CHAPTER 77: THE SORROW OF A MILLENIA[2]

They say monsters create little monsters, but the little girl laying on the cold hard ground as if she was dead...was far from being a monster.

Her body was covered in wounds from punches, kicks to wounds inflicted from weapons. Her breath came in slow pained gasps, blood poured out of her mouth and nose which formed a pool under her..

She couldn’t remember how many days had passed, time did not make any sense for her. She was beaten without rest, blood covered her whole body but to make it even worse, they wrapped her mouth with a thick piece of cloth which made her unable to taste her own blood.

Hunger and thirst made her unable to think, she just endured all the torture as she remembered her father and mother.

Despite all that she did, despite her habit of drinking blood–he never treated her differently and shunned her. He supported her and tried to get her to change in some other way.

But when he got bedridden, it gave her enemies enough time to do what they wanted.

Her mother, the first wife and the queen was poisoned and murdered, she was a fierce woman who kept Acheron safe from the atrocities of the other wives and concubines.

The door of the room she was in opened and the pitch black room was illuminated by the light from the outside.

Acheron lay in the middle of the room, a small broken bed was in one corner and a bucket was placed opposite to the bed.

Two men entered the room, they wore black armor with swords on their sides. The man in front grabbed her arm and lifted her up with one hand as if she was not a human.

He walked outside and threw her into a metal cage which was closed and pulled towards the exit.

The cage exited the building and came under the sunlight, Acheron’s eyes hurt from the sudden light and she closed them.

She heard chatter of a huge crowd, who muttered insults toward her and her dead mother. They called her the same things her siblings and the other wives of her father did.

"Demon."

"Filth."

"Witch."

As the man pulled the cage, the crowd threw whatever they had in their hands towards Acheron. So things slipped inside from within the metal bars and struck her body.

Small rocks left bruises and tomatoes splashed on her face, she flinched as she was hit by these things but she couldn’t do anything to escape.

Soon her cage was pulled inside the same hall in which she was accused and mocked by the other members of her family.

But this time on the throne she didn’t see her father, but it was his second wife who acted as the Mother Regent because the first prince, her younger brother, was a child.

She looked at Acheron in disgust, as if she was a piece of trash picked out from the slums and brought here.

Her mother was a commoner, but she became a queen while the Mother Regent was the daughter of the Duke of Zaltan and a pure blooded noble.

How could she let a commoner’s daughter become the next ruler of the empire. So she had to get rid of her soon.

"I have brought the deviant, Your Highness." The man bowed and left the cage in the middle of the hall.

The same people from two years ago surrounded her, this time the hatred and disgust in their eyes was thrice the amount they had before.

"What are you all waiting for, take her out of the cage." The Regent ordered.

Two guards went and took her out of the cage and threw her on the marble floor. She hit the floor face first, she had no strength left in her body, she barely lifted her head and a stream of blood flowed down her mouth.

Her nose was broken, bent at an angle as blood poured down. Her small hands trembled, as she tried to get up but then the blood went inside the cloth which was wrapped around her mouth,

The drop of blood made her consciousness which had almost faded come back, her eyes widened and she felt some strength return to her body.

But it was short lived, from behind her something hit her back, she hissed in pain and writhed on the ground.

Her back had a long slash out of which blood poured out slowly. Everyone who surrounded her had whips in their hands and the man who was called the dog of the Zaltan’s due to her was the first one to whip her.

The sounds of whips cutting the air and her cries full of pain were the only sound in the hall. The hatred and anger they had came out this way, Acheron’s body was riddled with scars, she lay on the ground, her body twitched involuntarily.

The Mother Regent thought she wouldn’t make it and with a flick of her hand the guards threw her barely alive body into the cage and transported her back to the dark cell.

Her whole body was numb, the pain was unbearable and the blood kept coming. She didn’t understand...no...she couldn’t understand what was so wrong in liking blood.

What was so wrong in being close to someone you love by tasting their blood. Even if they die, the taste, the scent of the blood would remain.

She had seen her mother get killed in front of her. When she was stabbed the blood splattered all over the room and some dropped into Acheron’s mouth.

The scent and taste of her blood was the only thing she remembered about her mother, and so from that day onwards she tasted the blood of those she loved who were about to leave her.

The blood from her nose was on the tip of her lips, she knew she was going to die soon so she licked the top of her lip and tasted her blood once again.

As she lay on the ground without any movement, the door to her cell was broken by a man. He had blonde hair and pointed ears, he looked at the almost lifeless Acheron and put her into a robe and took her.