Alone

Patrick forced Furia to go with the Russian... there was simply no other way. Now he will be forced to face his inner Demons in the worst way.

Alone

 

The guy that stayed with me pulled the chair backwards and got us inside a cabin. It was provided with supplies worth for months. Detail that worried me a lot, regarding to the time I would be waiting for Furia.

 

The days passed as I tried to think up an escape plan. But it was impossible; the guy was always checking upon me and reporting to the leader every hour. There was nothing left for me to do but to patiently wait for Furia to arrive.

 

Soon I lost the pace of time; while just sitting around, I fell asleep at random times of the day and woke up after a randomly timed sleep, sometimes extremely long and sometimes extremely short. The guy used to ignore me most of the times I asked him for food or water; I was hungry and thirsty all the time. But there was something he was very attentive with; he never missed my two to three times a day, random and completely meaningless beatings. Knowing Furia was out of my reach, and that there was no way for me to call for help, the guy just had to walk by or find a random thing bothersome to have a reason to hit my face and torso a couple of times. Most of the times he did while I was sleeping; he always started with my torso to wake me up, that way the first thing I would see would be his next punch coming towards my face.

 

I wasn’t only taking damage physically; my mental/emotional state began to drop drastically. I entered a bipolar state where I was either at full energy and determination or sobbing helplessly, suddenly crying Furia’s name. The lack of sunlight, bad nutrition, and all the mental/emotional trauma… these people created the perfect formula to make me lose my head. Soon reality became numb and unreliable; I could swear I heard Furia roaring outside a couple of times a week, or my friends talking about leaving me for dead. It didn’t matter how close they appeared to be or how loud I screamed, nothing happened.

 

One day I woke up to something different: my hands weren’t nailed to the armrests. They were secured against each other with a big lock, going through the center of my palms. The least movement I made with my hands resulted in incredible pain. I was too out of sense to question this new measure; I just knew something was about to happen.

 

One night, a couple of days later, in the middles of April, two months after Furia’s departure, the guy began to pull the chair outside once again. Suddenly, a twitch in my mind got all my senses up; I began to look at the sky frantically because the feeling had got much stronger. And finally I saw the silhouettes in the dark sky thanks to the flicker of the stars.

 

When the silhouettes landed and I identified Furia, it confused me a lot her arrival. I thought she would be gladder to come back, but she had her sights low. The Russian unstrapped from her as the other two did from their dragons and unsaddled Furia. The Russian stood in the middle of the way between me and Furia.

 

The guy who stayed with me during the Leader’s absence cut the ropes that held me against the chair; I immediately stood up from it and slowly walked towards Furia. I trotted past the Russian while he said… “As I promised you, didn’t I?”

 

Furia!  You are finally back!!

 

Stay away from me.

 

Furia’s tone was sharp and cutting; she looked straight at my eyes, actually meaning what she said.

 

It shocked me seriously and stopped my approach…

 

Furia…   I took one more step.

 

Stay away from me!

 

Furia began to hiss while giving me a ferocious look and a flash of her fangs. Then she lowered again her sights and continued…

 

This wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for you.

 

No, Furia, wait…

 

Men, women, children, elders… I have their blood on my claws and… fangs too… (I felt her disgust)… Entire houses and families burned down by… me. It could have been prevented… (Furia looked at me sharply and said with a roar)… but YOU had to hand me over!!

 

Her accusation struck my very composition and made me totter.

 

Furia… I am sorry, but... I had to do it... if...

 

She interrupted me…

 

No, you hadn’t! I told you what he was up to, and you didn’t listen to me; you just handed me over to that b*****d… like I was some kind of… pet! This is the last time I have to obey you, Patrick… good luck.

 

Furia turned and opened her wings to take off.

 

No! Furia, wait!!

 

I dashed awkwardly to her, but when I reached where she was, it was too late. I landed on my knees and could only see how she got away once again, her presence in my mind dying like the pulse of a deadly injured animal... And then there was… Silence. My cries came out of my mind with frustration…

 

-Wait, Furia!! I am sorry!! I am sorry, please don’t leave me!! (Then my shouts died to turn into a helpless sobbing) Furia...

 

Suddenly, I felt my head being pulled back by my hair, exposing my neck. The Russian crouched by my left side and said…

 

-This is what I wanted to help you experience. Alone… that’s how you are right now, not even your dragon is to support you here. Now you know how it has been for me since then. Now… you are ready to die.

