The Prison of Luna

Cinder

The air was dark, and it was heavy around Cinder as if it had just rained. She pulled at the shackles that held her wrists firm behind her back. The rusty, sharp metal cut into her skin, and she was forced to relax, lest she get a wound that could easily be infected in these conditions.

There was another shackle tight around her neck, in better shape, but nevertheless made her feel like a dog.

She was collapsed onto her knees, starving and cold and exhausted. How long had it been? Days? Weeks? She'd stop counting.

They had removed her cybernetic parts, leaving her without a leg and hand.

Cinder knew Levana was making her wait and anticipate her own death on purpose. She wanted to break her spirit, shred her until she was damaged beyond recognition or aid. But there was no way the evil queen could break her that easily.

How had everything gone so wrong?

A shred of light streamed into Cinder's cell. The metal door had been pushed open, revealing a Lunar guard. Cinder's eyesight was blurry from insufficient exposure to light, and she could only make out his silhouette as he walked to her, carrying a tray of grey mush this prison called food. He dropped it to the floor in front of her and spit on it, kicking the tray to Cinder's knees. Cinder looked up at him, attempting a glare, but the strain on her neck was more than she could bear, and she collapsed, only the taut chains holding up her limp body.

She had never felt so helpless.

The guard guffawed, and turned to go, his footsteps resounding in the darkness.

He left her, to die a hundred times over.

But suddenly, his steps stopped, and Cinder looked up with great pain. The guard had abruptly halted in his tracks, stuck in an awkward half-step position.

He walked over to a wall, his movements jerky and unreal. It could only have one cause.

Someone was controlling him with their Lunar gift.

But it wasn't her, Levana had put a bioelectricity lock over her gift long ago.

"Now think about what you've done." A voice suddenly rang, strange in the silence, making Cinder recoil in shock. It took a moment for her to process that it was, indeed, a human voice. She hadn't heard one in so long...

The voice was as soft as melted caramel, and they flowed from their speaker like a gentle lullaby. Their was no mistaking the source.

Princess Winter.