“I adjusted the carvings. The next step of the ritual should work when Elias tries it again tomorrow. There is no need to tell him anything. Am I correct to assume the beddings are yours?” he looked at the pelts and mattress.
“Yes.”
“Are you related?” he asked calmly.
“Lovers,” Miranda blushed ever so slightly.
“I will go pick my things from the temple and move in tomorrow. Please stay with her in the meantime… she will want to see you when she wakes up,” Zakuma stated as he returned the dagger to Miranda.
“What makes you say that?” Miranda pried.
“Since the start of the ritual, all she could feel was a pain I cannot describe and all she could see was darkness. Darkness and whoever was within this capsule,” Zakuma took a pause, thinking.
“Are these rituals always like this? I have seen torture… this is beyond anything I could have imagined,” Miranda whispered.
“That’s why the person doing the ritual shouldn’t even know the person it’s done upon. In the past, many men killed themselves halfway through it because they couldn’t bear to see what they have done to someone they cared about. Just… be prepared that tomorrow might be bad, really bad. There is a good chance the pain had shattered her mind beyond the point of repair. Even if it hadn’t, she would not be happy once she wakes up,” Zakuma announced grimly.
“What should I do?”
“Honestly, I have no idea how you managed to stay with her for so long without going insane yourself… so take this advice with a grain of salt. What I would do is prepare myself for the worst. I used to get drunk when I was doing these rituals on people I knew… which was all the time. I am sorry I didn’t find you sooner… I just never imagined you would do this on a ship,” Zakuma admitted.
“You were looking for us? Why?” Miranda pried.
“An old friend of mine asked me to go check that her binding ritual is going alright,” Zakuma breathed, “what he forgot to mention was that it was the Palai navy who was doing it, not Palai clergy.”
“For how long were you searching for us?” Miranda asked awkwardly.
“About a year, give or take.”
“Thank you.”
Zakuma smiled and left. Miranda went down to the mattress and huddled herself around Luna’s head. It was strange without the screaming. Almost serene.
“Grrrrggghhhh,” Luna groaned.
“LUNA!” Miranda got up instantly.
“Don’t speak! Lemme give you some water first,” she added and quickly reached for the water skin.
“Rrrrgggggggg,” Luna was trying to speak but couldn’t. Her throat was too dry.
“Don’t try to swallow it, let is just flow in,” Miranda whispered, filled her mouth with water and went to pour it into Luna’s mouth slowly. Luna coughed a few times but then got the hang of it and let the water flow freely to the stomach.
What should I say? I don’t know.
Miranda caught Luna’s head into a hug and held her tight.
“Grrrkkk…llll… mmmm,” Luna tried to speak.
“Slowly, calmly. You haven’t spoken in a long time; it will be hard from the start,” Miranda calmly whispered into her ear.
“Khhhg….. rrrggghhh…. kiiiill meeee” Luna squeezed out of herself.
“Calm down… it’s gonna be alright” Miranda refused.
“Kill me…please.”
“Don’t say that. We finally managed to push through; it will be fine from now on.”
“Please… Miranda… just kill me… I… I can’t do it. I can’t go on.”
She means it. I have heard people beg for death many times. I know what it sounds like. This is honest… truthful… what have I done to her?
Miranda froze as the realization pierced through her.
“It’s like… the darkness makes a saw… it saws me in two, from crotch to head… but I heal instantly. So, it goes and saws me again… again… and again… every second… every minute… all I hear is my own screams…. my screams and your crying…. please… end it…. kill me…. I beg you… just let me die.”
“I refuse. You will sit here and go through it and I don’t care how much it hurts. I will not let you die so shut the fuck up and suffer through it,” Miranda stated coldly. “If you’ve got a problem, then go talk to a priest about it, but that’s the only mercy you are getting,” she added and rose to leave.
“Miranda… please… don’t… just… kill… me.”
Miranda covered her ears with her hands and left the cell.
“Luna woke up. Looks like we finally got the breakthrough. Get ready to start the second part,” Miranda told Elias in a voice colder than death.
“Alright… I will be ready in a few hours. You get some rest… we both know you need it,” Elias answered happily.
Miranda didn’t turn; she just continued walking. Her eyes were watery and burning.
“Luna’s awake,” Miranda announced as she found Zakuma. He was just cleaning the deck.
“It will get better,” he smiled.
“Can you please… talk to her? Help her somehow? I… I tortured people to death in the past… more than a few. They begged for death, all of them. Nobody… nobody meant it as much as Luna does now,” Miranda confessed.
Zakuma paused and took a slow deep breath.
“YES!” he shouted out happily. It was so loud Miranda’s ears started ringing.
“What?” she stared in disbelief.
“She can form words, which means that her mind isn’t too badly damaged. Wanting to die is the most logical request after what she had gone through, so she is functioning as a human being. She likely hasn’t suffered any irreversible damage,” Zakuma revealed, grinning wide.
“Routine? Are you telling me this is NORMAL?” Miranda shouted back.
“Eh… yes. The holds are mostly so the person cannot kill itself… I mean, the metal thing that’s put into mouth has literally no other purpose than stopping the person undergoing the ritual from killing itself by biting its own tongue,” Zakuma explained.
And here I thought the rituals of us Faye are inhuman… even our worst executions are better than this!
“So… it’s going to get better now?”
“No. I mean, the rest of the ritual is much more painful than the first step. That will go on for about ten more months, give or take, and then she will need about three to recover from it. Plus, some period to monitor the success of it all.”
That’s NOT encouraging. I am not sure I can keep myself together the next time she asks me to kill her… to not just do it.
“I am not sure I will manage,” Miranda admitted.
