Marcy Wu's Darkest Sacrifice

The first day, I was in shock.

The second day, I was terrified.

The third day and beyond, I had a dark smile on my face.

I woke up on the ground in some sort of cave. My clothes were torn to shreds and covered in dried blood. There were two men staring down at me with wide eyes. They were dressed like peasants and carrying daggers.

I had been there before, many years ago, when I was a child visiting relatives in England. The cave was called Wookey Hole Cave, but now it looked more like a dungeon from a fantasy novel than an underground river. The walls were etched with ancient carvings of demons. In one corner of the room was a large black altar that reeked of rotting flesh. A clear liquid dripped from the ceiling and pooled on the floor in front of it.

"You're awake," said one man quietly. He was thin and pale with thick black hair tied back into a ponytail. "We have all been waiting for you."

"Waiting for me?" I asked groggily as I sat up slowly. My voice sounded strange and raspy, like I hadn't spoken in years. Even though my legs ached with every move, I pushed myself until I was standing on my own two feet without any help from the two men who were still staring at me intently. "What do you mean?"

"You are Lady Marceline, right? You will be the one to save us all," replied the man eagerly as he bowed to me quickly before straightening his back again to stare at me intently once more. "You are finally here."

I stared at him silently for a long moment as I tried to remember who he was talking about and why everyone was waiting for me to arrive here... wherever here was exactly? It felt like something important should be swimming around in my brain somewhere, but if it's there then I can't seem to find it.

"Who are you?" I asked suddenly after realizing that he might have given me an important clue that would make all this make sense if only I could remember it properly. "What is going on?"

"My name is Sam," replied Sam with a respectful nod as he approached me cautiously, his eyes fixed firmly on mine as if trying to read my expression for any clues about what would be best for him to do next based off my body language alone. "We are the Revenuers of Glastonbury." He gestured towards the other man who had remained standing near the altar during our brief conversation so far. "That's Mark." Mark nodded respectfully towards me without saying anything more than that single word while keeping his head lowered submissively towards the floor like a dog bowing its head towards its master before being scolded for being bad.

"And what are Revenuers?" I asked curiously, my mind still struggling to piece together the information and make sense of what was happening.

"We hunt demons," said Sam proudly with his chest puffing out slightly as he held himself up tall and proud. "Our mission is to protect the innocent and rid the world of unspeakable evil."

He paused for a moment, taking a deep breath before continuing, "Now that you're here, Lady Marceline, we require your assistance in vanquishing the demons that taint our land. But first, let's sit down for some tea and biscuits to regain our energy, and then proceed with our task."

Seeing no other choice and hoping that the answers to my questions would reveal themselves as we went along, I decided to join Sam and Mark on their demon-hunting quest, uncertain of what lay ahead but determined to make sense of my strange and unexpected circumstances.