'Seed of Chaos' System

A/N: The contents of this chapter may not be suitable for all audiences. Please read at your own discretion. (torture)

Not long after being forced to drink the vials of that mysterious liquid, Alesha found herself growing incredibly drowsy and her body slowly turning numb. "Whass dis?" She asked, loopy. It felt kind of pleasant. 

The King turned around as several black-clad figures who appeared to be female approached, then began to strip Alesha's clothes off. "Hey!" Alesha protested, heart pounding in fear. "Nooooo don' do dat! Stooop!"

However, before she could even finish speaking, they had removed all her clothing and begun slathering something all over her. Alesha continued to protest their behavior in a slurred, angry voice, but her words were ignored. She could barely feel the cool sensation of whatever substance they were coating her with. When they put it on her face, she caught glimpses of what it looked like. It was blue, thick and somewhat stiff, with bubbles in it; the texture reminded her of lukewarm cake frosting, though its actual temperature appeared to be much colder. It was hard to tell since her whole body was going numb from whatever potion they'd fed her.

She cried out when they slathered the stuff over her eyes, but they didn't stop, and in the end, even though she tried to squeeze them shut so they wouldn't get the substance in them, the people held her eyelids open and slathered it on her bare eyes. Since she was mostly numb, it didn't hurt as much as she expected, but it still stung a bit. After her eyes were coated, she could no longer close them. Was the substance hardening when they applied it to her?

She dimly felt a razor on her scalp -- were they cutting her hair??! Why did they need to do that?! Was that really necessary?! She felt proud of her stupidly thick, curly, brown hair and almost felt like crying at the thought of having it all shaved off.

It wasn't long before she was completely coated in the unknown, frosting-like substance. Every embarrassing inch of her was covered. Her ears and nose were plugged with the stuff, so she had to breathe through her open mouth (which, thankfully, hadn't been filled with the "frosting"), and she couldn't hear anything anymore. She'd stopped being able to move her eyelids for some reason and, with the stuff covering her eyes, she couldn't see. Her ability to feel was completely blocked as well; whatever numbing agent had been in that flask was now in full effect. 

The end result was a silent, unfeeling darkness that swallowed her whole. 

Alesha's mind was almost always hyperactive, so she often depended on outer stimuli to keep her from spiraling down anxious thought pathways. Now, it was only the slowness of her mind that helped her avoid such a fate. In her currently dulled state, the fear of silence, darkness, and numbness couldn't reach her. She felt only a dim, loopy sense of satisfaction.

That didn't last for long.

An acidic liquid came pouring down her throat and she choked, screaming in pain. More of the liquid came in and something forced her mouth closed, covering her lips, and she was forced to swallow since she couldn't breathe until she did so. After swallowing, her mouth was freed and she was allowed to breathe.

Though her physical sensations were still dull, the burning sensation as the acid went down her esophagus and into her stomach felt as clear as day. It was almost worse because there was no other sensation available to focus on -- nothing to look at, hear, taste, smell or feel besides that burning, horrible pain. She couldn't even struggle, since control of her limbs was beyond her. 

Several more mouthfuls of acid followed, until she could barely swallow since she was so full of the stuff. She barely noticed when no more came because her entire mouth was bleeding -- she could taste it -- and she was forced to gulp down her own blood with a throat that throbbed in agony in order to clear her airway. Every swallow and breath was torturous. Luckily, her Troll's Regeneration skill activated and gradually healed her. It was a lot slower than she had expected from its name, however. Or, perhaps it was that her perception of time had become skewed due to pain. She wasn't sure.

After what seemed like a long time, more of the first mystery liquid came; she could tell by the bitter taste and gritty viscosity that it was the same one. After that, instead of acid, came a deliciously sweet, metallic taste -- they were still feeding her blood, even in this situation? Even in her mentally dull state, she was confused. Instinct won, however, and she greedily drank. 

In her mind's eye, a golden window soon appeared:

*****

Plunder conditions met! New skill acquired: Keen Instincts Lvl 5

Skill description: The possessor of this skill has a keen sense for danger and is very likely to notice an incoming attack (or ill intent) in time to do something about it

*****

A bitter sense of anger filled Alesha as she read the description of the skill a few times. Seriously? She got this skill NOW?!! She really could've used it before getting captured and tortured like this!! She might have been able to tell something was off in time to escape! Though it took her a while for it to dawn on her, once it did, there was no doubt in her mind that the King had kept this particular blood away from her until now intentionally. 

Why was he giving blood to her at all, though? Was it just to keep her alive? Either way, if he was going to keep giving her blood and skills, she would make the most of it that she could. She had told the King she'd given up, and that was mostly true. Still, that didn't mean she wouldn't take the opportunity to escape if it presented itself to her. Hopefully, they'd eventually slip up and give her a skill she could use to get free.

[~Hmm, hm hm, hm hmm! Rabbit, babbit, rabbit white! Elder bunny, bunny, bunny!~] The System sang in a too-cheerful voice. 

What is it going on about now? Alesha groaned internally.

Any thoughts of the System and escape were promptly cut off by another round of acidic liquid being forced down her throat, once again until her stomach was almost bursting from the quantity. These bastards!! Liquid tried unsuccessfully to leak from her tear ducts as she screamed in agony. If it weren't for her Troll's Regeneration skill, she suspected the acid would have been strong enough to have killed her by now. 

Would that have been preferable to this? She started to think that it might have been. What was the purpose of this treatment -- or was there any purpose behind it to begin with? They weren't trying to get information out of her, nor had she done anything to provoke the Kingdom, so what could it be? She wished her eyes weren't covered so that she could at least feel the tears running down the sides of her face. Restrained, numbed and coated in the weird frosting as she was, however, she could feel nothing besides what she consumed. 

Alesha started measuring the time by how many times they fed her. As soon as her stomach was empty enough to hold another round of the acidic liquid, they forced it down her throat; and about every five rounds of that, she would be fed a pint of blood, just enough to earn her a new skill. She still couldn't fathom why they were doing that. They likely knew how much blood her Plunder skill required, so why were they giving her enough for it to work? Wouldn't it have been better for them to keep her from gaining more skills? It didn't make any sense. Just what were they hoping to gain from torturing her like this? Why had the King said the Kingdom would owe her for it? There was no conceivable, logical reason. Had the King gone mad??

At unpredictable intervals, Rogork would ramble about nonsense, sing, make animal noises or recite poetry. Unexpectedly, in this world devoid of any sensation except the pain or pleasure of whatever they fed her, Alesha slowly became grateful for the System's company. Its presence was somehow comforting. It meant she wasn't alone in this empty, dark place. It meant that there was something more to her existence besides the sensations that came from drinking whatever was poured into her mouth; since they kept feeding her the numbing agent, the numbness never went away. Was that out of cruelty or kindness? She didn't know, and she didn't know if it mattered.

Whatever the purpose behind the numbing agent was, it didn't change that they fed her acid many times a day. It didn't erase the pain, and it didn't matter that she could heal herself from the damage… it was still torture.