Chapter 15: The Torture Rooms
The Transept was oddly familiar, as if I had already seen the spiraling staircase vanishing into the ceiling, or the cages hanging from the stone roof. The large windows casting an eerie blue tint to the atmosphere also caught my attention. Have I… been here before? Tossing a hopeful glance at my companions, I noticed that Daniel seemed jittery. He was avoiding my gaze, directing his emerald eyes elsewhere. I was about to speak, but Isabelle interrupted.
"Agrippa said that there are orb pieces in the Transept and the Choir," She started, "There are three rooms in here, so I say we should split up."
"B-but that's not the wisest thing to d-do." Daniel stammered. Now I definitely knew something was wrong with the man. Did he know something that we didn't? Something about the Transept was obviously putting the man on edge, but what? Turning my attention back onto the main room, I stared for a moment longer, ignoring my friends as they began to make their way toward the staircase. That's when the memories came flooding back.
My cell door creaked open, allowing light to flood into the small chamber. Two men stood in the doorway, nothing more than silhouettes in my blurred vision.
"This one." One of the strangers said, voice deep and elderly. His companion entered my prison, reached down, and grasped my arm firmly.
"Don't you dare touch me!" I spat, only to receive a stinging blow across the face. While I was stunned, the two dragged me from the cell and onto the walkway beyond. The older man tied my wrists together, ensuring that I wouldn't make any attempts to fight. That's when I was led away.
Only when we entered the room with the cages hanging from the ceiling, did I begin to struggle. Desperately, I tried to twist my way out of the bindings, knowing that I was being escorted to the torture chambers.
"Stop it!" The younger of the two hissed, raising his hand to strike.
"Please, p-please don't take me!" I pleaded, "I haven't done anything!" My claims were ignored, and we soon entered the room on the far right.
"I'll let you take it from here, Daniel." The older man said, leaving the two of us alone. Daniel reached for my arm, but I swatted him away.
"You aren't going to hurt me!" I snapped. His emerald eyes were instantly alive with irritation and abhorrence, causing me to flinch at his sudden anger. He reached toward the table filled with torturous instruments and grabbed the whip before striking me over the head with the handle. The sudden blossom of pain caused my legs to buckle, and while I was on the floor, Daniel lashed out again. This time, everything went black.
"Felix, are you going to stand there all day?" Isabelle called out, voice snapping me out of the memory. Speechless and stunned, I turned my gaze toward the woman, unsure of how I'd explain what I just recalled. I could hear her let out a hiss of frustration, but Daniel, who was by her side, remained silent. There's no way in hell I'll go any further. This is where I was whipped, and frankly, I don't want to see that place ever again. I turned around and made my way toward the exit.
"Hey, get back here!" She yelled, "You aren't leaving us again." The woman was really starting infuriate me. I stood in front of the door, listening as she shouted and complained, telling me that I was a coward and selfish. Isabelle, would you be kind enough to shut up? For once? I realized that if I left, I'd never hear the end of it. With a long sigh, I whipped around and stalked over to the stairs, casting a glance at Daniel. The man averted his gaze to the floor, avoiding my wrathful eyes. When I turned to Isabelle, her face was lit up with triumph.
"The quicker we explore, the quicker we get out of this hellhole." She sneered. I wonder what happened to you. I thought you had changed after the kiss in the Cistern, yet now you've become even worse… I mused as we headed for the door on the far left. Daniel gingerly opened the door, and we were greeted with a dark hallway. The three of us were silent as we made our way down the gloomy path, stopping only when another door came into sight. It looked similar to the ones in the prison: heavy, metal, and with a barred window at the top.
Hastily, I threw the hefty door open, only to recoil when I saw the device. In the center of the room was a small table. Above the table was some sort of pulley-system; shackles hanging loosely at the end. At the foot of the table were more shackles, and to the right of the room, was a wheel.
