Halfling (editing in process)

Chapter Three

Aria wasn't sure if she was awake or asleep; if her eyes were open or closed. She felt weightless; there didn't seem to be a floor, walls, anything for that matter. She sat up, groaning as her head throbbed in pain. She touched her scalp and found a hard knot on the side of her head and dried blood; but the bleeding had stopped. She looked around and only saw blackness; she couldn't see her hand in front of her face, let alone where she was. What had happened?

"Lucien?" She called softly, slowly getting to her feet and nearly falling on her face. The ground beneath her wasn't solid, and she wasn't quite sure there was anything there at all. The 'floor' squirmed and flowed beneath her, making her fight to keep on her feet. "Father?"

She took an unsteady step forward, her attention brought to a sound in the darkness as a female scream met her ears. She started walking towards the noise, or at least the direction she thought it had come from, but when she started walking the bubble around her seemed to break. Screams were all around her, some were in terror and pain, and the others, which somehow disturbed her more than the other, was that of some kind of mix of agony and heated breaths of pleasure. She wrapped her arms tightly around her body, unease moving through her in a rush. Where was she?

Clarity came when the first creature grabbed her. She nearly jumped out of her skin as a clawed hand grabbed onto her ankle, a low hiss alerting her to its presence; the sound recognizable from her childhood. Shadow beings; what her younger and more naïve self had called her friends. Her father had sent them to keep an eye on her from time to time; but they had stopped appearing, or stopped interacting with her, when she was around seven years old. She had figured out what they were then; they were not friendly. They were powerful, they were mischievous, and they could tear something to shreds faster than any animal she had seen.

She shook her leg to try and get it to release her, the hissing only getting louder.

"Itz time to play." The creature hissed; making ice shoot down Aria's spine in a rush.

She didn't have time to try and shake it off again before it sunk its teeth, sharp like that of a wolf, into her calf. She cried out as her leg abruptly buckled and went numb underneath her, sending her to the ground. In an instant three more were upon her. She snapped out of the initial shock and began to fight, her arms flailing as she tried to fight them off. She felt ice on her skin every time she caught one of them, small resistances letting her know that she had hit them, but her hands seemed to go right through them. She felt her clothing being shredded underneath claws and teeth, skin being clawed in the frenzy and then abruptly going numb.

"You see how we play." The one at her leg hissed. She felt the weight of the creature move up her and sit on her chest. She saw a flash of bright green; a toxic color she knew as its eyes before she seized as visions assaulted her mind.

There was a woman, the human that had been on her father's lap, being torn to shreds by a group of the little creatures. They would rip tissue and muscle down to bone and she would only reform again, only to be torn apart slowly again and again. There was another that was being taken by two larger creatures; her eyes holding a far-off look that told Aria there was no one home, and there hadn't been for a long time. The woman seemed to enjoy it, even as one tore out her throat as it ravaged her. Men, women, it didn't seem to matter the gender, the age, anything. She didn't know what decided the fate of who received what punishment, but she started to think that the ones that had been with her father the longest were the ones that were getting 'pleasure' out of it. They all held the sightless gaze that held a haunted and numbed soul.

She was pulled out of the vision and was met with the toothed grin of the creature; able to see a little better now. She stared at the creature in horror, dimly aware that there others were still clawing at her, her body numb.

"Master sayz we play." The creature purred. "We play now."

The numbness went away.

Aria screamed and leapt to her feet, startling all of the creatures as she suddenly bolted. Adrenaline pumped through her system in a rush as panic and terror went through her, the pain fueling her need for escape. She ran, though she didn't seem to get anywhere. It wasn't long that she hit someone and fell over the body of a man being taken from behind. He gripped onto her wrist as a low heated sound left his lips.

"Stay." He groaned, his eyes meeting hers. "Stay and play with us."

Aria shrieked and pulled out of his grip; the man put up no resistance and she bolted away before she could see anymore. There were too many people, too many sounds. She didn't realize just how many until she started to move. The hissing laughs and howls of the creatures sounded behind her too close for comfort. She ran and stumbled over creatures and bodies, for how long she didn't know. It seemed like forever, but wasn't long enough before something hit her hard in the lower part of her spine, sending her spiraling to the ground. She fought, kicking, clawing, but couldn't seem to call on her magic, elven or demonic, to help her. The scraps that were left of her clothes soon disappeared under the clawed assault of the creatures.

The torture was agonizing. She thought that after a while there would be relief, or she would die and be carted off to whatever afterlife awaited her, but the moment when she felt her heart start to shutter from the blood loss or the extreme nature of her injuries, her body would heal as if nothing happened. There were no sexual acts like that of others she had seen, the few creatures that had tried had exploded into a burst of green light that had nearly blinded her. It was after the second time of reforming that she realized her father was standing a few feet away, watching as they tore her apart over and over again. Teeth, claws, all tore through her flesh as the creatures hissed and laughed at her pain, at her screams. Time melted away and she wasn't sure how long she was there, days, months, perhaps an eternity, lost in the darkness illuminated by sickly green eyes, nothing existed but pain and the demented grin on her father's face.