House of Trials - Prologue

Warning: This contains mature themes, violence, death, and murder. Reader discretion is HIGHLY advised.

Eliza rubbed her eyes as she took a sip from her tenth coffee of the day. She was exhausted and barely had three hours of sleep. She wished that her caffeine consumption was the culprit but in reality, it was her never-ending work from the Council that kept her from getting a goodnight’s sleep.

“How are you doing—” Mona paused as she examined her. “Oh, hon, who told you that you should skip eye cream?”

Eliza chuckled as she grabbed the mail from her. “Thanks, Mona. I love you too."

Mona had silver short hair that gleamed like moonlight under the fluorescent lights. Her amethyst eyes stood out against the colorful eye makeup that she wore every day. She had brown clear skin, long manicured nails, and she always smelled like lilacs, unlike Eliza. Eliza always struggled with taking care of herself. The best that Eliza could do was shower every day, keep everything in order, nap when she could, eat once a day (ramen counted as a meal right?), and drink water if she remembered. Anything beyond that required constant reminders from Mona.

Unfortunately, Eliza’s way of taking care of herself did not satisfy her human body and it showed. Her pink lips were chapped, her skin was dry, dark shadows hung around her obsidian eyes, her nails always broke so she kept them filed short, and the scars on her body refused to heal. Mona said that moisturizing every day and taking vitamins should do the trick. But really, who had time for that?

Eliza certainly did not.

Mona picked up a thick folder, Casefile EL-666, from her desk and flipped through the pages. Her brows stitched together as she read over the details of the case, but she kept her comments to herself. It was a grotesque case with pictures of dismembered bodies of young women left at the crime scenes.

Then Mona took a deep breath after reading Eliza’s note and carefully shut the folder. Eliza was well aware of that feeling since she was the one who worked on that case.

“Eliza, I adore you and I know how the Council ‘appreciates’ how hardworking you are. But I need you to slow down since everyone is swamped with endless work. We can only give so much overtime before it turns into exploitation.” Mona said in a matter-of-fact tone.

Eliza looked around her glass office as she realized how everyone was glued to their screens. Just like her, everyone was close to burning out. If it was not for Mona, who kept the team’s morale up, nothing would ever get done.

“I know.” Eliza sighed defeatedly as she rubbed her eyes. “It’s just that these Immortals don’t know how to act properly in public, and we’re always left with tons of damage control. Bet you any money that the mail you just brought me is another letter from the Council, asking me to cover up another scandal.”

“Hmm.” Mona picked up all the folders from her desk and shrugged. “Well, I guess, it is what we’re hired to do. Anyway, I’ll personally take care of these and help the others. For today, the Council wants you to get that real job done.”

“What job?”

“The letter,” Mona yelled over her shoulder as she left her office with an armful of folders. “Good luck!”

Grimacing, Eliza watched Mona leave as her red heels clacked with each step. She wished that Mona would stay or that Eliza would only have to work on damage control. But her job as a Director went beyond controlling the media and spreading “half-truths” about the Immortals through literature and TV shows.

As a “punishment” for whatever she did in her past life, she became responsible for overseeing the balance in the universe.

But for the most part, these jobs were just tedious and dirty work that no one wanted to do.

Like now. Eliza rolled her eyes as she read Mikhail’s neat handwriting on stationery that smelled like a combination of musk and rain.

“Dogs,” Eliza repeated as she put her black coat on. A small silver cross was embroidered on her left sleeve. Beneath it was a snake wrapped around a sword, signifying her belonging to the House of Trials.

It was the House that Uriel formed for the Fallen Celestials who were condemned to serve the Council for an indefinite time. Unfortunately, she was one of those Fallen, and even after serving the Council for countless lifetimes, she still had yet to earn her freedom.

“Find and save the dogs.” Eliza shredded the paper and grabbed the silver dagger that was hidden in a secret compartment underneath her dark mahogany desk. “You’ll know when, where, and which in time. Real specific, Mikhail. Would it kill you to describe what the dogs look like?”

Then she left the office floor without bothering anyone else. The last thing she needed was to distract everyone from their work and have them lose their train of thought. Although she noted, as she entered the elevator, that she would do something nice for her employees once she got back. Possibly give them extra vacation and a 15 percent raise. Heavens knew that they needed it.

Note from me:

Hi! Thank you for checking out the Prologue - the 1st issue under my Soul Exchange House of Trials (these shorts are published on my website but I will share them here as well!). Although this series can be read independently, they are connected to my shorts: Soul Exchange Case Files. Click here for the first issue of Case Files: Monologue of a Madman.

You can also connect with me on Twitter & TikTok @cyrls_corner and follow my main series: Soul Exchange House of Trials at https://cyrlscorner.com/short-stories/.

I would truly appreciate your support whether it would be subscribing, sharing this page with your friends, leaving me a tip (so I can get even more caffeinated and pump out more stories), or giving your pledge (which is $2.99/month). Also, don't forget to sign up for my newsletter to get updates on my content by clicking here!

Anyhow, have a fabulous day, and if you want to get updates on my latest releases, sign up for my newsletter on my website right here!