After filling two more carts with gems, the twins come back and unhook the chain from the pole. With hunger and dehydration racking my mind, I stumble along behind them, not knowing where we are going. Trying not to collapse from fatigue, We get to a familiar room, my new home. As I was about to walk in, that little mutt Duke comes up to us. "Leader want, Thing." As before the twins look at each other then back at Duke. "You take," the one on the right said, Duke growls at her, then and grabs the chain out of her hand. He Yanks the chain hard, causing me to fall to my hands and knees. I shakily stand, anger dripping off my face along with the sweat. Duke gulps then pulls me along.

As we walk, I get a good look at Duke. He comes to my hips, with a vest that's a bit too big for him. We walk past more dogs as a Thought runs through my mind. "Why are there more female dogs than males?" Duke looks up at me, a bit of fear evident in his eyes. I sent him a look that made him look back. Going back to my thoughts, wondering what's going to happen to me.

When we get to the main chamber, I can see the Cane Corso sitting on his chair. With a murderous intention clear on his face. I walk with my head held high, As a last act of defiance. I get to the base of the chair, Forced down to my knees. I Look around the room there are not many people in here. There's Lily, Nala, Duke and some more I haven't met yet. I Look at the Cane Corso, I meat his eyes. I thought I saw flames in them. I couldn't help but swallow the lump in my throat. My fatigue replaced with my fight or flight response.

I kneel there, waiting for what comes next. I hear a sound of metal scraping the floor. I look to see where the sound is coming from, and what I see makes me brake out in a cold sweat. I see, what looks like a hearth with smoke billowing out the top. The dog dragging it stops beside me and steps back. I can feel the heat emanating from it, with a rod poking out from the fire. My eyes widen at the realization of what this is. 'He is going to brand me!' I hear the heavy footfalls from the Cane Corso, as he walks to the hearth. Pulling out the branding iron, he turns to me. The brand is a letter B. He snaps his fingers and two dogs from the side walking over and holds me still. The Cane Corso walks over to my left side and lines the iron with my shoulder. I can feel the heat coming off it. Then it happens, the pain came first. My flesh burning, feeling the fat bubble under my skin, Forever scarring me for my transgression. Then the smell, burning muscle tissue giving off an aroma similar to beef in a frying pan, and my body fat smelling like a side of fatty pork on the grill. That smell will never leave my mind the sent of my flesh cooking.

Panting, still hearing and feeling the sizzling of my skin. I look up at the Cane Corso, who moved in front of me. Anger and pain plastered on my face, 'you will die, and I will be the one to do it.' He gets in my face. "That punishment, next time, not be so nice." I spit in his face as my response. Gasps come from the surrounding dogs. Growling at me, he strikes the right side of my face with his claws. My head hits the floor, feeling the blood run down my face. With all of the pain and the fatigue from the mine, I pass out.

The first thing I felt as I stirred is the cold floor beneath me, then the pain. Pain rushing through my face and shoulder. Struggling to open my eyes, I lye there piecing my thoughts together. The mining, the fatigue, the leader and what he did. Trying to open my eyes once more, I'm only able to open my left one. I Look around seeing my cell, dull light shining down from the grate. Picking myself up into a sitting position, I look over to my shoulder. 'Sighing' at the brand and knowing it will never leave me, looking up seeing that it is night time. Seeing the moon in the distance, but something was off about it. They're on the face of the moon, is a silhouette of a unicorn.

'Will that's new, but knowing that isn't going to help me.' Just then a small flicker of light appeared from the moon. It slowly passes through the grate, coming closer to me. Stopping at my chest, I lift a hand under it. With the light flickering above my hand, it slowly descends. I can feel it passing through my skin, feeling nervous and unsure I closed my hand around it. For a brief moment, there was nothing. Suddenly there was pain again, pain like I never felt before. Feeling an icy wind pass over me, yet my body feels like it's heating up. I start to sweat uncontrollably. Lying back down, I toss and turn. I don't know how long it lasted, but at the end of it, I was freezing yet comfortably warm at the same time. Staring at the moon gazing at the unicorn, believing it's looking back at me.

I hear something coming from above, I try and concentrate on the sound. Making out that it's someone talking, it gets clearer and louder. Then I can make out what they're saying, "Can thee heareth me, young one?" I look up, hoping to see someone that can help me. There is no one, then the voice spoke again. "doth not feareth I wisheth to holp thee, all thee needeth to doth is hark." It's hard to understand them they are speaking in mediaeval English. "I'm sorry, but it's hard to understand what your saying," I reply to the voice. "w'rry not, this shall only beest a second," they said.
I sat there in silence looking down, pondering what's happening. 'Right, what the fuck is going on. First, a weird light appears and lands on my hand. Then it gets absorbed by my hand. Now I hear a voice, and I don't know where it's come from.' I look around the room, spotting a cup and a bowl. I stand and walk over to where they are, crouching down at the bowl its contents a slop of some sort. The stone cup is full of water. I Look back at the bowl my stomach reminds me how long it's been since I've had something to eat. My stomach growling like a tiger, I grab the bowl and lift it to my mouth. I scoffed down the contents of the bowl, forcing myself not to throw up from the taste. I grab the cup and guzzle the water down.

When I put the cub down the voice started to talk again. "Can you understand me now?" I look around, still unable to see who's talking. "Who are you, and where are you?" I respond. "Where I am is none of your concern. I am Nightmare Moon!" Nightmare replied. "Ok then, what do you want with me?" I questioned. "I want you to help me, but first you need to kill the leader of your captors." She answered. "How would I do that in here, I have nothing to kill him with, he will kill me if I try and do it with just my hands," I retort back. "I will give you magic, I've seen your kind before, and their ways." She said. "What there are more humans, where are they?" I demanded. "I'm sorry to say but, your kind is dead, they died over 500 years ago," she said sadly. My face drops, 'so I'm alone.' "What magic are you talking about?" I said sadly. "Unicorns use their horns for magic, but humans use words. If I remember correctly, they called it Latin." She stated. 'Latin wait, wasn't it said that Latin was full of magic?' "So how do you plan on me using magic, I know nothing about it" I inquired. "I have already done that, the ball of light unlocked your use of magic." She responded. 'I think I know some Latin from history class,' I think back to those days, I remember some words. I hold out my hand and focusing, and I say the word. "Lux." A ball of light forms in the palm of my hand, Lighting up the room.

I stand there, dumbfounded of what I've just done. I did magic for the first time, and I loved it. Smiling from ear to ear, I say to Nightmare Moon. "I know some words, but I need more tell me what you know so that I can kill the leader," I demanded. I could not see it, but I could feel the smile on Nightmare Moon face as she talked. "Good I will give you more words in time, but for now you need to practice what you do know. Practice well, and kill the leader as you see fit." I closed my hand, and the light died out. I focused on as many words I could remember. 'Aer, Aqua, Ignis, Ordo, Perditio, Terra, Lux and Telum.'

I practised through the night, fine-tuning what I could. With a plan formed, I smiled, awaiting my next audience with the leader.

Author's Note

"Can thee heareth me, young one?" = "Can you hear me, young one?"
"doth not feareth I wisheth to holp thee, all thee needeth to doth is hark." = "do not fear I wish to help you, all you need to do is listen."
"w'rry not, this shall only beest a second," = "worry not this shall only be a second"