Blumen Fire

Prologue ***

Eila couldn't hear.

She couldn't see.

All she could do was feel the pain.

She tried to writhe.

To twist.

To flee away.

But she couldn't.

She thrashed, nothing seen beyond her eyes than white hot pain and the blackness of the inside of her eyelids. She was unaware of the hard concrete on her back, unaware of the screams emitting around her, unaware of the mechanical laughter that was coming from somewhere...someone. All she could do was close her eyes and curl onto the ground, trying to keep her lungs breathing. Someone was wrenching her arm around, pleading, screaming, crying...the soft blur of tears dripped onto Eila's arm. She wished she could reach and hug whoever it was...yet a new wave of pain brought on more screams...or maybe they were coming from her.

Boiling cauldrons of laser-hot lava was poured into her veins, knives were cutting into her skin, ax heads were being buried into every limb possible of her body. Her chest heaved. A large, heavy ball rolled off of it, and some of the chest pains disappeared. Eila rolled over and tried to take deep breaths– yet there was no air–she panicked, and her breathing became shallower and quicker...something deadly was thrashing inside her heart...her veins were exploding with pain...

"Stop! Stop! Eila!"

She could barely hear the screams, yet somehow they penetrated her ringing ears and registered in her foggy, pain-crazed brain. The voice was full of pain...yet not physical pain, emotional pain...shouting, screaming for her to stop...stop what? Stop being in pain? If only...Eila squeezed her eyes shut. No. She had to think straight. The voice had been crying...it must've been the crier...and the soft accent and hysterical screams of the shouter was recognized as though the final piece had been found.

A soft groan escaped Eila's lips as she tried to reach the voice. More screams registered, saying incoherent words, shouting unintelligible things, begging, pleading, crying...and all along, the voice of her sister was amongst them all...

At last, Eila opened her soft brown eyes. She squinted through her thick dark eyelashes– everything was blurred, yet the silhouette, the crying, scared face of Maya was leaning above her, soft tears dripping down her face and onto Eila. A black cannon was lying aside and sitting on it was a small white dog, eyes wide, staring straight at her, and love-dozed plumes struck her chest.

"Maya..." she whispered. Her throat felt hoarse, burnt, and parched. She swallowed.

Maya shook her head, tears still coming strong.

"Listen to me, Maya..." Eila croaked, and with instinct, reached up and grabbed Maya's shirt with more force than intended. Her fingers tightened and she clenched her jaw to barely hold back a scream. This was it. The moment...she knew it had been coming. Everything was too dangerous at the moment. She hastened to talk quickly to Maya before her breath was stolen. "Don't trust Oliver, he's a total idiot...he only wants your love, then he will betray you..." she tried, but her voice was gone. Vanished. Like a ghost in the dark.

Maya's mouth opened, but Eila's senses shut down.

No more screams.

No more blurs.

No more pressure.

No more pain.

Eila sank gratefully into the calm, her breathing calming...almost like it was stopping...

And her hand went limp.