As the title indicates, I started writing a story...I apologize if the grammar and spelling is not up to your standard. I am not an English major therefore my writing is not perfect at all. I also pre-emptively inform you that there is a bit of profanity in this piece. You have been warned. I hope that you enjoy the story for what I have written so far and if you are student like me...I am terribly sorry for encouraging procrastination. See, I have already spelt it wrong in the title of the blog.
Chasing a Dream. The Procrastination of a University Student that Started Writing this Instead of Finishing her 400 Paper...
Chapter 1: Into the Darkness
Elynna stepped out of the shadows and into the light of the coliseum where she was met by thunderous rapture. The assembly did not just clap, they stamped their feet, and chanted the opponent’s name over and over again until it rose into a mindless crescendo. This atmosphere filled Elynna with power as she strides into the battlefield stage. There were other words somewhere mixed in the chant, but she could not make out what it was. The crowd was not cheering for her; nonetheless, she took their cheers like a god. Elynna stopped in the center and held her arms aloft. She closed her eyes, threw her head back and embraced all the adoration. What was she thinking? She was a prisoner of war and certainly be mocked for her absurd actions. As such, the crowd took on their own personality and utter their ill-contempt at her.
At the ring of the bell, the gate facing her opened. A warrior with long, jet-black hair and two swords in their scabbard hung on his belt as he stepped out. Her opponent was tall, with limbs laced with muscles and his presence eluded a fearful supremacy. He wore only trousers and boots as he held a gladiator-like stance at his entry gate. The crowd shift in their cheer again and the coliseum roared with delight for their champion.
Easy now, what are you thinking? Be smart, think on your feet, maybe I can get through this. She tried to cox herself away from the rising feelings of despair and fear. She gripped the apex of her pendant that hung loosely on her neck.
The heat mirages shimmered wetly at a distance and hot air blasted across the sweating drops of Elynna’s forehead. The humid atmosphere was difficult to breathe in. This would be a tough battle for Elynna who is already at a physical disadvantage. The champion’s name was Garth, without a doubt just as Elynna thought, he was an easy read. For him to carry two swords instead of a sword and a shield she wagers that he will launch himself at her in the start of the fight since he was an offensive attacker. Also, how his face glows with all the attention, this make Elynna certain that his arrogance and pride had already underestimated her. Which could be enough to survive. Even the crowd will be in for a surprise for they do not realize that Elynna, has earn her skills as a fighter, for many years and wars she has endured as a soldier. However, against her menacing opponent, her will to survive will be her wild card in this challenge. She looked at her scabbard and paused. Then suddenly unsheathed the blade. The oiled steel clanked as the blade flashed into view. It was gleaming, finely crafted piece of work, with ornate details engraved a third of the way up its length.
A reasonable craftsmanship, she thought, it will do. Interesting that they gave me a decent weapon to fight with. Turning her head, she glared at the champion. Garth responded by crossing his arms to unsheathe a sword in each hand, the blades
reflected the afternoon sun’s ray. Ugh, still sore. Elynna rolled her shoulders and winced at the pain received from an old injury.
As the start bell rang, Garth took a running start just as Elynna predicted. He reached her in a matter of seconds, at the very start, Elynna realized a simple fact of the matter is that she is terrified of this man. She felt terror beginning to seize her and she understood what she was up against. When she came to her resulting answer of Garth’s power, she had already formed a doubt of her victory. She locked her hands on the hilt of her blade and tried to anticipate the very location he might take for his first swing. She was hoping, for some miracles, not to fully block his landing strike but have enough strength to redirect them so they will not hit her. Elynna only needed to play on defence. One miscalculated hit will fatally wound her. Garth took a larger left step, that’s when Elynna knew his right sword would swing first. She tilted just enough to dodge it. Taking one step forward she provoked Garth into following her. Garth turned and swung his left blade towards her, she saw it coming and brought her sword by her side to block. In the same motion she slid her blade down the length of Garth’s sword and sliced into his left hand cutting into bone. Ungloved, Garth cried, and dropped his left blade. Suddenly she was seized by euphoria, she felt the blade cut into his body. Elynna advanced again but only to manage to slit Garth’s face diagonally on his high cheek bone. Garth was raged, he accelerated his attacks just as Elynna predicted. Instead the use of his left hand for a strike, Garth aggressively slammed his body against her making Elynna fly. She panted and gripped her hilt more tightly, she had to, had to, get through his parries and not waste too much energy. She was in a midst of regaining her balance when he attacked again and this time with brute force hacking down her miserable blocks.
