Hearth of ice

Wikiss: Just another kind of prison.

SoïVil and his son LeiVil had lead me to my room very shortly after I had met the Archis king and prince. I was lead to a lower chamber in the caverns for my own protection. The room I was left in was much warmer than I thought it would be, and a lot. . . More fuzzy. The ground was covered in a fuzzy substance that was a murky brown. The walls were mostly some kind of metal, but was full of draped silks of different colors. As I looked up the ceiling was made of the same metal as the walls and coated in different colored silks as well. I was given a small pink cot, that exuded warmth. It was all a bit much. There wasn't much else in the room, except for a small bathroom in the corner. Despite how nice it was I quickly recognized that this was as much of a prison as anything else. With no way to look outside I didn't know what time it was. With nothing to do I went to sleep.

I was woken up by a small knock on my door as SoïVil waited for me. Shaking the sleep worm myself I hesitated occasionally as I slowly made my way to the door. When I opened it my two guards were looking to me before leading me to another room. Slithering on either side of me they kept a stern look on their faces. It sent shivers down my spine to see such focus. I found myself picking at my claws before I noticed that we were going to a small playroom. As a waited in a circular room similar to the room I stayed in, my breath started getting heavier. When CoulSeeil came in he had a similar expression to mine as he looked around the room. He sat at the other end of the table and soon he brought out a box of seven different colored pebbles and a small board with small black dots and lines connecting the dots. He handed me the red, yellow, purple pebbles and he placed the green, blue, and brown ones in three different spots on his side of the board.

"This is called element skip." CoulSeeil explained to me.

So it was a game? Ok. . . "How do I play?"

"I have Nature, Water, and Earth. You have Fire, Energy, and Magic. Each stone takes another, Nature takes Energy, Energy takes Water, Water takes Fire, Fire takes Magic, and Magic takes Nature. You can only move them along leylines, the black lines, and you try to take your opponents elements, loose all of your elements and you lose. Ready?"

After we played a few games we were brought food, we ate, we played, that was our days. I went through this five times before we actually started talking.

"How are you liking it here?"

"It's. . . Cozy I guess."

"It's cooler outside in the tunnels."

"I can't see them."

"Oh, right."

The days seemed to blur together after a while. I wondered what my brother was up to. I didn't see him since the first day, and I started to miss him. On the eighth night, I tried leaving my room, only for the door to be slammed in my face by the guards. Over the next few days I tried to ditch them. I moved slightly faster, then slower. I tried to distract them. I was starting to lose hope when I came up with an idea. When they knocked on the door I waited near the door and just waited. They knocked again. I waited longer. They started knocking harder, still I waited. They barged through the door and I made myself small. I almost made it out, when SoïVil grabbed my arm and scolded me.

"Do not do that again!"

His eyes were small slits and by his scrunched expression I could tell I ticked him off.

"Must I do this?"

"Yes! It is your duty as princes to remain safe."

"But"

"Nothing! You will remain under our supervision or not leave your room at all, is that clear!?"

". . ."

"Is that clear!"

I tried to collapse in on myself but SoïVil was keeping my arm in a vice grip. I could feel the tears pricking my eyes as I looked away. "Yes sir"

"I couldn't hear you."

"Yes sir."

My days continued like that again for weeks.