Even after she was gone, Jasmine kept me together, moving me forward until my feet started bleeding. Yet even then, I kept walking till I found the closest thing to civilization I wandered, the most meager level of luck I had in my hell-forsaken journey. Those were probably the easiest days, only being pushed on by the primal will to survive while recovering my broken body.

Jasmine and Asad's teachings served me well, adapting well enough to stitch my wounds together and steal whatever I could to survive. While I had missed my chance to regroup with Jasmine's friends in all the chaos, I found my way of moving forward soon enough.

For a month, I managed to scavenge the items and money necessary to get to a more populated city. I didn't dare waste any further time, not even wasting it for a phone call as I passed through airport security. And before I knew it, I was in my waiting area, only a couple of hours away from heading home.

What seemed like an insurmountable goal was now so close I could taste it. Everything I wanted was back in my grasp. And yet, I felt detached than ever. I knew why as well. Whenever I closed my eyes, my mind wandered out, always returning to that dreaded prison.

Where I got treated like nothing more than prey, I was forced into slavery every day, virtually stripped of anything that made me human while they sneered—leaving them to potentially restart their empire. The thought alone made my hand tremble uncontrollably, my scars burning,  as my respective devil and angel whispered in my ears.

" I became a living symbol that inspired not through faulty promises but by action," said Asad

"Live," said Jasmine.

The voices started to echo inside me repeatedly, each time clawing away until, just like before, I snapped. Once again, a deathly calm took me over, giving me the clearest perspective I had ever had. I looked at my still trembling hand, eventually mustering the courage to ball it into a resolute fist. From there, I stood up from my seat, taking one last look at the parked plane while saying under my breath.

"I'm sorry." 

To this day, I don't know whether I said that for Jasmine or myself. Either way, I knew I wasn't strong enough to forgive and move on. Too weak to live in a world where Asad still breathed. The Caracals were still out there, a fact that would eat me from the inside out if I returned home. Of course, there was no home to go back to anyway.

After all, Sarah Walters was already dead. She burned away with her friend. In her place was a hunter, with only revenge left to her name. One who won't stop till Asad dies choking on the ashes of his empire. So I left the airport, setting off an odyssey that would write my fate in blood.