Day 3 In Salkatar Prison
Alora hadn't eaten ever since she was thrown into prison. The prison guards tried to get her to eat but she threw the disgusting slimy maggot infested food at the wall every time.
"The other prisoners wouldn't be happy if they saw that.", Walna said, "Extra maggots, a delicacy here."
Alora laid on her bed and shrugged herself in silence. She couldn't stop thinking about it, she replayed Kai's death. She could still hear his bones snapping like twigs and the image of the very life leaving from his body but the thing that was the clearest of all was Jade's cynical smile. She relived the moment the entire afternoon, going through the trauma again.
A prison guard came banging at their cell with a bat.
"Yard time!", he shouted, "Yard time!".
He shouted those words on and on while the deafening noise of metal clashing against metal made their ears bleed.
Walna got off her bunker and Alora was still lost in her thoughts.
"I said yard time!", he banged the bat against the cell bars again. She didn't even flinch. The guard was furious and opened the cell door. He grabbed Alora by the arm and pulled her off the bed. She hit the ground hard on her shoulder, she clinched on to it hard in pain.
"Insubordination will land you in the box.", he raised his bat ready to beat her down.
Walna stepped in and put her mammoth hand against his chest. He put the bat down, he didn't utter a word or show any signs of resisting. He walked out of the cell silently.
"Are you alright?", Walna reached out her helping hand to Alora. Alora tossed her hand to the side ignoring her kind gesture.
***
The yard was filled with prisoners digging and collecting sand stone gems. A common stone found in most of Sarania used for medical healing, common but very valuable. The prison had always been known for being the largest distributor throughout the Saranian boarders.
Alora was handed a pickaxe by a guard and started digging. She dug up sand for hours while the rest of the inmates were collecting the gems like wildfire. Walna walked up to her from behind.
"Maybe try searching somewhere else.", she said, "Trust me you won't find anything there."
Walna's comment fell on deaf ears, Alora kept on digging and digging. Walna could tell by the way she was aggressively throwing the axe into the ground that she was angry.
"Alo-"
"What is it!?", Alora outburst. She dropped the axe in the sand.
"I was just telling you that you won't find anything there.", she said, "You are in direct sunlight. The stones are deeper in the desert when in direct sunlight."
Alora picked up the axe and continued digging.
"You're such a stubborn bitch you know that right?", Walna whispered.
Alora heard what she said underneath her breathe. She put down the axe and walked up to Walna. She held her head up and looked her in the eyes.
"You are supposed to be a fairy right?", Alora said sarcastically, "Where the fu-ck are your wings? I thought what made you people special was your wings. So before you worry about what I'm doing worry about your fucking self and stay out of my way."
"I'm just trying to help."
"I don't your need help and I don't need you now leave me alone please I'm begging you."
The guards saw the heated exchange from a distant. Two of the guards came rushing.
"Is there a problem here inmates?", the guard asked.
Alora and Walna gave each other the eye. Alora picked up her axe and continued digging in the sand. Walna walked away with her head down. The guards left the scene and returned to their posts.
The day was done, the guards had rounded up all the inmates from the yard. They did their scheduled routine surveillance of the entire prison from top to bottom, inside and out. Every prisoner was sitting in their cell waiting for lights out.
Alora was laying on her bed thinking about Jade. She was plotting on the ways she was going to kill her when she came in eleven days. She enjoyed her getting lost in her fantasy of her having Jade's blood coated all over her hand.
She then turned her attention to Walna.
She was wearing a white and Alora could see the fresh blood stains coming from her back. The vest was nearly trenched with her blood. Alora turned to the other side of the bed pretending like she didn't see anything.
Walna got on her bed and laid their in silence. Several guards with bats in their hands came to their cell banging and screaming, at the forefront is the guard from earlier in the day.
"Get down now you scum!", one of the guards shouted on the top of his lungs, "Get down you fairy scum!"
Walna got off the bed and the guards had surrounded her.
The guard from earlier walked into the circle they had formed in the compact cell.
"The problem with you fairies is that you don't see the world like the way the rest of us do.", he said, "You stand all high and mighty above everyone else you believe that you are special."
He struck her knees with the bat, she fell on her knees. She was face to face with him and she could see the anger in his eyes. He hit her across the face and blood spewed out of her mouth, staining the concrete floor. She looked back at him and her mouth was trenched with blood. Her once pearly white teeth were coated in her blood.
Alora watched every moment of it she had the spontaneous urge to help her, try to fight them off but that was a death wish and she knew it. So she watched hopelessly.
"To the box you go.", the guard said.
The other guards roughed her up and wrapped her hands around a chain. The chain was wrapped tightly and was cutting off the blood flow to her hands.
They dragged her out of the ceil with her knees scrapping against the concrete.
The ringleader of the group shut the cell door and was about to leave. He turned his attention to Alora.
