(Author's Note: Um. Yeah. In this chapter, the author has more fun torturing the hell out of her main character. Oh, and ... it appears that I'm slowly but surely losing my fans. -sobsob- I guess that's what I get for leaving this story alone for so long. I'm sorry, all.)
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN--Cut
Tobias drifted in and out of consciousness for the longest time, dimly aware of the buzzing hum of low conversation around him. The sickeningly white and bright image of the room he was in created instant pain when he attempted to open his eyes. There was, however, enough of his brain left intact for him to realize that much of his intense, excruciating pain, inside and out, had vanished entirely and was replaced by a very dull, numb feeling. The thoughts that had normally raced through his brain far more quickly than the average human now plodded along with absurd slowness. He felt like he was halfway attempting to emerge from a dark, grey pit of metaphorical sludge, but halfway to the surface he had decided that he no longer cared, and let himself sink. He was just about to decide that he truly didn't care, not in the least, when he remember what he had done to Aerotsierma.
He reached out a trembling hand to her, and even though he knew it was impossible otherwise, felt a stab of relief that she was still alive. He wondered distantly if she'd ever forgive him; he felt like his heart had died.
He realized quite suddenly that regardless of what garbage he told himself, or felt once in a while, he didn't want to die. He knew that there was no heaven, or if there was, there was no place for him there. Almost entirely certain that daemon and human alike were released as arbitrary energy upon death, he knew that he didn't want to part with Aero, even if what came after was oblivion, and he technically would never know.
Slowly his thoughts uncrossed themselves and sped up to almost their regular vigor. He shakily lifted his head from the sterile white floor and looked around, blinking in the bright neon light. He could hear dim voices of conversation, but could not detect their source. He saw the great bladed machine, gleaming newly and unstained in the brightness, but did not dwell on it. His heart hurt him, and tears streamed down his face, although he could not feel it due to the anesthetic he had been given. His hand, shaking terribly, descended upon Aerotsierma's formerly beautiful rusty coat. Now, however, it was hard and sticky, coated with dried blood.
Tobias dragged himself on the floor with bloody palms. Although he could feel almost no pain within his body, he could also not feel anything, merely a terrible, all-consuming numbless. Nonetheless, he pulled the curled-up fox toward his chest, stroking her, his tears falling onto her fur. "Oh, Aerotsierma," he whispered, knowing that something within his mind was unbelievably wrong. What had caused him to do that? How? Human beings did not have fights with their daemons. They just didn't. Especially not like ... not like that. Never. Never.
"Never. Never. I'm so sorry. Never ..."
Slowly but surely, Aerotsierma's amber eyes flickered in the bright light and she raised her head. Wordlessly, her eyes and actions telling what a million words could not, she raised her head and nuzzled her human affectionately. She shed no tears; daemons do not cry. That was the human's job. So there, as Tobias sat in the middle of the previously white floor in a dried puddle of his own blood, he cried enough for the both of them.
Eventually the numbness in his body dulled and Tobias felt life returning to him. He had been doctored up quite a bit, and apparently by extremely skilled doctors. He knew that he had been on the brink of death; ever since he had gotten shot in the head by Breyman he knew that the slightest thing, the tiniest hit in the right place, would kill him. I'm so weak, he thought bitterly. Weak enough to not be able to win this fight. Weak enough to almost beat my own daemon to death.
Aerotsierma heard his thoughts, felt the terrifying, hideous, almost irrepressible wave of self-loathing that surfaced and translated almost instantly into anger and depression. She couldn't let that happen to him. If daemons could cry, she would've. She felt horrible -- what kind of daemon is so bad, so ill-suited to their human, that they cause the person whose soul they're supposed to be to attempt to beat them to death? Aerotsierma shuddered at the thought, startled at how much of Tobias's weakness were contained in her, as well. But she knew she couldn't let him have those feelings; she had to try harder.
"Tobias. No, don't feel like that. It's okay."
His daemon knew that it was her fault, and that it should be him forgiving her, but she also knew that it wasn't his way of thinking, that he was inclined to blame himself, so it was what he had wanted to hear. What he needed to hear. She bore no grudge against him at all, of course. How could she? It was her fault, and ...
"Aero. No."
Tobias took his daemon gently by the shoulders and stared into her hurt, tender, intelligent amber eyes. "It is not your fault. Listen to me, Aero. Something went wrong when I did that. Something up here ..." he gently tapped his head, a horribly troubled look on his face. "Something up here isn't as it should be. I realize that now. I refuse to believe that I'm entirely innocent for the actions I've committed in the past, but there can't possibly be anything I've done that would deserving of what I did to you. To us." His tears had dried, but his eyes reflected more pain than most humans would have to endure in ten lifetimes. "I'll never, ever do anything like that again. If I do, I'll kill myself. I swear." His voice choked. Aerotsierma flattered her ears and nuzzled him gently. He continued. "You have no idea how much I love you. I'm so, so sorry." He was whispering now. The pain in his voice was quite palpable. "Please forgive me."
"But Tobias, I have nothing to forgive, it was my f--"
"No! Don't do that. Say that again and I'll gouge through my own skin, and then only I'll feel that pain. No, Aero, no. You are as loyal and trusting as a daemon could be, and here I've gone and ... and broken that trust ... I ... it's worse than murder. What I did was worse than murder."
"If it's what you want to hear, Tobias, then I forgive you," she whispered. Tobias stared at her. "You'll never trust me again, will you?" The fox opened her mouth to tell him that there's no way she could force herself to betray him, even if she wanted to, but he didn't let her reply. Instead he said, "And you're right. I ... I don't deserve you."
Aero felt it again, the awful wave of self-hatred within him. But this time it was almost overwhelming, a sickening feeling that felt like the gouging of insides. She shrugged the hideous feeling away and stood firm. "Listen to me, Tobias. I know you don't really feel that way, because I am you, and I know what I feel. So whatever this is that we're going through, we have to snap out of it, and now. Look around you. We're in a bit of situation, here. I suggest that you put all that angsty, suicidal, self-pity crap away for the time being and let's figure out a way to escape this place."
