Isis awoke slowly. Her head pounded as if something tried to break out of her skull and her mouth felt as if she had swallowed cotton.
She was so tired.
But the first conscious thought was 'where was Ares and Jonah?'
She fought against the sleep and forced herself to sit up. The stinging pain of burns and blisters on her hands and arms up to her elbows reminded her of how much of her power she used. She had over exerted her pool of energy to be able to control spells past the safety point. The memory of what happened left a bad taste in her mouth and a wave of nausea hit her.
Looking around she found herself in a small dimly lit room, maby 8 by 10 feet. The walls looked to be steel. Same with the floor. Her legs hung over the edge of a steel bench that looks as if it'd serve as a cot.
She groaned, putting a hand to her head as if to soothe the splitting pain.
It was then she heard the sounds of muffled cries, screams and distant banging through the steel wall that seemed to deafen them out alongside a continuous thrumming rumble of what felt to be an engine or machine. Then came the overwhelming feeling of despair and tragedy that she felt in her bones.
Isis' breath hitched in her chest as the hair on her arms stood up.
Instinctually Isis knew this was not a place she ever wanted to be
But where was she?
Her hand flew to her neck searching for her mothers necklace, feeling its absence. They had taken everything that she had on her person except her clothes.
Her memory was fuzzy, but holding her head in her hands while propping her elbows on her knees seemed to help lessen the headache and allowed her to think.
Her brothers and her had their ship boarded by an enormous vessel while they were drifting in space after several days of exiting the immaterium. At least that's what the scientists called the portal the Hell ship came through.
The Hell Ship.
Her heart sank, she remembered the horrors she and her siblings went through. What her sister went through. Her sister sacrificed herself so that Isis and her brothers could get back to their ship. But because Isis couldn't bear to leave her sister, she and her brothers ended up getting sucked into the immaterium along with the cursed Hell Ship. She refused to think further on that.
Isis remembered trying to communicate with the people that boarded their ship after what seemed like days of trying to get their small vessel running again, but they spoke a completely different language and treated her as if she were a witch in a Salem witch hunt.
They swarmed her, she held her hands up in surrender, to show that she meant no harm. She vaguely remembered a female cyborg with spider-like metal arms protruding from her back, quickly injecting her with an unknown substance. Her brothers tried to intervene and help, but she didn't remember much after that.
They had to have drugged her.
She rubbed her temples and felt a bruise on the side of her head.
Hissing at the surprise pain she decided she was going to try to reach out with her mind to find her brothers.
She had a gift or curse depending on who you talked to.
Her father had the gift. He was excellent at it. Her father always pushed her to focus more. Focusing was her bane.
He trained her once her powers came in. She always resented him for taking her away from her mother, all she knew. But she didn't have much of a choice in the matter. No one did when it came to him. So she made his life hell. He would train her to do something one way and she would do it another. It was her ability anyway. The one thing she could control. He always claimed it was irresponsible.
"Let's start off with finding my brothers.. That's responsible." She took in a deep breath and slowly let it out, steadying her heart rate and hopefully the throbbing in her head as well.
Isis went to reach out with her mind, to find the familiar energy that her brothers put off, only there was nothing to reach out with.
It was as if she tried to move her arm to grab something but...There was no arm to move.
Her magic never just disappeared!
She tried again. With more push this time, forcing her craft to comply.
Her head screamed at the attempt, blackness formed around her vision.
It was then she felt it. A familiar flicker.
But it was all she could do before her head felt like it was about to explode.
Releasing the pressure, she slumped against the wall, all her energy sapped.
Her head pounded.
She was so tired. What did they do to her?!
"Ares, Jonah!" A slip of panic flowed through her body as she tried to yell for them. But the exhaustion was too much and her cry came as a terrified whimper just before she succumbed to a fitful sleep.
—-
An ear splitting roar brought Isis out of her forced slumber, she instinctively rolled off the metal bunk and onto the floor, hands flying to her ears to quiet the deafening sound.
When she only heard her pounding heartbeat she opened her eyes. The dimly lit room was now pitch black and the cries and screams were joined by many more voices.
Feeling her way to the door, she pressed her ear against it.
Not being able to make out any words, she scrambled to try and find a slot or handle.
She caught herself.
"I'm in a locked room." She reminded herself. Trying desperately to stay calm.
The throbbing of her head had lessened or the adrenaline had covered it up.
Several more tremors were felt, which she figured were more explosions. Judging by the direction of the sounds and the vibrations, she pictured they were from above her.
She felt around the room for anything, a grate, a food slot.
Anything.
She found nothing.
After what felt like hours of more thunderous eruptions she started to feel like she could breathe again. Like a weight was lifted that she never knew was there.
She could feel her ability more, as air fueling a spark.
It was at this moment of elation that dreaded sounds were heard.
Isis heard yelling, heavy metal being moved, people screaming, powerful gun blasts, energy being snuffed out.
She also felt the use of power.
Ringing her hands, dancing from foot to foot, mind people on this ship were executing their she was one of them.
