Beautiful Cries

Chapter Twenty-Seven: A Lone Siren's Cry

A deep, aching fire built low in Alena's stomach as she felt her breathing accelerate, hysteria taking over as unbidden images played out in front of her, dragging her away from the reality that she knew and into a reality that had laid dormant for a millennium.

The same burning pain seared through her as her back arched off the bed. Her green eyes blood shot as they opened wide, glazed over with pure fear when she grabbed Rhode's wrist blindly.

"They've hurt me." she heard herself whispering, not quite sure why she spoke with such a childlike brokenness. "They've hurt me and I don't know why."

Rhode held Alena's shoulders tightly. "Alena, it's me, Rhode. I need you to lay down for me now, you aren't well and I need to help you."

"They've hurt me." she whispered again, the shaking becoming uncontrollable as Persephone came into her line of sight. "She knows why they hurt me, she tried to help me. Only made me hurt more."

"Alena, you aren't making sense." Rhode argued loudly. "Who hurt you? Who tried to help you?"

Tears pooled in Alena's eyes as grief rushed through her, taking all the memories that had been oppressed with it.

"I couldn't save Klari, I couldn't save her.. her body was.. it was.." she trailed off as her grief turned into an ungovernable rage. "Persephone did it! She lied to me and let her mother torture me after fully knowing they never meant to return my sister. They needed me. And they broke me."

"Alena." Rhode tried to reassure her fiercely as a means to calm her down.

"She.. she.. hurt me." Alena stuttered, the edges of her vision sharpening before fading into the blackness, colors of all kinds throwing themselves together until all that remained of Rhode and the room surrounding her was a row of melting paints against the canvas of Alena's eyelids.

~~~~~~~~~

"Breathe in.."

"Breathe out.."

"Move, compatriot, move!"

A bright light shone down on Alena as she became hyper aware of her surroundings, her hands pushing into sharp pointed gravel while she lay crouched on the ground with a commanding voice screaming orders.

"You must know when the right moment to strike is! If you are too careful, the moment will pass and if you are too aggressive, you will be killed in combat, is that understood?"

"Yes, Legionnaire Livas, understood."

The stiff, glacier exposed voice responded without a moments thought, leaving Alena to watch in horror as she realized the sound had come from her own body.

"I didn't hear you, Compatriot!" The woman screamed, bending down further into Alena's face, the spit flying from her lip causing Alena to flinch as she watched helplessly from the inside, unable to control how she could respond to this treatment.

"I understand, Legionnaire Livas!"

"Better! Now, move!"

Her rigid muscles tightened further as the cold set in on her. The cool air rushing through her lungs sharply with every inhale she took.

Moving to her feet, she stood for a moment before breaking into a sprint, now noticing that she wasn't the only person in the crude looking arena that was sprinting.

A few paces in front of her, a woman with long blonde hair strung back into a ponytail was running as if her life depended on it. Her face was familiar, but she looked directly in front of herself and barely gave anyone else a second glance.