The Darkness Within

22 - Captured

The first thing she noticed when she woke up was the burning pain across her face. Then she noticed the deep cuts on her shoulder and leg. And finally, she noticed the heavy metal on her wrists, ankles, and around her neck.

She groaned as the pain in her eyes flared and she shifted. The chains on her alongside her own sound of pain echoed, leaving her to believe that the space she was in was very empty. It was cold in the room as well and she found herself to be shivering.

She sat up using her left arm to push herself up. The heavy chains moved with her and she ignored the loud noises that they made as she did so. Her right shoulder and left leg burned as she moved but she pushed past that to assess where she was the best she could. The ground beneath her was hard, made out of stone tiles about the size of her hand, and the side of her face that had been resting on the stones was damp letting her know that the space she was in wasn't dry. Although, she thought to herself, the tile could be wet from my blood.

She removed her left glove and lifted her hand to her face. She remembered the cut, she knew it had cut through her eyes and she would likely never see again, but she had to inspect the damage anyway. She gently prodded the cut across her face and noted that it started higher on her left eye, almost touching the outermost point of her eyebrow, and angled downward as it spread across her face. The blade had still managed to hit both eyes, but it wasn't a level cut all the way across her face. She also noted that it was puffy and had not really scabbed over yet so when she prodded it, new trickles of blood flowed down her face.

She inspected her right shoulder next and found that the cut had cut so deep her right arm was basically useless. It was deep and a serious wound but wasn't bleeding as much as it could have been.

Finally, she examined her left leg. The wound cut deep into her muscle and was still losing blood. Like the gash on her face, the cut began higher on the outside of her leg and angled downwards. It was deepest in the center of the wound, and that was also where the most blood was escaping from.

Before she was done inspecting the wound, she began to feel light-headed again. She knew that if she didn't get the wound on her leg to stop bleeding then she would bleed out in this quiet, cold, wet, and unseen room.

Because she had been planning to be on a plane with normal humans, she was wearing human attire. Forcing her right arm to move and hold tightly to the edge of her shirt near her waist, she pulled with as much strength as she could muster and tore off a large strip from it with her working left arm. She wrapped it as tightly as she could around the wound and tied it off like a tourniquet. Her mind was fogging over and every few seconds she had to stop and force her pained breath to suck down enough oxygen so she could continue.

When she finished, she collapsed onto the wet stones, ignored the heavy chains attached to her, and drifted off once more.

⥐

Spread before her was a beautiful plain of soft, tall, green grass. The color was so vibrant that she figured it was magic, for no other explanation could explain the magnificence of the plants before her.

Small, rolling hills varied the land before her and she watched as a gentle breeze made the beautiful grass sway in a gentle manner, not unlike the waves of the ocean. She herself was standing on the top of a larger-than-normal hill, looking out at the endless land.

A delighted shiver went through her as the wind picked up in ferocity. Her long-time friend, the wind was, and she heard it's challenge loud and clear even if it spoke no words.

She ran, the inhuman strength of her limbs propelling her forward, before she launched herself into the air. She commanded the magic within her to change her form and a moment before she would have hit the ground again, she took the form of a black eagle and the winds welcomed her with an updraft that raised her high above the land.