Into the Pages

Chapter 3

"My warrior. Be careful with her," A female voice that spoke fluid Korean radiated in Christina's head as her body vibrated with pain.

"Is she a doctor? She has so many strange objects," A male voice questioned in the same language. Fading in and out of consciousness, she could only hear bits and pieces of random conversation.

"Why does she look like—" the male voice started.

"Don't ask me! I'm just as baffled as you!" the female voice interrupted.

"What was that?"

"Lock the doors!"

"My warrior?"

Then everything went quiet for a while.

Christina's eyes were forced closed as her body felt heavy and sore. Her nerve endings burned with pain as she tried to force her eyes open. Every time she was near consciousness, something would pull her back into the darkness. A strange clickity click sound moved around her head, echoing in her mind so much that it drove her absolutely mad. She felt a warmth move over her cold skin instead of snow or chilling winds. The steady pace to slowly gather her strength was disrupted by a sharp puncture in the center of her forehead.

"Ow! What the fuck?!" She gasped in English as she held the sore spot. She opened her eyes to see a chunky black rooster twitching its head back and forth. "Fucking cock? Get out of here!" She hissed and chased the bird away, clucking. She held her throbbing head and felt the pain of her wounds knitting back together. "Oh, what happened? Where am I?" She asked as she surveyed her surroundings.

She was dressed in the same outfit as before, though the cloth was stained with blood. As she allowed her eyes to search the perimeter, she found herself on the wooden floor of a circular temple. A tall tower-like building with a set of stairs that lead to the upper floor. In the center of the room was a giant bronze statue of two majestic horses with large angelic wings.

"A chollima? Am I in Korea?" She asked herself aloud. A closer look at the statue revealed a hollowed-out stand for the horses to stand on; inside was filled with hot coals and lumps of wood for a steady, stable blaze. She turned away from the flame quickly with her eyes screwed shut. Suddenly, a thought came to her mind.

"Diana?" She called out, but no one replied to her. "Diana? Rei? Kane? DIANA?!" She searched for her family and saw her messenger bag next to a set of wooden brown doors. Desperately, she crawled towards her bag and tore it open. The first thing she reached for was her cellphone. Once the screen glows with life, she grits her teeth in annoyance at the lack of signal. "Fuck you, you fucking waste of $800 bucks!" She screamed at the device in English.

She was stranded with no way of communication and no idea where she was. As she pressed the heel of her palm to her temples, the clicking and clunking sound of the dark bird again came close.

"What are you looking at, pigeon breath?" Their eyes met as the animal gave a few awkward head tilts and soft coos before its neck straightened up. A deep, mighty crow that strained the vocal cords and set a bomb off in her mind. Every cell in her brain burned as she lost all the strength in her muscles. Her body flooded with adrenaline as her eyes melted into the soulless black that ultimately spread into the veins surrounding her eyes. Then the beast crowded again. Her teeth all shifted into jagged edges. Her mind was desperate, feral, and angry. The sound drove her mad.

Her angry gaze landed on the rooster, and she charged and ripped the head away rapidly. The body pranced around for a few seconds before falling into a pool of its own blood.

In the silence, she found some peace. Her face morphed back into human features as she panted heavily. That one sound depleted her Chi and drained her energy. "What the hell was that?" she asked herself as she struggled to sit up. "Never in my 518 years alive have I ever felt anything like that," She murmured under her breath as she reached for her bag.