A+Chained+Heart

__ A Chained Heart __ By Naira Demirchian His laugh echoed in the cavernous dungeon, filling me with rage. My name is Ardere and Ardere means fire. This bit of information would lead you to believe that my rage was fiery, and blazing in my heart. However, my rage filled me with ice. I felt the ice slither into me, freezing my blood over. As for my heart, its every beat hardened and intensified under an ice- cold blanket. I //hated// Fascienne. With all my power, with all my heart, and with all my soul. I would hate him for all my lifetimes to come. For now, however, I had to focus on this lifetime. I had to find a way to leave this hellhole and go back to Rae. //Rae. //Thinking about him stabbed a spear of emotion through me. Sadness, because I didn’t know if I would escape from here to see him again. Hurt, because I couldn’t protect him. Of course, love. And even a little anger. Why didn’t it happen like in the stories, when the damsel in distress was trapped by the evil villain, when suddenly the handsome hero came swooping in. The hero would slash at the villain, killing him instantly, and then he would turn to the damsel, his true love. He would untie her from the ropes that held her down, kiss her for one magical moment, and then they would ride off into the sunset. Of course, that couldn’t happen for two reasons. One: Rae didn’t know I was trapped here, so he wouldn’t come looking. And two: there hasn’t been a sunset seen in this world for over a hundred years. What was once known as the planet Earth, back when my ancestors lived, is now the planet Vox. Or Power. It is no longer split into different continents and countries. Just Vox. My great- grandmother used to tell us kids about the Coming Out. That’s when billions of people around the world came onto national television and announced the existence of Power. How they could control heat, and cold. Weather and seasons; dark and light; the gravitational pull of the earth. They could control //all of it//. Of course, there was a big uproar at the Coming Out, but eventually we regular humans began to accept the strange, Powered Ones. That all ended with World War Three. All the Powered Ones decided they were better than us, that they were superior. Everyone expected the end: the Powered Ones won. What good was a gun if the person you were shooting at could use gravity to pull it out of your grasp, or light it on fire in your bare hands? There was nowhere to escape, since they were everywhere. So, we did the only thing we could do: we accepted defeat. The Powered Ones took over control immediately. Everything changed. Our ecosystem changed: like I said, we haven’t seen a sunset in many, many years. That’s because the Powered Ones decided that the entire world should be under a dim, dark sun. So that whenever you looked out the window, whether it was night or day, you wouldn’t see sun or moon, but a mix of the two. The sky had a permanent purple- red color. Our political system changed; the Powered Ones became Lords and we became Slaves. We even have to wear this stupid chain- like bracelets. Once a Powered One put the Chains on you, you were under their rule, until they took it off themselves. If your Lord happened to die without taking your Chains, you would be under the rule of their closest relatives. That’s how I met Rae. He was my Lord. My family and I had worked for his distant cousin, Acuzio. When Acuzio died, we had been passed on to his only family: Rae. Rae had been one of the most gentle and kindest Lords my family and I had ever worked for. Slowly, throughout the couple of years I worked for him, we fell in love. Which, yes, sounds cheesy and way too cliché, but there is no other way to describe how we felt. Once we admitted our feelings, Rae told me about the Cause. It was the plan in which some Powered Ones had decided to overthrow Fascienne, the most powerful Power of all. The plan was still under way, and not totally explained to me, but it involved capturing Fascienne. Part of the plan was to make Fascienne end Slavery, so that humans and Powers could finally live in harmony. But I had screwed up. I had decided to go stake out Fascienne’s mansion, to get more exact blueprints to replace Rae’s estimated ones. And I had gotten caught. Now I was facing a life or death situation, talking to the worst person, Power or human, possible. Fascienne had been strutting around the room this past hour, trying to get answers out of me. This wasn’t hard for a Power. All he had to do was control my feelings, make me want to tell the truth. Luckily, I had some self- control, and I had only said things about my relationship with Rae, and him “planning something”, but I wouldn’t tell Fascienne what. “Oh, have you ever heard anything so ridiculous?” Fascienne asked himself, his hand pulling on his salt- and- pepper colored beard, which was cut close to his chin, like his pitch black hair was trimmed tight against his head. His eyes were as dark as ebony bark. It didn’t surprise me how dark he was. His name, after all, meant black. Black. Like his heart. “A Human? And a Power in love? Why, young lady, you’re hallucinating! You don’t think he really loves you, do you?” I looked down at my Chained hands. Fascienne bellowed out with his bass- toned laugh again. “He is using you! He has a grip on your heart, almost as if he has Chained your heart, not your hands.” “Rae does love me. And he is going to //ruin// you. You greedy, self- centered, //evil pig//!” I was losing it. I couldn’t blame that on Fascienne’s Power. He wasn’t raising my heart rate so I would lash out. I was really losing it. The ice that coated my veins intensified in temperature, spiking my emotional peak. I felt like scratching Fascienne’s eyes out and beating him until he was unrecognizable, even to himself. I felt my spit dribble down my chin as I stared crazily at Fascienne. I hoped my denim blue eyes were staring icily at him, though I knew I would never look as cold as him. My brown locks that reached just past my ears were covering part of my face, which I hoped made me look even more threatening. “Oh, Ardere, was it? Ardere, my sweet, you