Chapter 7: Welcome to the Void (2)
My Leniency Week… it was over before I knew it, and before long, I was given another item by the guards: an attachment to my Duel Disk, which modified the Multi-Duel Voice Network to include a one-way communicator between me and the various staff of the Void. My first 'lesson', as they called it, was in one of the many target ranges they had, where I was given a Hinotama card and told to use it to destroy a concrete pillar. Playing the card, a fireball materialized in front of me and got hurled towards the pillar – missing it by about fifteen degrees give or take and hitting the wall behind it instead.
All of a sudden, pain jolted all the way up my left arm, leaving it feeling numb. Soon, feeling returned to me and I was told to try again or face more 'punishment'. Once again, I placed the Hinotama card into the Duel Disk, and the fireball reappeared, this time blasting the pillar. However, when the smoke cleared, that pillar was still standing, with only a few cracks where the fireball impacted. "Again," they told me, and again, I blasted the pillar. Hinotama after Hinotama after Hinotama was played, and fireball after fireball was exploding on the pillar, yet by my 14th fireball, the test was called off.
The pillar, while it had crumbled, was still partially there, and from there, the next lesson was in another room, where I was locked in with another person and given a Psychic Sword card. We were both told to play it, grab the sword and fight. Doing so, the blade felt quite insubstantial, as if I were holding a hollowed-out hilt. The other person had already summoned the blade and was charging at me, the sword raised
"Wait!" I shouted, holding my sword in a horizontal position above my head
"I can't!" I heard a female voice yell. She sounded desperate. Her sword bashed down on mine, and started sinking through.
"Why? Why do we have to do this?"
"I don't want to go back there again, so please, just lose for my sake!"
I felt a fist ram into my stomach, and from there, I took a blow to the back of my head, essentially forcing me to the floor disoriented and gasping for breath. The other girl 'passed' and was dismissed, and I was taken away to another area, where I was tortured even more on a bed, like the tests back at Arcadia. They told me beforehand that, had I won the sword fight, this wouldn't have happened and I would instead have the lessons for the day ended while my opponent would endure the 'education'.
The next thing I knew was being at the food court with some sushi, like I was dreaming while sleeping on the table.
"Toby… are you alright?" I heard a voice within me… a strangely feminine and familiar, yet seemingly alien voice.
"I… think so," I thought.
"That is good to hear, I tried to repair what I could of the damage."
"Sorry… but who are you?"
"You don't remember? I have been with you since that awful day in New Domino City."
"I'm sorry, but this is my first time hearing your voice."
"Remember, as you lay in your bed crying for someone to be a friend to you, to keep you company and hold you close until your sister got back from a photo shoot overseas?"
"I'm sorry, but I really can't remember."
"You can stop with the apologies. Despite the fact that you can't remember, I have always been a friend to you. As such, you do not need to apologize to me for anything. Just give it some time, and your memories of me will come back to you."
"What happened to me?"
"The Void is trying to draw your powers out. Their last test that you can remember, you were suffering and I knew you couldn't take much more, so I took control of your body for a short while to spare you from further pain. If you wish, I can grant you the power to overcome your psychic weaknesses."
"So, when is this now?"
"This is during the night. There are 45 minutes left until the cut-off time when they want people back in their cells."
I looked around, and it looked like there weren't many people. The vendors, from what I saw, were also preparing to close.
"Finally awake, aren't you?" another voice sounded. I turned to see Carnivore walking towards me. "Come, we have to go."
From there, I was dragged back to my cell, wanting to ask that voice in my head exactly what else was going on, but getting no reply. Once we were back inside the cell, I was filled in on what exactly had been happening by Carnivore; apparently there were reports of me shambling from lesson to lesson and mindlessly doing what was said without saying a word, not even letting out a small gasp of pain. I seem to have done badly on all of the lessons.
After that, I was reportedly shambling through the food court. People trying to communicate with me weren't getting any response, not even Carnivore or Rebecca (she continued to refer to her as Succubus). I had supposedly sat at an unoccupied table and gone to sleep.
"Why do you keep calling her a succubus?" I had to ask.
"The Succubus, kid. It's her title," she responded
"How did she get it? Besides, if she has a title, then what about the Beast?"
"He is just a wild animal, but Succubus is nowhere near as stupid. She has a habit of letting people get close to her, and while they have their back turned, she studies their Deck and makes time to prepare a counter-strategy against it, and I think that's only at the best of times."
"Surely, that's not so bad? I agree, the Deck-studying is a little unnerving, but still, at least she is sincere."
"Perish the thought, kid. I was only trying to sugarcoat her behavior enough that you don't freak out. She has got many tools at her disposal, she isn't afraid to use them and she knows exactly when to use what for who. So far, there hasn't been anybody who has been able to resist falling under her spell. Succubus is many things, but truly caring isn't one of them."
"What?! You mean that everything she told me…?"
"…is probably a lie. That's why you shouldn't ever trust anyone in this place."
"But maybe she really cares! Maybe you are reading the situation wrong!"
"Then don't come crying to me when you find out your 'closest friend' blabbed your deepest secrets to someone who is potentially your worst nightmare!"
I couldn't believe this. Was Rebecca really lying to me? Just like all of those other times when I was around people? Exactly who, aside from my sister and maybe Carnivore, wasn't lying to me? Were they even telling the truth to begin with? I fell asleep again in my cell, with that doubt still plaguing me.
The next day, I was told to go back to the area I had my torture lesson in the previous day. From there, electrodes were strapped towards me, and electricity started coursing through my body. It wasn't gentle either, such as in Arcadia movement where it started with a tingling and got turned up; here it felt I was being hit by lightning from the word go.
The pain was even worse than yesterday. I kept shaking as the current flowed through me.
The current didn't stop.
I couldn't hear anything above my own screaming.
If anything, the current kept getting worse.
Every single part of my body felt like it was on fire, both inside and out.
The current kept increasing…
I couldn't take much more of this
It felt like it was reaching its peak…
"Toby, wake up!" a voice suddenly shouted.