Tobias was utterly stunned; never before had his daemon spoken to him like that. But it had the desired effect, and he knew that she was right. She was always right. She knew him better than anyone; she knew him better than he knew himself. Before he could reply, Aero said, "And do not even think about making yourself suffer for hurting me. Tobias, you've suffered a billions times more than what you should have already."
Alright. Tobias, snap out of this. Now.
Shakily, with heaving breaths, he stood to his feet and hugged his daemon close. "Aerotsierma?" he said quietly, closing his eyes against her fur. "Promise me something." The fox turned her head and licked his nose.
"Anything."
"Never leave me. Ever. Please. I don't know what I could do without you. When I seem to be going over the edge like that, you can't let me. Do whatever you have to, but don't let me lose myself again. Please. And don't leave me. Don't leave me."
"I couldn't, Tobias. There's no way that I could by my own volition. You even worked out the math of it, once, remember? How the greatest possible will of a daemon to do such a thing would go far, far beyond the pain capacity that either of them could feel. They'd die before they'd let it hap--"
"Just promise me."
"...Okay, Tobias. I promise."
Suddenly the loud noise of a metal door swinging open cut through the silence. Three men in white lab coats walked briskly into the room. One had a clipboard, and all of them looked inordinately nervous. Even their three various small-dog daemons seemed anxious.
Eventually one of them came over to the boy. The man gave him the strangest look. What was it? Not anger, surely. Pity, maybe? How strange. Tobias had no time to react, however, for at that instant the two other lab-coated men leapt forward, grabbing him roughly and pushing him down. Swift and wordless, the third whipped a sort of collar from a coat pocket and straddled his back as his two partners held Tobias's arms. The third fixed the band around his head tightly, locking it with some sort of complex built-in computer code panel. From the band he withdrew a sort of thin, wicked-looking hook; this he drove into the back of Tobias's head with a single swift, fluid motion.
"Aaaaarrrrrggghhhnnnnnhh!"
Tobias roared in pain and then lie slightly more still. The three scientists backed away from the face-down boy, murmuring to one another. He got shakily to his feet, collecting his daemon and staring angrily at his tormentors. Before he could asked, the first one explained.
"You have been fitted with a state-of-the-art designed mechanism that has only been developed in this facility within the last few months. That is made out of solid seraphium, completely impenetrable by absolutely anything other than the code which must be entered in that panel in order to unlock the device."
Immediately, as he was slightly recovered, Tobias made his move. He opened his mind and delved it into the first scientists', prepared to find the code within seconds for later usage.
To his surprise and horror, he found nothing there. It wasn't emptiness, it was more like ... a wall. A solid black veil, hiding him entirely and effectively from anything that lie beyond. A split-second later, such a powerful shock shot through his body that he fell to his knees as his body spasmed with electricity. The excruciating pain was over in a second, though, and he stood again, shaking much more now, the faint smell of burning hair and flesh sizzling in the sterile air.
"That is the brilliance of it, you see. Your Powers of the Mind, absolutely all of them, are blocked by this device. And every time you try, you get shocked. And each time is twice as powerful as the last. It's exponential, you see." While there could have been triumph and haughty sneering in the scientist's eyes, Tobias still found nothing but that bizarre, inexplicable look of pity.
*
Tobias was forced into being cleaned, but he was glad of the shower, even if he was being scrutinized at all times by no less than three guards. He made sure to scrub every fleck of blood from his body, loathing the feeling that it gave him to be on his flesh. And his hands ... the hands that he had tortured his daemon with ... he scrubbed until they bled themselves, repeating the cycle over again entirely.
His daemon was cleaned, as well, until her coat was lustrous and soft again, and her wounds were healed when Tobias's were. Their technology was so effective at healing wounds that Tobias could almost feel nothing of the gunshot wound he had been previously given.
At last he and his daemon were led up to the white room again. The blood on the floor had been cleaned up entirely ... or was this another identical room? Tobias couldn't think. He couldn't remember tracking his way back to the same exact location. But then he saw the guillotine machine, and he knew. His heart plummeted. Everything that he had done earlier, reconciliation with Aerotsierma, self-agreement that he did not want to die -- all would be undone. Obsolete.
And he was powerless to stop it. Six heavily-armed guards blocked the cell doorway, and he could not possibly hope to even escape, for he had no power of his brilliant mind. And although death would be arguably better than what he knew he was about to be subjected to, he knew that they would not kill him. They'd force him into it, kicking and screaming all the way. Quickly and silently, Aero and Tobias passed these feelings between them, and she agreed with her human: death was better. Even though there was nothing they could do ...
Wait. No. There was one thing.
As he was being led to the seraphium cage that was connected to one side of the machine, he tried to use his mental powers, fully aware of what would happen. A terrible shock immediately coursed through his body, hideous, so strong that it burnt his flesh and almost caused him to void his bladder. But he ignored the pain and did it again. Again. Again.
"Stop it!" It was one of the scientists. "It won't kill you. It's been programmed to cause hideous pain until it causes irreversible brain-damage, but it cannot kill. It will not kill. So stop doing that." No, Tobias hadn't just been imagining it. There really was pity in his eyes. In his voice. He didn't like what he had been sent there to do that day. He didn't like it one bit.
But he, just like Tobias, was powerless.
Tobias decided to make a run for it anyway, full aware that it was entirely hopeless; Tobias, however, was not the type of person to go down without a fight. He suddenly broke from the arms of the scientists and sprinted toward the door; to his immense surprise and suspicion, no one came after him. However, he noticed that Aerotsierma was not with him far before he reached the padlocked steel door, and felt a painful tug as he realized she wasn't coming. And suddenly he felt that wicked, sick feeling of another's hands being on his own daemon; he choked in loathing and stopped in his tracks. Turning around slowly, he saw that one of the scientists had thrust his dear, precious Aero into one of the seraphium cages and sealed it. Her pain-riddled face stared at him through the clear metal.
Seraphium was a recently discovered element, a powerful metal that was many times the strength of diamond; nothing could break it. It had the amazing quality of actually being very clear, almost as much so as glass. Tobias knew that it was a very expensive substance, and figured that Dune must've stolen a great deal of what he had.
