Being a bastard on Bassinor has been difficult enough, but Erinii Zakkata has always done her duty to family and that was what landed her in the facility to begin with. Gassed into a hallucinogenic state, she has spent four years trying to swim out of the fanciful creations of her mind, and with a little intervention from a familiar face she manages to find reality again. Or did she?
Until she can find a way to escape she has to appear to be a madwoman in a psych facility, and when the role comes far to easily, she has to wonder if she has made it out of her nightmares or is she still trapped in her own mind, living out an escape that seems far too good to be true?
A representative from the Citadel is now featuring heavily in her fantasies, but is he real or just another illusion to keep her from escaping her imprisonment?
Time and a heavy detox will tell.
More From Tales of the Citadel
Four years. She had been here for four years. She rubbed at her eyes as her mind cleared and she was able to see her situation with intense clarity. Her talent flickered weakly, wrapping around her and shifting the contents of her chamber in short jerks. The vents in her ceiling popped and she cursed. Just a little more time and she would have been able to work something free. She had no idea where she would run, but she wanted so desperately to be free.
Erinii Zakkata stared at the blank walls of her cell. She could hear the cries and moans of the other imprisoned talents through the stone that surrounded her in the power-segregation facility.
Thick green mist was pumped in through the vents and as she breathed in, the grim surroundings faded away. She was off to her mind-crafted world and the creatures her brain used to keep her company.
* * * *
Erinii sat up and smiled at the bright and cheerful environment that surrounded her. Birds twittered, the nearby brook babbled and she was free to wander around serenely in the hallucination that her mind had woven for her.
Ahead of her, a wall opened and one of the squid faces came forward, pausing at a respectful distance. He was wearing a purple squid on his face today and it contrasted sharply with his bright blue eyes.
“Zakkata, please come and have your meal.” His voice was muffled as the squid faces always were.
She got to her feet, her pretty gown weaving itself out of nothing to drape to the tips of her glittering shoes.
“Who are we today, Zakkata?”
She smiled politely and curtseyed toward him. “I am a princess, of course.”
“Very good. Your tea party awaits, my lady.”
He walked with her down the hall to where fascinating creatures cavorted and frolicked, some letting out the most horrible screeches while throwing their food around.
She sat gracefully at her table, accepting her tray with a gracious smile. The squid face that delivered it didn’t speak, but she could feel its disturbing scowl underneath the creature that wrapped its face.
She sipped at her tea, frowning at the tepid brew. She was about to ask for a hotter pot, but the two squid faces near her were in deep conversation.
“They have been asking for her, you know.” The server was muttering while darting worried glances toward Erinii.
“Have you heard what they want?” Her escort stood with his arms crossed loosely over his chest.
“No, but someone outside our government is making inquiries. How they learned she was here is a mystery.”
