CLANG
I woke up to the sound of my cell door slamming closed. I looked up from my bed, which was just a thin blanket in between me and a pile of straw and rat droppings (cliche, I know), to see a new roommate on the ground and Horace, the guard in charge of my cell, looking through the bars.
"Make sure there's no fighting. I don't want my head chewed off," Growled Horace, glaring daggers at me, "Again."
I didn't react. Over the past month that I had spent in there, I had learned that the best way to stay out of trouble was to keep silent unless someone was demanding an answer. Unfortunately, I always drew attention even if I kept quiet, and not the kind of attention I wanted. By the time I had been there for a month I had had something like eight or nine different roommates. All of them had been switched out because I had been deemed either "too dangerous" to continue to stay with, or they had been so severely injured that they required medical care. I was always instigating fights with the other prisoners and causing trouble.
That was what they said anyway. The reality was pretty simple; I was hated because I was a Common. What else is new? It usually started out as petty insults and name-calling, but once it became clear that they weren't getting to me, it always escalated to a fight. I might take lip lying down, but if someone throws a punch, they should expect to get a swift kick in return. If fact, my last cellmate came at me a knife. I had my suspicions that the guard may have had something to do with that…
Of course, even with a weapon, the average prisoner didn't pose much of a threat to me. I could've just disarmed him, but I was at the end of my patience with all these attackers, so I may have... gone a bit too far, which I guess is why the guard got chewed out. After all, having a prisoner get medically treated costs money, and it's the guards' job to stop cell fights.
I looked over to the new guy on the floor. He wasn't very big and was wearing a worn cloak, so I couldn't see much. His hands were small, tiny really, though they were rough too. As he sat up, I realized pretty quickly that this person was different than any of my previous cellmates. Mostly because he was actually a she.
In front of me sat a young girl with long black hair and almond-colored skin, and she couldn't have been more than seventeen. She was somewhat tall for a girl her age, though still shorter than the average grown man. She looked thin at first glance, but a closer look showed that while she couldn't be called strong, she had a very athletic build. She had delicate girlish features, but dark green eyes that were perfect for delivering threatening glares, like she was giving me at that moment.
Like I said, I've found the best way to avoid trouble is to stay quiet, so I turned my gaze away from the girl and layed back on my bed to go to sleep. The leak in the ceiling provided a constant dripping sound to eventually drift off to.
______________________________________________________________________________
I woke up to the familiar feeling of straw tickling my nose and swatted it away without looking. A few seconds later I felt it again. I opened my eyes to see a pair of green eyes a few inches above my face.
"What- Ahk!" I screamed painfully after accidentally slamming my face into the girl's forehead. I held my nose tenderly, feeling for any blood or broken cartilage. It looked as if I had gotten out unscathed besides the painful pulsating in between my eyes.
As for the girl, she had retreated to the far side of the cell and was lightly rubbing her forehead, though she didn't look like she was in much pain. She was staring directly at me, no longer threateningly, just wide-eyed, like she was trying to see as much as she possibly could.
As for the girl, she had retreated to the far side of the cell and was lightly rubbing her forehead, though she didn't look like she was in much pain. She was staring directly at me, no longer threateningly, just wide eyed, like she was trying to see as much as she possibly could.
"What the hell?!" I raged, "Ever heard of personal space?!"
Almond girl didn't move. Or speak. Or do anything but stare at me really.
It was super creepy.
The flickering torchlight and sound of dripping water wasn't helping.
"Alright," I said, moving to the middle of the cell. The floor of the cell was covered in at least half an inch of sand, and using my hand I traced a line in the sand from one end of the cell to the other. "This-" I pointed to my side of the line "-is my side. And that's yours. I won't get on your side, and you don't get on mine, got it?"
She just stared.
Seriously, what the fuck???
"Ok then," I said as if I wasn't totally creeped out by Almond girl and her creepy green eyes. I decided to convince myself it wasn't worth worrying about and turned back to my bed to go to sleep again. It's not like there was anything else to do around here. I couldn't even practice my Sights because of the kaicor brace. Kaicor is a special metal that cancels out a person's ability to perform Sights or to use marks in any way whatsoever. I was able to work out, and that was it. I'd already worked out today, so working out any more would only be counterproductive, especially considering the scarce amount of food I was getting.
As I laid back down on the blanket and faced the wall, I thought about my situation. I had been there for a whole month, but nothing else had happened. I didn't even know where I was since I had woken up in this cell wearing my brace. I was guessing I was just in some prison somewhere… At least, that's what I was trying to convince myself of. The truth was that I knew where I was. In this city, as well as just about every other city in the world, there was only one place that criminals who had committed murder were sent to. I just didn't want to think about it.
