Chapter 9 - The Fall
The freezing night wind whipped aggressively around Mira as she dangled helplessly over the terrifying abyss.
Tariq’s massive hand squeezed her throat mercilessly, slowly crushing her windpipe and cutting off her oxygen completely.
Dark spots rapidly danced across her vision, and she felt her consciousness slowly slipping entirely away.
She kicked her legs wildly in the empty air, but her desperate struggles were completely useless against his strength.
She realized she was about to die and fail the entire kingdom, just like her mother had warned.
In a final, utterly desperate burst of adrenaline, she remembered the silver key still clutched in her hand.
She gripped the jagged, ancient metal tightly and stabbed it violently into the back of Tariq’s exposed hand.
Tariq screamed in sudden, blinding agony and entirely released his iron grip on her bruised throat.
Mira fell backward into the dark, terrifying void of the rainy night sky.
She threw her arms out wildly and miraculously caught the cold, stone ledge of the balcony with her fingertips.
The sudden, brutal stop painfully wrenched her shoulders, but she held on with absolutely everything she had left.
Tariq roared in anger and leaned over the ledge, fully intending to pry her desperate fingers off the stone.
Suddenly, a loud, incredibly deafening gunshot echoed from the shattered control room behind him.
Tariq’s eyes went completely wide, and a bright red stain rapidly blossomed across the center of his chest.
He stumbled forward, lost his balance entirely, and plummeted silently past Mira into the dark darkness below.
Mira clung to the ledge, absolutely terrified and entirely exhausted, entirely unable to pull her own weight up.
A strong, warm hand suddenly grabbed her wrist with incredible, life-saving firmness.
It was Samir, covered entirely in blood and soot, pulling her safely back over the stone ledge.
He collapsed heavily onto the floor beside her, breathing in shallow, incredibly painful gasps.
He had shot the main server console one last time, completely bypassing the broken circuit and restarting the machine.
The green progress bar finally hit one hundred percent, broadcasting the undeniable truth to the entire nation.
May you like
Before they could even celebrate, the heavy steel doors of the control room burst violently open.
Dozens of Royal Guards stormed into the room, aiming their laser-sighted assault rifles directly at Samir and Mira.
