There was no way of telling the time when Sora was surrounded by nothing but darkness. At some point she had sobbed herself to sleep with the memory of her reducing Kai’s body to ash and the serious of thoughts and questioning involving Chen and Aria. Were they dead too?

She felt completely helpless in that dungeon. Her siblings had barely enough energy to comfort her; they held on to their lives by a mere piece of string. She was sure they could feel it agonisingly slipping away from them. As for Sora, she was losing her mind. The thought of becoming something that would bring terror and devastation to Hell and Earth, the place she referred to as home. She didn’t want to be some sort of monster that soon populations would hate if Satan’s plans were to succeed.

“No...” She whispered, “I won’t let this happen!”

She began furiously wrestling with her restraints, screaming at them aggressively to release her as if they would listen to her.

“Oh get off, get off, get off!” She desperately cried, “Get off me!!”

She cried in frustration, burning in the process. Her voice wasn’t healing at all with all the crying she had done.

“They won’t come off you brat,” Satan’s voice boomed. He had walked into to see his daughter thrash against the rocky wall and he chuckled at her pathetic behaviour.

“Do you really think it would be that easy?” Satan mocked, throwing his head back in laughter, “Oh dear, would you look at the time! We better get going kids; Daddy has a surprise!”

Sora felt her stomach churn in sickness as a response to Satan’s unwanted sweetness.

“No! I want to know where Kai is! And Chen and Aria! What did you do to them?” Sora demanded, only causing another round of sinister laughter from him.

Satan looked at her in amusement, “The more important question is, ‘what did you do?’ huh?”

“You manipulated me!” Sora accused angrily.

“Maybe I did,” Satan accepted, “but you have Kai’s death on your hands, not me sweetheart. Oh we really must be on our way.”

With a clap of Satan’s hands, they all were transported another room in the palace. High in one of the towers was a room, destined for the very ceremony Satan was to perform to summon the ancient evil. The Four were recklessly placed on the floor, still somehow restrained tightly to avoid an escape. Sora examined the room carefully. In the centre of the room was a pedestal of some sort that held and circular bowl on the top. The floor was ornately decorated with small mosaics that formed a large square in the middle of the room.

It was clear that it had something to do with the ritual.

“Now, we shall begin!” Satan roared.

Grogginess is what he felt. That and like his head was being pummelled over and over again till it even made his eyes throb. He managed to look around and realised he was in a cell. A jail cell to be exact. 

His hand reached up to his head, especially the source of his pain. His fingers were met with stickiness and as he pulled his hand back to examine it, he concluded that it was his clotting blood. His mind was still a bit foggy but he could remember what had happened before the lights turned off in his eyes.

Sora had him unintentionally.

He sprang up suddenly at the thought of her. Where was she? How long had he been unconscious? He began to make a ruckus in his confinements by shaking the bars, making the lock rattle and shouting for his release.

Footsteps soon approached and he waited for whoever may turn up. A guard marched towards him with a sour look on his face. Without a word he unlocked the prison. The guard knew that he was weak. He didn’t have the energy to fight against him or use his powers which made it all easier for the guard to capture.

“Come on Kai,” The guard’s gruff voice came out, “You have a special job to attend to.”

“What do you mean? Where are you taking me?” Kai demanded.

The guard chuckled, “Think of it as an honour to be serving the new Empress.”

Satan dragged the witch himself to the centre of the room. She was hardly fit to walk herself; all remaining energy she had was focused on keeping her alive. Sora continued her protests. Though her voice was strained, Satan could clearly hear her.

“Shut your trap!” Satan bellowed as he lifted the witch up, holding her hand above the bowl. He brought out a dagger up high before muttering an ancient language to call upon the spirits and powerful beings.

The dagger came down and sliced the skin across the witch’s palm. There came a heartbreaking whimper from as the blood seeped out of her and into the bowl. As soon as Satan had enough, he discarded her onto the floor, flinging her like a ragdoll.

Next was Sora’s half-brother. He looked terrified as Satan came over and grabbed him the back of his neck, lifting him up as if he weighed of nothing.

The same thing happened again. Satan would repeat his words, increasing in volume as the time came to extract the boy’s blood. Drop by drop, the crimson liquid fell into the bowl, infusing with the previous blood.

“Stop this! Please!” Sora begged as she watched her last sister be dragged along the floor and suffer the same fate as the other two.

“You’ll thank me for this Sora,” Satan said with a smug smile on his face.

The warm blood in the bowl swirled as the final drop from the last sister fell in to it. Satan walked on over to Sora. She tried her best to get away from him. She didn’t want to be a part of his plans.

