Nero Salvic~Memories of the Protector

Chapter 13

I gasp myself back into life, body convulsing as the darkness disappears and my body rings with pain, cold striking my spine like a whip.

The black drips from my legs, revealing my body once more.

I blink once, twice, trying to clear the fuzz in my eyes. I find that I can’t move my hands as I attempt to wipe my eyes, and look back, my neck clicking as I do so; an after-effect of the numbness before.

My hands are chained to a thick, grimy stone wall, I think.

Scanning the room, everything looks like a grey mess at first.

My knees hang just a few centimetres from the ground.

It’s tantalising to think that if I had legs a tiny bit longer, I’d be a hell-of a lot comfier right now.

Instead, my wrists are being rubbed raw as rusty metal shackles chain them to a wall.

Suddenly there is an echo of screaming across the room and I swiftly turn my head so my eyes can seek out the noise.

My sight is beginning to clear finally, but it doesn’t make much of a difference, the whole room is dark, the only light coming from the cracks between the rocks and the barred window that is small on a thick black door at a far-stretch of the room.

“What is this…?” I mutter, wishing I could rub my head.

It feels like I’ve had ten tonnes of rock dropped on me. I grunt and breathe deeply through my nose, trying to rub my forehead on my arm.

There’s groaning from the same source as the scream, and I look back over.

Whoever it is is breathing heavily, and I hear them gasp as the un-surprising chill in this place hits them.

Strawberry blonde hair covers their face, and I can’t recognise their breathing.

They sound familiar.

He looks up and my eyes goes incredibly wide.

“Jessie?!” I ask, in disbelief.

His face looks strained, his whole body shaking in agony. He’s held almost the same as I am, apart from his arms have been crossed over in an uncomfortable, painful manner.

He looks right at me, but he doesn’t see me for a second.

“Na… Nat?” He asks weakly as everything comes into focus for him.

“Yeah.” I smile, trying to look sympathetic, but I feel ridiculous.

He laughs breathlessly with a half-arsed smirk.

“Is that supposed to be a smile?” He gasps, trying to be amusing.

“Yeah. I was trying to be nice.” I joke. “I knew I looked ridiculous.” I half-sigh-half-laugh.

He looks around, looking up, and I follow his gaze.

I was expecting something similar to the rest of the room – Mostly grey, cobbled stone, with a hint of mould here and there adding a splash of dank colour.

But it’s different.

The roof is non-existent. Instead, there seems to be a swirling torrent of grey-purple smoke.

“You don’t suppose it’s some kind of gas that will slowly spread down and poison us, do you?” A little humour on my part, but, of course, I’m the only one in this room that can’t die.

“Idiot.” Jessie says sourly, but the weak smirk is still on his lips at the thought of the inevitable. “If it was like that, you’d die too right?”