The smell hit Hannah like a wave, sour and metallic, and for a second, it felt like it was clinging to the back of her throat. Her eyes watered as she leaned closer, trying to make sense of the dark shapes in the room. Her eyes shook as she took in the sight, a heap of bodies, twisted and lifeless, piled like discarded dolls.
Every instinct screamed for her to turn away, but something held her rooted to the spot. She needed to understand—why were these bodies here, discarded like this? What had they done to deserve this fate? What would happen to them?
The stench of old blood and decaying bodies filled the room and hit the children like a tonne of bricks. Sending Ellie and Nia recoiling to the wall behind them in fear. Atlas and Zephyr stood beside Hannah, transfixed by the horrorful scene they were witnessing. Their limbs lay sprawled across the crowded room, haphazardly tossed in one way or the other. Most had their faces contorted in expressions of abject fear. Eyes bulging out from their head and mouths wide open in silent screams.
A glint of light reflecting off metal caught Hannah’s attention, as she strained her eye in the darkness. The shapes eventually gained more clarity, as she discerned an altar standing true in the centre of the room. Although she couldn’t make out all the details, she could’ve sworn there was a statue of a woman-the goddess Yamuna she surmised-overlooking the scenery before them. The statue of Yamuna stood tall over the chaos, her stone face serene, as if the horrors beneath her were nothing but an offering. Hannah’s breath caught in her throat—the goddess’s eyes seemed to follow her, cold and indifferent. Hannah felt her hairs stand up on end, heart thumping out of her chest.
Atlas yanked the door closed, his hand trembling. “We need to go. Now.” His voice was sharp with fear, but Hannah couldn’t shake the feeling that she had missed something crucial. There was more to this room, to the bodies, to the symbol of Yamuna watching over them like a twisted guardian. But the cool river of sweat running down her back made her nod, turning her back to the door. Nia had her eyes wide, a desperate hand clasped over her mouth to stifle the screams of panic she felt being drawn out of her throat. She looked at Atlas for a moment before turning her eyes to the ground and gave a shaky nod.
Hannah hadn’t noticed when Ellie had fallen down, or when she had started crying. But by the time Hannah had turned around from the closed door that’s the state she had found her in. Silent tears fell down her cheek, words too far from her grasp in her shocked state. Hannah’s heart broke at the sight and immediately reached to hold her in her arms. “Breathe with me, Ellie” she whispered, mimicking a slower inhale exhale pattern for the girl to follow. Atlas moved to Ellie’s side, comforting hand placed on her head as he knelt down with her.
Zephyr cursed under his breath, clenching his hands into fists to relieve the tension in his body. “We need to get back, Typhon could be expecting us any second now”. Atlas scooped Ellie up on his back, allowing her a piggyback ride to keep their close contact. Even as they left the room behind, the stench clung to them. It followed like a ghost, crawling up Hannah’s nostrils and settling deep in her lungs. She couldn’t shake it. No matter how many times she swallowed, that sour, metallic taste wouldn’t leave her throat.
As they made their way back their feet dragged against the cold stone floor. The wretched eye symbols stretched along the ever-present walls. Hannah couldn’t help but feel as if they had been watched. Nia had eventually taken her hand off her mouth, hands swaying limp either side as they walked. Until she stumbled slightly, reaching out to Hannah’s sleeve and tugging it twice. “...Do you think we’ll have training today?” she asked, voice still shaking.
“No, we’ve already trained” Hannah answered simply, eyeing the presence of the robed Warriors that they were fastly approaching. Nia hung her head and mumbled a dejected, “yeah…you’re right”. Zephyr’s voice cut through the murky silence, “we’ll do some extra training in our room when we get back”, he said his voice flat, but Hannah caught the flicker of tension in his jaw.
Just as they reached the corridor leading back to their quarters, a sharp clanging sound echoed through the stone walls. The sound of metal striking metal, followed by a grunt of exertion. It reverberated in the air, growing louder with each clash.
Atlas slowed his pace, turning his head toward the source of the noise. “What’s that?”
Hannah didn’t need to ask—she already knew. The unmistakable rhythm of combat, practised and relentless. The sound wasn’t just someone fighting—it was someone training. Her pulse quickened.
Zephyr narrowed his eyes, his gaze darting to the hallway just ahead. “Sounds like Mare…”
The children exchanged glances. The sight of that room, the heap of bodies, still hung over them like a dark cloud, but something about Mare’s training pulled at them—pulled at Hannah.
Atlas hesitated for a moment, but nodded, adjusting Ellie’s weight on his back. Nia followed closely, gripping the edge of Hannah’s shirt.
As they rounded the corner, the clang of metal grew louder, more intense, until they finally saw her—Mare. In the dim light, she was a blur of motion, her body a controlled storm as she swung her sword in precise arcs, slicing through the air as if it were an enemy. She moved with an eerie grace, her muscles coiling and releasing in perfect synchronisation. She was a weapon, every step calculated, every strike lethal. Ellie clung tiger to Atlas, her gaze flickering with unease, but Hannah watched intently, trying to memorise the rhythm of Mare’s movements, the way she shifted her weight before each blow landed.
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Hannah had never seen her like this before—her movements were fast, deliberate, each strike landing with a force that seemed to shake the air around her. It wasn’t just training. It was something more. The sharp sound of her blade meeting stone rang out, sending a shiver down Hannah’s spine.
