Flames

C H A P T E R 4

Scarlett Hale

The night was cold. I laid in bed and stared at the ceiling of my room.

You ever wonder what the stars look like at night? Would they be beautiful and bright? Or would they just barely light the sky? There were no stars in the city. You could sometimes barely even see the moon.

A permanent cloud of smoke and ash covered the city. An explosion 10 years ago caused the city to forever be encapsulated by a force field of smoke.

My hands were shaking, bleeding, swollen from the fight. I woke up in a haze, my lungs were tight and constricting with every jagged breath I took. I could feel every single movement inside my body, every blood cell travelling through my insides, every heartbeat, every gasp of air I took brought in new pain.

"You're pathetic." He said. I couldn't see his face, I didn't recognize his voice. It was deep, raspy, filled with anger. I tried to look up but my body was too tired, too beat. I gripped the gravelled floor with my fingers, curling them into the soil. I needed to get up, why couldnt i get up.

I fell onto my stomach again. My face, resting on the floor. Blood leaked from every pore of my body.

"I'm going to make sure no one recognizes your body when I'm done with you." The man spoke. His voice boomed inside my head as he circled me.

"I will have your pretty head mounted on my mantle if it is the last thing I do." He spoke. A shiver ran down my spine. A tear streamed down my cheek.

He suddenly gripped my hair and lifted me to stand. I was looking down. I couldn't face him.

I was embarrassed, ashamed, humiliated.

"Tell me that I bested you. Let me hear you say it." He said, keeping my head down i complied,

"You–You bested me." I mumbled as another tear ran down my cheek. He chuckled darkly.

"Look at me... look at who you're saying that too." I shook my head. I couldn't, I could never look the Warden in the eye after being beaten at my own game. A game of seduction, manipulation.

"My life has no meaning anymore, you want to kill me? What are you waiting for? JUST DO IT ALREADY!" I yelled and he chuckled again.

"In due time, Inferno. But first I want you to see who was the man to finally beat you... who was the man who had your life–" He squeezed his hand around his neck, and that's when I saw his face.

There's no way–

"In his hands."

The light warrior-

My body jolted awake. I was breathing so heavy I was convinced I was going to give myself cardiac arrest, and quite frankly after that dream... death doesn't seem so bad.

"Something wrong, Scar?" I looked up, he was sitting on my window sill, smoke coming from his mouth, his ear pointy and pressed flush to his head.

The Fiddler.

"What are you doing in my room, Oto?" I asked, pulling the covers flush against my chest, I was only in my tank top and shorts and that was definitely not something I wanted this guy to see.

Oto Maxith was the definition of a man with too much arrogance and confidence. He thought the world was in his hands but truth is his hands are so small he can barely hold a peanut in his palm.

Oto was... I'm going to guess 4ft. He was so small there were times I didn't even notice that he's in the same room as me. I truly did step on him once.. That's how unimportant his presence means to me.