Auria

Chapter 2 - The Game is Afoot

Auria sat in a stone-walled room on a strange chair. It felt cold, damp and lifeless. Leg chains pulled bare feet from the floor whenever she moved an arm; all bound together in icy metal. A simple touch should have raised the metal’s temperature, but had such no effect. Every movement pulled arms, or legs, or both, depending on whichever she chose to move.

The sticky floor reeked of human sweat and a sweet, metallic smell of something she'd hoped wasn’t there. The dark, red stains finally gave Auria the gasp she'd waited for - when she realized what was there, what her feet touched and what would become of her too between the stones of that small room.

‘Aw’m bout ta die… Must face death wit dignity.’ she thought. ‘Aw won’t let dis floor be de last ting aw see.’


She moved all four limbs in unison, humping back and forth until jumping and landing both feet inside the chair. Rolling to the sturdy, metal table-top took little effort from there. She lay on one side for a moment to process, with a simple glance toward the red-stained stones.

‘Must get owda ere fore de All-Wisdom returns ta kill me.’

A wooden beam hung low from the ceiling; within reach if she'd stood, but with chains holding her forward and hunched, she appeared weighed down.

Auria rolled to the side and tried to semi-stand. She scanned the ceiling through eyes tilted all the way back, her neck protruding as she swallowed a lump. Touching both feet, she jumped from the table-top, arched a spindly spine and pulled arms, chains and legs behind her, barely locking an arm around the wooden beam for a split second. She fell, smashing shoulder first into her seat, landing upside down neatly on the chair bottom. She persisted.


They watched, even respected her for an instant. They came for her as she sat perched high among the ceiling beams. The mind numbing grew heavy but, she refused to fall, refused to come down for any reason. She denied them with all she bore, maintaining a special gravity between herself and the warm, wooden beam high above the cold floor. She saw only glimpses of her captors amid the ceiling dust she'd breathed to life. Her teeth ground and chattered when she began to convulse.

Auria became a bird-less wing within the limits of a darkened mind, flying off within a dream of soaring ever higher. The entire roof itself began to pull away in actuality, allowing a sudden spark of sunbeam to warm pale, dusty skin. The sparkling dust stirred and sailed around the rising rafters, along with the cantered chair and cold table. She floated through fathomless depths to escape within a dream, although reality had captured those very thoughts and used them against her with the cruelest of intent. A pulsating beam of light pelted cold skin, pulling and stinging into each and every pore as it lifted the girl up, above and beyond the room marked in crimson. She lived - a true curse.


The young girl caught her breath again in total darkness, surrounded by conformed, slick sides. It was too dark, inescapably dark, sending a shockwave up and down her spine. Purposeful blinking caught nary a fleeting glimpse of the white magic she sought. Neither touch nor movement found an answer, only compounded the instant fear that challenged her. Pursing both wrists against the moist, slick surroundings, she found no seams, no method of entry nor escape. Pushing feet and toes forward, the top of her head stopped against a rounded corner, still slick and wet to the touch.

Stiff arms were hardly able to bend to her neck, pushing her back, though the box bottom felt the same as its head. The bedding where she lay seemed a cooler, softer material - like nothing she’d ever touched. With one hand she reached to caress her face, the other ran up and down her belly. Something felt wrong. Lumps of hard muscle were there where dainty, soft breasts had once lightly greeted a linen shirt when she'd worked in the fields.

‘Aw'm dead now, in ma casket an aw’ve been reborn inta anoder body.’

Jostling side to side, the casket moved for several minutes, then halted with a thud at both ends. She wondered if it were carried by people, how it rocked back and forth, up and down.

“Help me! Won't somebody please help me?”


A hammering thump vibrated the casket. Auria struck the inside with both fists, then the curled and made fists of ten toes. A glimmer of light soon released some of the tension. The light grew brighter and more revealing. The outer case opened, air pressure shot inward causing both ears to ring and feel alive. She kneed and kicked the glass, pushing it skyward as it lifted away. She breathed a sigh of relief as tears dripped into both ear canals.

For some unknown reason, she couldn’t force herself to rise. An eerie wire snagged from inside her own bottom. And, three strange men now stood next to the steaming casket. She watched them through the cracks between fingers, still covering eyes from the stinging light. Kissing the new air as it replaced the old, she thought the taste of it funny, yet fresh and clean.

“Get me owda ere!” she screamed.

“A Human female?” said the older, graying man. “How did this happen?”

“Tis a gift, Master.” said another.

“Female.” said the oldest. “I am Master here and you should call me by this title. Are we clear?”

“Get me owda ere!”

“You didn’t say the words Master or please.”


The case closed tightly; as did the wrappings once more fall into place to shadow the entirety of her casket.

“Damn it, ya lyin basterts. Get me owda ere!”

Auria kicked, punched and screamed until ears hurt and her voice crackled. The coffin remained, as did she, helpless to leave.


“The game is afoot.” said the graying man in black.

"How long will you make her wait, Master?"

"Until she learns respect. Even if she is like us, she is not of us. It's a shame the Arena demands such tragic beauty."