It was nighttime, and the dark sky was so gloomy. There were no traces of the usually beautiful shining stars that were always up there at night. The winds blew heavily, and it seemed there was soon going to be a very mighty pour down, which was a very rare occurrence.

But in a certain forest, the weather seemed to be weirdly more concentrated. The winds blew more fiercely in that region, sending leaves and dirt flying about, and the sky was as dark as ink.

Situated in the heart of the forest was an old, but oddly very small building liking to a house. The poorly constructed house was barely rooted to the ground, and anyone in their right senses would think twice before entering such a building.

The door of the building kept moving back and forth due to the wind, and it was making a loud creaking sound. It kept doing so for a while until the poor hinges of the door couldn't hold on anymore, resulting to the door being detached from the house.

A clear picture of the inside of the house could then be seen, and it turned out that some people were inside the house.

In particular, a youthful looking male clad in white was tied to a wooden chair that was in the centre of the small spaced house, and he was surrounded by a few other people.

He didn't look like he was hurt physically on any part of his body, but he was immobile with his head faced down. The only part of his body that was moving was his black, and silky shoulder length hair which was dancing in the direction of the wind.

"It is time." A woman among those that were surrounding the young man spoke, and almost immediately, a bucket of water was poured on the young man that was tied to a chair.

.

STEFAN 

My eyes shot open, and I gasped from the shock of being awoken by a bucket of water poured over me. I then raised my head in alarm, and looked around to decipher where I was, and what was happening.

Looking up at the people surrounding me, my eyes widened in realization of what was going on. I immediately began to struggle with the rope that was tied around my torso, and binding me to a chair, but the the rope didn't budge, not even a bit.

"P-please let me go… I-I promise not to show my face or set my foot in your territory ever again if that's what you want, just please, do spare my life." I begged frantically.

"Shut your mouth, Stefan!" I heard a lady say from behind the others that were surrounding me.

I went totally still at the sound of the voice. It sounded so familiar. No, I was even sure that the voice could never belong to anyone else, other than the person I had in mind.

After the person spoke, the others gave way, and the lady moved forward to stand directly in front of me.

Despite the fact that I had already suspected who the owner of the voice could be, my mouth still went agape in utter shock when the lady revealed herself.

"Hera?" My voice came out like a whisper, as I had barely recovered from my shock. "How could you be with them?" I asked with hurt, and disbelief filling my voice. She was Hera, my childhood friend, and my best friend. Some people even referred to us as siblings.

"Isn't it obvious? They are my people, so it's only natural that I chose to be with them, or would you rather I choose a cursed outcast like yourself over them?" She spoke with so much venom in her voice, that I could barely recognize her.

My mouth remained open, while looking at her like I couldn't believe my ears. I could only stare disbelievingly at her pair of blazing blue eyes that were looking so cold, and without warmth.

Shaking my head, I said, "No, I won't take your words seriously. You are one of the few people that strongly believes that I'm not the one the prophecy is referring to. You still believe so,… right?" There was a bit of hesitancy in my words, in fear of the answer she would give.

To my dismay, Hera scoffed at me, and then replied, "I've seen more than enough for me to still believe such nonsense. It has been proven multiple times that you are the Ill fated person the ancient prophecy foretold about. You are a mistake that shouldn't exist in this world, your existence will only bring doom, and chaos to the world. So we have decided to end you, before you end us."

After she was done speaking, she took out a silver dagger that was hidden in her sleeves, unsheathed it, and pointed it towards me.

Out of fear, I began to struggle to free myself from the chair once again as I begged, "Please don't do this! You all are making a mistake. I'm sure I am not the one in the prophecy. I'm totally harmless, and you all can testify to the fact that I don't even possess any power." but my pleas fell into deaf ears.

Instead, the people surrounding me, suddenly all closed their eyes, and stretched forth their right palms towards Hera. In a blink of an eye, Hera's body began to glow with a silvery light as well as the dagger, and then she took slow steps towards me.

I tried to scoot away, but it was of no use. I was rooted to that very same spot, and as time ticked, Hera became close enough to me, and without any slight hesitation in her movements, Hera swiftly plunged the dagger into the left part of my chest.

I gasped and winced out of shock and pain. Everything that had ensued felt like a dream up until that very moment when I got stabbed. The pain felt too real to be considered a dream, and that was when I knew that it was really reality staring me straight in the face.

My white clothing was soaked with my own blood in no time, and I soon began to feel myself go weak with the amount of blood I was losing. Was I really going to die like this? I had big dreams and goals that weren't even close to being fulfilled yet.

As if being stabbed wasn't enough, another thing happened that shocked me to my very core. A black smoky substance began to leak from the wound on my chest. It started from being very little, to being very strong and suffocating, and then I started to hear voices in my head – voices that sounded like they belonged to demons. The voices were saying cruel and menacing words that were tempting me to commit sin.

It was then that I confirmed it with his own eyes that I was really the cursed person that the ancient prophecy had told stories about. I was really the one destined to bring doom and chaos to the world which I loved so much. Why did it have to be me? I couldn't help but question my ill fate.

A lone tear fell from my eyes, and strode down my cheeks. I was not crying because of the pain of being stabbed, but because of the hate I had suddenly gown for myself at the moment.

Now that I knew my true identity, I was more than happy to die, than to be the one to end the long years of peace that the world has been enjoying, but what was painful was that of all the people who could have been the ones to end my life, it had to be my supposed best friend, Hera.

My body slowly began to grow so weak as I was losing so much blood, and soon my body went limp as I took my last breath, and closed my eyes in death.

That was all I remembered of that night, and then suddenly, I woke up and found myself in a strange looking room. The room was wide, and had two large bookshelves loaded with books. What was going on? I wondered as I looked around in confusion. Wasn't I supposed to be… dead?

I unbuttoned my shirt, and checked the left part of my chest. I clearly remembered all that happened. I had been stabbed on the chest, and I lost so much blood that I was so sure I wasn't going to live to see another day, but here I was, hale and hearty, and there wasn't even a scar on my chest to show that I was indeed stabbed. 

Maybe everything I experienced was just a dream. But then, how did I get here?

"You are finally awake." The voice of a man reverberated in the large room.

I looked up and saw an old man clad in white, slowly approaching the bed I was lying on, and he was holding a bowl in his hands.

"I was starting to think you would sleep away the rest of your life, but then that would be against the prophecy, now wouldn't it?" The old man continued. Each word that came from his mouth only made me more confused.

Many questions flooded my head at that moment, but I decided to ask the most important one. "How did I get here?"