By Ouanessa Nana
My smile lines are pages that are disintegrating. The faint smell of smoke is jarring, burning the tiny hairs in my nose. I gasped when a strike of pain attacked my chest, my heart collapsing into my shattered ribs. I try to stand, ignoring the way my body aches and the dry blood that has crusted under my fingernails.
My memories are played by a pale faceless man, his striking blue eyes not ringing in any familiarity. The sound of a tree branch snaps and I go rigid. Run! I sprint away from the sounds, from the labored breaths that feel way too close to me. I can’t remember why I’m here, why my fingers are stained with blood, or why my fingertips are now glowing, sparking flames that erupted through my skin. I halt, my feet sliding on the floor.
I stare at my hands in awe, putting them up into my face. Who am I? What am I? Cold spiny fingers grasped my shoulder and dragged me to the ground. I jam my hand into their bones, the fire within me burning through flesh. An instant instinct. A scream erupts from their lips and then they go limp. Dead.
I flinched, scooting away from them as far as I could. My lips tremble and I blink rapidly, trying to stop the tears that were streaming down my face. What was happening to me? I’m back on my feet, running through the wounds. Cleo. A name, a memory. Was that my name or somebody else’s?
A gunshot tears through the silence and I yelp as a tree I run past explodes. I duck, hitting the ground and rolling on my side. A young man with a jagged scar across his face stands over me, a gun pointed toward my face. He offers me a wicked grin. “It’s over Cleo. We have you surrounded,” He says, clicking his gun.
I scan my surroundings, not seeing anyone in sight. I swallowed hard, a lump tightening in my throat. “What are you talking about? Who are you? What did I do?” He scoffed, grabbing my arm and placing two metal bracelets on each of my wrists. “Don’t play numb. We’ve got your little boyfriend Trent too, they’re ripping his limbs off as we speak, maybe you’ll be more talkative once you see the rest of him,”
I see my eyes glowing red in the reflection of his gaze. “Who is Trent? Please let me go, whatever this is, I didn’t do it,” He ignores me, shoving me forward with his gun placed on my back. His little black box machine crinkles to life and he speaks onto it. “Prisoner seven has been contained, taking her to headquarters now,”
A cold chill trickles down my spine and I shudder. I turn on my heel making a run for it. A white blinding light flashes through my bones, ripping through my veins and I scream as darkness takes over me.
I wake with a jolt, my hands and ankles in chains. I shivered, my eyes searching in the dark for any resemblance to the place I was in. I could still feel this foreign thing surging inside of me. The holding cell I was in was so small and reeked of blood. It had a wooden bucket tinged with the pungent smell of urine. I gagged, forcing the bile that was churning in my mouth down my throat.
There were no windows. No doors. I blinked. How did I get in here? I try to stand but I’m reeled back into the floor by my metal chains. I ignore the trimming in my chest and the buzzing in my ears. I had to get out of here and fast. I heard footsteps from above me and I gasped when a body fell into the room. Their body crack against the floor, their neck, crooked, and their legs covered in lesions as they spray blood all over me. I flinched as it stained my tongue, my skin, my bones.
Another person leaps into my cell from above. He wears a metal breastplate that gleams. He must be a guard. “Let’s go,” the guard barks, hauling me to my feet by my chains. I winced as the metal cut into my skin, my vision getting blinded by a bright light. I looked up at the sky wearily. The walls were high, we were probably ten feet from the surface. “But how?” I stammered. He sighs, breaking my chains with his bare hands. I stare at him open-mouthed, shocked by his intense strength. He hooks his hands under my armpits and hurls me upwards.
A bloodcurdling scream rips from my throat as I fly out of the cell and land hard on the dirt. My ears were ringing, the sounds around me inaudible. I wince, getting to my feet slowly. A sharp pain stabs through my shoulder. When I put my hand to my chest, it’s wet. I pull my fingers away and they’re stained with blood and a gold shiny substance. A crowd chants, their cheers louder than any roar.
