The desert bride Trapped between the sand and storm.

”Rainer!! ”

Rainer snapped her head to the source where the voice came from, and to her surprise, it was her visitor. Rainer thought. The guard quickly bowed his head to the queen before finally leaving them all alone.

Rainer was so weak that she couldn get up; her eyes became watery as she saw the amount of hate in her eyes; she wondered if the hate she saw in her eyes was made from her sons death or if it had always been there all along. The sweaty smile she always showed towards her was nowhere to be found; those bright eyes that held life were now filled with anger and sadness.

”How did you do it, Rainer? ” Linda asked Rainer with false smoke on her face,

”Do what, my queen? ” Rainer answered, feeling extremely confused,

”Don play games with me. ” How did you survive the heat of the desert for so many hours while my son could only live for a few minutes? ”Why do I have the feeling that you have hidden something from me? ” ”Rainer, maybe the grimoire or something else; tell me, and I promise that Ill save your life. ”

”My queen, I swear to my mother that I don know anything, and I didn do anything to your son; please believe me, ” Rainer begged with tears streaming down her eyes, but the Queen felt no remorse for her.

”Fine then, Ill give you from now until tomorrow morning to change your answer; if your answer doesn change then… you know the answer. ”

”My queen, please listen to me, ” Rainer sobbed, but Linda had already left.

Rainer cried so hard, thinking about how her life had changed. She wondered why her grandmother hadn shown up yet; did she not believe her; did she also think that she was guilty just as everyone thought?

Her body had swollen due to the heavy beating she received; she was in so much pain that at some point her temperature rose to an unexpected degree, making her lose all her strength as her vision began to blur. She lay on the cooled concrete floor shivering and also wondering if she was indeed making a mistake, just as everyone had told her.

The damp smell of moss didn help in any way; it only reminded her of how weak and useless she was—not just to herself but to everyone around her. Later that night, the man with dark hair came to check on her; thankfully, he realized what was happening to her and quickly intervened.

He used his powers to lessen the pain and heal her deep wounds, but he didn heal all her wounds because he didn want the queen or anyone else to know that she had help. He also gave Rainer three apples and water to quench her hunger. He was careful doing what he did, not wanting to land him or Rainer in more trouble.

Hours later, Rainer had regained some strength for the battle that lay before her. Rainer was grateful for his help and care towards her; she tried to remember where she had met him but stopped after minutes of unfruitfulness. She also had to save her strength for the upcoming battle that would commence in a few hours. Rainer Lind laid her body on the cold wall before drifting off to sleep,

But her sleep was disrupted by the loud footsteps of the guards, who passed her cell with touches and weapons. As she looked through the space between the steel bars, wondering where the man with the brown hair was, Rainer was still lost in her thoughts when she heard loud murmurs and small shouts outside the dungeon.

Rainer became alert as she listened to the noise grow louder. The people in the cell began to cry for help, asking someone to let them out as the sound of people running became louder. Rainers heart began to race with every moment that passed, but still, she kept her cool.

Rainer was prompted to get up from the floor when she saw a flash of light that was coming in her direction. The figure was wearing a hooded cloak that covered his entire body, and when the figure was close enough, he began unlocking her door.

Rainer stepped back a little bit, creating space between herself and the figure. The door of the cell finally opened, and the figure walked in quickly, removing the hoodie from his head. Rainer realized she had been holding a breath she didn know she held when she saw the familiar face looking at her.

”My goodness, I thought you got caught helping me, ” Rainer said, sounding relieved.

”Ill explain everything to you, but first we need to leave from here; we are under attack, ” he said quickly, removing something from under his cloak. He pulled out Rainers spell book and another hooded cloak, handing them over to Rainer.

”Take this and wear this so one would recognize us as we escape, ”

Rainer didn think twice after hearing his plan; she quickly wore the cloak and held her spell book in her hand without asking any questions.

With that done, Rainer and the guard began their escape, but they could not teleport because of the yellow stones that were hanging on the wall. So they walked their way out of the dungeon.