 

All I have waited… all I have endured… it was to see my dragon once again… to be with her again…

 

The Russian positioned himself in front of me, generated a sword and prepared to lunge through my chest.

 

… I am not ready to die… because I am not with Furia!!!

 

-NOOO!!

 

With the war cry, I ripped off my hands from the lock and freed them; my left hand ended with an open section from the center of the hand, all the way out by between the middle finger and the ring finger. While the right one ended with the lock hanging by a strip of skin and meat between the same fingers. I quickly generated a shield with my left hand and blocked the Russian’s attack, and then with my right one, I generated the Chain Blade and whipped it back, killing the guy behind me.

 

Then I whipped my weapon at the Russian, but one of the other guys pushed him away and received my attack, dying at the instant.

 

I stood up and was about to attack the Russian, but suddenly a dragon grabbed him and took off. He flew away with the last of his comrades and its dragon. I tried to attack them with daggers and spears, but I had no precision with my dismembered hands.

 

-I will find you, Russian!! I will find you and I will kill you!! You f*****g hear me!!? I will kill you!!!

 

Later I collapsed to the ground and cried while yelling Furia’s name over and over again. It wasn’t until I cried it all out, half an hour later that I came to my senses. My hands hurt horribly, to the level of immobilizing me to a curled up position; and there were also my hunger and thirst.

 

I weakly pushed myself up and tottering made my way into the cabin. I wanted to eat and drink something before parting away into the nowhere. I had to be gone by morning; the Russian would probably come back with more people to finish the job. Furia and I were loose ends; we were the only ones who knew he was behind all what Furia was forced to do. If I managed to communicate that to someone of power, the Russian, the companies as well, would be uncovered. And later, I would locate and kill him, because to me, he was a loose end as well.

 

I went through hell just to find myself in that abandoned cabin, trying to get food and water out of cardboard boxes and plastic bottles with crippled hands. It took me a couple of hours to eat and drink enough. All thanks to the pain every action that involved my hands caused me. After ripping off the lock from my right hand, I washed them the best I could from the dirt they got from the fight, and bandaged them with some rags. I couldn’t take anything with me, so… equipped with only my clothes and my severed hands… I left the cabin and headed in a straight line to the only direction I could think off… towards where Furia took off.

 

Moonlight became incredibly clear once I got used to it; after a couple of hours walking in a hopefully straight line. The place I was at was like some kind of desert, it had very few trees and almost no kind of landscape feature… just dirt and sky in the distance. The whole time I was concentrating on my mission. Every moment I rambled, I revived moments of the torture, Furia’s abandon. I met the ground many times when my muscles were overcome by the pain in my mind; it then took me one or two minutes to get back up and on the way. Afterwards I couldn’t go on anymore and decided to sleep off the rest of the night.

 

I couldn’t fall asleep… too many questions and ideas in my mind… Why didn’t that guy kill me? He had his knife against my throat… why didn’t he do it? That a*****e had to make up this stupid Hollywood-ish revenge of “putting me on his shoes” I’ll make sure not to make that mistake. Once I get my hands on him, I won’t speak a single word to him; he’ll already know the events that got both of us to that situation… to that very moment where my blade will cut through his inners… Ohh that will be so pleasuring… indeed it will be…

 

Once the idea left my mind, there was an empty space that was filled with reality. The dirt under my body, the cold air, the pain in my hands… I unconsciously crawled backwards to press my back against Furia… but… she wasn’t there… I already knew it and… it cracked my mind into crying until I fell asleep.

 

I felt the sun on my face and slowly opened my eyes. Despite the situation, that night was strangely delightful. After two months sleeping on a chair, the ground was the perfect bed to lie down onto. I pushed myself up without wasting a single second and continued my way into the unknown.

 

My plan of survival consisted in finding dragons. Dragons populated the outskirts of every state and town in the country. Though I didn’t know my big scale situation… Furia had killed many people, perhaps the Russian talked in my name at some point, probably claiming I had some kind of crazy purpose for the killing. Or maybe it was random killing; he might have killed both riders and non-riders. But it was more likely that he might have killed only non-riders if he wanted to relate me to a purpose… putting us, Riders, or at least a representative (me) on a stand, a point of attention to be able of sending some kind of message.

