Inner Darkness (Book 2 of Dragonfire series)

Chapter 5

Aradia's POV

I'm so sick of this damn prison. Kindness and happiness covers every square inch. Disgusting. The guards of the "camp" as they call it continue to try to break us and make us soft, but little do they know there is nothing to break. We're as dark as it gets. They make us wear these awful pink robe-things, as if the color pink will make us reevaluate our lives. Wrong. Kiora, Ravyn, and I are sitting on a hammock in the garden. We're surrounded by flowers and butterflies and the sun. It is always sunny, or as the hidden radios that are literally everywhere say, "another perfect day on this beautiful earth." The only way to get any privileges around here is to show improvement, so we practice.

"Oh, how lovely it is the way the sun glistens on that cherry blossom; it makes me oh so happy," Kiora says bitterly.

"Your voice needs to sound light and floaty or no one will believe it," Ravyn snaps at her. Those idiots are always arguing.

"I love this pink hue on our robes, it really brings out the softness in my smile," I say convincingly.

"That was pretty good, except your face didn't express any emotion. You need to smile and bat your eyelashes." Ravyn demonstrated and I sighed in annoyance.

"This is unacceptable. We had the Dragonfire within our grasp! It was ours to control, until that faerie came and stole it! Let me make one thing clear, I will get out of here, and when I do, Alena is mine." Just as the words left my mouth, we heard a loud boom come from the main prison building. An alarm went off and guards went running towards the sound.

"Finally some action around here!" Kiora said desperate for something bad to happen. The once sunny sky now had ominous lightning clouds, threatening to unleash their energy. Kiora tried to use her magic, but remembered that within the prison walls there was an anti-magic spell that was impossible to break. She grunted angrily and crossed her arms. Suddenly, a black hole formed in front of us, slowly growing bigger as it spun. A man emerged, and a wicked grin spread on my face. He was tall and thin, his skin was the deepest red I've ever seen. He wore black armor and a ripped black cape drifting behind him in the breeze. It was hard for me to look into his black, lifeless eyes. Kiora and Ravyn joined me on either side, smiling amongst ourselves at what we hoped would be the beginning of something big.

"I hope you ladies are ready for a jailbreak." The words rolled off his tongue with a deep, throaty accent. He reached out for us, but pulled away when a blast flew between us. The guards were firing guns at the man. His face hardened, and did something I've never seen before. Flames engulfed him before revealing a fiery Phoenix.

"I didn't know guys could transform," Ravyn whispered to us.

"Neither did I," I said as I stared in awe. It breathed fire out its mouth and took out every guard in a single blow. He then returned into his man-like form and cleared his throat.

"I apologize you had to see that, I don't appreciate being shot at." He said, knowing we were impressed.

"I'll admit, that was pretty cool. I guess you can hang around with us," I said tauntingly. He held his arm out to his side, and we walked into his chest. He wrapped his cape around us with his arm as we disappeared into the portal.