Aeress
Jonathan. Rolanda. Kisa. Frida.
Jonathan. Rolanda. Kısa. Frida.
My children.
Aeress woke up from her slumber unwillingly. She felt nauseous and at any moment, she would vomit. She laid her cheek on the edge of the cot and waited to see what would happen. When the sickness finally subsided, she ran a hand over her sopping hair from the sweat and sat up.
The feeling of dizziness threatened to return, so Aeress moved a little more gingerly. She sighed in both frustration and exhaustion, examining the area around her. Her senses informed her that Warrick was there. "I'm sorry," she suddenly whispered, refusing to make eye contact with him. She pulled the sheets over her body, as if she could somehow hide her shame.
His voice was blank, but she knew better. "Sorry for what?"
"Listen, I may be a bitch a lot of the time, and I still may think you're an asshole all of the time," she responded, still not looking his way, "but I could feel... I know watching me do that was hard. It was hard for me too."
"Did Godhead tell you to say this?" Of course he would avoid providing a true reply.
She shuddered at his question. "No. She's gone."
A confused silence followed. "Gone where?"
Aeress rubbed her forehead before placing her hand on her chest. "Where she belongs." She shrugged away the pain banging at her heart. "Now, I'm really alone. For the first time in months. I can have peace in my own mind, yet... I've never been more miserable."
"Aeress?"
His voice was closer. It brought shivers to her physique just as it always did. Shamed or not, she would always want him. His fingers brushed against her jaw, teasing her, yet the reassurance she precisely needed. Her eyes followed the trail of his fingertips. He stood before her and she felt so suddenly vulnerable. One harsh swipe from him and she was sure she would crumble.
Warrick saw this and it must have troubled him. "Your agony," he crouched in front of her, "it's so smothering." He closed his eyes briefly. He shook his head. "I can't..." He shook his head again as if to rebuke himself for his own words. "It doesn't matter. You've excelled beyond everyone's expectations. I have faith you'll do just the same in these next ones..."
Her eyes widened in surprise. She hadn't expected him to say what he did, and sure as hell didn't expect any form of sympathy. "I just wish this was over already. I'm not sure how long before I break."
She shakily let out a breath when he leaned over and pressed his lips to her cheek. This entire moment almost felt like a dream. But perhaps he knew that the last thing she needed was the robot version of Warrick? He shook his head at her. "Don't hold your breath."
______________________________________
"The instructions for the third trials are quite concise," Guide Amal said from above. "You are to survive the next hour."
Aeress shouted in alarm as the floor began to shake and before she could apprehend or react properly to anything, walls shot up from underneath, shoving her and scraping against her hard enough to draw blood. They resembled the tan floor, ancient and endless, cracked and weathered by so many years. The shield which separated the audience from her had fogged out. She felt entrapped, but pushed down her panic, and awaited further instruction. She remembered Godhead's words.
"You have been surrounded by a maze," Guide Jamarious informed her. She was glad to know that there would be an eventual exit. "But," there always had to be a but, "within this maze holds all nine Viceroy, whom have been instructed to terminate you, Aeress, without hesitation or objection, in any way possible. When the trial begins, they will stop at nothing to end your life. Defend yourself by any means necessary. Get out of the maze and the third trial is completed. May Godhead be with you!"
Hers eyes widened and for one, long, terrible moment, Aeress thought back to those fierce warriors she had previously met and embraced the fact that she would soon parish. One of them? Perhaps. Nine of them? Impossible. At least in that moment she felt that way.
A buzzer went off, and Aeress responded by flattening herself against the wall to her right, claws extended and deadly. Her heart sang with anxiety, squeezing before releasing with such aggression that she became worried she would burst. She quieted her breath as much as one could when so panicked. A sweat broke over her forehead, dripping down her temples in small, crystal-like beads.
Godhead would know how to calm her down, but Godhead was gone. Aeress had to depend on herself and the knowledge left behind by the goddess.
"No hard feelings!" A male voice taunted some feet away, behind a wall or maybe even two. "But you know what we have to do. If you're really who you say you are, you have nothing to fear."
She shook her head, she wouldn't take the bait. Her thumping heart, working lungs, and racing blood already gave off far too much sound. Aeress would not have been surprised if they had already honed in on her location. It was time to find the exit.
Aeress lifted a foot and froze her body when her foot met the floor. The sound was deafening. Fuck! Her eyes widened and she tore off her boot and tossed it over the wall, many feet away. Unsure if that was enough distraction, she threw the second boot a few moments later a couple more feet farther than the last.
She turned the opposite way and decided to make a right. Oh yeah, she was hating this already.
"Really thought I would fall for that?" Aeress ducked and felt a weapon lodged itself centimeters above her head. She stood up straight and made eye contact with Viceroy Adonis, the cocky son of a bitch. She yanked the hatchet out of the wall right as he charged her. She rolled right from underneath him, hissing in pain when he stabbed her so swiftly in the back.
She collided with the wall closest to her. He came bouncing back, and she twisted just in time so that the rock which exploded from under his hand slapped against the side of her head. Aeress aimed the hatchet at his gut, but he blocked it with him own weapon. At the same time, she aimed her foot against his crotch and pushed with all of her might. Adonis flew back but not before swiping at her legs and digging a hook into her flesh that ripped easily. Aeress could see from the walls and floor around her that he had cut her deeply.
