Elemental Empires

{Chapter 17}

A large tower loomed ahead of them, it had terrifying, dark turrets and many balconies, it looked like an evil palace of sorts and Mia was surprised to see that it didn't have many windows, there were a handful of small ones but they were broken and taped with black paper.

Mia shuddered as the sky went dark, threads of silver stars entangled together to form beautiful constellations upon a velvety sky. The moon shimmered softly and a gentle zephyr stirred the trees. The palace looked like a huge monster in front of her, about to swallow her whole.

The line stopped abruptly and Mia bumped into the man in front of her.

"Password?," a loud voice boomed from somewhere above.

"Sepolte Vive," a voice answered and Mia didn't have time to wonder what it meant as the huge metal gates creaked open slowly and it felt like the monster opened its mouth.

The guards jumped down and the capsules vanished.

The people shuffled inside and Mia turned around just in time to see the huge gates shut loudly and all light was blocked out. Mia felt as if she was stuck here forever, doused in an endless, abysmal darkness.

They went further as the darkness became even darker and deeper, strange shapes slinked about and disappeared while the shadows jeered at her. A cold wind blew and Mia shivered as a chill went down her spine.

Mia was terrified of the dark.

My room was black too but it was comforting, thi..this is absolutely creepy!

Suddenly light started to illuminate the room, Mia looked around and saw that most of the guards had balls of fire floating beside them, the fire was -astonishingly- black and a deep shade of purple yet it let out a blindingly,luminous silver light that lit up the whole room!. Mia smiled at this and looked around her.

Everything was painted black in this palace. Plush black couches, furry black carpets, black curtains, everything. From the glossy walls to the glass vases was Black. The handful of windows that existed in the room were framed with thick curtains, blocking any light that tried to get in.

They descended a dusty staircase and were led deeper and deeper into a cavernous hole, underground. Mia looked around as the guards transferred the orbs of fire to wooden torches on the wall, Mia looked at them when her eyes strayed to the mouldy wall and was shocked to see hideous, sharp metal contraptions lining the length of the wall. A horrible stench of mould and iron intoxicated the stale air.

Mia shuddered as she realized what they were.

Torture equipments. A dungeon!

Mia saw room-sized niches lining the underground room as far as the eye could see. The line stopped,moved really slowly, stopped again and moved on. This kept happening until Mia craned her neck to see what was going on at the front. She could hear the sharp, metal clang and thought that they must be of the prisons closing. She saw that the guards at the front gave the people something and the people gave the guards something in return and shuffled away.

As the line advanced, Mia saw that the prisons had no doors! Just a transparent  wall that rippled and shone in the light. The rooms were small with a few haystacks as beds and a rock shelf with a grimy bucket on top.

Escaping would not be as easy as I thought..

Mia was about to reach the front when she saw that the people returned their belongings and weapons which explained the metallic sound and she quickly removed her charm bracelet and stuffed it in her trouser pocket, patting the napping Ivory in her other pocket.