Use his weight against him! Elynna heard Allen’s voice in her head. This is not an honorable fight! Use tricks and strike him when he recoils! She complied and allowed Garth to power up for a devastating incursion. He delivered only to find Elynna spray the ground’s sand in his eyes. Elynna slid the scabbard under Garth’s feet making the warrior tumble and fall. The voice was right, Garth recoiled and rolled on the ground covering his eyes. He could not resist kicking up the dust so that she could barely see him. This gave cover from what Elynna intended to do. She gripped her blade and sliced Garth’s thigh possibly severing his femoral artery. Agonizing screams were finally made and she went straight for the kill.
You can’t! Elynna, stop! It was the different voice, ringing in her mind giving her a hard time to focus, it stopped her in her tracks. The voice sounded so close, so real and tangible. It was so familiar but Elynna couldn’t remember. She felt compelled to ignore it since it was a situation of kill or to be killed, no question asked. She couldn’t continue anyways. The surrounding dust finally got to her lungs as she inhaled and irritated her coughing reflex to avoid aspiration. Garth forced himself to stand for his ego was damaged. A steady stream of blood flowed from the gaping wound on his leg, his eye raged in fury as he limped towards her. With a desperate attempted, he launched for her swinging with his right blade in efforts to land his hits on her. Still unable to match his ungodly strength, she lightly pared with him, deflecting each powerful stroke away. He became more and more quicker in his movement with the sun’s ray reflecting off his sword. Blinding light filled Elynna’s senses and she automatically lowered her knees avoid the reflection. Garth immediately brought one knee and smashed her chin. As they connected, he winded up his left hand and sent an upper-cut at her chest. Shit. She thought. The sound of Elynna’s sternum and a few ribs cracking, she clutched her torso and dropped her sword as she fell. She felt herself falling, felt herself hitting the ground.
It was too soon. Garth was too close for comfort. Elynna completed a roll in attempt to step out of the way as she did so, she braced for a pain. Garth kicked her in the belly and then swinging he slashed into her left shoulder. Sure enough, her wound was deep and she cried at the excruciating pain. Her blood started to rush, adrenaline began to turn the sharp pain to numb. The crowd shouted approval. Garth grinned and stood over her. He seized her by the hair, lifted her violently, and forced her to stand.
“So you don’t fear death, don’t you?” he cheerfully snared in her ear, bending her head backwards.
“Then that is how you will die!” he threw her to the ground and Elynna collapsed onto all her fours, Garth swung the flat edge of his blade to connect with the side of her head. Elynna knew right away that she had been badly injured. Her brain was sending signals but her body wasn’t listening to them; no matter how hard she tried she could not move an arm, a leg not even a finger. Her eyesight was blurry, her body was so heavy and the rest of her senses were fading but she could hear the people roar and chanting Garth’s name. Garth…Garth…The Champion of Old…
Elynna wanted to remember. She wanted to remember so badly. She tried so hard to think of that familiar voice. To leave the world remembering the memories they shared, good or bad. But she couldn’t. She couldn’t even remember his face, his laugh or even his smile. The injury of her head sustained loss of memory. This is it… On the ground she laid, racked by dry, choking sobs.
Garth walked closer to her and raised his sword to deliver the final blow. But all she noticed was how strange it was that the crowd became suddenly quiet.
The bell rung.
Darkness claimed her.
………………………………………
A boy lay bleeding in the rain. He had been stabbed ten minutes ago. He laid in a narrow street among bags of garbage and dump. Elynna almost missed him, but she ran to his side. She could not remember his face but he felt familiar. She knew him. As if she had known him all her life. The sharp weapon had entered just below his rib cage, piercing deeply in his base of his lungs towards his stomach. It had been drawn across his body violently, tearing a wide gap in his flesh, he lay in the middle of the road out of nowhere with the icy cold rain drilling his body and washing away the crimson blood that poured from his open wound. The cold dagger lay beside him. He was dying.