But as Rainer passed the cells, she was shocked to see a few of her classmates who were also in the grand hall with her. What was happening, and why were they locked up? Rainer knew that her stepmother was up to no good, but she still didn know what it was.

The people in the cell looked at Rainer with pleading eyes. Rainer could see the shame and desperation in their eyes.

Rainer promptly stopped in her tracks, quickly snatching the cells keys from his pocket, then moving towards a particular cell that contained a weak and tired-looking girl who had a shocked look on her face upon seeing Rainer unlocking her cell door. She was among those who made fun of Rainer; the truth is, everyone there did the same, but that didn mean that Rainer would just leave them there.

”What are you doing, Rainer? ” The mans eyes widen in shock.

”Releasing the prisoner, ” Rainer answered in a matter-of-fact tone. The man sighed and massaged his temples as he watched Rainer unlock the cell door.

When Rainer was done unlocking the cells, she saw the man looking at her with admiration in his eyes. ”Im glad we found you, ” he said, confusing Rainer with his words, but as Rainer was about to ask him what he meant by that, he began leading the way to the exit.

As they got closer to the exit, they saw a few dead guards lying on the floor. She could hear the chaos that was taking place outside becoming louder; this made her a little anxious, but she walked further, pushing her fears behind her.

As they got out of the dungeon, Rainer felt her legs grow weak with the sight before her. Turn body parts of people were littered at every corner of the school hall; there was blood splattered everywhere—on the wall, the stairs, the floor, and everywhere else.

But that wasn the scariest part of it all. Not too far from where they stood, there was a huge beast that was ripping and shredding one of her teachers, who was stranglingly wearing a black cloak. He screamed in argon as the beast tore into his flesh. With her own eyes, she watched how that gray wolf—no, it was not a wolf; it was four times bigger than a normal wolf; it was a beast. She watches as the beast rips the person to nothing.

Rainer was frozen by the sight before her, but she was pulled back to reality by a loud, ear-piercing scream from one of her mates among them.

Unfortunately, the scream pulled the beasts attention toward them. The beast looked at them with its blood-red eyes that screamed of blood lost, and it began to growl loudly, exposing its long, sharp canine teeth that were covered in blood. Promptly, the beast and other beasts that were covered in blood began raging toward them.

Everyone in the group ran in different directions. Rainer could not move from her sport despite the fear she felt, but thankfully, the man with the brown eyes healed her by the hand and she began running.

They ran as fast as they could, but it was like the beasts all decided to chase after them after all. The beast was getting closer to them with every step they took. Rainer managed to pull out her mini spell book, and thankfully the first page she turned to contained the very spell she wanted.

She quickly cast the spell, and immediately all the items that lay on the floor flew toward the lycans; her little stunts only slowed them down a little bit but didn stop them. Rainer was never the best at casting spells, but she was great at combat, though she doubts that her moves would have any effect on them.

As they ran out of the school, the brown-haired man suddenly left her hand and began running towards the lycans; this made Rainer immediately stop on her track as her eyes widened in shock and fear.

”Rainer, run! ” he yelled, but Rainer could not possibly leave him all alone; he was the only person who was there for her when she was in trouble, so how could she just leave him now all alone? Rainers eyes began to tear up as he kept telling her to go. She wanted to protest, but seeing the pleading look in his eyes hurt her heart.

”Ill be okay. ” ”Please just run, ” he said, saying that he ran towards the lycans, who were already closing in on them. With a heavy heart, Rainer ran towards the woods.

The rain began to fall hard on Rainer, making her feel even more sad and angry at herself. All the words people had ever called her began to ring in her head: weak, useless, a waste of space, and worthless. All those words and more began ringing in her mind.

Rainer fell to her knees as she remembered everyone she had lost—first her mom, then her dad, then Tony, and now the man in whose direction she forgot to ask for his name. Slowly, all the pain she had ever felt turned into anger. She wasn sure at first who she was angry at, but all she knew was that she felt anger, that she felt different,

She stood up from the ground and began to make her way to the juniors hostel, but when she got there, she saw the whole building in flames. Her heart shattered and staggered into dust as she saw the flames going up into the sky. She had lost Mindy. Tears began pouring down from her eyes as she staggered backward,

Looking around, she saw her fellow students and some teachers fighting the Lycan. Rainer ran towards her grandmothers house; she may know a way to stop all this. Rainer ran as fast as she could, but all too soon she halted on her track when she saw Mindy burning a Lycan to death.

