"We are giving you one last chance." The being in front of her stated, his hands hidden behind his back and his gaze sharp as a blade. She eyed the man warily, she still felt dazed from having just woken up and her mind struggled to grasp everything that was being thrown at her, she could swear she wasn't in that strange room when she last fell asleep... where did she fall asleep again?
The man did not seem to acknowledge her confusion, barely changing his posture, his body rigid as a statue.
"You have been a nuisance so far, but your power and potential are of interest to the organization. Perhaps you may still be useful if pushed onto the right direction." He took some sort of writing pad from his coat pocket and began to write something in a speed she could only hope to keep up with, and even if she did, all those letters and symbols were as familiar to her as being trapped in a room with a man seemingly made from the darkness itself. Particles of light danced in the abyss like the night sky, some sort of wind blew around them, giving the impression of being inside a small tornado. The man seemed to be made of the same material as the room, but instead of specks of light scattered around, he was more like a galaxy, different colors and shapes highlighted his features. His eyes and mouth were white.
"Who… who are you?" Her voice was hoarse and struggled to come out, perhaps from the lack of use. The being finally looked up from his notes, his blank yet somewhat cold expression now a bearing a slight frown.
"I don't believe I gave you permission to talk." His voice boomed with authority, his sharp glare reminded her of someone repressing an individual of little importance, like a CEO who berated a worker for daring to behave like they had basic rights. He went back to scribbling something to add on his notes, the frown remained on his face. "Perhaps you never learned your place in this world, did you? You shall remain silent until prompted."
She was stunned for a moment, nothing but pure shock showed on her face, not that the man even looked up to see it. Did he imply she was inferior?
It made her blood boil.
"I speak whenever the damn hell I want. Now who are you?" She growled. The man looked up from his notepad again, scowling.
"... Perhaps I wasn't clear," As soon as he spoke, the breeze started to pick up its pace, becoming so strong she felt as if she were moments away from being blown away. The darkness itself seemed to bend and twist, taking the form of pitch black chains around her wrists, ankles and neck. It pulled her closer to the ground, keeping her body lowered despite her efforts to break free from its grasp. The man casually approached her struggling form, his notepad now back into the pocket. "I said that you shall refrain from speaking until I order you to do so. May I remind you that if you live or die is my choice to make."
The chains eventually overpowered her and brought her crashing down against the floor, as if the darkness was trying to swallow her whole.
"Then do it, you bastard!" Her voice was hoarse before, but now it was as loud and powerful as her vocal chords allowed. Nearly everything in the room seemed to stop as she shouted. The man's previously stoic demeanor finally showed something other than irritation, his eyes widened and shoulders were tense.
"... don't you value your own life?"
"I don't think I have much to lose anyway."
Well, she really hoped she didn't have anything to lose, it's not like she could remember anything prior to waking up. She didn't want to die, obviously. Behind her facade she was afraid, confused and lost, but showing weakness to someone who threatened to kill her didn't sound right to her.
"You could have been great, perfect even." The man sighed and rubbed at his temples.
"Very few receive this honor given to you. The others of your kind still dwell on lowly worlds, while you were brought to fight in the greatest war of good and evil, shouldn't this chance be treated with more respect, Subject S-0143?"
…Is that supposed to be me?
"I'm not "S-0143" and what are you talking about?" She asked, her head raised despite the chains pulling her down.
"If you're not S-0143, then who are you?" The man questioned, one eyebrow raised and a slight smirk on his face. She was about to answer, the words at the tip of her tongue, but nothing came out. What was her name again? Did she remember anything at all?
Her confusion did not go unnoticed by the man, who nodded and said. "That's what I thought."
Despite her growl, he continued his previous speech.
"This war could be the key to eradicate all evil, or for evil to eradicate us. Your strong heart has been chosen to fight on our side and assure the victory of what's good and right," He took out his notes again and searched through them, eventually settling in one specific page. "However, it seems you have misunderstood your position. We are not your enemies, we are the ones who took you out of the lower worlds and gave you a chance to truly shine."
The chains let go of her neck and she quickly brought herself up again, but her arms and legs were still tied.
"There are still a few… issues we must correct…" He murmured. "But soon, you'll be ready to be sent to a proper facility for your training."
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"Oi! Hang on a minute! "Training?" I never agreed to any of this!" She exclaimed, tugging at her restraints.
"There's no need, it's your purpose." He waved her off, barely taking his eyes off the notes he had written down, viewing and reviewing, making sure there were absolutely no errors. "You shall be drafted by tomorrow, I expect." The man's footsteps echoed through the room as he turned his back and began to walk away.
She pushed against the darkness with all the strength she could muster. It didn't seem to have any effect other than making her wrists sore.
"No!"
The man stopped in his tracks without saying a word.
"I won't fight in a war I have nothing to do with! This isn't right."
