Forced into Fantasy

Chapter 3 - Realisation

Closing my eyes tightly shut and lowering my head, I repeated the same sentence over and over softly, in an effort to calm myself and perhaps cause me to wake up from this oddly realistic dream.

“Wake up Ivy… wake up, WAKE THE f**k UP!”

The girl chained to my right spoke with her soft voice and it pulled me out of my focus to calm, causing me to open my eyes and turn to meet her terrified gaze.

“Be quiet!” she warned me, terror lacing her every word. “Don’t make them angry. Please for all our sakes remain silent…”

“Wait, who are you? Where are we?” I began to question but she shook her head and hushed me.

“Shhhhh! Be quiet!”

I could sense her obvious fear as she lowered her head again and looked to the ground. I couldn’t help wondering what she was so afraid of.

Little did I know, I was about to find out!

“So… are you two enjoying your little chat?”

A man with short brown hair dressed in black leather and silk fabric suddenly spoke, turning my attention toward him as he stepped up before us with his arms crossed in front of his chest and a smirk on his face.

“Mind if I join you?”

As soon as I met his empty grey eyes I sucked in a sharp breath and felt as my entire body began to tremble with disbelief. It couldn’t be. There was no way in hell this was even possible. I knew who this man was and what’s worse, I was the one who created him.

“Tully?” my voice was hesitant and showed my disbelief. “H…how is this even possible?”

Several of the other men around the table suddenly paused mid-conversation upon hearing me say his name, turning their attention to me as I glanced between them and the man now standing over me.

Tully’s eyes narrowed with concern.

“How do you know my name?” he interrogated me, taking a step forward to close the gap between us.

I swallowed nervously, unsure of what to say in response. I couldn’t possibly tell him the truth; that I was the one who created his character and the entire world they were living in was nothing but a fictional world located within the pages of a book.

That sounded completely crazy!

But then again, so did my entire situation.

Noticing the lack of a response I had failed to give him, Tully went to kneel down in front of me. Instinctively I leaned back into the wall and away from him, desperate to keep some sort of distance between the two of us as the chains above my head clanked against each other loudly.

“I asked you a question, whore...” he demanded, this time more firmly as his eyes bored into mine and he suddenly reached out with lightning speed and grabbed me roughly by the base of my chin. “…and you will answer me, or I will make you answer me!”

“What?" I replied without thinking, caught up in the terror I was feeling from the reality which had yet to properly sink in for me.

His eyes remained fixed on me.

"I… I heard one of the others call you by your name earlier… It is your name, is it not?” I had in fact spoken the truth and was rather impressed by how fast I was able to come up with it, given the intense pressure he had put me under.

I could see him mulling it over as he looked down at me.

“How very observant of you.”

He was clearly taunting me with the tone of his voice as he then moved his eyes downward, taking in the sight of my body covered by nothing but a thin piece of white material. I felt a shudder running up the base of my spine as he did this. 

I wanted so desperately to punch this asshole right in the face!

Then, out the corner of my eye I spotted another soldier moving in on the woman to my left with the messy black hair and blue eyes and my eyes moved across to see him begin to unshackle her.

“No, no, NO!” the young woman with the black hair shook her head violently from side to side as her second hand was released. “Please, you can’t do this!”

Her cries were even louder than the red-head Bridgett’s had been, having known what was about to happen to her and I felt sick to my stomach being completely unable to do anything about it.

But then the room suddenly silenced as she ceased her screams.

My eyes moved down and noticed as the black haired maiden secretly reached down and pulled out a small dagger she had managed to conceal under her dress up until now. I caught sight of the light casting off of a shiny surface and I knew what she was about to do.

I sucked in a sharp breath…

And then all hell broke loose!

With the speed of lightning, the maiden thrust the tiny dagger upward, impaling the soldier’s neck several times with its sharpened blade and causing thick, warm crimson blood to spill out across the floor with each thrust as he began choking on his own precious life’s fluid. 

Everyone in the room froze, seeming shocked by this sudden and unforeseen attack on one of their own.

Everyone but Adomis that is.

Tully released his grip on my chin suddenly and turned just in time for the attacking maiden to turn her assault on him. 

I had to admit, I felt rather compelled to cheer her on in my given situation but I merely remained still watching in an assortment of both shock and terror as blood sprayed across my face and chest.

The maiden was clearly a skilled and incredibly lethal fighter, showing evidence of this in the careful movements and timed precision of the assaults she was making on her captors. I was in awe of her abilities.

As she spun around and slashed downward, Tully cried out in agonising pain as he held at the side of his face, covering his right eye with his entire palm as his blood gushed out from the open wound she had created for him.

“Aaaaah, f**k! My eye!”

She continued her attacks on each soldier as they launched at her one by one, cutting them down with her skill and precision; I had to admit it looked quite beautiful, she moved as if she were dancing.

And then the dance stopped as she froze, eyes wide and breathing heavily. It was only moments later that I noticed the end of a long sword protruding out from the middle of her chest as blood pooled around it and she lowered her weapon, dropping it to the floor with a ‘clang’.

“No…” I breathed the word.

Then I saw Adomis emerge from behind the maiden who had been impaled by his blade and was now completely at his mercy. He wrapped his left arm around her and grabbed a hold of her waist firmly as his right hand lifted up to place a jagged dagger’s blade at the left hand side of her throat, just below her earlobe.

I hadn’t realised but I was holding my breath as he wasted no time drawing the inevitable out.

With one clean, powerful movement he instantly sliced the sharp blade through both the skin and muscle of her throat, causing blood to spill out across her chest and down onto the floor. She only appeared to let out a gurgled sound as she eventually fell lifelessly to the floor beneath Adomis’ boots, now covered in his victim's warm blood.

The air was sucked out from my lungs as I looked down at her body, still and pooling with blood around her head as her wide open eyes began to glaze over and death took hold of her.

My breathing began to fasten suddenly as the realisation hit; I was really here in this room, watching someone die before my very eyes. It couldn’t possibly be a dream, it felt too real.

I was terrified!

But I was about to become more terrified by what the fearsome Overlord commanded his remaining soldiers to do next.

“Take these two down to be interrogated immediately!” he barked the command with such anger and frustration. “Torture them until you find out who sent them to kill me.”