Pale Fire

by rileyperez33

What can change in 10 seconds? What can be created and destroyed within the mind of the afraid? What is the difference between the Monsters of our imagination and the Heros of our stories? Life changes in 10 seconds. She creates and destroys on the behalf of the afraid. Monsters and Heros all depend on where your loyalties lie. What will you choose? Freedom or Life?

1. Freedom

Prologue

~Freedom~

"Praise, for death has arrived," her body floated on the frosty air. She couldn't recollect anything outside this frozen prison, her mind confined inside her inanimate mass. She could faintly perceive the voices of death creeping closer to another world's end. She had heard the same line over and over, it corrupted her head until she was its hostage. Her power was restrained within the panopticon of her tattered subconscious, holding the remains of her together by threads. "BE217, my dear. Isn't it beautiful?" The monster's voice was harsh and raw, a deep vibrato that filled her. She could not speak. Even if she wanted to, she had no control of her body, all she could do was try to ignore the sounds of death that invaded her.

Soft teal tangles fell down across her face. Sparing her from the images of death that consumed the room around her. Her skin was pale and lifeless, only tiny curls of power flickering out from her stomach. Crystalline wings twitched in an attempt to protect her brittle frame. This nightmare had haunted her for as long as she could remember, it followed her in this distant sullen crypt. "Soon, sweetest, we will have what we desire. We will have all the power we need to protect Earth. We will destroy anything that comes close." The monster whispers to her promises of destruction and death that makes her head spin.

Soon the room is empty again, noting but the screens that surround her to keep her company. She feels the electricity that controls her begin to fade, allowing her enough control to focus her mind. Regaining enough of her will, she turns her attention to her homeworld. Her thoughts linger on the dense forests of crystal and gems that filled her planet once. The deep pools of cooled rock that she used to bathe in. Her family, the same people who had raised her and cared for her. She could still feel the searing pain of her loss, the echos of the pain she inflicted from so far away. Her consciousness shrieks amidst the cries of those she murdered, filling whatever time she had with sorrow. The monster often took pride in that, torturing her with the videos her subconscious presented. She wasn't positive how the beast had access to her brain, nor how they had restrained her so flawlessly. The monster rarely told her anything outside of information on those she had destroyed.

He felt sadistic pleasure in holding her hostage, he took satisfaction in the grief that overwhelmed her when she killed. She hated him for that. Dea hated him for his ruthless character, which claimed the lives of others. She loathed the position that was forced upon her; she despised that this is what she was condemned too. Her wings twitched again, the ongoing anger building within the tattered mind. Her thoughts raced around, the screams of the dead building within her head. That was the problem with this freedom; when her mind was given up to the anger, it consumed her. It filled her to the brim and then overflowed until she was burning. She would let it bubble and rage until she erupted, allowing the uncontrolled energy to swarm the system used to tame her. Soon after allowing the power to overwhelm her, she would lose all control and eventually pass out. It often ended with another planet gone and her sobbing.

This time was different. The energy that bubbled inside her shifted, waving around her. The golden tendrils of power curled around her body, the light urging her to escape. She listened to the cries of her people begging her to save others, to spare the lives of the weak. She listened to the whispers of her powers, begging her to let go of the pain and set herself free. She felt the heat crawl around her and into the machine holding her captive. She would be free. She would avenge her people, she would protect this planet. With what little control she had left, she looked up meeting the cold grey eyes of the man who had kept her captive for so many years. She vowed he would die just as those he had killed did. Slowly and painfully. Then she gave in, allowing the burning light to consume her. The fire consumed her prison, burning it until nothing remained. No one was ever found, bodies scorched beyond recognition. BE217 disappeared, leaving behind the wake of her powers.

"I am free. I protect the weak and destroy the greedy. I am the beginning and the end. I am free. I am Destiny."