The Huntress Descent

The Labyrinth: Chapter One

Peace.

That was what I remembered first.

Peace.

Before all the chaos.

Before the world awoken.

Peace.

One simple word.

I remember thinking all I wanted was peace.

Then reality hit.

Not in softly and calmly.

Full on and in darkness.

And the one thing I remembered most when I woke. The prickling sensation at the back of my head and everything felt wrong. Very wrong. Like an itch that I couldn't just get rid of.

I lifted my hand and felt my way to where I assumed the back of my head was. Where my hair met my scalp was also where I felt a warm and wet sensation. Almost sticky in places. Not sure what exactly was going on there. It wasn't like I could see.

Darkness.

I gulp caught itself in my throat.

Why couldn't I see?

A rush in my ears, a stabbing pain in my side when I tried to breath.

Where am I?

What's going on?

Why can't I see?

The unknown terror plunged its way in, setting the fear go and allowing it to plague my thoughts.

There wasn't even a whisper of a noise to suggest ... anything.

Am I dead?

The squeal of metal grounding against each other bought me back to reality. I slammed my hands over my ears to drown out the noise. It made my eyes water, it scrapping against every nerve ending I had.

With a click and a whirr, the space around me jolted upwards and I was thrown off-balance to the ground in a bundle of arms and legs. I stayed there on the ground, frozen in fear of what may happen next. There was still no light, but from this angle I heard the low grinding of cogs at the floor kept rising upwards. Harsh sounds of chains and pulleys, like the workings of an ancient steel factory, echoed through the room, bouncing off the walls with a hollow, tinny whine. The lightless elevator swayed back and forth as it ascended.

Red light exploded into the room, lighten up everything under an ominous light. I gasped in terror at the tall shadows that towered over me. I scrambled from the centre of the room until my back clashed with the corner of the metal cage. I soon came to realise that the shadows around me were just large crates piled up high.

That didn't stop the terror.

I huddled my legs into my chest, the swaying of the room leaving me with a dizzying headache. A pit in my stomach drains all the emotion from me, turning my stomach sour with nausea. I clasped my hands around me head to provide something to help.

Nothing.

It only made it worse.

A tightness in my chest soon followed.

A trickle of sweat bead at my temple. It was cold in the room, but the flushes of heat would say otherwise.

I peeled my fingers from my sticky head to find that they were trembling with no control. My throat dried up, my tongue begging for water.

I gasped for air. Nothing came. I almost choked on the little bile in my dry mouth.

What was going on?