The Heart-Shaped Locket

She scrambled in the sodden soil for the heart-shaped locket, her only hope of escaping this wretched torment. The heavy weight pinned her body to the ground, every breath forced, every breath broken and pained. She reached out further, the chain of the locket nearly in reach, the shining silver so close… Her hand pulled back before it met its mark. She was determined. The struggle continued, the bog now lively with the torrent raining down from above; only making it more difficult to move as the slippery mud convulsed and churned around her with every thrust forward, her hand carving out a slim trench toward the glowing trinket, though the light dimmed as each slosh of congealed earth layered the necklace. Each gasp against the drowning dirt became impossible, the unwanted pressure building against her now frail body, intolerable, unbearable. She fought on. Her nails better utilised as claws, drawing blood with every attempted scratch and stab, making a sanguine sludge, to no avail. As the seconds turned to minutes then into what felt like hours, the dark coagulant muck marred her pale skin, the oozing scum hiding the dainty object that had been the focus of her efforts had been lost beneath the vile ordure.

The pressure lifted; her arm freed. She lay unmoving as the shadow lurked around her.

“What’s this then?” He picked the heart-shaped locket from the dirt and polished it between his rough, grimy fingers, a slight screech sounding from the gemstone as the unexpected intruder groped and fondled the jewel. “Seems like yer really wanted this didn’t yer. Is it somethin’ valuable, or just a bit of sentimental shine?” The assailant mocked. Still unmoving, she closed her eyes, hoping to wake up from the nightmare. “Oi, I’m speakin’ to you, yer bitch!” A swift dig from his boot connected with her side, the distinct sound of a crack coalescing with the forced exhalation of what little spirited fight she had left. He shook his head, before spitting onto her already ripped and filthy coat. “Fine, you don’t wanna talk, have it your way.” He pushed her head into the quagmire of their making, her choking silenced beneath the devouring dirt. She sprawled her arms out to her sides, gritting her nails into the ground before sinking her fingers to the knuckles and anchoring herself against the ground to push herself free. The jerk of her reignited strength sent the attacker stumbling, the heart-shaped locket falling from his hands back onto the wet ground.

Her eyelids broke the crust and allowed her to see light once more. The sprawling metropolis now nothing but a decrepit and desolate wasteland of brick buildings sunken into the bog, nature had reclaimed her home. She seized a rock and turned around on her back, the cold hardened earth on her body cracked. The man quickly lunged at her to regain control of the situation, but she was ready this time; swinging her arm to meet the man’s jaw, a cacophony of blissful breakages singing through the air like a melody of malady played in a vengeful chord. Teeth and flesh found their home in the ditch next to the squealing wretch, doubled over and twitching as he clung to the brain matter and bone desperately slipping through his dying fingers. The sun broke through the clouds and the rain was settled; silence fell upon the swampy suburbs once again. She took a moment to stare at the now lifeless body she had planted in the ground before her, somehow, she found regret whilst gazing into the tired, scared eyes of the monster that had hunted her through the murky meadow, she had never killed before, she had never met anyone else that survived. She felt wrong. Something inside of her had changed, she was not the same. As she sat there in the dirt, she didn’t consider what he had done to her, only what she had done to him, she felt equally monstrous, worse even, she…

She did not have time.

“What’s taking so long? Hurry up and c’mere, you only said you were going to have a bit of fun!” The others had returned, and they were many. She pawed through the loamy soil for the locket, blood and gore mixed around in the gunky soup. The heavy footsteps that waded towards her stopped in horror at the sight that befell them. “What have you done you bitch? Grab that breeder, lads!” The trio swarmed her, clamping down on her shoulders and dragging her back towards the road. Her arms still raking the ground in a last ditched attempt to pluck the necklace from the blanketing mud.

She had it.

The dormant gem fizzed into action, a flood of arcane energy flowing into the sorceress, invigorating the magical blood that surged through her veins. An irreverent display of power sent each of the bandits to the ground, hard. They shielded their eyes from the blinding beauty, the bright light in this dark and dystopian wasteland. Radiant fire cleansed her violated body, a healing flame burning, fuelled by the amulet, scorching the ground to ash and dust. The terrified three knew they were doomed, they knew that karma had come for them, but each quivered and clung to the last morsel of hope that they had left as they uttered, “Please, let us go.”

The woman smiled as she gazed into their petrified eyes. “Would you have let me go?”

The men knew the answer, and so did she…