Sentinel

Chapter 7 - Ether

How did I get here? 

That had to be the solution. Skye furiously tried to recall the last thing she'd seen--silver knights, bursting into the room. One had tried to take the blade from her hand, but she wasn't about to be tortured again. Four souls, each different, each with their own hidden crevices of memories and one on the brink of dispersing back into the Nether. 

I did something to that one. 

Skye frowned internally. A surge of emotion had taken her, swept her away on wishful thinking that at least someone should get a second chance to be free. 

Then, the light.

After that, the world of coloured orbs of energy and light. 

Now, trapped inside a body she couldn't move. 

Skye frowned internally. Did the knights free me, only to imprison me once again? A horrifying thought occurred to her. Or did the Master come back with that girl, and wipe them out?

If that were the case, she wasn't safe. Maybe it was the Citadel she was in, the Master's renowned base, paralysed and helpless, simply to await his return. Maybe even now, he skulked the halls outside, waiting for her to awaken. 

Skye tried to move again, more insistent this time. Some paralytic poisons could be broken, once conscious, by the sheer force of someone's will especially if they involved demon's blood. Mentally, she prepared herself, when a voice echoed through her head. 

Get. Out. 

The world-weary voice stopped Skye struggling against her body. It felt like starlight, if the stars were to decide they no longer wanted the mortals to walk the land under their care. 

You have no right to control me. Get out. Now. 

The voice was openly hostile now. Unsure as to why it was angry, Skye attempted to move yet again with the same amount of success. She was trapped inside some deities cursed room, and this voice seemed to think she had a choice in the matter? She couldn't move, for Lianai's sake! 

Yet as the voice continued to swell inside her, Skye realised she didn't have an option. She had to move, now, or it was going to crush her into oblivion, but how? There wasn't anything she could see that would help her. The room was bare, and only the silvery hair that hung over her shoulder gave any kind of--

The train of thought came to a halt as the problem made itself clear. 

Her hair wasn't silver. It was a dark brown with teal streaks. Sometimes it gleamed lighter in the sun's light, but it definitely wasn't this iridescent silver. 

I warned you. My mind is the one place you shall never breach with your foul touch. 

Her body rose to a stand, completely against Skye's wishes. Both arms raised, the fingers pressed to her temples, and the faint glow intensified. Skye found it hard to believe she wasn't dreaming again, but the voice's presence felt real, even if it didn't make sense. It wanted her to leave, despite Skye herself wanting to leave. 

Begone!

A tidal wave of power hit her. 

Any part of herself she'd convinced was dreaming shattered. Skye's head felt like it was caught between the sharpened point of a battering ram and the ground while it rammed against her skull. It pushed against her thoughts, threatening to break them into a million different pieces. 

Still unable to move, Skye couldn't even shy at the pain. She had no release, no way to scream or flinch or remove herself from this presence that wanted her gone, only stand there and take as much of it as she could before being crushed.