All right, I knew I said I'd have a new Golden Days chapter up, but this one's been all ready and rearing to go, and also story happens in this chapter. Also, Golden Days committed plot suicide in my head and became a comedy, so I have to work around with what I already have up. But anyway, chapter 10. Also, remember what I said about this being lime? Forget that. Lemons ahoy! Also, the ending of this chapter is
grimdark as hell. If you have triggers, you'd best be off skipping it. Seriously. You won't miss anything critical.
Chapter 10: Ship Happens
It was the first time the monster ever visited her.
"Hello," it said in a distorted voice.
"Hello," Sakuya replied. "What are you, and where am I?"
The monster shifted, its bulky form distored in the darkness engulfing it.
"Where are we?" it said matter-of-factly. "I don't know. We're somewhere familiar but beyond our comprehension. We're past time and galaxies and every universe that ever was."
"I don't follow."
"And what am I? I guess I'm what you humans call 'God.'"
"God?" snorted Sakuya. "You're not exactly what I had in mind for what God would be. No, I don't believe you… or believe in you. I killed you long ago, therefore you cannot exist."
"A mighty brazen thing to say," retorted the monster. "Normally, humans run away from me in fear. But you're different. You're stuck in your own little world, thinking your words are the ultimate truth."
It didn't speak words so much as it reverberated sounds beyond Sakuya's comprehension.
"Pot calling the kettle black."
Sakuya gestured to the no-man's land around them.
Just her and the monster.
"You're just a dream, aren't you? That's why I'm not scared of you. I have lived through too much to be scared anymore."
"Oh, but I am very much real," the monster assured her. "You're stubborn. I like you… we're a perfect match."
"Uh-huh."
"I have a request to make of you."
"A request?"
Sakuya tilted her head, but she was not so much matter as she was being.
"Become my host."
"Your host? Like a parasite or something? Why should I do that?"
"Because I can give you anything you want in return."
"I can't believe something that won't even tell the truth about what it is."
"Very well then. I'm you."
"Sakuya? Hey, Sakuya! What's going on with you?"
SLAP!
A heavy palm decked her across the cheek, and she sat up, blinking and reacquainting herself with the darkness, suffocating her like a rag soaked heavy with chloroform. The world around her was moving in a violent lull, with the moans and groans of people around her keeping the tempo. Heavy chains restrained her, and she tried her best to roll over, save there was no room.
"Ouch! Keep to yourself, will you?" snapped Karura's voice from the depths.
"Sorry, sorry," groaned Sakuya, and she trembled with fever and dehydration. "So, how many days has it been since we were shoved in this shithole?"
"I'll be damned if I know."
The ground moved again, causing the chains to smack into her. Sakuya cursed and coughed.
"Hah! To think we're surrounded by water but are getting none of it!"
"That's life on a slave ship for ya."
Ah, yes. It must've been a good two weeks or so since the rogue bandits knocked them out. When they came to, they were shoved in the cargo hold of a ship in the middle of the ocean with about forty other people of all ages and genders, going were no one knew.
It was the illegal slave trade, Karura said. The slavers were like pirates; they couldn't be stopped no matter how much Kannabas and the surrounding countries tried. Sakuya hacked up again, trying to wipe the cold beads of sweat from her face, but her shackles were too heavy to lift.
"Oh, you don't know, now do you?" she muttered sarcastically. "I thought you knew EVERYTHING. I thought you were a woman of the world. Look, you're a Giriyagina, aren't you? You're supposed to be ungodly strong, right? Why don't you just break out of these chains?"
"Oh, I could," retorted Karura, voice filled with rancor and exhaustion, "but that doesn't mean I should. I've got no idea how far away from land we are. I can't steer a ship. And I sure can't swim for days on end! I'm still a mortal, you know." She cleared her throat, swiveling whatever spit she could muster up in her mouth for a drink. "It'd be more practical to meet with the others, see if anyone knows ship craft, and stage a coup on land."
"Watch your mouth!" snapped a new voice, female. "The walls are thin—the mooks from above might hear ya!"
"She has a point."
"Don't even think of trying to get away from where we're goin'," continued the mystery person. "We're all doomed. Screwed. Gonna be little ant workers for them Kannabas queens."
"Shut up, Renona."
A man's heavily accented yet clear tone rang out in the swarthiness.
"Is that anything a true Visionary would say?"
"What is…?" Sakuya started, but before she could finish, Renona squealed back in defiance.
"Eh, forgive me, Enki. I had a lapse in judgment."
"Now pray to Ngn-ino of the Thousand Comets to affirm your allegiance."
"Of course, Enki. Oh, Ngn-ino, I do so humbly beg forgiveness for my transgressions against you…"
"Freaks," muttered Sakuya, and coming to the conclusion that she no longer wished to associate with them, shifted position once more.