Tobias stared dumbly at the other cage that was connected by quite a few wires to the cage which held Aerotsierma. It was, of course, empty. The three scientists stared nervously at Tobias, unwilling to do what they were about to have to do. The guards at the door also looked at one another, tensing up, prepared to get involved if they must. Tobias was caught in between the two groups of Dune's men, until he finally noticed one of the scientists giving a small nod to the men behind him.
And all at once, he went down. Two powerful men with large dog daemons slammed into him heavily, grabbing him by the arms and thrusting him toward the cage. He screamed and raged, thrashing wildly, calling out his daemon's name, but to no avail. He couldn't do anything with the barrier on his mind, and soon found himself thrust into the previously empty box-like cage. He fell to the floor, body heaving with unshed tears. "No ..." he muttered. "Aero ... please ..." But Aerotsierma could do nothing, either. The two stared at each other other through two solid walls of an indestructible metal, only a meter or so apart and yet infinitely so.
But the scientists were waiting for something; Tobias, even as he was preparing himself for the dismemberment of his soul, noticed this. A moment later, the door to the white room was flung open and two guards came in, carrying another seraphium cage on a wheeled platform, as it would be far too heavy to carry themselves.
While Tobias was trying to figure out the purpose of this, the guards set the cage to the floor, between and behind Tobias and Aero and close to the great blade.The guards then nodded and quickly left the room. Even they did not want to be around when this happened.
One of the scientists then proceeded to hook up the various wires that dangled from the third cage to the bladed machine. Tobias noticed that somehow these wires were different. He felt a much-recognized stab of fear and loathing, but he couldn't figure this one out. What was going on here?!
They waited nervously, guards, scientists and subjects alike, until finally Tobias's nagging question was answered.
The door flung open again and this time a nightmare ambled through. A dark, soulless, twisted being that defied all sense of human reasoning, a cloak covering his head and shoulders, even now unwilling to let others see his face. Only his eyes peered through, as liquid and mercurial as obsidian. Darkness seemed to emanate from it, dulling the disturbingly white room with an evil shadow.
It was, of course, Sidney Dune.
Triumph dancing in his mercurial eyes, the Tyrant strode to the cage which Tobias was contained within. "Well, my boy, we meet again. And there for a while I thought you were gone for good. But you alwaysss come back, don't you? Ssssomehow."
Tobias tried desperately to control himself, for this creature arose more hate and loathing than anything possibly could. He knew that he was trapped in this box, a barrier on his mind, a complicated computer panel coded to keep the cage shut, far beyond his grasp. There was nothing he could do. Anger would lend him no strength this time.
"Before your world isss torn apart, I want to tell you a little ssstory."
Silence, and Tobias waited.
"You've alwaysss wondered how I came to be the way I am, haven't you?" Again he paused, and again Tobias gave him nothing. "Well, let me tell you. I sssuposssse you have the right to know.
"Long ago, I was an entirely normal human being. No different from the average idiot on the street, with a lovely, gentle, sweet daemon of my own. I was no older than you at the time, boy. During those days, my society and yours were entirely set apart, and between us there was no hatred, no loathing, although perhaps a little bit of jealously. But nothing that would drive either side to violence. For the most part, anyway."
He stared at Tobias, daring him to respond. He didn't.
"One day I became curious of the people with the power of the mind, so I went to observe some of them. I was a very intelligent young human, with much dangerous curiosity. There was a small group of children there, with powers such as yours, playing around like the idiots they were. They were practicing with their powers, if I recall correctly. Malicious, stupid beings that they were. One of them had a very powerful gift, something along the lines of the ability to transform matter directly into energy, with no explosion. Just a single, quiet transformation. It defies my knowledge of physics, to tell you the truth.
"Anyway, here I was, observing this group of humans, when suddenly they spotted me. They were cruel and heartless, even for children, and they decided to torture me, knowing I was from the society 'below' them, not worthy of their presence. So the one with the power of matter-energy transformation tortured my dear daemon until she was nothing but floating particles of energy. Tortured her and I together until I was screaming in human pain as my daemon was torn away by those cruel and heartless little shits, the--"
"Shut up! That isn't true!" Tobias's angry shout tore through the Tyrant's rant. Dune paused and stared at him, hatred and loathing pooling in his mysterious eyes, but he said nothing. Tobias went on.
"I heard about that; it happened a long time ago. There was a boy that had been harassing some kids with the power of the mind, and it was he who had been torturing them! They were too young to have even discovered their individual gifts yet! The normal kid tortured one of them to death with naught but his own hands, and finally the kid just exploded! Desperation made his gift arise, and the bully's daemon just happened to be in the way. It was an accident. The kid was saving his own life!"
"Silence! I will not be talked back to by such utter scum as you!"
Tobias stared at the Tyrant through the seraphium barrier. "You mean to tell me that that was you? But they told us in school about this incident, and we learned that you died. That without your daemon, with it dead, you couldn't be alive, and so you died. And even so, the child that had 'killed' your daemon was threatened with a very hefty sentence, he--"
"He was your father."
Tobias stared at him in shock. Surely he must be kidding! "That can't be true. My father did not have that gift. He had the gift of the ability to move objects with his mind. You're lying!"
Dune leaned down and stared at Tobias directly through the clear metal. "You don't actually think that your father would go through life with that gift, do you? He killed another's daemon with it. That's about the worst crime a human being can commit. Imagine having that on his conscience!"
Tobias just stared at him, refusing to believe. But now, with this knowledge, things were beginning to fall into place just a little bit more. Things were beginning to make a bit of sense.
"There is a very complicated process that a Gifted human can go through to change his gift," Dune continued. "It is almost impossible to do unless there is a huge amount of incentive. And trust me, your father had a huge amount of incentive. And so he was able to do it. After that first time, he never used his original gift again.
"After this happened, after my daemon was destroyed, I could hardly go on, but I wasn't dead, somehow. I wasn't consumed with that complete and utter apathy that separated humans will experience. But still, I was too weak and listless to live a decent life. I had been born a very rich human, and so was able to collect a few very loyal minions that would follow me for my intellect and my wealth. A few of them were skilled underground scientists, and they were paid to put me through an experiment that changed me altogether. They gave me terrific strength of body, mind and soul alike, but in the process it changed me into a hideous, disgusting beast. That's what I am today, you see. No one here has ever looked upon my true face, and none ever will.