Still though, if I was where I thought I was, I thought that I would've been sent out by then. Not that I was complaining, but it did worry me. A month in, I was actually starting to hope that maybe I was wrong, and I really was just in a regular prison. I desperately hoped.
I felt another tickle on my ear. I turned my head and once again saw Almond girl just a couple inches away. Even though I was expecting it this time, it still startled me. Still, I managed to jerk my head away from her instead of right into her. Which resulted in me slamming my head into the wall.
This time when I felt for an injury my hand came away sticky with blood. It wasn't a lot, but in my book, a little blood is too much. I was really starting to lose my patience with this girl, and I got to my feet. Almond (I had already started thinking of that as her name) was crouched on her side of the room again, but with my lifeblood dripping from my scalp, I didn't really care anymore. I stomped across the line to stand above her.
"Alright, look-" I started to say sternly, but I had a sudden flashback to all the times my uncle had told me off when I was young. He had never hit me with an actual intent to hurt me, but they still weren't pleasant memories, especially now that he-
I shook my head to clear away the thoughts. Looking back down at Almond, I could see that for once, she wasn't looking at me, but rather just staring between my knees at the far wall. I sighed in exasperation.
"If you don't stop doing that then you might get hurt," I pointed at her head, "like you did earlier."
At that, her head bolted up to look at me. There was a stubborn glare in her eyes that somehow suited her despite her small frame.
"Didn't hurt." She said. Or rather, pouted.
"Well, it hurt me." I glared right back at her and showed her the blood on my hand.
She looked away without saying anything, but I was pretty sure she looked like she felt guilty. I sighed heavily this time.
"Alright, just don't do that anymore, alright?" I asked.
Almond didn't respond. After standing there for a solid thirty seconds in silence, I turned back to my bed again.
What a weird girl, I thought to myself. She seems pretty harmless though.
I went back to sleep, which was blessedly uninterrupted this time. I had the usual nightmare, you know, a repeat of my uncle and aunt calling out to me before they're struck down by a bolt of light. I run towards them, but the faster I run, the farther away they get. I start to Morph, then my vision turns red, and I lunge towards them, but they'd turned into the fat man and his thin partner, so I crush them into the ground. I look at their faces and they've turned back into my aunt and uncle. I reach towards uncle Salstone, grabbing his shoulders and bringing his neck closer to my mouth, feeling the flesh give way to my incisors-
"NO!!!" I screamed, jolting awake, pushing away at a body that wasn't there.
I sweated profusely, gasping for stifling air, blinking away my bleary vision.
"Hey!" Called Horace, "Shut up! No one wants to listen to your bawling every other damn night!"
I ignored him as usual. I was too distracted anyway. You'd think that after having this dream a dozen or so times I would've gotten used to it, but no. Every time it happened the dream became more and more real. Their facial features, the feel of skin, even their smell- God that smell. I couldn't turn away from it. I know it might seem pathetic that I was a grown man and scared of a nightmare but… I was afraid.
My nighttime panic attacks had been a major contributor to my cellmate troubles. Even the average person wouldn't appreciate being woken up by banshee screams in the middle of the night, so I'm sure it's not hard to believe that violent criminals don't take too well to it either.
I started to slow down my breathing and relax my muscles. I'd found that the same method I used to meditate calmed me down after I woke up from that dream. I could feel my body relax in the quiet of the room, I suppose I hadn't woken up Almond. I could feel warmth at my back, spreading through my torso. There was a pressure like it was holding me… And that happened to be exactly the case.
Once I realized that someone had me in a hold from behind, I immediately broke out of the hold and put some distance between us, then turned to face my opponent, only to see that it was, of course, Almond. She was kneeling on the head of my bed, arms still out. Her mouth was bewildered, but her eyes were annoyed like she couldn't believe I had the nerve to break her hold on me.
As for me, I didn't relish the idea of fighting a child, but if I was attacked I would defend myself. I decided to at least give her a warning. I wiped the sweat off of my cheeks.
"I've taken on people much older and bigger than you, so I'd recommend standing down. If you can't deal with being woken up like that sometimes, then tough. Believe me, I want it to stop much more than you do, but this is the way it is right now. So leave me alone unless you want to get beat." I said in as serious a voice as I could, even though I felt ridiculous for threatening a child.
