Hollow Repentance

- - - - - Izzy's POV - - - - -

My head was spinning and I hadn't even opened my eyes yet; I dreaded to think what that would feel like. I couldn't really begin to describe the feeling in a way most people would understand, except for maybe riding the waltzers on a boiling hot summers day after eating your entire body weight plus extra in chips, burgers and hot dogs. Basically, I was about to throw any minute.

Several minutes passed before I stopped feeling queasy and, it was at that moment of feeling considerably better, that I dared to open my eyes. Something was wrong... I felt myself prying my eyes open, and I could feel a very slight breeze hitting my pupils, but nothing. Not a single speck of light reached me and I was stuck sat - that part didn't surprise me at all - in complete darkness.

As my breath became shallower and more ragged, I experienced very brief flashbacks of what happened outside, meeting that unusual man and feeling whatever drugs he had in those needles flowing into my body; the strange thing was, it almost felt as though more fluid was leaving my body. Weird, right? Caught off-guard by a seething pain in both my leg and neck, I slammed my arms out and groaned in agony as what felt like shackles, tore against my skin.

"Help me! Anybody; help, I'm down here!"

If I had any hope of escaping wherever I was alive, I figured it would take a lot of screaming and frantic struggles. Suddenly, an icy hand latched onto my wrist just below the shackle and I panicked, whimpering and pressing my eyelids firmly together, not that it made a difference anyway...

Almost as though I was expecting something to have changed in less than ten seconds, I cautiously opened one eye and glanced around. Well, it certainly wasn't what I expected... Everything was stained red, and I doubted that it was supposed to be like that. Although, there was nothing for me to complain about, I could see at least.

Twisting my head to catch a glimpse of my attacker, I sighed in relief as my eyes met Torren, whose own eyes looked a deeper and more natural shade of red than the rest of the surroundings. My voice wavered, even though I was less scared now I knew that he was here to protect me.

"Torren... What's going on? Where is this; and what're Dimi, Aldin and that guy doing here?"

He ignored me; it kind of reminded me of the day I first met him, his eyes glaring blankly into my own and readopting his annoying habit of never answering any questions I threw at him. Silently, I watched as Torren's hands dug into his pockets and pulled out a small tattered key, hopefully for these stupid shackles tearing into my wrists. Sighing, I pulled my hands down onto my lap and rubbed tenderly at my wrists, gasping as the abbrasions faded away almost instantly.

A hand waited patiently in front of me and I glanced up to see Torren leaning towards where I sat. I took his hand hesitantly and pulled myself onto my feet, gripping onto his sleeve with my other hand as I examined the tiny room carefully. Where were we?

"Come on, lets go upstairs and we'll talk more there."

Talk more there... Did I miss the first round of talking? Torren pulled lightly on my hand, motioning for me to follow him. No, I wasn't leaving this room without answers. A lot more viciously than I had intended, I wrenched my hand from his grasp and backed up in the opposide direction. As expected, Torren's anger spiralled and he twisted on the spot, hands clenched into tight fists by his side and eyes transfixed on mine. With everything still stained the same horrible crimson shade, it was a lot more frightening than usual.

Aldin, Dimi and the other guy laughed in unison and almost drowned out the sound of Torren's irritated growls; almost. Suddenly, he lunged for me, much slower than he had done before; he must have been having a bad day, or I was having a really good one.

With an unexpected force, I darted to the right and narrowly escaped Torren's flailing arms. I didn't realise I could move so quickly. Outrunning Torren was certainly an esteem builder, or at least, it would have been if I hadn't collided with the right most wall less than a second later.

A dull pain slithered up my arms and quickly vanished as I twisted my back to the wall, unsure whether to be more scared or amazed with myself. Glaring at Torren across the tiny room, I surprising felt more confident of myself and waited for the next move, my knees bent slightly as I anticipated his inevitable attack. This time, I wouldn't hit the wall.

A moment of unnerving silence passed before Torren snarled and charged once more, his hands furled like talons as he swiped in every direction. Somehow knowing what I was doing, I faked another dodge to my right and burst to the left, narrowly rounding the corners as I circled the room. Increasingly faster, I repeated the same movement, my footsteps echoing endlessly and everything in sight blurring. I couldn't stop! It sounds weird, but I didn't know how. Over my clattering footsteps, I heard the cool voice of a stranger, most likely belonging to the man that was stood with Aldin.

"You'll have to help her stop, Sir Torren. It's impossible when you first get the power to understand how to control it."

After at least six more laps circling the room, my head started to spin and I could feel my legs beginning to give way beneath me, but I knew they wouldn't, no matter how much I wanted them to. Suddenly, I spotted an arm blocking the path I had almost worn into the ground and made no attempt to dodge it. Bracing myself for impact, I found myself almost doubled over as I hit it and dropped instantly to the ground, winded and shaking violently.

"We'll do this in the lounge; there's plenty of space in there."