Challenge Submission An Azure Antebellum

[..Olivianna..]

***warnings: slavery, abuse, implied adult situations, violence​

Olivianna's tawny colored eyes rolled back to reality after what seemed like an eternity. The concerned ladies tasked with nursing the girl back to health all clamored close as they could get to her bedside. Olivianna heard their fervent whispers. Roused, she rubbed the sand from her eyes and sat up. To her bewilderment a small group of female humans, all earth skinned were gathered around her with eyes that glistened though were dark as night. Olivianna frowned. How in the world did she end up here? What were they doing with her? Why did she feel... so strange... She placed a hand to her tottering head and felt her voice bubble in the base of her sore throat. Her hand fell down to her neck in alarm as she could feel a slight burning irritating her singed skin. As soon as the tender flesh of her finger tips came into contact with the metal contraption they audibly sizzled. Olivianna snatched her hand away in horror as she realized the clasp was iron. Why would they do this? How cruel? Olivianna's bare chest began to heave as a panic settled in her heart. Try as she might she couldn't remember how she had been taken prisoner by these humans.

"Auntie Ola? What kina whips she got? I ain neva seen nothin like that befo'.." One of the younger women, a wide nosed girl with a beautiful halo of black hair, pointed at Olivianna's bare back which was smooth but decorated in an elaborate pattern that mimicked the wing cells of an insect. Olivianna guessed they must have been referring to her wings but... how could they not know the damage they were doing by chaining her in iron? Was it just a coincidence? Had they not known what what she was? Well maybe not.. Her usual mystical glow was gone and she couldn't feel her wings either. The faerie was exhausted, dehydrated, and in agony. The state of her body was very bad considering her wings all but dried out. She might have been able to pass as one of the mud skin women, save her pointed ears and silky hair texture. She wasn't sure if getting fluids would aid her much and wished she had an elixir near by. But she wasn't home or anywhere close if she were in the company of humans. She had to do something quickly.. but what? She was weak and they were many. Did she have the mana to explode the boiling water at the hearth..? Didn't feel like it...

"Ain't no beaten do that to her.. it's in her skin. Not scarred. Might be sum tribe thang.." The elder of the group, the one named Auntie Ola, confidently broke the line of ladies around Olivianna, damp cloth in hand. She gently took Olivianna face as she turned away and brought toward her. Olivianna noted the stark contrast between the back and palm of her broad hand. It was like day is to night. "Ain't nobody here hurtcha. Be still.." the working woman's skin was coarse, Olivianna could feel the age and worth through her hands. After having her face washed off so reverently, Olivianna felt the weight of her caution flutter away. "Now wus your name? I'm Auntie Ola. This is Bee, Yani, Layla, and Henny." She said softly, giving Olivianna a yellowed smile.

Once she felt safe enough to do so, she also gave her name. The older woman was surprised she had one so fancy and thought it belonged to a white woman. "Please.. the iron.. is hurting me.." Olivianna's throat long since been burned through. The outside was all different shades of pink and purple and the inside of her esophagus was coarse and dry, making her voice crackle crudely to her mortification. One of the women offered her a wooden bowl emitting a strange yet alluring scent that made her stomach come alive. Many of the women gasped at the song. Their unison startled Olivianna but her ravenous lips never left the delectable vegetable broth.

"Ooh chile... voice sweet like molasses... you ain't from nowhere round here..." another woman, with a tall wrap wound around her head, held her hand up and winced in an illustration of how unprepared she was to hear Olivianna speak. As if in wanting to hear again, they waited as Olivianna swallowed the last bit of her overdue dinner. Far to quickly, she downed the savory juice and tapped the base of the bowl until not a single cut of produce was left. Usually Olivianna's mannerisms were modest, refined, and elegant given her nature, but she couldn't resist the need to pig out. "Please.." As soon as her bowl was lowered, the maid who feed her spooned another serving into the plate. Auntie Ola was happy the tiny girl had an appetite and wiped her mouth clean with the rag before any of it spoiled her bare chest. The woman who made the comment before was holding onto an article of clothing in her lap that Auntie Ola gestured to when Olivianna seemed to have had her fill. She had heard the strange women's plight against the cuff at her neck but ignored it, glad the food had seemed to take her mind off of it as Auntie Ola wouldnt know how to tell her it was forbidden for them to trifle with it. The wound at her long neck was concerning though.

