THE APPRENTICE II

8

Her fingers gripped onto his garments and held on for dear life. The creatures cried deafening and boisterous noises, their eyes boring through her back as they waited in anticipation. Multiple aliens were almost falling of their stone seats while they cheered on for their executioner to proceed with the deed.

"No, wait, this is unfair! He tried to kill me, he was a threat to my kind- it was self defence!" She cried with a shaky voice, her heart was pounding and her stomach was fluttering. The blood in her veins seemed to have run cold, then warm, then pooled out of her body. The well grew closer and closer to the well and her grip tightened. A wave of anxiety hit her as the absence of Stephen Strange dawned on her; it was getting too real. Her urge to defend and reason drifted from her mind and was replaced by fear. "Wait, please, I...please, I'll do anything! I need to get back home, please don't- help! Help me! Help!-"

Her grip was broken when she was shoved off of him. The bottom of the well was travelling towards her as the wind blew mercilessly on her face. Her soul left her body and she shut her eyes and fought her own mind to conjure a spell. A flickering shield appeared below her, strong enough to resist the fall, but not enough to catch her. As she was about to land, she reached her hands out to her sides in an effort to lessen the impact. However, she quickly retrieved them when a piercing and burning sensation overcame them.

Her body hit the floor roughly. There was a ringing in her ears that slowly faded away, exposing the creatures' animalistic cheers. Her limbs ached and pained, her head was pounding and throbbing. She blinked harshly to clear out her vision in the damp, dark, well that smelled of rotten meat, and lifted her hands up.

Her heart fell to her stomach when her eyes gazed at her hands; they were burning, excruciated, throbbing, weak, bleeding, and shaking all at the same time. Parts of her muscles and hints of tendons were exposed which made her want to faint -they were ruined.

Disbelief and shock caused her jaw to drop. She tried to let out a scream, but all that left her mouth was silence and small breaks of cries. Tears welled up in her eyes that poured freely down her face- how could things have gotten this horrible?

"Help me!" She waved towards the spokesperson and yelped. The spokesperson leaned on the well and shook its head then clicked its tongue. "Please!,"

"Inside this Labyrinth, you will be able to do magic the closer you get to the end! Continue the maze and you will be set free!" He hinted before the rest of the monsters came to see the sight for themselves.

"You...savages will pay for this!" She raged and screamed from the top of her lungs. Hazel took off the sling ring from her fingers to let the blood flow in her hands in an effort to aid her injury. She kept it in her pocket and tightened her belt to secure it.

Their heads peeped through the hole and cheering sounds emitted everywhere. Tentacles, wings, paws, and more inhuman parts appeared when she looked up at them. Bones and wet liquids and goo fell from the hole and the creatures hurled down for their amusement.

Anger boiled inside her as her blood boiled, skin heated up, and stomach fluttered, yet all she could do was shed tears. She was being treated like an animal, like she was in a freak show. She was all kinds of powerless: physically, mystically, emotionally, and mentally.

"Shit, shit, shit!" She repeated and cradled her hands to soothe the pain of her injury. The blood from her hands wouldn't stop flowing and the emotional distress only made the pain worse. She shut her eyes and sat down on the now moistened, cold, stone floors.

Hazel got into her meditating position and urged herself to self heal, but she simply couldn't. The pain was too much too ignore, there was too much humiliation and anger inside her to carry on, and her mind was racing. She knew she could do it in theory, but she the problem was everything: Her location, her hands, her abilities- just her. The sorcerer quickly gave up any hope to finish the maze and buried her head in between her knees. The only thing she did was lay in the bones, water, junk, and let her sobs fall to the floor. The creatures of Havoc, one by one, started to leave the area: even they lost interest in her.

"Please help me. Find me Stephen, please, I need you."