Gylessidra Origins: Debauchery Von Drekk

Chapter 3 - Which Wolf?

Thump... thump... thump.

A dull throbbing filled his head.

Thump, thump, thump.

He couldn't see anything, but his heart felt like it would burst out of his chest at any moment as its beating filled his ears, mixing with the thud of the headache. There was a brief moment of relief at the recognition that it was in fact still beating, but before he could savour that feeling a hand clasped the bag and it was pulled off of his head.

Light stung his eyes and Fergus instinctively squeezed them shut, before cracking them slowly open and blinking as they adjusted to the lack of darkness now.

He appeared to be in a dingy stone room, fairly empty aside from a surface to the left with various tools of some kind upon it. The room was lit by two wall sconces, either side of the room, casting an orange glow through the musty air, and in the glow he could see two figures in front of him - one rather small figure, almost childlike in size, and one very tall and clearly muscular individual.

They stepped forward into the cast of the light, and Fergus could now make them out to be an older Halfling man with a cold, calculating expression staring him down, and a huge 7'6 Leonin male with a thick fiery ginger mane surrounding his neutral gaze.

"Alright, start talking kid." The halfling growled, his voice gravelly and aggressive.

"I don't know what you mean. I think you have the wrong man, I don't know anything, why am I here? Please let me go, I won't say a word to anyone I sw-"

Fergus felt his head whip to the side and he hissed in pain as a sharp stinging feeling seemed to streak across the bridge of his nose, and he felt a strip of warmth across his face.

The Leonin drew his hand back from his face as he realised the warmth was a thin burning of blood, hot against his skin, and the Halfling folded his arms with a hard smirk. "We ask the questions here, boy. Now, who are you working with?"

"I don't understand, I work for the Enchanting shop."

The man's eyes glared at Fergus, and he watched as he gave a nod to the Leonin, who went over to the tools on the left.

"Listen carefully, we have ways to make you talk. That's literally my job. I'm here to make you bastards spill your guts verbally speaking... And physically, if necessary of course." he said, chuckling at himself after finishing his sentence, as if it were some kind of sick joke.

"Please, I'm begging you, I don't know anything, I don't know what this is about!"

The Halfling looked over Fergus' left shoulder, and the sharp, hot feeling returned, this time at the tip of his ear, except this was accompanied by a light and brief crunch sound, and the pain was far more intense as Fergus cried out, shaking his head. The warm trickle dripped down his ear lobe, and made its way down his neck as tears began to stream from his eyes.

"Tell us what you know about Project Phoenix."

He squeezed his eyes shut again, this time not against the light but against the searing pain that now travelled both across his face and sizzled through the top of his left ear, and he began to shake as he cried, unable to speak to respond to the man's questioning.

"The less you talk, the more you hurt, do you understand?"

Fergus could hear the large figure move back over and could hear the clink of other tools being moved and picked up.

"I don't- I swear I- Please... Stop, I don't know what you're talking about I promise, please..."

No matter how much he begged, the Halfling ignored his pleas, and the Leonin kept coming back. With every unanswered question, they provided more increments of pain. Occasionally they would stop and leave, and Fergus would wonder to himself if they had given up, if they would finally let him leave, only for them to come back and try again. If he gave an answer they didn't like, he received the same punishment as if he didn't answer at all. Nothing he said would please them, as they asked him stranger and stranger questions. Project Phoenix was mentioned but never explained, the sphere (apparently it was known as "Rebirth" to these people) was asked about but again, they were unhappy with his responses. He very quickly told them about the red-haired Elven woman, which was information they seemed to accept and the Halfling, his hands glowing softly with healing magic, eased his pain. Then they asked where she was, who she was, how long he had been working with her... All questions he had no answers to. The lack of information he could provide seemed to frustrate the Halfling, and after what felt like hours, the Halfling healed him once more, the Leonin extinguished the sconces, plunging him back into darkness, and both of the men left the room again this time seemingly for good. Was it night? Fergus couldn't tell, there were no windows here, only stone walls, thick musty air, and the sticky heat of his own blood against his skin.