Blood Shed

Chapter 1 ~ Levana

I woke up startled. Stonewalls surrounded me, covered in cobwebs and moss. The ground I lay on was cold against my bare skin. I wore only a tattered shirt and ripped long pants. My hair arranged in a mess beside me. I felt dizzy but stood up anyway. I was losing my balance quickly and felt like I needed to lie down. My head throbbed like crazy; it hurt so much I couldn't bear it. I reached up to touch my pain riddled head with my hands but realised I couldn't. When I tugged at my hands, I found they cuffed. Not with just ordinary cuffs, but they covered my whole hand and was connected by a chain to the far wall. I looked around for an escape route but only found an iron door standing on one side of the room. There was no way to look out. I suddenly felt cold metal rub against my face and realised my mouth was covered too. This was a metal band the reached around my head and sat on my mouth. The air was smoky, and the door was rusted. Even if I did manage to break down the door, I was chained. Whipping my head around I looked for even just a small crack in the wall, but there was none. The chain was apparently new, and so was the surface around it. Only the door was rusted. I sat down on the ground and felt a little better, no thanks to my throbbing headache.

Footsteps sounded from outside the door. It seemed similar to boots stomping on concrete. As I stood up, my hair fell over my face. I looked down at my clothes and saw them tattered. I couldn't understand this because I didn't remember ripping my clothes. Keys clattered at the door and with a creak the door popped open. Five guards completed with full armour, guns and shields came into the room. They stood around me making a full circle. Two more guards arrived and stepped into the middle of the ring. One was holding keys. He undid the metal band around my mouth and unhitched the cuffs on my hands. He replaced them with the simple police cuffs and bonded my hands around the front locking them tight, so it burned my wrists. He pulled out a small bun of bread and handed it to me. I snatched it up in my hands and stuffed my face realising I was famished. He chuckled deeply and turned to the other guards with stern faces that were staring at me.

"Look, newbie's hungry." He rumbled with his low voice.

I started trying to put together the pieces. "What is going on here? Why am I being chained and held in a cell anyway? I didn't do anything wrong!"

The guard turned to glare at me. He took a few steps closer to me and pointed his finger at my face. "You are here because of something you have. We are saving society from you using it without control. Now we have to figure out a way to handle all of your despicable monsters." He spat the words in my face. "And this is how we are going about it. Soon your gifts will no longer be yours. We will make you use them for some contribution to society and if they cannot be taken by us. We will extract the powers of every monster in here. If that kills the user, so be it. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention this prison is inescapable. You cannot leave, and if you try, we have a punishment and torture chambers over there ready and waiting for you to mess up." He pointed with his thumb behind him sharply.

I took a step back feeling a sudden swell of power flood my body along with a thirst for escape. My instincts kicked in, allowing me to release that power. I flicked my wrist beside me, and a cloud of smoke ran around the room knocking all the guards out. Before it hit the one in front of me, my chains were back on covering my hands so I could not do anything. I knew one thing; these cuffs stopped my flow. I could feel the magic burning through the handcuffs that were cold on my hands. He put a metal gag over my mouth. I felt a small power swelling in my mind. It was only a little, weak enough so that I could not cast but just reverse. He pulled a knife out of his pocket and held it up to my neck, scraping the skin. He grabbed my back and held me in place. I couldn't run, I couldn't move, I was stuck with a knife cutting my skin.

"Stop messing around and wake them up now or I will make your life hell until you do. I know you would rather wake them up now." He grinned mischievously.

I looked at all of the guards lying on the floor and thought about my options. They were low in number. I closed my eyes and reversed the spell. Each of them woke up one by one and became on guard again even though they apparently felt really dizzy. The cuffs on my wrists were burning like crazy and so tight that I could feel the metal digging into my skin. Something thick and wet ran down my hand to my fingertips and dripped onto the ground. I knew then that this was a deadly situation and they would torture me until I was on the verge of death if they had to. I sulked to the ground watching the guard's expressions of gratitude. The chains clattered on the stone ground beside me, and I stared at the floor in submission.

"For that, you get no food. You are going straight to the torture chamber to teach you how to co-operate. Then we are going to the testing chamber." He spat the words in my face.

Just after he did, my hair fell onto my face covering my eyes and nose. He undid the chain from the wall and pushed me upright. I started walking out looking down as he held the chain behind me. Chains held my arms tightly behind my back. I kept tripping up as we walked and even then, the guards ordered me back up. I looked around just as we entered the cells with the mentally damaged people. Filthy people were placed in cells, caged by iron bars. Their clothes were utterly tattered, and they looked starved. I noticed some of my friends from school who had randomly disappeared out of nowhere. They stared at me, with a gaping expression. I hung my head and let my hair fall over my face, hearing groans of despair.

Eventually, light shone ahead, and there was a fork in the road. A sign was in front of and written in scratched off ink, Torture Chamber and Testing Chamber. I hesitated for one moment then the guards shoved me forward, and I fell on my knees. The ground was cold beneath me, and I felt the blood on my knees. I slowly stood up, legs shaking, and started forward. I trembled, as I was lead into the tunnel towards the torture chamber. It glowed red, and some torches lit the walls as we walked. Water droplets dripped from above. A skeleton lay on the path, covered in cobwebs and rats running around it. It smelled foul; I had to hold my breath as we walked past it. My head throbbed as I staggered forwards reaching the glowing door. Two doors placed next to each other were in my path. Forcefully, I entered the door on the left. I looked around and saw a bed lying in the middle of the room, a large window covering the full wall to the right. People were chattering sitting on their chairs. A few were watching me stagger in laughing. The guards pushed me forward. I tripped on the step and fell onto the bed. A guard came over and picked me up, then threw me back down onto the centre of the bed. Metal straps suddenly pinned me down. I looked up at the ceiling as a trapdoor slid open. Long cords came flying out towards me with spikes on end. They started to dig into my skin in all different places. I writhed in pain, but I knew that was just the first part.