Chapter One of my popular novel, A Cold Entity. |
(Please, if you review, make it public!) The only sound was the steady dripping of water from the ceiling, hitting the hard stone floor below it. It echoed across the room countless times until it faded away, breaking the deafening silence again and again with each drop. Drip. Drip. Drip. In a way, it was worse than silence. With each drip, it would remind someone how lonely and helpless they were in their cell. It would keep them from drifting away into their mind in an effort to escape their horrible situation. At least with silence, someone could at least fall asleep, or drift into some forlorn corner of their mind. They would have gone insane in here. Alone, with just the dripping of water to keep them company. Not knowing whether they would live or die, not knowing why they were being held captive, not even knowing whose mercy they were at. But not me. I was being held captive in this cell. The walls and ceiling around me were all made of stone, and the room was only ten feet by ten feet in area. At the end opposite where I sat, there was a heavy iron door, covered by rust. A tiny barred window was in it, and a ray of light slightly illuminated the otherwise pitch black room. No one else could have taken it. Anyone else would have gone crazy in here. They would pound the hard stone walls, bloodying their fists and hands. They would shake the small bars of the door and scream for mercy. They would do these things from panic and paranoia. But not me. I simply sat in silence against the cold wall, staring at the door in front of me. A small smile was tugging at my lips. I didn't panic. I wasn't scared. I wasn't worried at all for my safety. In fact, in a way, I was slightly amused. I had been captured after my city had been invaded by the Trodain army. Being vandals, they rampaged the city and took it over for their own selfish reasons. They killed all those that got in their way, splattering the roads red with blood. All of the others were captured. Everyone else was taken away, resisting by kicking and screaming. But not me. I simply let myself be captured, laughing. All of the other soldiers and hostages looked at me as if I were crazy. Perhaps I was, in my own way. But they had no idea that I, just a small, young girl of only 16, was very special. I am the daughter of the Ice Goddess, Articuna. No one else in the world knows this. You would think that everyone would know who I am, being this important, but no one knows. I haven't told anyone. I have kept it a secret my entire life. I don't see how special and important people always have to reveal themselves to the world. Why wouldn't they enjoy living in a shroud of mystery, concealing a secret from the world? I love to live this way, hiding my identity everyday. I love how when people look at me on the street, they have no idea who I am. They just think I am a normal human girl with brown hair down to my shoulders and blue eyes. I look completely human. The only thing that would even slightly suggest "daughter of a Goddess" would be the fact that my skin is slightly pale, but no one notices or cares. No one cares about a simple girl like me. These soldiers who were holding me captive had no idea how dangerous I can be when I'm provoked. They don't know what I can do to them. They can't see the power flow through my body. I am the Ice Goddess' daughter. I have abilities that no other human could even dream of doing. No, they simply live in ignorance, taking me for granted. I smiled slyly at this thought. That's why I wasn't worried. I didn't call out for help or scream. I just sat in silence. I could escape here at anytime, but what would the fun in that be? No, I just waited. I was going to play with these humans. I was going to twist their minds, make them squeek like mice with fear. I loved how they just went around doing their jobs, whatever it may be, not knowing who I am at all, how dangerous I am to them. How wrong they are to think I am just a young, innocent girl. I continued to watch the water drip down, from the ceiling to the floor. I stared at it as it went down, freezing it by will right before it hit the ground. The dripping sound of water turned into a piffing sound as the ice hit the ground, turning into slush upon contact with the hard floor. After sometime, it melted back into water, forming a puddle on the floor; reaching the same state it had once been in. Even if I manipulated things, they would still end up the same in the end. At least that's what happened here. I was starting to get restless. I wanted something to happen. Something; anything. I was waiting for a human to come down and check on me, or fetch me, or whatever, just so I could play with him. To make him pay for his sins upon me. But still I sat in silence, letting the water fall as liquid once more. I was patient. I could wait for an eternity. My mind isn't like those of normal humans. It is very laid back and relaxed. It didn't need something to constantly occupy its space. It could handle the silence and loneliness of this cell. In fact, I could ignore it completely. I could just drift into some corner of my mind if I wished, becoming oblivious to everything. This is how a Goddess' mind is, even I'm not one yet. I am just an entity. The silence was broken by the distant sound of footsteps down the corridor, echoing across the walls with every step. Soft at first, but louder and louder, until finally he was at my cage. I heard the sound of a key turning in the lock, and the huge iron door swung open with a rusty creak. Outside of it stood a bearded man dressed in heavy iron that rattled as he walked. Despite the armor, he had no helmet on. His feet were covered by some sort of leather shoes. His teeth were yellow and chipped, showing how unkempt the Trodain people are. He walked over to where I sat and stared down at me. "Get up," he commanded in a gruff voice. I obeyed without question, the smile still thin at my lips. I stood up, my head coming up to only his neck. He was a full head taller than me, but this did not matter. I stared him dead in the eye. "And wipe that little smirk off your face!" he shouted, moving his hand towards me, threatening to strike me. The smile disappeared off my face, but the feeling of glee still remained vivid within me. I was laughing in my mind right now at what I was about to do to him, this human. He didn't know that when his people captured me, they had made a huge mistake, and now he was about to pay for it. His mistake would be realized, although it would be far too late to do anything about it. He started to walk towards the door, his armor rattling. "Come!" he barked without looking back at me. I walked a few steps and stopped, wrapping my hair around