CHAPTER 2: CRUEL HOSTESS
3 Days Earlier...
...Cold, that's what Subaru would describe himself as right now, as his right arm hung from its socket on small strings of tissue, useless and dying. He tried to stand up but, the severe pain wouldn't let him, no matter what he tried. He was taking rapid, shallow breaths as adrenaline filled the cold making his prior dizziness fade almost instantaneously. As he came to his senses, he heard a growl from the other side of the rather lavish room, eyes zeroing in on the only other sign of life present, Capella Emerada Lugnica. She was his captor and current 'hostess' as she deemed herself, wearing an oddly non revealing and bloodied black dress, feathers along the sides of her sleeves covered in small chunks of his flesh and blood, making her appear like a raven. Currently, she was rubbing the side of her head, which was covered by shards of glass, her normally pale face wet with red liquids and covered in thin lines of murky black blood. She looked, by all means, furious.
"You little rat! Do you know how expensive that wine was!? It's a rarity for a reason! And you just wasted it, you disgusting and wretched meatbag!"
She slowly picked the shards from her skull, the sickening sound of flesh being scraped and slowly sowing itself back together filling the boy's ears. One would wonder, what happened to put the two into this situation? Well...
10 Minutes prior...
Subaru sat on a lavish chair, the smell of lavender in the air as his ragged and rough skin met soft and comfy leather, a sentence he never imagined saying until he was forced to lay on a stone floor for two days. Currently, He was bound, each ankle wrapped in a thick chain about the width of his arm, leaving him unable to leave the room, which left him stuck in this lavish room, wearing ragged and dirty clothes while he kept his left eye tightly shut. Sitting across from his chair was the Archbishop of Lust herself, wearing a dress that was more than just out of character for the girl. It was a sundress, black and covered in feathers along the sides and the ends of the dress, resembling something a dark angel would wear, however, this was no angel, but rather a spawn from hell. Even so, her hair was tied differently from before, sporting a shorter ponytail with a butterfly hairpin sitting to the right of her head. She looked at him with a gentle expression, one scarlet and one brown eye staring into his soul as she kept up an unnervingly gentle smile. After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, her hand moved forward, pointing down at a glass that sat on a beautifully crafted table, filled with a crimson liquid and sitting next to an opened bottle. In all honesty, the bottle looked more valuable than his phone, which was saying a lot for a dark ages style fantasy world.
"... Go on, drink it." She said patiently. He stared at the glass, then at her, and then back at the crimson liquid.
"... Please tell me you don't think I'll actually drink this, you are literally the most evil and conniving person I have ever met. I will bet my life savings that it's poisoned." He said as bluntly as possible, watching as she was left ever so slightly taken aback, but that was quickly replaced with a small smile.
"Then be prepared to lose that bet." She said confidently, reaching down for the glass, taking a sip, and placing it back down in front of him... completely ignorant of the fact that she was capable of manipulating matter to her will and could literally dispel any poison present in the drink. At such a low effort attempt to convince him, Subaru was both mentally and visibly insulted by her action, a sign that she obviously believed that he was an idiot, which on it's own was stupid, considering she had been holding him here for months and should be well aware that he wasn't subpar in intellect.
"See? Not poisoned, now drink up." She said as she gestured to the glass, a sharp nail swirling in the air as if stirring around the edge of the top. However, he refused to budge, staring at her with a deadpan expression, something that was beginning to irritate the Bishop.
"What's with the look? It's not poisoned, are you seriously going to fuss after I, Capella Emerada Lugnica, am offering you my generosity and kindness?" She asked with a look that screamed of rapidly shrinking patience, the swirling of her finger becoming an impatient tapping of her foot against the carpeted floor. To any normal person, that may seem like a reasonable question, but they would also be making an extreme mistake that would end with their early demise if they actually believed that to be case. Capella was not reasonable, much less generous or kind, she was possessive, violent, manipulative, invasive, and incredibly hostile to anyone and anything she believed did not appreciate her 'beauty.'
"No." He said firmly, remaining stubborn as she began to grow visibly aggravated, and his confidence began to slowly wither.
"I'm sorry? Did you just say no to me? To ME? Listen right now you little flesh sack, you will pick up that glass, you will take a sip, and you will thank me for my unending benevolence for even offering you that wine in the first place. Do you understand?" Her tone laced with venom as she stared him down, the mask slowly breaking. Subaru began to comply as he reached for the glass, knowing full well that he was gonna get it if he wasn't careful. Capella watched his fingers wrap around the bottom of the glass, her impatient snarl being replaced with that same gentle smile from before as he raised it to his lips. However, when Subaru looked at her, when he looked at her left eye, her sharp, brown tinted left eye, he felt something he hadn't for a long time, and in an act of pure neglect for the consequences, he raised the glass.
"Fuck you!" He yelled as he smashed the glass over her head, and immediately felt a sharp pain in his arm as she screeched, swiping at the air. He found himself laying on the floor, arm barely hanging onto it's socket by strings of flesh as he grabbed it in agony, feeling a rush of adrenaline as he looked over at the now crimson stained Archbishop in panic.
"You little rat! Do you know how expensive that wine was!? It's a rarity for a reason! And you just wasted it, you disgusting and wretched meatbag! I'm gonna punish you, for being such an insolent piece of garbage!" She let out as her arm began to grow and darken, extending into a vile, black hand with beast like fingers as she branded the elongated nails, taking slow steps toward him.
"I hope you understand your place after this, because I promise that you'll scream until your throat is sore!"
She closed in, raised her arm, and a sickening squelch was heard as flesh and bone were torn through, leaving Subaru squirming on the floor, his muffled screams escaping the walls of the lavish room, the shape of a distorted, realistic black heart engraved on one of the big wooden doors guarding his hell as the screams continued, falling on deaf ears...
And that's the end, the first chapter after so long of just vanishing off the damn site, but I'm back, and I will realise my new vision for this. Sorry for the wait though, forgot my details to login... Anyways, have a splendid day!
