Page 52 of Tortured

Nothing. Blissfully nothing from my villain tormentor.

Chapter 23

I can’t understand just how many bones in my body are damaged.

Nor can I fathom the sounds, the smells, the feel of the leaves under my fingers.

The light in my body begins its work of repairing.

I don’t move for hours. I entertain myself by listening to peculiar noises. Among the typical songs of birds and the skittering of smaller mammals, the squeaks and beeps of unnatural things are amplified beyond what I believe to be possible. They are nothing that I know from my world. Or from the world of Emira.

Is this the afterlife?

If so, why am I racked with pain? Why does my body continue to fight?

When I open my eyes, I see nothing but green trees and shrubbery above my head. As the sun moves across the sky, I get a sense that I’m alone, despite the noises.

I’m hidden in the underbrush.

I hear voices in a tongue that matches that of Emira’s and Bryn’s. Not entirely the same though. There’s laughter and music.

Children playing.

My head regains function, my neck finally able to turn—I’m certain it was broken—because now my legs twitch uncontrollably with my healing.

I resist crying out.

I understand the brush of footsteps. People are close. Closing in, but I can’t move. My body holds me, prevents me from moving as I heal.

No one comes though.

I play with my thoughts, calling out to those I was once bound to. Still nothing from Niawen and Caedryn. I am truly alone after being in constant companionship for so long.

Alone.

And free.

But unable to move.

I lose consciousness, succumbing to fate. Whatever happens must happen.

Suddenly, I spasm upright and whack my forehead on a low branch.

I brace my head and cry out from this new injury.

My hand comes away with a smear of blood.

A laceration. Nothing compared to having my entire body broken.

It’s daylight, and as I squint through the low brush, my eyes behold a world so very different from anything I have ever seen.

So not Emira. Not Bryn.

I must have passed through a portal.

Could Caedryn have channeled enough power to open a passage?

Is this to be my final torment?

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