My Journey with the Demon King

7 - Pain

Each time I woke, the only thing I could do was make small, animalistic noises of pain and sorrow. Eventually, Alexander gagged me. He had knocked me out, sometime before, after killing Zane. He had explained that he was going to take me with him, because there was a reward for me. Apparently, my parents had actually cared.

None of that mattered though. All that mattered was that Zane was gone. He was no more.

And I was left with the pain of it all.

Alexander had left a horse three miles from where he confronted Zane. He carried my unconscious body to it, so when I first woke up, I was riding in front of him. I had struggled against him as soon as I did. I wanted nothing to do with this man. All I wanted was to go back to Zane's dead body and lay next to him. I would stay there with him until I died as well.

But the Bastard refused to let me. He forced food and water down my throat. If my mind started cracking and I became difficult, he would knock me out.

Besides all the abuse I was receiving from the Bastard, my body was still acting strangely. I was still constantly nauseous. I hadn't quite thrown up anything yet, but my head was constantly pounding, my world spinning.

All of this combined began to push my mind closer and closer to the very edge of sanity.

O O O

We had been traveling for what I could only guess was almost a month, before my illness began to subside. Several days after that, my body stopped having issues. Now it was only my mind, soul, and heart that was ill.

By now, I was nearly completely broken.

I no longer spoke or made any noise when I woke up.

I didn't scream out His name.

I didn't think His name.

I didn't know His name.

All I knew was that I was broken and it was because He was dead.

"Ana," the Man called. "Come over here."

Silently, listlessly, I walked over to the Man. When I got close enough, he reached out and grabbed my arm. He was sitting on his bedroll. He pulled me down onto his lap. "Good girl," he soothed, running his hands down my back.

I said nothing.

"I've been thinking. You aren't a beauty of legend, but you are attractive, in a homely way. I have yet to marry. I could use a woman like you, to give me sons and keep my house." His other hand ran along my arm.

I stared at the Man's chest, my eyes and senses dead.

He wasn't touching me, so I felt nothing.

The Man cupped my chin in his hands and lifted my face up. "Ana, look at me when I'm talking to you."

The Man would have never known my nickname if He hadn't said it. The Man was only calling me Ana because he had heard Him call me it.

I stared into his blue eyes, seeing nothing.

The Man let out a long sigh. "The only problem is what the Demon King did to you. You were sick for nearly a month. I don't know why, but he cast quite a lot of powerful magic on you. Either that, or it was because you were with him for so long. Demon magic can rub off on you like friction against skin."

Blue. Nothing. Pain

"Since I am a Holy Knight, my magic can slowly dissipate the evil of demon magic. I've never seen a human wrapped in so much demonic magic before, though."