Elynna held her hands to his stomach, trying in vain efforts to stop the flow of the blood. Why was she trying to save this person? She thought. Somehow, I know him. I…feel...I can’t remember. Why do I feel anger and fear?
Elynna yelled for help, but no sound came out. Her voice had deserted her, or perhaps, the rain because so fierce that no one can hear her. He looked at her with a weak smile. He lifted his hand to her cheek and spoke so softly that she couldn’t hear him. Elynna noticed that she was crying. He was dying and she could not do anything to save him. Helplessly she didn’t know what to do, Elynna held his head to her chest rocking him gently back and forth. I’m so sorry…I can’t remember you. I…can’t save you. At least, at least…You won’t die alone. I’m sorry.
……………………………………………
Elynna woke up in a cell lying on the cold and damp cement floor. Tears streamed down her face and pain shot through her entire body. Elynna held her head, she felt the bandage wrapped around her and remembered the colosseum fight. I thought I died. Or I am already died… a possibly worth exploring. She thought. Elynna struggled to move, in fact, every breath was difficult with her body screaming in agonising pain. She chuckled a little but grimaced. It hurts, maybe I am not dead yet…Where am I?
The cell was cramped and the floor slightly sunken, with moss-growing in the corners, and dust covering the cobblestones bench. Elynna heard a conversation from outside her cell door, two jail keepers most likely, bickering under the weak candle light.
“This isn’t only about your neck. It’s includes all of ours!” one complained.
“This is politics, if she dies on our watch there is nothing we can do to escape hanging. Or better yet, off to war, to die for the empire. So shut your whining little mouth.” The other reminded.
“Ah, now I get it! You’re protecting that filthy girl and what for? The heretic Alyderminans will attack us if she lives and war will erupt again. It is inevitable. The emperor is making a grave mistake and we both know it. So you can have a stake up your arse, you fucking coward, I will be the one to rape her and bleed her to death for the good of our country!” The keeper marched towards Elynna’s cell and she dare not look up. The sound of gate creaks a distance away.
“Stop, someone is coming.” The other keeper retorted. The keeper grumbled and turned back around to Both keepers left and went back down the hall to see who the visitor was.
Elynna picked herself up from the floor and hunched on the edge of the bench, clutching her side. The post-battle wounds that Garth inflicted on her had detrimental damage. Coughing and wheezing, she retched, vomiting a bit of blood.
“You shouldn’t rise. You are too feeble.” A prisoner spoke to her quietly from the cell across. She did not reply. Elynna moved her fingers, arms and contorted her face, testing what the wounds permitted and what not.
“You have been asleep only for half-a-day. And have caused quite uproar. You must be very special if they haven’t killed you. I think—”
“Please, shut up.” She panted and gazed lifelessly at him. “I must flee from here. Even if it cost me my life.” The man was inquisitive and burning with curiosity. He didn’t say more but observed her with interest. Elynna struggled to stand on her feet, wobbling once, she held on the cell’s bars. Noting through the crack on the side of the wall, there was a pipe hanging on the other side, she wiggled her hand to grab the pipe bar. Then sucking a lungful of air and with as much force as her body permitted her, she reefed on the bar to pop it out. The large sound of her success echo in the prison hallways. By twisting her wrist, Elynna managed to slid the rusted metal pipe out.
“They’re probably heard you. You couldn’t possibly hope to escape here with your weak condition. Which begs the question, what is driving you to do this?” the man couldn’t wait any longer, he too, stood at his cell bars and stared at Elynna with instinctive sympathetic eyes. She ignored his question but saw that the man’s figure was tall and his facial hair was long and unkempt. His eyes were swollen and red, with purple and blue bruising that covered from his nose to cheeks. A sound of screaming vented from another room. It startled Elynna but she continued and wedged the pipe in between the stones and worked. In a few minutes, she succeeded in creating an thin-enough opening for her to pass through.
“A moment ago,” he said kindly, “you had difficulty breathing. Please, I can help you. Let me out. You won’t get far without me.”
“Why? I don’t even know who you are, or why you’re here.” She replied. Elynna began to slithered through to the next cell where the door was unlocked. “I’ve gotten far on my own.”
“Wait…” He responded and reach his hand out toward her. “We may not be enemies. I can see that. I suspect you do too. I know the layout and I know the land.”
