Page 17 of The Blackened Blade

Was that it?

Was this all a punishment for being so stupid, for voluntarily stepping into her vicious web, blinded by the only affection I was being shown.

Did I bring this on myself?

Was it my fault all this happened–

No, I couldn’t go there, I couldn’t think like that.

The younger me was lonely and starved for affection, the only love taken by Seria after she came, along with everything else. I craved a bond, a connection, a love of any kind from anyone.

Unfortunately the people that usually give such things unconditionally did not exist in my life. And that wasn’t my fault, it wastheirs.

Now, long gone has the desire for their affection dried up in me.

I’m no longer blind. It just took six years in Hell and death to truly open my eyes, but I’ll never close them again.

The only darkness I’ll see is the one I willingly walk toward.

I push an old shirt over the bracelet and close the drawer.

How Seria got something like that, and what connection she had to the Facility, I’d have to carefully look into both soon.

I had been buried for too long under years of lies and insecurities, but I was no longer that little girl, and it was time to show that.

I head to the bathroom and take scissors from the small cabinet below the sink. I look in the mirror and begin snipping away.

The ignorant and cynical students and teachers here, my old childhood friends, Seria’s pawns and the witch herself, along with The Facility. I would make them regret ever looking my way.

Bit by bit I’ll take my revenge, and show them they should never have fucked with me.

A few snips later, I look into the mirror.

My wavy rose gold hair falls just above my shoulders, a brighter look reflected in the blue eyes gazing back at me, and a lighter feel to my body than I’ve ever felt before.

There were no cages, or shackles or guards here…not yet.

In this life, I had time to train and with that‘bracelet’gone, my body should slowly be able to build its strength and heal again.

I look down at my thin arms and soft hands.

I would need to train, and build my strength, and my abilities would soon follow.

I was quick to adjust, or so I learnt in the Facility, quickly adapting to any fight and creature they pit me against. They would bring in bigger and stronger beasts each time, to see how long I could last, and how bloody I could become.

If it weren’t for those stupid shackles, my weakened body and the Facility keeping me in a constant survival state, I would have ripped through every guard and creature there. Nothing would have kept me caged.

I make my way out of the bathroom and toward the window, the sky slowly beginning to dim and welcoming the early night.

I look toward the forest treeline.

I’d need a quiet and secluded place, where no one would go and I could train unseen.

My gaze narrows at the slowly darkening forest.

There was no better place than a restricted forest, right?

I go to my wardrobe and pull out a large grey hoodie and old trainers, and place them on the bed.

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