Chapter 67

“You can trust me, and all true relationships will be revealed to you. And you are not naïve. You are pure, Heather, and this is your biggest strength. You mentioned Alexander. Is he treating you right?” He asked her.
"Do you personally know him?" She inquired.
She was intrigued at the prospect of Arkin knowing Alexander.
“I do know him personally, and he used to know me. He is a tough man with a heart in the right place.”
She questioned, “Used to know you?”
Arkin's silence, though, said a million words. This was one of the revelations he was talking about. The world is a mystical play. If the dungeons are immune to their powers, then there is a high probability that a spell may have been cast on Arkin, restricting him from revealing everything to her.
“Is everything connected? My past, present, and each one of you?” She asked Arkin.
She did not want to waste any time pursuing her course from that viewpoint because she knew he wouldn't give her a direct response.
Arkin, though, took a moment to answer. “It is. However, I must caution you that your path will only become more difficult at this point, but light will shine if you remain true to yourself. Believe in yourself, and do not lose your faith in Alexander.”
"Everything has significantly increased in complexity. Even though I do not regret the time I spent with Alexander, I cannot help but wonder what would have happened if I had stayed in Mystes without being aware of the terror that still lurks around here. How would my life have been different if I had never met him?" Heather asked out loud.
“It would have been empty. The heart always knows what it wants and does not hesitate to adamantly declare its feelings to you, even when you are surrounded by the right individuals who are no less than a family. But I am relieved to know that in your toughest times, you were resided in your ancestral place.”
When Heather heard this new revelation, her mouth was wide open.
“Ancestral?”
Heather noticed that Arkin took a moment to respond to her query for confirmation. However, she expected him to have a look of surprise for mistakenly revealing that part of the information, but he looked calm.
It appeared that he had every intention of speaking aloud the word ‘ancestral.’ It was no mistake on his part, but it did confuse her more than before. She was almost certain that he would deny or divert the subject like before, but he did not, which did took her by surprise.
“Yes, ancestral. Mystes is home to the maternal side of your family.”
“I… I do not comprehend. How is it that I do not remember it? And how is it that no one from Mystes recognizes me, not even my own family? Do you really know my family? Your words do not seem logical to me.”
Heather staggered.
It was not easy to digest the fact that a man sitting in her neighboring cell knew about her family. If so, he is the key to her past. But the significantly disturbing part is that, despite staying in her ancestral place, none of the locals told her about her past. They would have to know about it. She felt betrayed, but it seemed almost impossible that they were kept in the dark. Betrayal is not a strong skill possessed by the locals of Mystes.
It did not feel right.
But before she could confront Arkin further and press him into revealing every possible thing he knew about her and the family she belonged to, the lights went out.
Even though there was not much light blazing around her, except for the shine from the lantern, everything around her was pitch black.
Heather had always prided herself on maintaining composure in the worst of circumstances. She may not have been one of those victims, but having her entire existence erased from her memory was still nothing less than a casualty in her eyes, and even then, she was able to contain the tenseness building within her.
However, for the first time she could ever remember, she felt a pang of terror pass through her. Even though she feared for her life when she was thrown in the dungeon not even a couple of hours ago, she did not panic and maintained her composure.
She was certain that something was about to go awry.
Before she could put herself strongly out in the world and make sense of or comprehend the anonymity of the situation, she felt a blow to her stomach.
The surprise attack caused her to groan in pain, but just as she opened her lips to scream reflexively, they immediately closed, muzzling both her scream and her ability to breathe.
She was feeling suffocated.
Her despair did not end there. She received slaps on her face in addition to back-to-back blows to the stomach. She was being roughly held from behind, which was the only thing keeping her from falling. His grip was uncomfortable in addition to being painful.
She exerted all of her effort to break free of their grip, but nothing seemed to succeed, leaving her more vulnerable than ever.
Silent tears of pain were making her die slowly. Whispers and cries of the reason for the blackout seemed far-fetched to her ears, and her unconscious state of mind was strongly pulling her towards it.
Before she could give herself up and surrender to the ill fate of the torture she was being punished with, she felt a jolt of current pass through her entire being, making every fibre inside her tremble.
The tenure of pain was forgotten, and the duration of darkness could not have been counted, but abrupt freedom from the grasp and a second later, light around her made her feel lifeless.
She collapsed on the ground on her knees, trying to catch a breath of air, but breathing was long forgotten when she heard a loud gasp from Arkin.
His strong, tearful gaze towards her made her realize that she was tied with chains on both her hands and ankles.
“Heather….” Arkin croaked.
He marched towards her cells, trying to break the barriers with his own hand, but in turn, she could see that he was only hurting himself further, and she did not wish that for him, even though she desired nothing more than to be freed from this horrendous place.
“Please, stop. Do not hurt yourself on my behalf.” Heather writhed in anguish as she tried to stop the kind man.
“Your life matters more to me, Heather. It is impossible for me to keep still when you are suffering.” Arkin said, still trying to break the rod of the grill.
“You think you can physically break this barricade? It is sturdy and impossible to break it physically.” Heather said.
“I could have if I was not robbed of my powers. None of us would have been in this situation if I had had something back then. You would not have been tormented.” Arkin said it angrily.
Heather could see the blood that had formed in his hand as a result of his unsuccessful attempt to break the cell's rods. Despite how much she valued his efforts and readiness to assist her, she did not want to put him in harm's way because of her.
She was not worth it.
“Please, stop. Please do not hurt yourself in my name. This is my faith, and I need to accept it.” Heather said, trying to suppress her agony.
She could have easily healed him, but her powers were useless here.
“Heather…” Arkin croaked, wishing nothing but to protect her.
He was clearly on the verge of a breakdown, so her frantic inquiry about her background appeared irrelevant. She was in dire need to rest and close her eyes. It was impossible to endure the agony.
“I feel tired.”
“You are hurt, and you are bleeding,” Arkin said, intently looking at her.
"I want to go to sleep."
“Heather…”
She, however, did not let him finish his sentence.
"If I woke up, would you still be there?" Half-closed eyes, Heather questioned.
“I am not leaving you, Heather. Not after destiny finally bought you to me, to us. If something were to ever happen to you, Mabel and I would not be able to survive". Arkin said as he saw his child succumb to intense slumber.