The Abyss of Truth

Elenas point of view:

I fell into the darkness. As I sank, plummeting into a void I could not escape, I could feel the icy fingers of anxiety tighten around my chest.

My heart accelerated and my breath seized in my throat.

"Orion!" I yelled, but the valley drowned my voice.Then a whisper, a simple breath against my ear, cut across the frigidity.

You cannot get away from it. There is nowhere you can run from me. It was him, the one whose presence tormented every waking moment.

His deep, smooth threat caused my skin to crawl.

"You're wrong," I managed to mumble, my voice quivering with the horror I refused to allow overcome me. "I'm going to flee.

I will, You cannot run from the truth," he said, his voice darkly amused.

You already carry it inside you. You have simply not remembered yet.

The words landed right in my gut like a blow.

"What are you referring to?" My pulse flew as I gasped.

"I don't, You will," he murmured, his voice dropping into something much deeper.

"You'll remember everything." About your personality. Regarding your reason for being here.

He drew nearer, his breath stinging across my ear.

And about why you were never supposed to flee.

Something changed, a vibration running across my whole body as though the ground under me had cracked.

Suddenly I was back on firm ground as a flutter of light broke through the night.

I drew in a breath, confused and shorting of air.Before me stood Orion, his face marked with suffering and resolve.

His hand shaking, he grabbed for me.

"Elena, I regret it greatly. I couldn't, You are incapable of doing this!" My pulse thrashing in my ears, I yelled.

"You cannot just leave me hanging here with him. Describe what is happening to me! Orion's lips parted in an effort to explain, remorse filling his eyes.

I wanted to let you know.

I certainly did. Still, I couldn't, Why?" I insisted, heart about to explode at the sight of the suffering in his eyes.

"Why couldn't you tell me? I...He stumbled and spoke with a shaking voice”. "Because it wasn't my secret for telling.

"I looked at him, my universe falling around me.

"What does that suggest? What is hidden? The man behind us laughed darkly; his voice carried danger.

"He has been withholding more from you than you could have ever dreamed.

Elena, the truth is far worse than you would believe.Orion faced him, his posture defensive.

"Shut up." Your game is not what it once was.

The man merely grinned, though, a look full of malevolent delight.

"Orion, it has always been my game. You amounted to only a pawn.

And she was thus as well.

The ground under me shook, a fresh presence swirling like a hurricane on approach. "Orion..."; I muttered, the uncertainty in my voice barely audible.

"What is he discussing?

"Orion's face contorted with remorse and sorrow, I could see the struggle in his eyes.

"I wish I could shield you from the facts. But right now it's too late.

The world we live in appeared to stop, and I understood the weight of his words.

"What truth?," I asked. My chest was tight with anxiety.

"Tell me, Orion," said These days.With palms spread as though claiming his win, the man behind us moved slowly forward. The reality is really straightforward, Elena. Actually, your life has never been yours to run with.The ground moved once more, and my breath caught in my throat as a great force compressed my chest.

I murmured "No...," and shook my head. “No, I won’t believe it.”Orion moved forward, eyes full of suffering and grief.

Elena... I tried to stop it.Still, it was too late.

The darkness swept forward like a wave, engulfing us once more. My vision hazily, my body stopped, and I reached for Orion using every last bit of force.

Orion snipped, his voice like a weapon, "I won't let you take her."Still, the man grinned black and knowing. You cannot halt the previously started process.

And I spotted it as the shadows drew in. a flash in recollection. The bits of a truth I was not ready to hear.The reality that would knock down what I thought.

I really was more than just a pawn.And that the cost of triumph was far more than I had ever dreamed.

A scorching light blinded me and a loud crash rocked the planet.

My eyes battled to adjust; once they did, I was no longer standing on firm ground.

I was descending.

I screamed, terror racing through me as the man, the one planning this sick game, loomed far away, his face flushed with triumph.

"I cautioned you," he said, his voice like ice. "This is where your story ends.

"And then a sharp scream tore through the air as my head started to untangle the implications of his statements.

That belonged to Orion.

And I realized at that same instant, I was late.

Not too late to rescue him.

Too late to save my own life.

I could only fall since the blackness enveloped all sides.

As I staggered to make sense of the anarchy all around me, the wind howled and the sound echoed in my ears.

My heart hammered in my chest, every pulse stronger than the next.

I couldn't get rid of the sensation that something, someone, was hiding just beyond my reach; the ground under me seemed to throb with a terrible vitality.

"Orion?," said With a raspy voice, I cried out, almost a whisper against the tempest.

"Where are you?."The silence was absolutely awful.At the brink of my sight, then, a shadow moved.

My heart quickened.

Searching the darkness, I whirled about but found nothing. simply the vacant length of the deserted storehouse.

"You're wasting your time, Elena," a voice said, smooth and frigid, shoving a chill straight to my bones.

"He is not arriving."My breath stopped as I turned gently to find the voice source.

He did it. The man dragging the strings from the shadows had been the thorn in my side."You," I whispered, terror and resentment whirling in my gut.

His frightening, predatory smirk made my blood stop cold.

"Are you not finally seeing the truth? Orion never could have kept you alive.

No, I answered, shaking my head. You lie.

"Oh, am I? " He moved forward, his eyes never turning away from me.

"Elena, consider it. You have been fleeing, hiding, seeking to avoid your destiny.

Still, it is too late.

The game draws to an end.

With a step back, my heart pounding, "What do you want from me?.

What do I want?” He let out a quiet chuckle. “I want everything. I will have it as well.

begin with you.My blood froze as soon as I could react, footfall behind me.

I whirled around, but the person that surfaced from the shadows did not match what I expected.

It was Orion. His face was white, as if he had seen a ghost; his eyes were wide with horror.

"Elena," he gasped, straining his voice.

Try to distance yourself from him.I failed to breathe.

Everything seemed to slow down; the world blurring around me strained to make sense of the scene developing before me.

Again laughing, the man moved toward Orion. "You really think you can stop me?" he snipped.

"You never understood control.

Nobody among you was like this.

Orion's jaw locked and his fists closed at his sides.

"I'm stopping you here. I swear; I'll, The man stopped him off, though, by raising a hand.

"It is already too late." Right now you both are imprisoned.

And there is no exit either.The ground under me shook, and a dreadful knowledge sank me.

Our time was running short.The room echoed with a sudden loud bang, then a succession of fast footsteps.

"No! " As the man surged toward us, I yelled and realized too late that the darkness had caught up with us.

Reaching for Orion, the man's hand shot out and grabbed him by the throat, lifting him off the floor.

My heart still missed a beat.

"Orion!." I shrieked, but the man's hold tightened as he started to choke out life.

"Drop off him!" Charging at the man, I sobbed; it was too late.

The shadows closing in on us choked me.The man responded, "Your time's up, Elena," broadening his smile.

"Your story ends here."And I saw a flash, a flutter of light, just as I felt myself fall into silence.