Queen Maya Falls

The sound of the crowd was a distant murmur, as if the world had been submerged underwater. She'd been fighting with that girl for seven minutes... that impromptu girl. Lia? Lili? What the hell was her name? Sweaty body, tense legs, chest burning with every breath. She was still in control.

She still thought she was in control. Then... something hit her jaw. She didn't even see it coming.

- What was that...?

The internal creaking echoed in her ears more than in the air. The world literally spun around. Her neck snapped to one side. Her vision blurred for an instant as fleeting as it was eternal. The ring floor seemed to rise violently to receive her.

- No, no, no...

Her right leg trembled. She tried to steady herself with her left. Too late. Her balance vanished as if it had been ripped from her soul.

Time shattered.

First consciousness fell, then the body. Her mouth opened on its own, and a gut-wrenching, heart-rending wail escaped without permission. An ugly, painful sound. She'd never made that sound before. Never. What did a champion sound like when she fell? Like this, maybe. And that horrified her.

- Was that... my voice?

Her eyes, wide open, saw only light. Then, a ceiling. Then, darkness flecked with gold.

- It can't be. Not like this! Not with a novice! NO!

Shame tightened around her chest like an invisible bondage. She felt her pride crack before her body hit the floor.

- Get up! Come on, get up now! Get up or you'll be finished!

Her arms didn't respond.

Her neck was limp.

Her body... was a dead weight.

A thread of thought still survived.

A spark.

A reflex of struggle.

With a sigh that was nothing more than lost air, she tried to turn around.

To push off the ground.

To move even a finger.

Nothing.

Nothing.

- My body doesn't belong to me...

And then, in that final gap between reality and dream, in that corner where she still existed, she accepted that she was falling.

Not to the ground. Toward unconsciousness.

- This is what it feels like... to faint? No... I don't want to faint! Not dressed like this.

Such pure fear. So childish. So cruel. A buzzing sound filled her head. And as darkness embraced her like a wet, heavy blanket, her last thought was a mixture of disbelief and fear.

- “I think I'm going to fa... faint... Mom... I'm scared... I want to go... home.”

And finally, she let go. Her body finally touched the ground, limp, stretched out like a puppet without strings.

She fell, sprawling strangely beautiful in her elegant leotard, sweaty and torn from the battle. Her face no longer showed the traces of pain; now only her tired but peaceful face indicated to the young challenger that she had won.

The arena had lost its queen. And the last thing she felt was silence.

She was utterly defeated and fainted.