"Even after this, after I was filled with this incredible, all-consuming strength, there was something missing. Several somethings, actually. First and foremost was my need for revenge. So I grew in power and wealth, none daring to oppose me after they witnessed my might, until I had enough to build this fortress and round up all of your kind. At first I figured I'd merely torture your father, but that was too easy, you see. I needed more than that.
"Second was the hole created by the lack of my daemon. My scientists told me that if one of your people submitted and gave up their power to me, the energy created by that Gift could be translated into a sort of internal daemon that would ease that terrible pain inside. It wouldn't be quite the same as having a real, material daemon, but it would be enough so that my mind and soul wouldn't scream in agony at the infernal emptiness I experienced every day of my life.
"But I came to realize that none of your people would ever give that power up, regardless of how much I threatened and tortured. So I picked your people off, one by one. And then I realized that even torturing and destroying your father would not be enough revenge. I wanted to cause the most pain to something else, the thing he held most dear to him. Even in the Land of the Dead now, he is sensing the horrible pain that I am causing to the most precious thing to him, more precious, perhaps than even his own daemon. For that is often how it works with parents and children, you see -- the one true form of unconditional love. Even beyond death."
Dune stared at Tobias harder, triumph and insanity dancing in those horrible eyes. "Your father loved you, Tobias."
Tobias shuddered in hatred, but he did nothing. He said nothing. Dune was not yet finished with his tale. "So of course I had to torture his son. Only then would I feel peace."
Tobias could contain himself no longer. "What?! So you're telling me that you had to destroy an entire race of people, had to commit genocide, just so you could feel at peace? And what's more is that what happened to you to make you crave revenge was an accident! You're a fool! I'll kill you, you fucking son of a bitch! I'll-- aaarrgghhnn!" In his apex of anger, Tobias had unintentionally attempted to strike out at Dune with his mind. The result was a literally mind-blowing electrical shock.
"Stop being foolish, boy. Anyway, as I was saying, my revenge has almost been satisfied, but my need for a daemon has not. Until my scientists came up with the little experiment that we'll be undergoing today." He grinned maniacally at Tobias, and then that was that. The conversation was over.
Dune strode toward the third, empty cage and stepped inside. One of the scientists scurried quickly forward to shut the door and enter the code into the computer panel on the seraphium cage.
And all at once, Tobias knew what was going to happen. Tears beaded his eyes once more, and he struck the metal as hard as he could with his fist in desperation. Of course it did nothing. Then he tried to choke himself with his own hands, tried to kill himself then and there, but electricity coursed through his body as one of the scientists hit a control that would keep the boy from killing himself. He needed to be alive for this.
And then it happened. Insane energy permeated the air, and the wires connecting the three cages snapped and crackled as if they were alive. And the great blade, made of the same substance that the Subtle Knife was made from, groaned and began to descend.
Tobias was shaking with the crackling energy that surged through him. Aerotsierma was howling in very canine-like torment, knowing that she was about to be torn from her human forever.
In a last-ditch attempt to save the life of himself and his daemon, Tobias ignored the excruciating pain of the violent surges of electricity and sent out wave after wave of brainpower at the blade, willing it, urging it to stop. His head felt like it was about to explode as the energy coursed through him, tearing his brain and flesh apart.
The blade drew lower, gathering speed as it fell. And suddenly Tobias felt it -- that evil wrench unlike anything he had ever felt as the very Dust that held him to his daemon was torn away, layer by layer; he could feel his very daemon being torn away from his soul.
But energy could not be created or destroyed. It could only be transferred.
The scientists' faces flickered with incredulity and undeniable horror in the electrical light as the energy was slowly but surely pulled away from Tobias and swirled inexorably through the wires to the cage of the waiting Sidney Dune. It was horrible. It was more wrong, even, than Tobias beating his own daemon almost to death. It was beyond wrong. Totally and completely beyond it.
At the top of the metallic guillotine was a digital percentage on an LCD display; it was the percentage of the bond of Tobias's daemon that was still connected to him. The number had started, of course, at 100%, and the procedure would be completed when the number reached 0%. Right now, however, it was at 43%. Tobias was less than halfway connected to his own daemon.
Suddenly, as the air was seemingly about to explode with pain and wrongness and crackling, blue and white energy, the seraphium collar that was strapped around Tobias's head began to splinter. He started screaming out his own daemon's name in a horrific pain beyond any comprehension, and finall, as the procedure was about to be completed, the collar snapped entirely and in a huge, pent-up explosion of metal energy, a white crackling ball of electricity tore from Tobias's mind and shattered the guillotine just as it was about to part the last remaining strands of Tobias's bond with Aerotsierma.
The LCD display flickered once, and then stopped. At 4%.
Dune stood up and howled in his seraphium cage in pure triumph. Even though it had not been completed, it was by far enough. Exactly 96% of Tobias's daemon now belonged to Sidney Dune.
Tobias fell to the floor, utterly defeated, beyond even pain now. No living creature should have to endure half of what he had now gone through. He was far beyond consciousness now, though. And he would, perhaps, never return.
Smoke sizzled into the air as the electricity was shut down and the scientists scurried forward to enter the code that would open Dune's door. It bleeped once and then the powerful creature, now almost infinitely more powerful, slammed the door open and leapt through. He strode immediately to Aerotsierma's cage door, ripped the code in, and flung the door open. The daemon, too, was unconscious, but as Dune picked her up, he felt the connection. It no longer felt quite so weird to touch another human's daemon.
Dune howled an inhuman shriek of pure triumph to the world around, electricity still fizzling in the air. He had won. Nothing could stop him now. He could rule the world with the power now contained within him. For the first time in decades, he felt whole again.
He whirled around to the guards, pointing at Tobias with a wicked, serrated claw. "Take that to the infirmary. Keep him alive, through IV if necessary. I want to talk to him when he awakes. No matter what you do, keep him alive. I don't want to find out what happens to this daemon if her original human was to die. Even if they're only connected by a few tiny strands of Dust!"
The scientists bowed low and complied immediately, carrying Tobias's almost lifeless body away.
Dune stroked Aerotsierma gently with a claw, compelling her to awake. Never had he felt so wondrous; nothing could stop him now! Nothing!
He had a daemon.
