My lungs fill with water as the powerful force of the nock-up stream sends me up into the clouds.
Shit. Bits of wood and debris rise past me as I gasp and choke on the salty seawater.
Air, I need air! I frantically look around to no avail. Just then a large piece of shipwreck draws closer to me making me panicky. It whizzes past me, hitting my head and knocking me out on the way past.
Enaru's POV:
I look across my land, searching for anything exciting. It's been very boring this past month. Nothing has happened leaving me bored and in search of excitement.
As my sight speeds past the beaches of Upper Yard, a small body of a girl catches my eye.
How dare she step foot on my sacred grounds. I look closer, only to see she's knocked out. I take a closer look, her chest rises and falls indicating that she's alive. It doesn't seem like she has wings meaning this girl is from the blue sea.
Another blue sea dweller. She looks kind of... Beautiful...
"Oi, you." I point and a servant walking past me.
"Tell the priests to meet at my palace." She looks up, surprised that I'm speaking to her.
"Right away, God Enaru." She rushes away to fulfill my requests.
Around an hour later my four priests show up at my doorstep, fighting as always. I sit upon my throne waiting for their quarrel to finish. After a few more minutes they finally stop and look at me.
"Hello, my priests. A blue sea girl has washed up on one of the beaches on Upper Yard." I stop and think for a second and throw my leg over the handrest of my throne.
"I want you four to locate her and bring her to me," I tell them.
"Why?" Satori asks.
"Because," I say, not wanting to explain my reasons.
"Now go, bring her to me." And with a wave of my hand, my four priests set out to do my bidding.
Shura's POV:
Wind passes me as I fly over the beaches of Upper Yard on Fuza until a black spot on the sand catches my attention.
Y/n's POV:
My whole body aches as I sit up and look around.
What the, Where am I? I sit on a small sandy beach but some things... different. It's harder to breathe and...
Is the sea made of clouds?! I quickly stand up and take another look at my surroundings.
This is weird... It seems iv been pushed into the... clouds. Turning around, I'm faced with a massive forest. The tall trees stretch up and seem to be at least ten times the height of normal trees. Moss covers their trunk surface along with vines hanging from the tops of the trees.
A flapping from above catches my attention making me look up to be faced with a huge bird.
What the fuck? The giant bird swoops down and lands a few feet away from me. A man dressed as an aviator jumps off the bird's back and takes a step towards me.
"By orders of God Enaru, sit on Fuza so I can take you to his palace" The man with the pointy mustache points to his bird while taking another step towards me..
I have a bad feeling about this. I take a step back before turning around and legging it for the forest, away from the man. I hear him yell something but I ignore it and continue running, jumping over roots and ducking under low branches.
Shit! A swooping sound above makes me run faster causing me to miss a jump, fall, and tumble down a small hill, hitting trees and rocks on the way down. A large rock sits in my path sending me slamming into it.
My tumble comes to an abrupt stop from the force of the hit. The world around me spins and shakes as a killer headache sets in. Swooping down and landing beside me, the aviator man jumps off his bird, Fuza, and lifts me bridal style.
No... He hops on the bird and takes off. My world still spins as I groan and try to get out of grip but my whole body hurts. As my head rolls to the side, I get a perfect view of all the tree tops.
The flight seems to be never-ending as we fly over tree after tree until finally, a large stalk comes into view. A cloud sits at the top seemingly holding up a large palace-like shrine with a courtyard out the front.
Fuza swoops down and lands in the middle of the courtyard, in front of a throne. The man holding me drops me to the floor making me land on my already cut and bruised hands and knees. I let out a small groan as I felt dirt go into the cuts causing them to sting and burn.
Why am I here? I look up at the empty throne in confusion.
My retinas burn as a bright flash of light appears on the throne. What once was an empty throne now holds a pale, shirtless muscular man sitting cross-legged. Most of his blond hair is covered by a white bandana, his earlobes stretch down to his stomach and a weird circle thing seems to be attached to his back. He looks down at me with a smirk before speaking.
"What's a blue sea dweller doing on my sacred grounds hm?" His question falls on deaf ears, I don't pay attention to the man as I stand up and look around.
I don't think I want to be here.
"It's quite an extraordinary place; Skypia. A whole world made of clouds that don't evaporate or move, it's fascinating" He continues speaking, ignoring my silence. I try to step back only to be forced to my knees again by the man with the pointy mustache.
Enaru's POV:
The girl in front of me gets forced back to her knees by Shura making me chuckle.
"Trying to escape?" I ask amused. I get no reply as the girl stares at me.
"What's your name?" Her silence starts to piss me off, I want to know more about her.
"Are you going to answer me?" Her stare says it all. 'I'm not speaking to you until you let me go'.
How annoying, but she will speak to me after going into a prison cell. I smile as I plan out a strategy; I will keep her in a cell until she talks to me.
"Clean her up, then send her to the cells." My servants rush over to her and pull her away as she thrashes and protests, trying to escape.
This will be fun~
Y/n's POV:
The servants take me to a doctor who fixes my cuts and examines me to see if I have any major damage. After the all-clear from the doctor, I get thrown into a dark grey cell.
Dust sits on everything along with dirt and the occasional sharp stone on the ground. One window sits up near the tall roof of the cell, giving the cell minimal light. Bars stop the window from being smashed from the inside. The only decorations are an old bed bolted to the floor and an old wooden desk.
