Darkness, no not darkness, its nothing, nothing at all, not a sound, not a sight, no smells, nothing to feel.

Empty, all around me is empty. Suspended in undying nothingness. I can’t feel my body, I can’t twitch my eyelids open, I can’t scream for help.

Nothing. Just nothing, its eerily peaceful.

My mind travels back to my death, the lingering taste of blood touches my thoughts, the pressure, the pain all gone.

The memory of the lizard in the pool, flashes behind my eyelids, ‘oh that, not again, please not again.’ I beg at my own thoughts.

Nothing responds.

I take a moment and let my mind relax, enjoying this ominous peace, before being thrown into the dreadful light.

Visions creep on the surface of my mind, blues, greens, people, smiles, places, sweet smelling aromas; sadness, loneliness, pain.

A picture of a women in a mirror, Long golden hair, bright blue eyes, soft dusky pink lips. Black tears from her eyes flow over her rosy cheeks.

Sunlight hitting their faces, all laughing, happiness, joy; blood lots of blood, their smiling faces now lifeless.

‘Why? Who, who would do such a thing? I know these people, I love these people,’ My mind lingers on the thought of them, before pushing them away.

I try to move, I can’t, ‘open your eyes god damn it,’ nothing.

The reminiscences continue to push their way to the surface, most are the of the wall. Some of places and people that I cannot name.

Black eyes, lingering on me, watching me. No! they’re watching my mind, my thoughts. They glimmer with joy, as I sense them.

I’m exposed, an open book, vulnerable. ‘Who are you!?, What do you want?’ my thoughts shout out, hoping the eyes will respond.

Nothing. They just continue the glare at me with an expression almost like laughter, sinister laughter.

I can’t escape the stare, trapped in my own mind with them, my thoughts squirming and twisting from pleasure to pain under their gaze.

‘Please stop, send me back, please,’ I beg to the looming eyes.

A small flicker shines across them, like a candle in a breeze.

‘Oh, you’re not going back there; You’re too special for me just to throw away,’ a deep, evil, voice bursts through my swirling thoughts, mocking my situation.

Warm, red smoke wraps around me and my mind, like tentacles trapping their prey from the deep. Confusion hits me hard, I become dizzy, lightheaded, and my thoughts turn to nothing.

A sharp pain hits inside my chest, my heart beating hard and slow, struggling to keep up with my body’s needs.

My nerves become electric as they restore feeling throughout my body. My lungs struggle under the watery weight that floods them, forcing the liquid up and out, my broken ribs scratching them as they wearingly rise and fall.

Pain searing through my exposed spine, scraps of my skin hanging off, the muscles and tendons now twisted, ripped and torn. My limbs bloated and bruised purple, broken in positions that are inhuman.

My brain has collapsed on one side, leaving an excruciating throbbing hole. The blood from my lungs overloads my mouth, the smell of humid, decaying flesh perforates my nostrils.

I want to throw up, my body won’t allow me, its paralysed, immobilised in pain. Cacophonous screams pound my ear drums as the sense of sound picks up.

‘open your eyes,’ I internally try to motivate myself. I can’t; the nerves have not yet made that connection.

Trying to fathom out my whereabouts, I hear two sets of footsteps heading towards me, I manage to twitch one of my fingers in the hope of a response.

“This one is alive, only just,” a hoarse female voice speaks first.

“Bloody heaven, look at her back,” a young male voice responds.

“Hmm, not much we can do with her here, drag her to the basin, she’ll not survive much longer, might as well use the flesh. Throw the others to the primordial mites for respawning.” the female commands.

‘Shit!’ Thinking to myself, ‘Open your eyes, just a blink, anything.’

I feel rough, thin hands grab my wrists, the hands snap my bones back into place with ease. They lift my arms up and begin to pull on them, the pain that splices my back intensifies with the movement.

The skin on my face scrapes along the ground behind the feet of my transporter. ‘open your eyes,’ I repeat.

I try to scream, all that comes out is the blood that my lungs force up. I cant do anything except wait.

