An Alice Interlude
Although Alice was restrained and made to lie on what felt like a hard wooden table, simple food was given to her at certain times. She couldn't tell if it was breakfast or dinner, though. Her prison had no natural light and she was kept in darkness. Eventually, with nothing to do but lie there in pain and stare into the blackness, her eyes slowly adjusted, allowing her to see the vague outlines and broad features of the room despite the utter absence of light. As a child, she had been taught this was because her soul was of the Dark, and so in the truest darkness, she was welcomed.
Lying there restrained, she found it a small comfort. Her body, especially her face, was wracked with pain as blow after painful blow had been rained down on her. Yet it was nothing she couldn't endure. After the years raising her daughter by herself, of her daughter as distant as a stranger, this merely physical pain was nothing. So she wasn't going to die anytime soon. As for what would happen from here on out, as for what would happen to her… she had no idea. But she could not simply die in a place like this. She still had many things to do. She still had her life, so bright and vibrant once more, before her.
That was why she did what she could to eat the crude food she was given... struggling like a restrained dog. They did not release her to let her eat, just lay a bowl of nauseating, soggy gruel next to her head. She fed like an animal, getting it on her face, drying to drink every last drop of sickening broth. They would not release her to let her get clean or relieve herself, and so her dress grew soiled and covered in her own filth. It was small comfort that it grew so disgusting that the Almera woman threw water on her in a sloppy attempt to get rid of the smell before beating her next.
All so that she could survive. She had passed through the solitude and abuse of years gone by… mere pain and indignity would not break her. She drew comfort by thinking of the women in her life. Her daughter, so quiet so distant, but so noble and strong… Anne, so gentle and loving and generous… when she smiled, it was as bright as the sun. The warmth of their arms around her, enfolding her in love, if in different ways. Merely recalling them filled her with strength.
Although the Almera woman would pay her many visits, and proceed to exact acts of petty violence against her body and face while she was powerless to fight back… she simply thought of her family, and passed the time. She would endure this and return to their sides.
Those thoughts were what kept her going — thoughts of the people who loved her were the source of her strength.
Was her daughter out there now, riding to her rescue as she supposedly had in those stories circulating about her? Would the door soon be kicked open, revealing her daughter standing there like a mythical Bearer of the Curse charging into the Lost Asylum?
She could hope, and did.
It was slightly after the Almera woman had paid her yet another visit to rain abuse down on Alice that the only door to the room opened again. Alice instinctively braced herself, and idly hoped they'd brought a bucket of water to throw on her once more. The stench of her filth was growing unbearable again.
However, the one who entered the room now was the young woman with the eyes of a child she'd seen when she'd first awoken. She had that same innocent smile on her face as she entered. She stood before Alice, bending over to look her in the eye.
"How are you doing?" she asked, in a tone like she was talking about something inconsequential, like the weather.
Alice didn't know what this clearly lunatic young woman wanted, so she held her tongue and stared at the young woman silently in response.
"Well, if you can look so focused, I suppose you're doing relatively well, huh?" she laughed. The sound of it echoed around Alice's prison, gaining a creepy reverberation.
Alice stayed silent, observing her. She had to stay strong…
She merely laughed again. "Haha. So you've been trapped here for a few days, bound, and continuously beaten... normally you'd become a little crazy, hm? As expected of that knight's mother. Perhaps we should bring out the knives and embers?"
'That knight's mother'. Maria? What did this woman have to do with her daughter? "…how do you know my daughter?" I asked.
"Haha! That knight has been a very selfish girl, you know. Didn't you ever teach her she shouldn't ruin other people's fun? As fellow wielders of the true power of the Dark Soul, we should get along, but she doesn't seem to understand that. First she keeps me from making a cute little brother or sister, then she doesn't know when to stop playing tag, and then she hurt me and broke my toys! She's being a very mean, nasty bully, and you need to stand up to bullies and kill them!"
The young woman said all this with a wide, sincere smile.
