Chapter 2

2

It felt like I had punched a cloud; my lack of reaction only made Shane's face twist with more anger.

He barked out an order immediately.

"Tie this bitch up and take her to the Arena! Let everyone see what happens to a fraud!"

The elite squad swarmed me, their hands rough as they pinned me down.

They kicked me and spat insults.

"Dammit, I spent an hour on my knees for a fake!"

"If we don't teach her a lesson, she'll think she can play us for fools forever."

"Hey, I haven't washed my socks in a week. They're all yours, sweetheart."

The Sanctuary Leader tried to protest the humiliation, but Shane shoved him aside.

"Stay out of this, Uncle. I know what I'm doing."

He covered Susannah's eyes, mocking the way I choked on the filth they shoved in my mouth.

"Don't look, Susannah. It's disgusting."

The smell of rot and old sweat filled my senses, making my stomach churn with a familiar nausea.

I stared at Shane with icy eyes.

In this life, I wanted to see how a low-level skin-healing gift was going to purge the viral rot in his veins!

The Arena was packed to the brim.

People who usually looked kind and gentle now wore faces more hideous than the monsters outside.

They used me as a literal punching bag.

"Evil slut! How dare you trick us with fake medicine while people are dying!"

"Miss Susannah said she'll heal us for free. You had the nerve to charge me eggs? Those were for my kids!"

"Kill the liar! Kill her! We don't need people like her poisoning our home!"

Under the blazing sun, the heat made my wounds itch and burn, but I kept my eyes shut.

Trick them? They were the ones who used to force gifts on me to get to the front of the line.

The hypocrisy was almost funny.

I had planned to leave the Sanctuary peacefully, but they weren't going to let me go.

A man suddenly ran up and threw a bucket of waste directly into my face, screaming about his dead son.

The crowd recoiled from the stench, and even Shane looked annoyed.

"That's revolting! Back off!"

The man scurried away, and Shane turned back to me, enjoying my misery.

"Seraphina, if you crawl over here and beg like a dog, I might consider letting you go."

The foul cloth was pulled from my mouth, and I took a ragged breath before spitting blood directly onto his face.

"Shane, I'm going to enjoy watching you beg like a dog for me!"

My eyes were bloodshot as I glared at him.

Go ahead and die, Shane!

"I see you've lost your mind! Fine!"

"Pin her to the target board!"

Shane's face was a mask of fury, the veins in his neck bulging as he drew his pistol and fired several shots.

At the same time, a bolt of lightning struck the board, charring my flesh and making me scream.

But deep down, I felt a surge of triumph.

Shane was wasting time, and the gray corpse-spots were already blooming on his skin.

His pupils were beginning to turn into vertical slits―the sign of a full transformation.

One shot, two, three…

The gunfire was deafening as he put holes through the wood around me, grazing my limbs.

The grass beneath me turned red, and the crowd cheered for every drop of blood.

"Cut her tendons! Keep her alive as bait for the next raid!"

I was dragged by my hair and thrown at Shane's feet.

He snarled and ground his boot into my broken arm.

"Don't even dream of escaping, Seraphina!"

As the men approached with knives, I quietly began channeling my power to knit my body back together for a final stand.

Suddenly, a flurry of ice arrows whistled through the air, heading straight for Shane's head.

He barely dodged them, clutching a shallow cut on his cheek.

"Who the hell did that!"

A man appeared out of thin air, his eyes burning with rage as he looked at Shane.

"You dare lay a finger on a Purifier? You're breaking the most sacred law of the wasteland!"