before: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1335111369/ next: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/1350937117/ Chapter one Seraphine My eyes open to a darkness that shrouds my vision and a stench of limestone and sulfur that burns my nose. A soft groan escapes my mouth, my head throbbing and my breath quickening. I sit up slowly, wincing as my hand digs through my ridiculously long, cinnamon waves to find the bump on the side of my head, coming away sticky with blood. My eyes eventually adjust to the darkness enough to see I'm not alone. What seems to be twenty other girls and women surround me, most just waking, pacing or rocking back and forth, others still, passed out on the cold, hard stone floor. A small girl who can't be any older than nine, sobs quietly on the ground and I flinch, looking away before she notices me looking. My head swings left to right, taking in my surroundings—seemingly more difficult than most would expect—to find I'm in a cage of sorts. The man-made stalagmites and stalactites form the walls, holding us in. A cave. I stand up heedfully, walking to a corner of this compound, keeping my head low as I normally would. Rubbing my temple, I slump down against a stalagmite, coaxing myself to remember how the Mother’s womb I got here. My picture had been all over the streets, among many other women and girls, their features rushed and shunned, drawn with warts and wrinkles. It disgusted me. Pulling my hood to cover more of my face, I had scowled as I stepped over a drunkard napping in the alley, smelling of mead and body odor. Only halfway to the haphazardly piled junk I had called home, I noticed three men trailing behind me. Smirking, I slowed my pace to a casual stroll before stopping abruptly. “How may I help you?” I asked in a sickly sweet voice without turning around, a small smirk playing on my lips. I had known why they were there. I had known what they wanted. I had known my fate. And, I knew how to use that. They paused at my acknowledgment of them. They had thought me daft. “We’re looking for someone,” one finally answered, his voice icy, like the winter’s breath spreading through an abandoned graveyard. “And who might that be?” I questioned, my back still poised away from them, hands flexing outward. The men audibly growled, and a new voice spoke—this one more velvety and soft, though his words were anything but that. “The one who survived the Thorne-Hart burning.” I froze, my breath faltering, my smile gone from my face. I swallowed, my throat dry and tight. I tilted my head to the side, my falsetto returning. “Now how would I be of any help?” They prowled closer until I could catch the reek of their breath down the back of my neck, pungent and sour. “Be a darling and make this easy for us,” the first one whispered, turning my chin toward him with two fingers, and I shuddered. “Wouldn’t want that darling smile of yours to get ruined, now would we, doll face?” I bit back the urge to bite his hand—despite it being crusted with grime—and stab his misogynistic, ego-inflated chest, then his other accomplice’s as well. I opened my mouth to make a comeback, though I didn’t get the chance when I noticed the back of a dagger coming toward my temple. I managed a small grin before it struck its target, and I blacked out. The memory fades into the present as more females start to wake, their panicked voices drowning out my own thoughts and I growl out of sheer annoyance. A woman with curly brown hair and chestnut skin—seemingly the leader—and a few others go around checking in with people, tending to their wounds with a green glow radiating from her hands. I roll my eyes. Stupid green witches, they think they’re so high and mighty. Eventually the women make their round toward me, stupid smiles plastered on their face, their skin practically glowing despite the dark. “Hello there! How are you doing?” The leader of the group asks me. My silence as their only answer. “We’re going to ask you a few questions, okay?” Still no response. “First, are you suffering any dizziness, amnesia, nausea, or blurred vision?” I just glare, though sigh. It's better to get this done and over with than have them coming back later. “I'm fine.” I say sharply before she can open her annoying little rosy-lipped mouth, my voice low and gravelly from not much usage. “Oh!” Is all she says before looking over to the lady on her right, who answers their unspoken question with a shrug. “Alright then, you know where to find us!” She paused before she left, opening her mouth to say something else, then took in my scowl and burn scars and decided against it and moved to walk away. Mother’s womb, how is someone so damned positive while trapped within a cage in the dark?
Soon enough, most of the women have piled into groups near the center of the stockade, already forming bonds and showing off their magic, bonding despite the grim situation. The green witches stand on the opposite side of the cage, whispering to one another, to look at me, then continue whispering. Well I guess that’s what happens when you don’t really get the whole ‘natural sisterhood’ thing. A crackling sound echoes out throughout the cave, then a steely voice comes in, monotone and cold. “Most of you have probably found yourselves in our cages, on one wall you will find a slot, in there is food, distribute as you will. Eat up, you’ll need the fuel.” I look to the center of the room, sure enough, there lays a chest which undoubtedly is filled with what is, not enough food. “You have been sectioned off into two sections, female knights and female witches. As you should remember, you have been captured by the shadow regime. We decided to take you as a prisoner and make a little… game as you could say. You can stick as a team or not, the choice is yours. You will be given more supplies that will last you the first week, then, you're on your own. Imagine it as survival of the fittest, but… recorded. Sent straight to the king himself.” You could practically hear his grin. “Now, knights, I know what you’re thinking ‘how come we have to go up against witches with years of magic experience?’ Well, let’s just say that not all of them have had enough years to truly use their powers… and then again, all of you have had extensive training. Though despite that, we see the disadvantage. Furthermore we have supplied extra food and weapons for the humans. You’ll be down here for three weeks, welcome to the Crimson Echo.”
