Carmine (Completed)

Chapter 56

I followed Corona blindly through those narrow corridors.

We reached inside a small room, lit by torch fire on the walls. The walls were unremarkable, while the floor had a picturesque bluish-green tile.

I saw a huge dais at the farthest end, and I hoped that would not be my final resting place. A table with pots, small clear vials of liquids, and metal instruments sitting on a black cloth settled close by. My resolve to keep walking confused me, although it came frequently. Was this path the one I desired?

I never figured I would have asked such a question. Corona said, "We will be inserting the anti-toxins now. Lay on the altar."

I looked at the tools laid on a small table close by. "What are you really doing to me?"

Corona flexed her face at me and said through grit teeth, "Lay on the altar."

I went over and Corona came up to me frowning. Nothing sinister, yet, but the tools looked eerily familiar. They planned to take my body, my mind drifted into the possibilities. Here I thought the process of losing my body would be more dramatic and spectacular.

My back resonated to the chill of the stone dais. I was not restrained. Guess there was no need to, I was a willing participant. I hoped that those two interfered, that I would not perish.

Corona took the cylinder with its needle at one end and snapped the side of it. She pierced my arm with the needle and pushed the liquid into me. Corona said, "Let us see you beat the sedative now."

I rolled my eyes at the comment. "If you want, you can smack me in the face, to reminisce the good old times."

Corona looked at me. "No—Not necessary."

I waved my arms up. "I am used to you calling me a cockroach and smacking me around half the time."

Corona said nothing and moved some vials as she took one of the copper pots to the side. I looked around and saw no other entry points other than the already open front entrance.

Where are those guys? I continued, "I am not used to this new person. This new Corona."

Corona said flatly, "New things are good for the soul. Hold still." She took another cylinder to my neck and pushed the liquid into my body. She retraced the cylinder's needle and moved over to the copper pot.

"I liked the old Corona better."

"You really should be sleeping right now." For a second, I felt that flatness in her voice eroding.

"What can I say, I am quite special."

She slid a short metal rod into the copper pot. "Unfortunately."

I narrowed my eyes at her. "You do not seem too happy to be doing this."

"I do as I am told." She laid the coated rods on each side of me. Corona flexed her hand, and a glyph glowed on her wrist, so she used the same method of power as Five.

I never saw her abilities until now. A bright strand of light came out and spiked into each rod. The rods glowed brightly before a translucent wall phased over my body.

The white light fizzled and surged like a wave. My nose wrinkled to the scent of burnt air. I caught my breath, watching it fluctuate over me. My confidence faded as I laid there. Where were those two? "Can I order you around? I mean I am the daughter of your God, I should have some authority."

"That is not how the hierarchy is in Elam."

"We are not in Elam," I replied.

Corona got another cylinder and I almost groaned in displeasure. She knocked this one at the top and said, "Soon you will be."