And Tobias had none.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(Author's Note: Hmm ... do you think I went too far that time? Don't worry -- it will all work out in the end. I promise. Don't forget to review. Or I'll cry. I will!)
Tobias drifted in and out of consciousness for the longest time, dimly aware of the buzzing hum of low conversation around him. The sickeningly white and bright image of the room he was in created instant pain when he attempted to open his eyes. There was, however, enough of his brain left intact for him to realize that much of his intense, excruciating pain, inside and out, had vanished entirely and was replaced by a very dull, numb feeling. The thoughts that had normally raced through his brain far more quickly than the average human now plodded along with absurd slowness. He felt like he was halfway attempting to emerge from a dark, grey pit of metaphorical sludge, but halfway to the surface he had decided that he no longer cared, and let himself sink. He was just about to decide that he truly didn't care, not in the least, when he remember what he had done to Aerotsierma.
He reached out a trembling hand to her, and even though he knew it was impossible otherwise, felt a stab of relief that she was still alive. He wondered distantly if she'd ever forgive him; he felt like his heart had died.
He realized quite suddenly that regardless of what garbage he told himself, or felt once in a while, he didn't want to die. He knew that there was no heaven, or if there was, there was no place for him there. Almost entirely certain that daemon and human alike were released as arbitrary energy upon death, he knew that he didn't want to part with Aero, even if what came after was oblivion, and he technically would never know.
Slowly his thoughts uncrossed themselves and sped up to almost their regular vigor. He shakily lifted his head from the sterile white floor and looked around, blinking in the bright neon light. He could hear dim voices of conversation, but could not detect their source. He saw the great bladed machine, gleaming newly and unstained in the brightness, but did not dwell on it. His heart hurt him, and tears streamed down his face, although he could not feel it due to the anesthetic he had been given. His hand, shaking terribly, descended upon Aerotsierma's formerly beautiful rusty coat. Now, however, it was hard and sticky, coated with dried blood.
Tobias dragged himself on the floor with bloody palms. Although he could feel almost no pain within his body, he could also not feel anything, merely a terrible, all-consuming numbless. Nonetheless, he pulled the curled-up fox toward his chest, stroking her, his tears falling onto her fur. "Oh, Aerotsierma," he whispered, knowing that something within his mind was unbelievably wrong. What had caused him to do that? How? Human beings did not have fights with their daemons. They just didn't. Especially not like ... not like that. Never. Never.
"Never. Never. I'm so sorry. Never ..."
Slowly but surely, Aerotsierma's amber eyes flickered in the bright light and she raised her head. Wordlessly, her eyes and actions telling what a million words could not, she raised her head and nuzzled her human affectionately. She shed no tears; daemons do not cry. That was the human's job. So there, as Tobias sat in the middle of the previously white floor in a dried puddle of his own blood, he cried enough for the both of them.
Eventually the numbness in his body dulled and Tobias felt life returning to him. He had been doctored up quite a bit, and apparently by extremely skilled doctors. He knew that he had been on the brink of death; ever since he had gotten shot in the head by Breyman he knew that the slightest thing, the tiniest hit in the right place, would kill him. I'm so weak, he thought bitterly. Weak enough to not be able to win this fight. Weak enough to almost beat my own daemon to death.
Aerotsierma heard his thoughts, felt the terrifying, hideous, almost irrepressible wave of self-loathing that surfaced and translated almost instantly into anger and depression. She couldn't let that happen to him. If daemons could cry, she would've. She felt horrible -- what kind of daemon is so bad, so ill-suited to their human, that they cause the person whose soul they're supposed to be to attempt to beat them to death? Aerotsierma shuddered at the thought, startled at how much of Tobias's weakness were contained in her, as well. But she knew she couldn't let him have those feelings; she had to try harder.
"Tobias. No, don't feel like that. It's okay."
His daemon knew that it was her fault, and that it should be him forgiving her, but she also knew that it wasn't his way of thinking, that he was inclined to blame himself, so it was what he had wanted to hear. What he needed to hear. She bore no grudge against him at all, of course. How could she? It was her fault, and ...
"Aero. No."
Tobias took his daemon gently by the shoulders and stared into her hurt, tender, intelligent amber eyes. "It is not your fault. Listen to me, Aero. Something went wrong when I did that. Something up here ..." he gently tapped his head, a horribly troubled look on his face. "Something up here isn't as it should be. I realize that now. I refuse to believe that I'm entirely innocent for the actions I've committed in the past, but there can't possibly be anything I've done that would deserving of what I did to you. To us." His tears had dried, but his eyes reflected more pain than most humans would have to endure in ten lifetimes. "I'll never, ever do anything like that again. If I do, I'll kill myself. I swear." His voice choked. Aerotsierma flattered her ears and nuzzled him gently. He continued. "You have no idea how much I love you. I'm so, so sorry." He was whispering now. The pain in his voice was quite palpable. "Please forgive me."
"But Tobias, I have nothing to forgive, it was my f--"
"No! Don't do that. Say that again and I'll gouge through my own skin, and then only I'll feel that pain. No, Aero, no. You are as loyal and trusting as a daemon could be, and here I've gone and ... and broken that trust ... I ... it's worse than murder. What I did was worse than murder."
"If it's what you want to hear, Tobias, then I forgive you," she whispered. Tobias stared at her. "You'll never trust me again, will you?" The fox opened her mouth to tell him that there's no way she could force herself to betray him, even if she wanted to, but he didn't let her reply. Instead he said, "And you're right. I ... I don't deserve you."
Aero felt it again, the awful wave of self-hatred within him. But this time it was almost overwhelming, a sickening feeling that felt like the gouging of insides. She shrugged the hideous feeling away and stood firm. "Listen to me, Tobias. I know you don't really feel that way, because I am you, and I know what I feel. So whatever this is that we're going through, we have to snap out of it, and now. Look around you. We're in a bit of situation, here. I suggest that you put all that angsty, suicidal, self-pity crap away for the time being and let's figure out a way to escape this place."
Tobias was utterly stunned; never before had his daemon spoken to him like that. But it had the desired effect, and he knew that she was right. She was always right. She knew him better than anyone; she knew him better than he knew himself. Before he could reply, Aero said, "And do not even think about making yourself suffer for hurting me. Tobias, you've suffered a billions times more than what you should have already."