"If you even think about telling anyone about what you saw here tonight.", He said, "I will guarantee you that you will never see anything again."
He stormed off and joined the rest of the guards. Alora laid in her bed in silence but her heart was racing. She wondered what they were going to do to her. She never knew much about the box but she knew deep down that she had every right to be worried about Walna.
The Landlord opened the door and two filthy rats chased each other out of the room. They vermin crawled inbetween the Landlord's legs. He crushed the rat's skull at the edge of his boot. His black leather boot coated in its blood."That's serves you right for coming on my property!", he yelled at the headless vessel "Bloody shitty vermin!" Azarian watched as he squeezed out every ounce of blood from the poor creature. The landlord was a very large man, rare for a pure breed Vallathian. His gut pressed against the fabric of his shirt. He didn't have a strand of hair on his head but his grey long ruggegged beard was quite the sight to witness."The finest rest in all of the Capital.", he said spontaneously, "Travelers pay good units for this place." The room was a disaster. The once beautiful floral wallpaper that covered the entire room was pealing off the walls. The ceiling boards had brown soak stains from the room above. The wooden planked floor was creaking everytime someone m
Day Five Alora hadn't seen Walna ever since the guards took her away. She had asked a few of the other inmates in Wing D for two days about what exactly the box is and what happens there. They all said their different vague things about the box but the one thing they all said at the end was,"Its where the sun never shines and where it never will."The day was over, Alora had just gotten out of the shower. She was walking along the hall and saw two guards casually having a chat. The guards looked familiar to Alora and then it hit her, they were part of the mob that beat up Walna a few days prior. "And that's the problem with these fucking non-humans, they disgust me the whole lot of them.", she over heard one guard say. "Trust me these past few days have nothing but a thrill dealing with that filthy fairy. I haven't had a rush like that in ages." the other guard said. She walked past them and she heard them laugh loudly, probably about what they did to Walna for the past few days.
He walked down the street and found the house. He knocked at the door twice. "I'm coming!", he heard a manly voice shout at the other end of the door. He waited for a while and no one came at the door. He knocked again. "I heard you the first time!", the man shouted, "Hold your horses." The man opened the door and it was the man he saw put up posters in the forest days ago. He even looked more tired than the time he saw him in the forest. Azarian removed the poster from his satchel and showed it to him. The man's dead face lit up in rage and confusion."Is this some bloody joke to you?", his voice heightened, "I don't see my daughter anywhere. Get the fuck out of my face." "Please I just want to talk." "What is there to talk about huh?", he said, "I don't see my daughter with you."He grabbed the poster out of Azarian's hand. "READ THE FUCKING POSTER!", he shouted. He tore the poster in front of his eyes. He walked away into the house and slammed the door shut. Azarian was p
Day 10 The sun was slowly setting. The air had become cooler and the sand beneath their feet cold. "Times up!", the guard shouted, "Put your tools down and proceed to the canteen for dinner!" The prisoners put down their tools along side their legs. The guards went round collecting them. Alora and Walna put down their tools and stood waiting for a guard to come collect them. "My hands have blisters.", Alora said. "That's what happens when you spend your entirely life in a palace and come down to reality." Walna said, "Isn't pretty is it?" "It's funny because I've always heard gruesome stories from father about this place. I guess he was right." "Accurate description of hell." A guard had come to collect the tools. "No talking you two.", he said, "Go to the canteen now for dinner." Alora and Walna walked away from the guard and headed to the canteen.They walked in a herd of chained prisoners. Alora kept her eyes on her blister filled hands, they caused her uncomfortable pain
Azarian walked into his room, he found Humphrey sleeping in the corner of the room. "Poor guy.", Azarian said. He went to his bed and saw dozens of drawings in black ink on pieces of paper. They covered the entire bed. He picked one up, it caught his eye, he put it under the light. There was a wide valley that touched the ends of the paper. There were tiny dots falling from the sky and slowly flooding the entire valley. The dots looked like snow falling from the sky. There were two shadowy figures in the far distance of the valley. They didn't have faces, they didn't have hands or arms they were just pure dark shadows. "What the hell."Humphrey woke up from his slumber and rushed over to Azarian. "You drew this?", Azarian asked.Humphrey shook his head rapidly in agreement. "What is this place?" Humphrey pointed vigorously at the paper nearly tearing right through it, he then pointed his soft paws at himself. "Your home?" Humphrey nodded his head in agreement. Azarian placed
