Hello again, Readers!
I have been pretty depressed this past week and have had a hard time doing the simplest of things, so writing took a step back for me. It was a doozy to write this chapter, but I think I have a spark again and hope to keep pushing forward!
I have a blog that talks about my struggle with mental health, injuries, sports, and different pieces of literature and its link is on my profile. So, if you are wondering what I'm going through feel free to take a look.
If you have any questions or concerns, let me know! Hope you like the chapter!
-Ally Layne.
Do Not Go Gentle
Chapter 33: Creatures of the Dark
The first thing that registered was the darkness. Shadows lingered and danced in the corners of my eyes. Words, ones I could barely make out, echoed from the back and threatened to drag me back into the eternal pit.
My feet were planted and stuck under my body. I was doing my best to stand my ground. I wasn't going to allow myself to be dragged back.
I was never going to go back.
The darkness morphed into a scene all too familiar.
"Persephone Jackson. Oh, how the mighty have fallen!"
"Your friend will be meeting her demise at the hands of my lovely children, Jackson. You are out of options. Bow down to me, and I will let you die peacefully."
"From what I've heard you're normally a lot more talkative, Jackson. Hmmm... I guess I'm going to have to use some other methods to have a decent conversation."
"How many teeth do you think will get you to squeal?"
"If you want to speak, Persephone, you're going to have to mean it."
Laughter echoed in the darkness.
The darkness pooled from my mouth, but it looked like it took shape. A hand, smothering me, another hand, atop my head, providing horrific visions to become engrained in my mind.
I heard a choking sound and remembered that I had tried to scream.
My tongue ran along the cold emptiness that had been a consequence of this event. My teeth, three among the bottom row, were then pulled from my mouth.
I shivered.
The shape the darkness had taken, a faceless human, turned away from my defenseless body to look directly at where I was watching.
"I knew you would come back."
I felt the entombing feeling of the darkness entrapping me once more, and I swear I saw the specter grin. If, of course, the thing had a face.
I tried to speak, but I looked down to see the darkness spreading across my body, and covering my mouth. The shape of a hand, outlined by a ghostly mass, spread across my mouth. A tingling sensation sent chills down my spine, as tears started to form in my eyes.
"You will always wind up here."
I tried to get away from the hands that eerily gripped my body, holding me in place, but no matter how hard I struggled, I didn't budge.
My mouth opened again to speak, but darkness flew into my throat and started to choke me. I let out helpless gasps as tears streamed down my face from the effort. Why was this… thing doing this to me? What did I ever do to get this treatment?
"You do not even know who I am, girl? And I believed you were one of my greatest foes. How humorous and insignificant you must be in comparison to the other heroes who dared step in my path."
Who? I was still trying to figure out what it was. This darkness was not normal- I had seen mists and shadows created and generated from Hades and his children, but this… this was far more imperious than those.
"I created shadows, girl. Hades has power over the shadow, but I am the one who created it all."
I tried to scream, but nothing came out.
"No one can save you now."
I closed my eyes as the shadows quickly overtook me.
"You will die, Persephone Jackson."
"Persie? What is wrong?"
I wasn't surrounded by shadows anymore. It was just a dream- a really, really messed up dream. But I'm alive. I'm breathing. I'm okay.
"Persie?"
I blinked and felt the cold wetness against my cheek. The soft pillow that was under my head was wet from the tears I must've shed while sleeping. "Alma?"
The blonde elleth was wearing a dark blue dress that looked like it was made out of soft linen, similar to bed sheets. Alma wasn't the dressiest person I knew, but she certainly knew how to look nice whilst still feeling comfortable. I could respect that in a person.
"Are you okay? You were screaming and thrashing, and I had Gerda run to go get Lord Elrond or a healer."
My lips quivered and I could still somehow feel the onslaught of the dark mist that veiled over my limbs. Even though it wasn't there… it still felt real. "I'm fine, Alma, don't worry. It was just a nightmare or something."
