The chains jingle as I swing gently from side to side. I can't even raise my head to look and see who entered my room, but I don't need to see to know. It's the same person every time, at the same time every day. I hear two sets of footsteps, both fairly light which means both are female, feeding time.

The tension on the chains is released and I fall to the floor with a meaty thud. A pair of gentle hands unlock the clasps on my wrists. I can't even find the strength to shift my body to rub my aching wrists. That is if I can anymore. Some tendons in my arms and legs have been cut leaving me unable to move however I wish. The gentle hands grasp the sides of my head and I am forced to stare into the eyes of the demon in charge of my torment. Margret then speaks to me in a kind tone,

"It's dinner time doggy!"

I look her in the eyes for a while unable to make words with my dry throat. She releases me and I fall into a heap once again. I can hear her click her tongue disappointedly and say to her companion,

"Well... he's not going to be fun today. Feed him and give him some healing potions. Then do what you want."

I hear the light footsteps disappear and the door slam shut. The remaining person comes toward me and she then speaks,

"Sit."

With a great struggle, I manage to pull myself somewhat up. I sit on my ass with my useless legs bent at wrong angles in front of me. The servant woman grabs me by the chin and shoves the neck of a bottle into my throat. The bitter liquid goes down my throat and I feel intense pain all over my body. I watch as my open wounds close and my tendons heal. The pain is incredible but I can't find it inside of me to even scream in pain. My legs snap back to normal and I regain movement in them. It's amazing though, my first experience with magic in this new world, and its only use is to prolong my suffering.

The servant woman sets a bowl of shredded meat in front of me along with a bowl of water. The servant woman crouches down and calls me over like a dog. I see in her hand is a brutal-looking club so I have to do as she asks. I crawl on all fours like a dog and look down at the meat. I feel my stomach rumble as I stare at the horrible meal.

The woman then pets the back of my head like a dog and in a fake endearing tone says,

"Good boy now you may eat."

I eat the gory mess diving in eagerly while fighting the urge to vomit. Tears fill my eyes as despair fills my heart knowing full well what... or who I am eating. The woman then speaks in the same gentle voice,

"Awww you just love yourself, don't you! You're such a tasty boy! Yes, you are!"

Now I feel sobs escape my throat as I eat the hunks of myself in the bowl. Once that's done I begin drinking the water greedily until that is gone too. Once finished I look over to the servant who is sitting on the only chair in the room leaning back and legs spread... I know what she wants me to do to thank her for the food...

She leaves the cell after my task is done. Somehow I prefer the taste of my own bloody flesh over what I just had to endure. I lie there in despair, even with some strength regained I can't find the motivation to even pull myself off the filthy ground. I lie there in a pool of a mixture of old blood and bodily fluids from myself and others which I would rather not think about. I look over at the far wall to see my tally marks. To keep myself somewhat sane I made a tally for every day Margret entered and did her gruesome deeds... I had stopped doing so after seventy... over two months... I stopped keeping track after I stopped the tally, my best guess is it has been nearly five months... seven at most... I don't know, it all blurs together.

I just lie there catatonic, not thinking and trying not to remember. My past life and the early parts of my life here seem more like a fantasy I read in a book than my actual life experience. I don't even have the energy to cry anymore, not that my sobs would be heard by anyone though. I just close my eyes and hope tomorrow isn't too bad...

For another week I endure the same torture. My flesh is carved from me only to be fed back to me. I am beaten relentlessly with all manner of tools. I am burned, flayed, sodomized, and stabbed. I am forced to perform disgusting acts on people and made to consume things I'd rather not speak about. Then once the damage is done I am left in darkness once more alone... and suffering. When my injuries make it where I can't struggle or scream anymore I am forced to drink a nasty potion that undoes all the damage, yet the scars remain. For some reason though my face is left unscathed which is one simple mercy I receive. Then all the same every night I fall asleep in the awful cesspit that I call the floor of my cell...

My eyes slowly open when I hear approaching footsteps. I can hear two voices. One is a young woman who I recognize easily. I can't make out words even if my grasp of this kingdom's language was better they're hard to hear. She sounds desperate as if pleading with the other. The other is a grown man and he sounds pissed. I mentally prepare myself, but whenever she brings a man along things get worse... violation of the highest degree happens and she watches with glee... I hate her...

