My heart was pounding in my chest, my hands were sweaty as I reached out and tried to grab onto something, anything, to slow my descent.
But there was nothing there.
I fell and fell and fell into the inky blackness.
* * *
I didn’t know how long I was lost in the pit, or how far down it went. Every second felt like an eternity, and every hour felt like it went by in the blink of an eye.
I tumbled, somersaulting through the void until falling was the only thing I knew. The wind blew past me, roaring as I continued my descent into darkness.
My blood-red gown, the colors of Irriel, billowed around me like a parachute. My hair came undone as the heavy bracelets they had forced on me hung like a weight on my wrists, dragging me down.
I screamed until my voice was raw, and then I continued to gasp for air. My hands clutched for something to grab onto, but there was nothing there.
Eventually, a voice broke through the never-ending darkness.
They were calling me as the scent of ash and smoke and the deep woods filled the air around me. A familiar heat brushed up against me, and I felt a pull towards it.
“Don’t give up,” the voice ordered. It was so quiet—I had to strain to hear it over the rush of wind blowing past my ears. “Fight. You have to fight this.”
Give up. I didn’t do that. That was something other people did. Not me. Swallowing, I forced myself to head toward the voice.
Something was dragging me down, pulling me with it. Nothing about this situation was right, but right now I felt… utterly and completely out of sorts.Wrongnesswas forcing its way through my body.
Don’t give up,I commanded myself.Think. Fight.
How could I fight when I didn’t understand what was happening?
Taking a deep breath, I shut my eyes. With them closed, I could forget for a moment that I was falling through a never-ending pit.
I began to go through a list of all the things around me. What could be causing me to feel so wrong? The dress they had forced me into was just that. A dress. My hair was being held up by a few pins, but that was it.
Other than that…
An audible gasp escaped me as I realized where the sense of wrongness was coming from. The pair of bracelets on my wrists were growing heavier with every passing moment. As though they were physically dragging me down.
That had to be it.
Sucking in a deep breath, I grabbed onto the one binding my left hand. Searing pain ripped through my fingers the moment I touched the band and tears rushed to my eyes. Forcing myself to keep working despite the agony, I yanked on the bracelet.
Soon my fingers were a mottled red mess as I continued to seek the clasp in the darkness. Seconds ticked by into minutes as I fought for my freedom. My heart pounded in my chest, my lungs seized as I struggled to remove the weights that were dragging me down.
After what felt like an eternity, my ravaged fingers finally found the smallest indent in the otherwise smooth material. Gritting my teeth, I shoved my nails into the clasp andpulled.
My fingernails broke under the pressure of trying to undo the clasp as a sharp, shooting pain shot through my hands. I gasped, trying to steady my breathing as I pushed past the complete feeling ofwrongness. My fingers grew slick with effort, and still, I yanked on the bracelet.
In the back of my mind, I could hear the same voice calling for me.
“Fight,” they said. “Please, come back.”
And so I did. I fought. With every last drop of strength, I fought.
I had no idea how long I struggled with the bracelet, but eventually, I felt the slightest loosening around my wrist. Moments later, the bracelet fell off my wrists. I blew out a long breath as it tumbled off my hand, disappearing from sight instantly.
The moment the manacle was off my left hand, I feltlifebeginning to flood back into me.
Bolstered by the sense of vitality that was rushing through me, I turned my attention to my right hand. Once again, the manacle burned my fingers. But this time, I knew it could come off.