 

Through that day, my problems became more acute. My mouth was so dry I wasn't even producing saliva. My face ached a lot due to the sunburns. My eyes were so dry it hurt every time I blinked. And other problems appeared... I gave up to certain natural necessities. That wasn't a problem when I was nailed to the chair; right when the guy pulled the chair into the cabin, he took off my pants, and then I felt the seat had a hole. Like that I spent two months until the Russian arrived. Then the guy put my pants back on and took me outside of the cabin. Now I had my hands destroyed and couldn’t even take my pants off. It was impossible to determine which situation was more humiliating.

 

My situation was only getting worse and worse, and I hadn't seen a single dragon... at this pace, I wasn't going to make it to tomorrow evening.

 

That night was colder than the last one; the shaking didn't allow me to even sleep. Plus, my hands' exposed nerves to the cold air began to hurt exponentially more; like they burned from the inside.

 

I couldn't stay like that anymore. I painfully pushed myself up and kept walking. I stumbled to one side and to the other as I tried to keep myself up.

 

Suddenly I saw a shadow to my right, it looked pretty human. It was just standing, looking at me with shiny eyes.

 

-Please... help me!         I yelled at it.

 

But the shadow just turned away and moved. I tried to follow it and yelled at it.

 

-Wait! I mean no harm, I need help!!

 

Then it went under a tree, out of the moonlight, and disappeared.

 

-What the...?

 

I was left with no other option than to keep going on. It was calm for a while... until I saw two of the shadowy people to my left. I turned to them and yelled...

 

-Who are you!?

 

The shadow people didn't answer me, they just kept staring.

 

-Why are you following me!?

 

...

 

I turned back to my way at a faster pace, I had a bad feeling about this shadowy beings. After around an hour on my own, I saw another shadow, but I ignored it and kept walking. Then I saw three of them, and I did the same. I kept waking until I saw a large group of them... I turned to my other side and saw more, and when I looked forward... there were more. Suddenly they were surrounding me.

 

-What do you want from me!? Just f*****g leave me alone!!

 

I began to turn at random directions, and every time I looked, I saw they were getting closer.

 

-I am warning you!! Go away!!

 

I generated the Chain Blade; it was the only weapon I had mastered that didn't need to be grabbed, and prepared to fight. My stance was unstable and weak, my muscles were cold and stiff. I doubted I had any chances against these beings.

 

Then I felt a cold by my back. I turned quickly with a whip of the Chain Blade, just to see it slice through the shadow being that was right in front me, but without inflicting the least damage.

 

Then, with a low and hissy tone, and deliberately slowly, the shadow said...

 

We will bathe in her blood.

 

It scared me how that... thing... just talked. But a stronger feeling was the rage produced by what that thing dared to say. My expression went enraged, I looked straight into its eyes, and then, with a tough tone I said...

 

-I won't let you lay a single finger on her.

 

Then another shadow from the group that was surrounding me stepped forward and said...

 

It isn't even up to you.

 

Then a next one from another side of the circle stepped forward and said...

 

You aren't capable of protecting her.

 

They kept doing that... from a random point of the circle, a shadow took a step forward and said something.

 

You aren't capable of keeping her on your side.

 

Furia hates you.

 

You made her hate you.

 

Because of you, Furia did horrible things.

 

Because of you, Furia will die.

 

-Shut it!!

 

I made a round whip with the Chain Blade, slicing every single shadow, but nothing happened, they just continued.

 

Furia will only cry for your name once her limbs are all broken.

 

And her inners are all sliced out.

 

Only because she will ultimately need you.

 

My fury slowly died until I felt completely vulnerable. The barriers in my mind began to give in and I felt every second nearer to crack up.

 

-NO!

 

I began to pace as fast as I could and went through them. But my attempt of escaping was hopeless. They were always in front of me, at my sides and behind me; and constantly getting closer.

 

You are a selfish b*****d.

 

You betrayed Furia.

 

Furia won't miss you.

 

Because of what you did to her.

 

I suddenly tripped and fell to the ground. Landing on my hands caused me a piercing pain that pushed a cry out of me. I tried to crawl, but the shadows blocked my way and crowded me while I curled up on the ground.

 

Furia is better off without you as her miserable Rider.

 

And she is aware it.

 

That's why she leaved you.

 

-Shut up!! Shut up!! Just leave me alone!!

