FOUR

Kyliena.

I mentally hissed in pain as my head throbbed in pain, it feels as if a hormonal teenager is slamming a door in anger within my head continuously. My eyelids are still closed, I’m afraid that if I open them I’ll bring my head into more pain.

Where am I?   All I remember is falling, footsteps, and a voice mumbling. I took a few deep breaths and found some strength within me. I felt my fingers twitch and my hand followed. I brought my arms from my sides and up towards my head, and with all the strength I had I pushed myself off of the floor.

Once I was sitting up I took a few moments to rub my head and slowly open my eyes. It was dark but not so much that I couldn’t make out my surroundings.

The floor was stone and dusty from centuries worth of dirt and filth. My eyes moved from the floor up to the walls and they too were made of stone and encrusted with filth. I looked directly ahead and found bars, they were the cleanest thing about this place with not a speck of dust, dirt, or rust residing on their gold flesh; I observed that they didn’t seem to have a lock and that didn’t make any sense.

What was this place?

I moved back and slumped myself against a wall trying to figure out where I was and why I was here but I could not come up with an answer. I prayed to the gods but no answer was found and I cursed my inquisitiveness. I always thought it was a gift but I guess that on this occasion it had turned out to be a curse.

I took some more deep breaths, my heart was pounding and I felt a panic attack coming in full swing. I needed to calm down. There was no point getting myself in a state when it wasn’t going to help my current situation.

I started to count how many stones allied the dark walls, it was a grounding technique that I had learned and it helped a great deal with my anxiety.

I felt my heart starting to slow to its normal rhythm as I focused on the beats of my heart—they reminded me that I was still alive and that I should have hoped that whatever is going to happen will leave me safe and unharmed. 

I sighed.  I couldn’t bear the smell here. It smelled so horrid and I felt like I was sitting in a puddle of it.

God the smell was just horrendous…the moss on the stone bricks was wet and it was just adding to the smell. I don’t know how much longer I can take it in here without going mad.

I felt a few tears brimming in the corner of my eyes, I was strong, I was not going to let them fall. I quickly wiped them away and used the wall to support me as I struggled to stand up.

I wanted to know where I was, who took me here, and why.

I was determined to get answers so I did what I do best, I walked toward the bars, taking a deep breath, and prepared to scream as loud as I could but when my hands touched the bar it shocked me.

I stepped back quickly and was puzzled.

Maybe it was just static electricity from somewhere and I was very tired. Maybe it was just a ghost feeling.

I looked down at my hands, my eyebrows knitted together as I stared at my hands then the bar, and repeated. I shrugged my shoulders and slowly reached forward to grab the bar again, I was so close to touching it. —I must have been mad…why would I actively try to touch a gold bar that could electrocute me? 

Curiosity killed the cat…I guess.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you. If the bar touches your skin just a moment too long you will turn into a pile of ash on the floor.” A deep voice echoed around the room, its tone bounced off of the stone walls and floor.

It was too dark in the room to work out the direct features of the man but I could tell that he was tall and well built. He towered above me and I couldn’t say that I wasn’t intimidated but, well, it was weird. His aura washed the room in calmness.

I felt that I didn’t feel as scared as I perhaps should have been in this situation.

I dropped my hands from where they froze and moved them behind my back and joined them with one another. I grimace, realizing that the filth on the floor hadn’t just been filth, but instead, the filth on the floor was ashes of all those who had touched those bars for a moment too long.

“Where am I?” I whispered with a shaky breath.

I hadn’t expected the strange man to have heard me. I was so quiet but he must have.

The stranger stepped forward a few paces and stared at me, he took me in from my boots to my ripped up jeans to my plaid flannel shirt–which was now ruined before settling on my eyes.

His stare was intense but with the closeness, I could see more of his features. The stranger had black hair and a strong jaw, his eyes were an icy blue, and the only marks that adorned his porcupine skin were splatters of light freckles.

The stranger looked almost perfect, he looked like a painting only made with the finest paint and brushes.

“You’re an interesting creature aren’t you? You have a fairy-like beauty about you, but you’re definitely not magical.” The stranger’s voice boomed, he had not answered my question but I was momentarily flustered, my cheeks warming slightly.

The stranger still held my gaze and I was growing uncomfortable but something commanded me not to drop it. He paused before speaking again.

“You have somehow fallen into my purgatory, love…I must say a pretty flower-like you has no place in a realm like this.” The stranger spoke calmly, questioning me, but I did not know how to answer.

What did he mean I was in his purgatory?

“How did you find this place?” He asked, and it felt like we knew each other.