I stare at the faces of the cold, calculating monsters before me. Slowly I take off my weapons and lay them at my feet. One wrong move and I'm sure they'll devour my soul. Kane looks at me as if I have gone mental. I probably have. Yet, he still copies me.

The fiends slink out from their hiding places. They are pretty tall. I crane my neck to look at them. I see absolutely nothing in their eyes. Just coldness and death. It's enough to strike fear into the hearts of the bravest. I force myself to look on. For Faerliss's sake.

"And what do you require?" one of them says in a rather hollow voice.

"You know why we're here." I reply trying not to shiver, "To ask a question from howler's pool."

"Evidently." the other one sneers, " They all wanted the same thing. Yet, they couldn't pass our test, didn't they sister?"

"Obviously." the other croons, "They couldn't face us."

"But we aren't them." Kane suddenly speaks up finding his voice," Let me face you."

"It's sickeningly sweet of you to sacrifice yourself prince but it's both of you pass the test or death."

I wonder if I should be concerned that they are aware of Kane's identity. Then again they are demons. God knows what knowledge they hold.

"WE'LL fight." I say emphasizing my words to make sure that no fight is going to happen without me in it.

"Choose one of us and face your ordeal." one says.

I face Kane. A simple look. An exchange. Whatever one must call it but it still held a mutual understanding. We both mustn't fail. And we knew it. Death wasn't an option.

I walk forward to one. Her face suddenly fills my own vision. Her haunted looks. Fear. I think of turning back before impenetrable darkness enfolds me.

                           ****************************************

I feel lost. Wandering aimlessly in the dark. I contemplate on calling out to Kane. To make sure he is alright. Please let him be alright.

"Don't even bother calling out for the prince, Tethered." a voice booms.

"WHO ARE YOU? WHERE AM I?''

"At your test you foolish child. You picked the Past. That's me. If you pass, you'll escape death. The past is usually harder to deal with."

That's good I guess. At least it won't torment Kane much. I don't mind sharing this burden.

"A bit of a goody-two-shoes aren't you? I can hear everything you're thinking ,just in case you don't know. Shall we begin?"

I nod. The next second a whirl of air lifts me. What in God's good name is happening? It appears. A memory older than time itself- Zoricus.

The darkness replaced by the village square. A young man placed in the center, tied to a mast. His shirt stripped off revealing his thin frame and

toned skin. His flaxen hair matted with sweat. Worst of all a whip snapping across his back.

"ZORICUS!" a small voice shouts.

A small girl pushes through the crowd. Her face tear stained. Me. Little me. Tears sting my eyes as she makes her way to the man and hurriedly tries to wipe the blood away using her tunic.

"Remember Zoricus, Tethered?" the demon's voice croons at my ear.

I grit my teeth. Of course I remember. He taught me to hunt. He helped me survive.

A soldier comes up and roughly rips the small girl flinging her to the ground. She tries to rush to her friend's aid but is held back by another soldier.

"Let her go." Zoricus shakily says, " She didn't do anything."

The little girl screamed louder. The soldier holding the whip smiled sickly.

"Lets see how loud this little girl can scream."

The whip comes down again. And again. And Again.

I cripple to my knees. I try to reach out but can't get closer. I can only hear Zoricus's screams. The agony in them. worst of all- I can't lift a finger to help him just like I couldn't long time ago.

His blood covers every inch of him. Each lash going deeper and deeper.

"This is what you deserve for hunting in the King's woods peasant." the soldier spits.

A final crack of the whip. Zoricus's body moves no more. The small girl screams again fill the air.

"Zoricus died because of you didn't he? He killed in the King's woods so that you could have meat- even though he was a vegetarian. He died because of you little tethered. But I have more to show you."

Another memory. The forsaken. My grandmother. And me running away. My grandmother's face shows no expression as the forsaken looms over her. It's acidic saliva burning her body as it drips onto her.

"Tell your master that he can never have her." she says.

The beast growls. She doesn't fight back as it picks her up in it's mouth.

"The evil will never touch my Drevial." she says, " Not as long as I'm alive!"

Oh grandma. Why did you let me live? I never knew these would be her last words. Her willingness to sacrifice herself. Oh God why.

The beast chomped, biting her body into two. Blood splatters and actually touches my face. It burns. Just like the memory itself.

"Tsk. Tsk. tsk Tethered. Another who sacrifices themselves for you?"

Another memory or more likely a swirl of them Faerliss getting captured and the raw emotion that Kane will end up thinking I'm a monster once he knows my powers.

They form a mist of swirling colors whirling around me. My head throbs. Suddenly blood begins to pool around me. I shudder as it forms. The blood of those who I love. Of those who died because of me.

"You foolish Tethered! Everyone you love dies and yet, here you are! Why don't you admit it? You've lost. End your pain and join those who've died for you! You know they didn't deserve it! Why do you live?"

The agony. Zoricus. Grandma. Faerliss. They're all gone because of me. I feel pain so acutely that I feel numb. I feel the very ability to speak drift away. I'm in a box of my emotions. Emotions I've caged up for years. I feel tears form.

I remember Kane. Kane who lost his sister. Kane whose father's dying. Kane who trusted an imbecile to become his hope. I can't let his hope die. I can't fail. For Kane's sake. If I must pull through for him- let it be because of him. Let him become my hope.

My tear freezes upon my cheek before falling into the blood banishing it away.

"Death is inevitable. Love cannot be controlled. My past will most certainly not define me-thank you very much!" I feel my voice going stronger as I stand, "It's true Zoricus and my grandmother died for me and I'll never forget it. There are some things the past can reveal but can never fade away!"

The darkness is dimming. I can already make out the demon shriveling back. I make my way towards her.

"If you perceive that I still don't know your test then you are damn wrong! You want me to crumble and to break down with the weight of my worst memories! That's how you got to those who came before me. You showed what they never want to see again. You drive them to the breaking point."

A dagger forms in my hand. I'm facing the demon again, gazing into soulless eyes.

"But if you think I'm going to waste Zoricus and my grandma's sacrifice by throwing my life away then you are really wrong!" I drive my dagger into her to gut the fiend, blue blood drenches my hand.

"Well guess what! YOU CAN'T BREAK WHAT IS ALREADY BROKEN!

I yank the dagger out of her. The demon's body collapses. I bend down at the corpse.

"I win."

The vision finally shatters.