Hard, heavy, ragged panting filled the small, cramped alleyway. The sound of pain, the sound of utter agony, barely contained in the form of lungs desperately clawing at air. A crumpled form, hidden within the shadows, a body that had grown far too weak, far too exhausted to move any further, slumped over against the dead end where the pathways of asphalt met the brick wall that blocked off any hope of escape, shoulders heaving with how hard she fought to even keep breathing.
Golden eyes, glowing faintly in the darkness that kept her hidden, were barely even open, her vision blurring and shifting and growing so distorted she couldn’t even grasp what was her surroundings, and what was the slowly yawning expanse of her own unconsciousness swallowing her up. Her ears rung, a sharp buzzing that all but silenced all the other sound around her, and all she could register anymore was the cold sensation of what little clothes she had left on sticking to her skin, soaked through with the half-dried blood that was left smeared all over her side, vague lukewarm trickles of fresh ichor still slowly dripping down the contours of her ribs as they heaved. She could feel the same sensation caking her back, that numb, nauseating hollowness where once muscle and bone had been, cold air and rough brick scraping against exposed nerves and ragged strips of flesh that didn’t tear fully off with every breath she took.
Her skin was slick with sweat, the hot, heavy pain radiating through her whole body, and yet all she could feel was an icy cold numbness that slowly crept up her fingers, settled into her bones, slowly starting to slump against the wall with the only remaining shoulder that she had left. She couldn’t see the limp, blood soaked remains of what was left of her wings, or the sight of her own arm laying on the ground, disconnected and twitching, and she was thankful for it; having to face that kind of sight, while she slowly bled out, was far too much for her. She lets her eyes close briefly, letting the darkness hide some of the nauseating way her vision was swirling, letting her only hand slowly curl into a fist.
…To think, she had ended up like this. After working so hard to claw what little power she could gain. Sacrificing her dignity, her pride, subjecting herself to so much humiliation…And this is what it comes to. Trapped in the pits of hell, doomed to either be torn apart by the demonic hoards or live among their refuse as another pitiful wretch, starving, weak, and desperate.
…It wasn’t fair.