She could see through my lie. "It was unlike any other nightmare you have had before, mellon. I was worried you were going to accidentally hurt yourself, as you were clawing at some invisible thing trying to hold you down. You were screaming so loud, I believe many are awake from your hoarse cries."
I could feel a flush of embarrassment rise to my cheeks. "I'm sorry I scared you, Alma. I don't know how to stop them, but if I could I would, you know that-"
"Persephone, how are you feeling?"
Gerda must've let Lord Elrond in, as he strode over to where I still laid against my headboard. "I'm fine, Lord Elrond. Really, there is no reason to fuss-"
"She was screaming and begging for someone to let her go, but no one was in the room with her," Gerda explained. "She was scratching her arms like she was trying to get a layer of skin off her body. It was frightening to witness, my Lord."
I looked down at my arms, seeing the streaks of harsh red and blood pooling from the broken skin. They were all pink and puffy around the outsides of the scratches- proving how violent I had been while caught in the nightmare.
I did my best to calm through taking some deep breaths, but my anxiety continued to eat away at me. What was the figure in the darkness? What did it want? Was it going to try and drag me back to Tartarus? Could it drag me back to Tartarus?
I don't think I'd want to find out.
"I will grab you a glass of water, will that be sufficient for your injuries?"
I let out a low hum in acknowledgment to the elf who was now sitting at my side, holding one of my arms in his hands while inspecting the cuts closely. "I think that would work."
Lord Elrond turned to Gerda who immediately nodded and walked out of the room at a hastened pace. I rolled my eyes, thinking that these elves were being such worry-worts. I mean, it's not as if this is the first time I've ever had a nightmare. It's not like they have to be this worried.
Elrond's dark eyes peered up at mine. "Do you remember what you dreamed about? What could have caused such a reaction?"
I gulped. "I, I don't know. I remembered some things I'd rather never think about again."
The Elf Lord nodded once and turned his gaze back down at my arms. "I hope that this does not continue to occur, Persephone. The last thing you need is to wear yourself out at night and cease to be able to control yourself during the day."
I pursed my lips. "I don't think that'll happen. I doubt whatever is eating away at me will continue to do so before I get to be, well, too tired to deal with this anymore."
Alma crossed her arms. "I am not grateful to hear you speak like this, mellon."
Gerda quickly walked back into the room, holding a pitcher of water out to Lord Elrond earnestly. "I hope this will be enough, Lady Persephone."
I grimaced at the term Lady, knowing that she only said such things because we were in front of Lord Elrond. However, I smiled gratefully at my friend who sounded a bit out of breath from how quickly she had been walking. "This is perfect, thank you, Gerds."
She smiled and nodded, before stepping back to her spot along the side of the room.
I moved my fingertips to the water pitcher and looked at Elrond knowingly. "This is going to look a little odd, but just hold onto the pitcher for me, please."
He nodded, and I could see the tiny flicker of glee that was hidden in his aged eyes. It was funny to see such a renowned elf get so excited to see my healing powers, but I supposed this was intellectually stimulating for him.
I felt the familiar tug in my gut before the water moved from the pitcher and swirled its way up my arms. A small aura of blue omitted from the wounds, as they slowly started to close and soaked away all the blood and grossness from my body.
I smiled a bit at the gasps that my friends made, and nearly laughed at the wide-eyed elf that sat in front of me.
"Dear Eru, this is amazing," Lord Elrond muttered, watching the water start to recede from my arms. "How… what… how is this possible?"
I shrugged and took my hands away from the water pitcher, while still holding a small pool of the water in the air for my own amusement. The elves watched in awe as I molded the water into a few different shapes before letting it come down once more into the pitcher.
Elrond looked back down at my arms and sat the pitcher down at his feet before taking my arms into his hands again. "There is no scarring… this is phenomenal. Have you always been able to do this?"
