[Warning: slightly gross and a little graphic ‘cause vomiting and the nature of the attack.]
The cave was dark and cold. Water dripped down from somewhere, though in the darkness and with his already poor eyesight, Asheloux couldn’t tell where it was coming from. In fact, with the large steel helmet that was forced over his head to prevent him from cracking his own skull open against the rocks, he couldn’t see much of anything. Every so often, through the shivering, he flexed his hands to keep the blood flowing as best he could, but with his hands chained above his head for so long, it wasn’t doing him much good. He had done just about everything to remove the linkpearl that was forced into his ear. It wasn’t one of his own. He was forced to hear the communication of every one of Marielle’s spies as they stalked his friends and planned to do the unthinkable to one of them.
He had started crying awhile ago and despite the lack of food or water, he had managed to keep crying despite the dehydration. Marielle was obviously barely keeping him alive and it was obvious through her actions alone how much she would like to see him dead, but Asheloux even knew how much she needed him.Â
‘Take off your eyepatch and you will die,’
Damien had read the contract he was forced to sign. He kept silently wondered how Marielle would kill him when she realized he was no good under those conditions.Â
The damage to his eye from his own experiments was what allowed him to do his work so efficiently. He went from hundreds of accidents to only a handful since acquiring the curse. While the eye slowly leaked his own aether until he would be no more, he could visualize every connection, every port, every necessary flow of aether to make the engineering process all that much smoother. He didn’t want to do anything for Marielle and he wouldn’t be able to. For the moment, only he knew that.Â
‘Am I just stalling for myself?’ he silently pondered in his already confused state, ‘The more this goes on, the more pain he will feel pain too…’ he shakes his head. ‘She was bluffing though…right? she would never do that to his—‘
Asheloux’s thoughts were cut off by the sounds of the linkshell.
“The door is opening,†a female voice called out over it and Asheloux immediately lifted his head. Seconds later, the painful shouts of an all too familiar voice could be heard followed by another man’s voice. It was Synn and Soren! “His shoulder his hit.†Just as Marielle had ordered.
“Proceeding to next target,†A male’s voice said and Asheloux’s face went white.Â
“Don’t do it! Stop them!†He shouts inside the cave cell, his voice echoing off the walls and back at himself to no avail. He tries to pull himself away from the wall he was chained to. “I’m begging, you stop!â€Â
There was a loud scream over the linkpearl and Asheloux could tell from the sound of it what had transpired. He found himself heaving again and soon vomiting on the already soiled clothes Marielle had swapped with his own clothes. His head hung low as he sat in his own tears and vomit, still crying. Â
“The bag has been—what?!†The man’s voice was soon cut off by a sound that Asheloux recognized. It was the sound of Synn’s dark arts slicing through the wind and into bone and flesh.Â
“Pick up the link pearl, you idiot…†he mutters, still heaving with nothing else to empty from his stomach, “Be a good boy…and cut off her communications…†he whispered, trying to sound like his usual self but the words just seemed to come from someone else.Â
‘Maybe I should…just…bite…’ He soon passed out from weakness and shock, unable to finish the thought.Â
He would submit to her when she returned.
Â
The cave was dark and cold. Water dripped down from somewhere, though in the darkness and with his already poor eyesight, Asheloux couldn’t tell where it was coming from. In fact, with the large steel helmet that was forced over his head to prevent him from cracking his own skull open against the rocks, he couldn’t see much of anything. Every so often, through the shivering, he flexed his hands to keep the blood flowing as best he could, but with his hands chained above his head for so long, it wasn’t doing him much good. He had done just about everything to remove the linkpearl that was forced into his ear. It wasn’t one of his own. He was forced to hear the communication of every one of Marielle’s spies as they stalked his friends and planned to do the unthinkable to one of them.
He had started crying awhile ago and despite the lack of food or water, he had managed to keep crying despite the dehydration. Marielle was obviously barely keeping him alive and it was obvious through her actions alone how much she would like to see him dead, but Asheloux even knew how much she needed him.Â
‘Take off your eyepatch and you will die,’
Damien had read the contract he was forced to sign. He kept silently wondered how Marielle would kill him when she realized he was no good under those conditions.Â
The damage to his eye from his own experiments was what allowed him to do his work so efficiently. He went from hundreds of accidents to only a handful since acquiring the curse. While the eye slowly leaked his own aether until he would be no more, he could visualize every connection, every port, every necessary flow of aether to make the engineering process all that much smoother. He didn’t want to do anything for Marielle and he wouldn’t be able to. For the moment, only he knew that.Â
‘Am I just stalling for myself?’ he silently pondered in his already confused state, ‘The more this goes on, the more pain he will feel pain too…’ he shakes his head. ‘She was bluffing though…right? she would never do that to his—‘
Asheloux’s thoughts were cut off by the sounds of the linkshell.
“The door is opening,†a female voice called out over it and Asheloux immediately lifted his head. Seconds later, the painful shouts of an all too familiar voice could be heard followed by another man’s voice. It was Synn and Soren! “His shoulder his hit.†Just as Marielle had ordered.
“Proceeding to next target,†A male’s voice said and Asheloux’s face went white.Â
“Don’t do it! Stop them!†He shouts inside the cave cell, his voice echoing off the walls and back at himself to no avail. He tries to pull himself away from the wall he was chained to. “I’m begging, you stop!â€Â
There was a loud scream over the linkpearl and Asheloux could tell from the sound of it what had transpired. He found himself heaving again and soon vomiting on the already soiled clothes Marielle had swapped with his own clothes. His head hung low as he sat in his own tears and vomit, still crying. Â
“The bag has been—what?!†The man’s voice was soon cut off by a sound that Asheloux recognized. It was the sound of Synn’s dark arts slicing through the wind and into bone and flesh.Â
“Pick up the link pearl, you idiot…†he mutters, still heaving with nothing else to empty from his stomach, “Be a good boy…and cut off her communications…†he whispered, trying to sound like his usual self but the words just seemed to come from someone else.Â
‘Maybe I should…just…bite…’ He soon passed out from weakness and shock, unable to finish the thought.Â
He would submit to her when she returned.
Â