She didn’t want to lose herself to the thing that was supposed to take over her body.

“Let go of me!” She struggled against his grip as he dragged her to the podium that held the bowl of blood proudly in the air.

“You really have no choice in the sweetheart; just accept it.”

Sora whined in pain as the dagger forcefully came down on her hand. She watched the slide down her hand and trickle into the bowl for the final time. Satan still held on to her instead of disposing her body on to the ground like the others.

He began to chant more phrases that were unrecognisable to Sora. Tears fell helplessly down her face as it dawned on her. She had lost everything; her friends, Kai and now herself.

Strobes of light suddenly jutted out of the bowl, shooting up at the ceiling. The room began to rumble as if there was an earthquake shaking up the ground. Still, Satan went on his chants despite being rocked and misplacing his footing. He held onto Sora tightly until the ground finally stood still.

There was an eerie quiet that surrounded them. For a moment Sora thought that the ritual had failed and she was still herself.

However, a sudden jolt of pain surged through her. It consumed her entirely till she was crouched down. Cried of agony left and she dug her fingers into her scalp as if it would somehow stop the throbbing in her head.

She breathed heavily through her nose until the pain stopped.

Something was different about her. She could feel it. Her compassion was gone but yet...there was still something left in her that was just out of her grasp.

“Sora?” came a small voice.

Sora stood up straight and evaluated the man before her. She could feel the power emanating from him, but then she was somehow assured that she was much more able and powerful than he could ever dream to be.

Then there came a nagging feeling at the back of her head that told her she was supposed to hate the man before her.

“Who are you?” She snapped.

“Satan; the one who has revived you,” he said proudly, standing up straighter and puffing out his chest.

“You didn’t do a very good job. I can still feel the girl inside me!” Sora scolded, finally looking around her. She looked at the bodies on the floor, noticing how one of the girls’ face was scarred beyond recognition.

“Are you sure that one is really your child?” Sora asked.

“Absolutely.” Satan confirmed.

Sora grunted and turned back towards him, “Even so, I can feel the hatred she has for you. I have no place in my new life for those who have the potential to be disloyal!”

Without warning, Sora’s hand snapped up and clasped dangerously tightly around Satan’s neck. His throat began to burn and soon his entire body was burnt to ashes and dust. Sora looked down at the bodies on the ground. She clocked her tongue in disapproval.

“That simply won’t do.” She muttered to herself. With a wave of her hand, the bodied were upright and standing in front of her.

“You will all go to Gateway of Death. Let the big guy up there deal with you all,” Sora dismissed them and the three began walking away.

Sora sighed and looked around herself. She needed to find someone, anyone that would tell her where she was at that moment. She ventured out of the room and was met by a guard as if it were all planned.

“Empress,” the guard bowed down, “Let me lead you to your chambers.”

“Very well,” Sora said uninterestedly.

They walked in silence until the guard came to a halt in front of wooden double doors.

“I hope you will find everything to you satisfaction, Empress.” The guard bowed before leaving Sora to it. She entered the room and was greeted by another male who stood by the four poster bed in the centre.

The male’s eyes flickered in recognition, “Sora?”

“Empress to you.” Sora replied frostily, “Who are you?”

His face fell in disappointment and scowled slightly, “Kai; I am here to serve you Empress.”

“I see. Run me a bath then; I feel like I’ve been rolling in mud for decades.” Sora sighed, charging over to her bed and dropping down on to the soft blankets. Her eyes subconsciously followed the demon named Kai as he began to fill up the tub in the corner of the room with steaming hot water.

There was something pulling at her, like she was missing a key piece of information. She quickly dismissed it as soon as her bath was ready.

She began to remove her clothes without a second thought as she walked over to the bath, dropping them on to the floor. Kai watched carefully, unable to tear his eyes away as she lowered her body into the tub.

Sora sighed in content, tilting her head back against the edge of the bath tub.

“Kai,” She ordered, “I’m starving.”

“I shall bring you something to eat then, Empress.” Kai bowed lightly before exiting the room. He paused outside the closed doors to pull himself together.

The woman he had just witnessed wasn’t Sora, yet there were similarities he couldn’t ignore. Like the way she stripped on her way to bathe; just like the first time he had entered her home when she had thought she was completely alone.

He had to find out what had happened to her but he would have to find Chen and Aria first. He couldn’t do it alone.

Hi everyone!

I am so sorry for taking two weeks to update!

I would have been here sooner but this week was just hectic for me!

I hope to update soon!

Let me know what you think!

Part three is officially on its way!!!