Chapter 72

**Merianna**

The strange sensation of weightlessness lasted for what seemed like forever, until it all came to a sudden halt. The darkness that enveloped me suddenly lifted and I went crashing into a stone wall. I flopped onto the ground and couldn’t move for a minute. In my head I knew I was still in danger, but my body felt slightly disconnected and didn’t want to move.

“Well now, if it isn’t the little witch that caught my attention last time.” A shiver shuddered through my body at the words that were spoken. It wasn’t because of what was said, but because of the voice itself.

I slowly lifted my head and spied the person who had spoken. It was none other than Dermon that was sitting on his haunches looking at me with a satisfied smirk stretched across his face. For a second I forgot my fear and only felt annoyed.

“I honestly hoped not to run into you while I was here.” I sneered back at him.

“Oh now that hurts my feelings little one.” He smiled with glee.

I would be in trouble if this guy was anything like Noch, no, rather I was already in deep trouble. He was much more dangerous than Noch because of one simple fact. He didn’t hold any feelings of affection for me after all…

“Why am I here?” I asked as I glanced around the spacious cavern I was dragged into. It was clearly the main cavern that we were all looking for since we infiltrated. Who would have thought that the enemy would drag me into the heart of their hideout without me even asking.

“I figured that you could keep me entertained for a while my dear.” He smirked.

I gave him the dubious I-don’t-believe-you look I usually gave Noch. “I bet you would like to use me as a bargaining chip since you clearly know what is going on right now.”

He smiled gleefully. “You are somewhat correct. I have known that we were being infiltrated since the moment you all arrived at the mountain’s borders, and I don’t need something troublesome as a hostage in order to fight against Nochtandriel and the rest.” He moved closer to me and gripped the bottom of my chin. He roughly jerked my face upwards at an uncomfortable angle and seemed to take in my features. “In that respect my dear, I honestly brought you here out of curiosity.”

I wanted to stab him so badly, but I noticed that I had dropped Raska’s blades somewhere while I had been captured. All I could do now was curse in my mind.

I grunted as his nails scraped against my skin. “If you so much as scratch me-”

“Your little guardian won’t come running my dear.” He suddenly cut me off. “This area has been layered in so many barriers that not even a deity would be able to break in or out.” He then suddenly let go, which made me fall back to the ground.

A slight twinge of panic rose in my gut at the thought of not being able to contact Hezerial, or have him suddenly appear by my side. If he knew that I had been dragged away, I would think that he was now with Noch and Ela. It would have been difficult for him to come out of the ether and to my side if I was dragged away so quickly. I hoped that he wasn’t too worried.

“It sounds like you’re very confident.” I muttered as I rubbed my jaw.

“Well why wouldn’t I be? I’ve accomplished so much over the past few years. Nothing will be out of my grasp anymore. Soon, so very soon I will gain what I’ve always wanted.”

I pushed myself up to my feet as I eyed him uncomfortably. Something about the way his eyes shifted and the way he said that sentence didn’t feel right. I had a feeling that he was wound up tightly like a coiled snake. Taking my eyes off of him sounded like an extremely bad idea.

“Then why are you so interested in me?” I asked hesitantly as I gripped the chain that my scythe hung from. I was reassured that at least one of my weapons didn't get lost.

“Well, I’d say that there are two reasons. The biggest one is that you wield a lightning element. Something that should have been gone since the Cataclysm. Well, I suppose besides the elements that Noch is connected to. He’s a special case after all.” He answered with a shrug.

“And what is the other reason?” I asked while gripping my scythe tightly in the palm of my hand.

“Oh it’s nothing of importance. You just remind me of someone who’s face I had seen once before. I think it was during the time I had been trying to win over the trust of the Hunters. At that time they had asked me to kill one of their members that had defected. That woman was strong enough to survive breaking away from the Hunters, it was impressive, but they obviously didn’t appreciate it.” He reminisced.

Something about what he said made a cold sweat break out over my skin. “What did you do to get rid of her then?”

“Oh, nothing much. I just summoned a Wraith to go and take care of the job for me. It wasn’t something that needed me to get directly involved in. Hmm, come to think of it, your name sounds rather similar to what hers was, I think.” He contemplated while tilting his head left and right.

“Let me see… Merianna, Meri, Mori, Mo-, Hmmm, if I’m not mistaken, I think her name was Morina or something of the like. It was quite a pretty name, she was quite pretty herself as well. It was such a waste.” He sighed then rolled his eyes back to me. “Oh? What seems to be the matter dear?”

My mind was blank. All I could feel was my energy raging through my body like a temperamental storm. There was only one overwhelming thought that was pounding in my head.

*It was his fault… it wasn’t a wandering Wraith after all… it was a hunting dog…*

The clasp of the chain clicked in release and my scythe extended to its full size in a flash of light like lightning. “Her name... was Morina Jurik. And she was my mother.”

Without giving him any warning, a shot of lightning blasted out from my scythe and hit him squarely in the chest. I watched as he flew backwards a few feet and rolled on the ground. It didn’t come as a surprise when he effortlessly hoisted himself back up after the strike.

“Oh my, oh my. What a coincidence.” He brushed off some of the smoldering soot marks from his dark robes and gave me a curious stare. “That would make sense I suppose. Although I didn’t think that she’d already created herself a family when she defected. It doesn’t help to blame me, after all that is just the way Hunters handle their internal affairs.” He said with a shrug.

His utter nonchalance and absence of guilt made my stomach lurch in disgust. “Take some responsibility.” I ground out as I dived at him.