CAMELLİA

Final Part 25

There was no end to this road, I knew it. I had no choice but to accept it. The end of this uncertain path was actually clear. The doors that would open would lead to death. There would be casualties today.

It would be someone I loved.

"Wake up," a voice echoed in my mind. It sounded like it came from someone with swollen tonsils, nasal and quite hoarse. There was also a menacing tone to it.

A shiver ran through my body. My hairs stood on end, and the hands touching my arms made me open my eyes quickly. The face was familiar, painfully so. His eyes, nearly black, looked at me sleepily. As I inhaled his mystic scent, I watched him wrap his arms around me. There was not a single expression on his face. He was tense. Even his soul was stressed, I could feel it.

"Bring her to me," said the same hoarse and eerie voice. Instead of looking where the voice came from, my eyes wandered over the face of the one I loved. I felt this could be our last meeting. He blinked his long, curly eyelashes and pulled me closer. He pressed me against his chest for a moment and then briefly pressed his lips to my hair. "Don't worry," he said quietly.

When Raven left me behind, I looked around to understand where I was. Under the perpetually grey sky, we were in the school garden. Black-robed figures stood on either side of us. Behind them, all the teachers and students of the school were lined up. In the very back row, parents stood, curiously looking at me, trying to understand what was happening. Avoiding the gaze of my classmates and all familiar eyes, I turned straight ahead. The figure in front of me wore a dark black robe. He was tall, I was sure about two and a half meters. His robe completely enveloped his body. I could feel he had no eyes, but something told me he was watching me. Five more figures stood beside and behind him, looking just like him, all about two and a half meters tall, noticeably taller than the other robed figures.

As Raven slowly walked me towards them, I couldn't understand why he was doing this. There was no one I recognized around, except for Leon. Where were the others? Where were the King and Queen? Then I saw him. Standing at the front left, he was looking at me with a devilish smirk, ignoring the robed figures beside him. His large brown eyes sent me looks that implied my defeat, the end of the road. The hatred inside me resurfaced as I took a deep breath in anger. I moved my gaze from Daisy's eyes back to the robed figures. What were they going to do to me?

When I stood right in front of them, the scent of death that spread around sapped all my courage. The air suddenly turned bitterly cold, making me feel like I was in a morgue. The hoods of their robes turned towards Raven, all six at once. They seemed to be saying something, and whatever it was, Raven understood it. He abruptly withdrew his arms from around me, and I looked at him in astonishment. His eyes... they had become lifeless. As if he were under hypnosis. "Don't leave me, Raven," I whispered desperately, but he didn't even turn his eyes towards me.

Despite knowing he harbored love for me, the expression on his face drained my blood. My mouth formed an 'o', and tears quickly filled my eyes. Raven didn't look at me. His eyes were cold. Very cold.

"What have you done to him?" I screamed in rage at the robed figures. When I caught their attention, all their hoods turned towards me. What followed was unbelievably fast and painful.

I was surrounded. The one who had been talking to me stepped forward and raised the sleeves of his robe. As I stared in horror at the burnt, skeletal hands extending towards me, he pressed his fingers to my forehead. Pain, paralyzing in its intensity, buckled my knees. A scream tore from my throat, echoing back to me. Just as I was about to fall, another burnt hand gripped my kneecaps tightly. Another hand quickly enveloped my rapidly beating heart. Its touch on my chest felt like heated steel. Another agonizing scream escaped me as tears streamed down my face. A different hand covered in ash grabbed my left arm, and I thought its icy coldness had frozen the blood in my veins. The hand that clasped my right arm was covered in fish and snake skin. It left a wet sensation as my arm's white color turned to green.