HAYLOFT ➵ dreamsmp

xv - time's arrow

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𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧 : 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞'𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰

A ringing in her ears was the thing that made her aware of her surroundings in the first place.

The second thing was the nasty crunch that caused a pang of pain to shoot through her shoulder as she rolled onto her side, making her bite back a wince.

Slowly, after opening her eyes, they became used to the lighting of the room, which wasn't much. The only thing that clawed away at the murky darkness was a small candle, dangling in a cage from the ceiling next to the wooden door that kept her trap in the small space.

It had been a while since she was left in the cobblestone room. She couldn't figure out how long; everything seemed to be a haze to Eris, who hadn't properly slept for an equally unknown amount of time and who only got her energy from the bare meals she was given, maybe twice a day.

When she sat up, a clunking noise of metal filled the entire room, echoing around the space like a rubber ball.

Blue eyes squinted down at her ankle where a metal chain was placed, locking her in against the wall behind her.

Confusion was written on her features as she pulled at her ankle, the sharp edges scraping against her skin as a result. That hadn't been there before.

She tugged against the restraints once more, with more strength to it this time, but still it did nothing. It was only after the edges of the metal stabbed through her pale skin, causing a bit of blood to drip out, she stopped, realising the dangers that could come with metal against an open wound.

"Shit."

The single word made Eris almost jump in her seated position. The way her voice felt like it scraped against her throat scared her slightly, the noise so hoarse, that it sounded like she hadn't drank any water in years.

Again the thought of how long she had been down there rushed through her mind. She truly had no idea. The only way she could have kept count was registering whenever somebody came down to her prison cell. But even that seemed impossible to her as sometimes it felt like days between visits, and other times like mere minutes.

It didn't help that she couldn't sleep. For as long as she has known, she never slept alone. After Technoblade had found her, she always slept next to him, her night terrors making it impossible for both of them to get a good night's rest otherwise as her screams filled the night when she was alone. As she grew older, she got her own bed, on the other side of the room. But still she never was alone. Even when Technoblade left her with Wilbur and the other people of what would become L'Manberg. At first, Eris had thought herself to be old enough to sleep alone, only to awake again in the middle of the night, her face set in tears and her voice screamed raw. She was quickly moved over to Wilbur's room, a thin mattress placed on the floor next to his bed. But as their personalities often collided, Eris eventually moved over to Eret's room, where she had lived until-..

Eret. The brunet haunted her mind. Everything she thought she knew was wrong, so wrong from the moment he finally met her eyes and told her it was not meant to be. Eris wanted to be angry, so, so angry, but the only feeling that really whipped around her heart was betrayal and hurt. An agonising hurt that seemed to suffocate her every second she thought about it. He was her best friend, he knew the most anybody knew about her, maybe even more than Technoblade himself, and still he abandoned her-, no, betrayed her.

Eris' throat tightened and she squeezed her eyes shut, trying to force out all the feelings that tried to drown her in her own body.

And then, if matters couldn't become worse, he opened the door.