Sleeping was a difficult task. My mind was a maelstrom of activity that encompassed everything from emotions like worry, fear, and regret, to wondering about the general situation I found myself in. It also didn’t help that the idea of ending up on another table after all this kept popping up in my head unbidden. It was incessant and ate away at me like an infection. It could honestly be said that the thoughts of all the agony I went through actually caused me some level of phantom pain even now.
There was also a profound feeling of guilt over that soldier that I had killed a couple days ago. I didn’t know that soldier, he could have had a family, all of them could have, and now they were dead. Whatever life they had was gone, taken by my own hands. It was funny really. I had experienced death so many times that it was almost as familiar to me as breathing. Yet to be on the other side of it, to be the one dealing death for a change, it made my stomach twist into unnatural shapes.
This world made a murderer out of me, just to survive and protect what little I had here. While what that was wouldn’t seem like much to some, the clothes on my back and a single friend, it was everything to me, literally. I would be damned if someone just took that from me, didn’t stop me from feeling like shit about it though.
Someone started to unlatch the door. I groaned and rolled over off my back to try to push myself into a standing position. My ribs screamed in pain at me for that, but if this was another beating in the making, they wouldn’t catch me laying down for it. The door creaked open just as I pulled myself up to my feet against the wall. There was a singular orc standing there just inside the room, not any of the ones I was familiar with.
He was holding a wooden plate with what looked like a small chunk of bread in one hand and a wooden cup in the other. His face read disinterested contempt. I looked at him while panting from the effort of climbing back to my feet. All of a sudden, his grip on the objects in his hands was released, and both of them dropped to the floor with a clatter. The bread flew off the plate onto the floor, and the cup of what looked like water spilled all over the place.
“Oops.” He said in a flat tone with zero emotion to it. My eyebrow twitched in irritation, but I would not give him the satisfaction of getting a rise out of me. I just stared as blankly as I could at him. The little staring contest lasted a few seconds before he simply turned and exited the cell again.
My feet shuffled over to salvage what I could from the food. Picking up the cup I found it to be basically empty now, maybe a centimeter of water in the bottom of it. The tiny bit of water was knocked back before reaching for the bread. It was hard as a rock, stale beyond compare, and starting to grow mold in some places.
A sigh escaped me as I turned the bit of bread over in my hand to look for the best place to start. I found a spot mostly devoid of mold and made an attempt to eat it. It felt like my teeth would break before the bread would, but eventually a mouthful of it broke off which allowed me to proceed through the laborious task of chewing it. I’m probably burning more calories than I'm getting from this.
Still, I ate as much of it as possible, leaving the particularly moldy parts alone. The leftovers remained on the plate by the door, with the cup next to it in a neat little pile. Being polite tends to annoy angry people more than responding in kind, so this was a bit of petty revenge on my part.
I went back to my wall and slid down to the ground with a hiss of pain all the way. My chest was on fire, couldn’t even bend over without it stabbing me with pain. Definitely something cracked in there at the very least. My breaths were shallow to prevent any pressure pushing against them. An attempt was made to doze off and get some rest to limited success, falling in and out of consciousness at random.
The gloom of the cell limited my ability to tell the time of day. It felt like forever, but the truth was probably closer to several hours, maybe half a day. Weird how much the human body needs natural light to function, can barely tell up from down without it. I couldn’t hear as much activity going on outside, so it was probably the middle of the night or very early morning.
My eyes closed and I dozed off again, nothing else to do really. I was in too much pain to exercise, or really move all that much, so my hours were spent staring at the ceiling trying to think about how best to proceed. They hated me because they thought I was a Thrainian, but none of them would even give me a chance to explain that I’m not. Even if a chance to say so presented itself, they would just think I’m lying, and that usually ends up with me being hit again. This is just an exercise in futility, why am I still here?
There wasn’t a single good reason for me to be complacent with this treatment. I might be able to get a drop on the guard and knock him out, then escape through one of the tunnels or maybe up the side of the volcano. They might not expect someone to break out of their camp considering how few prisoners they seem to get. It seemed like a decent idea, yet my mind wouldn’t accept it and act on it. I grew frustrated with myself, wondering why I wouldn’t just get out of here.
Because you made a promise to Kala.
I’ve known her for what? A week? Less? I have no reason to stick around for her.
