"You take the blue pill, the story ends. You wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes." --The Matrix
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It is not pleasant to wake up with what feels like a hammer being driven through the back of your skull.
Just clearing that up.
The back of my head pounded, feeling like a screw was being driven into the bone with each pulse. My eyelids were caked down to the skin below them, and about as heavy as a brick.
Something wet trickled against my arm, running from my elbow to wrist. I stretched out my fingers and felt along the ground-- the rough, wet, and cold stone a foreign touch to my hand.
Through the small sliver of a crack I managed to make with my right eyelid, a bright yellow light shone, illuminating everything to a color so bright I felt as if I had to close my eyes to avoid blindness.
Slowly, the light dimmed to a non-blinding brightness. I forced my eyes open, feeling like it took all my strength to do that one, simple move.
The ceiling was high above me, stone pieced together, sparkling with wet.
I turned my eyes to the side to see the wall. It was the same as the ceiling--brown, mold covered bricks. A dank stench filled my nostrils.
Where am I?
A clattering of objects sounded behind me.
"Take the food. Here's an extra for her," a gruff voice ordered. A one-man march followed the man from the dungeon.
The dungeon. That's where I am.
A sudden thought hit me. There were two others in my same cell. Who were they? Why'd Vadik put my in a cell with two other people? What were they going to do--
Squeak.
I cursed and bolted across to the other side of the cell. The back of my head erupted into white-hot pain, flaring through my skull. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to stop the headache threatened to attack me.
It didn't work.
"The zombie lives!" shouted (at least I thought shouted--it was probably normal-speak) a low voice.
I turned my head in the direction of the sound. Emerald green eyes sparkled as they met mine, twinkling in happiness--even though we were in a jail.
"Joshua," I muttered.
He opened his arms, unable to hold back his smile anymore. I threw myself onto him. His body was small and thin underneath the white shirt that hid him. His hair was tangled and long, he was dirty, he smelled bad--I didn't care.
Number one, because that was normal, and number two, he was my brother.
His hand rubbed the top of my head, careful to avoid the base of my skull. "I missed you," he whispered.
I pulled back. A small beard and mustache was on his face. "Every day."
He bent down, beckoning me to sit with him. I glanced across the cell to the corner. A thin man was lying down against the wall, eyes closed. His chest rose and fell slightly, and when he breathed out, the piece of gray hair that fell across his face moved with him.
"How'd you get out?" Joshua asked.
I turned my attention back to him. "Not the right question. How did you get here?"
YOU ARE READING
Inside the Beast's Castle
Fantasy"As soon as you believe you are a monster is when you become one." After many years of war, the kingdom of Edria is finally in an era of peace--peace obtained by one thing and one thing only. A deal. King Regol has made a deal with the devil, or r...
