Sonus

Prologue

Fairy taleswere just that, stories to make the poor and the misfits have hope;there was no prince charming coming to pull girls out of theirmisfortune, and there wasn't any girl locked away in a towerwaiting to be saved from an evil witch. Stories were created to makepeople feel better about their own situations, and in most case forthose of them on the outside it worked. But for those of us stuck inhere, the brutal truth of reality was something we fought and livefor every day. No friends, no family, no one to hold and care for;for those poor few who had something defective there was nothing butthe arena. Every day was a fight for survival, the challengers neverworried about their next meal; they only prayed to survive the nextfight. The fight for their very life, the hope that they'd get putup against someone who they had an advantage against.

She had learned not to care aboutwhether or not she survived, because she already knew she would. Noone in the arena could stand near her and not have a fatal wound;they chained and gagged her like a wild animal. But that was what shewas, an animal locked in a cage for the noble's amusement. Shecould still remember the day her life changed; the day she had beenlabeled a defect. Defects were the people or rather the elves thatdidn't meet the criteria of the Noble Elves; the causes of defectswere numerous and abundant. They went from the wrong hair color tolame eye to a birthmark; but she was a special defect, she was achild of Sonus. A child cursed with the ability to hear and seeeverything; even when blind folded and bound ears, the world was awretched place for them.

Sonus was the cursed deity of the darkelves, a race long since extinct. Their temples destroyed anddesecrated over two hundred years ago; but their blood still live onin a few elves. Their hatred for their light counterpart Fae stillsung within their veins. Her own mother had turned her in, thatwoman had been at wits end with her when it had happened. She hadalways hated being outside because it had been painful and terrifyingfor her. Even now ten years after her entry to the arena she stillscreamed in pain constantly, till her voice was raw and her throatbloody. But still she survived, no one could fell a child of Sonus onthe battle field without magic. But humans couldn't learn the artsunless they were Halflings, which were hard to come by in the arena.

She could hear it the heartbeats of athousand elves and five thousand humans beating in time with oneanother. She was being led through the halls but her chains, she wasthe main attraction today; the royal family was present today. Theywanted her to fight one of their Halfling pets, they wished to seeher suffer at the hands of a magic user. There is was a soundheartbeat all a flutter with excitement and a dizzying smell ofhormones; the Halfling was nervous and quite young. But there was oneheartbeat that stopped for a second as she entered the arena, shecould feel the lone resentment and pity radiating from it. As she wasled to the center of the ring she turned her head towards it, curiousat this new type of heartbeat in a crowd of heartless onlookers.

However she wasn't able to find outmuch more as her blind fold and ear bindings were torn off; shescreeched out in pain thrashing at the roar of visions and soundsinvaded her mind. She felt sick and vertigo caused her to stagger,they want her to lose. To prove that Children of Sonus could bekilled, by a lower rate than the humans. They dared to challenge her?They wanted her to learn her place in her own private kingdom, butshe would show them theirs. She flitted her eyes to that singleheartbeat that she felt, but it was hidden among the nobles; as shecame to this conclusion she was slammed into the wall behind her. Thecrowd cheered at this, for a long moment she sat there still as astatue. Soon enough the crowd fell silent, and the Halfling walkedtowards her intent on finishing her off. How amusing; she couldn'thelp herself as she started to laugh uncontrollably.

"You people are so stupid...hehehe..."Her voice rang out across the silent arena; "You sit therescreaming and cheering for the one who's winning like a bunch ofpigs waiting to be fed. Don't you elves have anything to say tothat? What are you so afraid of? Little old me? The child of Sonus?The carrier of the cursed blood of the Dark elves? Or maybe...you'rethinking about how you can't kill me." She stood up eyes closedagainst the visions her Sonus blood showed her. "How many timeshave you sent your little toys after me? How many times have youfailed? Why not come down and finish me off?! Or are you to scared toleave you glass thrown Fae King?" She laughed as she snapped theneck of the Halfling child with a sickening wet crack. "You may bethe ruler of the people on the outside...but down here...in thislittle cage you people put us defects in...I. Am. Their. King!" Aroar of approval reached the arena from the fighters below listening."One day, you're going to need us. And what are you going to dowhen you need me to get them to fight? Why shouldn't we just letyou all die?"

"Silence worm!" One of the Noblesshouted.

"I.Am. TALKING!" She snarledscaring the Fae back into his seat. "You all sit up there and watchus tear each other to shreds...but you forget. We are you sons anddaughters, your mothers and fathers, your neighbors and lovers, yourfriends and family. And still you come here and cheer as we areforced to kill one another like a couple of animals! And animals we.Have. Become!" Another cheer from below reached them. "I see whatis happening, I know what is coming! The day will come when you needus. The ones you forgot and sold out or left behind! You better allgo home and think, pray to your gods! Pray that you can offer ussomething in return for our protection! Because I will not tell themto fight or ask them to protect a land in which we are slaughtered!Or thrown in prison and hanged! I can promise you! That when you needus the most, that you can blame your Fae king from hell as you'reslaughtered by the upcoming storm. Pray that your king finds a way toconvince me to stand on the front lines! Because I will tell youthis...The Darkness is coming, and when is falls upon us...yourprecious silence will die!"

She turned towards the King and his family and looked right into thecold endless eyes that were the kings, and saw the fear flashingacross them. She turned away from them and retreated back to thedarkness of the under arena; she would need time to recover from allthe noise and visions that Sonus blood granted her. All she had to donow was wait; and pray that she could save the Defects from theupcoming war. Because even the blood of Sonus knew nothing of the endresult...