Madina. Dark. People still walking. Still working.

  I stood there for a moment before sitting on the bench. Mask on. Cloak on.

  Someone sat beside me. I turned.

  Sania.

  "Wow. You still look dangerous. Why don’t you take it off?"

  I stayed silent at first. Then I said, "I just don’t want people to see my face."

  Inside the mask, my eyes relaxed when I saw her. I felt it. And I knew I was lying.

  "You don’t look that bad. Please. Just once."

  "Where’s your father?"

  "There. Buying food."

  "Why are you here alone with me? You’re not afraid? I’m a stranger. I could hurt you."

  She sighed. "I thought that. But with you… I don’t feel danger. I feel nervous. Different. Like I know you."

  Something tightened in my chest. A sharp, passing pain. Not fully mine.

  "Okay. You should go. I have work."

  "We’ll meet again? Right?"

  "Yes. We will."

  She turned. Then paused, remembering she had never seen my face. She turned back.

  I was already gone.

  My hands were still tight on the bench when I stood. Splinters pressed into my palms. I hadn’t felt them.

  Gate. Out. Running.

  I wouldn’t do much tonight. Just one structure. Learn.

  I remembered the pentagram formation. Changed direction toward another structure.

  Halfway there, I stopped.

  Then I started laughing.

  It came out sharp. Loud. I screamed once, forcing everything out. Throwing the emotions away before they could slow me down.

  Outside the building, my eyes widened.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Hunger. Thirst.

  I kicked the door open.

  Several blood-covered figures rushed at me. Ritual participants. Surprise attack.

  I didn’t stop.

  I blocked. Cut one down without thinking. Instinct only. My laugh grew louder.

  One stepped back.

  My dagger went straight through his head. I pulled it back with the rope. My body barely moved.

  Three left.

  They attacked together. I swung in a fluid motion. Their weapons split. Then they fell.

  Ahead of me, red cloaks surrounded the white cloak. Golden masks. Different designs.

  I pointed my dagger at them.

  Movement behind me.

  Too late.

  A sword pierced through my chest from the back.

  For a second, everything went quiet.

  I turned and killed him.

  I pulled the blade out slowly.

  The red cloaks were already retreating into a passage, guarding the white cloak.

  They stared at me. I stared back.

  I poured holy water over the wound. The burn was immediate. I drank a little. Threw the empty bottle aside.

  When I tried to move, pain hit hard. My legs trembled. My left arm felt heavy.

  I switched hands. Dropped a dagger once. Picked it up.

  My grip tightened. Like on the bench.

  This time I felt the blood in my palms.

  I screamed.

  Then laughed.

  One tear broke through. Then another.

  The laughter didn’t stop.

  I ran.

  Full speed.

  One red cloak didn’t make it into the passage in time. I killed him without slowing down.

  Pain stabbed through my chest with every step. I picked up the bottle I had thrown and clenched it between my teeth to endure it.

  The passage was long. Torches along the walls.

  I ran after them.

  The bottle made the mask shift. I threw it aside and fixed the mask properly without stopping.

  I was closing the gap.

  My laughter echoed through the hallway.

  They panicked.

  The last one looked back, saw me, heard me, and started pushing the others forward.

  They ran faster.

  I was still gaining.

  This passage connects the structures.

  Why would they risk running deeper?

  I remembered something — when I attacked the mutants earlier, one tried to lunge at them. Then something stopped him. Fear.

  I caught them.

  After that, there was no thought.

  Only movement.

  I killed ruthlessly.

  I hunted.

  Their screams filled the hallway.

  I felt joy.

  Peace.

  "You have full control now."

  The words left my mouth.

  I don’t know who I said it to.

  The laughter? The pain? Something else?

  Not mine.

  When the red cloaks were dead, the white cloak was still moving. Blind. Guided before. Dependent.

  Like I was.

  Not now.

  Halfway to the next structure, I kicked his head. He fainted.

  I lifted him onto my shoulder.

  A small movement from one of the bodies behind me.

  I laughed louder.

  A red cloak struggled up. "Please… let me go. I was just… their slave."

  I ran toward him.

  He shouted once.

  I knocked him out.

  Carried him too.

  Back to the building.

  I closed the gate behind me.

  Laid both near the altar.

  I walked toward the black cloth.

  Baby teeth. Bones. Blood. Golden lines drawn across it.

  I stared for a moment.

  Then I tied the white cloak and the red cloak to separate chairs.

  Another passage.

  Dark.

  I picked up a wooden torch and stepped inside.

  My foot hit something round.

  Small.

  I looked down.

  A skull.

  Child-sized.

  A strange feeling twisted in my stomach.

  I lifted the torch higher.

  More.

  More.

  The passage was filled with small skulls. Bones. Teeth.

  Bodies.

  Some were nothing but bone.

  All small.

  All used to be.

  My grip tightened around the torch.

  Blood on the floor.

  Not mine.

  Same.

  I walked out of the passage.

  Into the main hall.