<u> </u>


    How are we supposed to hold one of those things captive? Alessia thought on her way back to the house with Calien. Something inside her told her it was a bad idea. A terrible idea. She wondered what Calien’s opinion on the plan was. Neither of them had come up with one. Saiph blurted out that capturing one was the only way to save everyone. She saw what those creatures could do, and despite having a close call twice with them, she was sure she wouldn’t be as lucky the next time.


    “We can’t do it,” Alessia said. “I almost died that night if Jaera hadn’t opened the door for me.”


    “You’re probably right.”


    She raised an eyebrow. “I am?” She never thought she would see the day with Calien would admit that.


    “Why so surprised? I can be nice.” Alessia crossed her arms when he kept the look. “What? I can!”


    She did a quick check-up on her father, who was snoring in his sleep. Her mother was downstairs, putting pieces of a broken teacup together. “Has there been any change with Father?” she asked.


    “No,” Enora said. “He is having issues with walking, and his wound is fully healed. The doctor is coming to check his leg out in a few hours.”


    That was odd. Her father should be able to walk by now. “Is there something wrong with him, Mother?”


    “I don’t know. That’s for the doctor to say.” She turned to look at Alessia in the chair. “What happened to your lip?”


    Alessia shook her head, forgetting about the fight with Ceinwen. “Nothing. I fell.”


    Her mother’s head perked up, her hand still on the glue. “Was someone giving you a hard time?”


    She exchanged glances with Calien. He was in no position to defend her. “I can reassure you, Lady Raith, she was with me the entire time. She tripped as we were taking a stroll.”


    “Oh, gods.” Calien gave Alessia an ‘I told you the excuse would work’ look. Alessia stood still, touching her lip; the blood had dried up but still stung. “All right, well, Calien, could you grab the ointment from upstairs? It will get infected if it’s not dealt with.”


    “I – I will show him where it is,” Alessia said, knowing that if she stayed there any longer, her mother would know they were lying about what happened. She brought Calien to the storage room, where her mother kept her essential items in a small wooden box. “Damn, it hurts.”


    “She hit you good.”


    “No, she pushed me.”


    Calien gently placed a small glob of ointment from the tube onto the tip of his index finger, rubbing it on Alessia’s bottom lip. “It’s a bit swollen, but it should heal in no time.”


    “What are you… a doctor now?” Alessia teased. “Have you found your new calling?”


    He chuckled. “If I became a doctor, who would guard you?”


    “Someone who can keep a better eye on me.”


    He sighed, pretending to take offense from what she said. “Yeah, because I could be replaced by someone who would have to deal with you.”


    “No way. Who else can find me without a single thought?” She didn’t know what else to say to him but found herself looking into his eyes.


    “We will find a way to deal with this, you know,” Calien said. “Let’s focus on ourselves for now.”


    “Good idea,” she said. When would it all end? Would Count Fairley be able to receive word from the capital? Alessia had her doubts about the capital’s help. What would change? “Do you think Saiph will help us hatch a plan?”


    “He’s the only one who can go through with it since the Sluagh doesn’t harm him.”


    “What are these things even after? Blood? Flesh? You hear those stories as a child about creatures stalking the night – wanting blood – vampires, but these creatures don’t even want either.”


    “And not the Undead either.”


    “I’m not convinced capturing one will help, especially if they can snap a sword into two.”


    “You never know.”


    Alessia wanted to believe him, but how? It wasn''t easy after the night she had. “You want to end this, right?” Calien asked.


    “More than anything.” She looked at him in the eyes closely, seeing her reflection in his pupils.


    Calien squeezed her shoulder. “Then there’s no time like the present.”


    Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw a dark figure standing at the other end of the hall. Calien didn’t take his gaze off her and didn’t see the figure. “I suppose you’re right,” she said, pretending she never saw the shadow near her. “You head downstairs. I forgot something in my bedroom.” Calien nodded, and she waited until she was alone to follow the dark figure.