Mindy was covered in injuries; she had a deep wounds on her leg and palms. Mindy snapped her head at Rainer, ready to burn her, but when she realized that it was Rainer, her legs gave away.

Rainer rushed toward Mindy, holding her as tight as she could and allowing her to cry in her arms.

”Shh, don cry, everything will be alright. Look at me, Mindy; nothing would happen to us. We would even find Ariel and Aria, but first lets go to Grandmother; she would know what to do. ”

”Ra-Rainer, grammar is… I went there to find her but… Rainer pulled Mindy into a tight hug, already knowing what would come next.

”They
e all gone, ”

The sorrow fell harder on both siblings as they grieved the loss of love. But Rainers time pacifying Mindy was cut short. We
e three beasts that are coming their way, and they have their eyes on us.

Rainer stood up promptly, dragging Mindy behind a big tree. She flipped through her spell book with shaking hands, looking for a particular spell. She found the spell and recited two spells as quickly as she could.

After the second spell had been concluded, a bow and arrow materialized before her. She quickly kept her spell book safely inside her pocket. She promptly removed her cloak and covered Mindy with it. She could hear the beasts footsteps closing in on them.

She signaled to Mindy with her finger. Instructing her not to make a sound, Mindy got on Rainers back and held her as tight as she could.

She healed her breath, allowing the rain to fall on her as she listened to the slow steps that were closing in on her. When she felt satisfied with the distance between her and the beast, she launched.

Rainer quickly leaped from behind the tree, aiming the arrow straight at the beasts neck. Rainer watched the beast with a racing heart choke on its own blood before it died. The other beast who witnessed this rushed towards Rainer with bloodlust in his eyes. Rainer picked up the courage to run,

Her speed had increased incredibly, and so had her agility. She had cast a spell to increase her speed and agility for a while, but the bad side of it is that when the spell expires, she will be left with nothing.

Mindy buries her face in Rainers neck as her grip on Rainer tightens due to how fast Rainer runs.

Rainer leaped from branch to branch, trying to create more space between her and the beasts. As she landed on a tree, she quickly released another arrow that hit the second beast right between its brows. But that was no victory. The third beast was hot on her tail; she needed enough space to shoot, but the beast was hellbent on ripping her and Mindy to shreds.

The only sounds Rainer could hear as she ran were the paws of the Lycan that hit the ground mighty, Mindys heartbeat, and the rain that fell hard on the ground.

Rainer was starting to feel weak, and in a matter of time, she would lose everything. As she ran through the forest trying to get away from the Lycan, her hope seemed to be fading away with the cold wind, but she refused to give up. Her eyes landed on a huge rock not too far away from her. Looking at it, she knew that was the only chance she needed.

She increased her speed to the maximum with the beast very close to Mindy; as she got closer to the rock, she felt her legs grow numb with every step, but she still pushed forward, and the moment she got close enough to the rock, she jumped over. Mindy closed her eyes, taking in a sharp breath before they landed hard on the ground. The beast, on the other hand, hit its head on the rock so hard that it shifted back to its human form.

Rainer and Mindy lay on the wet ground as the rain fell on their aching bodies. Rainers vision began to blur as dark dots clouded her vision. Rainer felt her body becoming lighter as the backlash of the spell kicked in.

She could hear voices, Mindys screams to be precise, and other background noises, but she couldn do anything. She had long passed her limit; she could hear Mindys voice becoming fainter by the minute.

Rainer felt like the world had created a useless person; she was a failure, wasn worthy of space, was no good to be cared for, and didn deserve it all. Her heart broke when she could no longer hear Mindys voice. She could no longer think as her eyes finally closed, and before she drifted into the darkness, she saw a pair of gray eyes looking right at her.