The torments of a life had set upon one soul, torturing it until there was nothing left but a sorrowful expression of what once had been. The torments of her life had led her into a vast desert, filled with hatred, pain and darkness. In a short time, her life had found a light that guided her through the vast moorland that had been her life through all her years. That light had blurred the darkness in her, had made her forget that her whole life had been of losing, of wanting and not getting.

She had grown used to the light, had gotten used to the warmth it gave her, the protection and safety she felt whenever it was shining close to her. She had thought many times that light couldn’t be shut, not even by the brightest star on the Universe. She was wrong.

The brightest star of the Universe descended fast, burning all the light she had grown used to, burning it until she realized, it had always been a spectrum of that Bright Star. It had all been just a dream, made up for her own safety, for her sanity. The darkness has come back, but she had learn to walk within it, had grown used to it, had grown to love it, to cherish it with all her rotting soul.

Now, running with all her might, she couldn’t help but think of that Bright Star, of how could she save its shine, now that the spectrum of light she had known had become the darkness that enveloped her for so many years. Fighting for dear sanity, fighting for her Star, she threw herself back into the pit, back into the darkness, only to find that Star that had showed her what reality felt like, and how much she had yearned for someone to show it to her, to teach her how to love it, to teach her how to protect it.

As she reached the dungeons, her heart beated uncontrollably. She wasn’t alone, she knew, there were a few people behind her, but she couldn’t hear them, couldn’t see them. Her mind was set on her Star, fighting down there with something far greater than him, with a Darkness that could easily remove the shine out of his cosmic body. She couldn’t allow that, couldn’t even fathom to see him go without her helping him fight, after all, he had fought for her many times, she could do the same.

Taking deep breaths, the power flowed through her veins like liquid steel, burning her, throwing her into agonizing pain, yet she didn’t cared, it didn’t bothered her at all. It was as if she was meant to feel that pain, to endure it, embrace it. Slowly extending her hands, she gazed at the wall in front of her, she couldn’t remember it being there before, but that thought didn’t stopped her. She took a deep breath, visualizing the wall exploding into nothing, visualizing it crumpling into dust. Before she knew it, a loud sound came through the wall, cracks slowly making their way through it, and with another sound, it broke into a million pieces, crumpling to the floor in tiny pecks of dust.

“Insegnante!” A woman said by her side, but she only smirked in response as she walked in. She could hear grunts, flinch and wood breaking. Her air got caught on as she darted forward, praying with all her might that Jiyong would be alright. As she neared the dungeons, she saw a flame going towards her direction, a black flame, burning everything at its way. Strangely, Chaerin felt relieved by it. Without much effort, she lift a hand and held the flame on her hands, vanishing it.

“Stay alert, there’s a demon on the loose.” She hissed and walked forwards. She saw Youngbae dodging, then casting out a tide, putting out a fire on his pants. He looked tired, all sweaty with his clothes charred and ripped. Chaerin hurried towards him as he stood up, and he looked at her with blank eyes. “Where is he?”

“There.” Youngbae said, signaling to his front. Chaerin looked and saw Jiyong flying back, a flame burning his chest. She gasped as she stood up, running towards him.

“So nice of you to welcome us!” Azazel hissed at her back. She looked at him and widened her eyes. He was looking far more monstrous that she had ever seen him. His face was distorted, his eyes hollow pits of blackness, his mouth huge with fangs all over his teeth. He looked taller, almost 7 feet tall, his hands had turned into claws and his skin looked fiery, red flames coming out of him.

“Chaerin, what are you doing here?” Jiyong hissed as he stood up. Chaerin narrowed her eyes and looked at him, shrugging slightly.

“Helping.” She said. Jiyong scoffed and stood up, reading a flame on his hands.

“Leave, it’s too dangerous.” He said. Chaerin shook her head and looked at Azazel.

“No, I won’t leave.” She said. Jiyong grunted and threw the black flames towards Azazel. It clearly didn’t do anything to him at all. Azazel laughed and cleaned the flames as if he was cleaning a bit of dust and grinned.

“You will have to do something else, this is clearly not helping.” Azazel grinned. Chaerin narrowed her eyes and lifted a hand. Azazel was too busy attacking Jiyong to realize what she was doing. She was imagining her arms in flames, flames so strong it would even burn steel and iron. Her face got illuminated by the red flames, fiery on her hands, yet not burning her at all.

“Jiyong!” She screamed and he looked at her. He looked exhausted, his skin was slightly charred and his clothes was hanging lose wherever he was burned. His eyes widened as Chaerin threw the flames. He threw himself to the floor as the flames went directly towards Azazel. It hit him on one arm, but it burned him so much it made him scream in pain.

“What is that?!”