“You don’t even know who I—”
“I do know of the one whose name you screamed out in your dreams. The one you are trying to remember but cannot. The one…who is dying.”
Elynna pursed her lips, stifle something which was either a groan or a curse. She turned to him and said, “What else did I talk about in my sleep?”
“Please let me out. I can offer something more valuable in return. I will not harm you.”
Elynna grab the keys hanging from the wall where the keepers were and She stared into his eyes. Without opening the man’s cell she unlocked it and took a few steps back. She was quite a distance from him when he opened his cell door.
“If we get out alive, I need you to tell me everything you know.” She clutched the pipe tightly, and watch him open the door, still untrusting.
“Thank you,” The man spoke again softly, “my name is Murray.”
“Elynna.”
“Please Elynna, follow me, I know the way out. The guard will come back from rounds any moment.” Murray gathered a few of his belonging from the room of the jail keepers and knelt down to cautiously dress his own wound on his leg. Elynna suddenly felt dizzy. She staggered against the post supporting the ceiling, now as white as a sheet. Murray stared and without a word he handed her his stick.
She could barely keep up with him as they traveled through the dungeon narrow corridors passing the oil lamps. Into the darkness, the dungeon scarcely had any prisoners or guards. Murray was surprised the place seem larger than, when he last visited. Not even a damn rat in sight. Finally, they reached to a spiralling staircase and Murray turned around to notice that Elynna was breathed heavily and sweating profusely. She clutched her teeth for she scorned at the pain. The wound of her left shoulder was deep; it did not seem to be bleeding but it still could be quite life-threatening. One could only wonder why she was forcing herself like this. He sighed heavily as he shifted his bag higher on his back and placed his arm under her, lifting gently. He noticed the girl was strikingly slim build, but by no means puny, no indications of undernourishment. She has musculature and physical construction of a trained fighter yet what bother him the most was how seemingly young she looked.
“What…are…you doing?” Elynna faintly spoke, fighting to stay conscious. She could feel the tears tingling in the corners of her eyes. For she was terrified of death. It was hard to distinguish if she was dying or not. Whether the light coming from the top of the staircase is actually hell waiting for her demise.
“I said I wouldn’t harm you.” Carrying her, he climbed the stairs up to the top of the tower, towards the gleaming light.
………………………………………
The purple-black sky burst along the line of lightning, exploding in a long drawn-out clatter of thunder. The wind brought the storm at night. The sudden rain struck the dust of the road with drops, as vicious as oil. The sound of hammering rain roared on the rooftop of the tiny cottage. In the middle of swamp, stood a cottage among the reeds that no one dare to venture. Inside, in the firelight and glow of the hearth was a brown-bearded man hunched over a pot of soup. He leaned over and muttered about the consistency of the broth. Beside him laid almost corpse-like, a black-haired girl, wrapped in bandages on blanket of animal skin. The injured girl moaned softly and began to shake. The man turned and simultaneously touches his own forehead and with the back of the other hand touches hers. He then writes down on his parchment, ‘four hours after cleaning wounds, a development of a fever is noted. Will treat it accordingly. Reaction must be due to the infection spreading from left shoulder wound, most likely a broad-spectrum will do the job. Other symptoms of face grimacing and involuntary vibration movement from the body’s autonomic nervous system in response to pain. Will continue to monitor any changes after intervention, weary of side-effects.’ He places the quill back into the ink bottle and looked at her with kind eyes. Then he began crafting the medicine for her.
……………………………………….
It’s him again. The person in my dream. A boy was running through the forest. Arrows flew passed him, the men chasing him were shouting and yelling. She watched him run for his life and she knew that he wasn’t afraid of death. Only to be caught. To him, the chase was exhilarating, he was grinning from ear to ear. He had four pursuers, all seemed they were dangerous. She watched as the boy twisted and turned dodging every rock, root and scrub. I have to do something! Elynna ran towards the boy and eventually caught up to him. Elynna’s diaphragm and costal muscle began to burn as her lungs were to burst. She tried to call out to him but no sound escaped. Her voice was lost and he would never know that she was right behind him. His name? What is his name? She studied his back, he too had black hair like hers. Elynna was able to maintain most of her speed but soon felt she would not be able to keep up. She slowed now, preparing herself to take on the four attackers, she turned and ran the opposite direction.
