Broken Wings [Completed!]

Chapter 27

Hot breaths bit into her skin as she pushed herself through the dark prison, whimpers tainting her footsteps behind her. The walls seemed to close into her and Evira found herself struggling to breathe; the slapping of her feet echoed like a thousand screeches neverending; the sharp nails of other prisoners scratching at her skin as purposeful as nails being slammed repeatedly into wood.

Shivering, Evira finally found herself at the end of the prison and wrapped her calloused hands on the cool metal bars. The roar of the crowd was the clock of the ticking bomb, getting louder and louder and faster and faster - or maybe that was just Evira's heartbeat?

"So, what are the rules?" Evira asked the darkness dotted with unseen prisoners. Her voice was like a knife slicing through the room.

"A royal kills you to get points," a voice chided. It was gruffy, as if it hadn't been used in years.

"What if a royal doesn't kill you?"

"If a royal only makes you unconscious, or you survive, the royal is out of the game. And you'll be free from a prisoner."

Evira swallowed. So she only needed to make sure Haku didn't kill her, then he would be out of the game.

There was no light here, but she sensed someone approaching the bars. It was as if the world held their breath as the figure approached, despite how his footsteps could not be heard, his breathing was non-existent, and his clothes were just another part of the darkness. Wincing at the metallic outcry of the bars lifting, Evira felt the male's rough fingers around her wrists, holding it twice.

"You're next, peasant!" the male growled, and Evira could hear the grin in his words. His breath stank with the smell of malice and bad intentions.

"It's Evira Aldaine," she said stubbornly, head raised high. The figure didn't say anything as he yanked her towards the ring, the darkness abruptly draining into brightness.

The man acted as if he hadn't heard her.

The feeling of her axe strapped on her back relaxed her shoulders and Evira took it out of her sheath so quickly it looked as if it had magically appeared in her hands. Grainy sand underneath her feet sank its teeth into the soles of her feet and the crowd's applause dragged into a long, elongated howl. The arena was below a circular row of seats which were all fully taken.

In front of her, a beefy tanned man shaped from the shadows and his showed his teeth, its white glinting evilly like the edge of his sword.

"Aren't you a new one?" the man sneered. "I wouldn't even need a minute to beat the crap out of you."

Evira said nothing as her heart hammered in her chest. The crowd around her were like bloodthirsty wolves, staring, sneering, waiting.

She swallowed and dropped into a crouch. The problem wasn't that she couldn't easily knock him unconscious. The problem was that the man wanted to kill her.

She was just a number in the thousands to be killed for a game.

But if there was one thing Evira hated, it was to be used.

The world stopped its spinning, time slowed, and it was just Evira, the sand, the man. And as the male circled her, Evira pressed down hard at the sand, letting her magic flow through like electricity, igniting her bones. The ground rose under the man's feet, throwing him off, and Evira dashed to the right, barely missing the male's punch.

Light shimmered at the corner of Evira's eye, as if the male had shook the air. Snarling, the male punched down onto the floor, breaking the mountain of sand Evira had created. He turned his eyes at Evira who was already running towards him in a zigzag, before faking to stab him in the stomach and flipping over him.