The Shattered Night

41| Piper

The last quick thing I witness before the ground collapses beneath my feet, are the shocked expressions that were present on the face of my comrades.

No one had expected this to happen, for there had been not a single sign of the fall. The rubble under me just suddenly gave out like it was tired of holding us up. Before the rest of my senses could process what just dawned over me, I had originally sensed Mary's tight lips part to speak in fright and warning. But the moment the words started to come out, bleak darkness decided to cover the sky above my head.

The world collapsed. And then from there on, I could see nothing and feel nothing except a terrible dread wash over me. The endless fall as my body gave up felt as if I were jumping off the peak of the kingdom court. There would be no stop to the terror and that was what made the whole scene even more horrifying. Down and down my body spiraled and with each passing second, the beat of my heart weighed heavier on top of me.

Is this the end?

At that moment, I was really ready to give up and surrender to the blackness around me. But just as all hope and faith was about to be lost, the hard sound of a stone cracking echoes throughout my ears as my body crashes on landing. And then like a sudden explosion of a volcano erupting, the empty fall stops to a screeching halt as I grunt in exasperation at the effect lingering on my heart. Like a sudden storm hovering over my nerves, the gears in the back of my mind seem to freeze. And then once again before I even knew it, I was surrounded in a place with nowhere to escape. It was another disrupting moment trapped within foreign borders that gave not a single opening.

What is this place?

As my whispers rise up again, I push myself to a sitting position while my head continues to pound in aghast shock. Just moments ago, I had witnessed the prison crashing down over the sturdy bars of the many cells. But now the ground below my feet had given in to the pressure and came tumbling down on me. I had thought that no more sudden surprises would creep up along the journey, but it turned out that I was very wrong. This place did not cease to scare you. Maybe that even was the punishment for those we came seeking the sword.

The Iron Sword. I still need to find it.

As I shake my head to clear out all the fog that had hazed up during the endless drop, muffled groans and voices meet me on the other end. Even if I didn't have a single clue about the next steps I would have to take, the knowing answer that the others who were with me are okay fill me up with relief. There could be no way to survive this hall of doom all alone even if one was experienced at stealth and track finding. The realization soon hits me that this setting is no normal cage of obstacles, and the fact shivers me to the core.

"Is everyone okay?"

Violette's calm but hurried voice bounces off each side of the grim walls in an echoed noise. In response to her question, the others around me all shake their heads with wide eyes.

"I'm okay now. But this place is scaring the hell out of me." Darien Sentorino stands up in a sudden instant as his swift gaze scans the scene in front of him. For a brief moment, I can almost feel a flicker of uncertainty as the commander's eyes meet Mary and his other brother, but the emotion goes away so quickly that I am not even sure if it was real.

"We have to figure out where we are soon, or else who knows what will happen to us next. Some answers have to come out now."

Although Darien's voice is directed to all of us, I know that deep down he is urging Mary or someone who had been stuck in the prison for any knowledge of what could be happening. After all, it was his family who had been stuck inside the cells for so long. Violette never even heard of this place and I had only touched the setting once, but that day felt like centuries ago.