Where am I? I thought to the darkness surrounding me. Cold metal bit into my skin, as I struggled the realization that I was completely immobilized. The metal felt different though, both chillingly cold and burning hot and the same time.
'Don't bother, darling.' A woman's voice said, a hint of amusement hidden within her lilting voice. 'Pure iron, designed specifically for beings like you.' The lights came on, and I saw that I was cuffed to a chair, like the ones you'd see in horror movies. Two cuffs secured my wrists tightly, and two more restrained my knees, the final pair locked my ankles in place. I tried to speak, but no voice came out.
What do you want from me? I yelled in silence although it was practically futile.
'Simple.' The speaker stepped into the light, and I almost fainted. Her skin was dead gray tinged with blue, her eyes were a pupilless gray of a corpse, but her blood red lips were twisted into a savage smile, giving the impression that she had just drowned, but still enjoying it immensely. 'Tell us the location of the Wings in exchange for your freedom.'
The Wings?
'Don't play the fool with me, your majesty.' She hissed, lunging forward, all traces of a smile gone and replaced with a terrible rage. I couldn't help but notice how close those razor sharp fingernails were close to my throat. One scratch and I'll end up dead, or worse, I gulped and stared up at those dead emotionless eyes, I'll end up just like her. 'Tell us the location or else!'
'Don't bother, Narissa.' A deep baritone sounded from the shadows. 'He's not going to tell, and I don't have time for truth riddles from a royal.'
'Fine then,' Narissa breathed, retreating into the shadows, the reflective gray of her milky eyes dimming to darkness. 'Perhaps the Games will soften him up. Swine!' She screeched, and I heard a thump followed by the hiss reminiscent of a cat's. 'Release the beasts.' She stuck her face back in, a look of hunger in her eyes. 'LET THE GAMES BEGIN!' Another shot of pain exploded behind my skull, and I was out like a light.
***
The crowd roared in a frenzy, a cacophony of noises echoing into the night air. Two hooded figures knelt in silence at the edge of the arena walls, careful to avoid detection.
'Kyle's tonight's special.' One confirmed, the heather light fading from his hands.
'Never expected much from a crummy arena anyways.' His companion mused, his amber eyes fixed on the bleachers.
The first figure flipped open an ancient tome, consulting it with a glowing finger. 'I can temporarily bypass the wards and open a return portal. But it won't last long.' He looked up at his companion. 'Are you sure you can get him in thirty minutes?'
The companion smiled, baring his elongated canines in a predatorial smile. 'Watch me.'
***
'Attention combatant, you will now select your weapons.' The voice commanded, leaving me facing a room full of real tools of war. Two soldiers had dragged me here, leaving me to my fate. As soon as I stepped into the middle of the room, two metal bands had locked my legs in place leaving me with no option of escape. Thinking quickly, I lifted a black quiver off the rack, along with a bow carved out of what looked suspiciously like bone.
'Selection complete, all teammates prepared and synchronized, proceed to Games.' The ground lurched, making me lose my balance, the weapons room faded from view, and I was ascending a narrow, long tube.
You know that scene in the Hunger Games when Katniss rose up the tube to a massive bloodbath around the Cornucopia? Yeah, it was almost like that, with the addition of a raging audience to the mix. It was almost like a gladiator fight back in ancient Rome in the Coliseum. The arena seats rising up, the cheering was endless, its' seats covered with all manner of creatures, brutish ogres to humans with eyes like starlight wreathed in shadow. Beside me, six more combatants rose from their deployment tubes, the same expression written on their face, fear.
'Welcome one, welcome all!' A familiar voice crowed from the emperor's box, Narissa leered at me from the balcony. Suddenly, I felt scared. 'Tonight,' Her raspy voice echoed around the arena, rising about the noise of the crowd. 'We have ourselves a treat of the century, a mortal combatant!' She pointed a finger at me, and the crowd went wild, my teammates stared at me in disbelief, shock covering their faces. All except one, his hooded cloak obscuring his face, and I noticed he held in his hand a long black staff as a weapon.
'Yes, a mortal.' She said with obvious relish, running a tongue over her lips. 'So what does this mortal deserve? Hmm? Perhaps...maybe...the challenge of the Arena?' The crowd exploded, bloodlust in their eyes.
'Then let the games begin!' The ground shook, thrumming with the power of a savage earthquake. A roar as purplish flames sprang up around us, cutting off all exits from the battlefield. Glowing ruins rose from the ground like a phantom city, solidifying into solid stone as they settled, transforming the battlefield into a city of ruins and obstacles. A guttural roar echoed from beneath the battlefield. A thought sprang into my mind, Dragon? I almost paralyzed.
'You've got no chance, mortal.' One competitor said, putting on a helmet that obscured most of his face, leaving only his eyes and mouth exposed to the air. 'The wyverns are faster than us, use the ruins.' With that advice, they sprinted off into separate ways, each darting into an archway or leaping over the crumbling walls, all vanishing into the ancient ruins. I gulped, whatever wyverns were, I didn't want to find out. Taking a deep breath, I darted forward, with my weapons as my only forms of protection as I trudged forward into the unknown.
YOU ARE READING
The Secret Service: The Wings of Titania
ФэнтезиWhen people think of the Secret Service, one word come to mind---spies. But nobody knows there is another Secret Service, one that operates from the shadows, consisting of four elite members. Each possessing unique abilities of their own, they are s...
