'Qetsiyah…'
Her draconic name was but a whisper on the wind, lost amidst the cacophony of the storm. Lyris looked around but there was no one else braving these treacherous waters.
'Qetsiyah…'
It was a bit clearer, but the speaker still wasn't visible.
'Hello?' Lyris called out. Her voice echoed strangely over the raging ocean.
Sea water sprayed in her face, momentarily obscuring her vision.
'Qetsiyah.' The voice was right behind her.
Lyris turned and saw Bahamut sitting on the boat. He gestured for her to take a seat.
'Couldn't have chosen a calmer location to chat?' Lyris asked. She remained standing, but it was hard to maintain dignity, and balance, when the water swelled underneath.
'It's your dream. I cannot change every aspect. And maybe it's for the best you confront your fears.'
'Fears? I have been out through hell, and everyday I go through even worse. When I think it's reach the pinnacle, their minds dredge up new, disgusting ways to torment me. If you have any love for me, Bahamut, you will kill me. You already said you're not willing to free me. So just kill me. I can't do it.' The tears started falling slowly. But once they started they wouldn't stop. 'Please...kill me.'
Bahamut looked at her in sympathy. 'My sweet child. I will not kill you. I cannot. You are stronger than the trials you face. To you, they may seem like mindlessly acts of cruelty. And right now, they are just that. But you will overcome this. You will escape. And you will be reborn all the stronger because of it.'
Lyris glared him through her tears. ' I'm sick of the bullshit and platitudes. You can shove it all up your ass.'
'I know your frustrated, Qetsiyah, but-'.
'Leave me alone.'
Bahamut reached for her hand.
'I SAID LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE!' Lyris slapped his hand aside.
Her sudden movement caused the boat to rock on the unsteady waters. The boat tilted hard on starboard and capsized. Bahamut vanished, dissolving in the water like mist. Lyris woke up, drenched in sweat, lying on the dungeon floor. She took small comfort that she was alone, no obtuse god or psychopathic torturer in sight.
Her hands still ached, but they had been dressed, cleaned too from the smell. She pushed herself up from the ground and ran up the stairs, taking two at a time. The door was locked. Lyris banged her shoulder against it but all she achieved was a minor ache in her joint. It would not rend under force.
She heard a key turning in the lock. Lyris instinctually stepped back, hurrying back downstairs. A guard stepped in, one she didn't recognise. He held a tray with a bowl and cup on it. He placed it down on the floor in front of Lyris, and left. She exhaled deeply when he was gone. She grabbed the cup and downed the water. It was slightly warm but she didn't care. Next she grabbed the bowl, that was nothing more than a thin, brown broth but she gulped it down, trying not the imagine what the stringy, grey meat was. It was sustenance, and that was all that mattered.
The guard reentered a minute after she finished. He said nothing, just silently picked up the tray.
'Ex...excuse me?'
To her surprise he stopped and turned. 'What is it, slave?'
'Why am I locked in here?'
'The Ambassador's orders. I don't know why specifically, and I dare not ask.'
'He doesn't want me working?'
'Apparently not. He said you are not to leave this room.'
'Can I at least see Nerissa?'
'Like I said you are not to leave this room.'
'You could bring her-'
'Slaves do not make demands of their betters! And the other slave is busy. Now you are locked up, she has double the work to do.' He began to leave. Lyris chased him up the stairs.
'Wait I just want to-'
He turned and delivered a swift key to her midriff. Lyris crashed heavily down the stairs, slamming onto the stone ground below. Her entire body ached. She lay on the ground gasping as the pain momentarily paralysed her.
'Know your place, slave.'
He slammed the door behind him, the key turning the lock back into place. Lyris stayed on the ground. Her entire body hurt, but her hands the worst. She remembered the glee in Andro's eyes when she first started screaming. The utter joy from her begs. He enjoyed it. And he was going to do it again, not just to break her, but because it brought his sick mind pleasure. Lyris hugged her knees to her chest and wept. She couldn't go through it again. She couldn't. She would do anything to avoid such pain again, pride be damned.
Andro had already broken her.