“Hurting, right?” She smirked. Azazel hissed at her as he lifted a claw and made a spark of lighting. She gulped as the sparks went towards her. She felt something pulling her down until she fell on the floor. It was Jiyong. She gasped as the air came out of her lungs and the lighting hit the walls.

“Are you mad?!” Jiyong hissed and stood up, dragging her with him. She lost her balance and landed on his back, just when Azazel threw another flame, hurting them both. Jiyong fell on top of her, as he took the worst part of the attack. Chaerin shrieked in pain as he rolled off her, taking a bit of her skin with him. She grunted as she sat up, her arm bleeding profusely as Jiyong coughed on her side.

“Ji.” She said as she shook him, but he just grunted. She tried to heal him, but Azazel sent another flame in their direction. She shook her head and stood up, vanishing the flames in front of her. Azazel screamed in anger and threw another flame, and another. Chaerin dodged them all, vanishing some, throwing others to the wall as she tried to approach him. “Youngbae!” She screamed in hopes of him taking care of Jiyong, but no one answered her.

“Die Insegnante!” Azazel screamed and she widened her eyes as she felt Jiyong’s body moving behind her. He was standing up, glaring at Azazel with one eye red, the other white. Azazel grinned as he made a movement of his hands. Chaerin tried to hold Jiyong back, but he just pushed her away as he walked towards Azazel, his hands making flames and wind. Chaerin gasped as she fell on the floor, scrapping her already injured arm.

She looked up as Jiyong let out his powers. She could feel the energy slowly draining as he used all his strength on it. The wind blew warm around her, tousling her hair all around. Chaerin stood up, moving her hair out of her face as she saw the flames making circles around Jiyong. It was a beautiful scenery, she thought, he looked dead, exhausted, yet fierce and dangerous. His eyes looked mysterious, filled with such anger and hatred she didn’t thought a human was possible to feel. His veins were all popped as he panted, the fiery beaming strongly, burning everything all around him, chairs, tables, clothes, more chairs and old curtains hanging on old windows.

With a loud grunt, Jiyong threw the flames towards Azazel, falling on his knees. Chaerin gasped as she saw Azazel easily holding on to the flames, laughing dangerously at Jiyong. She felt the time has stopped as she saw Azazel taking the huge flames on his hands, making them bigger. Nothing moved, the time had stopped, the wind stopped, the flames looked in slow motion as she felt the liquid steel on her veins exploding on her hands.

She hadn’t noticed when or how she lifted her hands, when she mustered the chanting of an ancient spell she never heard of, or when she threw the strong blaze of flames, water and lighting towards Azazel. She hadn’t realized when she had made the strong swirl of elements in front of her, a swirl that was involving Azazel, and everything surrounding him, including Jiyong. Her eyes widened in fear as the elements destroyed almost everything in the room, hurting Azazel in all ways, dismembering him, destroying him completely, and along with him, the room vanished, letting them out in the gardens.

Chaerin screamed in agony, not because the liquid steel was burning her from the inside, threatening to kill her, but because of what she saw in front of her. Jiyong’s body fell lifeless on the floor, his hands on his side, burned, his whole body was burned and cut and ripped, his skin, stained with scarlet blood, his clothes ragged, his hair stained with his own blood as his eyes slowly closed. She shook her head as she ran towards him, shaking all over as she threw herself on his side, carrying him on her arms.

“Jiyong!” She screamed as she shook him, but he didn’t answered, didn’t moved. “Jiyong, don’t do this to me, please!” She screamed again as she moved him, slapped him, hit him on his chest, but he was cold, unmoving and not breathing. She cried as she put her hands over his chest, trying to heal him, but her powers wouldn’t listen to her, the water wasn’t responding to her, nothing was. She was in too much pain for the powers to answer to her correctly, too much agony, watching him die on her hands. “Somebody please!” She screamed, but the people wouldn’t get close, they just watched as she cried on top of Jiyong’s body, hitting him merciless as she begged him to wake up.

“Chaerin.” Someone called her. She didn’t moved, she didn’t dared to look, as if she did, she would give up on all hopes of him waking up. “Insegnante.”

“No!” She screamed as she held onto Jiyong tighter. “He’s not dead!”

“Chaerin, please, come with me.” Youngbae said as he put a hand on her shoulder. She screamed at him and shoved his hand off, holding onto Jiyong much tighter.

“Don’t you dare say it Dong Youngbae, don’t you dare!” She yelled and Youngbae fell on his knees next to her. She sobbed on Jiyong’s unmoving chest as Youngbae caressed her back. “He is not dead.”

“Insegnante, I can feel it… and I cannot feel him anymore…” Youngbae muttered. She could hear him crying, could hear his pain on his voice as clear as her own, but she didn’t dared to accept it, she had hopes, and she couldn’t give up on them, on him.

