Authors: Brian Terenna
The wall lay collapsed in a pile of rubble. My heart began to pound as the world reeled around me. I stumbled, feeling sick. I had left an injured woman in the cell. I could have helped her. What had I become? Could it truly be her?
My talent sparked, flinging rocks aside. A woman moaned from under the pile. I pulled off rocks until a face appeared, Lilly’s face. She grimaced. She was alive.
I cleared the rest of her, and my elation crashed. Her lovely blond hair and torn clothes were matted with blood. Her bruised body was thin and frail, like my own. I scanned her for damage. Her leg was crushed and twisted, her breathing ragged. After I saw blood pooling beneath her, my stomach burned. No. I bathed her pale skin in talent preventing any more blood loss. Her eyes fluttered open, revealing dull, nearly lifeless eyes.
“Jaden?” she said. “It’s you; you’re here to save me. I knew you’d come.”
“I’m here for you.” I touched her shoulder. “Let’s get out of here. We need a healer.”
She groaned as I started to lift her. “No, it’s too late. Listen to me—”
Too late? “What? No! I won’t let you die.”
Starting to lift her again, she said, “Please Jaden, listen... through all the torture, I never broke; I never gave in... no matter what they told you.”
I loved her. I didn’t care if she betrayed the Coalition, but how else could the warden have learned the information? “They said you cracked on the first day. They knew about the huge man at the wall and they knew to ask me about a general.”
“I know. I'm so sorry... they found my journal. I never had a chance to destroy it. I'm sorry.”
The journal! It was how they knew to ambush us at the relay and how they knew everything else. They must have taken it when we fled camp. She didn’t give up the Coalition. The realization brought with it terrible shame. I doubted the love of my life over the word of a slimy Liberty warden. I felt tears well up in my eyes before streaming down my face. “It's okay Honey. That's not important. We beat them. We're free now. Let’s get out of here.”
She moaned, her tear-filled eyes narrowing. “We should have left when you asked... I was wrong. Love should always trump... responsibility. I don’t want to leave you.” She shuddered as tears streamed down her face. “Please, I don’t want to die.”
No. I had to save her. “You're not going to die; I won’t allow it.”
Lifting her up, I slammed the back wall with radiant talent. It exploded, shooting rocks into the wall past it. I shattered a second wall, seeking daylight. She whimpered. I glanced down into her midnight eyes, eyes I’d always loved. When I crushed through another wall, the sun streamed in. Now I just had to find a healer.
The corners of her lips curled up. “You saved me. I love you. I’ll find you again, sweet cupcake of...” Exhaling slowly, her eyes closed, and her frail body fell limp.
“I’m sorry. It’s all my fault. I’m so sorry. Please wake up,” I said rubbing her stark, bloodless face. “We’re almost there.”
She didn’t respond; she wasn’t breathing. I stared at her dumbly. I… didn’t even tell her I loved her. My legs and arms shook as I knelt. I placed her on the ground, my lip quivering. If I helped her when I left my cell, she might still live. Why didn’t I save her?
Her death was a black hole that absorbed all hope and happiness. Threading my fingers through my hair, I shook my head. She was alive all this time… until now, until I killed her. A flood of tears drowned my eyes. I fell to my side, then cradled my thin shaking body. The hole inside me swelled until it threatened to swallow my humanity, but no… that was already gone.
Squeezing my arms, I demanded answers. “Why is this happening to me?”
Then it came to me… it wasn’t happening to me or her. It happened because of me. Everyone died because of me. I killed her. I did it... I destroyed my life. I was a cancer, a scourge on the earth.
I pushed myself onto my knees, my head spinning with self-hatred. I wailed while pounding my glowing fists onto the ground, fracturing the stone floor. Chips of rock stung my face, and I pounded harder. Nothing could hurt me now. Screaming, I raised my bloodied hands, feeling my talent surge inside me. Vibrant green energy rippled between my arms, like streaks of lightning. I squinted at the brilliance of my talent.
With a growl, I lashed out, whipping tendrils of emerald power into the stone around me. I didn’t care how many prisoners I was killing. I wanted them to die; I wanted everyone to die.
I’d destroy the world as it destroyed me. Chunks of stone flew and shattered against walls in a swirling storm of talent. The walls chipped and cracked, then began to crumble. With a sickly groan, the huge prison leaned to the side. Good. It was but the first part of Goldwater’s Kingdom I’d destroy.
