The three pale orbs of flames in the sky burned above the horizon, their consort mirroring their image in bloody red smudges.

I had been walking barefoot for a while now. Annia was close beside me, and the rest of the pack slowly following at a reasonable distance.

Dry was my throat, and the sun rays that bathed me in their warmth felt like whips on my skin.

As we were moving closer to Malum, a part of me knew that the time when the truth in regards to me would be revealed would come soon. They will realize that things had been going wrong for a while now

What would happen to me then?

I didn't know what to do. I was trembling despite the unusual heat.

I wanted to run. This would have been my last chance to get away. It was now or never.

But how? Where could I possibly go?

They were so much faster, and, without a doubt, stronger than me. I was outnumbered and without any advantage.

"It's okay to be nervous..." said Annia, breaking the silence. "But don't forget what we spoke about. Everything must go down according to plan.

She carried a part of the offerings in her arms; the rest of them being entrusted to the pack members.

There was no breeze in the air and no sign of any living thing on the surface of the earth. It's as if the cracks that were under us had opened completely for a brief moment and ate them entirely.

The path to the lake was more deserted than I recalled it to be when I was first attempted to ran away from them on the very first night. The lifeless trees served as the sole protectors of that place.

My feet were aching, and my eyes were too tired to keep track of everything, despite the vow I made to myself to stay alert.

The atmosphere was stuffy, and the dust raised to the sky in small particles that glistened brightly under the warm light.

By the time we reached Malum, the moon and suns were locked in place, mirroring each other.

The shallow water of the lake was covered in weeds, and dead bugs gathered around the surface, polluting what was left of it. The stench and decay tainted our senses and left us numb.

Everyone gathered next to Malum, and put the gifts on small, braided leaf baskets.

I walked through the water, for about ten meters away from the shore, where the water was so shallow in the middle that it barely reached my thighs.

I felt icky and the gross mud underneath me clutched onto my feet, making the baby hairs on the back of my neck stand up, giving me goosebumps, making me shiver.

Annia instructed the villagers how to proceed, and they all placed the baskets with the gifts on the lake.

I was to bathe three times in Malum as Annia's incantations were to take place.

They said that a soul could leave one's mortal body and travel to another, in this manner one could truly become a full fledged vessel. A soul could split in half, perish or become absolute.

But I didn't know what that meant at that time. All I knew was that I was cold. And by the time I reached my preestablished position, I could hear Annia starting her chants.

"Lupi filii veniunt ad vos humiliter," she begun, "Acceptationem petimus donorum nostrorum. In nomine de Lupus Deus Pater, et Luna Dea Matrem, nobis ut renascencia fiat," she chanted, her hands directed towards the lake and the gifts.

As I turned away from the crowd, the shallow depths of the water raised to soak me to the skin, enwrapping around me from head to toe like a veil.

That is when I heard Annia chant the next part of the incantation, and I knew I had to sink in for the first time.

"Nascimur lunae, cinere et sanguine. Omnes una manet nox. Per hoc renati sumus. Per hoc salvamur," where the last mumbled words I heard from her that night.

It was at that very moment, when I dove under water, that I saw the surface start to burn above me, the offering baskets along with it.

The moonlight and the sunlight intertwined viciously, stabbing through the water and blended in with my surroundings. The earth raised from its shelters, clinging onto my body.

And then, between all the commotion, I heard that voice again:

"Nefastus," it wickedly whispered in my ears, and bright red flames engulfed me completely, raising above the surface to consume all in its path.

I closed my eyes shut, trying to ignore the voice, and I clearly recalled what Annia told me so many times before, "Whatever happens, don't turn back. Whatever happens don't give in."

My skin burned, and water trickled down my throat and it was hard for me to take even a single breath.

I desperately struggled to crawl through the masses of water that flooded from the bottom of the lake, and finally made my way to the surface, to beg for one quick breath of air.

I was terrified. I felt helpless, and I knew there was no way for me to escape.

I didn't sign up for any of that.

Soon after that, from beneath me, from underwater, sprung massive vines, which wrapped tightly around my neck and legs, their thorns dug into my skin with such a merciless hunger. And just as I gasped for another breath of air, they pulled me with all their might back underneath the grimy water.

"Look at us," whispered the same voice from behind me.

My heart struggled in the confinement of its tight cage, desperately fighting for an exit, for a possible way out. My lungs, with no hope left, begged for air. And my limbs started to swing around in a miserable manner.

"Look at us!" the voice insisted, and I could feel a cold breath, tainting my shoulder.

I closed my eyes fearing what might take place next.

The vines strangled my neck, and I could feel the blood rushing through miles of veins gathering under the constriction they created. The muddy water infected my insides.

Pain.

Pain was all that I could feel.

The flames consumed at my skin; the burning sensations left me weak.

That is when the Malum spit me out for the second time.

My body flew in the air, as a violent thunderstorm took control of my being.

I was hurting all over, and the voice demanded once more:

"LOOK AT US!" it screamed this time.

And a thunder stroke me down my core, pushing me back into the water.

I couldn't think straight. I couldn't feel.

I was terrified in the truest sense that one can be.

That's when my limbs went completely numb, my body becoming cold, and above the surface, darkness covered everything.

Despite my resolution, my entire body wanted to obey the voice which was becoming more and more demanding. I wanted to listen to what it was telling me. I kept repeating in my mind what Annia had told me before.

"Don't look back. Your being is fragile during Selenelion."

I did not know if the voice was a monster, as I had expected. For all I knew, I could have been a ghost, a witch or any other beast.

But for a split second, I thought this might as well have been all in my head. In fact, I was sure I was hallucinating. What else would explain all that was happening to me and around me.

Fire merged with water. Darkness swallowing the light. The depths of oblivion opening hungrily to eat me whole.

It was as if the abys had come to life, its big prying eyes starring right into what was left of my dying soul. A stare too horrifying.

"Look what they're doing to us!" the voice roared, making chills run down my back.

I cried, horrified, and dug my teeth into my lower lip as my bones broke under the pressure surrounding me.

"Nefastus," I whispered as I felt myself fade into nothingness, and the voice muttered its very last words: "Omnes una manet nox."

It is said, that just before you die, your entire life flashes before your eyes.

The first time I died, nothing appeared in mind, as if there had been nothing of me before that very moment. It felt as if all the happy moments I lived before never were. And like my struggles never came to be in reality. On the day I died for the first time, drowning in the lake as I came back from school, I felt like my entire existence until that very moment was summed up by a fever dream; too lucid, yet seemingly intangible.

When my second death came around, I came to a fleeting realization.

I wasn't their savior.

I was the sacrifice.