Knowing they would open her door and she'd only have an instant to react.
Stilling herself and slowing her breathing, Isis prepared.
'Focus.' She heard her father say it in her memory.
'Just focus.'
She silenced all the chaos outside her door, and waited. She had no idea how long she stood there, hands posed in the beginning of a spell.
The heavy metal clunk of a handle moved on her quickly, as soon as she saw the glimmer of a dim light peek through the edge of the steel door.
she forced everything she had.
Isis' power flared on command, engulfing what weight there was left, trying to snuff it out.
The only word in her mind was,
'STOP'.
Everything froze.
Even sound, caught in a perpetual cacophony.
She could feel her already burned skin on her hands and arm split and crack from spending energy she didn't really have, into this spell. This was risky.
'Focus.'
It was as if she was carrying an elephant on her back.
She managed to move, pushing the door open.
A large man in a suit made of what looked like steel with inscriptions and haroldy covered the pauldrons and chest piece, stood frozen outside her door. He held a wicked sword that was stained. She sidestepped him and quickly took stock of the situation.
She didn't have time to count how many but there were a lot of people in the corridor.
It was lined with doors just like her own.
Some people were in the process of running away, cowering or dead from the others who held large pistols or swords who were in the process of delivering their execution.
Isis couldn't leave them like this.
She quickly rushed to two women who wore black armor with some kind of packs. Their hair was cut shoulder length. Their arms were cocked back in a thrust, simultaneously frozen from the spell from impaling a woman who was on the ground holding her hands up in a feeble defense.
Quickly, for Isis could feel her power waning, the force of the spell burning her insides and it was getting harder to breath, she slid the women to the side as far as she could out of their reach.
She next hurried to a group of soldiers.
At least that's what she thought they were, only they wore bits of plate armor as well as blocky helmets.
These, she turned their hands with their pistols upwards under their chins.
Isis's gut twisted as she did this, but they were going to kill her and everyone here. She put it out of her mind, she can atone for her sins later. If there was a later.
As she put the large pistols under their chin she pulled the triggers which would cause the guns to fire when the spell dropped.
A ripping of metal echoed off the walls from up the hall. The sound getting caught in the spell, adding to the cacophony.
She glanced through the mess of people and saw a large door separating this hallway to the next start to twist and tear under exceptional force.
She almost lost her grip on the spell as her focus waned. With sweat beading on her face she could feel herself being squeezed by the energy she kept putting into the spell for it to hold.
She got to the last soldier and just took his weapon, tearing it from his hand.
That was when the door ripped from its position and toppled in a mangled twisted scrap heap on the floor.
Two large robots? Machines? Men? Ducked quickly inside, their heads nearly touching the ceiling. They had to be eight, perhapes nine feet tall, their armor thick and formidable.
Next to step in was another that looked slightly shorter than the two, but he was just as imposing as authority extruded from him.
A coldness swept through Isis as her focus was lost, with a bodily shutter her spell gave out.
Then everything happened at once.
Insanity.
The soldiers in front of her fell together as their heads turned to mists of blood.
The armored women's swords hit nothing but wall, and the woman Isis pulled off to the side, scrambled to her feet to make her get away.
Isis almost collapsed from the release of holding the spell for too long but thankfully adrenaline was still pumping through her body and kept her up.
Her every fiber screamed 'RUN!'
She was just about to turn when she felt a presence in her mind.
It was more of a feeling than words, but she understood it.
"Come child, we can save you."
Isis instantly knew who it was.
She was surprised that he just spoke in her head. Could they be here to help? Who were they?
Amid the chaos he removed his helm, revealing a face both beautiful and lethal. The larger machines around him fended off the executioners in the room as he spoke to her.
She felt power radiate off him.
She was drawn, compelled.
"Quickly now, there isn't much time. This vessel is about to destroy itself."
Isis took a step toward him, unable to stop herself. She remembered thinking she'd have to move fast to get past all the fighting.
The air and trance like state was jarred out of her as the soldier she just unarmed smashed into her. Sending the pistol she had flying and skidding away, lost in the commotion. His hand grasped her throat like a vice as he slammed her on the ground. He straddled her waist as his other fist pounded twice into her face, dazing her and causing light to flash in her eyes.
She tried gasping for air but her lungs only responded by burning.
Isis grasped at his hands on her throat in a futile attempt to break his hold.
Her mind screamed to use a spell to fling him off but she didn't have enough in her reserves for a push after holding time.
Her vision blurry, head pounding, she did the only thing she could do.
A simple spell, at least it was for her.
She reached up blindly and flattened a hand against his chest.
'Grow!' She thought, starting to panic from the lack of air..
In a moment that seemed to last forever she felt the grip on her throat release.
A terrified strangled gurgle could be heard above her as Isis grasped, drawing air into her burning lungs.
Her vision came to focus as she saw the guard desperately pulling plants that grew out of his mouth, noise, ears and pushing their way out of his eyes. She balked at the site and scrambled back from under him till she hit the wall and screamed.