And so they continued on. The woman Renona muttered bizarre prayers in the otherwise quiet hold, a few furry things scurried to and fro, and it was all-around miserable. No one could tell how much time had passed when they finally landed.
The ship jolted to a halt, buried in the sandbanks of shallow waters, and the door leading to the hold opened, letting a blinding ray of light through. The door was more like a hole in the ceiling, though, and a ladder had to be lifted down into the depths. With a lantern and scimitar apiece, four men shimmied down and began cutting them of the chains that bound them to the floor, but still left their hands bound.
"All right, git goin'," barked one.
Pricking up her ears, Sakuya heard Karura trudge to her feet, and watched her silhouette as she ambled to a line to get up the ladder. Some people were too weak to make it. They fell back down and were just left there, their moans of pain ignored.
"C'mon, you filthy long-ear," snorted another one of the slave drivers, cutting away Sakuya's bindings. "Either you git up an' at 'em, or you die in the hold."
Squinting her eyes at the lantern in her face, Sakuya got up, shaking. Pain lanced through her, and she bit her tongue to avoid crying out. Crap! She still had her handicap to contend with! The slave driver slapped her on the butt with the face of his sword.
"Well?" he sneered, clearing his throat in pure mockery.
Sakuya drank down the drops of blood that rose when she bit herself, and started crawling, having the worst time in the dark with her hands cuffed. At last she made it to the line, and surveyed the distance up.
Uggghh.
She had to stand up to even grab onto the first rung, and she doubted she had the strength to pull herself up.
"Psst… Sakuya!"
Karura.
Sakuya bumped into her, and Karura bent down.
"You won't be able to make it, will you?"
"No shit. Looks like my culling time has come…"
"Loop your chain around my beck and hold steadfast to my shoulders."
"Huh?" muttered Sakuya. "Why do you keep saving me?"
Nonetheless, she complied.
"I'm the one who got you into this mess, aren't I? I guess I owe you one."
Karura's muscles heaved as she grappled onto the bars with Sakuya in tow, using all of her flexibility to get up. Karura dropped her on the dark once they made it.
"Sorry. I can't be weighed down if I've gotta swim," she mumbled, darting off board and leaving Sakuya to her own devices. There were a whole slew of guards staring at her and prodding her with their spears, and grudgingly, she half crawled, half loped to the ledge where prisoners were jumping off.
She looked down, and judging the distance to the water, wrinkled her nose. She hoped it wasn't too deep—she couldn't swim. Still, she only had two choices, which was either to try and make something of herself and drown, or expire on the ship like a weakling.
Sakuya tucked her legs in, and plunged into the depths, hitting the water with a loud splash.
She sank like a rock, kicking out desperately in all directions until she found herself lying on a sand bed. Chancing to open her eyes in the frigid salt water, she saw that the surface was no less than four feet up. If she fought the current and crawled along the bottom, kicking up every minute or so for air, she might be able to make it to shore.
And that was just what she did. Heaving and exerting all her remaining energy, she pushed through the water, scarcely ever coming up for a breath. She barely broke the surface, though, when a wave crashed over her and knocked her down. Once again, Sakuya found herself with a nose full of salt water, and prostrated so that she was unable to move with the flow of the sea, until a pair of strong hands caught her around the waist and scooped her out.
She sputtered and hacked, and opened her burning eyes, expecting to see Karura.
No, it was… a man?
He was a dark and handsome but otherwise unremarkable figure with dapple-grey dog-ears and freckled features, dressed head to toe in scarves and other garments from exotic lands. Only a tuft of sandy hair poked from under his turban, and he made a sort of "tsk-tsk" noise, chiding her.
"You know, it's perfectly possible to wade," he told her, giving her an icy, somewhat conceited glare.
Sakuya coughed up a lung full of seaweed and rolled her eyes.
"Brilliant work, detective. I would if I could."
The man raised his eyebrows.
"You can't walk?"
"Barely."
Sakuya pursed her lips, immediately regretting releasing this nugget of information to a strange man, but he did nothing but sigh and shrug.
"Poor thing."
"I'm going to be expected to work once we get onshore, aren't we?"
"Yes."
"I'm screwed."
"Haven't you any skills?"
"Well, yes."
Sakuya rubbed the salt from her eyes.
"But I'll need crutches to work, and I don't think these people are keen on giving me a pair."
"Worry not. The Lord Ngn-ino will always look out for the needy."
Sakuya froze.
Great.
One of the cult people. Well, she thought, they must not be all that bad, for one was rescuing her and all. Now that she thought about it, she recognized his voice and accent. What did that woman say his name was again…?
"Thanks for doing this, man. Do you have a name or something?"
"I'm Enki."
Oh.
So this was Enki.
"And you?"
"Sakuya."
"That's a pretty name."
"Maybe a little too pretty for the likes of me."
He looked down at her, cradled in his arms, and smirked.
"I wouldn't say that."