Day 12"That's not what the queen does", King Erik said. "She can do whatever I want her to do.", Alora picked up the Queen and rammed through King Erik's line of white pone pieces knocking them to the ground. "Alora!", King Erik said playfully, "I do not think a queen in chess has those absurd abilities." "Well queen Zelrus is no ordinary checked queen, father dearest." "Queen Zelrus?", he raised his eyebrow. "She's the strongest Vampire in the checkered land.", Alora said, "She has God like powers and has the ability to control minds.""You need to check your history my dear."King Erik picked up his King piece and at his end of the board. He gazed upon it's finely crafted stature rubbing it with his thumb slowly. "Then this is King uhmm", he hesitated, "Josikasinki the legendary Fairy King of the North." "Josikasinki?", Alora raised her eyebrow in doubt, "That's the most absurdly ridiculous name I've ever heard father." "Don't let the name fool you little one.", he placed t
Azarian woke up the following morning in his hard bed. His finger tips were drenched in blood and so was everything he was wearing. His yearning bloodlust had been satisfied. He got out of bed and walked into the washroom. He stared into the mirror and his appearance told the story. His bloodshot eyes, his blood drenched shirt that was white merely hours before his meal but what was frightening the most was his mouth. His fang had popped out like a dragon in a sheep field. Azarian stared at himself for a moment that felt like a lifetime. He could see the monster he was always meant to be, no matter how hard he tried to hide from it, this monster was what he always was and all he would ever be. He stuck his fingers in his mouth. He clinched onto his fangs and pulled onto both of them. He pulled and pulled, the pain was getting the better of him. His gums began to drip his cold blood onto his fingers. "Damn it!", he screamed in agonising pain. He let go of his fangs and took a goo
DAY FOURTEEN Alora had been counting down for this very day ever since she was captured by Jade. It's all she could talk about for the past two days. It had become an obsession, one driven by anger and vengeance. Alora sat on her bed letting her mind play all the things she craved to do to Jade. Walna saw her wicked smile as she laid down staring off into the dark abyss that was her mind. "Hey roomie!", Walna said, "You've been quiet today, What's on your mind?""That witch is finally going to get her due.", Alora grew a sinister smile on her face, "Fourteen days in this hell hole because of her. They felt like there were never going to end but finally today is a chance I get to my revenge." Walna burst out into laughter. Alora turned to Walna with a death like gaze. Walna contained her outburst within a moment's notice. "Is there something funny to you?", Alora asked. Walna had never seen Alora so unhinged but yet so calm. It was frightening and it made Walna very uneasy. " You
It was the day after the whiskey with General Winston. Azarian replayed the conversation he had with him in his mind again and again. 'He has a file on me?', he said to himself. The Vallath Empire really had eyes and ears everyone, to a have a file on a man who lived his days as a ghost.There was a knock at the door, Azarian stood up, "Wait!", Humphrey said with a look of worry on his face, "What if it's enforcers again?""If there were enforcers they wouldn't be knocking at the door.", he said, "The order to hunt us down hasn't been granted yet. We still have time to find Malak. It's Winston." "Can we even trust him?", Humphrey asked, " Isn't he working for the people that will eventually come and have our heads. Seems very unwise." "Trust me." Azarian opened the door and as his prediction served him right, it was Winston. He looked a bit worn out, the few dozens more drinks after Azarian left really took a toll on him. His pants were barely holding onto his waist, he kept on tugg
Alora was laying in her bed gazing at the ceiling. She heard a knock at her door. She walked over to the door and opened it. "Good day Lady Alora!", said the man at the door, "The emperor sends his greetings and he hopes you slept well in your new room." Alora was charmed by the Emperor's sudden hospitality. Moving her from a cell in the bottom of the tower to a comfortable room with a king's sized bed, a toilet free from diseases and a window view of the mighty Vallathian Capital in all its glory. "I enjoyed my sleep thank you very much.", Alora slowly shut the door. The man put his foot in between the door. Alora opened the door. "Yes?", she asked. "I'm sorry to interrupt but the message doesn't just end at salutations.", he walked into the room and shut the door behind him. "My lady, the Emperor would like to have you accompany him to his meeting with his council." Alora was baffled by this odd request. She paced around the room in disbelief. The man looked on as Alora was try
Azarian was standing outside the at the back of local bar at the heart of the lower city. The bar had gone by many names over the years like most things in the capital but the name that has always stuck is 'The Bar'. People of all kinds from all over the city would come and have a drink here but that was back before Emperor Sebastian became the supreme ruler of all of Vallath. Now the bar has become a chill spot for retired soldiers and off duty Imperial Officers and Enforcers. It was a busy night as always. The low lives of this ever unforgiving city laying against the wall, barely conscious and drenched in the smell of cheap and dangerous strong spirits and their own urine. Azarian choked on the awful stench. He moved away from the drunks at the back and made his way to the front entrance. He looked up at the sky and embraced the bright beautiful full moon in all its glory. He stood by the corner of the bar and saw dozens of people coming in and out. There were mostly old wartime g