Travelling along the floor, I notice the temperature in the air has changed, becoming hot and filed with smoke.

The smell of the area has also differed, now the air carries a warm scent of stewing meat. The sound of bubbling and gargling follows the scent.

My arms drop to the floor above my head.

“This one too, chef,” the male voice from earlier speaks.

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A leathery firm hand grabs the loose flesh on my back, sending the pain shooting through my body.

“Not much meat, is there?” A deep gruff voice responds.

“Yeah, but she’s not dead, so can’t respawn her just yet, Umbra said to use what you can,” the male voice speaks nonchalantly.

“Where was it found?” asked the gruff voice.

“Err, not sure, she was in the pile from the pipes, so I would assume there,”

The pipes, the sudden memory of being crushed against the bars springs into my mind, ‘Did I survive that?’ I mentally ask the question. My memories and thoughts all a blur since I came into awareness. I can barely remember dying.

‘Maybe I didn’t, maybe I just passed out from the pressure.’ I try to piece together of how I came to be in this place.

“Looking from her back she got caught in the current of waste and crushed against a wall or something.” The young voice informs the other.

“Leave it there, I’ll find something to use it for,” the gruff voice instructs.

A set off footsteps turn and walk off into the distance.

The hand holding my skin lets go and start to prod and poke and the exposed muscle.

“Hmmm, probably best to boil and soak first,” the gruff voice mutters to itself.

The hand grabs my skin and flips my body over revealing my front. The fingers stoke across my eyelids.

“Well that’s different!” exclaims the voice. I feel the heavy breath on my face as the chef leans in closer.

‘open them, open them,’ and with that thought my eye lids snap open. My vision is blurred, all I can make out is the brown mass hovering a few inches from my nose.

“WHAT THE FUCK!!” the gruff voice yells, almost afraid of what he witnessed.

He smacks my face with something metal and curved, he repeats the motion as if squishing a bug.

The trauma instantly bruises my face, I can feel the small blood vessels bursting, every time the object makes contact.

My eyes close shut again, swollen and tender. Spitting out blood that swirls in my mouth, groaning as I do so.

“You…fucking…dick,” I splutter at him.

“YOU FUCKING TALK ASWELL!!” he shouts down at me.

My right eye squints open, my vision slowly coming in to focus.

“YOU’RE NOT NATURAL, WHAT ARE YOU!?” he continues to yell in a shocked and loud voice.

“In pain,” I respond, coughing more blood up. Looking up at the lumbering figure stood over me, I can start to make out his features.

He’s tall, very tall, and muscular.

His skin is a golden Walnut colour, his brutish face sports a long dark brown beard, large lower fangs on display at the sides of his closed mouth, his nose short and wide, large nostrils flaring.

The eyes are dark green, slightly sunken in beneath to his broad brows to match his beard. Large pointed ears are pinned to his head, his left ear has had the tip ripped off.

Upon the forehead, two horns short in length but dense, they curve and taper upwards slightly. A piece of cloth has been ripped to fit them through, the cloth wraps around his head like a bandana.

He is clothed in a large green tunic that compliments his skin, with a dirty, bloody apron covering it, his sleeves are rolled up, revealing two large, muscular forearms, followed by two massive, rough skinned hands. On each wrist there is a thick metal band, much like shackles. He has one arm raised above his head, ready to strike me again with the metal object.

“Great, I’m going to get beaten to death by a monster with a spoon.” I cough out more blood. Closing my eyes ready for the impact.

“Who are you calling a monster? also this is a ladle, smart arse.” He replies.

Coughing, I try to laugh at his remark, but the pain across my back and ribs causes me to double over.

His large arm scoops me up by my stomach, he tosses me over his shoulder, pain causes my body to spasm.

“Not much I can do with you in this state anyway,’ he mutters, the side of his beard tickling my arse cheek.

The pain of movement becomes unbearable, my vision becomes fuzzy and my eye lids become heavy.

I give into the overpowering need for sleep.