The heavens above start to open as the trickle of rain drops lightly tapping on my head start to become faster and heavier. I lift my face to the darkening sky. Strands of matted hair slowly adhere to my skin as the light shower turns into a torrential down pour.

A deep ache has settled within my body. The slow burn grows, snaking its unwelcomed tendrils from my shoulders upwards along my arms. The coldness of the metal enclosing my hands races from my fingers down my arms. The two different sensations clash sending my nerves into overdrive. The familiarity of pain settles deep within my mind.

This is what I know.

The bitter frigid wind circles around. Creeping with icy wisps through my torn and battered flesh into my bones, freezing to the core. The cuts along my skin throb as the water flows down carrying all the dirt and debris along its path. The earth beneath gradually turns from hardened dirt to slush as the rain continues.

Low deep rumbles of thunder roll overhead. My skin twitches as the air tingles with the faint traces of electricity. The storm is growing. My cheeks start to burn from the bruises and split skin as a smile slowly edges its way onto my face. The voices that once were muffled from the ringing in my ears start to clear as my body becomes more alive with the storm.

‘…is here by accused of being guilty of conspiring against the crown with the attempted murder of his Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Laventia… the punishment for this crime is…’

Inhaling as the crowd turn loud and hysterical over the sentencing. Trying to slow my racing heart as every word that is read fuels the shouts of hatred from the gathering mass of onlookers. The smile in fully planted on my face, never faltering as the crowd’s energy surges with the prospect of a violent punishment approaching.

The sound of a sword being unsheathed filters through the shouts and screams to my ears. Turning to face the weapon, I track along the sword to the hand grasped around it. Following the arm covered in chainmail to the polished chest plate adorned with the royal coat of arms, engraved over the heart. I continue my gaze till I meet my so-called victims. With sword in hand, he approaches where I am restrained. A grim look firmly planted on his features masking his true nature.

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Not once does my stare leave him. I track every movement till he stands beside me. Not giving him the satisfaction of seeing the slight rational fear of what is yet to come I look back towards the gathering before us. The sword cuts in front of me forming a barrier between myself and the crowd. As it hovers in between I see my eyes staring back at me in the reflection. Before I can be swallowed up within the emotions swimming in my gaze a sudden flash of bright light catches my attention.

In an instance my whole body awakens. The breath I had been holding slips past my lips. The once faint tingling trace electricity in the air now is charged. Bouncing along my skin sending my nerves into a happy euphoria. Feeling charged and unstoppable as the storm has reaches its peak I flick my sight back to my executioner. His whole body stiffens under my gaze, its mask slipping from his face. He pulls his sword back ready to attack. Before it could make its deathly strike one word slips under my breath.

‘Morabor.’ Suddenly the world around me slows down as if surrounded in a thick syrup. Summoning all my remaining strength a pull on the chains connected to the metal enclosed on my hands. The metal gives way, and my hands slip free. As I fall into the sludge beneath me the world kicks back into gear and returns to normal.

The realisation of my freedom has now registered in the mind of the princeling. He drives his sword at my slumped form on the ground, trying to skewer my battered body. My body moves like water, missing the blade. The instinct to survive is deeply woven into every being of my body. Once clear of the danger I standoff facing the most prominent danger. Crackling reaches my ears as the feeling of warmth races through my fingers. With every beat of my heart throbbing in my head, the heat in my hands pulse.

As the prince starts to charge towards me I throw my hands in front unleashing the power that had been growing in my hands. Lightening shoots out. It hits the ground in such a force that an explosion of dirt and sparks causes everyone in the area to be blown back by the blast front; I am driven back hard into a tree trunk causing all the wind in my body to leave in one large gush. My vision fades in and out from the force of hitting the tree. I sluggishly stumble back up onto my feet. A quick glimpse of the area around me as I cast my eyes from place to place. As my vision starts diminishing more with each blink I make my deeper into the forest with the certain hope that the Crown Prince is not stupid enough to follow.

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