My sense of smell had disappeared. I lay helplessly confused on the somewhat cold ground, with my eyes still painfully closed, I resorted to feeling the floors beneath me.
"What in the…?" I murmured to myself as my eyes flew open, darting to my right hand. "Holy shit!" Abruptly, I scrambled backward on my arse, my eyes never leaving the disembodied palm that I felt seconds ago. "…wait." With much hesitation, I raised my left hand…which was missing a palm. "I'm missing a body part!? And why isn't it hurting?"
Suddenly, a particularly heavy heartbeat thumped through me, and I could feel the missing palm grow back, translucent silver ringlets shrouding it.
I looked down at the rest of me, taking in the closing bruises and lack of clothes.
~~~
Blue shimmering lines danced amidst the gloomy clouds, as Angelo looked around. The land was vast, going on as far as the eyes could see, yet it reminded as void as a desert, with nothing else in sight but the chunky gravel underfoot.
He slowly got up to his feet, hands going over his overgrown hair in thought. The unnerving silence, somehow seemed to make him more restless, as he kept turning around on a spot, his eyes desperately searching for any signs of movement or life.
"Hello?" He raised his voice. "Is anyone…ah!" Mid-sentence, the ground beneath him gave out, and his body followed the sudden erosion.
A few moments later, he landed with a splash. On all fours, Angelo looked up at where he was flushed away to. Everything seemed similar, except for the suspiciously dark blue, and murky water that he landed in and the cave that stood a few paces away on the shore of the sea.
With a light whoosh, a wave came forward, drenching the boy in its coldness. His face suddenly twisted in disgust and he pinched his nose shut tightly, at the foul smell of the water. "Ugh, where the fuck am I?" Grunting irritatedly, he pushed himself up and waded through the water with effort.
Drenched in the strange water, Angelo huffed as he got closer to the cave, eager to get as far away as possible from the sea. Water dripped from the tips of his matted hair and his pointed nose, as his eyes scanned the entrance of the cave.
His breaths echoed throughout the strange cave. The light tapping of his feet and occasional drips of water were the only nips in the deafening silence. He squinted in the dark as he walked through, thankfully coming across strange, and glimmering blue patches that offered him some level of light.
In the dark cave, he went on for what felt like ages.
Finally, he stumbled out, his eyes roaming the ancient castle before him. It stood tall on the shores of a black beach, with a lone beam of light from above cast upon its washed-off color.
Angelo trudged along the black sand, his figure, the only living thing in sight for miles to come. As he got closer, the castle began to wake, for who dared lay foot upon their shores. The boy, however, remained oblivious to the many pairs of crystal-like eyes on him.
A gust of wind blew from the sea, pushing his hair awry, as he fell to his knees at the gates of the castle. Light waves of water splashed onto the side of the castle from time to time, as the people behind the gates continued to stare at the outsider from hidden spots with confusion and contempt.
The half-naked boy stood, attempting to pry the black gates open. Screams erupted from within the walls, as the inhabitants of the land began appearing outside the gate.
Some morphed out of thin air, some nimbly jumped down from the shorter parts of the walls, and others burst out of the ground and out of the holes in the walls.
Before long, Angelo found himself surrounded by strange people, the brilliance and palpable power in their eyes overwhelming his already weakened body.
~~~
"Mal alak sayam!" a flimsily dressed female uttered, her fist pumping ferociously in the air. Her utterances seemed to spur on the brewing malice in the eyes of the people who surrounded Angelo's unconscious body.
The owners of the land had bound the strange man in cold, rusty chains, as his almost naked form lay sprawled on the sand. At their center, a large stake of wood stood, a brilliant blue flame engulfing it in its primal heat, and illuminating the blue crystal-like tint in the eyes of the people.
"Wake up, filthy thing!" A man emerged from the jeering crowd, his eyes bearing an intimidating gaze as he splashed a bucket of teetering water on Angelo. He woke with a jolt, taking in shallow but quick breaths, as he adjusted to his surroundings.
Angelo moved to his knees, the heat of the flames drying the water off his back.
"Look at that, Vanrei scum." The woman spat out the last part of the sentence with much contempt as she walked slowly to him, her hips swinging enticingly.
His hair and body had become matted and riddled with black sand as he pulled against the chains that held his hands together.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." The intimidating man said, his blue eyes following the length of the chains to its other end. "Well, I'm not you so do as you please. Just so you know, you pull too hard, and you'll be burnt alive." His dirty blonde hair fell across his face, covering half of it as he looked away from Angelo. "Make any sudden movement and Morgath here, will most likely pulverize your brain."
At the mention of her name, the flimsily dressed woman from before smirked, and the blue in her eyes somehow grew brighter.
"In conclusion, you're screwed." He said, turning his gaze back to the bound boy.
"Now tell us what you want, Vanrei." Morgath hissed, the netlike skirt tied on her hip sashaying along with her every move.
Angelo frowned. "I am not Vanrei."
"Are you calling us liars?" The woman took a step toward him, her bare feet sinking into the shallow sand.
"I am…human." The boy in chains said as he cast his eyes to the ground, looking as though he did not believe his own words.
"Is that supposed to be a joke? You will die where you kneel."
"Morgath, wait." The blonde-haired man stepped forward, squatted to the boy's current height, and grabbed his jaw roughly. "Look into my eyes."
Several other colors bled into his eyes, making Angelo flinch in surprise as the man let go of him and stood.
"Mordred?" Morgath called out to him.
He nodded subtly, his blue cloak afloat as he disappeared into the mob of blue-eyed people.
With a sinister chuckle, the woman stepped back. "Danek!" She called out, as the jeering of the people grew fiercely.