Chapter 2
Zen sat silently in a chair, rubbing his hands together nervously. He had told Harza's parents about how some Krimzon Guards had arrested Harza and taken her away. His golden eyes glanced over at Harza's mother, seeing she was sobbing with her face in her hands. He let out a deep sigh; a part of him wished he had ignored Harza yelling at him to run and tried to save her. But he knew that if he had done that he would have been caught too and nobody would have known what had happened. The memory of seeing Harza's terrified face when she was thrown into the prison transport was burned into his mind. He wanted back immediately and break Harza out of prison but Harza's father told him that a rescue plan would be suicide and the only one that could help them is a wise elf known as Samos. Harza's father wanted to rely on Samos because he had heard about how the wise elf was actually gathering people to join the Underground which was a group he created to one day overthrow the Baron.
Harza's father remained silent as he sat before the short, green-skinned male elf that had white and green hair with a giant log in it, wearing a brown waistcoat, orange button up shirt, glasses, green pant, and two giant log stilts as sandals to make himself taller. Samos sighed as he thought about the news he had just received; he had a feeling Harza would have eventually gotten herself into trouble with how reckless she was.
"I know you came to me to help save your daughter but there's nothing I can do at this time. The KG Fortress is heavily guarded and the underground is too small to be able to perform a rescue mission. I'm sorry but you'll have to wait until we have more resources." Samos said.
Harza's father slammed his fist on the table in front of him out of anger, startling the green-skinned elf.
"She's my daughter! I can't leave her in that hell hole! For precursor's sake, Samos, she's only fourteen! She doesn't need suffer like this!" he yelled.
Samos did not yell back, instead he calmly replied "I understand, I don't like leaving her there as much as you do. But a rescue mission would expose the Underground too early and we might not ever get the chance to take down the Baron. We will save your daughter in good time, but you must be patient. I will find a way to free her, you have my word."
Harza's father inhaled deeply through his nose as he let his head hang low. He wished he had told Harza the truth about why he was being protective over her. He believed if he had told his daughter the reason she would have still been standing next to him smiling. Now she was in prison and he had no idea of what torment she was going through.
Back at the prison Harza groaned as she slowly opened her eyes. Her head throbbed in pain and her surroundings were blurry. She blinked a few times, clearing up her vision and realizing that she had been thrown back in her cell. Her arms shook as she forced her body to sit up. The burning from the Dark Eco being injected into her had died down but it was still there. She lifted her fingers and grazed them across her neck which was still very sore from the injection. She could feel that a bloody bandage had been placed there.
"How long have I been out?" she muttered to herself as she looked around.
She grunted as she leaned her head against her cell's wall; she had no idea how to tell time with how dark her cell was. Her green eyes glanced all over the cell, trying to see if she could at least make out anything in the dark. As she did this she noticed a strange sensation in her mind, like as if some force was probing her mind. Harza couldn't explain what the sensation was but only that it felt kind of numbing and nice. She was snapped out this sensation when she heard loud screaming. She gasped out of fear and instantly curled in a ball. She could hear the prisoner screaming like a mad man till finally the sound of a gunshot filled the air and everything went silent. Harza bit her lip tightly, not caring if she was about to make it bleed with how hard her teeth were clamped down on it. She squeezed her eyes shut, letting out a few sobs and muttering about going home.
She kept on crying until she felt the strange sensation fill her mind once more. She found it strange how the sensation was kind of comforting and making her became drowsy despite being passed out for hours. She slowly closed her green eyes, wanting to stay in the sensation's embrace. Before her mind slipped in the bliss of unconsciousness, she once again heard the voice that sounded like her's whisper her name.
The next day Harza was met with a rude awakening when she was kicked in the stomach, causing her to yell out in pain. She held her hand over her stomach while she got on her free hand and knees. She lifted up her head to see her cell door open and a couple of Krimzon Guards in there. They had come for her again. Harza clenched her teeth as she was painfully grabbed by the arms and pulled out of her cell. She didn't want to go back to that chair and endure the pain again. She struggled and fought against the guard's grip till finally one of the guards slammed the end of his gun into the back of Harza's head. She cried out as her vision temporarily went black and she could feel the guards dragging her through the hallways. When her vision came back around she found herself standing before the same chair she was placed in the previous day.