I howled with the entirety of my will, bending iron bars and crushing stone. The floor was spiraled with cracks and riddled with holes. Stone chunks piled around me, and dust swirled, stinging my eyes and choking me. Nothing could crush my rage.
“I’ll destroy the world!”
I awakened all of my talent, giving in to its power. In a wide-eyed, berserk madness, I detonated it in a single blast. Like a super nova, my talent exploded, burning holes through stone, melting steel and iron, and carving gullies into the ground. Sunlight cascaded in, and the massive structure roared, crumbling around me.
Thrilled with the destruction, I glanced up, my hands thrown into the air. My eyes jerked wide at the sight of a huge chunk of rock, then my head burst into pain. My anger faded, as did the world.
CHAPTER 16
I awoke face down, coughing and blinking my eyes. Sunlight flooded around me, but I was at the bottom of an endless cavern, alone and with no chance of escape. Now that Lilly was truly gone, my life and everything I’d ever done or would do was pointless. My head throbbed, making my stomach roll, and my shoulder spiked with pain as warm blood spurted out. I deserved a lot worse. Hopefully I’d bleed to death or die of a concussion.
“Let’s go check it out,” a woman said.
I tensed, heart pounding in my chest.
She spoke again, “I can’t believe the entire prison is destroyed. There are so many bodies. Who’s powerful enough to do this? It’ll be a miracle if anyone survived.”
“Over here,” said a deep-voiced man. “This one’s breathing.”
I shut my eyes, waiting for his sword to slice into my neck.
Someone else approached. “Clearly he was a prisoner. Let’s hope he’s the one Val wants,” the woman said. “Hello.”
Was she talking to me? Feeling a hand on my shoulder, I flinched.
The woman spoke quickly, “I'm Sofia. I'm here with Kevin and Pavel. We're part of a rebel faction known as The Underground. We’re here to help you.”
They had the same names as the illusion that broke me. They were at it again. I would never escape Goldwater’s web of torture. I spoke, my voice sounding strange to me, “You already have my information. Just kill me. I'm worthless... please kill me.”
“We're here to help,” she said. “I don't know what they did to you, but we’re the good guys.”
“I’ve heard that before. Do you think you can fool me again?”
“What? I’m not trying to. We’re here to rescue any surviving prisoners. It looks like you’re the only one.”
The only one. Images of Lilly’s death, real and imagined, flashed in my mind. Would I ever be free of the tormenting images? I moaned, feeling tears fill my eyes.
“You’re bleeding. We have a healer who can help.”
I grunted as strong hands rolled me over. Three unfamiliar people stood before me. I glanced at the huge blond man that turned me over. Then another caught my eye. She was too beautiful to be anything but an illusion. Her oval face was fringed with dark brown ringlets that fell to her shoulders. Her exposed arms and shoulders were toned; her honey wheat skin was smooth and youthful. When her chestnut colored eyes met mine, I looked away, an image of Lilly flashing in my mind.
Why would they make the rebels look different from before? Oh, right. It was a different illusionist. After all, I killed the first one. It didn’t matter either way. I had lost the will to fight.
A muscular man with a shaved head and a pale face knelt next to me. “I'm Kevin. I'm going to heal you.”
I simply stared at him as he grabbed my wrist. Talent surged through me, mending my torn muscles, bleeding skin, and broken bones. So, they wanted to start fresh with their torture.
He laid my wrist down. “That's a start. It's going to take a few more times to heal you completely. Feel any better?”
I said nothing.
The blond, brutish man cleared his throat. “We must leave. Reinforcements might come.” He spoke in a strange accent.
“He's right Sofia. I've healed him enough so that we can move him. Let’s get out of here,” he said, his eyes darting around.
The attractive female illusion looked me over as she nodded. “All right. Pavel, pick him up so we can get out of here.”
The huge illusion lifted me and slung me over his shoulder as if I was weightless. Maybe I was; my muscles had been atrophying for months. He lifted my mace in his other hand, then began to jog. I bounced along on his back, unresponsive. I didn’t care what happened to me.
The beautiful one, Sofia, met my upside down eyes. “It's going to be all right.”