Not wanting to see what he would do next, Aeress got up and raced in a separate direction. She realized she was leaving a blood trail behind her, but knew the bleeding would stop eventually. She had no idea if she was going closer to the exit or farther, but knew that where she began had been somewhere toward the middle.
She made sure to listen for others but it was difficult with the anxiety thriving in her bones. She wouldn't survive for long if she only depended on her instinctive responses and actions. Aeress needed to think this through, even if she felt like she was wasting time.
She stopped against another wall, flattening herself against it. She closed her eyes and focused. Even as it was unbelievable in that moment, she was physically superior to every single person in that maze, not only that, but she possessed thousands of years of knowledge which could help her find-
A blade pierced straight through her side. Her eyes found the blade to be protruding from her flesh. She gasped in pain as the blood fell from her lips, wetting her teeth and leaving a dreadful taste in her mouth. Her body sagged, worsening the damage of the blade. She pulled herself off, gritting her teeth and trying her damnedest to not make a peep as the metal slid against a place not meant to be touched.
Her palm caught the wall in front of her. She listened as the mysterious person who stabbed her through the wall began to pull the blade back. Not thinking too deeply into it, Aeress gathered a great tension of energy and focused it on the hatchet in her hand, tossing it at this person with the kind of precision Godhead and Klein taught her. She crouched when the stone exploded at the contact of her weapon, but the person had dodged just in time. The flash of red hair revealed Viceroy's Katrin's identity.
Aeress stopped again, pressing her hand into the wound. She ripped off her shirt and wrapped it as tightly around her waist as possible. It hurt like hell and she made the grave mistake of whimpering.
Whoever it was who believed they could sneak up on her so boldy would pay dearly for it.
She whirled around and kicked her opponent's knee in with enough force that she felt a crunch under her foot. It was Viceroy David. Aeress was unprepared for his brute strength as he slammed his fist straight into her jaw, taking her down to the floor with him as he crumbled.
Blood gathered and she spit it into his eyes. He grabbed her by her hair and Aeress in turn dug her claws into his arm. He refused to let go and instead slammed her into the nearest wall. It was clear he meant to smash her skull in.
She stomped her bare foot into his, hearing another crunch. His hold slackened and she took this opportunity to smash her head into his. With a twist of her hips at a speed she hadn't known she was capable of, she kicked him into unconsciousness. His body fell backward in slow motion and she couldn't hold back her flinch when his head slammed against the floor without cushion.
He would survive... She hoped.
Her scream was cut off when a rope went around her neck and yanked her up with deadly force. She kicked her legs as she was dragged up the wall, feeling how quickly her throat was being crushed and her lungs being dreprived of air.
"She's strong, Natasha," a woman's voice gritted from the other side.
"Keep pulling, Moira, we have our orders!" her twin barked back.
She flattened her feet against the wall and propelled herself off only to be pulled back. She did this several times, throwing the women off with her strength, even as it crushed her neck further so. On the last swing, her body shot through the wall, bruising on impact. The stone broke apart, blasting onto the two women.
Aeress landed awkwardly on a big chunk of rock, causing the wind to get knocked out of her-not that she really had any to begin with. Something snapped in her back-probably a rib-but she didn't worry too much about it. She turned away, ripping the rope off of her neck, swiftly pulling air back into her body. Her chest burned from the coughing but she just didn't have time to dwell on her own suffering.
She stood up to see that rubble had covered one sister but not the other. She swung the rope around a couple times before shooting it toward the uncovered sister who was quickly recovering. She held onto the rope but was too sluggish as Aeress yanked her forward, she stumbled a couple feet in front of her with a dazed look in her eyes. Crimson seeped down her forehead, into her eyes.
Aeress pulled the twin forward again, but at the same time kicked her leg in the opposite direction. She watched the woman's eyes fly wide open at the painful sound of the splitting bone.
Her movements were lightening quick, and she didn't stop to think or contemplate her next moves. Images and instincts flashed through her head, moving her muscles without objection from Aeress. It almost felt like Godhead was present once again, but instead of feeling possession or lack of control, she was working through her, with her. What she had learned and the thousands of years of knowledge flown through her body so seamlessly.
Aeress blocked her attempt to stab, let go of the rope and with a tight grip on her arms, pulled them across her chest and jerked them so that both shoulders produced a popping sound. Finally, the woman cried out and crumbled to the floor.
The cries of her and her sister evoked a smidge of guilt in her heart, but she remembered why she did what she did, and that if she didn't put this guilt behind her, she would surely die. She had no plan of dying!
So far, she had encountered five opponents: Adonis, Katrin, David, Moira, and Natasha.
Four were left, hiding and plotting her death.
Jia. Maribelle. Diana. Idris.
But she in no way assumed that the other five were out for the count. They didn't become Viceroy for any other fact than that they were the best of the best, and fully capable of challenging Godhead herself.
She kept walking but ever so slowly. The whole point of her walking was so that she would eventually come upon the exit. If only it was that easy. But if she wanted to escape, she had to be witty, think of a way that didn't put her in more danger than she already was in.
She kneeled down pick up a few pebbles. They were perfectly round and smooth, having fallen off the stone walls that had risen around her. She tilted her head and looked around. Now it was her who was plotting.