She jerked her head around as she was forced into the chair and held down with the bonds. Her green eyes darted around frantically out of panic. That was when she noticed a Krimzon Guard in the corner of the room. He was a red haired elf with black tattoos over his face, wearing a black and yellow racing uniform with red armor and a silver mask on top of his head. She didn't know why but she was a bit scared with how the male elf stared at her with golden eyes full of intense and a smirk on his face. She knew her friend had golden colored eyes too but she considered Zen's eyes much kinder than the one's staring at her right now. She held her breath as the male elf in the lab coat from yesterday held down her head again and got of the shot vile of Dark Eco. She glanced at the vile out of the corner of her eye and was shocked that there was actually more Dark Eco in the vile.
Harza didn't even get the chance to be terrified of this new revelation because her old bandage had already been removed and the needle jabbed into her neck. She could feel her eyes rolling into the back of her head as the Dark Eco was injected into her body, the burning more badly than the previous. Her fingers stiffened into a curled position as choked gasps escaped her mouth. She could barely form a scream out of her mouth due to how much pain her body was in from the Dark Eco. Harza struggled to keep her eyes open; she didn't want to pass out again in the chair. But unfortunately the pain was too much and her body fell slump in the chair as she fell unconscious again.
The male elf in the racing uniform watched as one of the Krimzon Guards walked over to the chair and began unlocking the metal bonds.
"So we got another Dark Eco Freak on our hands?" he asked a Krimzon Guard next to him.
"Yeah pretty much, Erol." the guard said, "Some of the boys brought her in yesterday. She's a poor one so the Baron doesn't have to worry about anyone snooping around about her disappearance. After all no one suspects the disappearance of a homeless person."
Erol nodded his head in agreement as he watched Harza get carried back to her cell. He had to admit to himself, she looked decent enough to have fun with but he wanted to wait to make sure she doesn't die in the experiments before making his final decision. The Krimzon Guard tossed Harza's body into the empty cell, watching as it landed with a loud thud. Without a word he closed the cell, leaving her in the dark. But unaware to everyone Harza's mind had slipped into the world of dreams.
Harza was smiling as her blue hair blew softly in the wind. She sat in the warm sands of Haven City's beach, letting the sound of the waves relax her. Sitting next to her was her friend Zen. She blushed when Zen gently brushed his hand against her's intentionally. Without even looking she slowly intertwined her fingers with his. Harza couldn't ignore the butterflies forming in her stomach as she turned toward Zen. Next thing she knew they were both inching their faces toward each other. She partly closed her eyes, awaiting what would come next. But to Harza's surprise the unexpected actually happened. The blue ocean water's turned into a dark purple and out of it emerged a giant dark creature with glowing red eyes. Harza and Zen stared at it terrified as the creature reached out it's giant hand toward them. Quickly the two teens begin to run.
Harza panted as she ran, horrified to discover she was actually tiring out. She reached out her arm as Zen ran further and further ahead of her. Next thing Harza knew the dark creature had her grasped in it's giant hand. She screamed out for help as the creature sunk into the dark ocean, taking her with it. When she was in the dark water, the creature was gone but she found herself sinking deeper and deeper into the darkness. Bubbles escaped her mouth as she screamed underwater when she noticed lurker sharks coming for her. The lurker sharks were relentless attacking the young she-elf. She continued screamed as the lurker sharks' teeth created many deep wounds, making the dark water around her turn crimson from her blood.
Harza felt like crying, wishing the pain would end. Finally to her relief the lurker sharks left her alone and swam away, disappearing into the darkness. But due to how injured she was, she had no strength to swim back up to the surface. She tilted her head upwards, watching as her body sank deeper and deeper into the darkness. She noticed the occasionally bright purple lights that would swirl around her in the dark water. At that moment her eyes snapped wide open; she realized that the dark water she was sinking in was actually Dark Eco. She panicked, trying to regain her strength to swim to the surface. Unfortunately her strength wouldn't come back and she remained trapped in the Dark Eco. She closed her eyes, losing all hope. When she opened her eyes she was shocked to see her green eyes staring into pure black ones that had no sign of iris or pupils.