    She heard Calien and her mother talking but nothing from the strange figure in the corner. “I know who you are,” she said in a low whisper.


    “Do you?” a voice responded. “Because I doubt you can remember what actually happened back then.”


    “Try me,” Alessia said. “I am tired of you messing around with me. If you want me dead, then get it over with!”Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    “Where’s the fun in that?” Something whizzed by her before she could see it. “I enjoy toying with you.”


    “You are a fucking monster,” Alessia said, trying to remain calm as best she could, but it was difficult.


    “No. That’s you.”


    Alessia closed her eyes, trying not to throw the closest item at it. “The stupid entity thought it figured everything out. “How am I the monster? I am Sarah’s reincarnation and watched as her parents were killed.”


    “Now you are convoluting the truth. Reincarnation does mess with your memory. Maybe you need a refresher.”


    “Mess with my memory? You have this all wrong.”


    “No. You do.” Finally, the dark figure approached her in solid form. “But I think it’s time you find out.”


    “I keep telling you I already know who I was in the past.” Her heart skipped a few beats. What if it was speaking the truth?


    The dark figure cackled. “We’ll see.” They reached and touched Alessia’s forehead. The whole room went white, preventing her from seeing anything.


    <hr>


    October 16^th, 1996 – New York Countryside


    She opened her eyes to someone standing over her—a man with black hair and dark brown eyes. “Get up, Kira. We have a job to do,” he said gruffly.


    Alessia groaned, looking around the small room to realize it was not her bedroom or house. “Who is Kira? And where am I?!”


    “Shut up and move. We have a job to do! Unless you’re chickening out.”


    “What others?”


    “Enough! The others are relying on us.” He grabbed her arm, which made her flinch and pull away from him. “What the hell is wrong with you, Kira?!”


    “Stop fighting him,” the voice belonging to the dark figure said. “Keep moving with the scenario if you want to return.”


    Alessia slowly stood up from bed, her muscles involuntarily seizing for a moment as if she had been sleeping for a long time. “Who are you?”


    “What are you talking about? I’m Jason, your partner.” He pushed her through the threshold of the door. The hallway was dark as Jason forcibly grabbed her hand.


    A strange-looking transportation vehicle moved on what appeared to be wheels. It was not made from wood but was too dark to see anything. Either way, it looked vaguely familiar, and she might have figured it out if Jason had not practically pushed her into the passenger’s seat.


    “Why am I here?”


    Jason came around the other side. “Did you want to drive?” He shook his head. “Oh right, you can’t! Too bad your license got suspended.”


    Alessia huffed, not wanting to say anything else to the strange man. Wherever she was, it wasn’t anywhere in Tethys, let alone Sacellum. What did the figure want from her? To see the truth? What bullshit.


    The man guided the vehicle along dark roads where there was no light except the one emitting from it. Alessia could feel she was not in her own body. Her hair was blonde and much shorter, and the clothes she wore were foreign. She barely recognized them as being worn by anybody in her country.


    Eventually, it stopped at a house more significant than her own in Stag. “Get out of the car. You ready for this?”


    “Ready for what?” she asked. “I don’t understand.”


    “Tonight, we take what’s ours,” Jason said, handing her a sharp knife. “You’re either in this or not.”


    Alessia reached out and took it, accepting what was going to follow.


    She wasn’t sure what happened, but everything seemed to turn black again, and once more, she found herself inside a place she didn’t recognize. “You know what to do,” Jason said to her. “If you want to help us ascend, then you will do this.”


    “Please don’t hurt us,” the woman said, clinging to the man beside her, who was equally as scared. “We’ll do anything.”


    “This is an honor. Do you know how many people I had to go through to let you take this job with me?” Jason said, his eyes bloodshot that almost matched his rage. “Do it, Kira. You have earned this.”


