Broken • Choi Yeonjun

Table

I glance over to where Yeonjun stood as we make it next to a demon, one that looked like a normal human, save for the wings and horns.

I knew he was worried, I could see it in his eyes easily. I try and offer a smile to show I was okay. There was no reason to worry, this should all turn out just fine.

"Ready?" Andrmalius asked as he rested a big hand on my head.

"Ready as I'll ever be." I reply. If I was being honest, I was far from ready, I was scared. Facing death will probably never grow on me if I was being honest. It wasn't like trying to convince yourself that the new ice cream flavor you bought will get better as you eat it. No, this was death, not something you were meant to face more than once.

I lost count on how many times I brushed fingers with death.

Andromalius waved his hand and the floor in front of us shook before it started to rise. It stopped once it reached to his hip.

My eyes look over the part of the floor that had just come up, it was big enough to be the size of a twin bed. I glance over at Andromalius with a questioning look.

"For you to lay on, your body will give out as I pull the fragment out."

I swallow thickly as the ending of what he said repeats in my head over and over again.

He offers me a hand to help me up onto the black and red marbled stone.

I take it and take a quick glance at Yeonjun. He stayed in his spot, maybe not wanting to get too close for when this all started.

As I lay down, I could easily feel how cold the stone was through my clothes. The temperature made me clench my jaw to keep my teeth from chattering. I squeezed my legs together to try and keep them from shaking as well. I was starting to think it wasn't just the cold making me shake, my nerves were finally catching up to me.

I stare up at where the ceiling should be, but just like the other places in Andromalius' palace I had been, there wasn't one. Just a view of the fast dark red sky.

Demons with wings of all shapes and sizes could be seen flying over, not a single one of them glancing this way. It made me wonder if they respected Andromalius that much, or was there magic involved?

My focus snaps back as I feel a hands rest on my temples.

Andromalius leans over enough to meet my gaze. "It's time... I can't say how bad this is going to hurt, but know I will try and keep it as bearable as possible."

I nod, not trusting my voice at the moment.

Dad, if you're somehow watching over me... I don't want my life to end here. I miss you, I do... but I don't feel as if it's time for me to leave. I have people that really care about me, and I don't want to leave them yet. So, please, if you have any way to make sure this all doesn't end here, I would appreciate it.

Maybe it was far-fetched, but I felt like I needed to believe someone or something was out there on the other side ready to help make sure this really wasn't the end for me.

Suddenly I felt Andromalius enter my mind.

I closed my eyes, trying to relax as I felt him moving around. Maybe if I relaxed as much as possible, things would be easier.

As usual, I was wrong.

I felt something sinking down in my gut, it was something that was growing out the further down it got until it finally stopped right at my heart.

I gasp as the feeling of someone grabbing my heart and squeezing rushed through my chest.

My breathing became short and shallow as the feeling became more and more intense. Just as I thought it couldn't feel any worse, I then felt like someone was digging their nails into the flesh of my heart and slowly ripping it open.

Not even able to think of anything other than the pain in my chest, I don't even realize I had been screaming until my throat grows sore. I also take note that the tips of my fingers hurt from where I had been subconsciously trying to use my nails to dig into the marble.

My back was arching up as my heels started to dig into the marble as well. I wanted to rip my head away from Andromalius. I wanted to dig at his eyes, claw at his hands, punch at his face, anything to get this to stop.

As if the demon that had been standing stock still knew what I was thinking, he stepped over and pinned my hands down to the marble table.

Then another came over and held my legs down.

Unable to move now, I now felt like I was going to suffocate.

"Stop!" I try and call out, I needed them to stop now, I really did feel like my chest was open and someone was digging at it with their claws. Tearing it apart, tiny agonizing piece by piece.

My vision starts to go black around the edges as it doesn't stop, no matter how bad I begged the world for it to stop, begged the sky, the people in the room, there was no stopping now. Not until it was done.

~

Yeonjun dug his nails into the palm of his hands as he watched Evelyn writhing in pain, the sound of her begging them to stop made him want to walk over there and rip all their heads off with his bare hands.

He couldn't do any of that, it would cause more damage than anything. Andromalius had already started, now he had to finish it. There was no telling what could happen to Evelyn if he did stop now.

Andromalius was already in her soul, he probably already had a grip on one of the fragments, one misstep and her soul could shatter. The fragments could break free and return to Rerek.

Yeonjun would just have to keep biting back the urge to help her.