I patiently looked at myself in the cracked mirror, leaning against the termite infested wall of my room.
The dark bags underneath my eye sockets, never ceasing. The messy black hair that lazily hung over those same blue eyes.
It was all growing so tiring.
In all honesty, I could not hate something so far behind me that I could have simply mistaken it for a bad dream.
So I held no true hate for anyone or anything; however, I would be a fool if I didn't know what was really going on here.
All of the times that struggling children have went missing over the span of a single night. All of the times that I had lie awake listening to the guard reluctantly drag a child away from their room.
It was all so exhausting.
With no hope of ever fleeing, I had lost all hope in general. I had lost what it meant to have faith in something.
I had lost the God that everyone else around me follows so carelessly.
Even Diana had fallen under the curse, bringing up the question...
If someone as proud and resilient as her... Has been taken by the same fate that has cursed and devoured everyone in these lands... What would that mean for me?
Would I fall under the same spell?
Would I be nothing more than a weapon of fate?
Too many questions were teetering on the edge of my mind, bring me closer and closer to snapping into a fit of insanity.
Until a knock on my door snapped me out of my feverish impulses.
"Maximus... I have to talk to you about something... It's important..." Diana quietly stated from the other side of the door.
It was such a weird and unnerving feeling.
Standing on the opposite side of the closed door as someone who he had once called a friend and even thought of as a big sister of his own.
Would they forever be apart? Has fate been so sickly and cruel that it has decided on tearing apart everything in Max's mess of a life. And what would that mean for Abe? The books I have read, stated of things... No- Horrors that all maidens and Priestess's are eternally tasked with.
The carvings... Would they kill her... Would this world strip Abraham of his only family?
"Max... You have to listen to me... Remember the schemes we would come up with as children? Remember the stories we used to tell? The books you used to read me? I'm afraid that the time has come to take action... I'm sorry Max... But would you please let me in? Just one last time Max... Have one last meaningful conversation with me..."
I could hear droplets of tears hitting the floor from the other side of the door. I could also feel my heart ripping itself apart from the sheer torture of hearing that much pain in such a close friend's voice.
"Yeah... Sure."
I opened the door, only to be pulled into a powerful embrace.
Diana had rushed towards me, wrapping her strong arms around my frail body.
"I'm so sorry..." She could only mumble, sobbing eternally into my slumped shoulder.
I could only stand in awe at the show of weakness that Diana had rarely ever lowered herself into.
"Max you and Abe- You- You need to run away..." She whispered, her dangerous golden gaze meeting mine.
Shivers ran down my spine as I wondered what horrors could have presented themselves in front of the girl who had always protected me and Abraham...
"Tonight... You will get Abe, and you will climb out of your broken window... You will make a break for the wall. And you will climb it... Whatever you do Max... Do not look back. Do not try to be some hero and save me, no matter what... You will erase me from your memory... That is what you have to do in order for the both of you to survive... Please... If you have ever held hatred or dislike towards me... Abandon it... Just for tonight, and put your trust in me and me alone... There will be a small town very far North of here, it will be a gruesome journey and you might even die on the way... But no matter what. You cannot look back, and you cannot abandon the hope of survival... Of freedom..."
"I- I don't understand..." I gasped, struggling to gather air in my lungs from both her tight embrace and the terrible truth of what she had said.
"I promise... Abe and I will leave the orphanage behind..."
I said, with such determination in my eyes. With a newfound flame ignited out of desperation. Even while not knowing what was truly exposed to the girl, I could tell from the atmosphere... That it was a terrible and horrible truth, far exceeding whatever scroll or tale had hinted at in the past.
So... I had no choice... I had to run away. For the both of them. I would have been lying if I said that I wasn't afraid. If I had pounded my chest and declared that I would be free of this purgatory... It would have been a lie.
I had no clue how the outside world had worked. And in that same meaning, I had no clue what that outside world even had to offer.
For all I knew, I could be facing something far worse than any corrupt church, or monstrous priest...
But did I have a choice? After all of this time here... Have I truly forgotten what the feeling of freedom felt like?
Was I really going to take the leap and try to see for myself what the stories and tales told of?
I closed my eyes. Envisioning the smile of my mother's face... And that was enough to push me.
I grit my teeth. Promising to myself that I would see the other side of that wall once more...