Chapter 1
Clank!
Run!
The single command screeches in my head as the iron chains binding my wrists and ankles clatter to the ground in pieces, releasing a foreign current of energy through my veins just as my dying flesh collides with the damp concrete floor of my cellar.
Three thousand and twenty one days have passed since my trial where I was declared guilty to murder, attempted murder and theft.
Get out now! Or they won't spare you.
No longer are my eyelids heavy with fatigue nor my body as weak as a feather as I haul myself at the other end of the prison cell, away from the door.
Knocking raptly as I search for the hole in the stone wall, I kick frantically, throwing my weight against the spot I've memorised for the last eight years.
Please Goddess Selene...you've never done anything before to help. At least now would be convenient...
Putting everything I have into thrusting the singular rock out of its place, I rest my back against the rough surface and push, internally screaming at the so-called gods who watch and do absolutely nothing.
Tausret... you can do this. Please. Today is your only chance.
In this moment, I wish I had inherited some power even if it were to be completely useless, like plant growth or electrokinesis; anything could've done me some good.
But as usual, the gods chose me to be their entertainment, forcing me to survive in a world full of magical predators without gifting me any abilities.
Directing all my anger towards the rock, I struggle for a little while longer before it shifts and drops down the many stories, breaking the magical barrier that cloaked it from my captors. Guards howl in the corridors at the disruption emanating from my room, paws pounding as they close in.
The dried blood coating every inch of my skin has turned sticky, making it near impossible to express any emotion without feeling the light hairs on my face being tugged ruthlessly.
"What are you doing in there, Meryaten? Open this door at once or your Alpha won't be impressed!" Gavin, one of the human turned wolves, growls from the other side, clawing at the wood. If only he knew that the damage he's causing to the door is nothing but an illusion made from a potion gifted to me a few nights ago.
As much of a response I want to give, I know it's not safe to do so; if this plan fails now and I get caught, I'll be diced and put back together only for the cycle to repeat till I'm begging for mercy.
This is your only chance Tausret. Take it. And don't look back.
Feeling the inside of the hole, I grab onto the rope wrapped around a small branch that's been waiting for this exact day, untangling it and letting it drop, my only way out of the prison.
"Don't look back. Carry on walking even if your legs hurt. You'll see the light and that's your way out." Dharsy's words echo in my mind indistinctly, a single line coming clean whilst the rest is nothing more than muffled words.
A glance over my shoulder tells me they're still struggling with the door, unaware of the black smoke curling underneath whilst I get away.
Gripping the rope as best I can, I twirl it once around my knuckles and allow it to carry me away, gradually descending even as it burns my thighs until all sound dies and all that is left is my shallow intakes of air.
What feels like hours must be mere minutes and by the time I reach the surface, I'm unsteady, feet blistered and knees wobbly. Stumbling, I lean heavily against the walls of the cave, inhaling sharply and shaking the nausea away.
My eyes roll into the back of my head, proof of my mental exhaustion trekking through the torture but I urge them into focus , hoping against hope that I'll truly be freed from the death that follows relentlessly, hot on my heels.
Using the wall as a guide, I begin the long journey ahead, mindful of the precious seconds I lose with every break and deciding I won't take any more until I'm far from this place.
Just a few more days.
