Chapter 93 Danger Awareness
Melissa turned back and decided to start from the beginning all over again and for some reason, Richard didn't make any snarky comment, he just stared at her silently. Melissa exhaled and closed her eyes, putting on all her senses as best as she could.
She could detect the scent of maple syrup, metres away from the kitchen, the clanging of plates, Vanessa's steady heartbeat. But it was not in her interest to detect such, so she directed her focus into the room, blocking the outside noise entirely. In the room, there was silence, just Richard's heartbeat, steady and in sync, the subtle sound of his breathing and the ticking of a wall clock hanging to her right.
She exhaled and took the first step forward, letting her senses become her eyes. The first step she took was a guess, she wasn't really feeling any sense of danger but she took it anyway not giving up and ignoring the possible pain that might occur.
"Pain exists and pain hurts but if you let it rule you, you will be an abject servant to fear and fear is a terrible master," Richard's voice echoed in her head again and she took another step.
Richard always seemed to know how to get to her with his words. He always knew what to say and when to say it. He understood her way more than she understood herself. She knew he'd started with making fun of her just to agitate her and get annoyed, yet she got angry either way. He knew she would, because deep down, Melissa hated pain and feared it. She still hadn't let herself free from its shackles.
The pain she'd felt in her past life had bruised so much, she never wanted to think of again. Everything that hurt her, everything that stood against her, she just shoved aside and she'd let vengeance and hatred take the wheel but in truth, just like he'd said, it was fear that was ruling her.
She knew Richard didn't know about her internal traumas, or he couldn't necessarily guess most of what was happening to her to give her accurate advice on them, but he'd taken one good look at her and told her the way to solve all of her problems.
Melissa was no longer in the room, no, she was already within her own subconscious and she was walking even though pain might come, to overcome it, she had to face it.
She put one more feet down and it was a fake floorboard, a metallic ball shot out and hit her squarely in the head, tingling her head with an horrible sensation akin to someone ringing a loud bell inside her nerves but she didn't flinch, she didn't even look at it.
"Good girl," Richard said. "The first step is to understand that running never helps, the first step is to face it head on but the second step is to overcome it. History does not write down the tales of valour or bravery, they write down the tales of victors!" He said slowly, letting every word sip into her very soul.
He most likely had no idea the scale at which those words were affecting her but they were shaking Melissa to the core. All this while she'd been listening to only just what she wanted to hear but today he was telling her everything she needed to fear..
If she was going to be afraid of every single sting and every single discomfort, she might as well not be a Luna because what sort of ruler won't even be strong enough to detect her own Mate. Her mind warped her back to the scene in her past life.
She was lying on the bed, tied down by Ronald and he was about to inject her again, "I would never be free of him," she thought. "I should just give in, I should stop looking, stop fighting, stop resisting,"
Then Richard's words broke through to her again and she broke out of the leather strap restricting her, tearing it off and grabbing Ronald in the arm, yelling. "Enough!"
In reality, she'd stepped on a pressure plate and her mind had picked it up, the entire danger coming for her in a rush, she could sense its direction, the size of the ball and how much pain it would cause. She shot her hand up instinctively, catching it in mid air.
"That is it," Richard said. "Slow and steady, don't rush it now," he said.
Melissa gasped as she felt the cold metal ball in her hand. She was doing it, so she focused even more, reaching to the void in her soul, holding her back and yanking it apart, freeing herself from the shackles. She knew now that she was ready to face Lena.
She knew now that she was ready to know who her mate was. Even though in her past life, her supposed mate had killed her, this was a new life, a new gift, a reboot on her own path and she wasn't going to let the pain of past lives hold her down.
She took another step, her entire aura covering the room as she took steps after step, and this time she wasn't even stepping on the boards, her danger sense like Richard called it was letting her sense the problematic floorboards.
She crossed the path and opened her eyes right in front of Richard and the first thing she saw was his smile. A wide cheeky one that made her blush almost immediately.
"What?" She said with a snarky tone.
"Oh, nothing," Richard said. "But you literally learnt to do this in a day, I was calculating expenses for a month," he said. "You are a really fast learner," he continued to rant on but his voice trailed off in her ears.
The walls began to blur a little, she couldn't focus her attention on anything, she tried turning but instead she felt herself swerve and hit the floor. She closed her eyes, her strength leaving her. She seemed to have used a lot of her strength.
Soon she descended further into her subconscious and a scenery unfolded in front of her. She was in front of a giant cave with large drops of water dripping from its edges, bones littered the entire area. The area was lit by an eternal moon.
Melissa exhaled, she'd been here only once before and it was still as magnificent as it was. A little growl echoed from within the darkness of the cave and a thumping sound made its way to her ears.
She stepped back once, as a large white wolf walked out of the cave, its eyes glowing red, on its head were black patterns that seemed to paint its face. The wolf looked at her and laid in front of her.
"Hello, Little One," Lena said and twisted her mouth in a way that seemed like she was smiling.