that had been sent to protect me, die in their line of duty to their King. Ruto had been the first to lose his life but then Caspian and Clay had followed shortly after, being forced into that great chasm created by Matthias. After I had foolishly tried to help by firing my power at him and giving him what he needed to finish off my friends. It was of little wonder why I sat up now and covered my face with my hands as I cried over their deaths.
It was true, I didn't know for sure that Caspian and Clay were dead. But I was certain of one thing, and that was unless Lucius soon discovered his mistake in sending us to the Tree of Souls, then they both surely would have eventually fallen to their deaths. As I didn't know how long they would last before the rising lava consumed them.
Unfortunately, my hopelessness only continued as I questioned how on earth Lucius would come to know what had happened. I was starting to think that one of the biggest flaws in Hell was that there was no cell service, for communication was clearly the biggest difficulty we faced.
I lifted my head from my hands and tried to shake off the fogginess of the events that happened after being forced through that portal and back into Hell. I was surprised that this time it led to somewhere different and not the same place that I had found myself when stepping through it the first time. But then I vaguely remember Lucius saying something about that portal changing its destination after every use, which would make sense considering that Lucius hadn't followed me through like I foolishly thought would happen the first time.
But then again, I'd been foolish about a lot of things, and after what just happened, I knew I wasn't the only one to make this claim. In fact, all that seemed to happen with the both of us was making one mistake after another. Which then left us desperately trying to keep afloat and not drowning in our own errors, rectifying one mistake over and over again.
It was exhausting.
One thing became obvious, and that was I was in some kind of cell and after remembering the last time I woke up in one, I didn't think this promised good things for me. However, at the very least I was laying on a bed, despite the fact that it smelled mouldy and felt like the mattress was full of damp straw.
I remembered one thing after being forced through the portal, and that was finding myself in a barren wasteland with mountains in the distance. I had also been trapped in Matthias’ arms, squirming to get free of his secure hold. However, something was soon blown in my face, and I found my mind going blank and quickly giving way to unconsciousness.
This meant that I had no idea where I was now and no recollection of how I even got here. The one thing I did know for certain, and that was I could not use my powers against Matthias. No, it was as if the power I held was somehow connected to his own and instead of it being used to fight against him, I only ended up powering his own abilities and making them stronger.
I got up from the bed and hated the fact that I was forced to use a bucket in the corner to relieve myself, only thankful to see it empty. The skirt of my dress was a tattered mess, so I tore the longer pieces off that trailed along the floor to make it easier to walk… or should I say, fight. A thought that came to me once I heard the scathing voice of the witch.
“Oh, that's a shame, I was hoping that I would be forced to wake you up, as I had thought of some painfully, inventive ways of doing so.” I took this opportunity to piss her off by hiding my true reaction of anger, knowing that looking disinterested would be a hit to her ego and hurt her more. So, I faked a yawn and stretched out my arms,
“You know I think I needed that rest,” I said, and I could see from under the red hood she always wore, the grimace of annoyance at my easy manner. I allowed myself a knowing grin to stretch across my face, because in situations like this I enjoyed nothing more