There was still no reply, he simply continued to stand where he stopped, completely silent and still. It was creepy.
"Why are you bringing random people to fight for you anyway? If kidnapping someone from another world is within your reach, then winning this war by yourselves should be too, right?" There was an eerie silence that extended for an excruciatingly long minute. The man reached into his pocket and pulled out a strange rectangular device that resembled a phone in its shape, he pressed one of the buttons and some sort of screen appeared just in front of him. The words that left his mouth were much different from the ones he used to her earlier, doubtlessly a whole different language. She flinched when the floating screen answered the man, a deep and distorted voice came out of the device, speaking in the same language as him, leaving her without hope of understanding what was said.
Before long, the screen faded to nothingness and he turned to face her once again, this time there was a bright smile on his face, cautiously masked to appear friendly, but she was far from fooled by it.
"See, S-0143, each one of us has a destiny waiting ahead of us, there is no escape from it, for it is what the high beings have planned for us. It is the reason of our birth, our purpose, yet you do not wish to cooperate into fulfilling yours as a warrior of our Empire." He began walking towards her, his hands hidden behind his back. That seemingly warm and welcoming smile nearly made her feel nauseous. "I'd attempt to show you the foolish mistake that is, but I presume you won't listen as usual, so I'll save myself some time."
"Do you know what happens when someone rejects their calling?" He brought one hand up and snapped his fingers, the room immediately began to change. The darkness seemed to dance, stretching its nightmarish arms towards her. "They roam aimlessly around the deepest pits of this world, forever, but it appears you have already made your decision, so as a reward for your bravery, we'll give you what you want."
Despite her best efforts, she was still firmly chained to the ground, unable to do anything about the darkness closing in.
"We shall also get rid of all the powers and blessings you'd get, as well as all the abilities and advantages. You shall forever crawl on the cursed lands as a lowly pest.
Goodbye, S-0143. May our paths never cross again."
Before she even had the chance to gather strength to speak, even give one last "fuck you" to that darned man, she was consumed by the darkness.
Were her actions actually foolish? Was her choice the wrong one? Accepting to fight in a war she had nothing to do with and risk her life for an unknown motive or to live up to her ideals but suffer thanks to them.
She felt dizzy, so she closed her eyes and tried to relax, it worked to a point.
Deep down in her heart, there was fear of what she might encounter when she woke up. If she woke up at all, but she had a feeling that thing wouldn't have lied, that creepy grin and smug expression couldn't have been faked, he was clearly pleased about something.
With a forced and trembling smile, she whispered.
"Bring it."
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It was cold.
She had fallen asleep not long after being exiled (for lack of a better word), but the chilling winds pulled her away from her peaceful dreams. She didn't remember what she had been dreaming about, but it filled her heart with nostalgia, like looking back to a happy memory from years ago, but whenever she tried to recall it, it was a blank.
"Ugh… " She groaned, her body shivering. It seemed like the more time went by, the colder it got.
With some effort, she was able to open her eyes. She was in a forest blanketed by a thick fog and snow. The trees were tall and their trunks were dark like coal, most were completely stripped from their leaves, only long and thin naked branches remained, making them seem like they came straight out of a nightmare. There were a few evergreens, but they didn't do much to soften the eerie ambiance. The snow had probably fallen recently, there wasn't that much of it, only enough to cover everything in a thin white coat, but she felt so cold she might as well have been in a blizzard. Her ears could only pick up the quiet wind and rustling of the leaves.
Everything just seemed so… dead.
She felt her body shiver again and felt the need for shelter. Heavens knew how long she had been passed out in the snow, if she didn't find somewhere warm she might be at risk of freezing or getting ill if she wasn't already, the last thing she needed was hypothermia knocking at her door.
She was about to stand when she noticed something felt off, well, more like everything felt off. She didn't feel any pain beside the sting from the cold, but her limbs bent at weird angles and she felt heavy, she brushed the last one as being weakened by the cold, but her knees bending backwards was concerning, despite the lack of pain. Preparing herself from what she might find, she slowly raised her head and looked down at herself. She was shocked by what she saw, but not for the reason one would expect.
Instead of freckled light brown skin, her body was covered by a coat of brass fur, smears of white and reddish brown making a pattern similar to a timber wolf. Her build didn't exactly remind her of a wolf, however, her paws were shorter and bulkier.
What the…
She brought one of her paws up, feeling the side of her face, the fur on it was much shorter and thinner, she couldn't find her ears, just soft and warm fluff. Then her attention went to her new snout, almost invisible whiskers on each side of her nose. With another paw, she felt on top of her head, finding a pair of fluffy pointed ears.
What the actual fu–
A twig snapped.
Her body froze as the sound echoed through the woods, breaking its haunting silence. She turned her head towards the bushes on her right, through the thick fog, a pair of glowing yellow eyes stared back at her.
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