Darkness. My awareness offers nothing but flashes of motion, color. And the all-encompassing numbness, filling my thoughts, my mind. For a split second, I see a splash of something… red? And then it hits… the hunger.

“You wanted this.”

Honeyed words, in a voice even richer.

“Begged for this.”

Begged for what?

Laughter, and a feeling of deep satisfaction, near orgasmic satisfaction, overwhelms my psyche, and the eyes open.

…eyes?

I have eyes, I think? Or at least I think I did. But those aren’t mine. And yet they open, filling my vision. Black sclera with red irises, shaded by nonexistent lids. At first, there are no pupils… and then, there are many. Too many, hundreds, thousands, rolling amongst each other as if fluid, and I feel myself begin to break.

They snap shut. “Ah ah, darling. That primitive mind of yours wasn’t meant to see this. But. Now that we have finally communed, tell me. Who are you?”

I… I don’t know.

“You don’t know?”

I strain what control I have of the muted, jumbled mass that is my mind and find nothing – an empty hole I’m sure was supposed to hold, something?

More laughter, bordering on hysterical, fills my mind and my soul.

“Then despite all your oaths, your insistence you would not be chained… you are finally mine, body and soul. And I will NEVER LET YOU GO.”

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

I dissipate.

***

A distant siren shatters my sleep, a klaxon warning scattered to the reaches of my mind. I hear… voices? I’m fairly certain they’re voices. But if they’re speaking, it’s in a language I don’t understand, their speech awash with panic and fear.

(Ah gods, she didn’t even do that much? Just how much does she hate you?)

What? Who?

(It doesn’t matter, not right now,) the voice says with a sigh. (Good thing I can do this much. Boop!)

I feel a finger flick my nose.

Nose? I have a nose? I don’t even know what a nose is, but I have one?

(Yes, you have a nose, and a whole corporeal body too!) she laughs. (Now, WAKE UP ALREADY!) the voice screams, and I blink eyes I didn’t know I had. A rush of sensations wash over me, the bright lights, the chafe of the restraints, the stench of bodily waste, the reflections on the glass and the people in orange suits, rush past it. And over it all, the siren continues to wail.

A body. I’m in a body. Knowledge washes over me, as if it had always been present, just on the edge of my mind. Senses, balance, how to move, how to think… how to think? How did I forget how to think? What could have possibly happened to make me forget?

(Good, that’s the first step. I’ll help you with the next, but we’ll have to cheat a bit. Look at me and focus.)

At you? At who? I’m alone in this cell.

(Ah ah, look again.)

I blink, and then squint. There, at the corner of my vision, I see something. A speck of light, something just on the edge of my consciousness…

[Sidhe – Unknown – Level ???]

(Aha, there! You can see it! I can tell, it’s all over your face. Now take a deep breath, it’s the next part that’ll kill ya.)

I… what? I glance around me nervously, shackled on this table, bound, imprisoned. The restraints at least allow my head a couple inches of motion and I take advantage of it, until I’m hit with a piercing pain, whiting out my vision, my hearing, everything.

[Skill: Identify has been used for the first time!]

[Adding Identify (0) to Skills!]

[ERROR: unable to apply skill due to lack of initialized SYSTEM.]

[Uninitialized SYSTEM (TYPE: E) detected.]

[Initialize? Yes/No]

[OVERRIDE: (Yes) has been selected by entity: Unknown]

[Initializing SYSTEM (TYPE: E)]

And I black out.