Kristen Day - Chosen

The sand and the sea bowed to her glory; reveling in her presence and soaking up her beauty. She was destined to surpass all who came before her and touch all those who came after. I could only hope to stand by and watch as she changed the world. I would never again underestimate her again. I would spend the rest of my life proving my love to her. She was my anything. She was my everything. And I’d almost thrown it all away.

When the soft light of each new morning once again filtered through the raging river and down into my cave, my head would clear and I was able to think rationally again. But the constant back and forth was driving me mad. I knew my father would not give up until I was found. The Sons Order would comb the edges of the Earth to find me. Unfortunately, only a select few could search the Underworld; and even fewer still would know where to look. Nadia’s handmade cavern wasn’t represented on any maps, and there were no doors or windows to announce its presence. I was a dull needle in an underground haystack.

A sharp pain ran down my arm and I looked down at the gashes in my skin. Wrapping around my wrists and ankles, I could do nothing against the power of the white vines that were standing in as my chains. My body wasn’t healing at its normal rapid pace, which meant Nadia had somehow created a vacuum where none of my abilities worked. I was nothing more than a sitting duck waiting for someone to find me. Fury shot through my veins and I fought against the vines; twisting and yelling out. I was angry at myself for getting into this situation. I was angry at myself for letting Stasia down. I was angry at the suffocating hollow feeling that my helplessness elicited.

With my insufficient reserve of energy depleted, I collapsed back onto the floor in exhaustion. I lay there wallowing in my own despair, and allowed the new and re-opened cuts on my arms and legs to bleed out. Pain had become a welcome companion. It was the only thing that reminded me I was still alive. It was simply an extension of the overwhelming agony I harbored within -- an agony I deserved to feel again and again.

The dampness of the underground room chilled me to the bone, but Nadia had ensured there were no comforts of home inside her ‘hiding place’. That only left me with the vines, the river, and a curious wooden trunk on the other side of the room. I was considering whether or not the vines that bound me were edible when I heard the sound of footsteps on the other side of the wall.

“Rise and shine, Love!” Nadia appeared before me and my blood instantly bubbled with overwhelming hatred. “We have much to do!”

“I’m not playing your bullshit games, Nadia,” I growled.

“Games?” She snorted, cracking a dry smile and coming to a stop in front of me. Her features hardened and her golden eyes flashed, “This is no game, Love. But believe me - I’ll be enjoying every minute.” She noticed the small puddle of blood collecting below my right knee and smirked.

“Why Finn, I don’t believe I’ve ever seen you look so dreadful. It’s a shame your essence and abilities have no effect down here. That looks horrific.”

“You’re playing with fire, Nadia,” I accused her in a low voice. She should know the consequences of her actions.

“I happen to like fire. It’s powerful and tantalizing. Just like me.” She twisted on her heel, kicked off her shoes and made her way to the trunk. She visibly shivered in her thin tank top and jeans. With a snap of her fingers, the room warmed to a comfortable temperature.

“I don’t know how you stand it down here! It’s absolutely frigid!” She chuckled to herself when I cursed her through gritted teeth. She whistled happily as she opened the trunk and began rifling through it; searching for something in particular.

“Now where did I put it…Aha! Found it!” she squealed with delight. Then she snapped her head around and grinned at me like she was two personalities away from a straight jacket and a padded room. “Enjoying the view?”

“Don’t flatter yourself.”

“Oh come on Finn,” she purred. “You know you want this .” She spun around in a circle and raised a golden, sly eyebrow at me. “But unfortunately for you, I don’t screw pieces of shit.”

“I’m crushed.”

She looked me up and down, tapped her chin, and smiled, “Not yet.” With a flick of her finger the white vines pinned me against the wall; slicing new wounds on my arms and legs. “I’ll save that for later. Right now, we have other things to take care of. And I must say, I’m so glad you came to your senses and chose me. I was beginning to lose hope,” she joked. She twitched over to where I was shackled to the wall and let out what sounded like something close to a cackle.

“Yea, I’ve really been looking forward to having my soul wrenched out of my body and starving to death in this god forsaken hole in the ground,” I spit at her with venom.

“I might not be as transparent as that little tramp of yours, Stasia, but-“

“Leave her out of this! You don’t even deserve to speak her name,” I growled. The familiar rush of power and adrenaline that usually accompanied my anger didn’t come, and I started to realize the gravity of the situation I was in. Not that I was going to let Princess Psycho know that.

“Oh, please…she’s nothing but an Achilles heel.” She collapsed into a fit of giggles, “Get it - cause her brother was Achilles..?” I ignored her failed attempt at irony.

“She possesses every quality required of a leader in our world and more. Qualities you have never, and will never, possess - purity, strength, grace and most importantly, humility.”

“Humility, weakness - same thing.” She dismissed my words with a flip of her hand.

“The prophecy speaks for itself. Even you can’t argue with that,” I retorted. “She is my destiny. And I, hers.”

“All I hear is blah, blah, blah-I want to have sex with her-blah, blah, blah. Lust turns the strongest of men into invalids and I simply couldn’t let that happen. Your essence is far too important for what is ahead of me.”

“Essence becomes useless without love. Love turns the strongest of men into warriors. When a man has someone to fight for, he’s capable of moving mountains.”

Her grin dropped and she stomped over to me with vapor rolling off of her skin. She stood in front of me, silent for a moment, then grinned wickedly and unrolled the leather case she had been clutching in her hand. She slid something silver out and held it up so I could see it. A syringe.

“I think I’m in the mood to play nurse.” Her eyes sparkled as she moved towards me. I tried to fight the vines, but the excruciating pain that shot through me sucked what little energy I did have completely dry. “Now don’t tire yourself out, Love. I need to get a good strong sample.”

At her words, another pair of vines shot out from the stone wall and slithered around my left arm; securing it tightly. My trace had become dull in the last few days under whatever vacuum she had placed on my prison.

She slowly ran a finger down my cheek and smiled sympathetically. “Your sacrifices will not be in vain. I can promise you that.” She dropped her hand and her golden eyes hardened, “But the slow, painful deterioration of your soul will be. I’ve decided you owe me that. It’s the least you can do.”

“So, are you looking forward to spending eternity on Tartarus, or will an exception be made to send you straight to the pits of fire?” I asked in the same tone I’d use to ask about the weather.

“You really think my own mother would sentence me to an eternity of hell?” she chuckled.

“Please tell me you aren’t that simpleminded.”