"Oh, my freaking prince charming. You seem a little nonchalant for the situation, don't you think?"
"I was prepared for this."
Enki left the conversation at that, wading the rest of the way in silence until they got to shore.
"I can make it from here, thanks," said Sakuya, instructing him to drop her off. Without as much as a chivalrous word of protest, he did as asked and ambled off to where several ranks of cargo slave were being made.
Sakuya followed after him, dashing her bare legs against the pebbles on the beach and cursing her situation as she crawled. It wasn't too far a distance to where the others were corralled. Sakuya searched the throng for Karura, and not finding her, took her place at the end of the third row, biting the bullet and standing up despite her tiredness and the horrid pain that snaked through her body.
Everyone stood like that for an hour. The presumed leader of the slave trade, a fat man who made a habit of patting his saber whenever he could, paced to and fro and spoke in a condescending bark of a voice.
"Welcome to the first day of the rest of your lives," he sneered, spitting out some chewing tobacco. "This is Kanna Island. You are now our property. Don't expect to be rescued or to escape. You'll just die. You will sleep when we feel like letting you sleep, you will wake up at the crack of dawn, and you will eat whenever we feel like feeding you. You will receive a pair of clothes and a sleeping back apiece, and you will be assigned to one of two camps, but you can damn well make your own shelters for all we care. Work hard, don't die, and whatever you do, don't step out of line." He circled around them all, finally stopping at Sakuya. "Do you know what happens if you step out of line?" he asked her, baring his teeth.
She slit her eyelids, trying anything not to betray the fear coursing through her veins. Suddenly, her knees buckled, and she fell forward, knocking him over.
"You little bitch!" he screeched before she even had the chance to mumble out a hasty apology. He yanked her out of line by the air and thrust her onto the ground, pulling out his sword. "You stepped. Out. Of. LINE!"
"Give me a break," she muttered under her breath, but her wisecrack ripped into a scream of pain as he flashed his sword at her. She tried to dodge, hand flailing out feebly in front of her to protect her neck. A jet of blood spewed from her right hand and wouldn't stop. Agony overcame every recess of her body, and she stared in muted horror at her ring and index finger, lying pathetic on the ground.
"You bastard!" she shrieked, holding her hand and rubbing the tears from her eyes. She succeeded in nothing but bloodying her face. "I'll kill you! I'll tear you to fucking shreds!" The man laughed and kicked her, yanking her by the hair yet again as he dragged her to the front of the ranks. She gnashed her teeth in misery at the sand getting in her wound, the trail of red dying the sand where she once lay.
"Shut up, bitch. Scum of the earth, let me show you what happens when you disobey!"
Two painful cracks to her jaw sent her spiraling to the ground, and desperately, she looked toward the crowd behind her. No one made any attempt to help her. Sakuya's heart pounded, other slave drivers surrounding her. They had knives and sticks and other cruel things, and they leered down at her. By now they had closed between her only chance at escape, and Sakuya realized she was done for.
Another crack, another paralyzing hit to the back, and she felt nauseous. She was already bleeding all over, and they got closer… and closer…
One grabbed her by her shirt collar and tore her blouse open with one slash of his knife. Another yanked off her pants and there she was, naked, and the worst part was that nobody in the ranks of slaves seemed to care, even Karura.
"I knew it," she whispered, coughing out a mouthful of blood. She was dizzy and the only thing keeping her attached to the world was her flogging, her abuse, and one of the men entering her before she could react. Sakuya gave a cry of pain as another one reamed her, tears freely spilling down her face now. "I knew it. You just led me on to get revenge against me for killing your people, Karura. That's the real you, Karura. You aren't a friend or 'defender of the people,' you fucking selfish cunt…"
Another scream tore out of her as one man's blade hacked cleanly across her shoulders. Sakuya crumpled into a heap, sobbing hysterically and not even fighting back as one silenced her by stuffing her mouth, and then another one came, and another…
Her whole existence was nothing but pain and agony now, and the beating grew more savage. One of her ribs splintered and the bone sliced through her own skin, and her eyes were blackened and her skin torn to shreds. And… and…
She curled up the best she could, trying to disappear.
And in her last moments of clarity, she saw the others walk off with the slavers who were done with her, and everything hurt worse than it ever had in her life…
All right, I have to stop here. I went and pulled my own triggers, and now I've pussied out of writing all the gory details. I was originally going to write something more… explicit, but imagining Sakuya's raw pain and terror juxtaposed with the apathy of those who are supposed to be on her side dampened any desire to write it out completely. Considering what atrocities she… did… and what she will do in this story, maybe she deserves it, but if you're seeing how this scene is playing out the same as how it's happening in my head, it's already way past the threshold of extreme cruelty. And, then again, no one deserves that kind of abuse. I'll let the fridge horror speak for itself, and I do apologize for cutting the chapter a little short, but I think the next one will have content interesting enough to make up for my milquetoast copout.