KING

一 01

She shivered, wrapping her arms around herself tighter. The sounds of footsteps against marble floors were audible even from the first floor, mingled with snarky remarks she could barely make out and the occasional noise of protest.

The guards were bringing new prisoners in, it would seem. Her heart sank ever so slightly when the loud clacking of boots became louder and louder.

A small spark of curiousity burst into existence, which she attempted, and promptly failed, to will away. It was very rare to see someone who's crimes were worthy enough to be thrown in the third level of the prison. Much like each circle of hell, the larger your crime, the deeper your descended.

The King's prison was more of a quick storage - those who were caught were thrown under the cement and tarmac of the palace floor, where they waited out their sentence.

Either they would be set free eventually, or they would be sent to the Capital Prison - where devils walked among guards, forked tongue and horns hidden by the facade of a human, evil coursing through veins instead of blood. But not her, making her lucky, in some sick, horrendous way. She'd been in here for eight years.

She stared hollowly at the sillouhette of two men being hauled down the staircase by the guard - she didn't like him, and he didn't like her. Due to the lack of extreme horrendous crimes, the vilest offenders usually being thrown into the Capital Prison right away, the number of cells were few in third level, but enough to store a handful of extra prisoners.

Yet every single time a new one shows up, Rina thought bitterly, as she watched the guard not even cast a glance to the other blatantly obvious empty cells, heading straight for her own, her barred cage was the one they were forced the monsters into.

She'd been stuck with different characters. When she looked back, the memories were rather interesting to sift through. Each one of them had a different sort of mindset, a unique way to how they worked, what their reasons were.

Of course, that was her thinking positively. If she had decided to cave into her pessimistic side and allowed herself to wallow in misery, she'd say she had shared rooms with the most violent and horrible of criminals, she'd heard gruesome tales.

Rina wasn't very strong, the prison food not necessarily being the most nutritious, and neither did she get much physical activity. Special treatment for her, she supposed. The other prisoners could leave their cell every morning to go out to the backyard, while she was stuck on the top bunk, fiddling with her fingers or sinking into thoughts. Prison gave her too much time to think.

She rocked back and forth on her top bunk, letting out a sigh through her nose, praying that for once, she'd had have decent, civilized people who wouldn't try to strangle her in her sleep as cell mates.

But if they were to be thrown into the deepest part of the prison, those adjectives could be tossed out the window with ease. "Get in." The cold, biting tone of the guard was just as sharp as the blade he used to prod the two men into the cell, the two of them turning to glare at him as he slammed the door, the metal bars banging together.

"Love the hospitality." One of them called out at the disappearing back of the guard, who turned back and sneered at them. "Give it a week or two, and that cocky attitude of yours will soon disappear." The man said, before vanishing.

Rina was silent, tilting her head as she observed the outline of the boys shuffle around her cell. "What sort of a hell hole is - holy shit!" The same boy jumped in fright as he looked up, making eye contact with Rina, who raised her hand and gave a small wave.

He stared at her with wide eyes, jaw loosely slack, before he turned to his equally dumbfounded companion. He nudged the other boy, who gave him a clueless look, before they turned back in unison and looked at her.