The door opens and my eyes are blinded by the light outside. In front of me stands the shadow of a man. I can't even lift myself from the ground to look. All my limbs had been broken in the last session along with my tendons once more being chopped apart. I think nearly forty percent of my skin has been flayed as well this time. A pitiful sight. The man speaks quietly to himself,

"By Serena... not my daughter... she couldn't have..."

I hear real pain and sadness in his voice when the voice of Margret speaks up behind him,

"Daddy, what's wrong? Didn't you say slaves are simply for our enjoyment? I don't get what's wrong."

I hear a gagging noise come from the man who apparently is Marquis Beller. I haven't seen him since I was bought by him. He wasn't exactly a nice or good man if I remember... but at the same time, there is a difference between being an asshole to a slave and being outright evil. I make an attempt to look up and just barely manage to speak,

"Please... either kill me... or just leave me be..."

My eyes adjust to the light and I can now see his face, contorted in horror and disgust. He turns to his daughter and drops to one knee. He simply says to her in disbelief,

"Margret... this...this is horrible. I can't believe you did this! I thought he escaped when I didn't see him after a few days... he was healthy and all so that made sense... he's been here... for ten months... for ten months you did... what to him?"

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Ten months? What? Did I truly lose it? Is this real? Can I really last that long in these conditions? She then replies to her father in the worst way. She accurately, to the best of my memory, describes exactly what she, her servants, and the guards of the household have done to me over the time I have been here. With every word I see Marquis Beller deflate more and more. This is beyond even his wildest imagination.

He doesn't speak to his daughter but he stands up and walks into the hall for a moment. Margret approaches me and force feeds me a potion. She sighs sadly and speaks to me casually,

"What a shame doggy. Our time together might be ending soon. Daddy doesn't think what I did was right. It's strange though, he told me I could do what I want with the slaves I owned and I did. You were my favorite. You never died.

I know you understand what I did was okay though so I'm going to heal you up so you can explain to daddy that I should be able to keep you, because after all..."

She removes the bottle as I begin healing. She proceeds to lean in and start kissing me on the lips before pulling away and finishing,

"...We love one another now... and forever."

I feel sick rising in my throat as she says this but I'm still healing and cannot move when the Marquis returns. Margret gets up onto her feet and motions toward me and says,

"Alright doggy explain to daddy why you should stay."

I go to scream that I hate it hear and that I want to die, that he should kill me and get it over with. But instead, I find myself smiling and endearingly describing my life here as the most loving and caring I've ever had ever. The Marquis grows a big happy grin and says,

"Of course, you can stay! You and my daughter are in love after all!"

He begins laughing as inside I scream and scream. I go to try and run to get away but my body forces me to smile and laugh with them as the door closes leaving with me and Margret. She leans in close and says,

"Now we can be together forever!"

With all my might I fight against my body and reach for her neck. I wrap my hands around her neck and begin squeezing. She laughs unaffected as I crush her windpipe. Somewhere I can hear a booming voice screaming,

"ISA! ISA! THIS DIDN'T HAPPEN! THIS ISN'T REAL! WAKE UP! WAKE UP!"

I look toward the shadows and see Silus there shouting at me to wake up... wait, Silus...he never showed up again until after I was at the Hasslerouge household. How can he be here? I then realize... Marquis Beller did release me. He found me as he did, had a professional healer hired to fix me up to the best they could, and sold me to the old blacksmith for cheap...This didn't happen. It's a nightmare.

Then darkness engulfs me as the lough "HO HO HO" laughter of Margret fades into a desperate choking noise. I feel weak hammering on my arms and face, on which I can feel burning in random places. Then my eyes open.

I find myself on top of Mekare who has most of her clothing torn with my knee firmly planted on her sternum holding her down. My hands are locked firmly around her throat squeezing the life out of her. Her face is a deep purple and her eyes convey a message of confused desperation. She weakly hits my arms and chest which does nothing to loosen my grip. Blood drips from my face from where she desperately clawed me while trying to escape. All the pain from it is nothing compared to that in the memory. Quickly I release her and she takes a long deep breath. I slide my knee to the side where I am simply straddling her now. She breathes deeply and heavily looking at me in fear. I simply stare back... emotionless.

I see that she is now crying but unable to sob due to having been choked for way too long. I feel tears well up in my eyes as I too begin crying. We stay like this for a while. Her on her back, me straddling her, both crying desperately and deeply, one due to fear of nearly dying, and the other due to deep trauma that had been repressed until now.

