Author's Note: Look, I wrote something! This may seem completely different
from anything else I've written – believe it or not, it's for school. It's
my entry for the literary magazine, and since it's a fanfiction (more so
than I'd hoped it would have turned out to be) I thought I'd upload it
here. Before you make any comments about the narrator, I tried to keep
his/her identity a complete secret, just the goings-on of the prison.
Symbolism, you see? Well, here it is, anyway. Enjoy.
Free from Sin By Deus Magi
One year, two years, ten years – decades pass before we know it here: this Eternal Prison. Many are those that have found their place among demons of their own creation in this place. They pass through these halls with no knowledge of the outside world. The men with the scythes prefer to keep it that way. I wonder just how many years have gone by since they found me – the blood of countless "innocents" on my hands. I was taken here, to ponder my crime, my sin. The things they do here seem infinitely more unforgivable than any sin a prisoner has committed.
When I arrived, I learned the tradition was to gouge the eyes and sew the mouth shut of the accused. While I no longer have the gift of speech, I refused to allow them to take my eyes. To this day (whatever it may be) they chase me down with their bloodied tools. I did not want to be blinded to this horror, as all before me. Not at first. Oftentimes I regret my decision, but I will not show weakness, not here.
Many memories ago, the routine of the Eternal Prison was somehow altered. A man, unwelcomed by the scythe wielders, it seems, came here. His name was Kain, or still is perhaps. His coming here changed things. Indeed, he changed many things.
I was sitting outside my cell, on one of the many ledges overlooking a chamber filled with crawling prisoners, void of their sanity. I wanted not to look, but my self-promise kept my eyes locked. The scythe-men were conducting their experiments when they heard the news. The moment they disappeared, so did I.
I made my way through the familiar facility - uncountable years will find one rather susceptible to memory – taking particular note of everything around me. I am uncertain how much time passed before I stopped, wondering why I had found such interest in the torture surrounding me. I wondered for a long time.
I passed a fenced area, where several inmates were strapped to some device. All were dead but one, being punished for retaining his mind thus far. I smiled to him, knowing full well he would be broken soon, and that he could not see me either way. I continued down the corridor, closer to the room with the Clock. As I entered, so did a scythe-man – and the vampire, Kain.
The scythe-man scolded him harshly, apparently not for the first time, for entering into the sanctitude of the prison. Their foul experiment had been disrupted, and it was time for Kain to leave. I watched from above as another scythe-man appeared, pulled a switch, and time began to warp. This had always been the worst part of their torture. Nothing was worse than the feeling that millions of years were passing before my eyes within several moments. The scythe-men disappeared, and Kain was alone. He took a door to leave the chamber. I scaled the wall until I reached the very floor the vampire had been standing on. The door he had left through looked aged with centuries, while it had been an elaborately carved masterpiece moments before. I turned to face the Clock device.
Decades of anguish flooded forward as I saw this machine. I searched along the ground until I found two rocks: one large, the other knife-like. The heavy rock I hurled with a muffled cry at the device. It left little more than a dent on the glass-like substance. With the knife-like stone, I cut the threads that kept my lips sewn together. Finally, I could breathe fully the air of the prison. A grimace was thrown over my shoulder at the Clock before I followed Kain through the aged door.
Where I appeared, I did not see the vampire. I saw what appeared to be time itself, and in the center of it all, a second Clock device. I readied to jump toward it from my platform, when a scythe-man appeared.
"You must return immediately to your cell, prisoner," he demanded. I decided against sabotaging their plans and chose life. I dove through the door again.
This time I was back in the chamber. Another door was opened now. I hurried to escape the scythe-man should he have decided to follow me. As I ran down this hall that I did not know, I saw Kain fleeing from another of his kind: Magnus. Better he be distracted; this saved me from the blood-thirsty creature. Even the prison's guards could not stand safely in his presence. I turned at a fork, away from the vampires.
The further along I went, the more I pondered on the state of this place. Was Nosgoth, the supposed home of the prison, truly safe if it was even necessary to establish such a wretched place? I remembered life outside its walls, but vaguely. It was disgusting, almost as much as the prison itself. The people I passed turned their limp heads in hopes of finding some sort of savior from this horror. I stopped only once, to ease a sobbing woman into her death. Then I followed the path again.