 

I closed my eyes and blocked my ears with my hands, hoping to silence the voices. But they weren't exterior sounds, they were inside my mind. There was nothing I could do to silence them. I just screamed as loud as I could and cried for help.

 

The voices silenced my shouts and became the only thing I could hear. For what seemed like hours, they kept assaulting my mind… until one moment when I couldn't breathe… There was nothing strangling me, but the air wasn't getting into my lungs. When I opened my eyes, I saw a shadow. Its face was just a couple of inches from mine. When I looked into its eyes, it said...

 

I will record her slow, painful death... to haunt you with her cries for help... for the rest of your life.

 

I woke up, panting and blinded by the daylight; quickly pushing myself to a sit. I looked around frantically and saw a group of shapes gathered around me.

 

-Get off me already!!

 

I yelled, generating the Chain Blade. But before I could whip it, the shapes turned around and took off towards the sky. It wasn’t until my eyes adjusted to the bright morning that I noticed the shapes flying away were dragons.

 

-No!! Wait!! Please come back!! I didn’t… F**k!!!

 

I could just see my hopes flying away while cursing my life. Luckily for me, the dragons flew in a single group, so not everything was lost. I referenced their direction with a hill, pushed myself up and headed their way. Though I was still alone, hungry and horribly thirsty, having seen these dragons meant a real shot for survival and renewed hopes.

 

Slowly I tottered for several hours without a single stop. I was so weak that I knew if I stopped walking, I wouldn’t be able to start again.

 

When midday arrived with its extra heat, my little strengths left diminished at a faster rate. Suddenly, I reached my last step and collapsed to my knees. I tried to get back up, but I just couldn’t.  No… No, not like this…  No matter how hardly I pushed myself up, my muscles didn’t obey my orders. Their capacities were nullified by the lack of water and food.  F**k!! No!!  Even with all the rage that born in my heart, all I could feel was the pain of not being able, of not being capable of finding Furia. Then I muttered to myself “I am sorry, Furia. I don’t know if you’ll feel my death at long distance. I just hope that, when you feel it, you feel as well that I died looking for you. I am truly sorry.”

 

Then I decided I would close my eyes and fall asleep. I knew that in my state, I wouldn't wake up.

 

I laid back on the ground and closed my eyes, waiting for my consciousness to die. I began to feel my muscles loose up, my mind was quiet and the exterior stimulus became silent.

 

Suddenly I felt a bump on my right arm.

 

When I opened my eyes, I saw this young dragon looking at me with curiosity. Though his expression was pretty blank and bewildered, it comforted me greatly. He had a soft brown color.

 

The joy I was feeling served me as strength when I slowly stretched my arm towards him. But he backed off with a jump.

 

-Please... help... me.

 

The young dragon, still too young to be even ridden, began to look around; his mind was being bombed with ideas. Then he walked straight towards me, past my hand and bumped me on the ribs with the tip of his mouth and walked back a couple of meters. After a couple of seconds, he closed in and bumped me three times.

 

-I can't get up.

 

The dragon grunted with frustration, but he quickly came up with a new plan. He carefully bit my right arm and slowly pulled me up to a sitting position. Suddenly my skin gave in to his sharp fangs, which made me groan. The dragon stopped the procedure, aware of my pain. But I instantly told him...

 

-Go on... I'll resist.

 

The dragon continued and then let me go once I was sit. I laboriously managed to keep the position while he located himself next to me. The dragon then bit my shoulder and got ready to pull me onto his back. He then executed the maneuver with one single flowed movement. Again, his fangs cut through my shirt and skin, which made me groan with pain. He pressed harder to get more grip of me, instead of just cutting my skin and muscles. I felt his fangs stabbing deeper in my shoulder and cursed. I had to let go what this made me feel, I couldn’t afford blacking out in a situation like this.

 

When he finally got me onto his back, I was panting. Once I was able to deal with the pain, I couldn’t hold a laugh of joy. At last, I was being rescued.

 

The dragon began to fast pace, carefully not to make me fall from his back.

 

(Chuckles) Guess what, Furia? We are not done yet. I won’t die looking for you, I will die sometime else, but not with you away from me. I hope you aren’t in a situation like mine…

 

Then I felt my mind drifting away, getting loose within its domains… when suddenly… a hissy voice rang in my mind…

 

It starts now.

 

Semiconsciously, I asked…

 

What?

 

The killing… You now have to kill.

 

I am not… kill… I… am… yes.