THREE: INSIDE THE FROZEN CAGE AND TEETH
883 Words
Consciousness returned like pain. When she finally opened her eyes, slowly and relentless.
Princess Ember’s lungs dragged in air that felt too heavy and too cold, nothing like the controlled warmth of the Immortal Mountain. Her body ached in places she had never felt before, as if existence itself had become heavier.
She is now in the Mortal world. She has to survive in this new kind of living.
The thought of her struck like a blade, when her eyes snapped open. She saw darkness. Not the suffocating void, but dim.
Later on, she remembers from what she's going through about the "destruction" of her home. Her heart beat increases, as she remembers those screaming voices. Now finally, she opened her eyes again, because of that.
There is a Firelight. Rough stone walls. The scent of pine, smoke… and something wild. Her body tensed instantly. But she couldn't feel any danger in this place, so he tried to sit up, but failed.
A sharp gasp tore from her throat as weakness dragged her back down. Her limbs trembled, unresponsive, foreign to her will.
“Don’t,” a voice said from the distance.
Her gaze snapped toward it.
A man stood near the entrance of the cave, half-lit by the fire. He is tall and has broad shoulders, watching her from a distance.
She saw a man that something that wore human skin but carried the predator beneath it.
"Who are you?" Princess Ember asked in a low voices.
Instead of answering her question, the man hesitates.
“You’re weaker than you think,” he continued, arms crossed. “Move like that again and you’ll pass out. Or die. You're not my problem either way.”
Princess Ember stared at him, her mind struggling to piece together in this reality.
“You… took me,”
“Wrong,” he replied flatly. “I should’ve left you.” the man said.
Her eyes narrowed slightly. Defiance flickered, faint, but there. “Then why didn’t you?”
Silence stretched between them, after the fire cracked.
Bright’s jaw tightened.
“Bad decision,” he said at last. “Won’t happen twice.”
He turned away, crouching near the fire as if the conversation only made him bored.
Patiently, Princess Ember watched him carefully.
Every movement was controlled. Efficient. No wasted energy. He looks like a hunter, an apex one. Her gaze dropped briefly, to his hands.
She noticed that the man's skin has more scars, the sign of deep old wounds. Like her, betrayal lived in those scars. She recognized that.
“I need to leave,” she said.
Bright didn’t even look at her. “No.”
The word hit like a wall, not loud but firm.
“I wasn’t asking.” Princess Ember said, but she has no idea that she already got his attention.
Bright turned his head slightly, golden eyes locking onto hers.. sharp, dangerous.
“Yeah,” he said slowly. “You were.”
The air shifted like magic, and something close.
Predator versus something he didn’t understand yet.
Princess Ember forced her body to respond, pushing herself up again.. this time she ignored the pain.
Her arms shook violently. Her vision is blurred. But she stayed upright.
Bright watched in silence. Watching and judging her.
She swung her legs over the side of the makeshift bed.. furs, rough and unfamiliar, and tried to stand.
The moment her feet touched the ground, her knees buckled.
The world tilted, at the same time, the impact never came. Not until the strong arms caught her.. again.
Her breath hitched. For a second... she felt it. Her strength, the heat and the stability of her body returned. Then reality snapped back. She shoved against him, but weakly. Does it mean that her body can only be healed by this touch?
“Don’t touch me,” Ember hissed..
But Bright didn’t let her go. Of course he didn’t.
“Yeah,” he said, voice dry. “You’re really in a position to make demands.”
Her glare could have cut steel. “If you think I’ll stay here..”
“You will,” Bright interrupted, tightening his grip just enough to stop her from falling again. “Because if you step outside right now, you won’t last an hour.”
“I survived the destruction of...”
“You survived because you ran,” he snapped.
The words landed harder than they should have.
Ember froze. Something cold slid through her heart...
Bright felt it, he saw her expressions that suddenly change, and didn’t back off.
“Whatever you were before,” he continued, quieter now, more dangerous, “doesn’t matter out there. The mountain doesn’t care. The cold doesn’t care. Predators definitely don’t care.”
His gaze dropped to her face. “To them, you’re weak.”
Her jaw clenched. "They’re wrong.”
A flicker of something passed through his eyes.
Interest? it was gone as quickly as it came.
“Prove it,” Bright said.
Then he released her.
Ember collapsed back onto the furs, breath ragged, body trembling from the effort. Humiliation burned hotter than any flame.
She hated this, and she hated him. Hated the weakness coiling through her veins like poison.
And most of all.. she hated that he was right.
- Writer