Her eyes held such compassion that I almost believed that she cared. This illusionist was good. I bobbed along for miles as the others ran until we eventually stopped.
“You walk from here,” Pavel said as he dropped me. “You smell bad.”
When my legs hit the ground, they buckled beneath me. At the last second, Sofia reached out, caught me, and then sat me down. I looked down at myself. My shirt and pants were blood stained and shredded, barely even covering me. Dirt and blood caked my frail arms and hands, so that I could barely see my skin beneath it.
Sofia jumped up and glared at Pavel. “You fool. He’s hurt.”
The giant met her eyes with lowered eyebrows. “Don’t call me that,” he said. He looked like he could crush her with a single massive hand or at least with my mace.
She glared at him. “I say what I want.” She hit her chest and lurched forward. “Do something?”
He stared at her for a moment, his head high. I sensed talent emanate from her. His eyes suddenly dropped, his shoulders slumping. He turned and lumbered away.
“That’s what I thought.”
Kevin shook his head with a frown, saying nothing. I examined her closer. Why did she care if I was hurt? She wasn’t real. When she helped me stand, I felt my eyes moisten again.
Sofia stepped to my side and placed her arm around me. “It must have been horrible in there, but you’re safe now.”
I looked away as I began to cry harder, somehow feeling worse. Pavel walked to a building ahead of us before sliding open a nearly invisible panel on the wall. He reached into a space and pulled on a rope. The front wall of the warehouse parted.
“You first,” he said, motioning to the three of us.
My former self would have replied cleverly. Instead, I limped in with Sofia's help. The inside of the building was empty except for three large rusted dumpsters. Since there were no windows, the only light that entered was from the front doors. Sofia lit a candle before Kevin pulled the doors shut. After my eyes adjusted, it provided just enough light to navigate. I was guided over to the far side of the nearest dumpster. Kevin knelt down by it and removed three long pins. He lifted free a panel, exposing a hole large enough to fit a man. He crawled in and disappeared inside. Pavel followed, slowly lowering his massive frame through the opening.
Sofia helped me to the entrance. “Do you think you can make it in?”
I shrugged, not bothering to ask why we were crawling into a dumpster. It seemed to make as much sense as anything else in my life. I crawled in, waiting for the smell of putrid garbage to hit me.
Instead, the musty smelling inside was empty except for an illuminated hole across the dumpster. I crept over, then glanced back at Sofia. She nodded toward the opening. I shrugged before lowering myself in. Nothing could be worse than what I’ve been through. With arms outstretched, I hung in the hole, my feet dangling in open air. Oh well. I released my hands and then collapsed on the ground. Lying on my back, I stared up at the hole as Sofia climbed down a ladder. That would have been useful.
She giggled, then kneeled down next to me. “Sorry. Are you okay? I forgot to mention the ladder. I'm just so used to climbing down.” She grabbed my shoulder to help me up.
I shrugged her off, scowling. “I don’t need your help.” With a faint glow, I enveloped my legs to help me stand. I couldn't even move around without talent since my body was so wasted.
She frowned, crossing her arms. “Don’t get cross with me. It was an honest mistake.” With a huff, she whirled before stomping away.
Ignoring the sharp pains in my legs, I hustled to keep up. For some reason, I felt bad for upsetting her, even thought she was an illusion. Damn, they were good. We walked down the candle-lined halls until we arrived at a circular steel door.
Pavel pounded on it. “Levette, it's Pavel open up!”
A sense of déjà vu sent a shiver down my spine.
After the sound of footsteps, the door swung open, revealing a square-jawed, blond woman. “Who's this stick?” she asked, pointing at me.
“One of the prisoners. Hopefully the one Val wants,” said Pavel.
“He doesn’t look like much,” she said as she walked away.
She sure seemed friendly. After the three fictitious rebels passed through the doorway, I shuffled in behind them. Inside, I collapsed against a blackened wall, feeling my talent fatigue. I didn't even know why I was following them. I guess I didn’t know what else to do. Sofia turned at the thud of my body. Her hard face softened.
She hastened over and knelt next to me. “Here let me help you.” She put her arm around me to help me stand.
I didn’t move, and tears began to stream down my face. “Please just kill me,” I whispered.
She leaned in, tilting her ear toward me. “What?”
I squeezed my eyes shut. “Kill me,” I said louder.