I had committed only one murder so far, and I felt horrified about it. I didn't enjoy it, and I never will. She was just trying to get into my head, wasn't she?

"It's time you break that mask. It's time you accept your true self. Come to the darkness, dear, you've always belonged here," she said.

"Lady Melissa!" Gudruk shouted with a sense of emergency. But it was too late.

"Never try to tempt my girlfriend, you crazy piece of shit!"

Surprised, Melissa quickly turned through a hundred and eighty degrees. Sebastian had somehow managed to free himself, probably when we were busy conversing, and was now standing in front of her. A sword was in his hand, pointing toward Melissa. It was hard to determine which was sharper, the edge of his sword, or the rage in his eyes.

"You shouldn't have done that," Melissa said as she walked toward him. With every step she took forward, Sebastian took a step backward, until he reached the sculpture. But Melissa didn't stop. She continued walking toward him.

I tried hard to free my hands, or feet. But even if the effect of the runes had decreased, it still was enough to keep me bound.

"The only one who can possibly defeat me sits there, bound and sealed within Laura. You're a good warrior, Sebastian, but you can't defeat me," she said, still walking toward him.

The distance between the tip of the sword and her decreased rapidly, until it was only an inch long. That didn't stop her either. Finally, the tip of the blade, touched her neck. Her eyes widened in surprise when she felt a burning pain.

"Interesting. You've merged the rest of your soul with this sword, haven't you?" Melissa smiled. "As your teacher I should be very proud."

"Sebastian!" Pamela yelled. How brainless can you get?"

"Reverse the spell. You don't have enough strength." I begged him.

But Sebastian showed no sign of heeding to our request. He stood there, waiting for his doom.

"I'm proud of you that you mastered this skill, but at the same time I'm also ashamed. You never were a smart kid, were you?" Melissa said as she took another step forward. The tip of the blade bent, but didn't penetrate her skin. She rose her hand, and placed her index finger at the centre of the blade.

Sebastian watched in surprise as the sword broke into two.

My eyes widened with surprise. I knew he wasn't strong enough to defeat the deity of the Deathstars. But most of her powers were sealed in the sculpture. She shouldn't have been able to break his enchanted sword so easily.

"Did you forget how you got that scar, Sebastian?" she said, and what Sebastian had told me that night rushed in my brain. It made me freeze.

"Your father made you give away your soul to me. It was a mercy that I let you use it so recklessly so far, but not anymore, especially when you're standing against me." She smiled as she walked toward him. She rose her hand, and black flames began to circle it. She slowly moved her hand toward Sebastian. He tried to step back, but the gigantic sculpture left no room to escape.

"No!" Pamela screamed. Tears began to flood her eyes, and even my vision had started to turn blurry.

I had to do something. Anything. There was a click, and I looked below. The cuffs had finally cracked open.

Melissa had almost touched Sebastian, when the flames disappeared.

"I'm giving you a choice, Laura. I tried to bluff my way through it, but I think it's obvious I'm not standing on the winner side," she said while pointing at my feet.

"Killing Alzaknos killed half of my strength. And I'd need to have all my powers back soon or else I'd be sucked into oblivion. So why not let's make things easy for both of us. Let go of Anahita and I'll let Sebastian walk away unharmed. I'd even restore his soul," she turned to meet my gaze. "Take the deal or watch him die screaming."

"Go Laura, run! I'll take care of her," Sebastian said. He rose his broken sword, and without giving a second thought charged on Clara.

Clara moved her index finger, and Sebastian rose in air, and dashed against the wall of the cavern.

"Time's running. Do it before I change my mind. I may not be strong enough, but I did learn witchcraft when I took over Clara. I still have some tricks up my sleeve," she said.

When I showed neither inclination nor rejection toward the deal, Clara rose her right hand, and began to slowly turn her fingers inside, so as to close her hand into a fist.

"So what would it be? Whom would you throw in a sea of torments - your love or your world?" Clara laughed like a maniac.

Then a heart wrenching scream reverberated throughout the cavern. I looked at Sebastian. He was trying not to show any signs of pain, but he couldn't take it. His joints had began to turn at unnatural angles, and his neck was rotating like an owl.

Pamela screamed.

Just when I thought his neck would break, I heard another shout. It was me. "Stop it. Stop it now!" I screamed as I ran toward him.

My heart stopped beating when I reached him. I felt as if all air had left my lungs. My spirit broke as I fell on my knees. And tears began to flood in my eyes.