The cell doesn't even have a chair! I huff and sit on the musty bed, wishing to be home.
This sucks. I want to see my mother and father again... I want to go back to our house in our peaceful village.
It's been around three months of me sitting in this cell, eating the food they give me, and not speaking to anyone. The man who imprisoned me, who I found out to be a God; Enaru, keeps trying to talk to me but I always turn my back to him when he does.
how dare he put me in this lonely cell. I can tell my silence annoys him, that's the only thing keeping me going. Not giving in and caving, not giving this greedy man what he wants like everyone else.
The feeling of hopelessness set in around the four-month mark. Iv been getting very lonely being imprisoned for so long without talking and I started to blame myself.
Why did I go swimming when I knew the nock-up stream was going to happen? Why did I have to wash up here? Maybe if I had run a bit faster, I could have escaped the man on the bird and I wouldn't be here, trapped.
"Even if you escape, you won't get far. I'll always find you one way or another." Enaru says behind the bars of my cell.
I conclude that the only way to truly escape is to die. Enaru's footsteps get quieter.
(🛑🛑⚠️Suicide attempt warning, skip if you don't want to read⚠️🛑🛑)
Its time... I grab my bed sheet and rip it, making a rope. Very carefully, I balance on the rickety, wooden desk and tie the end of the rope sheet to one of the window bars. I put my head through the noose and take a deep breath in.
Swiftly, I kick the chair out from under me, my airways squish as the makeshift rope tightens. I try to remain quiet but a gasp leaves my mouth as the blood flow to my head stops.
The loud bang of my prison door hitting the wall goes unnoticed as a guard walks in.
"What's the noi-" He stops mid-sentence as he spots me hanging. He starts to shout some things and rushes over to me before pulling out a pocket knife and starts to saw at my makeshift rope. The lack of air and blood flow to my head makes my consciousness slip away, a small smile remains on my face as I close my eyes.
(🛑🛑⚠️If skipped, continue reading from here⚠️🛑🛑)
Bright, white lights pull me out of consciousness, my eyelids remain closed though. A quiet, continuous beep plays to the right side of me. I wiggle my fingers and toes before slowly opening my eyes. The brightness of the white lights makes me bring my hand up and she'd them, I sit up a bit and look around.
I'm still in this place... My heart sinks as I realize my attempt didn't work. Slowly, a hot tear rolls down my face along with a few more. My body is unmoved as the realization hits.
I'm still in this hell of a Shrine... I'm not dead... I don't try to wipe away my tears as they roll down my face, falling and soaking into the white hospital sheets that lay on top of my legs.
A couple of doctors pile into the room, poke and prod at my body and my throat, and tell me how I can help heal it.
"You might not be able to talk or eat without it hurting for a while. You have damaged your throat and vocal cords pretty bad but with a bit of rest, the pain should subside." I nod at the doctor.
I'll probably go back into that cell... The doctors leave after taking one last look at my vitals and taking out a needle, that I didn't realize was in my arm. When they leave so does the noise. The silence doesn't feel peaceful, I've been in silence too long to enjoy it.
Enaru's POV:
My throne feels cold against my bare skin as I sit on it, legs crossed, thinking about the blue sea dweller I captured a while ago.
I can't believe she tried to kill herself. A quick tinge of guilt hits me, vanishing as fast as it came.
It was her fault, if she had just talked to me then I wouldn't have put her in a cell. The gnawing feeling of guilt starts to rise again.
I should go see her. Flashing as I speed through the halls to see her in the hospital room. As I stop outside her room and open the door nob, another wave of guilt hits me. She sits in the white bed facing the window, watching the tops of the trees in Upper yard.
"Hello, you're awake..." I walk over and stand at the foot of her bed.
Y/n's POV:
Enaru stands there, I don't even attempt to look at him. My anger and despair show on my face as I continue watching the treetops.
A loud sigh breaks the silence as I hear him walk around the bed and stop in front of me, his bare chest blocking my view of the trees. finally, I bring myself to look up at his face.
"I locked you in that cell for a while didn't I?" His face stays emotionless as he speaks to me.
Do you think I'm going to reply to you? My captor.
Enaru's POV:
She is testing my patience...
"Hm, maybe... Maybe if you speak to me... I won't put you back in the cell." He brings his gaze back down to my eyes which have been staring at his face.
"But I understand if you don't. You will just have to go back into the cell like I planned."
I don't plan to put her back in that cell but she doesn't have to know that. Her dull e/c eyes widen at the thought of going back.
Y/n's POV:
I don't want to go back into that cell, it's dark and lonely. But I also don't want to give in to the pale man standing before me, but I have to.
"Fuck you..." My quiet, strained voice finally comes out causing him to smirk and chuckle.
"Finally! Some words from Miss Silent." All Enaru receives is a death stare and silence again.
"Well, it's a start." He says as he starts to walk away from the bed I lay in, my eyes following him.
"You will receive your own room in my Shrine. You will be able to walk around and eat dinner in the dining hall with me and my priests, but you won't be able to leave the Shrine." Enaru says, his pale, muscular back facing me, before walking out of the hospital room, leaving me in silence.
Word count: 2328