Page 32 of Pain Run Rampant

And I don’t know if that’s possible, so.

Anyway, needless to say it’s a situation I never thought I’d be in, for more than one reason. The big one: never thought I’d come to a new world with a land filled with magic and become its savior by binding the big bad to me. Another big one is I don’t do relationships. Not long-term ones, anyway. I learned young you can’t count on people, and that includes romantic relationships. Someone’s always going to let you down, so why not let them down first?

Or hit it and quit it, as some people say?

Fuck. It’s been so long since I’ve had sex. I can’t even remember what it’s like.

That’s a lie. I remember. I’m just trying not to think too much about it since I’m surrounded by guys who hate each other and picking one of them to do it with would make it even more awkward.

The guys do their best to one-up each other throughout the journey. Both Frederick and Invictis take turns walking beside me, although only the former is good at making conversation. When Invictis does it, he acts like a scowling guardian angel. When I go to sleep, however, Invictis does his best to pop into each and every dream.

I know what he wants. I know what Frederick wants. They both want the same thing: me. That much has been clear for a while.

It’s funny sometimes, but other times it’s aggravating. I’m not some prize to be won. I’m a human being, and I can decide what I want and when I want it. I just, uh, I don’t exactly know what I want.

The day we come upon the labyrinth is a day for celebration. It’s the final one, so after we clear it we can return to Laconia and dissect what we learned and Frederick can get his dad to help him translate his etchings of the altar in the innermost chambers. And then, God willing, things can calm down between us.

Pylos’s uneven terrain bleeds into Acadia. Cliff after cliff after cliff. Acadia’s greenery also bleeds into Pylos; the cliffs are covered in flowers and bright green grass, hanging plants that drape down off the cliffs. One said cliff has a giant waterfall, and it’s behind said waterfall that the door to the labyrinth lies.

Thankfully an overhang stops the waterfall from completely blocking it; we can slip around the waterfall from the side and get to the door without getting wet. The door appears the same as the others; nothing on it to give away what it hides from the world.

By now, we all know the drill. Invictis is the first to walk inside, and he lights up the way. Frederick and I enter after him, following him down a long hall, much longer than any of the other halls. After a ten-minute walk, we come across another stone door, with the same warning as the first two, along with an etching of the creature we’d face within.

And by we, I mean Invictis.

Unlike the other two etchings, however, I can’t tell what this one is supposed to be, so as we push inside and walk into the underground arena where this magical monster waits for us, I don’t know what Invictis will face.

The dome-like arena we step into is far different than the previous two. This one actually has water in it, as in the entire center of the arena is covered in water. An underground lake, the water so clear you can tell it’s been untouched.

Invictis cracks his neck and stretches out his arms before stepping toward the edge of the lake. With a quick glance back at Frederick and me, he says with a smirk, “Leave it to me… unless you want to fight the creature, Frederick? Prove your worth, as little as it must be?”

All Frederick does is scoff and shake his head as he crosses his arms, which makes Invictis smugly say, “That’s what I thought.”

To me in a bare whisper, Frederick mutters, “I never thought I’d say this, but he has become ten times more unbearable since…” He pauses, probably because he doesn’t want to bring it up, but in the end he finishes, “Since that day in the tower.”

AKA since we kissed.

And, yeah, I agree with him. I think Invictis has become unbearable, always trying to prove how much better he is than Frederick, but at the same time, Frederick himself has become borderline unbearable, too. They might hate each other, andtheir morals are completely opposite, but they are more alike than they want to admit.

I don’t say a word as I watch Invictis touch the water’s edge. The moment he bends over and runs his fingertips along the water, a ripple erupts on the water’s surface, like something large is moving beneath it. A giant splash causes water to shoot in the air twenty or so feet high as something large soars out of the water before diving back in.

The guardian of this labyrinth is apparently a water monster of some sort. A long, slithery, snake-like creature with three heads. Should be fun for Invictis, at least.

The tattoo on Invictis’s arm glows; I can feel it on my own arm even though I’m not the one doing it. He launches himself at the creature the moment it surfaces a second time, colliding with its middle head and narrowly avoiding foot-long teeth from its other heads as he does so.

Watching him fight is like watching a master do his thing. Every move Invictis makes, every time he uses his magic to attack or deflect, it’s deliberate. No hesitation whatsoever. He is one with the battle… and he wears a smile on his face the whole time, enjoying the hell out of it. Even when the magical, three-headed water serpent whips its tail out of the water and sends him crashing down into the water, it’s only because he let it. He wants the fight to drag on and not have it be over too soon.

It makes me wonder just how stupid I was for thinking I could beat him. Who was I? A nobody who knew nothing, I now realize. It really isn’t that far-fetched that Invictis thought I was nothing more challenging than a bug he could squash underneath his golden foot.

Of course, I now know I’m more than that. After countless empresses, I am the culmination of the original high empress’s plan. A part of that asshole is inside me. It does make me wonderif Frederick is right and that’s the only reason I feel what I do for the bastard.

The battle between Invictis and the three-headed serpent is over within a few minutes, when he’s dragged it out enough. In reality, he could smite the damned magical creature and end it in seconds, but being bound to me means he can’t go off killing whoever and whatever he wants. This is the only fight he’ll get for a while, assuming nothing terrible happens.

I should know better than to hope for something like that. Ever since that vision after I bound Invictis to me, I can’t shake the uneasy feeling I’ve had. Day in and day out I’ve tried to bury it deep, ignore it, pretend everything is fine, but it’s not.

Somehow, someway, this isn’t over yet.

The final blow of the battle involves Invictis swinging a car-sized blade of sizzling light through each serpentine head, one after another, in the same smooth movement. The heads dissipate into nothing before they make contact with the water below, while the body flops into the depths of the lake, disappearing fully before the headless body completely submerges.

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