 Posted:
Fri May 26, 2006 12:56 pm |
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Upon waking, Tera yawned and stretched, her eyes closed. For some reason her muscles were sore, and she was terribly cold. With the backs of her hands she rubbed her eyes, not wanting to open them. She felt so tired, and completely drained. With a groan she opened her eyes and saw.. complete and utter blackness.
Tera couldn't suppress the panic that bubbled up from deep within her. She felt all around, and all she could feel were cold stone walls. A terror like she had never known awoke within her. "Great Mother, where am I?" Tera gasped. She tried to feel that connection to the earth, and Gaea, that she always felt wherever she was.. but it was not there. An anguish the likes that she had never known engulfed Tera. She started to cry and keen until her eyes were swollen and her throat was dry.
It didn't take long for her to faint from all the emotions overcoming her. Just the same, it didn't take long for her to awaken, either. This time when she awoke, she tried her best to remain calm. But her calmness was rapidly fading. Tera started crying again, but this time softly. She curled up into a ball and just let the tears flow freely.
A different kind of pain brought her out of her stupor. Her stomach was growling loudly. As a natural reaction she tried to pray to Gaea for some food, but couldn't find her spiritual connection. Tera stood up and stumbled around this place where she found herself. Her searching hands touched something wooden, which she guessed was a door. There wasn't a handle from this side, that she could tell. There were footsteps so faint that she had to strain really hard to hear them. She pounded on the door, and called out, but no answer came. More miserable than before, Tera leaned against one of the walls.
There was no light, and it was cold. She hadn't blankets or a fire. All she could do was sit there and think. 'Why am I here? I've done nothing to be locked up for...' Her hands were throbbing from where she had been pounding on the door, and the wet warmth she felt on her hands was more than likely blood. She had clawed at the edges of the door, trying to find out if she could find some hidden latch to make it open. 'Is this my punishment for not stepping in and helping Gilthanis?' She hugged her arms to herself, and brought her legs up close to her body, trying to get warm.
'Gaea.. help me.. please..' Tera's voice was very hoarse from crying and dry from the lack of water. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the wall. Tera knew that she needed to get her mind off of the mess she found herself in, so she let her thoughts dirft back to the past.
She thought of growing up in her village, and seeing Lythien from afar. Though he was older than her by some 560 years, he had never shied from befriending her, like others of his age did. When he was around, he always took her into the forest and taught her of the animals, and Gaea. Tera always enjoyed those times. She was away from her overprotective parents and could truly feel free and close to nature.
All she had ever wanted to do with live a life in devotion to nature and Gaea. But her parents cautioned her against ever leaving. They told her of dangers in the outside world, but Tera refused to listen, believing that nothing could be as bad as some of the stories she was told.
'... they were right' Tera was coming to realise. In the past few weeks, she seen a friend killed and another hurt very badly. She ached with the hurt of it all, and felt old for the first time in her seventy-three years. 'I wish I were home again..' A lone tear trailed down Tera's cheek. She didn't even bother to wipe it away. '... anywhere but here. Though that is as much a prison as this place.. atleast it had forests.'
Day and night held no meaning for Tera. Once or twice food and water were brought to her, and each time, the guard closed the door before she could run to ask him questions. The water was never enough and the food tasted horrible. Tera's clothes were starting to get looser on her body. 'Does anyone even know where I am.. or noticed I've gone missing?' She winced, realising that she may never see her friends again, and tried not to think ill of them.
She tried to meditate, but found herself unable to concentrate. It was either the cold or hunger that distracted her. Tera spent a lot of time thinking of her friends, and recent actions people had taken in the realm. She wondered if it had gotten resolved since she had been locked up. Tera was starting to think of things in a different perscpective. She felt older, and wiser.. and wondered to herself if her enlightenment would ever come of any use, or if she would eventually starve to death in this cell.
She couldn't quite say what had awoken her, but she knew something was wrong. The were the rush of footsteps as guards ran past, and there was the sound of shouting. The sound of steel against steel rang in the air, sending shivers down Tera's spine. It seemed like only minutes until there was silence.
Tera heard something at her door. It was the unmistakeable sound of a key turning in the lock. She leapt to her feet and searched around in vain for something to use as a weapon. When the door opened, a flood of light poured in, and almost blinded her. She put her hand up by her eyes until they became accustomed to light once more. Her heart beating quickly, she looked to see whom it was that had opened the door...
It was Jiann! She ran to him and threw herself in his arms, crying. She heard other voices which she dimly recognized in the back of her mind. Jiann patted her back with one hand and ran his other hand in her hair, talking in a soothing voice to her.
"Are we done here?" Briggs asked and Tera heard two other voices say that they were and she felt Jiann nod. Tera felt close to passing out. She was weak from not eating much and dehydrated. Briggs motioned for Jiann to hand her over to Lythien, and gave him orders to take care of her.. and to make sure that he bathed her.
Jiann squeezed her hand comfortingly as he and Briggs and another shadowy figure walked out of the cell, and Lythien followed carrying her in his arms. Tera relaxed for the first time in Gaea only knw how long, and fell into an exhausted, yet peaceful sleep. |
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Anonymous
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