⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀< ❈Iris' POV❈ >
Iris was sitting in her room, looking through an old book. She used to read this story a lot when she was little, and to this day she was still intrigued by the plot. She was not a huge reader, but when she did read, she found it to be very relaxing. Life in Troll Tree had become a little new for her. Everything had happened so quickly but she knew this was how it was supposed to be. The Trolls deserved good leaders, and Creek was already providing them with that.
She expected warmth and love for the new King to rush through her, but nothing came. She stopped reading her book, dropping it against her bed as some strange feeling spread throughout her entire body and made her get a dizzy sensation and she felt her breathing become labored. What...what's happening to me? she thought, panic rising up inside her. Creek! Help me! She thought she had been screaming the words aloud, but she wasn't. It was all in her head, her body paralyzed and preventing her from calling out to the purple Troll.
Her panic spiraled all over the place. Am I dying?? But how? I haven't done anything to hurt myself!
She thought death would come take ahold of her. Her chest was tight, her breaths shallow, and her heart pattering irregularly fast. But suddenly, the strange feeling disappeared. Movement returned to her limbs, and she scrambled up to her feet.
Her heart was still beating quickly but it was from panic now. She looked around, her vision blurry but slowly refocusing. "What...?" she murmured as she looked around the room. She felt as if she'd just awoken from a vivid, crazy dream that had been so realistic she almost believed it was happening. This is real life though, she told herself.
"What happened to me? What am I doing?" Iris ran over to her mirror, looking into it and staring deeply into her own bright pink optics, glancing over her blue skin, trailing up her unique and split-colored hair.
The door to her room suddenly flung open and she whipped her head to the side, seeing Creek walking in. The purple male was watching her with a rather curious gaze.
"Y-you!" Iris shrieked. "What have you done?"
She thought she saw some surprise and perhaps frustration pass over the usually retrained Troll's eyes but it quickly vanished. He narrower his gaze, walking over to her and grabbing her hand in a rather tight grasp. "Come with me," he growled.
Iris fought him, pulling back with her arm. "You disgusting idiot! Let me go!"
"Nonsense," Creek said in a friendly tone, but she could tell he was not meaning to be like that. "Iris, I would never hurt you. You trust me."
She reached forward, baring her rounded white teeth and sinking them into the skin of his arm. She bit down as hard as she could, remembering her father once telling her this was good self-defense. This wacko hurt my friends and family! There is no way I'm letting him control me! Triumph flashed through her as she tasted the irony tang of blood on her tongue and Creek yelped, instinctively kicking her back and rubbing the wound.
"Now, now, Iris," Creek growled darkly. "You know better."
"Shut up! You're not my master or whatever the hell you think you are to me!" the blue-skinned female argued, her fingers curling into the palms of her hands, shaking, her heart pounding from both fear and rage.
"You're waking up, sweetheart," Creek sneered, reaching forward and grabbing her arm once again and pulling her towards him. The softness of his tone scared her more than anything. She knew he was trying to scare her...and it was working. "And I can't have you waking up. My plan is just now getting into motion. I don't need that destroyed." His hand gripped tighter around her arm and Iris couldn't hold back the whimper of fear.
She knew if her father was here right now, he would've protected her just like he did when she was little. But now he wasn't here. And that was all her own fault. She wanted him so, so bad... Please! You promised to always protect me! Iris suddenly felt like a little kid once again, holding onto her father's hand and pressing close to him as she saw two older Trolls wrestling with each other. It had only been a play-fight but since Iris had been so young at the time, she had thought it was real. He told me he wouldn't let them near me. Oh, what's wrong with me? I caused this whole thing.
Creek jerking her forward snapped her from her thoughts. She felt pain shoot up her arm and almost instinctively called out, "Daddy, help me!" It was in a rather high voice as if she really had been brought back into the past and was calling for her father to come and rescue her.
The purple Troll next to her chuckled in her ear. "Your daddy is a traitor, Iris. Why would you want him helping you, hm?"
Iris glared up at him, her two eyes like disks of bright pink fire. "Because he's a better man than you. You lied to me, Creek! You jacked up my mind. And now, yes, I have woken up! And I hate you!" Her last words were spat out like vile on her tongue. She remembered the basic self-defense techniques Branch had given her and launched her fist towards Creek's face, catching him by surprise with her knuckles finding home right into his large orange nose.
The meditator hopped back in surprise, painfully running his face. Iris saw this as a chance to escape and turned, towards her window. There was no time to unlock it. Bunching her strength together, she closed her eyes, pushing off the ground with her muscly legs and leaping towards the glass. Her heart pounded wildly in her chest as she slammed right into it, the sharpness of the clear substance stinging her flesh and grazing it, drawing blood. She tumbled towards the ground, landing with a hard thump with glass shards showering down around her. A few pieces were lodged into her skin and she ripped them out, ignoring the fire-like stings that exploded throughout her body. All her mind was focused on was running away. I need to find Blossom! she thought.
Sure enough, the pale pink female was in a deep conversation with a few other Trolls. She'd grown quite popular among the village over the past few days. Now night was settling over the Troll Tree, hardly any sunlight peaking over the horizon. Iris couldn't help but be relieved by this. Running away and hiding from Creek would be easier in the dark.
"Blossom!" the blue-skinned female called out to her friend as she ran in her direction. Her heart was thudding much harder now, sweat trickling from her hairline, and her breaths coming in thick, desperate gasps.
Almost at once, Blossom whipped around, her bright blue eyes wide with shock as she saw the current state of Iris. Her gaze scanned over the Princess' bloody, beaten skin and worn-down body. "Iris! What happened?"
The other Trolls around were watching with concern. "Come on! Just come on!" Iris ignored everyone else, taking Blossom's hand in hers and dragging her along. A sharp, blood-spewing cut in her leg slowed her walking, making her rely on nothing but a heavy limp. But she was still moving as fast as she could until finally...she found a thick coverage of bushes and pulled Blossom down in with her.
The pink-skinned girl beside her stared at Iris questioningly. "What happened?? What are you doing?" she muttered.
Iris faced her friend, still breathing quite heavily and feeling deep amounts of agonizing pain scorching through her body like a forest fire. "Creek..." She struggled to catch her breath, struggled to make the words out. "Creek...a-attacked m-me," she panted. "Blossom, w-we have to s-stop following him. He's dangerous. He's lying to us." She gripped the sides of her head, tears streaming down her face from both regret and from pain. "He did something to my brain. I-I'm not sure what. But I've awoken now."
"Wow, he attacked you bad..." Blossom whispered.
Iris shook her head. "This blood isn't from what he did," she replied, feeling herself breathing more normally now. "I jumped out the window. But it was locked and I didn't have time to unlock it. Creek would've caught me if I had. And the skies know what he would've done to me if it came to that..." She shuddered at the thought.
Blossom blinked at her. "How do you know he's lying?" she asked.
"Trust me, Blossom. I just know. And I also know we have to save everyone." The Princess rose to her feet, slowly slipping from the undergrowth with Blossom following carefully after. "Come on." She walked on, happy that it had been easy to convince her friend. After all, Blossom had not at all been hijacked by Creek so it was a surprise she had gotten her to come along.
I'm sorry, Mom and Dad. I'll save you...but I know you're going to be beyond upset with me... Especially after what I've done with Creek....
Oohh, this is spicy. I had so much fun writing this chapter! Like I'm serious. I was actually getting so excited ajdjwjjsjsje
I've been wanting to type up this scene for so freakin long!
Well, thank you for reading and stay tuned for chapter 27!