An urgent beating came pounding at the raggedy door Olivianna noticed was poorly crafted, as it didn't reach the floor and the sides of which weren't lined up quite right in the frame. "Massa comin mama!" Olivanna recognized the cry of a male child, his little toes sprinted off as soon as he dropped the news. Massa..? She turned the term around in her mind. The accent of the women was simple enough to grasp but the child's use of the term massa perplexed her. Was it short for something..? What could be a massa? Should she be afraid. The baby voice sure seemed to be. She repeated the term over and over again until her own tongue crossed the term with that of the pronunciation of master. Master? Where these slave quarters then? "What enslaves you?" Olivianna hadn't picked up very many different scents. All were subtle and human besides her light sea salt aroma. "Are they human?"

"Human yes, humane no.." Someone replied as she skipped out of the room, all others besides Auntie Ola, doing the same. The question was strange but the old woman didn't dwell. Liv wasn't from here. Maybe not even from the states itself but the welcome she was about to get would show her down south 'merica was the last place she would ever want to be. The faerie hadn't known how to process the revelation. Humans enslaving other humans? Was the threat of orcs and dark elves not enough to warrant they band together? One would think... Olivianna must have been deep within human country as she's never heard of such a thing.

"Massa comin'. Yous listen good liv. Don't resist and don't you be runnin yo mouth." In sudden haste, she folded the white gown over Oliviannas head, pulling some of her long hair through the top. She wished she had more time to prepare the innocent girl for the harsh reality that would become her purpose on this plantation but the master, Ashley, was an impatient man. Or at least get her lovely, was it midnight blue, hair braided down to save some of it from being yanked out. Auntie Ola only just realized the odd color, which could pass for black, when a few of the strands seperated and glistened in the light of the hearth. Hopefully the master wouldn't notice. There wasn't time to fret about it now. The moment the exotic buy was brought to her for fixing, he had been eager to get her eyes and legs open. "Yous a pretty voice like some learned woman." She allowed Olivianna to pull her own arms through the sleeves, concerned with how weak she still seemed to be. "He ain't gon like it might cut ya tongue or worse if he feelin you smarter." Olivianna's breath hitched in alarm. Auntie Ola smoothed the faerie's pathetic defense and pulled the covers around her. They would be torn away but hoped to comfort her while she waited.

"A-are you leaving as well?" Olivianna tried to look Auntie Ola in her seemingly frustrated face but the woman kept her eyes down. Olivianna's light eyes panged her to acknowledge. Instead she placed a warm hand to the side of Olivianna's flushed cheek in a small apology.

"Gotdamn.." Master Ashley, a lean man with whispy dusty blond hair, stood in the doorway, admiring the treasure he secured from a fucking creep peddlar he crossed paths with during a leisure boar hunt. When he had first laid his ocean eyes on her beguiling black face, he was overcome with such a profound lust, he questioned his entire existence. As a pure racist caucasian man and slave owner on an inherited cotton plantation, it was a sin to belive anything darker than white could be more beautiful than the sun after a hurricane. "..that pretty fuckin face of yours cost me a pretty damn penny..." His voice was sultry and hushed as he edged into the space and shut the door behind him, never taking his attention from her. The desire in his azure eyes gave Olivianna a chill colder than frost. The profoundly perverse transfixtion his features extruded poisoned Olivianna's panicked heart. Her own features shifted in shade as she suddenly started to shed bittered tears. Her flushed face beckoned his sadistic nature to ravish her, further convincing his already determined mind to make sure every beautiful inch of her exotic existence paid him back.

Olivianna's shoulders slumped heavily as she realized too late what the women were preparing her for. Auntie Ola's words came back to her. Oddly though, Olivianna couldn't find it in her to fault any of them. She only damned the iron that kept her from drowning him to death. Ashley hurriedly tore his belt open as his aching manhood demanded to do the remainer of the talking. For three days, Olivianna withered in her bed beneath ashley a couple of hours a session, too many times a day. The ladies were only allowed back into their room to clean her up and occassionally feed her. The forth day though, at auntie Ola's educated explanation and plea, he allowed her rest. Only because she obviously wasnt healthy enough to travel with him over the weekend and didnt want to throw his investment out soon. She was well worth triple what he paid but even the steal he got her for warranted she last longer than a few days.

•¤¤¤•

"I can get that key. Knows where Hand keeps it. Got too many to see it missin." The youngest, yani, leaned into Olivianna, combing through her hair tenderly as not to tug out any more hair than she'd already lost.

"You for real do that voodoo shit?" Henny asked bluntly, as that's what exactly what it sounded like Olivianna did. It would explain her tattoos. Olivianna didnt respond though as she'd never heard of such a thing.

"That's too risky." Bee twisted up her thick brows and pursed her full lips at the idea, turning her head back to her stitch dismissively.