Hannah’s eyes traced the path of Mare’s blade as it sliced through the air, faster than she could blink. Her own fists felt small, her legs clumsy in comparison, but she wouldn’t let that stop her. If she was going to survive here, she needed to learn—everything. How Mare stood, how she swung, how she breathed.
“Do you think she’s always been like that?” Atlas muttered, barely above a whisper. “Like… a weapon?” Hannah didn’t answer. She didn’t want to think about it. Because if Mare had once been like them, then that meant… “No,” she whispered back, shaking the thought from her mind. “I’ll be different.”
The thud of Mare’s fist hitting the training dummy echoed off the walls. The room reeked of sweat and iron, a heavy contrast to the decaying stench that had followed them from the other hall. But in its own way, this place felt just as dangerous. Here, survival wasn’t just about fear. It was about strength.
Hannah’s hands clenched into fists at her sides. One day, she’d need to know how to move like that, how to fight with precision and purpose.
Zephyr stepped forward, a mixture of awe and unease in his eyes. “She really doesn’t stop, does she?”
Mare hadn’t noticed them yet, but as her sword came down in one final strike, the sound of the blade meeting stone sent a shiver down Hannah’s spine. Mare stood still for a moment, her back to the group, catching her breath.
Then, she turned, her eyes locking onto theirs. The expression on her face was unreadable, but for a brief second, Hannah thought she saw a flicker of something… almost human.
“Back to your quarters,” Mare said, her voice low but commanding. “You’ve seen enough for one day.”
Hannah wasn’t sure whether she already knew what they had seen in that room or if she was just referring to them peeking in on her practice. Either way, one stern look from her was all it took to send the children scurrying back to their room.
As they hurried down the dim corridor, Mare’s words echoed in Hannah’s mind: “You’ve seen enough for one day.” She couldn’t shake the weight of those words, nor the look in Mare’s eyes—the flicker of something Hannah didn’t quite understand. Something she wasn’t sure she wanted to.
The clanging of steel still rang in her ears, but it was drowned out by the other sound, the one she couldn’t escape: the memory of those lifeless bodies, staring blankly at nothing. And over it all, Yamuna’s stone gaze.
Her fists tightened at her sides, knuckles white. The cold air bit at her skin as they neared their quarters, but the chill in her bones wasn’t from the cold. She was different from those bodies. She had to be.
Ellie shifted on Atlas’s back, sniffling quietly as Zephyr muttered something about training tomorrow. Nia walked beside her, her hand brushing Hannah’s as if searching for comfort.
But there was no comfort here. Not in this place.
As they reached their room and the door creaked shut behind them, an uneasy silence settled over the group. No one seemed ready to speak just yet—the weight of what they had seen still fresh, pressing down on their hearts.
Hannah could feel the tension in the air, hear the shallow breaths of her friends as they tried to steady themselves. The room felt too small, too suffocating, like the stench of death from that room was still clinging to their skin. Her fists clenched, her heart pounding in her chest.
The dimly lit room buzzed with nervous energy as the children huddled together on their beds, the day’s grim discoveries weighing heavily on their minds. Hannah sat cross-legged, her fingers picking at the frayed edges of her blanket, trying to shake the haunting images from the Grove out of her head.
“Did you see that statue?” Zephyr’s voice broke the silence, a mix of awe and dread in his tone. “What was that thing? It felt like it was watching us.”
Nia, still shaken from the experience, hugged her knees to her chest. “I couldn’t look,” she admitted, her voice trembling. “I just saw shadows and… the horror of what was happening. I felt like I was going to be sick.”
Ellie nodded, her wide eyes reflecting the fear still lingering in her mind. “Me too. I barely caught a glimpse of the room, and it felt wrong. It was like the whole place was breathing, and we were intruders.”
Hannah swallowed hard, the images flooding back. “The bodies… they were everywhere. I can’t believe we stumbled upon that. It’s so wrong, what they’re doing there. It makes me sick.”
Zephyr leaned in closer, his expression turning serious. “We have to remember that. Whatever they’re doing, it’s worse than we thought. It’s not just about us; it’s about all those lives.”
Nia glanced around, as if expecting someone to overhear. “What if they’re using that place for their experiments? The cult doesn’t just take kids; they’re doing something with the bodies. We need to figure out what it all means.”
“Maybe we can find a way to use it against them,” Hannah suggested, her voice filled with determination. “If they’re hiding something in the Grove, we should find it. Knowledge is power, right?”
Ellie’s eyes sparkled with a mix of excitement and fear. “What if we can find something that could help us escape? Something the cult is too scared to keep close?”
“I don’t know if we should go back there,” Nia cautioned, shaking her head. “It felt dangerous. I couldn’t even handle what I saw the first time.”
“But what if that’s exactly what we need?” Zephyr countered. “We can’t let fear control us. If we want to fight back, we need to figure this out.”
Hannah felt a flicker of resolve igniting within her. “If we’re going to do this, we have to be smart about it. We can’t let anything happen to each other.”
As the children continued to discuss their plans, the weight of their discovery settled around them like a thick fog. The Grove was a dark secret in their world, but it could also be their key to understanding the cult and its twisted operations.
“Let’s not forget the statue,” Hannah said, her voice low. “It felt like it was a part of everything, like it held the answers we need. We have to figure out what it means.”
With their minds racing, the children formed a plan to investigate the Grove further, their fears momentarily forgotten in the face of purpose. As they settled in for the night, the image of the statue lingered in Hannah’s thoughts, a silent promise that they would uncover the truth hidden in the shadows.