Ad Maiora Semper

Smells like Teen Spirit

AD MAIORA SEMPER.

Meryl's eyes met the words written in stark white over a black stencil. They were so bright, it made her head throb. She turned to her other side, waiting for nausea to pass. A moment later, she felt the icy panic grip her heart and stood up with a jolt.

"You shouldn't do that!" A startled woman's voice came from somewhere. Meryl clutched her throbbing head and buried herself in her knees. She heard some shuffling towards her left. Through the crook of her arm, she could see a woman's waist, thin and in a lovely shape, move towards her. She raised her head slowly, meeting the new set of grey eyes that smiled at her.

"How are you?" Her voice was sweet and smooth, like melted chocolate, like dew settled on a petal in the morning, like sunlight falling on your skin on a winter morning. Meryl remembered the first time she had felt snowdrop on her head and the time when her mother had dressed like maleficent to the dress-up competition. Her mind reeled to the time she had beat her father in chess and the celebration that had followed. The time when she had bagged the first position in the State's singing competition. The time she....

"What are you doing to me!?" Meryl's green eyes were brimming with tears and her voice was laden with a sob. The woman, dressed in a white billowy dress narrowed her eyes at her.

"So you really are what they say you are," she said, moving away from the bed and reaching for something on the bedside table. It was the first time Merry registered her surroundings. She was in a white room that had been stripped bare of any furniture except the bed, a table, and a single chair with a small back. The woman brought a bowl of fine grey china and offered it to her. Merry looked at its colorless content.

"Where am I?" She asked. The woman sighed deeply and looked at her as if she was the dumbest being alive. The bowl was still hanging in the air but the woman's hands were to her side. Merry's eyes widened. "What the hell!"

She jumped from the bed and almost fell. Her ankle twisted a little and she gripped the edge of the bed for support. "What's happening?" She whispered to herself. Maybe this was a bad dream and she needed to wake up from it.

"You need to sit down." The woman came towards her. Merry took several steps back to avoid the woman's touch. Now standing, the woman was taller than Merry, heavier, if she could use the word. She looked as if she could cut a tree down with just her stare and wouldn't even blink when that happened.

"You are where you need to be," the woman offered an answer to Merry's scared eyes. When she received no other answer than a scowl, she continued after a deep sigh. "It is not my position to tell you anything. If I do, I might do it wrong. I'm only a corporalto. You'll get all your answers when you are ready. For now, you're fine with me." This time, Merry felt as if someone had applied a balm to her heart.

She didn't say anything but found it best to agree to the woman's words. She couldn't do anything else, anyway. She was in an unknown territory, had been abducted from her hospital bed but was being treated and fed. She realized how healthy and strong she felt since the last time she had been awake.

The woman left for a little while, vanishing behind the curtains to her left. That gave Merry time to have an inner duel. Whether to stay or to escape. She looked around but there weren't any windows on the walls nor was any door visible. The right side had bare space and the left was curtained. Maybe, if Merry looked a bit farther, she would find a door and could think of escaping. She tried to move away from the bed but just then, another woman entered the room.

Merry recognized her as the one who had come to abduct her. What was her name? Zelda?

She was still dressed in tight pants with combat shoes but the jacket had been replaced by a blood-red armor. Merry had dreadful thoughts looking at it. Zelda didn't seem to notice the stare and went straight to the lone chair in the room.