Lyris had passed out at some point. Locked in the room with no way to distract her mind there was nothing more for her to do but wait. The turning of the key woke her up. She sat up, grimacing at the stiffness in her body from falling asleep on such a hard surface. But that was the least of her troubles.
Andro slowly stepped down the stairs. 'Afternoon. Apologies I could not visit you earlier. Family brunch.'
Lyris slowly crawled backwards away from the man.
'I'm sensing fear from you. That's a good sign. Means we're making progress.'
Lyris continued recoiling him as he drew closer. Her back hit a solid wall. Andro paused and knelt down in front of her.
'So...why don't we continue where we left off yesterday, hm?'

It was impossible to determine the passage of time. With no light from the outside, the days bled into each other, and whatever routine Lyris had was gone. She ate whenever food was available, and she slept whenever she felt tired, and when Andro was done with her.
He didn't take anymore skin, but he took nails, whipped her back, cut incisions all over her arms and legs. He even experimented with fire, applying a hot iron to her sternum and setting her left arm on fire. That wound was probably one of her worst. The pain kept her awake and feeble for days, and she knew for certain that would be one scar she would have forever. It was ugly. Pink and marbled, and for the first few days it wept blood and pus from the countless blisters.
This was the only life Lyris knew. Endless pain and torment. She thought on the words Bahamut had told her, that this would make her stronger. She repeated it to herself in her head as her body was put through unspeakable horrors. But simple words weren't enough to soothe her. Hope and belief decayed into oblivion. She didn't even have the strength left in her to fight back, or feel anger. She was so tired. She wanted rest.
Lyris was unsure how much time had passed, but as she lay there, battered and bleeding. She yearned for nothing but an end. She couldn't stand, but she used her arms to drag her tired body over to the table of instruments. Her hands groped around until she felt the cool steel of a blade. She pulled it off the table. Her arm collapsed to her side.
Lyris propped herself up against the table, staring at the dagger in her hands.
'Child...don't do this'
Bahamut had appeared in a human form at her side. Of course, now he chose to show up.
'You aren't helping me. Got to take matters into my own hands.'
'It's almost over, my child.'
Lyris held the dagger out in both hands, the tip pointed at her chest. 'Yes, it is.'
'Stop!' He grabbed her hands before she could plunge the dagger into her chest.
'Why?' Tears streamed down her face. 'You won't deliver me from this hell! You refused me the mercy of death! Now you won't even let me take my own life!?'
'This is not how you end, Qetsiyah. Not in some dungeon, broken and beaten. This is not your end.'
'I want it to be!'
I'm sorry.' Bahamut removed the dagger from her grip. For the first time ever, Bahamut wrapped his arms around her. 'There are brighter days ahead, child. And that's why you're going to continue to live. And one day, when the sun can never shine brighter, and your are surrounded by love and happiness, you will thank yourself for finding the strength to continue.'
Lyris didn't say anything. She just sobbed against his shoulder. The door opened. Bahamut vanished into nothingness. His absence left her feeling cold.
'Please...don't go,' she whispered to the empty space he had once filled.

Breathing was difficult. Every breath her emaciated body tried to drag in scraped painfully against her parched throat and was followed by a hollow rattle in her chest. Her swollen tongue darted out to try in vain to moisten her cracked and bleeding lips.

