Witches' Thralls - Book 1: The Girl From Another World

Chapter 5

Content Warning:

This story contains sexually explicit material intended for an adult audience, as well as potentially triggering content involving emotional & sexual abuse and religious cults. Reader discretion is advised.

This chapter also contains violence and minor gore. It is not sexy, though I have been told it is a different sort of satisfying.

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The room had gone dark some time ago, the torches on the walls having been left to fizzle out as the cold desert night overtook the criminal outpost.

Lori fidgeted with the lock on her and Lyselle's cage for some time, but to no avail. Her antennae twitched in irritation as she mumbled her frustrations to herself, teaching Lyselle a bevy of new curse words each time the cage's sharp iron dug at her hands.

Across the hall, the Abyssal sat in meditation, its dark figure only discernible thanks to thin strips of moonlight breaking through the space's haphazardly constructed walls. She'd watched Lori work for a time, but had long since recommended the pair get some rest before withdrawing into herself.

Lyselle wasn't about to argue. The Terran had given up on presenting decently by then, and bundled what was left of her half-scrapped top into a makeshift pillow. The bunched fabric at least served as a buffer between Lyselle's head and the bars she'd pushed it up against, but it did little to protect her from the desert's chill as it permeated the drafty room. The frosty air biting at her skin made it hard to stop thinking about how bare she was, but she tried her best to subdue such concerns; it wasn't as if there were many eyes on her at the moment, anyway.

Eventually and with one final swear, Lori gave up on lock picking. The extended effort had proven tiring, and Lyselle's shivering had started to take up more of the creature's attention. She crept up next to the Terran, prodding her gently with one claw.

Lys rolled over, bleary-eyed and embarrassed, to see the creature lay down next to her and nuzzle its way into her arms. The Terran turned red as Lori's head came to rest against her chest, but the girl's warmth was beyond welcome, and her intentions sincere. Lyselle held Lori tight in the darkness, and her companion quickly fell asleep.

Lyselle had been effectively left alone with her thoughts. Soaking in the reality of her situation, despair washed over her. This was not the escape from her old life that she'd had in mind. Her goal had been freedom, had been escaping from a cycle of abuse and control that had dominated her entire life. To go from that to this, having barely tasted her hard-won liberty for even a moment, felt unspeakably cruel. She questioned the point of even fighting it any longer.

From one prison to the next, she thought, burrowing her face into the remains of her shirt to hide her tears. The dark hugged her like a malevolent presence, and there, in that dreary corner of a chamber dedicated to shattering wills and hope, Lyselle Alwin drifted off to sleep.

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A loud crash rang through the storage room, waking Lys with a start. An azure light tore through the chamber from above like a comet, a streak of blue that left a trail of sapphire embers lilting down over the hall. The makeshift prison was quickly filled by the sounds of panic and the barked orders of the storehouse's wardens as a rain of debris erupted from the far end of the space.

Lori rose, squinting against the unexpected yet manageable light, and let out a simple "Ah!"

The girl pointed at the cage door, her eyes glimmering with hope. It now sat slightly ajar, the lock holding it shut now apparently smashed upon the ground by some unknown force. The two girls looked at each other, sharing a momentary pause to weigh their next action. Then with a mutual nod, they quickly turned and crawled out into the cleared path between crates.