Alright. Tobias, snap out of this. Now.
Shakily, with heaving breaths, he stood to his feet and hugged his daemon close. "Aerotsierma?" he said quietly, closing his eyes against her fur. "Promise me something." The fox turned her head and licked his nose.
"Anything."
"Never leave me. Ever. Please. I don't know what I could do without you. When I seem to be going over the edge like that, you can't let me. Do whatever you have to, but don't let me lose myself again. Please. And don't leave me. Don't leave me."
"I couldn't, Tobias. There's no way that I could by my own volition. You even worked out the math of it, once, remember? How the greatest possible will of a daemon to do such a thing would go far, far beyond the pain capacity that either of them could feel. They'd die before they'd let it hap--"
"Just promise me."
"...Okay, Tobias. I promise."
Suddenly the loud noise of a metal door swinging open cut through the silence. Three men in white lab coats walked briskly into the room. One had a clipboard, and all of them looked inordinately nervous. Even their three various small-dog daemons seemed anxious.
Eventually one of them came over to the boy. The man gave him the strangest look. What was it? Not anger, surely. Pity, maybe? How strange. Tobias had no time to react, however, for at that instant the two other lab-coated men leapt forward, grabbing him roughly and pushing him down. Swift and wordless, the third whipped a sort of collar from a coat pocket and straddled his back as his two partners held Tobias's arms. The third fixed the band around his head tightly, locking it with some sort of complex built-in computer code panel. From the band he withdrew a sort of thin, wicked-looking hook; this he drove into the back of Tobias's head with a single swift, fluid motion.
"Aaaaarrrrrggghhhnnnnnhh!"
Tobias roared in pain and then lie slightly more still. The three scientists backed away from the face-down boy, murmuring to one another. He got shakily to his feet, collecting his daemon and staring angrily at his tormentors. Before he could asked, the first one explained.
"You have been fitted with a state-of-the-art designed mechanism that has only been developed in this facility within the last few months. That is made out of solid seraphium, completely impenetrable by absolutely anything other than the code which must be entered in that panel in order to unlock the device."
Immediately, as he was slightly recovered, Tobias made his move. He opened his mind and delved it into the first scientists', prepared to find the code within seconds for later usage.
To his surprise and horror, he found nothing there. It wasn't emptiness, it was more like ... a wall. A solid black veil, hiding him entirely and effectively from anything that lie beyond. A split-second later, such a powerful shock shot through his body that he fell to his knees as his body spasmed with electricity. The excruciating pain was over in a second, though, and he stood again, shaking much more now, the faint smell of burning hair and flesh sizzling in the sterile air.
"That is the brilliance of it, you see. Your Powers of the Mind, absolutely all of them, are blocked by this device. And every time you try, you get shocked. And each time is twice as powerful as the last. It's exponential, you see." While there could have been triumph and haughty sneering in the scientist's eyes, Tobias still found nothing but that bizarre, inexplicable look of pity.
Tobias was forced into being cleaned, but he was glad of the shower, even if he was being scrutinized at all times by no less than three guards. He made sure to scrub every fleck of blood from his body, loathing the feeling that it gave him to be on his flesh. And his hands ... the hands that he had tortured his daemon with ... he scrubbed until they bled themselves, repeating the cycle over again entirely.
His daemon was cleaned, as well, until her coat was lustrous and soft again, and her wounds were healed when Tobias's were. Their technology was so effective at healing wounds that Tobias could almost feel nothing of the gunshot wound he had been previously given.
At last he and his daemon were led up to the white room again. The blood on the floor had been cleaned up entirely ... or was this another identical room? Tobias couldn't think. He couldn't remember tracking his way back to the same exact location. But then he saw the guillotine machine, and he knew. His heart plummeted. Everything that he had done earlier, reconciliation with Aerotsierma, self-agreement that he did not want to die -- all would be undone. Obsolete.
And he was powerless to stop it. Six heavily-armed guards blocked the cell doorway, and he could not possibly hope to even escape, for he had no power of his brilliant mind. And although death would be arguably better than what he knew he was about to be subjected to, he knew that they would not kill him. They'd force him into it, kicking and screaming all the way. Quickly and silently, Aero and Tobias passed these feelings between them, and she agreed with her human: death was better. Even though there was nothing they could do ...
Wait. No. There was one thing.
As he was being led to the seraphium cage that was connected to one side of the machine, he tried to use his mental powers, fully aware of what would happen. A terrible shock immediately coursed through his body, hideous, so strong that it burnt his flesh and almost caused him to void his bladder. But he ignored the pain and did it again. Again. Again.
"Stop it!" It was one of the scientists. "It won't kill you. It's been programmed to cause hideous pain until it causes irreversible brain-damage, but it cannot kill. It will not kill. So stop doing that." No, Tobias hadn't just been imagining it. There really was pity in his eyes. In his voice. He didn't like what he had been sent there to do that day. He didn't like it one bit.
But he, just like Tobias, was powerless.
Tobias decided to make a run for it anyway, full aware that it was entirely hopeless; Tobias, however, was not the type of person to go down without a fight. He suddenly broke from the arms of the scientists and sprinted toward the door; to his immense surprise and suspicion, no one came after him. However, he noticed that Aerotsierma was not with him far before he reached the padlocked steel door, and felt a painful tug as he realized she wasn't coming. And suddenly he felt that wicked, sick feeling of another's hands being on his own daemon; he choked in loathing and stopped in his tracks. Turning around slowly, he saw that one of the scientists had thrust his dear, precious Aero into one of the seraphium cages and sealed it. Her pain-riddled face stared at him through the clear metal.
Seraphium was a recently discovered element, a powerful metal that was many times the strength of diamond; nothing could break it. It had the amazing quality of actually being very clear, almost as much so as glass. Tobias knew that it was a very expensive substance, and figured that Dune must've stolen a great deal of what he had.
Tobias stared dumbly at the other cage that was connected by quite a few wires to the cage which held Aerotsierma. It was, of course, empty. The three scientists stared nervously at Tobias, unwilling to do what they were about to have to do. The guards at the door also looked at one another, tensing up, prepared to get involved if they must. Tobias was caught in between the two groups of Dune's men, until he finally noticed one of the scientists giving a small nod to the men behind him.
