Page 65 of Bound By Darkness

Drip.

It was torture. It was bliss.

Everything and nothing.

Nothing and everything as water trickled from the tiny cracks in the ceiling. My tongue lapped the free droplets, even though they barely soothed the dryness in my mouth as I teetered on the brink of decay.

Iron rattled against the walls as I hung lazily by my wrists. My shoulders had dislocated from the uneven distribution of weight, leaving me in a constant state of pain.

Hanging above the piss-covered floor, blood seeped from various cuts along my body. My blood still bled red despite the copious amounts of black minerals they poured into my mouth and forced into makeshift incision sites.

The rainwater dried as a whine left my lips. My head flopped forward as my hair cascaded over my chest, the ends tickling my bare stomach. I was one of many chained against the stone wall making up the iron tower of Galar.

A blood-curdling scream soundedbeside me as the snapping of tendon and bone echoed off of the cylindrical stone walls. I knew his pain far too well as the man grew silent.

Only death lingered in the cylindrical room, yet it refused to call on me. Death would not find me among the shadows.

Theywould not let her find me. After all, I was their best test subject. I received the highest dosages and the least amount of time to recover. I was a prodigy, an anomaly. They called me everything except my name—the name I had trouble remembering at times, the mineral potent and addicting.

Pain. Pleasure.

My brain mingled both together to create an incredible high that ebbed and flowed within me each time they pumped my body with foreign substances—the worst, a mixture of minerals and powder.

It refused to bind with my blood, not even when they injected it into my heart… or my lungs, thighs, spine, and brain.

Nothingkilled me.

The creak of iron against stone had my heart beating frantically. Forgotten were the days of idle touches. My body only knew torture. Spoke to it… caressing it like a leaf in the wind.

Hefty footsteps slapped against stone as a guard neared closer, my heart skipping a beat with each solidified step. Not again.

Please, not again.

I used to think the gods were still around in hiding, but I was wrong. The gods were gone, and they did not care for me.

My chains loosened as I collided with the wet floor, a gasp leaving my lips as my arms hung loosely at each side.My eyes squeezed shut at the blinding pain from the blistering cuts along my legs.

A metal-tipped boot kicked a tray before me as it slid through my filth. “Eat,” the voice demanded.

My eyes lifted to the tray. It contained a pile of rice and burnt meat. A delicate coating of black powder was piled atop it. It could have easily been mistaken for pepper, but I knew them well enough to know they did not sprinkle such a luxurious spice on top.

Leaning forward, my arms did not budge from my sides. They didn’t respond to me anymore.

“Eat,” the voice sliced through.

“My arms,” I rasped, the sound foreign to my ears. I struggled to raise one, but it did not answer.

“You have tongue and teeth, do you not?” Another kick of her boot sent the tray straight into my knees. “Eat, or I will force it down your throat.”

Biting back the lingering ache in my arms, I leaned over the tray until my chin rested against the pile of food. Using my tongue and teeth, I fed myself like a dog.

The woman watched, offering no help as I choked back bits of food. I licked the plate clean, each mineral grain sliding down my parched throat. Leaning back on my heels, wet globs of meat and rice stuck to my chin.

“Open.”

My lips pulled apart as her fingers probed my cheeks for hidden food. It was a daily occurrence to ensure I ingested every morsel of crushed mineral.

The woman stepped back, the metal tip of her boot singing against rock. Grabbing the handle, she cranked the contraption built into the stone wall as the chains around my wrists tightened once again.