I let out a shocked cough. Normally people were too weirded out by the whole freaky water-moving thing to be able to generate a natural string of thought, let alone ask me questions. "Er… the first time I really remember doing it was when I was twelve."
He blinked. "You do not know if you have had these capabilities before that age?"
I shook my head.
"That is odd. Normally such things would have developed at an earlier age…"
I let out a sigh. "Am I allowed to go work out, now? I think I could use a few training segments and spars to get over the whole nightmare thing."
Elrond looked surprised. "You wish to go train?"
I nodded and looked to Alma quickly. "Do you think Varis would be in the training arena?"
The blonde, who still looked shocked from the whole healing episode, nodded airily. "I believe she should be finishing up her training session with my brother and Lord Geoffry right now."
I grinned up at my friends and took my arms out of Lord Elrond's grasp. "Perfect, I'll go meet her now."
This seemed to snap Alma out of whatever haze she was in. "Oh, but do not forget that you have lessons with Sir Finalion and me in two hours, we will be covering some important topics that you should not miss."
I blinked. "I didn't think I had a choice."
Alma laughed. "You do not, but I thought it would be nice to at least pretend. Now, if you are going to go train, you should go sooner than later or you will find yourself late for your lessons."
Lord Elrond grabbed the pitcher and stood up, nodding at us kindly. "It seems as though I should take my leave. It was a pleasure to witness your healing, Persephone. I will most likely ask to see such things again, however, hopefully, it will not be you who needs to heal."
I smiled. "It is always a pleasure, Lord Elrond. Have a good day."
He nodded once again, then walked out of the room with the water in hand and his robes billowing quietly behind him.
"That went better than I thought it would," I stated, and got of bed to put some clothes on. "I thought he was going to try and psychologically assess me or something."
Gerda tilted her head as she handed me an extra tunic to wear. "What do you mean?"
Alma plopped down on the side of the bed without her usual grace. "Psychologically?"
I paused. "That's right, you probably wouldn't know. It's something that has to do with the brain and why people act the way they do, I think."
"As in Lord Elrond questioning the reasoning behind your nightmares?" Alma guessed.
I gulped. "Yeah. I don't think I'll ever be ready to talk about them."
Gerda looked up at me knowingly. "One day you will be able to talk about it, and we will be right here at your side to listen."
Alma nodded in agreement. "You will not be able to get rid of us that easily, Persie."
I smiled and continued to dress for the day ahead of me.
As soon as I made it to the training arena, I noticed that there wasn't a lot of others who were practicing. Normally, there were elven warriors everywhere around this joint, but right now it looked spectacularly empty.
"Persie!"
I whirled around, holding my sword out in caution. However, I was merely greeted with the smiling face of Aldarian and immediately capped the sword and turned it back into its pen form. "Oh, it's just you."
He gasped. "Just me? I should be offended!"
Another voice chimed in, "Stop acting so dramatic, Aldarian." I grinned as the familiar face of Varis walked toward the two of us, bow in hand. "How are you doing, Persephone?"
"Oh, you know, just looking for someone to spar to get out all the harsh feelings from last night. How are you?"
The red-head dwarrowdam chuckled and hooked the bow around her shoulder. "I am well. I think I am starting to get accustomed to using the bow and arrow. I was trained to use an ax as a child, so this is strangely unfamiliar to me."
I blinked. "An ax?"
Aldarian decided to help tame my confusion. "Dwarves are well known for their prowess with axes on the battlefield," he explained. "It is not uncommon for a youngling to learn how to wield an ax at a young age."
Varis nodded proudly. "We are a race of warriors. Surely you would understand such a thing."
I nodded slowly. "That's not wrong, I guess. I started learning how to use my sword when I was twelve."
Aldarian looked at me curiously. "How old are you, now?"
"Eighteen- wait… I think I'm around nineteen, now."
They both gaped.
"What?"
"You are that young?"
