Poison Amara

Burning Hour

  These halls were worse than the ones in The Unseen. Still forged out of stone, but countless black metal doors kept prisoners in. Down the hallway were the agonizing screams of a little girl. Her cries for dear mercy beyond fear echoed down the hall. They were only muffled occasionally by the large metal boots of a warden. Behind him, this warden dragged Amara by his right forearm. The Warden's right metal hand gripped where Amara's used to be, squeezing the wound of any blood it held, staining his iron fist. Amara was winded, his face was pale and body was limp. Soon the Warden turned to his right and kicked open a metallic door. The loud bang seemed to wake Amara up. His eyes widened as he was suddenly thrown in the cell without any words. He slammed into his left side and cried out in agony as his wound began aching again. The pain was unbearable.
As Amara writhed in pain on the ground, the only thing on his mind was the burning and scorching on the place his hand used to be. The door slam shut again. Immediately, Amara felt a gentle hand on his shoulder. When he turned to look quickly he saw Ishtar's soft and concerned face. Just like that the pain went away like before. He looked at his right arm to see that the red wound showing bone and muscle was now just a healed over knob of tough tissue and skin.
"How did you get in here?" Amara asked.
"Clotho's special power. We don't tell you everything..but I have to leave again as soon as someone comes back..I'm sorry. I'll be here recording, but I cannot be discovered."
"I see..be carful.."
Ishtar looked around, resting her knees on the hard stone floor and observing her surroundings.
"This is..the place you grew up in."
"Yeah it's..very charming." Amara shrugged then stood up, "You'd get used to it."
"No I-...I wouldn't. Clotho is still alive, that's why her magic works. She's tearing through the surface trying to get to the commander..his soldiers are...strong."
"The plan was to show the world my suffering and that's that. Where are we broadcasting to?" Amara asked.
"Guerrilla City...closest city to us, just a mile on the other side of the forest...Amara..do you really think this is gonna work?"
"It has to..I have-...we have nothing else.."
Footsteps echoed on the other side of the door. Ishtar's eyes flashed purple and she was gone in the blink of an eye. Now that Amara knew everything was being recorded he could act crazy to get yelled at more. Except, something was off about this warden. It was a slim tall woman, about six feet tall from Amara's estimation. Amara looked at her but didn't know how to process what he saw. From head to toe she was covered in black leather so thin and tight it defined everything on her body. Every curve, every smooth arch, every dip, every crevasse. It went all the way up to her face and ended in a zipper past the leather that covered her features, her smooth round head, and her neck. This zipper was blood red and remained shut.
Something wasn't right. It felt like there was no way that this woman could be real at all. Amara tried to speak.
"Who-"
BOOM! Amara's ears rung the worths right out of him. The barrel of a pistol stared back into his eyes. The bullet hole smoked behind him, level with his head but missing entirely. The woman walks in and the door closes by itself behind her. As she walks close to Amara, Amara backs up. Every time she moves he can hear bones cracking, flesh stretching, the smell of a dead body filled the air. He was familiar with the stench but this time it bothered him to a gag. She raised her left hand, holding the pistol with only two fingers. When she slowly put the weapon behind her back. Her hand emerged without any pistol at all.
"Who are you?" He asked.
"Who are you?" The woman repeated in a voice identical to his immediately. It was so fast there's no way she could've known his whole sentence.
"You're not a warden."
"You're not a warden"
"Stop that"
"Stop that"
Amara now refused to talk. Suddenly, his back began to hurt intensely. He felt a ring of pain build up slowly, then a smaller ring within that one. It burned, burned so hard he almost passed out on the spot. In his daze of pain he stumbled back into the wall then fell to his hands and knees. His face pointed to the ground as he began whimpering and growling in pain, arms shaking violently. The woman bent down and gripped his shirt by its collar. Without any resistance, his shirt was ripped from his body, revealing a large Sigil on his back.
"Is it.." the woman said in his voice, "is it a Sigil? No..cannot be."
The pain suddenly vanished. Amara, still in shock, leaned back onto his knees and tried catching his breath. It is now he realizes that this being's sheer presence is making the air so thick it's hard to breathe at all. A knot builds up in his throat as if he was suffocating in food.
The simple white light bulb above began to flicker. For a split second a black shadow of a girl stood in the corner, staring at Amara with red eyes before vanishing the next second when the lights flickered again. This time he saw it fully and his mind lost it.
"There..you saw her."
"What?" Amara said confused.
"You saw her..didn't you?"
"W-what do you mean?"
The Woman began laughing. Her shoulders rose and fell with every cackle. The lights stopped flickering as the woman promptly left the room. The door slammed shut and Amara was left in shock against the wall. Suddenly Ishtar grabs his left hand which startles him. He yelps in terror before his breathing gets loud, fast, and frantic.
   "Woah Amara.." She reassured him, "Calm...callllmmm..I'm here it's okay..The Warden came back in just to check on you and you started acting weird.."
   "That wasn't the warden!" Amara raised his voice, "You clearly saw that it was some woman in a crazy outfit and..a thing..in the corner."
   "No..I'm afraid I only saw The Warden."
   "I don't believe you.." Amara said, his body behinds to tremble. "I know what I saw, Ishtar!"
    Ishtar sighs and makes a concerned face. She slowly pulls out the small Tablet from her pocket and taps on the screen a little. She then points it towards him. On the screen is a clear high quality scene of what just happened, she recorded it just like he knew she would. However, it was a completely different scenario. The Warden did come in, stood at the door for a second then stepped inside. All the Warden did was kneel down and mess around with Amara's feet for a little, using some odd metallic tools on the floor. The Warden then left, ignoring Amara talking to himself and pressing against the wall.
   Amara's eyes widen. Ishtar turns invisible again just like before but her voice is still here. Amara looks down and notices two large shackles on his ankles. The Warden just chained him to the floor so he couldn't move around much.
   "This...place must hit you in such a personal spot to make you freak out that much.." Ishtar softly spoke.
    "It was never that bad.." Amara sighs and sits down, staring at his feet. "I just hope Clotho's okay. You said she's trying to kill the Commander?"
    "Mhm, she's stronger than you think. I bet she's okay...like..what if this doesn't work...you're locked in here too, Ishtar."
    "I'll be okay, as long as Clotho lives I can teleport to her whenever I want..I wish I could teleport you too.." Ishtar's tone suddenly got sad. Amara noticed the girl's screaming down the hall getting louder and louder. It churned a hole into his heart and made him sick. Though he couldn't see her, he knew it made Ishtar uncomfortable too.
"Do you know more about the Commander?" He asked, trying to change the subject.
"His real name is Simon..what we called him before is what the locals call him. He's a douche..stuck up..confident for no reason and a little bitch..trash. Takes pride in his work and gets off on torturing people like us."
"Sounds about right.."
"Yeah well-...maybe when Clotho comes back with his head on her spear she can help us free these children. Then we can all piss on his grave together."
"You are a different person when angry, Ishtar.." Amara smirked a little. This smirk died as soon as the girl began screaming in pain again. It made him think about the dark shadow he saw in the corner. The way it stared at him seemed so personal it made his arms shiver just by imagining her. He looked so familiar though. Part of him wanted to see her again.