“Child, don’t be scared,” a motherly voice spoke.
When Inop’s eyes opened, he looked around, searching for the voice that had spoken. Yet the surroundings were empty. Nothing but a familiar landscape: a cell. Although this one seemed better maintained, the walls were free of moss and grime, and there was no mildew smell.
The floor was surprisingly made out of some sort of wood instead of stone, although the wood was a shade of pitch black, which was even more surprising. In his remaining few memories, he had never seen a wood that had this shade.
His hands and legs were also surprisingly free of the chains that had once bound him, and outside of the cell, he could see what he could assume to be a library as the bookshelves abounded the space. In the center of the library lay a stone table.
The minutes kept passing by, and each one was excruciating. What was going to happen to him? They had called him a material and had spent twenty thousand of some sort of currency on him.
Suddenly, footsteps could be heard, and the screech of a door opening. A woman appeared in Inops''s vision; a gold-colored robe blocked most of her body she had her hood down, showing her golden locks, which flowed down to her legs, and amethyst purple eyes, seeming to peer straight through one''s soul.
“Hmm… You’ll make a fine test subject. They did a fine job of buying you.” she said, her voice was as frigid as arctic ice.
As she spoke, a golden-rimmed magnifying glass appeared in her hand, which she held up to her amethyst eyes. Inops could feel her gaze land on him. It felt as though she was peeling back his soul, unraveling some of its secrets.
"Your home is Earth?" she mused, her tone laced with intrigue. "How curious… a mere minor-world human, yet bearing those marks."
Her hand reached her side, and the magnifying glass dissolved into nothingness.
She then began to step towards the cell, and her presence was suffocating. The door creaked open. She stared at Inops, and with a hint of amusement in her amethyst eyes, she spoke
“My precious, step out; we have to do some digging..”
Inops''s body betrayed him to move itself as if she had spoken some sort of words of authority. His limbs were like that of a puppet tied with invisible strings.
A vial shimmered in her hand, along with a massive syringe.
His breath hitched. The needle alone had to be at least an inch in diameter. A cold sweat broke out across his forehead.
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“I’ve always wondered… what would happen if one were to force the formation of a magical circuit? And you are the perfect test subject, “ she mused, her voice held a cruel fascination. And you, dear, are the perfect test subject.“
Although Inops didn’t know what a magic circuit was— the fact that he was the experiment sent ice crawling up his veins.
Inops’s body then moved to the stone table in the center of the library. He got on top of the stone table and laid down. The stone was frigid, sending jolts of chills throughout his body. A violent shiver spread throughout his body.
The woman walked up to the table with the syringe filled with a thick blood-red liquid. The vial in her other hand contained an unnatural shimmering azure liquid that shone like the stars.
His body unnaturally had taken off the ragged clothes that had been on his body. He had been too mystified to notice his clothes back at the theatre. (probably what some might consider a retcon).
Without warning, she slammed the syringe down on Inops chest; he watched in horror as the mysterious liquid flowed into his chest.
His heart began to beat faster. He felt his body temperature rise as if he had swallowed a hot coal and began radiating heat throughout his body.
A few moments later, Inops''s mouth moved on it to open, and the amethyst-eyed lady took the vial of unnatural-looking azure liquid and forced it down his throat.
The liquid was ice cold; it felt as though he had ingested liquid nitrogen, and it began to radiate throughout his body.
At that moment, his body had become a battlefield, with scalding heat making his blood boil and a searing frost chilling it to a crawl.
The woman placed her hand on his stomach and chest, and a soothing force radiated from her hands. It was faint and fragile, but it eased some of the pain through his chest and stomach area.
Despite the brief respite, the rest of his body was in agony. The pain was so intense his vision began to turn blurry, his eyes bloodshot.
His nose and mouth leaked blood. He wanted to scream. He wanted to cry out in anguish. He wanted to close his eyes and give up. Yet he could not, for his voice was stolen. His body had been turned into some sort of puppet, but it was not his own. He could only endure this hellish war
Inops'' eyes flickered towards the woman, and her eyes closed. Her face was pale. Perspiration began to flow from her forehead. Apparently, the soothing force was draining her.
Inops felt something within his body shift. It was strange and unsettling. There was a new pain—a throbbing, pulsing pain that made his breath quicken. It was as if his ribs had been shattered into countless jagged pieces, and his body was trying to knit them back together.
Each pulse of pain felt as though a rib or bone was being broken. It was a brutal sensation, with each pulse felt like the wind had been knocked out of him.
After what felt like an eternity, the pain suddenly stopped. He no longer felt the searing chill, the scalding heat, or the pulsing feeling in his chest.
He couldn’t describe it, but there was something different about the area between his chest and stomach. It was as though a second heart was pulsating throughout his body.
He heard the murmurs of the amethyst-eyed woman: “I knew it wouldn’t be easy… But with all that, it still only formed a quarter.” She paused and spoke in a questioning tone, “What was the problem, perhaps? No… It can’t be...”
A notebook and a quill pen appeared in her hands as the sound of writing filled the room.