The Fortress

"What is this place? Who are you, people? Someone, help me! Please." These are her words when she first arrived at the fortress.

She is a beautiful young woman. Through her blue eyes, you'll see a brave yet innocent girl. She is strong and her body is well-proportioned. Her long, curly red hair compliments her tan skin. She is not the first to come into the fortress and might not be the last.

A slam from the next room made her tremble. "Pull yourself together, will you?" Said the woman next door. She then shuts up, takes refuge in the corner, draws her knees to her chest, and closes her eyes tightly. With her bare hands, she covers her ears to block the gruesome chaos in her mind. As she is now imprisoned and unable to break free, a feeling of helplessness emerges in her. She looks around and stares at the ceiling. It is as dark as the night sky, but without the moon and stars. "Lost in the breeze, lost in darkness, seek the truth and find the light," she murmured.

Her airless cage smells stuffy, shrouded in darkness, which prevents her from getting a glimpse of herself. There is no window. There's only one door that's fully locked and heavily guarded. For now, the only thing she has is the screaming, the mewl, and the sound of a head banging on the wall. If she's not strong, her sanity won't last long.

It's been weeks since she arrived at the fortress. "I've already lost count of the days," she said. She can't recall how she got to this dark hellhole. She can't even remember her name. All she feels is pain, rage, and desperation.

As she caresses her arms, she can feel that something has changed in her body. "I have to be strong. I can't lose my mind," she said.

Every night, she'll wake up from a nightmare. In this vivid dream, she walked through a sandstorm where she saw a familiar high mountain. She then followed a trail and found a blazing fire burning houses not far away in the east. Later on, she smelled the putrid odor of decayed animals, which made her feel sick. Straightaway, she heard a noise from people screaming and crying out for help. Then she found a little girl who was moaning in pain, reaching out to her hand. By the time before she wakes up, she saw a woman in a horrifying condition, bathing in her blood, mumbling and telling her, "You have to fight for our freedom." This is the dream that she always sees constantly and won't stop.

.........

There is a strange woman whom she always sees. She wears a peplum white silk dress that reveals her hourglass body shape. The girl only knows her by her perfume, which smells of rose, and by the sound of her footsteps.

Every day they bring the girl to the white room that is air-purified, bright, and well-illuminating. The white room is bloodcurdling for prisoners. It has a bed with chains on both sides and sharp instruments. A place where most of them are being tortured and where they meet the strange woman. The strange woman has a fooling, angelic smile, but when you look through her eyes, she is soulless. She has a dark face that is full of wickedness. But everyone in the fortress seems to respect her, honor her, and address her as Queen.

"Should we start?" Asked the man.

The strange woman nods and smirks.

"You'll wish you had me killed,"

"What do you want from me?" The girl asked.

The strange woman sneers and says nothing.

"It looks like everyone here is sadistic but mute and deaf," she said.

They force the girl to take a bitter vial that makes her sleep. In a split second, her body suddenly shakes violently, then becomes stiff in thin air, and her heart stops beating. The room becomes quiet, and then her eyes open, but everything around her blurs.

..............

The girl wakes up back in her room and feels an ache in her back. She slams her bed and stomps the floor out of rage.

"I'll kill her for all this pain she causes me. I will not die until I bring her to an end. You picked the wrong girl!" She yelled.

"Just give up," said the woman next door.

"I might not know who I am, but I know someone out there needs me," she said.

The door buzzed open. A glint of green light entered the room, and two tall, skinny men wearing white uniforms came in. They brought handcuffs with chains and a black cloth. "This is it," she said. She quickly grabs the first man's head and hits it on the wall. Her powerful strike made the man fall to the floor and bleed. Then she pulls the chain, locks it around the other man's neck, and yanks until she knocks him down. Meanwhile, the first man gets up; he can barely stand up, but he's able to slap the alarm, and the piercing sound of a blaring siren echoes all over. He then tries to stab her with a sedative, but she quickly dodges it. Then he grabs her red hair and hits her head on the floor. Her head gruesomely bleeds. She feels dizzy, and everything around her blurs. The man sits on her and chokes her. She then hits him in the wound on the head, and then she grabs the black cloth. And suffocates him until he passes out.

She can hardly run, but she's relentless. She runs in a long, dark hallway until she can't catch her breath and finds a light that causes her eyes to squint. There's a silhouette of a woman standing in her direction. The strange woman is now in front of her, blocking her way, and there's a man beside her. He wears a white slim-fit suit that is made of cashmere, wool, and silk with diamond embellishments on its lapels. She frowned, and then her eyes widened in shock. Her memories were coming back. "Lu... Lucio? Help me! Help me!" she screamed. The guards grab her arms and try to pull her back to her room. "Let me go! Lucio! Why?" She cried.

Lucio walks away with his arms crossed, then looks back over his shoulder and says, "Because you're the only hope."

To be continued...