7. Chapter

Eira

The slam of the iron door was not just a sound. It felt as if the entire world had split in two and I had been left on the worse side. As the echo of Zade's footsteps slowly faded and disappeared, the silence settled on my shoulders like heavy black lead.

I was alone.

Alone with nothing.

"No... please, no..." I whispered, but my own voice sounded strange as it bounced back from the damp walls.

I reached out, trying to hold onto something, but my fingers met only the icy slimy stone. The cell was no larger than a tomb. Two steps to the left and I touched a wall. Two steps to the right and there was another one. It felt as if I had been sealed inside a box that was now being lowered deep into the earth.

Then it began.

The walls moved.

I knew it was only my mind playing tricks on me, but I felt them sliding closer inch by inch. The ceiling lowered too, heavy and merciless.

"Just a barrel, Eira. Just a small barrel. You will fit..."

The hoarse mocking voice from the past echoed in my ears.

I could smell the urine again. I could feel the tight wooden boards pressing around me and that helpless horror from the moment they closed the lid and left me alone in the darkness.

"No!" I screamed and began pounding on the iron bars with all my strength. "Let me out! I cannot breathe! Zade!"

I clung to his name like a final lifeline even though he was the one who had thrown me in here. But no one answered. The darkness only mocked me with its silence.

My breathing became broken and frantic. I gasped for air as if I were underwater, but all that reached my lungs was the suffocating mixture of mold and dust.

There was no oxygen.

My heart pounded so violently against my ribs that I thought my chest might burst open.

Panic flooded through my veins like burning acid. My defiance, my pride and my hatred peeled away from me one layer at a time. Nothing remained except a terrified animal ready to tear its own flesh apart to escape.

My nails broke as I clawed at the stone in the dark.

"Please..." I whimpered, leaning against the wall while trying to stay upright, but the floor seemed to move beneath me.

The world tilted.

My stomach twisted and sharp flashes of light exploded inside my head, the final desperate signals of my nervous system. The darkness grew thicker, almost solid, pressing against my throat.

I could see nothing but I felt the void pulling me in.

I tried to walk toward the bars but my legs no longer obeyed me. It felt as if the ground had disappeared beneath my feet. I stumbled over my own step and my body fell forward into the darkness. I tried to catch myself but my arms felt as heavy as lead.

My forehead struck the stone ledge in the corner of the cell with a dull metallic crack.

The pain was sharp like lightning but lasted only a second. Then a warm wet sensation spread across my face. I felt my blood running beneath my eye exactly where the old scar stretched across my skin.

Then the world disappeared.

The thunder of my heartbeat faded. The distant rumble of the cavern fell silent.

I lay motionless in the dust, my white hair spread across the blood stained stone while the darkness above me finally claimed its victory.

I felt nothing anymore.

Not the walls.

Not the fear.

Only endless black silence.