    Why are you showing me this?! Alessia thought, trying to get the voice’s attention. You want me to kill two innocent people? For what reason?


    “It’s to show you who you are,” the voice said. “What you did to these people, what you did to me. You need to know why you don’t deserve any mercy.”


    That was when it hit her. She was not the reincarnation of Sarah but of a woman named Kira – someone who killed Sarah’s family. The voice belonged to none other than Sarah herself. No, no, that can’t be real. It’s a lie. “What are you waiting for?” Jason shouted. “Kill them!”


    Alessia stood there, unable to move, looking at the two frightened people in the eyes. “I can’t do it,” she said, shaking her head. She threw the knife away from her. “This is not who I am.”


    Alessia continued staring at the two people before her, who huddled against each other, terrified. Her partner beside her shouted at her to kill them, picking up the thrown knife and trying to put it back in Alessia’s hands. She backed away from them. “You have to do it,” the voice said to her. “If you want to leave.”


    Alessia put the gun down on the counter. “I can’t do it!”


    “What the hell is wrong with you, Kira?!” Jason shouted, grabbing her by the shoulders roughly. “If you don’t kill them, I will.”


    “I won’t have any part of this!” Alessia exclaimed, pushing him away from her.


    A small child no older than ten gasped from the stairs. She called for Sarah. “We have witnesses, thanks to you,” Jason snapped, pulling a small metal object from his pocket. It looked almost like a sword''s hilt but had a lever on the bottom. Alessia grabbed the object from his hands, and the two of them struggled over who had it for a while.


    The moment ended when her sight turned black, and she could feel herself falling through the empty void.


    “You didn’t do what I told you to do,” Sarah said, her voice the only thing visible.


    “I told you I refused!”


    “That is exactly the point. You refuse to take responsibility for what you did.”


    “What will accepting responsibility for the murders do, Sarah? Will it stop you from trying to kill me?”


    “No,” she said. “I want you to remember that my name is no longer Sarah. It’s Doireann. Not that you cared to know my name back then.”


    “I don’t care for it now!” Alessia exclaimed.


    “And that is your last mistake, my dear,” she said. “You are finally going to pay for what you did to my family.”


    The darkness around her disappeared soon after, and Alessia found herself in her bedroom again. Doireann claimed Alessia murdered her family in the past, which explained why she consistently saw blood on the walls and the cries for help repeatedly. How could she face Calien or her parents while knowing she was the reincarnation of a murderer?


    She still wants me to remember, Alessia thought, her hands running through her thick black hair. I can’t do this. I don’t know how.


    She hesitantly walked downstairs. Calien waited for her at the bottom, raising an eyebrow when he saw her. “Did something happen?” She saw her mother in the kitchen, still working on the broken mug.


    “We need to talk,” Alessia whispered. She was unsure of how to even explain to him what had happened to her. She felt like she would burst into tears at any second and didn’t want her mother to know about it. She took him outside the house, ensuring the windows were shut so nobody could eavesdrop. “I saw her again. The voice I keep hearing. As it turns out, I am not the reincarnation of a woman named Sarah but of Kira, the person who murdered her family.”


    “What?” he asked, his eyes widened in shock. “Are you… are you sure?”


    “She sent me back in time, Calien. She showed me things that I have seen briefly.”


    He pinched the bridge of his nose. Why was he taking this so well? “That explains why she wants you dead.”


    “I thought you would be more upset. I was a killer in my past life.” She expected Calien to walk out from her and never see her again upon the revelation, but he still stood there.


    “There… there must be another explanation, Alessia. I can’t believe it.”


    How else could she convince him she was telling the truth? She wanted to scream at him that she was a killer and he shouldn’t be close to her. “I saw what I saw, and Sarah – I mean Doireann, as she is known in this world, confirmed it. I wouldn’t blame you if you want to shun me out of your life for good,” Alessia said.


    Calien shook his head, taking her hands into his and squeezing them tightly. “I won’t.”