I shrugged my shoulders sheepishly. I knew their races aged at a different rate than humans, but I didn't think it would really be that weird for me to be this young. "It's not like I have a long lifespan like you guys," I told them. "Normally things happen earlier for humans for a reason."
Varis sighed and wrung her hands together. "You were a just a wee bairn, and they taught you sword fighting?"
"I wasn't just a wee bairn, you know. I was old enough to fight, so I did."
Aldarian looked like he was about to throw up. His complexion had gone from light and glowing to pale and green in a matter of moments. "How could you have survived that young? You had parents, yes? How could they allow such a thing-"
I groaned. "It's not like I had a lot of options, Blondie. I was in a few sticky situations and had to fight my way out of them. Forgive me for being a young upstart."
Varis shook her head. "I do not think this has anything to do with you being an upstart, Persphone. I think you were trained far too young. You lost your childhood."
"I didn't have a childhood, Varis."
They paused.
"What do you mean, you did not have a childhood?" Aldarian questioned slowly.
I grit my teeth, and uncapped riptide at my side. "I don't want to talk about it," I said. "I think I'm going to go decapitate a few dummies."
The elf and dwarrowdam looked between each other and back at me in a moment. "What are you not telling us?" Varis asked.
I shook my head. "I'll tell you another time."
Aldarian swayed from one foot to another nervously. "Maybe we should-"
"I'm going to go cut off some heads. I'll see you both around."
I spun around on my heel and hurried to where there were dummies used to train young soldiers different weapon techniques. Ignoring the vehement protests that sounded out from behind me, I made my way over to the dummies and proceeded to do just as I said.
With a few well-placed hacks, I cut off the heads of the dummies.
It felt exhausting, yet invigorating. Disgusting, yet calming. I felt controversial feelings inside of me and decided to hash them out. One after the other, the heads rolled.
One after the other, another piece of my past fell from memory.
The childhood I never had, the mother who worked to death, the stepfather who beat me, the father I never knew existed, the friends who betrayed me, the friends who fought at my side then died, the family who left my mother, the family who left me.
It was all demolished to dust.
Ash to ash, dust to dust. Just like the best of them.
I was panting heavily when I finally stopped.
Riptide was held tightly in my hand as tears pricked behind my eyes. Heads rolled in the slight breeze that lifted a stray piece of hair from my braid and it blew into my face.
I tucked it back behind my ear aggressively.
A group of elves, those who were still at the training arena, were looking at me wearily. A part of me wondered how long they had been watching me, standing there and examining my behavior like a scientific specimen.
The rest of me didn't care.
I left the mess of my past behind me and left the training arena with my head held high and my sword turned back into a pen in my pocket. I was going to beat this darkness. I wasn't going to let it take me back.
I was moving forward, I wasn't being dragged backward.
I was never going back.
Never again.
My feet took me to the library, where I knew Alma and Finalion were waiting, but there were whispers echoing in the hallway in front of me that gave me pause. I knew that voice, I had heard him just last evening.
The other voice was female.
Stupid Goldfish.
I took a deep breath and steeled myself as I walked forward through the hallway where Glorfindel and an unnamed female were talking to each other. I made no effort to try to hide my footsteps, but if I had been trained since I was a kid to disguise the sound of my movement then I don't think it was my fault, was it?
However, as soon as I walked forward through an archway, I wished I had made more noise.
The voices had stopped, and there, right in front of me, was Glorfindel and the white-haired Mirwen lip-locked in a passionate embrace.
I felt tears prick my eyes and wasn't able to hide the gasp that escaped my throat. Glorfindel immediately pulled away from the Lady and turned to look at me with glazed eyes. However, when he realized who I was, his eyes sharpened and shock took over.
"Per-Persephone, I… it is not what it must have looked to be-"
Nemir!I glared at the Golden-Haired Warrior with blurred vision. "Go fuck yourself, Glorfindel."
I hurried past the two lovers, leaving them behind in my haste to get to the library.
"Persephone, Nemir, wait!"
I was done waiting.
I was done.
