Serrated Love's Deceit

Chapter 16: Power Assist

I found a portal to the crescent island. My husband may have given up hope for me, but I have high hopes for the next phase for me. At the center of the island is a grey tower that is as tall as the trees on the cliffside of the island. I wonder if Brother is up there. I run to the entrance at the floor level of the tower. The titan size metal double doors swing open. A tall, grey male looks out first then down at me. His dark irises analyze my physical form briefly. His build is lean muscular like a swimmer with wide shoulders. He only has dark grey pants on with white shoes.

He picks me up and throws me over his bare shoulder. I wonder where he is taking me. I have a feeling that he's not Brother. Should I scream? What's the point? It's not like anyone would care to help or listen. He throws me on the floor in a cell next to a bunk bed with a lady laying on the lowest bed. The beds only had bare matresses. He digs in a nearby doorless closet through grey clothes and throws me a grey dress then walks out. I look down at the grey dress rebelliously. "You'd better put that on. The overseer of this place doesn't like disobedience." The lady in the lower bunk with a small black afro sitting atop her head says.

"Where am I? I thought witches and mages lived here." The lady readjusts in her bed.

"A millenia ago they inhabited the whole island now their presence is a distant memory. A legend us inhabitants speak of for bedtime stories. The overseers clan left three of those big, brutish males behind to watch over us islanders. They stuffed us all in these towers and stripped us of our colorful culture just because they're afraid of magic. The funny part is that all of us don't even know how to use magic. It was always just a select few that did. Then they became leaders of our clan." She hums a bit out of tune then stops. That's so strange. When I got on this island, I didn't see towers on my way to this one or any behind it. All that surrounds this place is a tropical forest. I rub my chin and look back down at the drab dress sitting on my green lap.

"How did the overseer's clan look?" She rubs her chin.

"When they originally invaded our island, there was a pale blue one bossing around the shorter grey ones. They killed a lot of people before collecting everyone in these ugly grey towers. After they collected most of us, the pale blue one and most of the other grey guys disappeared into these black holes that appeared in the air. They are very weird. I think this tower is an energy collection tower. I think they're collecting the energy from prisoner's of war and sending it to their bosses. See?" She scratches her scalp and her afro wiggles a bit. I wonder if the blue guy was my husband or someone from his clan.

"Why would you think that?"

"Since I've put this grey dress on and been in here, I haven't seen any color but grey. My skin used to be tan brown now it's all just grey. Don't ask me how long I've been here because I lost count of the days and years." She doesn't look older than thirty-five years but she speaks like she's an old woman.

"What happens if I don't put on the dress?" She sighs then turns away from me in the bed.

"He'll give us all stonework in the main hall instead of allowing us to draw in the sand on the beach."

I hate group punishments just because one person or being did something wrong. Why take it out on the whole group? Since I'm new here, I shouldn't get everyone in trouble just because I want to rebel. I'll sit back and observe, for now. I climb to the top bunk and switch my clothes out. Once I put on the grey dress, everything became parts of a black and white movie. My green skin looks grey, my green dress is grey, the barred cell window show grey towers that span for miles in an ugly concrete wasteland. Is what I'm seeing real or smoke and mirrors?

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A bell rings at the top of the tower that momentarily vibrates the whole structure. It seems like I just closed my eyes and now it's time to get up again.
I know I'm not imagining things. I did just close my eyes and that bell started to ring. What time do they have here? The Sun was high in the sky when I got here. I look out the barred window. A full moon is high in the clear black sky. I jump off the top bunk like a child and land like a superhero on the grey cement floor. The overseer comes into our room ringing a cow bell. I look up at him and he glares down at me. You know what I think need in my life right now with all this grey everywhere? Spontaneity! It's so boring doing what is expected, but I'm a rule bender so I'll skate on this grey line and he's the perfect candidate for my fun experiments.

I smirk and he steps back with a startled look. The lady from the lower bunk walks between us and he walks out of the room. In the hall a line of grey beings in grey clothes hug the wall. They slowly move to the center of the tower on the first level. We follow the line into the main hall where big boulders sit cracked and placed randomly on the floor. Picks and hammers of different sizes sit beside them.

"This is the stonework I mentioned before." She says and glances back at me.

"Why do we have to do stonework when we didn't misbehave?" She shrugs.

"Sometimes it's someone else in the colony that misbehaved that we're punishing for. Sometimes it's based on the overseeers whim." I gasp and stomp my foot.

"What's the point of following rules if you're skrewed either way?"

"Everyone who consistently rebels goes missing. What if they're tortured and killed then thrown to the ocean? That's scary." I sigh and tap my foot on the ground.

"You know what's more scary?" I say and side-eye her. She looks down at me with a flat expression.

"What?" She says flatly.

"Not knowing and regretting it because you didn't try. Guilt transcends lifetimes because it's a feeling your soul will carry wherever it goes. I'd rather die courageous and deal with that pain in one lifetime than go many lifetimes feeling regret, shame and guilt. That's the torture I don't want to deal with."

I plop my butt on the floor and cross my legs. Everyone else pick up their stoneworking tools and start hitting the boulders. I poke a fine stone pile near me then I get a bad idea. I grab a hand full of the powder and scream. The overseer approaches me and I throw the powder at him. He lifts me up and I wrap my legs around his torso. Then I use the bit of fine powder left on my hand to rub it in his eyes. He grabs a fist full of my lazy afro curls and tries to pull me away from him. I tighten my hold on his torso and bite his shoulder. It does not leave much of a mark so, I resort to scratching his chest and back. He throws me to the ground and kicks me hard in the abdomen. Everything goes black.