Willpower
I exist because I have the will to do so.
The Elder Scrolls — Sacrament of Boethiah
Did you think you could get me like this?
Did you seriously just plan on burning me alive, on that floor, from the start? I don't see why.
You could take me in my sleep. You could dispose of me anytime, whatever way you cared — you could keep your hands clean and silent, cancel my breath, starve me and freeze my organs.
I laugh. I almost scream with laughter, from the bottom of my aching lungs. You should see me now.
I wish you could watch how fast I crawl on. I couldn't care less, in any way, not even for me. I am blind to this steam, I lift the lead that has replaced my limbs, I breathe red light and don't sense the poison.
Weren't you scared, you may be proud of me.
What a wonderful toy I am, faceless voice, ain't I? Bet you this place has never seen a finest build in a common lab rat. I will be honest; I'm no better than anyone else. I am weak, I am clumsy. But had they had in them a scratch of what flows in me now, and leads me on — hundreds would walk with me, and wouldn't lie where their remains are now.
Maybe you don't understand. Humans are fragile and smooth, we die in handfuls. There are some things, though — the things keep your bones together when they fall apart, the clenched fists, the blood you ignore when you leave it behind — some things are ours only. Some things don't fit in perfection, and are stronger yet.
I read you well. You expected me to take my own life, to fall, victim of my own stupidity. You wanted me to be the others — all of them, or any of them, they all were the same to you. Now be a woman, meet my gaze. Watch the worthless scum rise against you.
Watch my bruised flesh and my hair, watch the blood. It drips from my legs, all over your precious floor. Are you afraid yet?
You cling to your petty victory, and oh, how you need to know. Yes, I will feel pain someday — my wounds will awaken, my skin will crumble. I will find the carvings of your words, dug on me and left there, like the rain injures a rock.
But we exist now and here. As long as we both live, look at me for a little longer.
You have your weapons, I have mine. My treasure is neither fluid nor coded - you cannot summon it, you cannot own it. If you don't find it soon, be sure you have no hope.
You call it death, or danger. Its true name, however, is willpower.