I screamed when I saw his neck twisted at an inhuman angle. "No!" I sobbed. I shook him, but he won't stir. He lied there motionless, lifeless. Crying, I placed his head on my laps. "You can't leave me!" I screamed.

I stared into his dark blue eyes, eyes that had lost light. I shook him. "Sebastian!" I yelled. But he showed no response. "You can't leave me!" I whispered.

Then rage took me. "You killed him!" I said, clenching my fist. A wind began to roar around me as my skin began to glow.

"But I did keep my word. I restored his soul. And I let him go from this world. Now it's time for you to keep your word," Clara said.

"No," Pamela said as she ran toward me. Her eyes were full of tears, just like mine were.

"Where do you think are you going?" Clara said and snapped her fingers. Suddenly, Pamela disappeared. "I'll make good use of you," she said.

Disappearance of Pamela had little effect on me. I was just so mad.

"You killed him!" I gritted my teeth. Soon the wind grew fierce, and so did my light. The mark on my right hand was now surging with energy.

I closed my eyes, and when I opened them, they no longer were brown. They glowed with such energy that I could feel the heat scorching my nearby skin.

I tried to keep Sebastian's head back on the floor, as I stood up. But the moment my eyes made contact with his empty dark blue eyes, I lost all the will to fight. Grief and despair took me again. The wind began to grow less fierce, and my skin stopped glowing. All the energy seeped back into the mark. And tears again began to flood my eyes.

"No," I wailed. "Don't leave me, Sebastian. Please!" I sobbed.

Being swallowed by the tragedy, I didn't notice Melissa had walked toward me.

"I never wished to do this, dear. But this needs to be done," she said as she pulled me by my hair.

I had no will to fight. I just felt empty and incredibly sad. I no longer cared that Melissa had the upper hand. I no longer cared that she was about to undo the seal, and set herself free. I no longer cared that this act would be a major step toward the apocalypse, toward the destruction of million lives.

I should've fought. I had the power. I only needed to unleash the fury. I should've stood against Melissa. I should've rained wrath on her. But when Sebastian died, something had died in me.

He had always told me that life might be tough, but all the sadness, all the grief, all the hardships of life seem worthwhile when you're blessed with that one heavenly moment. Be it to reunite with your love, your family, or achieve your dream, no matter how big or small it is. But to experience that heaven, one has to go through hell. And only a want, a dream could give us the strength to fight against this hell and reach there, toward heaven.

My dream, my reason to live, to survive, had been a vision of I reuniting with my family. I wished that I could go back in Silverton, and that all this never had happened. But somewhere along the journey, I fell for Sebastian. And my dream changed. I wanted to spend my life with Sebastian. I couldn't imagine my life without him.

I had my hell, then where was my heaven?

I sobbed. Having lost all will to live, Melissa didn't have much trouble navigating me towards the statue. She held my hair, and dragged me all the way toward the sculpture. And I never once fought back.

She might be moving me physically. But my heart was with Sebastian.

She grabbed my hair, and pulled my head up, so that I was now hovering above the feet of the Devil's Moon sculpture. She pulled my head back, and with a tremendous force, she hit my head hard against the sculpture.

The pain was unimaginable. But I didn't shout, I didn't scream. The blow of the previous event had numbed me. Sebastian's death had silenced me. It had killed me.

I felt warm liquid run through my hair, tricking down my forehead, and dripping over Devil's Moon's feet.

"I'm sorry, but this has to be done," I heard Melissa whisper to me. She didn't seem to enjoy torturing me. I was so dazed out that I actually thought she felt bad for me.

I heard her chanting verses. With every word she spoke, something within me urged me to resist. Anahita was fighting back. But the cloak of tragedy veiling my mind was far too strong. My grief smothered her.

I heard metal sliding against the rocky floor of the cavern, as Melissa picked up Sebastian's broken sword.

What she'd do with it was obvious. I could've avoided it, I could've fought back. In fact, I could've defeated her. But I didn't. I just sat there, gazing at the rocky feet of the sculpture which were now drenched in my blood. I just kept thinking about Sebastian.

And then the broken edge of the sword went through my back. I could feel blood oozing through the wound, colouring my clothes crimson. I could feel the thick liquid trickling down my back. Again I felt pain, but my senses refused to acknowledge them. I was far too broken.

Melissa pushed the sword deeper inside me, and I heard a terrible scream. Suddenly my skin began to glow. Suddenly light was all around me. But this time the light wasn't there to assist me. I could feel something sinister about this light. And then, the light formed a sphere around me. There was another scream, and the sphere exploded.

