Escape from Whitestone Hold

Judgement Day- Chapter 12

"Rise and shine, wyrmfilth. It's judgement day." A cruel voice wrenched Sapphira from her dreams. She slowly faded back into reality, the shadows of her mind melting away to reveal Storm's leering face more inches in front of her. Storm had a rough grip on Sapphira's chin, forcing her to look up at her. Sapphira wrenched back with a snarl, only to find she had a metal muzzle on her face, which only allowed her to open her mouth a small amount. It was chained behind her head, and had a solid dome shape at the front, presumably to prevent the usage of her breath weapon. Sapphira's arms and legs were similarly shackled, each pair cuffed together and held in place by metal brackets affixed to the stone wall and floor, respectively. And sadly, Sapphira was no longer a giant dragon, but rather had transformed back into herself, complete with the blanket wrapped around her as her only covering.

"Ugh, just kill me already so I don't have to see your stupid face anymore." Sapphira spat, glaring at Storm with venomous hatred.

"Oh, I will. Slowly. Horribly." Storm sneered, leaning still closer and causing Sapphira to shrink back still further in discomfort. "But first, I will chop off each of your fingers. Then your toes, tail, and horns. And then I'll skin you, one scale at a time." Storm almost seemed to drool in excitement at the thought, as her eyes bored into Sapphira's, relishing her fear. Sapphira narrowed her eyes in disbelief at the cartoonishly-explicit threats.

"...What is WRONG with you, you absolute psychopath!? How does the Magistrate even allow you to act like this?"

"You're a war criminal in a testing laboratory. I can make you suffer as much as I want before you die, and as far as anyone cares around here, it counts as science." Storm smiled smugly, standing tall and looking down her nose at Sapphira.

"Is that seriously the only reason I'm still alive right now? It's not enough for me to be dead-- You want to torture me first, because you're butthurt that I got the better of you in battle one freaking time?" Sapphira snapped angrily. "Grow up, you insecure prick! Some of us have real problems!"

"WHAT?! HOW DARE-!?" Storm roared, leaning down to get in her face again, but Sapphira wasn't finished.

"My family are now stuck as guinea pigs in a secret mad-science lab just because they tried to escape the bloodshed without getting caught up in your nightmarishly-under-supplied and over-regulated refugee camp!"

"SHUT UP!" Storm shouted even louder, stomping her armored foot on the end of Sapphira's tail. Sapphira grimaced and wriggled her tail free, sliding it safely to the side as she continued ranting without so much as a pause.

"...My entire CITY just got leveled, and most of my friends were slaughtered because some Magistrate jerk decided the best way to deal with a scuffle in the marketplace was to crush people's skulls in with unrelenting force!" Sapphira snarled ferociously. At this, Storm calmed down a little and gave another satisfied grin.

"Oh, yes. You'd think the people would have calmed down when I shot that disrespectful merchant, but they just HAD to escalate things from there..." Storm side-eyed Sapphira, picking at her gauntlet. Sapphira's gears turned for a moment as she put the pieces together.

"No... YOU started all this!? YOU SPARKED THE FIGHTING!?"

"They would have fought anyway." Storm scoffed, giving a cold look. "I was assigned here after there were already rumors of dissent. After the curfews and the harsher regulations, those foolish revolutionaries were just WAITING for an excuse to commit treason. I was just the perfect storm." Her lips curled into a smirk. "They wanted a straw to break the camel's back, so I gave it to them. Then I broke down your walls. I broke your spirits. And I broke the bones of the last people fighting, and finally restored peace to this wretched place."