I simply whisper out through sobs,

"I'm sorry... I-I... don't know...I was...I was... I needed to escape..."

I finally get off of her and roll to my side going into a fetal position to cry some more when surprisingly Mekare gets off the bed and stands up having recovered somewhat. She walks to the side of the bed near my face and places a hand on me.

"Lesser healing..."

Her hand glows for a second and the scratches on my face are gone. She says to me quietly,

"I saw you were having a bad nightmare. You thrashed and screamed in your sleep. I came to... give you a better dream when suddenly you leaped onto me and began choking me. "

I shift enough to look up at her and looking at her now certain dots began connecting distracting me from the horror in my mind just a little. I ask,

"Give me a better dream?"

I see her shift side to side slightly nervously. Behind her, I can clearly see a whip-like tail ending in a spade point swishing around. I haven't seen that before... She then answers and lets it all out,

"I guess there is no hiding it anymore... I am of the demon race."

I manage to find it in me to sit up. Curiosity is slowly taking over. She spreads her arms and after a faint red glow, new features are revealed.

A set of horns adorn her head, curly and goat-like. Her ears have become sharply pointed backward, unlike elves. A demon is a good description. I ask then,

"Why share this with me then?"

She thinks for a second before gritting her teeth and replying sternly,

"Honor code... you managed to nearly kill me."

I shake my head and ask,

"How does that make sense?"

She responds grimly,

"I'm a high-class succubus. For succubi entering someone's dreams counts as a battle for us and you beat me there so yeah. I gotta reveal myself after. It's stupid."

I nod and flop back over. I then say,

"Go ahead and do what you need to. I don't care right now..."

She sighs and replies,

"That's the problem. I can't do anything to you! You don't break. I've tried invading your dreams numerous times and have failed and when I tried to use charm on you it felt like a hot iron just ran through my eyes. You are strange. Normally nightmares are easy to get into but still, you blocked me somehow.

Now. My turn to ask a question and I want you to answer. You didn't act right going to bed and you still are acting strange. What happened?"

I groan and roll over, but I explain exactly what happened, and explained my nightmare... every detail. When I finished Mekare goes quiet for a while. I just lie there tears drying up but still sobbing. I hear her take a deep breath and then slide into bed behind me. I recoil violently nearly falling off of the bed. I hiss,

"Don't... touch...ME!"

She lets out a long breath and replies,

"Then you touch me. I am here as part of my pact to... comfort you in certain ways only a woman can. I see now... why you wouldn't like that. So I'll just lie here... until it is time for you to touch me of your own accord, at your own pace..."

I keep my distance still and slowly find sleep again hoping to not have another dream...

I find myself in the blackness with Silus. A far better place to be. He stands across from me and simply says,

"Well... that was terrible. I hated going through that the first time with you back when it happened. I'm sorry it took me so long to wake you, but I was experiencing it all again as well. I had to escape myself. Shame I timed it wrong. That succubus needs to die."

I shake my head and reply,

"Thanks, Silus... I'm sorry I am too weak to deal with it all."

He shakes his large head and with a grunt explains,

"Don't be. It isn't your fault you went through this all. It never is. I was a few thousand years old when you got me. I've seen my fair share of cruelty and it never happened to those who deserved it. Don't blame any of it on yourself, blame that bitch. As a dragon I recommend murder but the laws of man probably protect her, but I'm sure we will have our chance.

Now get some sleep... by morning you'll be better, especially after you get some food in you. I'll check in tomorrow night also."

I ask,

"Silus... why are you doing this? "

He laughs and replies,

"Well, I don't hate you, I realize now I was simply surviving out there in the wilderness not living, so I owe ya for that, on top of it I get to experience all your joys too. I feel proud when you are proud and other similar emotions. I am along for the ride with you so the longer you stay sad and upset the longer I have to feel it too.

Yeah, I'm a greedy dragon, but I no longer hoard gold... I want to hoard good memories and wonderful triumphs."

I smile warmly at the dragon who gives me his best approximation of one back. Slowly he fades from sight and true sleep takes over.

As promised when I wake up I feel many times better, still quite upset and feeling down, but better than last night. I slide out of bed and begin getting dressed, small steps at a time. Nothing drastic. I just have to do these little victories one after another until I am good again. That's all I need to do... just keep going one step at a time.