And then I could feel all strength I had fading. The sword was enchanted with the hymns to bring down an angel. The Angel's Moon was dead. Her struggle of so many years had ended, and the end wasn't pleasant. Humanity had lost its only hope to ward off the demons. Darkness and chaos were certain to rule all existence. All of it was my fault. And yet I felt nothing.

I slid against the sculpture, and fell flat on the floor. Melissa pushed me out of her way, as she stood before the sculpture, opening her arms, and laughing like a mad woman.

Then the floor of the cavern began to tremble. The sculpture began to shake. The cavern was filled with the voices of Melissa's laughter and the rumbling.

Soon, the trembling got fiercer. The sculpture was shaking furiously. Shards of stones began to fall off. Inch by inch, the rocky structure began to break. Bigger chunks of rocks were falling. I was getting covered in the rubble. Rocks were falling all over me, but I stayed there. My vision had already blurred because of the blood loss, and I could feel my consciousness fading.

When most of the sculpture was fallen, dark fumes started rising from it. Soon the entire sculpture had collapsed and what remained was a dense cloud of darkness. The darkness escaped the ruins of the sculpture, and took the form of how the sculpture once stood.

Melissa stopped laughing. She looked at the dark mass, with eyes full of joy. She walked toward the darkness, taking small steps.

I watched her walk into the darkness. She laughed like a maniac when the darkness began to swirl around her, rising her in air, ripping off her clothes. She laughed even more fiercely when swirls of darkness began to brush against her naked self.

But suddenly her gleeful laugh of joy turned into a terrible cry of terror. Clothes wasn't the only thing the darkness had shredded. As she screamed in absolute horror, darkness cut through her hands, her legs, her neck, her stomach, until what remained was pieces of flesh and blood.

The legs and toes, and hands and fingers, the head, the breast, every piece of her body then fell on the floor. And a fountain of blood splashed over it.

I looked at the darkness. And it came pouring down on me. Soon I was sucked into it as if it were a vortex. The darkness began to circle around me. It took me higher and higher from the ground, and drowned me in its infinity.

And when I thought I was going to die the same way Melissa did, I closed my eyes and braced myself. But the darkness left me. It brought me back on the floor. I fell on the floor with a soft thud.

I opened my eyes. And when I did, I saw the darkness looming over me. As I watched it, it turned into a mass moving with incredible speed. And the torrent of darkness came straight for me.

The darkness surrounded me and I felt as if my body had been kept under an icy mountain for all eternity. Then, within another instant, all the darkness seeped into me.

Then my breath was gone, and I lost my consciousness.

***

I woke up to a sound of whistling. The air smelled of many things. It was earthy, and scent of blood still hung in the air. But the worse was of flesh.

I rubbed my eyes open, and looked around. A part of me had hoped yesterday was a complete nightmare. I hoped Sebastian was still safe and sound, that Pamela was beside me, the two arguing like stupid kids. I hoped the Awakening had never happened, and that my future was bright, not dark.

But when I gazed upon the rubble the fall of the sculpture had caused, I realised how reality can be worse than nightmares.

I rose up. There was no thinking going on in my mind. It was as empty as it was yesterday. And I was as sad and broken as I was yesterday.

Another whistle reverberated through the cavern, and I was convinced that I hadn't imagined it the first time I heard it. I turned in the direction from where the sound came.

I saw Sebastian lying in the same position as he was the day before. But his head no longer rested on floor. It was on someone's lap.

"Who are you?" I demanded as I hurried toward Sebastian. I didn't care if he was human, or demon. I didn't care if he was friendly or dangerous. All I cared about was Sebastian. I lifted his head off the stranger's lap, and placed it on mine. I gave him an angry look, but when my eyes met Sebastian's, despair took me over.

"I'm sorry for your loss," the stranger said. There was sincerity
and sympathy in his green eyes. "But you know he's dead. You have to let him go. There are bigger things to worry about."

I gave him another angry look. Who the hell he thought he was?

"The darkness has chosen you. Satan has chosen you. You're the Devil's Moon now. Welcome to the dark side!"

"Who are you?" I demanded. I moved an inch away from him.

He extended his hand. "Kevin Deathstar, pleased to meet you."

***

Phew. Book 1 is finally done. How did you find it? Please comment and let me know!

Please check out the FAQ page if you have any doubts regarding the story.

Btw, who kills more characters - GRR Martin, or me? XD