《Bitten by History》✧ Chapter Thirty ✧

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Whilst cocooned within the deep depths of sleep, images swirl around Sofie like ink in water.

Indistinguishable sounds accompany the blur, rising to an overwhelming octave before everything freezes and the visuals come sharply into focus.

She is standing in the centre of a roofless fortress. Imposing stone walls surround her in a circle, dwarfing her with their height.

The ground beneath her boots is charred and the sky above looks like it's on fire; burning with crimson, glowing merigold, and stormy charcoal.

Ash falls like snow from the sky. A hot breeze sweeps the delicate flakes across the ground and ruffles Sofie's curls, carrying with it what sounds like the distant cries of war.

Ahead of her lies some sort of shrine. Atop an elevated stone platform sits a gigantic throne made of human sculls and skeletons.

She moves towards it on heavy legs. Every step she takes causes something to grate against the ground.

When she glances down, shock shoots through her. Clutched in her hand is a sword. Its thick triangular blade is stained with a reddish-black substance.

The wind suddenly picks up, stronger than before, and dread wraps around her like an invisible blanket that offers no warmth.

She gasps when the ground starts to shake. Subtly at first but then growing in severity until small pieces of stone begin breaking off the walls around her and crumbling to the ground.

Black minacious smoke emerges from behind the throne of bones, seeping around its sides. Its wispy fingers slowly curl over the back, the plumes tumbling into the seat and then off the edge.

It collects as a pool of darkness on the ground in front of the throne. But instead of settling or dispersing, it grows.

Sofie watches with unease as it rises into the air, seemingly immune to the wind's force, and gradually takes form of something sentient but in no way human.

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Glowing red, orb-like eyes emerge from inside the creature's half-tangible head. They glare at her through the vapour, filled with palpable hatred.

Run! every fibre of her being screams, but her feet refuse to move.

The smoke thing emits a harrowing roar and the quakes to grow stronger until cracks in the earth appear like strikes of lightning.

The fissures spread out on all sides, passing beneath Sofie's feet. Still she remains frozen in place. This seems to enrage the monster even more and it roars again. This time the cracks in the ground grow larger, revealing a crimson liquid too dark and thin to be lava.

It seeps from the earth's wounds, following the rifts wherever they go and filling them to create a crimson web.

The ground is bleeding. If the ground wasn't rocking her body, the horror certainly would be.

As the walls around her continue to crumble, Sofie gazes up and realises the only way to make all of this stop is by killing the creature.

A strange sense of calmness comes over her, washing away previous feelings of fear and confusion.

Seeming to sense the change, the monster lets out a fierce bellow and surges forward.

She raises the sword and swings with all her strength.

The red-eyed smoke monster vanishes and Sofie rolls off the mattress and falls out of bed.

She hits the carpet with an oomph, her eyes snapping open only to screw shut again when bright light stings them. An irritated grunt escapes her chest.

Not bothering to get up straight away, she lays there and listens. As usual, the room is silent. Through the thin glass of the windows, birds can be heard chirping.

After a few minutes, she reopens her eyes and sits up. Emelia's absence is unsurprising but a sigh still passes Sofie's lips.

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Alone again, she thinks.

After having some toast from the breakfast tray Marie-Claire left earlier, she heads into the en suit to take a shower.

The warm water relaxes her stiff muscles and helps clear the grogginess from her mind.

While washing her hair, she mulls over the dreams she's been having recently.

Although strange, it isn't the dreams themselves worrying Sofie but how immensely vivid they are. Dreams shouldn't feel that real.

Before she can dwell on it further, her ears pick up on something over the sound of cascading water. Uh?

Frowning, she listens closely in case she's imagining it. And then she freezes, stomach dropping and lungs stopped mid-breath. Oh my god.

The sound continues, floating up over the frosted shower door and echoing off the en suit walls.

Sofie's eyes bug out of her head. That's-

Crying. That's the sound of someone crying.

Despite now coursing with adrenaline she remains standing beneath the spray, the soap suds gradually rinsing off her skin.

The water could turn ice-cold at any moment but she wouldn't notice because she's too busy trying to pull herself back from the verge of having a full-on panic attack.

With trembling hands, she slowly turns the shower tap until the water trickles to a stop.

She then gingerly opens the door just enough to reach out and snag a towel from the rail.

None of this interrupts the hollow sobs coming from somewhere in bathroom.

Of all the places for this to happen, she thinks as she wraps the towel around her body, Why did it have to be in the shower?

Knowing she can't hide behind the glass door forever, Sofie tentatively steps out of the shower and onto the cool tiled floor.

Her skin prickles as the temperature changes and she shivers, goosebumps rising on her skin alongside the droplets of water.

Steam has filled the entire en suit, making it difficult to see clearly.

Carefully, she scans the room. After a minute, her eyes fall on something through the mist.

She suppresses a gasp.

In the furthest corner of the en suite, close to the floor, is the faint outline of a person.

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