are blinded. No one can ruin the great Fascienne! I am powerful, rich, brave and in charge! No one would dare face me!” I noticed his eyes flare into a darker, and yet brighter black. “Oh, yes I can dare. And I will.” Rae’s voice, that sounded gentle as the ocean, and just as dangerous as the sea waves, rippled its way into the room. My heart rate instantly spiked, all on its own. I felt my love for Rae slowly warm my chilled body, and at the same time, I felt ashamed that he found me like this. I would’ve rather been killed by Fascienne than to be found like this: looking crazy and ruining Rae’s carefully thought out plan. I turned my head to look at him. Rae was standing erect, his long 6’4’’ body casting a shadow against the pale floors of the dungeon. His neat, gelled back blond hair gleamed in the faint light from the single light bulb in the room. Even across the room and all the way down on the floor, I could feel the intensity of his blue- green eyes, staring straight through Fascienne’s body. I also noticed one important factor in this situation: Rae was alone. Instantly, the hair on the back of my neck stood straight up, and fear cascaded through me until it reached even my marrow. “You’re alone…Rae?” Fascienne let the name roll off his tongue, obviously shocked at Rae’s presence, but retaliating quickly with a savage smile. He knew a fight was coming soon, and the excitement was practically radiating off of him in big gusts. “I decided that if you’re alone, it would only be fair if I came alone. But I have my followers waiting right outside for me, Fascienne, and if I don’t make it out alive, they will come for you.” Rae’s voice dropped in temperature by a lot, and silence followed. The quiet was eerie and uncomfortable for everyone. Finally, Fascienne broke the silence. “Well, then let’s let the games begin.” Suddenly, Fascienne jumped through the air and aimed his hands at Rae. Rae’s body contorted and jerked. Fascienne was using Power to push pain into Rae’s nerves. I wanted to scream and thrash around. I wanted to burn Fascienne until all that was left was the haunting smell of smoke. But doing that would distract Rae from the Cause: kill Fascienne, and take over. Rae managed to use a fraction of his Power to block some of the pain, while he used the rest to shove Fascienne backwards into the wall. Once Fascienne was off his feet and in the air, Rae stood up and ran over to the falling Fascienne. He began using his Power to control Fascienne’s nerves. Fascienne’s limbs began stretching and flexing while Fascienne was still in midair. When his feet touched the ground again, he rushed at Rae and they wrestled each other to the ground. When they both jumped up from the ground, they began an almost battle dance, like they had spent hours rehearsing this. They circled around each other, taking turns to strike and aim their Power. There were lights and different colors when they used Power to send sparks of fire at each other, or shards of ice. There were also punches and kicks, jabs and juts. It was actually almost…beautiful. Like two vines dancing in the wind, entwining with each other, and then jerkily floating apart when the wind picked up. But the beauty ended when I realized Rae was getting weaker, while Fascienne was still going strong. I knew I had to do something. I just didn’t know what. There was nothing in the room to use. It was bare white walls surrounding every inch. The only object in the room was the single light bulb, so I tried to come up with something to do with that. Maybe I could electrocute him. But that wouldn’t happen unless Fascienne randomly decided to throw a lightning bolt at the bulb. Maybe I could… and then it came to me. <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">I slowly stood up, my unexercised muscles screaming with soreness. I tried to be quiet and inconspicuous. I silently made my way to the bulb, avoiding the shots of Power and the bouts of the physical fight. I finally made it to the light bulb. I slowly turned the light off, hesitating for only a minute. The two men didn’t notice, they were too engrossed in their battle. I unscrewed the bulb from its place on the ceiling and held the cooling bulb in my dry hand, waiting for the right moment. <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Finally it came. When Fascienne’s back was turned to me, I smashed the bulb against his neck. He turned around to face me, savage hatred burning through his ebony eyes. Rae understood my plan and instantly took advantage of Fascienne’s momentary distraction. He used his Power to form black and red swirls in the cup of his hands. The Potentia Death. More commonly known as The Powerful Death. It was the only source of Power that would kill instantly. Rae thrust his hands forward and the deadly swirls flew into Fascienne’s back. I saw the life leave Fascienne’s eyes, the glimmer in his pitch black irises dimmed until they were just dark, bottomless pits. His mouth went from an evil snarl to an almost frown- like line. His skin slowly started to pale as he fell to the ground, dead. <span style="font-family: 'Cambria','serif'; font-size: 16px;">I was shivering when Rae came to me. He put his long arms around me and squeezed gently, like I would break any second. I hugged him back. I smelled in his musky, woodsy scent, tasting the fresh rain and green leaves of the forest in the back of my mouth. I finally released him and looked up, craning my neck to look into his turquoise eyes. And then, of course, came the magical kiss. The kiss wasn't loud like lightening or fire, but slow and sweet like a coating of honey. His fingers lightly brushed back my short, curly brunette hair as he whispered to me. Telling me it was over. We could be together now. That I wouldn’t have to wear the Chains anymore, because I wasn’t his slave, but his true love, and equal. While Rae slowly took my Chains off, I thought about what Fascienne said. He was right. My heart was Chained to Rae, but I knew that Rae was Chained to me too. We were Chained together, heart, soul, and body. And we will change the world together. Well, change the world- //again//. THE END