They suddenly stood up, and pulled her to her feet. Then the door to the room pushed open and Thanatou came in.
He was just as scary as he had been in the hall.
"I have made a trade with your Gifter," his voice made her skin crawl with fear.
She shouldn't be here.
His words reminded her of Alaris and hatred made her throat hurt, fogged her sight with angry tears.
She heard Thanatou taking in a deep breath.
Maybe they could really smell feelings after all.
Weird.
She hated all of them.
"And now, I shall make a trade with you, for fairness."
Something was off, his words didn't align with the movement of his lips. It looked like he was making clicking sounds, something similar to what she had heard before they had been pulled down here through the red water.
It was strange that they sounded like words to her.
Strange that she could understand them.
There was certainly some magic here doing that work.
In a second, her necklace was ripped away from her, the loosened grip around her neck made her feel misplaced, and even though the necklace had been there for all the wrong reasons, its absence shook her world.
Thanatou undid something around his neck, from within his black robes, and placed it around her neck, the tip of his fingers scratching her skin in a manner that made her tense up with fright and pain before he pulled away.
The injury she had sustained from her previous dream hadn't healed yet.
The pendant of the necklace rested softly against her chest.
It was too soft.
Too soft.
"My most priced possession is now yours, and you shall die with it. It is an honor. Now it is fair to take your life."
Her heart spiked with fear.
"Please, don't. I'll do anything!" She begged, looking up at him, but he didn't seem like he had heard her, as he looked longingly at her necklace instead.
"My sunflower."
His sunflower?
Right then, it hit her.
That was his sunflower.
The last ingredient... and he just given it to her.
She didn't even have to steal it.
"Prepare her," Thanatou said and left.
A second later, brutality began in full force.
Belladonna's head was shaved off every hair, her gown was ripped away from her, while they forced her into their attires and painted her chest white. Her screams to be let go and her yelling of refusal, blended with the never-ending chanting of the females as they paid her struggles no mind, like they had done this countless times.
She was forced to bathe in water and blood. Her own blood because the females had carved on her freshly shaved head, images with sharp razors, while different strong hands pinned her down to the ground.
She had bathed in their blood, when ferality kicked in and her teeth had gnashed around one of the female's chests, ripping away her nipple. When her nails had attacked them like they were claws and drawn the liquid that moved beneath their skin.
Like a crazed being, she fought. Called for Eli, even though she knew he couldn't hear her, and would never be able to come here and rescue her.
As the moment passed by, insanity became her very existence. Blood ran down her face, and tears drained from her eyes.
Having fought and failed, she was thrown into another room.
This one was different from the last.
No, it didn't have any furniture, and the walls were similar to that of the other room, but it had a waterfall at the end of the small room, with a strange white light making it illuminate softly, making the water on the floor of the room glisten.
It almost felt like she was outside, but she knew she wasn't.
This was a cage.
She needed to get out of here.
Belladonna looked ahead like a crazed being, she didn't even flinch when a humanoid form made out of water had stepped out of the water, came towards her, and held her hand.
The water creature had no distinctive feature except its shape, it looked like a woman. Belladonna let out a sigh when the creature had touched her head and traced with her fingers, the tattoos that had been freshly carved on her scalp.
She gave her ease, and despite her blank stare, her eyes watered from the relief.
The creature didn't say a word, instead, she pulled her up, lead her towards the waterfall and Belladonna followed lifelessly.
When the creature dissolved back into the waterfall, Belladonna stopped.
The creature had taken her form in the water, dramatizing like a puppet show on the street, while she watched.
Different voices came from the waterfall.
Quiet and deceitfully comforting.
"You have been betrayed."
"Hurt."
"Do this and you shall hurt no more."
"This is an honour."
"This is what you were born for."
"This is your destiny."
In the waterfall, the creature danced around different fires, with the crowd cheering for her. After the last dance, she was accompanied by different females to the beheading stone. With a smile and eagerness, she knelt before it and suddenly her gaze fixed with Belladonna's blank ones.
"This is what I was born for. This is my destiny, I receive it with honour." She chanted it a couple of times, before Belladonna joined in mindlessly, chanting it with her.
The creature in the water, still taking her form, smiled. Then she extended a dagger made out of the water to her, which Belladonna accepted without a second thought.
The sword came down at that moment and her creature's head rolled on the ground.
Belladonna took a step back, her eyes glimmering with newfound passion, a new aim set out in her mind.
To be Thanatou's bride was her destiny.
To help the Thanis was an honour.
She couldn't wait to do it.
If anyone stood in her way of fulfilling her fate, she would not hesitate to draw blood.
She smiled maniacally, as if being controlled.
This was her destiny.
The gentle sound of water trickling filled the room, the rushing of the waterfall louder than the slow transformation that was happening to Belladonna.
Her hands, down to her wrist were becoming like the Thanis.
The door opened and Belladonna turned instantly to look at the intruders.
They were no intruders. They were the first dancers. It was time for the first dance.
They smiled to her and she smiled in return.