The TwiceBorn

To Be A Prism of Sadness, Divided

"Should you shield the canyons from the windstorms you would never see the true beauty of their carvings."--Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

"I will ask you...once...because it is not my place to do so..."

Islinn had been following so closely behind Lucan,she almost ran into him as he abruptly stopped and turned to face her. She pulled herself up hard and almost fell over backwards. She hadn't forgotten the warning from earlier. For a brief moment, her eyes locked with Lucan's. His expression was no longer stoic; he appeared to be in pain. It took her a few moments before she realized he was trying to smile.

"...but I will ask for your sake...as well as my own. Before we go through that door...will you renounce? If so, I can carry the word to Lord Kenric. And we need not ever enter that room."

With a dawning horror, Islinn gazed at the door they had stopped in front of. Everything that had happened so far, had felt like it was happening to someone else. She'd been present yes, but...the Guardians had always been more like a fairy tale to her. Sure, they existed but, on some level, she felt that was only true because she believed it to be. But the large wooden door in front of her was stark and solid. It had lost the fanciful visionary quality everything else had and become a part of her reality whether she liked it or not.

Just two words...I renounce...and she could save herself from what was behind the door.

Who else had been given a second chance before entering that room?

None. That was how many.

"No. I will not renounce." Her voice quavered but only a little.

She watched as Lucan's face slowly closed to her, like a shopkeeper dousing all the lights before he locked up for the night. He drew a key from his robes and unlocked the door. It swung open, whisper-quiet.

"They must use this room a lot." The random thought skated through her mind and added to her growing fear. She was beginning to understand the consequences of her refusal to renounce, and terror slowly inched its way through every crevice of her being, like a bucket slowly being filled..

There were several wooden apparatuses, she didn't know what they were called but it was easy to guess what they were made for. Someone had already lit the candle lanterns in the room and the shadows playing across the strange contraptions were both comforting and horrifying to her widened eyes.

"No...no...no..."She took a step backwards, the words echoing in her mind like one long silent scream. Lucan didn't bother to look back as he led her to a large ornate chair. Small spikes, too many to count, protruded from the seat, the backrest, the armrests, the leg rests, from everywhere, too many for Islinn's panicked mind to count.

One hand rose, shaking,and rested against her throat. Lucan reached out and snagged her other wrist, pulling her forward. Grimly, Islinn pulled back and began to fight to free herself. Trying to yank her arm free, only caused Lucan to tighten his hold and Islinn thought with horror, this was something he was accustomed to, people fighting him, all of them probably being much bigger and stronger than her.