You promised to give her a chance to speak for you.
And what has that gotten me? More pain and suffering. Fuck this world and everyone in it!
You don’t truly believe that.
And what the fuck makes you so certain about that.
Because you’re still here, arguing with yourself about it.
… Fuck you.
Mmhmm.
I sighed angrily. I hated this, I hated myself, I hated that I couldn’t make up my damn mind about whether or not to get out of here. But through all the hate, there just wasn’t any for Kala. She did kill me on that first day, but she apologized profusely for that and seems to still regret it. All the time after that she has been a traveling companion, a conversation partner, a student, just someone who was kind to me for a change.
Am I really that far gone that the first friendly face I meet reduces me to this? Enduring unnecessary suffering just because I made a possible friend? “What the fuck is wrong with me.” I mumbled to myself.
The door to the cell started to open, which got me to roll over and push myself to my feet again. I heard several sets of footsteps enter as I pulled myself up the wall. I looked to see a blue lizardman and four goblins, each goblin carrying a small baton like club.
I sighed. “I suppose it wouldn’t dissuade you if I said I was a human and not a Thrainian?” They just scowled at me and moved in closer. My shoulders slumped. “Figured it wouldn’t.” This group didn’t bother with any conversation or backstories, they just got right to the beating.
The lizardman opened with a punch to the face that sent me reeling. The hit sent me spinning around to brace myself on the wall lest I fall to the ground first thing. It didn’t matter too much as clawed hands grabbed hold of my shirt and threw me by it, tearing the shirt in the process. I stumbled and fell with a slight roll, my ribs lighting up with pain again.
Fresh groans emerged while pushing myself up again. As soon as both feet were under me a club hit me on the knee, bringing me down to all fours. A rain of blows started falling on my back and my head. It forced me to curl up into a ball again, protecting my head from the blows but the rest of my body was open to the beating from the group. The goblins couldn’t hit as hard as the orcs, but the clubs were still painful with every swing.
After a minute of this happening, the lizardman grabbed my shoulder and flipped me over until I was on my back. He straddled me and then proceeded to strangle me. I grabbed hold of his wrists to try and pull the hands off by instinct, but the struggle I put up was pitiable as I didn’t truly care if he killed me like this. The look in the lizardman's eyes as he pressed down on my throat was that of pure hatred, a familiar gaze to me at this point.
Two of the goblins came up to the side of the lizardman and started trying to pull him back. “Stop, we’re not supposed to kill him.” One of them said. The lizardman looked at his accomplices and then back to me. The strangling continued for a second longer and the edge of my vision was starting to fade before he released me.
I gasped and coughed as air once again flowed into my lungs. One last fist from the lizardman landed on my face, augmenting my coughing with spitting up blood. He got off me and the group stomped out the door a moment later. I lay where I was, not bothering to try to move as my entire body revolted against the very idea of that.
If I had a preference, I’d say it would be preferable if they just killed me multiple times, over this. At least there would be no lingering pain from having to live with all these injuries. Parts of my body started to swell from all the damage it had taken. Even if I did decide to escape I couldn’t anymore, not like this. “The fuck is wrong with me.” I muttered again in self-pity.
There were no more visitors that day except for the guard who only came in to drop my food on the ground. I would always wait for him to leave before crawling over to try to retrieve anything. The water was always basically empty with only a few drops left in the cup. My throat was dry, and my body yelled at me for water that was out of reach. I didn’t bother to eat the bread anymore; it would only dehydrate me further and was far from appetizing.
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It must have been more than a day since they put me in the cell at this point. Kala still hadn’t shown up, and I heard no word from her or anyone about my situation. Where are you, Kala?
The second day saw two more groups come in for another session with me. The first group was a mixed bag of an orc, lizardman, goblin, and satyr. I faced them standing, even as my body screamed at me, I stood before them until they knocked me to the ground again. The beating was very general, but the satyr focused specifically on my legs, saying something about how his were treated and how I liked it, blah, blah, blah.
Second group was primarily lizardmen/women who were apparently all from the same village, one that was attacked and burned to the ground. They beat me like normal, knocking me down from my standing position that I only just managed to get to. After they were done and gone, one of my eyes was swollen shut and my entire body looked several different shades of purple and red.