"Yeah what if massa comes sooner or to check up on her or sum. He gon see it's gone." Layla warned, crumpling soiled sheets down into a basket. "An' wut if it ain't work?"

"We gotta get it off her some how though..look her skin is turn terrible. That's an allergy not cause its tight. If she happen to able a lil spell with it gone then even better." Henny shrugged.

"An' yalls forgettin' if it ain't work an she get caught we all gon get it." Layla shot a bittered retort towards Yani and henny. Bee nodded in agreement. It was two for two.

"Auntie Ola.. I can get the key." Yani said again, placing her chin on Olivianna's bruised shoulder and pulling her back onto her chest to rest. Olivianna sank into the kind embrace. Both their glittering eyes fell on Auntie ola as they mutely begged her approval, as it would be her decision to release the faerie or not. Master Ashley had few rules when it came to handling his treasure and number two had been not to loose the iron. She hadnt a clue where all Olivianna claimed she was from or truly believed in magic. A shaman once stayed on the plantation as master ashley didnt want to pay a white doctor for services but was soon sold off as his medicinal practices were just some cheap trick. But what if this was for real? Auntie Ola decided to give her a chance but at the first sign of foolery she would chain her back up herself.

"Yous gonna get em..? For sure..?" She sighed heavily, the age of her old bones and a tantalizing hope tainting her skeptical face. Everyone turned their attention to the weakest one in the room. Physically the woman was a glamorously gritty mess. But spirituality, they all could sense..something.

"I can assure you.. Your master will pay the price for such injustices against your people and I. His life to return your own and his property for mistaking me as such..." Auntie Ola could have bet her life on the determination alone in liv's eyes. She had been praying for sometime that the Lord to send them a solace or reprieve, just a sign of something that He was still with them. She had long given up praying for freedom, maybe it as too much to ask. Or maybe it wasnt..

•¤¤¤•
Yani burst through the shack, kicking the door nearly down and giving the other conspirators a fright that sent their souls. She rushed over to the waiting faerie and with trembling hands worked to pick the lock open.. None could speak, only watch on a dense suspense.

As soon as the iron came off her neck, a bit of her natural color returned to her features. Her navy hair lighted a shade or two, resembling the allure of a lake or pool. Her moistened, muddy eyes shimmered a blue like lapis. The women watched in awe as not a single one of them ever seen a dark skinned person with features like the hers in their life. Olivianna folded a few strands of hair behind her pointed ear as a light heat and subtle blush settled on them and in her cheeks. She felt alive again. It was if someone had pulled her out of dirt coffin and dusted her off. She couldnt get a gauge on her mana but everything else seemed to be slowly coming back to her.

•¤¤¤•

Olivianna stepped down, to the outside, an odd chill in the night air. She had been eager to do so yesterday but didnt press her luck. But tonight was the night though because come morning, ashley would be on her again. Though there was a path beaten into dirt for her to follow, she instead ventured onto the grass. The faerie immediately noticed how dull everything seemed to sound, and feel, even the wind was quiet. Not a whisper in it. It made her suddenly feel.. abandoned. Despite the tall grass and beautiful willows that licked her legs and watched her walk.. she felt as if she were walking on stone. It was disturbing to her. The ladies all huddled and watched the girl act as if she'd never seen the outside before. Olivianna meditated as she crossed the field, calling on the voices that had to be there.. somewhere.

Who is the God of this earth? Why do They allow such to disgrace Them? She placed a hand to the nearby trunk of an old tree, trying to coax the sleeping thing alive. Her toes did the same, twisting into the blades as she continued to question. Why do you sleep?

We, we, we, we-. Came the disembodied whispers of the land, the wind, the grasses, and trees. It was soft but Olivianna could hear them after their long slumber. The way the wisp crackled reminded her of how she'd first awakened in this dreary place. He waits for the return, return~. They continued in a slight disharmony. But we, we, we, we, are tired. He is saddened, saddened. The spirits sang viciously. And, and, angry!

I hear you.. will they hear me? Olivianna inquired, already preparing to seek an audience with the god.

Yes! Yes! Yes! Elohim!

"Dear sovereign Lord of this earth.. Elohim.. Hear me, I beg you.. i ask that you lend me your strength.." She must have been on another planet as she had never heard of a god by the name Elohim. But Olivianna was honest end sincere and had faith that whomever they were would lend their attention. "Your beautiful creation weeps for you, your humble people suffer in wait for you.. I know not when your vengeance is due.." Olivianna began to fervently pray, trying to appease the god that seemed to respond almost immediately. She prayed earnestly and opened her heart to receive the blessing which they seemed quite willing to do. A calmness came over her as the fatigue of the past few days seemed to be drained out of her and replaced with a gentle kindle that sated her being. A God of light..fire?

