Mother of Monsters (Camp NaNoWriMo 2015)

Chapter XII

At least there was a pebble in the room. I chucked it at the wall hard enough so it would bounce back to me, hoping it would hit me in the eye for being stupid.

How could I just ditch my friends in the forest? At least they're safe in their homes right now. Well, maybe not Elios. He's probably with Milea, hiding from his family. Or he might actually be in his house, fighting off his father and brothers. Maybe he'll win this time. It's sad if I'm not there to patch his wounds afterwards.

Fate is cruel to every one of us. No one can escape its cruel claws, ready to rip them from the comfort they're used to. Fate was cruel to Elios for putting him in a family that never wanted him. Fate is cruel to me for giving me a sense of hope that things could be changed. And fate would surely be cruel to a pupil as devoted as Milea in the near future.

I don't know how long I've been chucking this pebble at the wall, but it's slowly breaking apart and it's begging to take the dark color of the wall. Wow this is such a metaphor for our lives. I decided to stop causing harm to the poor thing and lightly throw it away from me. My arm was getting tired anyway.

I lied down on the floor, sending shivers up my spine. How long until morning? Ezenta sure is one cruel woman to let a person just sit here until they're executed. And I'm not just a person to her. I'm her daughter. And I know for a fact that she cares for her children, no matter if they're the oldest or not. She treats Nuaris with the same level of respect as Nemera. Why can't she show some compassion for me?

All of a sudden I hear a lot of grunting, screams and steel outside my door. It was enough to make me stand up, looking through the small window I had on my door that the guards would normally use to pass food through. There I see a guard standing above all the others, his sword dripping in blood. He quickly steals something from the guard at the entrance and comes into the room. "Raella!" His voice echoed through the corridor. "Where are you?" He yelled

I felt lighter as soon as I heard that voice. I would know that voice through the market on the busiest day of the week. I would know that voice if I went blind and needed someone to guide me. I go to shout Elios, but someone else beats me to it. "Elios, what are you doing here?" There was a hiccup in her voice.

"Milea? What are you doing here?" He walked past my door and went to the door next to me, breaking the handle off and letting the door open.

"I feel like I should be saying that to both of you." I yelled through the window. "I thought you didn't want anything to do with me."

"Stand back." Elios ordered. It was a damn shame we were criminals. If Elios had a chance to complete his Coming of Age ceremony, then he would have made a damn good commander. I did as he said and he cut the door open. "Well, Milea convinced me that you weren't a shitty person after all."

"Aw, thanks Mil." I slapped the wall where Milea's cell would be. "You have no idea how happy it makes me that you'd risk your lives for me." I left the cell.

"Let's go Millie, we don't have all day before someone else notices that there are a lot of dead guards on this floor." Elios walked over to her door. He was about to speak, but a horrified look on his face silenced him. "Shit." He softly whispered, careful not to make Milea hear.

"What?" I ask sort of concerned, more afraid. I look into the cell and I see a confused Milea, except something about her looks completely different. I walk up to her and turn her face towards me. I gasped at what I saw.

The area around her eyes was tanner than the rest of her face, giving an appearance of a mask almost. But the part that disturbed me the most were her eyes. They were completely white. No sign of a pupil or iris or anything you would find in a normal eye.