They swung open the cage door, cattle prods at full power, humming with electricity. The man lazily lifted his hands in surrender. "Now, now." He said softly. His voice was like velvet. "No need. I'll do as you please." The man in the cage said, his...
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Her soul floated listlessly in the waters of her mind. No restraints held her back, for better or for worse. The lycans presence faded until its crushing pressure was little more than a finger of curling smoke whispering across her skin. 'I'm free.' The sound echoed in the vast space.
'You're dying, as am I,' hissed the lycan, sounding as if it was miles away.
She considered that for a moment. She didn't want to die, did she? 'It feels nice here. It feels good to not have you crush everything that I am.'
'So meek you are to accept a death just because it is comfortable.'
'What do you know about it? You can't imagine what it's like to lose yourself to something monstrous. Death feels better if it means freedom,' Theo insisted.
A fading laugh rolled across the endless sea. 'Oh? Let me show you what it's like to die for freedom.'
The images were desaturated and shimmered like a mirage before her, but she could make them out well enough. The warped mirror showed the lycan within exactly what was happening to her own body. Chains bound the woman at hand and foot and throat, but still she stood against the force of the men pulling on them.
'You were a prisoner?' Theo asked, looking down into the depths below her, to the darkness that pooled there.
'In my first life,' the lycan intoned, almost sadly. 'They chained me there for crimes against those I was bred for.' She spat the words like they burned her tongue.
The images changed, and grew tinged with red blood. 'They took all but my eyes, so that I could watch what was being done to my vessel.' The sight was gruesome. Her hands clawed relentlessly at her shackles, fingertips bleeding and nails breaking as they took the lash to her over and over until her clothes fell away and only the skin stood between the silver and the lycan within. 'This is what freedom looks like. This is what freedom costs.'
'Not for me. Death will be peaceful,' Theo murmured, closing her eyes to the horrors before her.
Another laugh rolled across the depths, rumbling the water that cradled her. 'Death is never easy girl. To one hell or the other you'll go, just as I have every single time.'
She opened her mouth to tell the lycan to be silent when something slimy and deathly cold filled it. Her eyes snapped open and she choked as a tentacle slid deeper, grasping for the warmth of her heart.
Theo flailed and bit down as hard as she could. The creature wheeled back, a shriek reverberating the water, withdrawing its wounded limb. This time when she looked down, it wasn't just darkness.
Unimaginable horrors waited below- teeth and claws and lashes winked in and out of sight faster than she could comprehend their bearers. 'Demons,' she whispered, gazing down at them all.