Time was still lost. Lyris was sure they must have forgotten about her, or had decided to let her decay in here. Too long since she had seen another living creature, other than the odd rat scurrying past.
The metal door leading into the dungeon creaked open. The light from the torch the guard carried blinded her. The rats scattered with terrified squeaks.
'Let's go slave. His lordship wants to see you in his quarters.'
Lyris's knees whined with pain as she straightened out her legs that had been folded for an unfathomable amount of time. Her legs shook uncontrollably as she tried to take a step forward. They gave out completely as blackness coated her vision and she collapsed at the foot of the stairs. The guard grabbed the chain connected to her collar and gave it a hard, upwards tug. Her vision cleared, giving her a clear view of his visage twisted into annoyance
'Do I have to whip you? Walk!'
She tried again and made it to the railing of the steps, using it as support. Reaching the top felt like a true accomplishment. She hesitated at the open door. Lyris hasn't stepped foot outside the dungeon since originally being brought down here. She gave up hope of leaving long ago. The sentries standing guard observed her closely as she was dragged through the hallways, ending in front of a door situated on the highest storey of the mansion. The guard knocked.
'Enter,' Andro said from the other side.
The guard opened the door and pushed Lyris inside. 'Brought the slave, as requested my Lord.'
'Wonderful, thank you Ainsley. Return to your post.'
Ainsley saluted sharply and closed the door as he took his leave.
Lyris glanced about the quarters as Andro kept her waiting. It was comprised of the two floors, the lower of which contained a mini-library of four fully-stocked bookshelves clustered around a few plush armchairs, a desk and a fireplace set into the walls. Directly to Lyris's left was a staircase leading up to a second-floor. She couldn't see what was up there but she deduced it was where he slept.
'Come sit,' he instructed, gesturing to the other chair besides the hearth.
Lyris slowly made her way over. She was not eager to be within close proximity of him. Just looking at him brought back the pain, as fresh and real as when he first inflicted it upon her When she finally sat down, Andro leaned in close to her.
'How are you feeling?'
Lyris hands curled into fists as she felt a flash of heat where her hands had been flayed. The skin was still red and raw. An unbearable itch set in her burn. She shifted her arm.
'I don't know how to answer that,' she replied eventually.
'I see. No smart comments or angry outbursts, at least. I have a feeling you will be an excellent addition to my collection. 'Indulge me with another question, Lyris. Do you know what is happening in three days time?'
She shook her head.
'Another auction. It has only been six months since the last, but I thought I might attend regardless. It goes without saying you and Nerissa will be accompanying me. She has served me faithfully for close to a year, but she's grown dull and even your sharp edges are rounded off now. I'm in need of fresh blood to spill.' He licked his lips in anticipation. 'So we will set off in a few hours. You and Nerissa need to pack my belongings and ready the carriage….
His words were last to a roaring in her ears as her heart hammered in panic. She barely heard any of the words after "six months". The room seemed to tilt around her. Half a year. Half a year of her life, lost to agony and torment. Half a year she would never reclaim, nor forget. Half a year, that she would wear on her skin for the rest of her life. A future of ugly, bitter reminders, and probing questions and judgements from others. What would she tell them, when people asked? A sweet lie of how she earned them from honorable combat? Or the ugly truth she was a marked, wretched being that had been dragged through the filth that lay within the heads of truly sickening people. Lyris would never be clean again.
'Well?' Andro snapped, pulling her back to the present. 'What are you waiting for?'
Obedient and quiet, she left the room. Mindlessly, she followed the familiar path back to her chambers, where Nerissa waited.
Nothing happened for a few seconds. Then she wept. Slowly and quietly, before deteriorating into loud sobs that shook her entire slender frame. She slid her arms around Lyris as she cried. The front of her shift quickly grew damp, and she wasn't certain if it was Nerissa's tears or her own. Lyris held onto her fiercely, needing the feel of another's arms around her as much as she did.
'I thought you were dead,' Nerissa whispered, slowly calming down.
'For the longest time, I thought I would be.' Lyris pulled back to look her in the face. 'Nerissa, I think Andro is going to...dispose of you. He said as much.'
'He plans to at the auction in a few days, I know.'
'You don't seem to be afraid.'
'There are worse things than death. Haven't you learned that by now? I'm so tired, Ly.'
'Don't worry. We'll both be free soon. I'll make sure of it.'
There it was. A small spark of hope that was exactly what she needed: another point of focus outside of the pain. And a reason for her to continue dragging out her existence, to save that of another. One so much more deserving than herself.
Lyris squeezes Nerissa tightly in her arms. 'We'll be free.'

Actions