Almond looked confused for a moment, then furious. She growled a string of words that I didn't recognize at me which made me realize she was Artaran. She reeled around and went to her own bed, facing away from me and not uttering another sound.
Artaria was one of the three continents of Roma; Celsee, Bororia, and Artaria. Celsee was where we were currently, and was by far the largest of the three. In fact, the other two combined were still smaller than Celsee, which was placed in between them on most world maps. Artaria had an extremely bipolar ecosystem; Flat deserts mixed chaotically with vast jungles. There was much speculation as to why this was, but in truth, no one knew yet. The people there had learned to survive in one or both of the harsh environments. Most people who lived in Artaria still spoke their native languages, but thanks to Batholomew Cline's conquest of the world, Common had become the language of the world. While Letin had been the official language of Celsee at the time, Cline had wanted better communication between his citizens, so before the war ended he had a new language created that made use of many languages in the world and was simple to learn.
But none of that matters right now I suppose. Because back then I didn't really care that she was Artaran, I just cared that she seemed to be less harmless than I had originally thought. I watched her carefully from then on, meditating with my back to the wall instead of sleeping to ensure I wouldn't be caught unawares again. I wouldn't underestimate her this time.
It turns out I didn't need to worry because she never spoke a word to me after that. She would hardly even look at me, though I would receive the occasional piercing glare. She wouldn't even react when I woke up screaming in the night.
Barely a week after Almond had come into my cell, three guards suddenly burst into the room right as I was about to eat. I stood up quickly, but they had caught me by surprise and were already around me before I could do anything. It would've been stupid to resist so I didn't. Naturally, they beat me anyway.
"Urg!" I gasped as two of them held me, and Horace punched my stomach. Between us, it didn't really hurt that much, but I figured I should put on a bit of a show or they'd start punching so that it actually did hurt.
"This is for all the trouble you've caused me you damn trit." Cursed Horace, punching me a few more times. I made a show of losing the strength to stand, and coughing a bunch. Before too long they looked like they had had enough, and they put kaicor manacles on my hands so they could take me out of the cell.
Even if I was chained, I was glad to be out of that room. Anyone else would be too if they had been locked up for over five weeks. I had a feeling I knew where I was being taken, but there was nothing I could do now, so I did my best not to worry about it.
They led me down several hallways, past dozens of other cells that looked the same as mine. The sheer size of the building did nothing to relieve my suspicions about where I was, and even less to where I was going. We had been traveling straight down a curving corridor for a decent distance when we finally made a turn towards the inside of the curve. That was when I saw Raul.
He was all smiles. I couldn't detect even a hint of malice or smugness from him. But of course, I knew it was there. You might think I would have been led to give him the benefit of the doubt. After all, he had been my only friend. The thing is, I had spent the last month in a room alone with people who wanted to kill me, guarded by people who wanted to kill me, and I had been sent there by this man. This whole month I had demonized him in my mind, so now, seeing him for the first time in a long time, all I could see was the smiling face of a man who had betrayed me.
"Donny!" I flinched at his use of the nickname he gave me, "So sorry about the wait, all of the big wigs were a little nervous about allowing you to participate because of… well, your little 'episode' before." He winked at me like we were sharing an inside joke. I felt like a heat Projection was bursting out the top of my head. I wanted to break out of those handcuffs and throttle that man in front of me, but I couldn't. The kaicor didn't make me completely powerless, but it kept me from being able to escape them or the guards, who were still holding my arms tightly behind me. There was nothing I could do. For now.
"Well, no time to chat I suppose," Raul said, still smiling that two-faced smile. He faced the guards, "Better get him in there." He started to walk past me, "This shouldn't give you too much trouble." He winked again.
I didn't want to ask him. I didn't want to get anything from him anymore. He was the worst thing that had ever happened to me, and a small, irrational part of me felt like just talking to him would cause things to become even worse than they were. I just had to know though, before I went out there to find out for myself. In the end, I couldn't stop myself from blurting out, right as the door started to open-
"What shouldn't give me much trouble!? Where am I!?"
Raul turned back to look at me, a quizzical expression on his face.
"You haven't figured it out yet?"
The door opened, swinging outward to reveal a large stadium, stands half-filled. Half-filled may not sound impressive, but this arena was so massive that half-full still meant tens of thousands of people. All of the audience members were cheering as my doors, as well as other doors across the walls of the arena, opened, and people stepped out on the deep sand that covered the ground. Even though I couldn't see him anymore, I could feel Raul's smile burning into my back.
"You're entering The Sands."