Ava comes towards us with sandwiches and starts talking about them when it hits me. Ava.

I quickly go to grab her but I'm too late. Zex uses his magic to teleport behind her.

He works faster than the speed of sound, using one arm to put a knife to Ava's throat and the other to grab both my wrists. Restraining me from helping Ava. As much as I hate to admit it, he's too skilled for me.

He starts laughing when he sees the panic, disbelief and surrender in my eyes, "Make one move sweetheart and I'll slit your precious human's throat."

Swallowing my pride I decide it's best for Ava's safety that I bite my tongue. As much as I hate it, I can't fight back with Ava's life on the line.

Ava, naturally, starts panicking and I know this would only make matters worse so I do what I can to calm her down.

"Shh shh, Ava. Sweetie, it's okay. I'll do everything I can to protect you but you need to calm down." I whisper to her and she becomes visibly less panicked, but still extremely frightened.

"Let them go!" Asch demands, causing Zex to laugh more, "Look at your reactions! I truly never thought I'd see the day when Daemos cared about a human."

"We feel no such thing!" Leif tries to deny but it's already too obvious, especially with the way I reacted...

"Your actions say otherwise. The fact that you won't take the opportunity to kill me while I hold her hostage is more telling than you can say. And the fact that Y/n knew I'd threaten the human and she tried to save it. Now, look at you." Zex says, tightening his grip on my wrists to make a point.

"Prince Asch, you will return with me to Daemos if you wish to see this humans life spared," Zex demands and it's obvious with the distress in his eyes, going home would mean the possibility of his ritual.

Asch sighs as he sees both the fear in Ava's face and the worry in mine. "Fine." Asch agrees and my stress and depression levels could not be higher.

"Asch," I say worriedly, not knowing how this could turn out. He looks to me again then back at Zex, "My only request is that you let Y/n go and spare Princess Ava."

"Princess? This livestock?" Zex questions and fear flows through me as Ava questions what he means. "SHUT UP!" I yell to Zex, beginning to struggle to get out of his grip. It worked.

Angry at the fact I managed to free myself easily he grabs my wrist again and pulls me full force towards him, whacking me in the forehead with his own so hard I stumble slightly.

He kicks my feet making me fall and keeps a foot on my head so I stay down, all this while still keep Ava from moving.

I hate him. I hate him so much. Especially since this was MY MOVE I used on him, which is how I got so close to beating him. If I had a hostage he cared about I would have won. Sneaky bastard.

"What was it you told me when you pulled this stupid move on me? Oh right. Stay down, shithead." Zex's laughs, finding some sick amusement in all of this.

"I wonder what lies they told you? Honestly living in a world this infested with humans is too good to pass up." Zex says slyly, my fear increasing dramatically. He's going to tell her.

"DON'T-" My protest is cut off by the weight of his foot becoming heavier. "Get off of her!" Asch demands, but only for the demand to fall on deaf ears.

"So I'm guessing you guys haven't told her? Well, I guess I'll do her the favour. Daemos is in a magic crisis, not only that but all Daemos society depends on magic. Once it collapses, the whole place goes with it. The source of magic? Humans..." He whispers the last part evilly and I begin struggling to grab my knife from my jacket pocket.

"To make matters worse, the most prominent Daemos kingdoms are at war with each other. Asch is the heir to the most powerful of them all. So it would make sense that he would try to find more sources of magic, especially if his life depended on- Gah!" He yells in pain as I manage to wiggle my arm into my jacket pocket, grab my knife and make a sizeable gash in his leg, causing him to get off of me.

"You-" He cuts himself off by laughing and looking me dead in the eyes, "You're going to pay for that. You don't want me to tell her right? About what YOU did." He exclaims and I look at him wide-eyed.

"You see, Daemos get their magic from human souls. They get souls by killing humans. Y/n is probably the worst one here, she told you how she was a scholar I'm guessing?" Panic is now my new permanent state as I realise what he's going to say.

"STOP TALKING!" I scream in a desperate attempt to get him to shut up, but he puts the knife closer to Ava's neck and continues to talk.

"Well, how she studied biology was by cutting humans open and dissecting them. They were awake." Zex says happily and Ava looks at me with a facial expression that breaks my heart, soul, mind and every bit of sanity I had left... A face of fear and betrayal.

"Not only that but I went with Lady Bish to the home of the last human that you all killed and by the looks of the wreck our guess is that Asch made most of the damage with fire, but the actual death was a clean cut. Like the person who did it knew what they were doing to reduce mess. Y/n, that is your style of killing is it not?" Zex adds and Ava begins to tear up... I'm a monster...

"Ava, I swear I didn't have a choice in anything. Please, believe me! I didn't want to! I'm so sorry..." Tears run down my cheeks and my knees begin to feel weak. Please don't hate me.

I'm sorry...

I'm so sorry...

"Lady Bish guesses that they used the soul to get here and ever since then they've been searching for a way to bring humans to Daemos. Starting with you." Zex states as if he knows the situation, our intentions. Sure they are correct for when we first got here. But they've changed since then.

I'm so sorry Ava...

"Is this true?" Ava asks, fear so evident in her voice if my body could physically break as my emotions have, it would.

"You were using me? This whole time!" Ava exclaims... The hurt in her voice stabbing me, causing more pain than I have ever felt.

I'm so sorry...

"Princess Ava, please-" Rhys tries to reason with her but she just yells at him to shut up.

My mind is beginning to cloud and I can't hear the conversation anymore. It's all mumbles...

Is this what it feels like to break?

I'm so sorry...

Suddenly everything flashes, I feel like I should be worried. But I don't know if I have the emotions left to care.

I feel grass beneath me and hear ringing in my ears. I think I'm laying down, but I don't know...

"Y/n!" I hear someone yelling, the voice is familiar... Asch? Blinking a couple of times I look up to see I'm both indeed, laying on the grass and it is Asch trying to get my attention.

"Asch? What happened?" I ask, trying to get up, only for my body to plead for the peaceful grass.

Asch helps me up and holds me close as I realise where back on Daemos. "I'm sorry," Asch says sadly as my nightmares seem to mesh into one.

I'm so sorry Ava.