Eventually I found myself outside the prison. Outside, where the ocean washed up on rocks stained with blood. The wind blew my short-cropped hair. All around me was freedom. I parted my lips, to let a breath fly with the wind. As I fell from the face of the cliff and grinned at my reflection in the churning sea water, I learned why I had taken in so much of the Eternal Prison. I was free to remember every detail I could obtain.
Free.
Free from Sin By Deus Magi
One year, two years, ten years – decades pass before we know it here: this Eternal Prison. Many are those that have found their place among demons of their own creation in this place. They pass through these halls with no knowledge of the outside world. The men with the scythes prefer to keep it that way. I wonder just how many years have gone by since they found me – the blood of countless "innocents" on my hands. I was taken here, to ponder my crime, my sin. The things they do here seem infinitely more unforgivable than any sin a prisoner has committed.
When I arrived, I learned the tradition was to gouge the eyes and sew the mouth shut of the accused. While I no longer have the gift of speech, I refused to allow them to take my eyes. To this day (whatever it may be) they chase me down with their bloodied tools. I did not want to be blinded to this horror, as all before me. Not at first. Oftentimes I regret my decision, but I will not show weakness, not here.
Many memories ago, the routine of the Eternal Prison was somehow altered. A man, unwelcomed by the scythe wielders, it seems, came here. His name was Kain, or still is perhaps. His coming here changed things. Indeed, he changed many things.
I was sitting outside my cell, on one of the many ledges overlooking a chamber filled with crawling prisoners, void of their sanity. I wanted not to look, but my self-promise kept my eyes locked. The scythe-men were conducting their experiments when they heard the news. The moment they disappeared, so did I.
I made my way through the familiar facility - uncountable years will find one rather susceptible to memory – taking particular note of everything around me. I am uncertain how much time passed before I stopped, wondering why I had found such interest in the torture surrounding me. I wondered for a long time.
I passed a fenced area, where several inmates were strapped to some device. All were dead but one, being punished for retaining his mind thus far. I smiled to him, knowing full well he would be broken soon, and that he could not see me either way. I continued down the corridor, closer to the room with the Clock. As I entered, so did a scythe-man – and the vampire, Kain.
The scythe-man scolded him harshly, apparently not for the first time, for entering into the sanctitude of the prison. Their foul experiment had been disrupted, and it was time for Kain to leave. I watched from above as another scythe-man appeared, pulled a switch, and time began to warp. This had always been the worst part of their torture. Nothing was worse than the feeling that millions of years were passing before my eyes within several moments. The scythe-men disappeared, and Kain was alone. He took a door to leave the chamber. I scaled the wall until I reached the very floor the vampire had been standing on. The door he had left through looked aged with centuries, while it had been an elaborately carved masterpiece moments before. I turned to face the Clock device.
Decades of anguish flooded forward as I saw this machine. I searched along the ground until I found two rocks: one large, the other knife-like. The heavy rock I hurled with a muffled cry at the device. It left little more than a dent on the glass-like substance. With the knife-like stone, I cut the threads that kept my lips sewn together. Finally, I could breathe fully the air of the prison. A grimace was thrown over my shoulder at the Clock before I followed Kain through the aged door.
Where I appeared, I did not see the vampire. I saw what appeared to be time itself, and in the center of it all, a second Clock device. I readied to jump toward it from my platform, when a scythe-man appeared.
"You must return immediately to your cell, prisoner," he demanded. I decided against sabotaging their plans and chose life. I dove through the door again.
This time I was back in the chamber. Another door was opened now. I hurried to escape the scythe-man should he have decided to follow me. As I ran down this hall that I did not know, I saw Kain fleeing from another of his kind: Magnus. Better he be distracted; this saved me from the blood-thirsty creature. Even the prison's guards could not stand safely in his presence. I turned at a fork, away from the vampires.
The further along I went, the more I pondered on the state of this place. Was Nosgoth, the supposed home of the prison, truly safe if it was even necessary to establish such a wretched place? I remembered life outside its walls, but vaguely. It was disgusting, almost as much as the prison itself. The people I passed turned their limp heads in hopes of finding some sort of savior from this horror. I stopped only once, to ease a sobbing woman into her death. Then I followed the path again.
Eventually I found myself outside the prison. Outside, where the ocean washed up on rocks stained with blood. The wind blew my short-cropped hair. All around me was freedom. I parted my lips, to let a breath fly with the wind. As I fell from the face of the cliff and grinned at my reflection in the churning sea water, I learned why I had taken in so much of the Eternal Prison. I was free to remember every detail I could obtain.
Free.