“Youngbae please… please don’t say it…” She sobbed as she slowly looked at him. His face was flushed because of his crying, his hands were trembling, so where his mouth as he opened his mouth, then shut it. “I didn’t killed him… I didn’t…”

“No… no one said that…”

“He’s not dead! Jiyong please! Tell them you’re not dead! Don’t leave me here, don’t go!” She screamed as she held onto his unmoving, bloody face. She moved him over and over, slapped him again, but he still didn’t responded to him. “What was the use of it?! Why did we even cared?! Jiyong, I am not losing you!”

“Chaerin, come.” Youngbae said, but she shook her head.

“No.” She said, but Youngbae still pushed her a bit away from Jiyong. Some man came to pick his body up, and she glared at all of them, a flame starting to come out of her eyes. “Don’t touch him!”

“Chaerin, you have to let go, he’s dead! No one can wake him up, he’s dead!” Youngbae screamed at her as he held her shoulders, pushing her away.

“No! Don’t you yell at me you mothering bastard! He is not dead! I didn’t killed him!” She screamed as she kicked and punched, but Youngbae kept her still as the warlocks took away Jiyong’s body.

“Chaerin!”

“Let me go!” She screamed as Youngbae took her away. She saw Dara’s face out of the crowd, she was crying rivers, holding onto her chest as she saw the warlocks taking away the body of her brother. Chaerin wanted to scream, to kick and punch, but she couldn’t do anything but cry on Youngbae’s shoulder as he carried her away, away from her Bright Star, the one she shut down on her own. She was miserable, helpless, evil, sadist. How could she burn down her own Star? The Brightest of all?

The night set in quickly as she rested on her bed, pulling her hair nonstop as she thought over and over how had she managed to do it, how did she killed the only thing that ever mattered to her, really mattered to her. She had grown tired of crying, it was taking her nowhere, and she couldn’t think right while mourning over him.

Chaerin stood up, glaring at her reflection, for the first time in her whole life she felt dirty, ugly, useless. She had been given Divine Power, yet she only used it to kill, to hurt and burn out the Brightest Star in her Universe. Why would she want powers so great if they could only hurt?

Taking a dagger, she stormed out of her room. Everybody in the Manor was quiet, the Coven was mourning the death of their Magna Veneficus, their High Warlock, and even if no one said it, they all blamed her. Without giving it much of a thought, she stormed towards the gardens. The place still looked charred and destroyed, the Magna Veneficus was dead, the Insegnante was too destroyed to fix it up, and so no one bothered in cleaning. She ran towards the center of the gardens, were the training clearing was, and held the dagger, cutting into her palm as she chanted the spell to call upon the Gods. If they put her in this, they should take her out. She didn’t even dared to open up a circle, she was too angered at them to keep them safe, and she thought, maybe the evilest thought, that she could kill them for revenge.

The first one to come was Gaia. The earth open up as she walked out of it, looking completely human, aside from her green hair and emerald eyes. Chaerin her lips as she saw her, playing with the dagger on her hands.

“Gaia.” She mustered. Gaia bowed slightly as she put her hands in front of her, showing Chaerin a gesture of solitude.

“I am deeply sorry, Lee Chaerin, for your loss.”

“One loss you made me have. Have you ever told me, have you ever given me a chance to know what terrible things this power would made, I wouldn’t be here now.” She hissed. Gaia nodded, her face looked hollow, saddened.

“We apologize.”

“Where are the others? Where are the gods?!” Chaerin screamed.

“So you can take revenge on all of us?” Gaia said.

“So you can tell me what to do!” Chaerin said. Gaia nodded as she looked into Chaerin’s eyes.

“And what exactly do you want to do?” Gaia said. Chaerin scoffed and looked to the side, then at Gaia.

“Don’t you play with me, you know exactly what I want to do.” Chaerin hissed.

“To bring back Traven from the dead?” Gaia said. Chaerin narrowed her eyes and nodded. Gaia smiled and looked at the manor, then at Chaerin. “My dear Insegnante, only the Divine can bring the dead back to life.” She said and disappeared on a swirl of leaves. Chaerin widened her eyes and threw the dagger towards where Gaia just disappeared. The dagger got stuck on a tree, and Chaerin screamed in exasperation as she let herself fall on the floor. She hadn’t given her hope, hadn’t given her an answer, only left her to mourn and sulk in her own pain, such Gods, giving her something she couldn’t manage and not even caring enough to at least give her back what she yearned with all hear heart. She couldn’t do much now, just sulk into her own sorrow, hoping for those powers to kill her merciless, as she had done to her beloved Star...

Gily's Notes: So yes, coming closer to the end.. maybe 2 more chapters and that's it... I am honestly happy with this chapter, you will see why. For now, try not to kill me, I have planned all of this since the very beginning! :D

Happy Reading ~

Gily ♥