We were all disgusted, but faintly wondering what the device actuallydid. Daniel was shaking, obviously uncomfortable about our environment, but didn't complain. We searched quietly, tension high in the air. I opened the closet, thoughts in a haze, but when I saw something glowing, I was immediately snapped out of my trance.
"Hey, I found an orb piece." I said flatly, reaching down to pick up the section. The orb's color kept changing at a rapid pace, as if unhappy with just one hue.
"Good, now let's get out of this room." Daniel's voice was barely audible as he took the orb piece from my hands. We didn't hesitate in leaving the chamber shortly after.
After we had made our way back to the main room, we paused. I don't want to know what's in the other two rooms… I can't remember which one I was taken to, but I don't want to find out. Can't we go up the staircase instead?
"Let's go into the middle room," Isabelle stated, pointing towards the door that led into who-knows-what. I let out a sigh of reluctance, but followed anyway. If I don't go along, Isabelle will get even angrier. I don't want to deal with that right now.
We made our way through another dim hallway, but Daniel was stumbling around, eyes glazed over. Honestly, what is that? A flashback or something? I thought, casting a glance over my shoulder at the man. When we reached the prison-like door, color had returned to his emerald eyes.
"Okay, let's not stay too long in here. Just find the orb piece and get out." I said, voice quivering noticeably. I pushed open the heavy door, only to be bewildered when I saw what looked like a pyramid in the back of the room.
The pyramid was relatively small, resting upon wooden stilts. A startling amount of blood was smeared across the old stone floor, and it looks quite fresh too. To my left was a chair, chains hanging above. To my right were a bunch of empty burlap sacks. Nervously, we began searching, clearly avoiding the strange pyramid. It took a few apprehensive moments before Isabelle found the piece.
"Here it is! It was under the bags." She declared, holding the piece up victoriously. It's like she's oblivious to our surroundings. How can you act so happy while in a torture chamber? When Daniel saw that the piece was found, he bolted out of the room, me following closely.
"O-one more door. Then we can go upstairs…" Daniel stammered, casting a quick glance in my direction. I glared at the man, lost in thought, until Isabelle finally joined us.
"Don't go running off like that," She scolded. Daniel and I didn't say a word as she strolled toward the last chamber, holding the orb piece as if it were her child. I followed, uncertainty and fear growing with each step. This time, the dark corridor twisted and turned, seeming to last forever. But when we reached the door at the end of the hall, I froze up. No, no, no! This is… this is…
When Isabelle pushed opened the metal door, I immediately recognized the bloodied chamber. I could see the whip in the far corner, the bone saw lying on the table, and the frame that I was tied to. My breath came out as short gasps, and in a panic, I started backing out of the room, only to run into Daniel.
"You bastard!" I screamed at the man, fright running wild. Daniel recoiled, hurt flashing in his pale emerald eyes. All the memories of my torture came flooding back, filling my mind and thoughts with nothing but Daniel and the whip. Calm down, Felix... Just calm down… Trembling, I collapsed onto the floor, ignoring my friends' overwhelmed stares. After a moment of awkward silence, they began searching for the last orb piece, leaving me be. When Daniel found the piece, he left the room, leaving Isabelle alone with me. She walked over, grabbed my hand gently, and helped me to my feet.
"You're alright, Felix." She said soothingly, "I'm here for you."
"I'm sorry; I couldn't help but yell at him…" I said, voice barely a whisper. Isabelle nodded, leading me out of the room quickly. Daniel was gone, but I assumed he went up the stairs. We were about to go up ourselves, but our companion appeared.
"T-there's nothing special up here," He called, rushing down the stairs and to our side. "The only thing that seemed relatively important was some thread."
"I think we got all the orb pieces that were in here," Isabelle replied, "We should get going now." The woman cast a glance over her shoulder at me before heading towards the exit. I followed silently, thoughts a blur. If the Transept was this horrible for me, what would the Choir be like?
