World of Io

16. The Sigyn

Cold droplets fell from the ceiling at a steady pace, tapping against the damp floor. Once in awhile a droplet would stray from its usual path, touching Annie's bare skin with its icy teeth. Each little tap allowed her to perceive the passage of seconds, minutes, hours. She had no other concept of time. No one fed her, no one watered her. She was left alone.

She counted the seconds, one to sixty, counted the minutes, but it was no use. Every now and then she lost count and had to start over. It must have been years since they threw here in here, or months. She couldn't remember.

Another droplet fell, and she yelped as the cold water made contact with her burning skin. In a moment of lucidness she realized that she still suffered from the wounds, that she still suffered from the damaged they inflicted while questioning her. She banged her head against the floor, damning her stupidity.  How could she have thought they would treat her any different?

She couldn't remember if she had intended to tell the Magister or not. She had played with the thought, jealous enough to disregard all other consequences...How could she? Tears began to pool in her eyes. So stupid!

She had tried to resist them, but it was useless. In the end she was left with no choice. She shuddered at the memory, and she cried out again, cried for the pain, cried for herself, cried for those she had betrayed.

The Magister took her to their headquarters, urging her to keep silent until they were there. She remembered the awe she felt when they entered the vast building. In fact, she had stopped and just stared at the splendor of the entrance hall, stared at the painted windows, the velvet curtains. She had been naive enough to think herself safe, that the beauty of the place somehow watched over her, when in fact she was far from it.

They had laughed at her, laughed at her feeble attempts at keeping their filthy hands off of her. The more she struggled, the worse it became. They whipped her unconscious, ripped her apart.

Annie closed her eyes as the memory battered her senses. She saw it, felt it, smelled it, as if she was there again. She heard their grunts as they came, their cheers as she stopped fighting.

When she awoke before them, they started the interrogation. They ripped away one of her fingernails without even allowing her to answer. Then they ripped another three when she refused to cooperate. For each and every nail lost, her determination not to betray her friends grew firmer, but then they had started to cut into her finger with a knife. She lost it, she lost her mind for a brief minute, and that was enough. She shrieked out, Wyvern, before the thought had passed through her awareness. They stole her thought, stole the only shred of dignity she had left.

No one... there was no one. Now there was no one to help her. The only thing she had left was regret. She owned nothing else.

Annie... 

She jolted as the voice resonated inside her head. She knew what this was, she had known it would be coming. She was losing her mind, finally.

Blissful ignorance. She was ready to leave off, let it all go...

-----

He saw her lying on the cold floor, naked. He tried to touch her but there was nothing to reach out with. He had no body, nothing to comfort her with. He saw open wounds, lacerations lacing her backside, crossing over each other in a terrible pattern. She must be hurting, badly.

Tears fell from his eyes as he could do nothing to help her, he was helpless. Why had he let her go? Why had he allowed her to leave?

"Annie!" his mind screamed her name in frustration and pain.