I look up and I realize that I am in an arena with thousands of people staring at me, waiting for something. My heart plummets to the pit of my stomach when I look across the crowd. “Let out the beast!” Someone shouts. A cold chill trickles down my spine when I hear a bloodthirsty growl behind me.
It was a massive creature, with fur as red as blood and fangs as white and shiny as the moon. It bared its teeth at me, snarling, its lips curled into a smile. Its green eyes burned into me, flashing a look of pure anger. My heart pounded, its beat a roaring fury of flames blistering my chest. The ground trembles, rocks, and hairs rise as it charges toward me. It roars, the sound splitting through the cheers of the crowd and piercing my ears.
I scramble across the sand, kicking up dirt, stinging my eyes, and blurring my vision. My foot catches and I fall hard to the ground, scraping my skin. The crowd throws meat into the arena, taunting it, taunting me. Tears were trickling down my face fast. Its claws nearly slice me in two as I roll across the ground, dodging its attacks.
“Someone get me out of here!” I roared, gasping for air, my eyes darting everywhere for any sign of help.
I felt sick, a shriek churning twisted in my gut, causing me to shudder. My tongue felt foreign, the metallic stench of blood staining my breath. Laughter erupts into the crowd and I gasp when I see a flash of light weaving through the battleground. A young man appears in front of me, putting out his arm to cover me. He raises an eyebrow at me, a smirk playing on his lips as he tosses me a sword. His dark hair shines in the light and his eyes are a molten gold, almost as bright as the sun.
“It’s about time you showed up Solace, I was beginning to get worried,” He says. Cleo Solace. My name. That was my name. I almost cried out and laughed.
He blinked, faster than any shadow and flickered underneath the beast swinging his arm and punching the beast in the stomach. It groans as he stabs his sword into his eye and then slices up his nose with his fingers. I stare at him in awe. He’s taking away its strengths, making it harder for it to spot us. “Who are you?” I asked him over the moans of the monster.
He turns to face me, wiping blood off of his metal armor. “They did a number on you didn’t they?” He asks. I furrowed my eyebrows together, trying to remember but everything came back to me muddled. “Who did?” I ask. The beast gets to its feet and roars. I wince as it’s hot breath and spit spattered all over me. He slaps me in the shoulder and steps away. “All you,” He says. I stared at him bewildered, shoving the word in my hands. “I don’t know how to use that!” I stammered. He laughs. “Gael is not going to believe this when I tell him. Do you seriously not remember?”
I glance over his lean build, the faint scar on his upper lip, his easygoing energy that seemed to drip off of him in waves. I swallowed, pieces of my memory coming back to me but not in clear form. “Are you Trent?” I ask him. He grins, taking my fingers and wrapping them around the handle of the sword. “Glad to know you haven’t forgotten all about me,” He says. “Do what you always do. You’re a better swordsman than any of us,”
I open my mouth to speak but the beast sprints towards me. Trent pushes me out of the way and I watch as the beast slams his head into Trent’s stomach, biting into his arm and flinging across the arena. My heart thrums, blood rushing into my ears. My braids whipped my face, stinging my skin as my muscles took control and I spun into the air, piercing the side of the beast’s head with my blade. I land on the floor swiftly on my feet, my mouth hanging open as I drop the weapon and stare at my hands. “How did I do that?” I whispered.
“Look out!” Trent shouts, his voice shattering. The beast charges at me again, its paws, a thunderstorm against the ground. Its claws plunge into my skin and tear me open. I scream as my blood spills, a burning prickle aching through me. Anger furls within me and a guttural scream rips through my lips as fire crackles and my fingertips and the crowd gasps as my flames pick up speed and the air around me turns into a flickering orange storm.
Trent grins from the ground, spitting out blood. “There she is,” he says as I accept the warmth in my blood and burn the beast into a crisp. When I blink all that is left of the creature is smoke and chards of ash and bone. The crowd gasps and then erupts into a cheer.