Olivianna finished her prayer as the air stirred consciously. She felt and heard the chimes of praises from the vegetation rise and their life waters with it. All around her, stretching the length of the field, orbs of water rose into the air and evaporated into the sky. She stood, now able to manipulate the waters around her. Olivianna was elated she could mange such a thing. At the sight, the ladies that tended her wept and also began to praise their god as the earth did. "Get far from here and do not return." Olivianna took their tears and sent them along with the rest of the water in the area. The humans disbanded, alerting their families and friends to what was to come. Soon the slave grounds were revved up like a kicked ant hill. The faerie was moved at the sight, the songs, but focused on the task at hand. The water had to go, though it was her natural element, the god of this earth seemed to lend her a fire.

"What in God's name..! What the hell do you think you're doin'?!"

At the sound of the hostile growl coming from a ways behind her, Olivianna composedly glanced over her shoulder. Standing at the porch was a rough looking man she hadnt the pleasure to have met. He was holding a long rod she wasnt concerned with. He shakily aimed the thing at her but a hand angled the barrel down toward the stairs. The other man was ashley, who was looking to Olivianna in a fit of panic and rage. He wondered who had removed her iron and now knew why the seller made it a point he have the shackle wielded on. Ashley hadnt done so, planning on eventually having his hands and iron will become the only thing needed to tame her.

Upon seeing him, Olivianna threw her arm in his direction with a force enough to almost dislocate her shoulder. Her tawny eyes glowed an azure not like any blue of this earth. Hand was torn from Ashley's side violently though not a scream or groan escaped him. He heard the clatter of his overseer colliding with the deck table and chairs nearby. He looked back and the amount of blood that poured onto the deck was way too much for Hand to have still be alive. Ashley crept forward, willed by a morbid curiosity and was shocked to a sickle, an ice sickle protruding from his deseased overseers spurting throat. Had she done that? A bright light flickered, buzzing grey then blue against the white walls of his mansion. Ashley whipped around only to be overcome with the sight of his crop all up in an azure flame, a direct trail leading up to the base of the stairs where the ice flew by.

"You fucking witch!" Ashley bellowed, his voice trying to compensate for absolute terror that kept his finger from being stern enough to pull the trigger on his rifle.

Olivianna almost regretted missing but dubbed death by fire seemed befitting for the sorry man. He would burn and suffer long as his wicked heart would boil, not nearly as long as these lands had or the people he had enslaved but.. long enough for him to watch all he lived for be obliterated by their will. Olivianna took a step forward, unphased by the thorns that nicked her, which caused him to fall onto his ass. She drew a circle over his head, a thin ring of blue light ripping the air above him. She instructed the glittering ring to rain down on him, fiery droplets catching to his hair and clothes and singeing his exposed flesh. Ashley screamed like a child and blindly shot off the gun, terrified of the magic. He threw it down once the heat at his head became so great he could literally feel his thoughts melting. He kicked and beat at himself as the unbridled lightning blue flames engulfed him.

Olivianna lay in the smoldering cotton field, eyes becoming heavy as the wound in her shoulder leaked profusely, swiftly sapping her of her energy. She could hear his screams and wanted to observe. But found she couldnt.. She'd underestimated the human's fancy stick. Such a thing seemed too advanced for the barbaric times she found herself engrossed in. Never had she witnessed a man made device so swift, instant. No anything the human or mystical peoples of her world possessed came remotely close to comparing to the invisible lethality. A strange thunder cracked in her keen ears. Olivianna couldnt remember smelling a storm or seeing any lightning. What a strange place this was..

The dying faerie sighed laboriously in content. She wasn't sure what sort of afterlife awaited her this side of the universe, the God Elohim seemed just.. she found solace in the conclusion the master was surely going to continue to burn in a hell he deserved. Olivianna couldn't willingly adjust herself as her body began to stiffen, her neck dropped her face onto a discarded sum of blood stained cotton that acted as a little pillow, oddly easing her into the fact that this would be her final resting place. Her keen vision blurred in and out just as something curious along the perimeter of the plantation made her weakened heart happily give out.

All the black eyes glistening in the treeline, glowing a hazy blue that resembled hers. Though they were dark as the night, they were clear as day, going and vanishing into the cheering woods.

Olivianna's own sky colored eyes rolled back to her reality after what seemed like an eternity.