THAT DAY I BECAME A STAR

CHAPTER 9: THE TOWER OF THE BETRAYER (1)

How much time went by now, I wonder. We have been walking and walking. The ground is uneven everywhere with tree roots here and there. Tatiana drinks my blood at every chance she gets. She also drinks her urine from time to time. This woman IS CRAZY. I am sure of it now.

As for me, I am so tired I don't even know if I am thirsty or hungry or anything. I just want to sleep in a soft bed with the warmth of m... Thinking about those people again, I feel wide awake now. I am sure I have big circles down my eyes.

"Stop." Tatiana suddenly said in a low voice. "Get down and don't move." I immediately obey. Having my jaw fractured like nothing was an effective way of teaching me obedience.

"Shit, they have noticed us, this is going to be shitload to take care of. Okay, you stay down no matter what. You hear?!" I nod and crouch like a rock.

"Opening the gate of infinity, my soul is bathed in thunder. My body clad in lightning; I shall vanquish them all in your name: THOUSAND LIGHTNING STEPS!"

Tatiana becomes bright and shining. She is like a very bright moon, with electric arcs running around her, and her hair's color is now a lively grey. While contemplating her transformation, I hear a noise in front of us. Six gragoras come out of the shadows. Wait, is that really gragoras? They are way bigger than the one dad...that man told me. Another one of his lies undoubtedly, like when he said he loved me.

"They are indeed bigger than normal ones; he was not talking shit then." Normal gragoras are not that big? Well, it does not matter; he still lied to me. "So you want a piece of us, ah!!! Come and get it!"

As soon as she finishes speaking, Tatiana vanishes in the air. All I can hear is a buzzing and crackling sound. Then one of the six gragoras howls and all the others start running towards me. The next moment, the howling gragora loses his head, and Tatiana reappears.

"Now your leader is dead! Shitheads!!" All the gragoras turn around to look at their leader that just died like nothing, frozen. "You want more, or will you scram?!!" They all disperse at lightning speed when she throws their leader's head in the air.

Tatiana is powerful, even with her missing hand. That thing was a big as a horse, and she simply cut the head like butter, with her bare hand at that.

"Why are you looking at me like that? You thought I was weak or something?!! Ah shit! I am out of power; this one consumes too much." Tatiana's hair retakes their natural black color, and her eyes which were also grey become blue again. We restart walking as if nothing happened.

***

For another hour or so, we walk. I start noticing something: the forest is getting thicker and thicker. Tatiana goes left, right, changes directions again and again, in vain. The forest is just becoming thicker.

"Did he not said it should become clearer as we go towards the exit? What is this now?!!!" It seems she has also noticed something is wrong.

We walk around again for a little bit, then she simply stops and looks behind.

"Shit." In front of us, I see the same corpse we left an hour ago. What is she looking at then?

"Prepare to run; we are screwed!!! They brought reinforcements; those fucking beasts!" Saying so, Tatiana gives me the dagger she was keeping in her chest.

"This is my treasure and identity, but I will give it to you just in case. You might need to end your life in a hurry instead of being munched by those things. NOW RUN!"

She starts running while holding my hand. I try to run also, but I keep bumping my feet on roots and such. I am bare feet; it hurts like hell! When I turn my head to look behind us, I see hell: not one or two but at least twenty gragoras running and jumping around in our direction. Because the forest is dense, they can't freely run to us with their massive body.

"Don't look back! You want to die?!!" I look in front because Tatiana is holding my hand harder now.

I gather my strength as best as I could to run faster but to no avail. Tatiana is just dragging me.

The forest is getting thicker and thicker, so it is harder to run. Both for us and the gragoras because they are too big.

Suddenly in front of us, a building can be seen in a distance. Are we finally out? Is it this a guard station? If so, they will surely save us. While I was thinking like that, a black flash pass by me to Tatiana, she almost falls from the impact but manages to recover herself, while I hit my head on a root. Something just lashed at her from a distance, but I couldn't turn to see what it was. We jump and land on a ground without trees or grass, in front of us: the tower.

"Argghhh!! Shit! Shit! Shit! Arghhh!!" Still confused and breathing heavily, I look at Tatiana only to see her wriggling on the ground like a worm, blood abundantly flowing from her back.

What could have caused this? I check my body to see if there is any wound, but there is nothing that wasn't there before. Did the beasts target her specifically for some reason? I approach her trying to see if I could do something.

Wait, why should I? She is the reason for all my suffering. Because of her, I lost everything. I SHOULD KILL HER. I grip the knife she gave me tightly and look at her like she is a simple prey. I told you you were going to pay. She has already calmed down when I reach her but is breathing heavily. Sweat and dirt are all over her face.

"There was even a mangradora with them?! Fuck my life, dammit!!" A mangrawhat? Was it the thing that wounded her like this? "Ah damn, dying from poison is too painful, and this one is so effective I can't feel my feet already." She is trying to move her legs apparently, but only her knees answer.

"Kevin. Come here and finish me off, will you? Poison is too painful, even for me."

WHAT?!