117
Galina
The pain was nearly unbearable, like fire racing through me. I did my best not to cry out, not wanting to worry my newfound family, but at some point, my restraint snapped, an agonized scream tearing from my throat. I could feel my body burning up, as if the very fires of the underworld had taken up residence under my skin.
I don’t know how long I burn, or how long I scream. Eventually, everything fades, darkness pulling me under for a brief respite before the inferno overtakes me once more. Esme warned me of the pain, but I foolishly thought myself impervious after what my uncle put me through. A bitter laugh sounds in my head, memories flooding back to me. He was, in fact, my uncle. The same uncle who murdered my mother and took over my care. The same uncle who has spend years torturing me, grooming me to become the perfect weapon once I merged with my fated.
The inferno drags my mind back under, breaking the brief moment of clarity as more memories and thoughts, not all of them my own, flood through me, a chorus of my screams echoing through my mind and, it seems, out loud too.
At some point in time, I feel every ache, every injury and bruise inflicted on my body by my uncle. I feel the tearing of my wings, the whips laced with silver and white gold, the blades, and mallets, and everything in between. It’s like every injury i being inflicted all over, all at once, merging with the all-consuming, scalding pain of the blazing agony within me, I assume caused by the turning.
Am I turning? Or am I dead? Is this what Tartarus is like? Have I been condemned to an eternity of agony for non resisting my uncle harder?
Eventually, I feel the drip of blood down my back, leaving a line of coolness, a strange juxtaposition to the scalding fire within me. The brush of something soft against my back is preceded by a burning, itching pain as limbs long lost regrow. A sob escapes me at the feel of feathers brushing against me, my tortured and damaged wings whole once more, for the first time in so long.
Time was meaningless when I was with uncle, somehow he managed to erase my very essence, replacing my will with his own. I recall now, as the fire within me burns away the last of his influence thanks to the help of a faceless man during my imprisonment. I didn’t understand then, but he promised that I would be protected from the damage uncle sought to cause through me. I understand now, that he shielded a corner of my mind, so that when this day came, the day that I merge with my circle and am turned, I would retain enough of myself to beat back uncles attempt to sabotage them.
As the fire rages through me, I get myself back, bit by bit. Small piece by small piece, recollections, memories, knowledge fills my mind. Secrets and memories of a time long past. I am Galina Heavensbreath, daughter of Archangel Amelie Heavensbreath and Bilgames, the first Cthonian. Therian is my uncle, the brother of my mother, and he’s an evil man aligned with the forces the mother and father have fought against for millennia. My name means calm, and I am a little over three centuries old. Therian murdered mother while father was out working to maintain the balance and whisked me away to a hidden place where he spent his days torturing me, trying to instill in me a trigger that would cause me to turn on my fated mates when we bound our souls.
I escaped, with the help of that masked man and one of his friends. Friends in high places, he said. They told me to head towards the cave, instilling in me a compulsion before taking all of my memories of the place, so all I could do was run, and not get caught.
The light that burns through me unlocks the treasure of memories gifted to me by my father and the deity Jezzana, who gave her essence to me so that we may stand against the evil that threatens all worlds. I know things that I must convey to the others, but first, I must find my way from this maze of agony.
I fight against the waves of burning fire, seeing it for what it is now, a cleansing fire. A last gift from my shadowy savior, to help burn away the chains that my uncle sought to bind me with and grant me the freedom to choose my path. But until I choose, I will be stuck within this inferno.
There is no choice, really. I want them. I want Esme, and Alistair, and Novak, and Bellamy. I want to help them prevent the coming disaster. I want to stand against those who would seek to undermine and manipulate the free will of children and those weaker than they. I want to fight, and to live, and to love.
With those thoughts in mind, I struggle against the binding flames. I feel my incisors lengthen, cutting into my bottom lip as I grit my teeth against the agony. Blood filters into my mouth, the tangy taste leaving me wanting more.
My eyes burst open, light exploding from me as my wings flare out. I flex them, testing their weight, relieved that their return wasn’t a figment of my addled mind.
Movement in near me draws my attention.
Esme.
I want her.
I need her.
She coaxes me forward, and I go willingly, burying my face, and fangs, in her neck and drawing deep until she strokes my face and whispers to me to let go. I don’t want to, of course, but when Alistair takes her place, I’m unable to resist the allure of his smoke-scented blood.
They repeat the process until I’ve drank from them all, then gently pull me back. My mind is my own again, but when I move to tell them what I now know, I find darkness pulling at my limbs, exhaustion overtaking me.
I need them to know everything. If they don’t learn what I know, they’ll be at a disadvantage.
“Rest now,” Esme’s soft voice is the last thing I hear as my resistance falters and I crumble into the darkness trying to seduce me.
Rest. Yes, I should. But when I wake, we must prepare.
~~~
Author’s note: just a few more days of the year left! I will be trying to finish up these edits before the end of January. I’m aiming for 3+ chapters for each of the last 3 day of the year, as long as I don’t end up back in the hospital.
Did you expect such a turn with Galina? Will she be able to turn the tides in this eternal battle?