Losing everything…

It was well into the night when Alika's thoughts finally let her drift off to sleep. However, her dream was more like a nightmare. Again, like many times before, she saw the images from her past. She tried to bury the memories deep inside her mind and leave them behind for good. Yet, they came back to haunt her. So many years later, she could still recall every little thing. They changed her. How much was left of her former self, the naive, sweet little girl? Alika wasn't sure.

***

Many years ago…

"The evil forces are attacking us from all sides. We are surrounded! The shadow balls packed with evil energy are heading right at us! And boom! The darkness crashes against the great shield of light! The greatest sorceress of all time is here to the rescue!" Alika shouted. The girl held her extended hand in front of her. Her eyes were closed as she imagined an epic battle full of glory.

"Alika! You have work to do!" her mother's angry voice called out. "Stop daydreaming and mop the floor already!"

"Yeah, mom, just a second," the girl answered. Her face lit up with a smile.

It all started out as a regular day. The bright summer sunshine warmed everything it touched with its soft caresses and kisses. Bird songs mingled with the sounds of the cicadas. The scent of freshly cut grass wafted through the air. It was drying in the sun before being piled in haystacks. The overall peace and tranquility could be felt everywhere, in each little detail. This was how rural life usually was.

That afternoon was supposed to be different. Alika's parents had mentioned a visitor coming to their house. Why would someone bother to travel to their village, lost in the fields and forests, of all places? Her parents were vague in the details about the goal of his visit. It made Alika even more curious.

Alika's mother seemed excited to have him come over. She had been fussing around the house since early dawn. The floor was washed, and the shelves dusted. She had Alika put on her best dress, light pink, with white ruffles and frills. It was Alika's favorite. That was one of the two dresses she owned.

Mom had her squeeze her feet into her only pair of high-heels, a size too small. The shoes made her toes burn and ache like they were on fire, but they looked nice. They were a dark shade of green with cute little bows at the front. How Alika hated all of those things now! And the time had come...

***

The stranger approached the doorway of the small room. He had to duck to avoid hitting his head before marching in. Alika's blood went cold. Her breath caught in her throat. Alika's heart squeezed inside her chest. Her stomach clenched, twisting into a knot, her nerves strung high. The door shut with a soft click. And the man turned the lock. She was trapped in her living room, the place she called home.

'It's going to be alright. Mom said he was here to talk, nothing more,' Alika thought, but she wasn't so sure now.

He was a gigantic man, tall, broad-shouldered, with a bulky build. His short white beard was thick, its thin sides neatly trimmed. Only that color pointed to his old age. Otherwise, there were no other clues, neither a single wrinkle nor an imperfection visible on his skin.

The stranger seemed to take up all the space the moment he entered. His mere presence was overwhelming. A large, deep hood covered his head, hiding the better half of his face in the dark shadows. All Alika could see was the wide smirk. He turned his head to look at the girl. That twisted smile was more like a scowl that his thin lips curled into once he did. The guest flashed his perfect white teeth, sharp and menacing.

But even more overbearing was the man's aura. Or whatever made the air stuffy and heavy. It threatened to press her whole body down to the wooden floorboards. Was he a vampire? No, Alika didn't think so. The vampires she had seen in books had large, long fangs. This person didn't.

'He's just a normal human. That's all. It must be my imagination at work here. Ahaha,' Alika thought to herself. But the girl froze. Her polite, well-prepared welcome speech was stuck in her throat.

The man threw back his hood to reveal massive spiraling horns. Those were twice the size of his head! Pitch black swirls of dark energy moved in circles around them. How did that hood hide such a thing?! Was it magic?!

There was no doubt the being in front of her was a demon. People said the older and more powerful one of those creatures was, the larger the adornment on their heads grew. If that was true, the man's power was beyond anything she could imagine.

"So, little slave girl, did the cat get your tongue? You're not mute, are you now?"

What?! Did he just call her a slave?! When did she become one?! What made this arrogant monster think she would become one?!

Alika felt the blood drain from her face. Her skin turned the palest shade of white known in existence. The horror on her face must have been plain because he continued…

"Oh no, you won't be my slave. You are yet to meet your master." The man grinned at her as if that phrase was supposed to calm her nerves. It would have taken a miracle to make that happen! Instead, it made things worse.

Alika was on the verge of fainting. The little she ate in the morning was trying to come spilling out. If this wasn't her master, she couldn't begin to imagine how much worse that other person could be.

"Talk," the stranger commanded, and an invisible force tugged at her throat.

"Y-yes, sir." That was the only thing that came out of her dry mouth. Alika couldn't feel her tongue well enough to articulate those two words without stammering. She opened and closed her lips, struggling to remember what she was supposed to say. What did the speech she practiced in her mind all morning start with?!

But it looked like the demon didn't need her to keep talking. The man waved away her futile attempts to say any more in a carelessly dismissing gesture.