"I blame you. Mommies should teach their kids how to get along with others, and you obviously didn't. So you need to be punished too! For being a bad mother!"
The words made Alice flinch.
"Oh? Oh, do you know you're a bad mother? Then, consider this your punishment. That's what Miss Estella wants. She was a nice woman who let me into her home and patched up the boo-boos I got from that knight hurting me. I didn't even have to ask her, she just saw that I was hurt and took care of me." Some genuine warmth and gratitude entered the young woman's voice. "She was really nice, and her family was really nice. So I wanted to do something nice for her. Imagine my surprise when if found that what she wanted was to hurt you, that knight's mother. So I cleaned up after myself, then we both got you. Now she gets to hurt you and I get to hurt that knight by hurting you. Everyone is happy!"
"She'll never be able to find you. No one knows about this place but me. So that knight can't come here and ruin things again, and Miss Estella can punish you all she wants for as long as she lasts," the young woman said. "But you're not cooperating! No matter how much Miss Estella punishes you, you're not sorry! No matter how much she punishes you, you don't say sorry for stealing from her." A mad smile crept across her features once more. "So... Alice Campbell. I have decided that you shall become a test subject for my experiments."
"...Test... subject?" Alice felt a shiver travel down her spine. It was an unsettling phrase, bringing to mind the horrific myths about the paledrake and the Scholar of the First Sin. The thought sent the shivers spreading through Alice again as she irrationally wondered if this girl was the paledrake reborn, come to turn her into some sort of tentacle monstrosity. Those mad eyes…!
"Yes, a test subject for my experiments in Dark Magic, you see. Proper experiments, where I write down what happens and everything!" With childish enthusiasm, the young woman reached into the pouch she was wearing and pulled out a small, plain book. In pink paint on the cover were the words 'ƧɐRɐ'ƨ ƎXpƏR1ƜƏƞtƧ'. She seemed very proud of it, holding it up in front of Alice like she expected to be praised. "You need to write down what happens or it's not a proper experiment! It's an experiment I have always wanted to try, but it needs a test subject with a strong will, you know? A single experiment is supposedly all it takes to make them Hollow and Miss Estella said that she'd like to break you. So I thought, and..."
"Experiment… Dark Soul Arts...? Break...?" Those words were said so innocently, as if the young woman didn't realize what she was saying. What she said didn't feel real. Alice could only stare blankly at her.
"I say break, but your body will remain as it is, you see. The only thing that we'll be breaking is your Dark Soul! That pretty body of yours will stay in one good piece… um, well, except for the parts Miss Estella will break. So don't you worry about it one bit," the young woman said, smiling as she did so. "Well then... I suppose we might as well start soon, hm?"
At her words Alice finally moved her head, willing herself out of her stunned silence. Alice tried her best to move... but her body wouldn't budge. She hadn't realized she was so weak. So tired…
In fact, she couldn't even make a sound — no words escaped her throat. Alice could only open her mouth and gape. She couldn't even close her eyes. All she could do was look at this woman before her, who was now looking down at her book and reading something to herself, seemingly directions for some kind of magic.
Before long, Alice's field of vision was engulfed by darkness... before a heavier, denser darkness fell onto her entire being altogether.
"Fight and resist lots, okay? After all, that's how you get stronger creations..." The woman's innocent voice echoed sonorously in the darkness. "Ah, but don't go out of control okay? This'll be all for nothing if you just make an abyss! That's not what we're going for!"
Alice screamed wordlessly, silently, the name of the person she loved most in the world.
Anne...!
Blackness consumed her.
ƧɐRɐ'ƨ ƎXpƏR1ƜƏƞtƧ
A so-called experimental log, written in malformed childish lettering, belonging to Sara.
You need to write down what happens or it's not a proper experiment!
As the cycles of ages passed, they left memories that become legends. Legends eventually faded into myth. The faded remnants of myths at the cusp of being forgotten whispers of a time before souls, before the grayness that came before disparity. The time of the great kingdom of Boletaria, and the treacherous king who killed his black-clad queen for power.
Umbasa.