There was still no sign of Kala. The only thoughts in my head were of what was keeping her, why was she not here? Did it really take two days to argue a case for me? And why would she not come by just to check in with me and let me know how it was going? I didn’t know, I couldn’t know, and it made me concerned.
On the third day I was mostly left alone for the first few hours, there was only one unscheduled visitor that came in. It was a struggle to stand, using every bit of my willpower to do so as the door latches were undone. My legs shook underneath me like there was an earthquake only I could feel. A strong breeze could have knocked me over, let alone any blow. I turned to face my new assailant.
It was a singular green scaled lizardman who stood just inside the chamber. He carried another of those wood batons that I had grown intimate with the last few days. There was something a bit different about him though. This one’s eyes did not hold the same fiery hate, instead, they looked more questioning than anything as his gaze wandered up and down my body, eyes lingering on the more injured parts of my disheveled form.
“What, did you think you had an original idea?” My voice came out as barely louder than a whisper. His brow furrowed a bit at my little jab at him, but his eyes still did not light up with anger. I spread my arms out as they trembled from the exertion. “Come on then, hit me. It’s why you’re here, right?”
He looked down at the weapon in his hands and then back to me. After a second, he averted his gaze and looked at the floor with... shame? I think it was shame, but I couldn’t tell exactly. He just turned and shuffled out the door, closing it behind him.
I stood panting for a minute in the empty room. My legs wobbled before giving out completely, sending me to my knees which caused them to scream in pain before flopping onto my side. It felt like I was dying, yet I wasn’t, even though I wished it was so. It took great effort to roll over onto my back and shut my eyes, trying to find some peace in sleep.
I don’t know how long I was out, but my sleep was disturbed once again by the door opening. My body couldn’t stand anymore, and that made me angry. I didn’t want to just lie here and be beaten, I wanted to stand and look them in the eyes, but there was no more strength left to do that. My fingers clawed at the ground in frustration, trying to move myself against my ladened body. The frustration bordered on tears while preparing myself for another beating.
“James!”
Wait, that voice... “Kala?” I whispered and tried to roll over, wincing in pain as my body denied me. Luckily, she came around to me and dropped down to her knees in front of me. The first thing I noticed was that she was missing the collar, a fact I was glad for. Seeing her face again made me smile, a weak smile, but a smile nonetheless. Her expression, however, was the picture of concern as her eyes scanned up and down my body, seemingly cataloging all the different injuries therein.
“By the mother...” She muttered out with a look of horror that shifted to anger as she brought her attention onto the guard. “What did you do to him!”
“I didn’t do anything.” Came the reply from the doorway.
Technical smart ass. Her anger only deepened, and not wanting to let her get in trouble, I intervened. “It’s okay Kala, you can just off me once and I'll be back to normal.” I spoke softly, not by choice.
Her gaze came back down to me. It was filled with sadness and concern. “You need to place more value on your life. Your solution to everything I've seen so far is to just die.”
“Life kind of loses its value when there is no death.” I muttered out.
She furrowed her brow at me. “It still has value! So treat it as such. Besides, they have to take responsibility for what they did to you.” She regained her angry expression as she looked back at the jailer. “Get a healer, now!”
I couldn’t see his face, but I imagined it was quite outraged by the sound of his voice. “You want us to waste our resources healing a Thrainian?”
“He’s not a Thrainian! Now get a damn healer before I rip off those shriveled up things you call testicles and shove them down your throat!”
That made me snort involuntarily, which subsequently made me hiss in pain as my ribs complained. I did not expect such venom from her, and I would probably have laughed quite a bit if it didn’t hurt so much. There were a few seconds of silence in the room as she glared at him before he decided to fetch the healer in question.
She released a sigh and turned back towards me, looking very apologetic. “I’m sorry James, I wanted to come see you, but they locked me in a room for a full day before I was allowed to speak on your behalf. When I did get a chance to talk to them, I did everything I could to convince them you were a friend, but I didn’t tell them about your... ability. I didn’t know if you wanted others to know. They just sent me back to the room and then took another damn day to decide. They only let me out earlier today to come get you. They want to talk with you themselves.”
I was grateful that she had enough sense to not just go around shouting that I was immortal. It’s probably best if that card was held a bit close to the chest. “Well, that explains a few things. It’s okay though, I don’t blame you for any of this. Thanks for not saying anything more than necessary about me, and thanks for not leaving me.”