my finger as I looked at the guard. "Why?" I asked. "Just do as you are told, prisoner!" the guarded shouted, swinging his huge fist towards me. I caught his arm by the wrist, stopping him cold. He tried to yank out of my grip, but I wouldn't budge. I am much stronger than I look. "Do you know who I am?" I asked very quietly, the smile beginning to return to my lips. He tried yet again to pull away from me, with the same result. "You? Ha!" He laughed shakily, trying to disregard my words. He was trying to hide his fear by laughing in my face, but it was very clear to me by the look in his eyes and the way he laughed. I loved it. It was happening right now. He was beginning to fear me. "You are nothing but a lowly peasant!" He didn't say anything about my sapphire colored gown or ice blue skirt, which hung at my knees. These were very clearly things a peasant could not afford. "No," I whispered, shaking my head. I held him there for a moment, burning a hole in him with my silent glare. Then, in one fluid moment, I let go of him and flung my arm out, causing him to fly against the wall. He hit it with a hard, muffled thump. He was pinned down. He couldn't even struggle. He was completely under my control. This is just one of the things I can do. I walked very slowly towards him, one slow step at a time, staring at him with every step. I put my hand down, but he was still pinned against the wall. Now he was scared. Petrified. He didn't even try to hide it. He stared at me with twitching eyes, and his whole body was shaking with his fear of me. I took great pleasure in messing with his puny human mind, making him shiver. It amused me a great deal. I stopped walking right in front of him, still staring at him. The sadistic smile was still on my face. He stared back at me with terror in his eyes. The smile widened. I wasn't some harmless, innocent little girl to him anymore. "I really don't think you know who I am," I whispered, right in his ear. Too scared to talk, he just shook his head with the little bit of control I had given him. "Ask me," I commanded. "Ask me who I am." I was enjoying this so much. He simply shook for a few moments. Then he opened his mouth to speak, his lips quivering. "Who are you?" he squeaked. "I am someone very special." I said. "Someone who you should be begging for mercy, because your life lies within my hands, and my hands only." "I am Articuna's daughter, and you made a grave mistake when you captured me." He was trembling, unable to become more scared of me, even after this revelation. He couldn't even scream. "Articuna's daughter?" Impossible!" he said in a small voice. "She has no children. She is not your mother. It simply can't be." He was trying persuade himself otherwise, to not be scared of me, but it was failing miserably. "That's what everyone else says," I mocked. "But if you don't believe me, I can prove it to you." He shook his head vigorously, but I ignored him. I created a bitterly cold icicle in my hand, its tip sharper than a dagger. I moved it close to his face, so he could feel it on his skin. "No, please," he begged, in a whisper. I ignored his plea and move the icicle within an inch of his skin. He tried to scream, but I ran an icy finger across his lips, freezing them together. All he could do now was make a muffled cry inside of his mouth, as if he were gagged. I set the icicle down on the top of his cheek, and brought it down his face. Down the side of his neck, stopping at his collarbone. A thin line of blood appeared, frozen instantly by the sheer coldness of my blade. "It's cold, isn't it?" I whispered. He began to shiver uncontrollably, still making a muffled scream behind his frozen lips. The icicle was so cold that it cooled down his blood greatly when it touched it. His chilled blood flowed through his body, cooling down the rest of the inside of his body. It mimicked hypothermia, and his body temperature dropped greatly as his blood flowed through his veins. His shivering was violent at first, but as he grew colder and colder, it became less and less. It eventually stopped altogether, because he was too cold too shiver anymore. "How ironic it is that you are about to die at the hands of a child," I mocked. "A child that you captured, who is about to send you to your own cold prison." There was no answer from him. His eyes were closed; his heard was rolled over. His breathing was shallow. He had fallen unconscious. In his dulled state, I decided to end it right then and there. I set three chilling fingers on his forehead and closed my eyes, focusing myself. I felt the cold flow from my fingers into his brain and skull. Colder. Colder. I was freezing his brain; shutting it down completely. Essentially killing him from the inside out, with just a simpe touch of my fingers and will of my mind. My other hand rested on his beating heart, until I could feel it beat no more. "Very cold." I let go of my control over him, and his body fell to the floor, dead. His armor made a crashing rattling sound with the impact on the hard floor. The sound echoed around the walls and out into the corridor. No one else came running, and I assumed that there was no one else around to hear it. Soon, the sound of water dripping was the only sound once more. I stood over him, my hands and body shaking in exhileration. It was such a rush to me. I could feel the adrenaline flow through my veins. To see his body shake with fear, so scared that he couldn't even scream. To see the look of terror in his eyes as he realized what I could do to him It was such a perfect way to kill someone, too. Just a line of blood down his cheek. That was the only sign. No one would know it was me. No one would assume that I killed him. No one knows who I am. No one alive, anyway. I smiled a sadistic smile one last time, and took the ring of keys he held in one hand. I walked to the door, the keys jingling with each step. But right when I reached it, a random thought struck me: "What kind of person are you, taking pleasure in killing innocent people? It wasn't a voice in my head. It was ME thinking it. But why? Such thoughts had never crossed my mind before. I don't feel these things. I don't feel guilt or remorse. "He wasn't an innocent human. He captured me, and was most likely going to kill me. He deserved to die." I spoke softly to myself, trying to tell myself what I did was OK. That it was justified. But still the thought loomed over me. Why? Why was I thinking these things? I wanted them gone. I wanted them out of my head. I just shook my head. No, it was just a passing thought. It was nothing. I'll feel myself in a few minutes. Drip. Drip. Drip. I hope. (This is the first chapter of my novel, a Cold Entity. If you would like to read more, check out my portfolio!) |