Witch (Dark Fantasy Short)
When left alone in a room with a terrifying amarok, Seira must discover her family’s deadliest secret to escape.
Peak Inside:
Seira was used to waking in unfamiliar places. It was her job to spend the night drinking with men, and sometimes she would go to a hotel with them or even to their homes. Yet, she had never woken in the middle of a cold, dark room with her limbs bound behind her back.
Seira had woken with a blindfold covering her eyes, but she had worked it off her face with her shoulder. The room was still too dark to see well with her plain human vision, but she could see that the room was large and empty. She wore only a simple chemise, and she shivered as she laid on the cold stone floor.
With her limbs bound behind her back, Seira could not even roll on the floor to get anywhere.
“Hello?” she called to the darkness. “Is anyone there?”
Seira paused to listen, holding her breath, and then she heard the sound of something shuffling its feet along the floor. She saw something shift in the darkness. It was only an outline to her, but it was a large thing—larger than fifteen feet in height.
As it stepped closer, the outline took the shape of a dog. She had read in a book long ago about beasts called an amarok. They were giant wolves that had been forced out of their lands decades ago, and it was believed they had gone extinct.
The amarok growled, and it lowered its head toward her. She heard it lick its chops, and she could no longer suppress a whimper from escaping. The smell of rot filled her nose, and her chest tightened.
“Something smells good,” it said with a voice so deep she could feel it vibrate through the floor.
“Please,” she said without taking her eyes off the amarok. “Please, don’t…”
“Stop begging, young thing,” the amarok warned her. “You were brought here for me. There is no help for you here.”
Seira squeezed her eyes closed, and hot tears ran down her cheeks. She could feel its breath on his face, blowing her hair about as it took in her scent.
“Seira,” a soft, child-like voice said in her ears, “you know what to say.”
Seira opened her eyes, and a dim green glow illuminated the amarok’s face. The green light made its fur look black in color, but there were patches of skin missing. Blood dripped onto the floor.
“What is this light coming from your eyes?” it snarled.
“Accept me,” the disembodied voice said, “and you shall have all the help you need.”
“No, I can’t,” Seira whimpered. “It wouldn’t be right.”
Seira watched as the beast lunged at her, showing her too many large and jagged teeth as it opened its massive maw.
“I accept!” Seira screamed. “I accept! I accept!”
The child-like voice giggled, and her vision faded to white.
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