Hell's Reign

Chapter 1

Darkness. All I see is pitch black darkness. I can't see my hand in front of my face; I can't even feel the ground beneath my feet, but before my eyes can adjust to my surroundings, flames erupt around me out of nowhere. The heat from the flames is instantaneous, licking against my skin in a sweet kiss. And then, a high pitch scream pierces the night as figures arise out of the flames approaching....

Sitting up so quickly, I fell out of the bed with a thud gasping for air, wisps of my billowing dirty blonde hair sticking to my forehead, and my hand tightly clenching over my heart to stop the sudden start of an anxiety attack. My whole body is quaking, an earthquake of it's very own, with silent tears streaming down my face. Glancing up through the tiny window, I found my face bathed in the blood-red moon, initiating a serene calm through my body; my tears stopped, my body relaxed, and my heart beat slowed down.

Before I could even grasp the reality of what was happening, I heard Karina [kah-ryn-a] before she appeared from the hidden passageway under my bed poking my foot to get my attention.

"Ppppsssssttt! Ya ready? It's time. We gotta go now!" she whispered urgently, well as quietly as she was capable of anyway.

Whipping my head around, I glared at her without thinking, and snapped, "Karina, quit pushing my buttons! Let me grab my bag, and I'll be down. Be there in three."

Gasping, she pulled back from me in stunned silence searching my face, trying to figure out why I was on edge. Sighing. I put my hands on my head to get a breath, then looked at her calmly, apologetically.

"I'm sorry Karina. I didn't mean to snap. I woke up from a nightmare," I quietly admitted refusing to meet her eyes.

"Ohhh.... That one again Reina [Ree-nah]?" she asked in a small, timid voice.

"No. This one was worse..." I paused, closing my eyes to get a grip, and then saying, "... we don't have time now. We must go. Before the Matron does her rounds." Avoidance. Yep, that is what I have been getting good at, plain old avoidance. Mother have mercy but, we don't have time, and shit, she doesn't need to have this to add to her list of nightmares.

She just stares at me for a brief minute, contemplating if I was right, then nods with a grimace and disappears. Rolling my eyes in exhaustion, I glance at the moon one more time with a longing stronger than ever before. Shaking myself free of the calling, I slip my knee high leather boots up by toned, and evenly tanned skin, I tuck my blades in the sheathes hidden in my boots, throw on my cloak making sure to tuck my long braid in, and then grab my knapsack.

Quickly crawling under the bed, I throw myself feet first down the hole, and quietly push the trap door up with a brace from the other side; I don't even glance back at my prison one last time. After all, it was time, it was now; we were getting out of this prison once and for all. We have to. No, we need to. Before for they come.

Crouching down in the darkness underneath the floorboards, it didn't take long for my vision to adjust to the dark before I moved forward. Carefully, and as quietly as possible, I made my way through the crawlspace, enjoying the feel of the cool, smooth, yet subtle coarse dirt beneath my hands. The closer I got to the exit the more I could practically taste the freedom on the tip of my tongue.

Pulling myself through the exit, which was hidden at the edge of the "Arena Valley," (in the universal tongue, Blood Valley.) Some say that the Arena Valley earned its name from the endless valley of rolling hills of sand that were mixed with the cardinal blood of the lost, of the damned, and even of the sacrificed. I looked up at the moon, took a deep breath, and glanced at Karina for her nod of approval to begin. After confirmation that neither of us changed our mind, we pulled up our hoods, and set foot into the Arena Valley. Glancing behind me to make sure our absence wasn't noted, I took of jogging at a quick pace with Karina by my side matching my stride.