The Lower Wing
1399 Words
The moment I stepped through the door, cold air rushed towards me like something alive.
We walked into the same wide hall as before, but we moved in a different direction.
This part felt odd compared to the others.
The upper halls were silent, but this place felt worse, as if sound itself avoided it.
The fire here burned lower.
The deeper we walked, the tighter something twisted inside my chest.
Everything about this place was wrong.
Not ruined.
Not abandoned.
Forgotten.
The wolves escorting me no longer mocked me, their focus on the road ahead. Their shoulders tensed beneath their dark armor. One of them glanced at the massive iron door to our left before immediately looking away.
As if staring at it for long was dangerous.
I noticed everything.
I saw strange claw marks,
Blood stains.
Drawing of wolves and humans.
The wolves stopped in front of a huge door.
One was unlocking it slowly while the other had a firm grip around my arm.
The moment the door opened, stale air hit my face.
“Inside.” One of the wolves said.
I stepped in slowly. Looking around, trying to figure out what this place was.
The room was bigger than expected, well, bigger than the whole place my father and I used to stay.
Dust filled the whole room, but I could see a small footprint on the floor, as if someone had been there.
The guards placed a tray of food near the bed.
“I am not eating that,” I said immediately.
Neither of them reacted.
“Fine,” the taller one said. “Starve.”
“Ungrateful filth.” The other one said.
The door slammed behind them before I could answer.
Silence filled the room instantly.
I stood there, not moving, listening to their footsteps, but it slowly disappeared. For the first time since I crossed the walls, I was alone.
That thought should have comforted me, but it didn’t. It made me feel worse now that I was alone with my memories.
I slowly lowered myself against the wall, exhaustion dragging through every inch of my body now that the adrenaline was gone.
My throat still burned from Karl’s grip.
My rib hurts with every breath I take.
I hated it.
I hated how my body felt.
I hated how Ryan's words kept replaying in my head.
“I don’t mark corpses.”
Liar.
He had to be lying.
Everything Father taught me can’t be a lie just because a wolf is good with words.
It can’t all be false. Humans aren’t monsters. I wish Elias were with me. He would have snapped me out of this.
But then why did he look genuinely confused when I mentioned the mark?
The question haunted every bit of my thought.
Time passed slowly. I wasn’t sure if the sun had risen; the room felt dark and lonely.
The food remained untouched at the corner when the fire burned lower and lower.
Hunger twisted in my stomach each time I took a peek at the food, but my pride won’t allow me to touch it. I would rather die than take food from monsters.
Exhaustion finally dragged me under, and I didn’t even know when I fell asleep.
*Hours later*
A whisper pulled me back.
Then another
I frowned slightly, partially unconscious; I thought it was all in my head till I heard footsteps moving slowly across the room, small and careful.
My eyes snapped open immediately.
I saw two figures standing near the fire pit.
I looked more closely, and then I saw wolf's eyes.
My eyes widened as I reacted instantly.
A scream tore out of my throat as I scrambled backward, reaching blindly for my dagger that wasn’t there. “s**t,” I muttered under my breath.
The two children screamed, stumbling backward. One nearly fell, but the other one grabbed him quickly.
Confused, I stood up and walked in their direction.
“Don’t kill us.” The smaller one cried.
I froze.
Those words hit harder than they should.
The smaller one hid behind the older one, scared like I am some monster. Peeking at me with his wide silver eyes filled with fear.
I stared at them in disbelief.
The older one raised a stick she used to walk with and pointed it straight at me.
They looked nothing like the monsters I had imagined my entire life.
They were just…children.
Maybe eight or nine. The older girl had messy, curly hair, roughly wrapped in a bun, and two sticks in her hands for walking. The smaller boy held the sleeve of her oversized coat so tightly.
“You…think I am going to kill you?”
The girl changed her expression as if the answer were obvious.
“You are human.”
Everywhere went silent again.
The little boy stared at me before saying. “Why did you kill everyone?”
Kill?
Me?
After everything I have seen beyond the wall, the wolves, deaths… I am the one they feared.
After the blood, after Elias, after everything they took away from me.
“You shouldn’t be here,” I said in a calm tone. “If someone finds-”
“They won’t,” the older one interrupted. “No one comes down here.”
Her answer caught my attention.
“Why?”
I stepped closer.
“Don’t move any closer,” she said, raising that stick at me and barely standing. “Or I will go get my brother Karl.”
“I am not going to hurt you,” I assured her.
The little boy tapped her lightly. “Tell her.” He whispered nervously.
“No!”
“I think she is a good human.” The little boy said. “That’s why Alpha Ryan brought her.”
The girl hesitated, then put the stick down slowly. “Nobody goes near that place again.”
My blood went cold. “What happened here?”
“Not here,” she said, “it's in another room, not too far from here.”
I was confused at first, then I remembered one of the wolves who brought me here looking at an iron door.
“I think I know the room you are talking about.” I said to them, “You want to come with me?” They exchanged a glance before agreeing.
A strange feeling took over my body as I was heading to the door.
In a few seconds, we arrived at the Iron door. I slowly reached for the handle, but it was locked.
“s**t,” I said to myself.
“Don’t worry, I can pick the lock.” The little boy said, finally feeling comfortable near me.
As soon as the door opened, I felt drawn to something in it.
“Somehow, something or someone that used to be here caused the war.” She said, “It can’t turn back on.”
I stared at the strange craving. Something about it felt...familiar.
Whatever it was, it’s pulling me closer to it.
The girl noticed me looking, “Don’t go near it.”
“Why,” I said without looking back.
“Because anyone who tried got hurt, even Alpha Ryan.”
The air changed again.
It felt strange.
Nothing I've felt before.
Without realizing it, I saw myself stepping closer anyway.
“Wait-” the girl said sharply.
Ignored her. The closer I got, the more drawn to it I felt.
The symbols became clearer now. Glowing like the sun in the dark.
The moment my finger touched it.
The world stopped.
The room vanished.
Then flashes of memories that weren’t mine.
They can’t be mine.
Voices.
Screams.
General Varek.
My father.
Blood.
A child.
“The bond is unstable-”
“She survived.”
“Don’t let them take her.”
“Ryan, run!”
Blood everywhere.
The child had golden eyes.
Then-
I snapped back to reality.
The force slammed into me violently. Throwing her straight across the hard into the wall behind me.
“Are you ok?” the little boy said with worry in his eyes. “It’s all my fault, I shouldn’t have-”
He suddenly stopped talking and stared as if he had seen a ghost.
“Your eyes…”
The fear on his face made my stomach drop.
“They are glowing.”
- Writer
