Nisha let out a muffled, horrified gasp.
Was that their King?
"Who are you to speak?" He rose to his feet, and though Nisha was far away from him, she took a step back as everyone around her bowed.
In a flash, he was right in front of her, and now she could see more of his monstrous features clearly. His bright yellow eyes with dark slit pupils drew her attention. And… he had a tail! When he spoke, she caught a glimpse of his fangs.
By Ma'ku, he was the worst of them all. Her heart tightened with fear. She had imagined they would look like beasts, but this surpassed her imagination.
A claw swept across her neck, and her hand clasped against the cut, as blood spilled from it.
"No Batura looks me in the eye." She felt hands forcing her flat to the ground. She laid without resisting, as many thoughts went through her mind, as she tried to think amid the fear.
"You are nothing but dust beneath my feet." He laid his foot on her head, and hatred boiled in Nisha's veins. "People of the fog, beneath us is the Batura's Dowoga!"
They all yelled in joyous response.
"For years, they had us beneath them, hid the sun from our gaze, and banished us to this darkness. Stripped, like they stripped us of everything. But no more! Tonight, as I have sworn to you, we have their Dowoga. And I, as your King, renew my oath, on my blood," he slashed his palm with his claw and blood spilled from the cut down to Nisha's face, as if she were nothing but the ground, "I swear by Ina that I will bring you to the light! BY INA, THE LIGHT IS OURS!"
"BY INA, THE LIGHT IS OURS!" They chanted back, now banging their fists against their chests and hitting their staffs against the ground in unison.
The weight of the King's boot hurt Nisha, but that was nothing compared to the shame and rage that filled her heart.
She would kill the king first for this! She would have his head!
She looked around to make sure she would never forget this, never forget what these monsters had done after killing her people and stealing their women. While she did that, though, she noticed something.
There was one monster who didn't join in the chants. They stood still, with a hat and a mask. They were dressed like her, with their blue eyes on her.
It stirred a strange feeling within her.
What was that?
Who were they?
—- but then in a flash they were gone. Like they were never there before.
By Ma'ku, who was that? Was it someone from Batura?
Who was that?