The Lady in Armour

Chapter 17 - TORTURE

CHAPTER 17             -               TORTURE

“Jo, call Hanna,” Fier pleaded. “You can’t get through with this alone. You need someone to take care of you while you are in pain. You might end up killed during the process. Many things could happen and you’ll need their help!”

“I –” Jo clutched her neck and gasped. Something hot passed right through her throat down to her chest. “I… won’t… die… that… easy.”

“For once, listen to me!” Fier bellowed followed by an earsplitting roar. “Dying is not something you could choose when or where to happen! I know you are strong and don’t give up easily, but that doesn’t guarantee your safety!”

It had only been almost an hour since the sun rises yet Jo was already bathed in sweat and curled into a tight ball on a small canopy bed draped with light blue thick cloth. Fier couldn’t imagine the things that could happen in the next hours for as midnight draw near, the suffering gets more and more excruciatingly painful and harder to endure.

If for one hour Jo was already in a bad shape, what more when midnight came?

Fier wished he could ease the pain by absorbing some of it. All he could do is only sense or feel the pain she was going through but not experience or ease it. With scales as strong and thick as his, there was nothing that could pierce through them except a direct attack from one of the dragon spirits like him.   

“I’m begging you…” he pleaded. “You can’t go on like that with nobody to look after you. I can’t do anything to help you but they can. You’ll need someone to feed you and make you drink medicine to help make things less painful.”

“Nnnoooo,” Jo hissed and looked at the door whose one of its two hinges had been removed by her. “Damn door.”

When she went upstairs after having a fight with Liam, she was feeling down because he thought of her as a killing monster that had no feelings at all. She wanted to cry but forced herself not to until she ended up angry at herself for letting someone like him to mess with her feelings. And because of that anger, she ended up shutting the door behind her forcefully – breaking the upper hinge and making the door impossible to close.

There was another tower at the other side of the castle and Jo wanted to stay there instead but her hair suddenly turned black – a sign that the sun has completely risen. That was then that her suffering started. Her knees started trembling so hard it left her with no other choice but to remain there.   

“Joanne Kuran!” he shouted making Jo’s head ache more. “Why are you doing this to yourself? Do you really want to die?”

Jo let out a small cry and buried her face on one of the pillows to muffle the sound. Heart beating fast, head pounding and chest that felt like it was about to explode; those were the things that caused Jo to make a small cry. She tried hard to endure it but it was just too much for her.

From the very beginning, she was trying hard not to make any sound so that she won’t be discovered hiding there and to make Fier believe that she could handle the pain. But as time passed on, more and more things kept happening inside her body.

Why? Jo thought, not aware that even her deepest thoughts could reach Fier. Why does this has to happen? Why should there be pain? Why does using this power have a limitation?

Fier pondered about it for a moment and decided to give her one of the main reasons.

Because you are just a human with limitations, Fier answered.

Just a human?

I am not insulting or belittling humans. It’s just that you delved into the world of spirits and acquired something great that ordinary humans can’t control. Things like my power don’t come for free, Jo. You have to endure the consequences.