Pieces of Time

Ch 13: The Lost

Her reaction didn't really make sense to someone who was fully rational.

She had only known Kiden for not even a day, had gone on one walk with him, had a handful of conversations with him. So why did it feel like her heart had been hurled into some bottomless pit? Falling, falling without an end or a bottom.

Tears she thought had long dried up spilled over her dirty cheeks, leaving streaks as she ground her teeth. A keening sound that didn't seem to belong to her escaped her lips, and a hard sob wracked her body.

Bia just watched on, thoroughly enjoying her grief.

But the more she sobbed, the harder her heart pounded, and the hotter her blood became. Her hands clenched the bars so hard she was sure her own bones would break. Her body felt white hot, and she glared at Bia blurrily through her tears.

She wailed with grief, and then her wail became a scream of rage. The air around her hands flickered.

She noticed a second before Bia did.  It was all she needed.

She directed all her rage and pain and power towards him. Just as he was beginning to stand, the air around his whole body shifted and he stopped moving. He half stood, his hair and eyes frozen in place as if someone pressed a pause button that controlled his movements.

Kali reached through the bars to a fat black key hanging from his belt by a chain. Her fingers grasped the chain and she screamed through gritted teeth.  She willed the time around the chain to accelerate.

The metal began to rust rapidly until it was orange dust in her hands.  The key landed on the floor with a light clink. She snatched it, and made herself stand on unsteady legs. Smith shaking hands she pushed the key into the keyhole.  It turned easily with a click and the door swung open.

She glanced at Bia, who was still frozen and didn't even have a second thought as she began to run down the hall. Her feet were blistered from being bare on that stone floor for so long, but she ignored the pain.

She willed her legs to be strong as they carried her down the hall. She strained her ears to listen for any sound, and tried to spot light from a window or a door - anything that would allow her escape.

She gasped for air, her heart still heavy and the tears still flowed freely. As she ran, she had to fight back the images of Bastian finding Kiden's cooling body on the floor, covered in blood. Of Kiden's body in a wooden coffin being lowered into the ground.

She couldn't let his death be for nothing by getting caught now. She had to keep going, and then she could grieve once she was well away from this Gods forsaken place.

Kali a could hear a small tittering sound, and the flapping of what sounded like wings.

She ducked into an empty cell, putting her hand over her mouth to stop the sobbing and keening sounds from escaping her. She tried to breath more evenly, silently. She wasn't sure what it was in the hall but it passed without incident.

She waited a few moments, longer than she could possibly stand, before she crept out of the cell and into the new hallway which was lined with heavy wooden doors. Still no light, still no sound, still no windows.

What was she going to do once she got out of the castle? She tried to recall what her friends knew about this place. It was previously some old ruins that Impa and Link had discovered shortly before finding her.

Pallas has been working on reversing the ruin back into whatever it was before. Impa had also said before how she was unable to follow the twins in the shadow realm.  It must be protected by whatever magic Pallas was able to cast on it.