And all at once, he went down. Two powerful men with large dog daemons slammed into him heavily, grabbing him by the arms and thrusting him toward the cage. He screamed and raged, thrashing wildly, calling out his daemon's name, but to no avail. He couldn't do anything with the barrier on his mind, and soon found himself thrust into the previously empty box-like cage. He fell to the floor, body heaving with unshed tears. "No ..." he muttered. "Aero ... please ..." But Aerotsierma could do nothing, either. The two stared at each other other through two solid walls of an indestructible metal, only a meter or so apart and yet infinitely so.
But the scientists were waiting for something; Tobias, even as he was preparing himself for the dismemberment of his soul, noticed this. A moment later, the door to the white room was flung open and two guards came in, carrying another seraphium cage on a wheeled platform, as it would be far too heavy to carry themselves.
While Tobias was trying to figure out the purpose of this, the guards set the cage to the floor, between and behind Tobias and Aero and close to the great blade.The guards then nodded and quickly left the room. Even they did not want to be around when this happened.
One of the scientists then proceeded to hook up the various wires that dangled from the third cage to the bladed machine. Tobias noticed that somehow these wires were different. He felt a much-recognized stab of fear and loathing, but he couldn't figure this one out. What was going on here?!
They waited nervously, guards, scientists and subjects alike, until finally Tobias's nagging question was answered.
The door flung open again and this time a nightmare ambled through. A dark, soulless, twisted being that defied all sense of human reasoning, a cloak covering his head and shoulders, even now unwilling to let others see his face. Only his eyes peered through, as liquid and mercurial as obsidian. Darkness seemed to emanate from it, dulling the disturbingly white room with an evil shadow.
It was, of course, Sidney Dune.
Triumph dancing in his mercurial eyes, the Tyrant strode to the cage which Tobias was contained within. "Well, my boy, we meet again. And there for a while I thought you were gone for good. But you alwaysss come back, don't you? Ssssomehow."
Tobias tried desperately to control himself, for this creature arose more hate and loathing than anything possibly could. He knew that he was trapped in this box, a barrier on his mind, a complicated computer panel coded to keep the cage shut, far beyond his grasp. There was nothing he could do. Anger would lend him no strength this time.
"Before your world isss torn apart, I want to tell you a little ssstory."
Silence, and Tobias waited.
"You've alwaysss wondered how I came to be the way I am, haven't you?" Again he paused, and again Tobias gave him nothing. "Well, let me tell you. I sssuposssse you have the right to know.
"Long ago, I was an entirely normal human being. No different from the average idiot on the street, with a lovely, gentle, sweet daemon of my own. I was no older than you at the time, boy. During those days, my society and yours were entirely set apart, and between us there was no hatred, no loathing, although perhaps a little bit of jealously. But nothing that would drive either side to violence. For the most part, anyway."
He stared at Tobias, daring him to respond. He didn't.
"One day I became curious of the people with the power of the mind, so I went to observe some of them. I was a very intelligent young human, with much dangerous curiosity. There was a small group of children there, with powers such as yours, playing around like the idiots they were. They were practicing with their powers, if I recall correctly. Malicious, stupid beings that they were. One of them had a very powerful gift, something along the lines of the ability to transform matter directly into energy, with no explosion. Just a single, quiet transformation. It defies my knowledge of physics, to tell you the truth.
"Anyway, here I was, observing this group of humans, when suddenly they spotted me. They were cruel and heartless, even for children, and they decided to torture me, knowing I was from the society 'below' them, not worthy of their presence. So the one with the power of matter-energy transformation tortured my dear daemon until she was nothing but floating particles of energy. Tortured her and I together until I was screaming in human pain as my daemon was torn away by those cruel and heartless little shits, the--"
"Shut up! That isn't true!" Tobias's angry shout tore through the Tyrant's rant. Dune paused and stared at him, hatred and loathing pooling in his mysterious eyes, but he said nothing. Tobias went on.
"I heard about that; it happened a long time ago. There was a boy that had been harassing some kids with the power of the mind, and it was he who had been torturing them! They were too young to have even discovered their individual gifts yet! The normal kid tortured one of them to death with naught but his own hands, and finally the kid just exploded! Desperation made his gift arise, and the bully's daemon just happened to be in the way. It was an accident. The kid was saving his own life!"
"Silence! I will not be talked back to by such utter scum as you!"
Tobias stared at the Tyrant through the seraphium barrier. "You mean to tell me that that was you? But they told us in school about this incident, and we learned that you died. That without your daemon, with it dead, you couldn't be alive, and so you died. And even so, the child that had 'killed' your daemon was threatened with a very hefty sentence, he--"
"He was your father."
Tobias stared at him in shock. Surely he must be kidding! "That can't be true. My father did not have that gift. He had the gift of the ability to move objects with his mind. You're lying!"
Dune leaned down and stared at Tobias directly through the clear metal. "You don't actually think that your father would go through life with that gift, do you? He killed another's daemon with it. That's about the worst crime a human being can commit. Imagine having that on his conscience!"
Tobias just stared at him, refusing to believe. But now, with this knowledge, things were beginning to fall into place just a little bit more. Things were beginning to make a bit of sense.
"There is a very complicated process that a Gifted human can go through to change his gift," Dune continued. "It is almost impossible to do unless there is a huge amount of incentive. And trust me, your father had a huge amount of incentive. And so he was able to do it. After that first time, he never used his original gift again.
"After this happened, after my daemon was destroyed, I could hardly go on, but I wasn't dead, somehow. I wasn't consumed with that complete and utter apathy that separated humans will experience. But still, I was too weak and listless to live a decent life. I had been born a very rich human, and so was able to collect a few very loyal minions that would follow me for my intellect and my wealth. A few of them were skilled underground scientists, and they were paid to put me through an experiment that changed me altogether. They gave me terrific strength of body, mind and soul alike, but in the process it changed me into a hideous, disgusting beast. That's what I am today, you see. No one here has ever looked upon my true face, and none ever will.
"Even after this, after I was filled with this incredible, all-consuming strength, there was something missing. Several somethings, actually. First and foremost was my need for revenge. So I grew in power and wealth, none daring to oppose me after they witnessed my might, until I had enough to build this fortress and round up all of your kind. At first I figured I'd merely torture your father, but that was too easy, you see. I needed more than that.
