The Devil's Temptation!

102 I’m You

When Anna’s eyes slowly fluttered open, a sore pain traveled up her limbs like someone who got mercilessly whipped with a cane, abandoned on the ground and left to decide what her fate would be.

Instead of feeling her body resting on the comfort of the soft mattress like it was meant to be, she felt her body resting on something flat and hard. It was nothing like a mattress as she subconsciously felt it first before fully snapping her eyes open.

‘This isn’t...’ pulling herself up a bit from the hard surface till she sat upright, it turns out she was resting on the hard ground. A shocking gasp left her lips when she heard a loud ‘BANG!’ at her left. She instinctively lifted her gaze to stare at her environment.

She wasn’t anticipating to find herself in a completely different remote island and_

‘Wait, this isn’t a different environment.’ thought Annalise as she slowly rose from the ground and stared at the desolated town that strangely felt familiar to her.

*BOOM!!*

Another heavy sound that struck the ground below her feet and it made her stumble back with unsteady movements, then the next thing she heard was a crack!

The ground suddenly cracked open, with a sound like the quick rasp of a shirt. Anna stared as the crack didn’t stop there but moved until it caused a division and she tumbled back.

“Ouch!” She fell to the ground again as it violently shook and that’s when she noticed it.

.....

Watching the chaos unfold before her very own eyes, Annalise froze with unexplainable terror as her pupils contracted in a way that expressed her horrors.

There was fire, ombre colored fires everywhere as it ruthlessly burnt down the homes of people, setting everything alight with a furious rage and sending the people fleeing for their lives, but shockingly, the fires did her no harm and she could stand up on her feet.

The screams and wails surrounding her were like the cries of an untuned orchestra that sent her heart grieving at the sight.

Annalise was left perplexed as she saw people running for their lives as the inferno chose to swallow their homes and destroy their town. If she recalled perfectly, she left the front yard and headed to bed since she needed to get enough sleep for tomorrow, so how did she end up here? Is she having a nightmare!?

But that wasn’t what left her speechless, what got her shock-stricken was the fact that she could see herself, standing before the wailing crowd, not as a victim, but as the terrorizer.

She saw herself or rather, someone who shared a complete resemblance to her hold a glistening silver sword that had been stained with blood, the crimson liquid drop from the tip of the blade, indicating the many souls that sword alone had taken.

The person stood before another victim who pleaded for mercy with his head bowed.

She was going to kill that man!!

“No wait!!” Anna yelled as she ran towards their direction but the ground shook again, leading her to stumble forward and fall to her knees.

When she looked up, Anna locked gaze with the person and her heart stopped when she met her crimson red eyes.

“You’re just like me.” Said the lady with interest before going ahead to stab the man with no sense of remorse. Blood splattered on her white dress, including that of Anna’s as she witnessed the scene that made her feel nauseous.

There was blood everywhere, the metallic scent was nowhere near appealing and Anna’s horror-filled eyes stared at the sword which penetrated through the man’s back.

The lady withdrew her blade from the man’s belly and took a graceful step towards Anna, leaving the man’s dead body to collapse on the ground.

“Who_who are you?” Anna quickly got to her feet and moved back, keeping a distance from the lady who was unhurriedly heading her direction with the sword. How’s it possible they look so alike??? Except, the crimson colored eyes gave them an obvious difference.

“How can you run away from me? I’m you.” The lady sweetly said but her eyes held a different contrast that made Anna move back in alarm.

“No! You can’t be me!” She disagreed, claiming it to be a fleet of her imagination. This wasn’t real, it can’t be real!

The lady’s chuckle went mute against the howling people who avoided the slutters of both the storm demons and the soulless. Anna could do nothing but observe the pitiful scene and these people, she doesn’t think they can see her.

“Do you need me to prove it?” Asked the lady who pointed her sword at Anna. Everything about her gave off a negative vibe and it was something Anna couldn’t stand to picture herself in.

“Prove what?!”

“Anna!” Came the familiar voice that called out to her and she whipped her head in the direction. Everything happened so quickly that before she knew what really took place herself, she had the lady’s sword pierced into the chest of Roshan, an impulse that was beyond her control.

Her eyes widened in disbelief at the sight and the world seemed to stop before her eyes as she watched the crimson blood escape from his chest and stain his shirt.

“No!” How’s she holding the sword??

She tried to pull the sword out, only to be stopped by Roshan whose hand covered hers around the hilt joint, restricting her from pulling the sword out and the look on his face held no pain, but she knew he was.

“Don’t stop.” He whispered and this time, he forced her hands to push the sword deeper into his chest and directly at his heart rejoin, an action she wasn’t expecting him to take and when she looked into his red eyes with her own teary eyes, they held a look of tenderness and the unutterable longing as he cupped one side of her cheek.

“What_what are you doing?” Her throat felt charred for her to even speak properly but he said nothing.

The warmth of his hand on her face made her give in as a tear dropped from her eyes, only to be gently wiped away by him.

She wanted to ask him why he did it? Why did he let her stab him without fighting back? He knew her intentions but he didn’t stop her or even bother to fight back. Why????

But before she could say anything and vent out her anger, she felt the life in him slowly slip away, like a drifting air and she shook her head before pulling the sword out of him.

Her once silky white dress was stained with blood and the moment Roshan fell to his knees, Anna took a step back in disbelief, staring at the man on his knees and the sword in her shaky hands, they were stained with blood.

His blood!! She killed him!

“Roshan!” She screamed when he collapsed in front of her but before she could reach him, the ground continuously cracked and split, separating her from his body and creating a big gap between them. She could no longer get to him, even if she dared to jump.

An undefined sadness seemed to have fallen above her and she threw the sword away, unsure of how she was supposed to react to this.

She looked up at the sky which had been turned to a smoky black haze, covered in ash.

“What’s all of this? What’s happening??” Anna felt she was going to lose her mind with all the complexities of the situation unfolding before her.

What does it mean?? Someone wake her up from this nightmare!

At that thought, a figure appeared from behind the smoke, he looked at her with his face covered with a mask and he let his hand out for her.

Anna retreated instead as she had no idea who the man in a black mask was.

“Come with me, Aveline.” He said but Anna shook her head, unwilling to move from her spot. She wasn’t Aveline and that’s what she wanted to say, but shockingly, she felt her body move against her own will, heading towards the strange person whose hand was stretched out for her to hold.

‘No no no!! What’s happening? Why can’t I stop??’ she inwardly panicked.

“Come, Aveline.” He said again, but it only infuriated Anna.

‘I’m not Aveline!’

Just when she was about to place her hand on his, her eyes snapped open and Anna instantly sprang up on her bed.

“No!”