Charlotte's Past

"Eternia...? That's your last name, and you expect me to believe that?" Ultima asked me, wiping my spit off of her face and pushing me back to the ground.

"Dad had the last name and married Mom, so that's who I am. They taught me a little bit about it... but not as much as you apparently know. What is an Eternia then, Ultima?" I asked again.

"It's my last name. Only I remain of that family as of right now. If you somehow showed me proof that you were an Eternia, I still wouldn't believe you," She muttered.

Ultima took her eyes off me and stared at the door that everybody left out of for a moment. I took the opportunity to stand back up on my feet and look at her throne, opposite her direction.

"The red and purple coloring... they're reminiscent of Eternia, aren't they? No, I don't mean the last name. I meant the person," I muttered, walking closer to her throne.

I set my hand on the armrests and slid it upwards to feel the soft fabric, unnerved by the silence.

Through the tiny gaps in Ultima's long, red hair, I could see a glare from her red eyes that sort of shook me. Dad said I was born with a ton of courage, but even that was scary to me.

"You are an Eternia... nobody knows of that... thing... besides me. Where did you learn it from? Your Dad? Who is your Dad, Chi-Chi?" Ultima asked me next.

"I never learned his name. He was only ever 'Dad' to me. Why would that matter?" I said, planting myself on her throne.

This girl was awfully lenient in letting me walk around wherever I wanted. I felt invincible while Ultima was talking about the Eternia girl I eavesdropped on when I was a kid.

I truthfully knew nothing about her, but it doesn't matter since Ultima was so flexible when I said that name to her...

She's staring at me...

For a really long time...

"Chi-Chi, you know part of being an Eternia is that once we reach that age of puberty, we tend to develop and ability directly meant to combat the Asterios… you see, Asterios are extremely unpredictable nuisances of our Galaxy that only wish to push themselves to the best standing they can achieve. They don't like to meddle with us Danafalls, Achamos, Leyndells, Loves, Madios, or Eternias... so we all have special abilities we attain at a certain age to fight them. As an Eternia, have you started to grasp what ours is?" Ultima asked me.

She stopped looking through the gap in her hair and started walking toward the throne.

"It's mind-reading. We can read minds. Well, you should be able to within the next five years. Are you smart enough to understand that I was reading your mind while you were insulting my intelligence and flexibility?" She asked.

My heart dropped.

I thought mind-reading was fake... how could she possibly read my mind?! That's...

"Ridiculous?" She finished my sentence.

She walked up the steps to the throne, all five present, and grabbed me by my hair, throwing me down every single one.

I bounced off the floor and lost the air in my lungs. By the time I pushed my body up again, she already had picked me up by my collar and was starting to drag me out of the throne room.

I slipped out of my shirt as quickly as possible and started to run toward the throne again. I was sweating all over, which made it easy to slide out, but Ultima pulled out that staff again and took out my legs.

I tripped and busted my lip on the floor, and was now instead dragged by my ankle.

The throne-room door opened to the city and the sunlight and I was dragged on the pavement. I had no shirt, so I felt the loose rocks and the hot sun hitting the blacktop start to burn and rip my skin. I was starting to sob a little, but Dad told me to be strong... I have to listen at the very least...

I could see people looking at me from all over as I toughened up, tightening my muscles as I was being dragged still, and wiping the tears away from my eyes.

Be brave Charlotte... be brave...

With her unreal strength, Ultima slung me over her shoulder and I hit an oven with my back. I groaned in pain again as the glass broke behind me and tore up more of my back.

"I'm not like any villain you've seen in your child stories. I don't care if you haven't hit double digits yet. Arkians can heal, we can endure a ton of damage... and you will while you live under my reign. Your independence? It's mine now. Your clothes? They're mine now. Your sense of self, your skin, your organs, your brain? They're all mine now. You understand that under my rule... you are mine. You belong to me, and I own you," Ultima told me loudly.

"I don't belong to anybody!" I yelled out.

Be strong Charlotte... be strong...

"We'll change that then. You, turn on that oven," ultima said.

Huh?

"Turn on the oven? For what...? You're not gonna..." I heard mumbling between the two.

"Unless you want your face planted on it, turn on that goddamn oven," Ultima said with a serious tone.

I tried escaping, but Ultima held me down with her insane strength. I struggled, as hard as possible, moving in sporadic ways, grabbing her long hair... until I made a big mistake.

I grabbed onto a clump of Ultima's hair and ripped it out of her head.

In my endeavor to be free, I summoned an amount of strength equal to hers. I was so strong in that single moment that something awoke inside of me. My eyes started to glow a purple color and the strength didn't subside. I dug my sharp fingernails into Ultima's arm and started to rip. I ripped as hard as I could, pulling out flesh, nerves, arteries, anything that could fit underneath that bit of her body.

And she had enough, slamming my head onto the oven with a sadistic smile.

"YOU WILL NOT AWAKEN UNDER MY WATCH, ETERNIA! YOU WILL DIE WITHIN THIS GIRL!" She said.

Ultima planted the right side of my face into the hot oven and started to burn me.

This pain... wasn't like anything I've ever imagined before.

I could feel my skin bubble and it was so intense that I couldn't even scream. My mouth opened, and no noise came out.

The burning sensation caught up with my eye ball and started to scorch it. I felt it pop under the heat and pressure and the liquid it turned into got on my tongue. I violently threw up as I started to disintegrate underneath the oven's pressure.

"YOU BELONG TO ME! YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!" I heard Ultima through my brain, which only emitted a noisy static.

"REPEAT AFTER ME!" She screamed at me again.

"I BELONG TO YOU!" I yelled back.

Ultima ripped my charred, sticky flesh from the oven burner and threw me to the floor as the pain intensified. Grabbing the bottom of my chin and looking at me.

My hair survived, but I couldn't see out of the right side of my face anymore.

"That's right... you do belong to me. You will not betray me, you will not go against me... and you will never know freedom. That's the least I can do for you, Arkian," Ultima told me.

"It's..." I mumbled, unable to finish a sentence between the waves of pain I felt.

"It's what? What else could you possibly have to say to me?" Ultima looked irritated as my melted flesh dripped onto the ground.

"It's... Charlotte... the name is Charlotte..." I told her slowly.

"Charlotte Eternia..." I mumbled again.