Harza's eyes snapped open and she sat up in a flash; her chest heaving with her forehead covered with cold sweat. She placed her hand on her chest, trying to recover from the shakiness she received from that nightmare. She could feel her heart pounding rapidly in her chest, part of the reason because of the Dark Eco increasing her adrenaline. Once she calmed down enough she pressed her back against the cell wall and tried to relax. She glanced down at the floor and noticed a small tray with some nasty looking food and only a cup with only one-fourth of water. She cringed when she saw the food she was left, making her miss the delicious fruits she had eaten with her family the night before she was thrown in prison. Harza groaned when she heard her starving stomach growl in starvation, reminding her of the fact that she was never fed at all the day before.
She fought off a wave of nausea from staring at the food; she really didn't want to resort to eating disgusting foods to satisfy her hunger. She closed her eyes, trying to ignore the growling of her stomach. That was when she heard that voice whisper her name again. She looked around the cell, trying to figure out why she kept hearing a voice sounding like her's whispering her name. The voice continued on about how Harza should each the food, that if she died that would be giving satisfaction to the Krimzon Guards. Harza ran her fingers through her hair, wondering why this voice she was hearing was insisting she continue to live. She considered death the much better option than continuing to try to survive in prison.
Harza shook her head hard when she realized she was thinking about questioning a voice she was probably imagining she was hearing. She laid down on the cold floor, flipped on her side, and curled up in a ball. She tried to escape to the memories of her past, her joyful memories with Zen and her family. But no matter how hard she tried her thoughts kept trailing back to what that voice told her.
"Is it true? Would I be giving the guards satisfaction if I let myself died? I remember hearing that prisoner's scream before they got killed, I guess that means the guards do love to kill prisoners or have the prisoners commit suicide." she thought to herself.
She peeked over at her shoulder at the food once more and heard her stomach growl loudly. Finally with a sigh of defeat she decided to give into her urges. She pulled the tray over to her and hungrily shoved as much food as she could in her mouth. She gagged loudly as soon as she tasted the rotten flavor of the food, but she kept her mouth shut. She managed to swallow every bit of food she placed in her mouth, cleaning off the tray in seconds. When she picked up the cup with the water in it she chose to gulp it down instead of savoring it. Harza tossed the cup down loudly with a loud clang, happy that her hunger was dealt with. Before she could lie down she spotted her reflection in the metal tray that formerly held the food.
Narrowing her eyes she noticed something strange around the area of her neck that had another bloody bandaged. Her slim finger grasped the edge of the tray and lifted it up to her face. Harza tilted her head to get a better look at the area of the neck. Once she got a good look she nearly stopped breathing and almost dropped the tray she was holding. The skin around the area were she had been injected with the Dark Eco was now dark purple. She gently ran her fingers over the purple skin, shocked to discover that area of her neck felt ice cold. She knew that it was the doing of the Dark Eco and it had already began twisting and altering her. Harza finally dropped the tray and stared at the ground with wide eyes. If they kept pumping Dark Eco into her, she was unsure and feared what would become of her.
Zen sighed sadly as he sat on his bed. He was unable to sleep ever since he found out they had no choice to leave Harza in prison until they could get more help. His stomach twisted and churned at the thought of his best friend crying and sobbing as she was tortured behind the prison walls. He knew at the rate with how much sleep he was losing over worrying about Harza he would end up becoming an Insomniac. His golden eyes glanced up at the starry night sky. He couldn't help but smile at his old memory of he and Harza sitting on the beach at night fall. He remembered how Harza would point at the different constellations, talking about how Mar always believed that the precursors got to see the beauty of the stars from beyond their planet. Slowly a frown formed on his face when he though about how much he missed Harza's face. He hoped Samos would put the rescue mission in progress soon; he was terrified of being apart from Harza for so long that he might actually forget what her face looked like.
Zen finally laid his head down on his pillow, trying to at least get some rest. He knew Harza wouldn't have wanted him to worry himself sick about her. As he closed his eyes, he imagined seeing Harza's smiling face when they finally break her free of prison. He pictured her laughing as she gives him a hug, talking about how they would go back to their old ways. A small smile formed on his face as he held onto the small hope of seeing Harza again. He clung onto the belief Harza would be back and everything would go back to normal.
He glanced at the night sky and said "Goodnight, Harza." before closing his eyes once again and allowing himself to slip into deep sleep.