SKIP THIS IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ!
Hey everyone, yeah it's me the writer who vanished Like the last Airbender 💀
First off, I owe y'all an apology for the long silence. School has been eating me alive, no seasoning, no mercy 😩🤲🏾
Between classes, assignments, and surviving Nigeria's daily chaos, writing took a backseat for a bit.
But I promise, I didn't abandon Tigeress Emerald. I've been plotting, rewriting, and collecting emotional damage to feed the next chapters 😌💅🏾
If you've still been checking in or rereading old chapters you're a real one.
I appreciate you more than you know. The story's about to pick up again and trust me the coming chapters are darker, deeper, and way more intense
Thanks for your patience,and for being part of this small corner of chaos I call a book🤭
I should have wrote this at the beginning of the chapter but it's fine, all I want to add is...
I know you guys have read the chapters, and maybe don't cringe too hard at the bad grammar or punctuation problems 😭
I know you know, I'm definitely working on improvement and yes when we level up an editor will take charge
Thank you for your patience and interest in my book I'm honoured fr 🥰
Alright bye 👋🏿 see you four chapters later 😘
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Maraye released a shivering, warm, breath. A sign that meant she was…alive?
I'm alive?... I'm alive.
She pondered, her consciousness coming together to make sense of her surroundings and what she could see. Surprisingly, it was pitch black.
She tensed up, a sudden feeling of dread consumed her.
Her stomach knotted, she felt…disturbed, as though she was being monitored like a helpless prey in the dark.
A thin lining crack ran across her chest, it ached for a brief second causing her to wince. Too shocked to properly react to everything happening before her.
She glanced around, uneasy. Each breath was louder than it had ever been her whole life, the silence wasn't helping it made her skin crawl.
She pressed a hand to her chest, feeling her heart race out of control.
glancing sideways, fear and Confusion getting the best of her.
Her breaths echoed, a sign that wherever she was it was bigger than she thought.
Clenching her hands into fist, she spoke.
"Who are you?"
Only silence greeted her back. Something moved in the shadows and Maraye flinched yet stood her ground.
The regret of not having a weapon right now stung, but she couldn't even explain how she got here or what she was even doing right now.
"Who's that?!"
"Show yourself!" She firmly stood her ground, straining her sight.
As soon as she said that she immediately regretted her actions. Her breath stuck in her throat at the sight that suddenly made an appearance before her.
Red, glowing eyes.
Nothing more, just a long stretch of silence that felt like the calm before the storm.
It was too dark to make out the shillouette of whatever stood before her, but those glowing eyes were definitely not ones an ordinary eyan would possess.
Her feet subconsciously moved back, one step, yet never breaking eye contact with the deadly glares of those glowing red eyes.
Maraye's blood ran cold the moment she sensed a shift in the air, as though the darkness gave way for her sight a little.
Her eyes fell on the long chilling blade wielded by a strong arm. It was a man, with red eyes staring into her soul with such malice and killing intent it rattled her.
"Who are you?" She stepped back in fear, hands shaking uncontrollably.
He stepped out of the shadows, her eyes finally able to catch a glimpse of him. He was dressed like a general, but his expression was that of an angry mad man.
Maraye spun around and took to her heels, without looking back.
Dreadfully curious she glanced behind her, only to see the man hot on her tail. His huge sword getting dragged along, scraping against the smooth floor to create an irritating sound that almost damaged her ear drums.
Maraye panicked, the air around her thickening with such pressure it made her feel heavier by the second. She was starting to slow down, a realization that sent chills down her spine.
"GET AWAY FROM ME!!" she screamed, turning around for a second to yell with so much anger clouded by fear and horror.
The man didn't stop. He ran towards her with so much speed, catching up to her immediately he leapt into the air, anger burning in his eyes as he raised his sword mid air ready to strike without mercy.
Maraye turned around, her whole body went rigid as she subconsciously raised her hand to shield her self.
A terrifying scream left her mouth, filling the whole surrounding and echoing back to where they were.
The man froze mid air. For a moment, he glitched as though disappearing and appearing again mid air like a flickering candle flame. It only lasted a millisecond, one that sent Maraye into a total moment of confusion and disbelief. She dropped her hands slowly in horror at what was happening.
As if time resumed again, he finally descended, his blade ready and he struck. It happened all too fast and Maraye didn't even have the time to scream or react to it all.
All she saw was a huge blade descending mercilessly on her. Immense heat immediately struck her from nowhere, the air shifted immediately as though she was extremely hot and almost immediately.
A great force smacked against her, sending her flying. Everything went blank again, but before she could take anything in, she was forcefully thrown into a deep pool of icy cold water.
She thrashed badly, the sensation hitting her full force. Struggling with every ounce of strength she swam towards the surface…
~~~
With a gasp that soon turned into a terrible cough, Maraye sat up immediately gasping for air and shivering.
The familiar cold sensation touched her back once again and she shook, a gasp filled with pure shock, it immediately awakened all her senses.
Every muscle in her arm coiled, ready to strike
There was a hand causing this pain. She grabbed it albeit roughly, enacting a gasp from the other person.
"What are you doing?!" her hoarse voice sounded far from intimidating, it was desperately begging for hydration. The pain made her cough again.
Her throat felt like she'd swallowed glass.
"You are awake!" The young girl's soft voice filled her ears and Maraye frowned. It was unfamiliar.
"Relax, I'm not a threat." she tried to sound convincing, somehow the paranoid Maraye managed to calm down a little. She released the girls hands gently.
"You have a terrible fever. Mother said to continue using a cold towel, she went to get herbs."
She placed her hand on the girl's forehead to check her temperature.
Mother? Maraye froze
The young girl retracted her hands. Her temperature was hot, very hot she feared for her health.
" You are burning up again" she spoke again, placing the wet cloth on the shivering girl.
Maraye tensed up a little before relaxing again. Staring at the girl before her. There were a lot of questions running through her mind, she wanted to ask but didn't even know where to start. Not to talk of everything she had witnessed not too long ago.
Were those real? …What the hell was that?! She spiralled, her gaze falling again on the young girl who stared back expectantly.
"...how did I get here?"she questioned, her head beginning to pound from the many thoughts that ran through her mind at the moment.
"You shouldn't speak for now, mother will be back soon." The young girl replied, wringing the wet towel in a wooden bowl.
She glanced towards the restless girl, worry clouding her eyes.
Maraye squinted,
An unnerving silence befell the small room. One she hadn't even taken her time to assess, something she always did before.
The young girl before her smiled as though trying to comfort her, but for some reason,the smile felt…disturbing.
The back of her neck prickled, that instinctive warning she'd learned never to ignore.
Maraye gave a hard stare, one that could burn a hole into the victim's head. She looked unamused, her hands slowly moved to touch something sharp.
The young girl looked away to focus back on wringing the wet cloth, the silence, and the stare of suspicion from the woken patient made her uncomfortable.
She heard a small click and looked up only to freeze in shock.
The cloth slipped from her hand and fell back into the bowl with a loud splash.
Maraye was no longer laying in bed, but was now in front of the young girl, a small knife pressed to the girl's neck, ready to strike
"Who are you?" she hissed, holding her by the neck.