"Second was the hole created by the lack of my daemon. My scientists told me that if one of your people submitted and gave up their power to me, the energy created by that Gift could be translated into a sort of internal daemon that would ease that terrible pain inside. It wouldn't be quite the same as having a real, material daemon, but it would be enough so that my mind and soul wouldn't scream in agony at the infernal emptiness I experienced every day of my life.
"But I came to realize that none of your people would ever give that power up, regardless of how much I threatened and tortured. So I picked your people off, one by one. And then I realized that even torturing and destroying your father would not be enough revenge. I wanted to cause the most pain to something else, the thing he held most dear to him. Even in the Land of the Dead now, he is sensing the horrible pain that I am causing to the most precious thing to him, more precious, perhaps than even his own daemon. For that is often how it works with parents and children, you see -- the one true form of unconditional love. Even beyond death."
Dune stared at Tobias harder, triumph and insanity dancing in those horrible eyes. "Your father loved you, Tobias."
Tobias shuddered in hatred, but he did nothing. He said nothing. Dune was not yet finished with his tale. "So of course I had to torture his son. Only then would I feel peace."
Tobias could contain himself no longer. "What?! So you're telling me that you had to destroy an entire race of people, had to commit genocide, just so you could feel at peace? And what's more is that what happened to you to make you crave revenge was an accident! You're a fool! I'll kill you, you fucking son of a bitch! I'll-- aaarrgghhnn!" In his apex of anger, Tobias had unintentionally attempted to strike out at Dune with his mind. The result was a literally mind-blowing electrical shock.
"Stop being foolish, boy. Anyway, as I was saying, my revenge has almost been satisfied, but my need for a daemon has not. Until my scientists came up with the little experiment that we'll be undergoing today." He grinned maniacally at Tobias, and then that was that. The conversation was over.
Dune strode toward the third, empty cage and stepped inside. One of the scientists scurried quickly forward to shut the door and enter the code into the computer panel on the seraphium cage.
And all at once, Tobias knew what was going to happen. Tears beaded his eyes once more, and he struck the metal as hard as he could with his fist in desperation. Of course it did nothing. Then he tried to choke himself with his own hands, tried to kill himself then and there, but electricity coursed through his body as one of the scientists hit a control that would keep the boy from killing himself. He needed to be alive for this.
And then it happened. Insane energy permeated the air, and the wires connecting the three cages snapped and crackled as if they were alive. And the great blade, made of the same substance that the Subtle Knife was made from, groaned and began to descend.
Tobias was shaking with the crackling energy that surged through him. Aerotsierma was howling in very canine-like torment, knowing that she was about to be torn from her human forever.
In a last-ditch attempt to save the life of himself and his daemon, Tobias ignored the excruciating pain of the violent surges of electricity and sent out wave after wave of brainpower at the blade, willing it, urging it to stop. His head felt like it was about to explode as the energy coursed through him, tearing his brain and flesh apart.
The blade drew lower, gathering speed as it fell. And suddenly Tobias felt it -- that evil wrench unlike anything he had ever felt as the very Dust that held him to his daemon was torn away, layer by layer; he could feel his very daemon being torn away from his soul.
But energy could not be created or destroyed. It could only be transferred.
The scientists' faces flickered with incredulity and undeniable horror in the electrical light as the energy was slowly but surely pulled away from Tobias and swirled inexorably through the wires to the cage of the waiting Sidney Dune. It was horrible. It was more wrong, even, than Tobias beating his own daemon almost to death. It was beyond wrong. Totally and completely beyond it.
At the top of the metallic guillotine was a digital percentage on an LCD display; it was the percentage of the bond of Tobias's daemon that was still connected to him. The number had started, of course, at 100%, and the procedure would be completed when the number reached 0%. Right now, however, it was at 43%. Tobias was less than halfway connected to his own daemon.
Suddenly, as the air was seemingly about to explode with pain and wrongness and crackling, blue and white energy, the seraphium collar that was strapped around Tobias's head began to splinter. He started screaming out his own daemon's name in a horrific pain beyond any comprehension, and finall, as the procedure was about to be completed, the collar snapped entirely and in a huge, pent-up explosion of metal energy, a white crackling ball of electricity tore from Tobias's mind and shattered the guillotine just as it was about to part the last remaining strands of Tobias's bond with Aerotsierma.
The LCD display flickered once, and then stopped. At 4%.
Dune stood up and howled in his seraphium cage in pure triumph. Even though it had not been completed, it was by far enough. Exactly 96% of Tobias's daemon now belonged to Sidney Dune.
Tobias fell to the floor, utterly defeated, beyond even pain now. No living creature should have to endure half of what he had now gone through. He was far beyond consciousness now, though. And he would, perhaps, never return.
Smoke sizzled into the air as the electricity was shut down and the scientists scurried forward to enter the code that would open Dune's door. It bleeped once and then the powerful creature, now almost infinitely more powerful, slammed the door open and leapt through. He strode immediately to Aerotsierma's cage door, ripped the code in, and flung the door open. The daemon, too, was unconscious, but as Dune picked her up, he felt the connection. It no longer felt quite so weird to touch another human's daemon.
Dune howled an inhuman shriek of pure triumph to the world around, electricity still fizzling in the air. He had won. Nothing could stop him now. He could rule the world with the power now contained within him. For the first time in decades, he felt whole again.
He whirled around to the guards, pointing at Tobias with a wicked, serrated claw. "Take that to the infirmary. Keep him alive, through IV if necessary. I want to talk to him when he awakes. No matter what you do, keep him alive. I don't want to find out what happens to this daemon if her original human was to die. Even if they're only connected by a few tiny strands of Dust!"
The scientists bowed low and complied immediately, carrying Tobias's almost lifeless body away.
Dune stroked Aerotsierma gently with a claw, compelling her to awake. Never had he felt so wondrous; nothing could stop him now! Nothing!
He had a daemon.
And Tobias had none.
(Author's Note: Hmm ... do you think I went too far that time? Don't worry -- it will all work out in the end. I promise. Don't forget to review. Or I'll cry. I will!)
