Chapter 126
Arabella’s eyes slowly fluttered open, and she squinted against the blinding sun overhead. The heat bore down oppressively, causing sweat to pool immediately beneath her shirt.
The air around her was dry, hot, and arid – all signs pointed to her being in a desert. Panic ignited within her like a fire, and she frantically surveyed her surroundings for any hint of civilization but encountered nothing but endless sand.
Her throat felt parched; her saliva was beginning to thicken. Soon, it seemed there wouldn’t be enough moisture left for her to swallow.
“Shit!” She gritted her teeth, tapping her pocket. She slipped her hand into it, searching for only God knows what.
Yet, she found nothing that could aid her. Arabella considered walking yet remained uncertain about the right direction.
It wasn’t until she stood up that she noticed the peculiar figure in the distance, resembling the silhouette of a familiar figure – Blaze.
“Blaze!” Her heart surged with hope, and she sprinted toward him, calling out his name.
She raced as fast as her legs could carry her, moving quicker than ever before. However, as she drew nearer, the mirage of Blaze evaporated before her eyes, leaving her to realize it had been nothing but a trick.
Alone in the desolate wasteland, she had no one to turn to and no escape from this predicament. Fear enveloped her as she envisioned herself stranded, without hope of survival.
Then, a sudden realization struck her – the unforgiving desert was manipulating her mind, conjuring her deepest fears and shaping them into horrifying illusions.
Losing Blaze or any harm befalling him was Arabella’s most profound fear, and this dimension was exploiting it to torment her.
She needed to break free from this mental trap. Arabella understood that her focus must remain on the immediate task – finding an exit from wherever this place was.
The sun beat down with relentless intensity, sapping her strength with each passing moment. She felt herself wilting under its merciless gaze, her energy dissipating like sand slipping through her bare feet.
Taking a deep breath, Arabella commenced walking again, scanning her surroundings for signs of life or salvation. With each step, she noticed clouds of sand stirred up by her footsteps, the gritty and arid texture adhering to her sweat-soaked skin. The only sound she could hear was the howling wind, striking her face like a blazing furnace, whipping her hair and clothes into a frenzied dance.
Her legs grew heavy, and her body wearied from the seemingly endless journey. Yet, she recognized surrender was not an option; she needed to remain resilient for both of them. She needed to find Blaze, and she couldn’t help but wonder where he had been taken.
Just when her spirits teetered on the brink of their lowest ebb, a twinkle caught her eye in the distance. Initially, she dismissed it as a mirage, a symptom of her exhaustion. However, as she drew nearer, she discerned a genuine glint of light.Content held by NôvelDrama.Org.
Despite the ache in her legs and her parched throat’s relentless demand for water, Arabella summoned every ounce of inner strength. She sprinted toward the building, driven like a woman possessed.
Her heart pounded with anticipation as she neared, revealing a tall, weathered building in the distance, abandoned and forlorn.
Yet, her hope was tinged with lingering anxiety. What if this, too, was a mirage, another cruel deceit of the unforgiving desert? Arabella quivered with conflicting emotions as the door grew closer, her senses heightened and vigilant.
With a trembling hand, she extended her fingers to graze the door, her heart thumping in her chest. Her fingertips brushed against the frigid metal, and to her astonishment, a surge of electricity coursed through her frame. Before she could react, darkness engulfed her, and an odd sensation overcame her as if trapped in an eerie dream.
When her eyes reopened, she found herself within the building, swallowed by the obscurity like a shroud. Her senses heightened, acutely tuned to the faintest of sounds or motions. And then she heard it – the melding of Blaze’s voice with Sandro’s mocking laughter.
Arabella’s breath caught, her heart skipping a beat. Could it be that Blaze was within these walls?
Her voice trembled with fear as she called out into the abyss, “B-Blaze, are you here?” She strained to listen, met only by the echo of her words reverberating off the forsaken building.
Abruptly, Sandro’s menacing voice sliced through the stillness like a dagger.
“I will make you suffer, Blaze! Your betrayal will extract a price.” He continued, “And when I’m through, I am going to dispatch your head to your precious fuck mate as a lesson.”
A shiver ran down Arabella’s spine, a tidal wave of terror crashing over her. Yet, reality snapped her back as the notion of this perhaps being another illusion gripped her.
This place seemed to toy with her, summoning her deepest fears and anxieties to the surface, testing her tenacity. She struggled to decipher the cause behind this ordeal, the puppeteer orchestrating these events. Regardless, she wouldn’t succumb to their feeble tricks.
“Breathe, Bella, breathe. It isn’t real!” She squeezed her eyes shut, seeking control over her breath, attempting to soothe her restlessness. Yet, the whispers in her ear grew louder, and the mental imagery sharpened.
Blaze’s voice echoed, laced with anguish and desperation, his pleas for mercy reverberating. In stark contrast, Sandro’s tones were icy and merciless, pledging to sever Blaze’s life.
Arabella’s hands instinctively covered her ears, attempting to muffle the voices, but instead, they swelled louder. The increasing volume fueled her frustration and anger until they were an unbearable crescendo.
In a surge of emotion, she released an uncontrolled, guttural cry, “Leave me alone!” Her voice resounded a violent countermeasure against the building’s oppressive power, a contention of control over her thoughts.
Abruptly, silence descended, and a brilliant light inundated the room. Arabella’s eyes gradually adapted to the sudden radiance, and the noise of tormenting voices dissipated. She scanned the surroundings, hopeful for a glimpse of the cause behind her anguish.
Her eyes came down on Blaze, sprawled on the floor like a fettered puppy.
“No… No!” Panic clutched at her heart, her eyes widening in alarm. A trifle of relief streamed through her as she felt his shallow breaths, indicating life, however faint.
“Blaze…” Arabella whispered, then her eyes widened as she noticed the chain tied around his neck.
Her eyes followed the length of the chain, dread surging as they landed on the pair of hands grasping the other end. There stood Alessia, her grip unyielding, pulling on the chain with force, hauling Blaze along as if he were a captive.
What was happening?