“I won’t leave you James, I owe you my life, several times over. You treated me like an actual person when we aren’t even the same species, and more than that, you even taught me about the world when you had no reason to give such knowledge to someone like me.”
“Well, you listen so well that it’s kind of difficult not to teach you.”
She smiled at me, and I did my best to return it through my swollen features. She spent a few minutes trying to make me as comfortable as possible while we waited, but there wasn’t much that either of us could do about it. Eventually the guard did return, and he brought with him another orc who wore robes.
First thing I noticed about this orc was that it was in fact female, giant breasts were kind of hard to miss as they ballooned out the robes in the front. The general shape beneath the robes was like an Amazonian hourglass, nice figure, but probably just as muscular as the males were. Her hair was tied back in a bun and her face has a few more soft angles than the men did.
She looked me up and down from my prone position. “So, this is the Thrainian I was called to heal?”
“Not a Thrainian.” Me and Kala both said that at the same time, though mine was mostly drowned out by hers due to issues with projecting my voice.
She simply raised her hand and closed her eyes with a slight dip of the head. “Very well, then what are you?”
“Human.” I managed to say.
“Is that more or less like a Thrainian? I need to know else I could put you back together wrong.”
Okay, valid question. From what I recalled of my time on the table, most of my body was exactly the same as a Thrainians, the only difference would be my ears really. “Just the ears, please don’t make them pointed.” I already had enough trouble getting people to believe me, didn’t need my only bit of physical evidence to disappear.
“I see, I think I can manage that. Would you like me to remove that scar as well?”
“Wait, you can do that?” The orc lady dipped her head in a nod which caused me to descend deep into thought. Did I want it gone? It felt like I would be getting rid of the only thing that tied me to my own world.
Another thought came to mind. This immortality thing healed me whenever I died, but apparently it left the scar alone. Why was that? Was it unable to affect it? Or maybe it was just returning me to what it saw as my original form? Whatever the case was, I made my decision.
“No, leave it please.” It had been a part of me for so long that I think I wouldn’t even recognize myself without it. It sort of felt... wrong, to just make it disappear. The orc lady nodded that she understood my decision.
She then walked over and knelt down beside me. Reaching into the folds of her robes, she removed a large crystal roughly the size of a softball that was glowing slightly. She placed a hand on the center of my chest, directly over my heart. She closed her eyes, and her face became very concentrated. The glow of the crystal picked up a little bit before slowly starting to fade.
As the light of the crystal got dimmer, a warmth started to spread from my chest outwards. I watched with fascination as the discolored patches of my skin started to change back to their normal color. It no longer hurt to breathe, and as the warmth spread up to my head my swollen eye started deflating. It was an extremely bizarre feeling, one that made me feel itchy all over.
Once the warm feeling traveled all the way down to my toes it suddenly stopped. The crystal lost all of its light, now looking like any old quartz crystal. The healer removed her hand from my chest. “There, should be good as new.”
My arms were lifted, and my hands flexed experimentally. There was no more pain or soreness in my limbs. I cautiously sat up, waiting for a pain in my chest that didn’t come. After making the last leg of the journey back to my feet, I found myself in perfect health. “Woah, that’s kind of amazing.” I mumbled out.
“Thank you, few appreciate such things.” The healer said, evidently overhearing my offhand compliment.
“Are you okay, James?” Kala asked me.
“Yeah, I feel fine.” I turned towards the healer. “Thank you for healing me.”
“I swore to aid those who ail, think nothing of it.” She tucked the crystal back into her robes and made like she was leaving.
“Can I get your name?” I asked after her.
She turned back towards me for a moment to answer. “Velshi.”
“Thank you, Velshi.”
She dipped her head a little, then walked out the door. Kala came up beside me. “We have to meet with the leaders of this camp, are you ready for that?”
“Do I even have a choice?” I said with a humorless smirk.
“Well, no, I guess not.”
“Then let’s get this over with.”
Kala nodded before giving me another once over. “I think we should get you a new shirt first, kind of owe you one after all.”
My shirt was practically in pieces, probably better to be used as a fire starter than clothing. “If it’s no trouble.” Kala grinned and we proceeded out to meet with these leaders. I could probably expect the same angry vehemence that has been shown to me thus far, so I mentally prepared for an uphill battle.