Chains

"The Fortem Academy is a school established for aspiring knights who wish to serve Praediti-"

Chapter 6: Chains

Praediti,

Eliana's head was throbbing. It didn't help her position either. She was laying down on the ground in the most uncomfortable way possible. Her hands were bound by metal shackles to the front, thankfully. And her neck was stiff and aching.

She moaned in uneasiness shifting her body to lay down on her spine. 

'What the heck happened?' She thought.

As if on cue, memories came flashing back to her like lightning. Her eyes widened, she immediately sat up but winced when an electrical pain shot throughout her aching body. Obviously she was handled carelessly.

She softly whimpered in pain. She waited until she felt completely sober and okay. After a few moments finally she sat up, while clutching her right shoulder, she took in her surroundings.

The space was tight and dim. Eliana was sitting on top of a single bed, with a thin white foam and a pillow. The skeleton bed made out of wood would creak when making the slightest movement. Thick brown walls and a small bar window overlooking the upper ground, indicating she was in the basement. And finally bars of cells firmly guarding the prison. A faint light from a torch attached to the wall directly outside the bars illuminated the cell.

Eliana covered her mouth in shock. This was not happening to her, she couldn't believe she was in such a foreign place and by the looks of it it doesn't look like she was in the 21st Century!

Her feet were thankfully shackles free unlike her wrists. Eliana, still slightly dizzy, managed to stumble her way towards the bar cells. She groped the bars and peaked outside, her head too big to fit between the spaces. She looked left and right, only to see a long stretch of obscure hallway lit by a row of torches attached to the walls.

"Let me out!" She screamed. "Crap if you think this is funny please don't include me in your prank!" She pushed and pulled clutching the bars, to no avail. It was firm and unmoving, completely strong.

Seeing no one was out there, Eliana heaved out a frustrated breath. She stomped towards the bed and harshly sat on her weight which resulted in the bed to produce a loud squeak and a soft crack. She cringed, just how old is this bed! She thought.

"God, I can't cry." She covered her face with her hands. Eliana leaned on the wall bringing her knees to her chest. She looks and feels helpless. "This is too much." She muttered in between heavy breaths. She was holding back her tears.

She inhaled and exhaled softly, trying to calm her pounding heart and her frenzy mind. She needed to think of a way to get out of here. Crying right now wouldn't help her, and she knew that.

"It's better to cry in joy when I'm free from this ugly place." she muttered.

Waiting for something to happen, Eliana remained quiet but her thoughts were loud enough to block the silence surrounding the place. It was only then that Eliana noticed it was night, the moon stood high outside shining brightly and crickets were singing wide awake. She calmed hearing the familiar sound of nature.

It took a lot of mental control against breaking down on the spot.

Eliana thought of every possible way to escape. If guards will come to inspect me, I must do something to disable them. She looked around the cell and found nothing but the creaky bed and her frustrated self.

"Ugh, Great." She whispered.

An idea popped inside her head. She always wondered how soon action movies would come in handy. Her situation now reminded her of those medieval time prisoners, locked away in the dungeon. If this was the dungeon, she suspected. She used up all the brain cells she has to remember what ways the main characters did in order to escape. But she remembered nothing too useful.

Then she remembered the books she read. Especially the Rick Riordan books she bought for her personal entertainment.

She recalled and imagined as much as she could at that moment. There must be a way out of this dark place. If she would not do anything now, her anxiety will eventually kill her before the abductors do. The thought itself made her more anxious, she needed to think of a way fast.

Momentarily she found herself staring at the sandy floor. An idea popped into her brain and she felt hope. Finally, the amount of time she used up just to read a good book was paying off. In her imagination of course.

She sat on the edge of the bed, ignoring the cracking sounds it made. As both her feet touched the floor, Eliana leaned down reaching for the ground. It felt rough. Her right hand clenched a handful of the floor's sand. She smiled, she could get a handful and that was good news.

She dusted her hands, clapping to remove the sand from sticking to her skin and went back to her position, her back leaning against the wall. She crossed her legs with her head resting on the wall. Closing her eyes she slowly inhaled deep and huffed out to exhale.

She needed to relax and get a hold of herself. This was the most difficult thing she has ever faced in her entire life so far.

She slowly opened her eyes to the rough wall greeting her vision. She stared lazily at it for a while until she heard faint footsteps coming from outside. Her first reaction was to lay down and play dead. She panicked, she wanted to redo her stupid fake sleeping facade. It was too late, the footsteps grew louder and Eliana was well aware that if she'd shift to another position her bed will produce an ugly loud creak.

The unknown person stopped in front of her cell.