The stairs seemed endless, Alora's heart was racing. She hadn't been this scared since the invasion of Sarania. A time where her entire world of royalty and luxury came crashing down before her eyes. Everything she had known was burnt to ash and the ashes were now the foundation of something she is trying to fight against. She remembered the way her father was mercilessly killed in front of the people he dedicated his life to. She knew this fate awaited her at the end of the staircase. They reached the end of the staircase and there were in a giant hall with walls of grey Mable and portraits of the Vallath's many victories over the fallen nations of the Western continent. One portrait was bigger than the rest, it took up nearly the entire wall. There was a massive battle field with dead soldiers everywhere. They were brutally killed and had their corpses cut in half. At the heart of the portrait was the emperor in full metal body armour in all his glory standing tall over a fallen Sa
Humphrey woke up from his slumber on the floor. He stood up and found Azarian's bed empty. He wondered where he had gone, it wasn't like Azarian to be up before the sun rose. He went into the living area and found Azarian wide awake staring at the city through his window. Humphrey looked at his fingers and they were drenched in blood. Humphrey was startled by the disturbing sight. "Azarian.", he said softly, "What did you do?" Azarian turned away from the window and Humphrey's jaw dropped. Azarian's face was covered in blood and his eyes had become bloodshot. He walked up to Humphrey with a hair raising stare. Humphrey heart was racing in fear, he knew this was his end. "Please! Please! Please!", he got dropped down to his knees begging at his feet, "Please! Don't kill me! Its me remember?""I'm not going to kill you.", Azarian smiled humorously. Humphrey was baffled, His eyes couldn't stop twitching in disbelief. "I was in the belief that you were under the influence of your urges
The carriage pulled up at the front of the Emperor's Tower. It was glorious to look at upfront. The building was made out of precious grey marble and had a so many windows to spare. There were imperial enforcers at every corner of the place, heavily armed with guns of great magic. Jade opened the carriage door and Alora was eager to escape. Jade sensed her racing heart and gave her the control of her body back "I can feel-", Alora clinched her fists. She stretched out her arms and couldn't believe her eyes. She stretched out her legs. She was in shock. "Everything!" "I was hoping for that result.", Jade said, "And if you think about running away you will get shot down before you even leave the gate." Alora looked out the window and saw the swarm of enforcers at every corner. From very the top of the tower to the front door and those just standing around the yard, they looked ready to kill anything that moved. Jade came out of the carriage and Alora was right behind her. They walke
The night had fallen upon the city. Azarian and Humphrey were cooped up in their apartment In the rough side of the city. It had been a few days since Azarian had last had a taste of blood. He could go on days or even years without the taste but as of late, he had found it hard to control his blood lust and let alone his rage. He laid his head to rest and all he could see and hear was extremely violent memories of the battle of Sarania. His commanding General was giving his squad a debrief about the impending attack from The Vallath. He was sitting next to Samuel during the debrief. He was nervous, heck all of them were. Sarania had never been at war since the war against the Vampires. Samuel's thigh was shaking against Azarian's. He turned to Samuel and whispered, "I've come to accept that death is always going to be there. We can't run from it." Samuel was confused, "Is that supposed to make me feel better?", he whispered humorously."All I'm saying is that we are bound to die ev
Alora eyes opened. Everything was spinning before her. Her vision was blurry and all she could see was a dark figure right in front of her. Her ears were ringing. She tried to get up but she couldn't feel her legs. She tried to move her arms and hands but there was absolutely no feeling in her limbs."I see you are awake.", Jade said, "I was hoping I didn't use too much of my power when trying to sedate you. I guess I used just the right amount. "Alora's world stopped spinning and she could clearly see the dark figure right infront of her. It was Jade, she was sitting in a chair right across her. Alora looked around and there were in a mechanical Vallathian carriage heading somewhere. She looked out of the window but there was nothing but sand as far as the eye could see. Alora turned her attention back to Jade. "My friends?", she asked, "Are they alright?""I'm someone of integrity.", she leaned in forward , "As tempting as it was, a trade is a trade."Alora was relieved. Though sh
Azarian had his arms crossed. Humphrey was playing with his thumbs. He was amused by his human form. He couldn't stop looking at his hands. He touched his face in awe. "So this is what it feels like?", he said, "You humans have such graceful vessels I give you that." "Half human.", Azarian said, "Are you going answer my question now?" "What question?", he pretended absolutely clueless. Azarian was slowly losing his patience. He was grunting heavily as he watched Humphrey behave like a child. "For the last time.", he said, "What are you and where did you come from?"Humphrey was hiding something. Azarian could feel it deep down. Humphrey stood up and walked away from him. He was rushing to the door before he could even get his hand on the door knob, Azarian dashed as quick as lightening. He squeezed Humphrey by the throat. "Get your filthy hands off me you abomination!", Humphrey tried to remove Azarian's hand off him. It was no use. "You are testing my very thin patience." , Az