“Well, to be blunt, this should be the last day you are around her until it’s done. All she saw for the past year was the darkness that was trying to saw her in half and a frame of you as you slept nearby. So far you have been lucky and she has been seeing you as an ally who’s helping her through it. As things get worse, she will start seeing you as the source of her pain, as the person who makes the darkness do what it does to her,” Zakuma stated.
Lucky? LUCKY?! I’m not saying it doesn’t make sense plus he speaks like he has done this type of ritual a lot of times… but I just can’t leave her there alone!
“I can’t just leave,” Miranda protested.
“Many years ago, my daughter underwent a similar ritual. My friend was doing it, but there were complications… I helped him. She has been terrified of me ever since. Terrified to the point of not being able to be in the same room with me without her being chained,” Zakuma revealed sadly.
“Please make sure she is alright. I don’t have much to offer you, just thank you,” Miranda pleaded.
“It’s alright… us men of faith need no compensation for doing what’s right. Luna will be likely fine.”
“Miranda… please… kill me,” Luna groaned as Miranda entered the capsule.
No fear. No pain. No weakness. Such is the code of the Faye.
/>
“Stop whining you little shit,” Miranda cut back sharply.
“Please…”
“Shut up and listen,” Miranda started gathering her things. “I am leaving. You will need to woman up and handle the rest by yourself.”
“Kill… me… please…”
“SHUT UP!” Miranda shouted angrily. Luna did. “Pathetic, that’s what you are now. I don’t waste time on pathetic people. In my infinite generousness, I give you a year to recover. The next time I see you, you better be who you were when I met you because otherwise, I will dump your pathetic ass. Understood?”
“Miranda… please….”
“UNDERSTOOD?”
“Mmhmm.” Luna’s eyes went wide.
Miranda quickly fell to Luna and caught her mouth for a kiss.
“Pull yourself together or this was the last time you got to touch me. No pain, no fear, no weakness. Remember that!” Miranda announced as she detached. She collected her things and left. She slammed the door shut behind her.
7
Luna
“Easy, steady, this will be very difficult,” Elias told Luna softly as his men were releasing the shackles. She was a sorry look at best. There was nothing more he could do now though. The ritual was complete, whether it was a success or not was to be seen. Luna groaned in pain as the men started dressing her up into clothes. They were way too large for her, but she was so thin they had nothing that size.
“Good, let me walk you up,” Elias put an arm under her shoulder. She was so light, like a doll of paper.
“Grrrrrrhhhhhh…. Thank… rrrhhh… you,” Luna groaned.
“Thank me when you have recovered,” Elias smirked sadly.
He looks like he’s seeing a ghost.
“Why so… sad?” Luna asked.
“I am just happy the ritual is over,” Elias stated.
“Was it so bad?” Luna pried.
“It was a success. For the recovery, I found the man to help you through it. Meet Zakuma,” Elias made a wide gesture toward a man.
Is he big or am I small?
“Hi, pleasure to... rrrrrggggggghhhhhhh… meet you. I’m Luna.”
“Zakuma,” he smiled and gently took her arm to support her.
“Good luck with the recovery,” Elias remarked and left.
“Sorry… I feel a little weak,” Luna told Zakuma. He helped her sit down.
“He will be alright. It will take a copious amount of alcohol, but he will be fine. He is better than most people who I have seen doing the ritual,” Zakuma revealed.
“You… have done it before?”
“Right, I forgot. First things first, I will make you the same deal as I did to Miranda. I will help you, train you, teach you, but you will never ask me about my past, pry into it or try to figure it out. As far as the world is concerned, I am a novice priest of Alnil and that’s all. Can we agree on that?”
Talk about having secrets… plus it’s not like he cannot just lie to me anyway.
“Sure,” Luna squeezed out of herself.
“I have seen men take their own lives half-way through it, lose their sanity or become irreparably haunted afterward. The admiral is doing rather well since he is just lightly haunted,” Zakuma replied the original question.
“Why?” Luna knew she should be able to figure this out, but she felt so weak, so fragile… so afraid.
“The pain you feel translated into screams. Screaming, crying, begging for death… the way it had to be feeling to him is that he was just torturing a young girl. He wasn’t, but it felt that way. It always does,” Zakuma stated sadly as he sat next to Luna.
“Oh… I am sorry… thought at least I understand now why James didn’t want to do it himself,” Luna smiled softly. It hurt. It was like her face forgot how to smile. “Is Miranda around?” she added a question. Luna was terrified of the answer.
“No. She won’t show up anytime soon either,” Zakuma replied.
“I don’t know if I should be happy or sad about it,” Luna sighed.
“You wouldn’t want her to see you like this… trust me.”
“Is it so bad?”
“I think I saw a mirror nearby,” Zakuma rose and went to search for it. He was back a minute later and put it in front of Luna.
Oh. My. God. Fallen in cheeks, popped out eyes, broken lips, neck so thin my head looks huge… where are my muscles? What’s happened to my beautiful body? I used to have a six pack! I am like a skeleton with skin stretched over it… what have I done to myself? I can’t walk out of a room like this! I look vile… like a poorly reanimated ghoul… oh, Gods… no!
We look like shit, Wolfie… Wolfie? WOLFIE?!
Luna started crying. There was silence in her head. For the first time in her life, there was no answer when she reached inside. She felt alone. More alone than she had ever felt in her life. “My spirit… I can’t talk to it,” she said between the sobs.
“He will need some time to recover, but he will be back,” Zakuma smiled warmly.
You would better be… you are an annoying furry bastard, but I really fucking need you! … Right, he’s not here, I am alone in my head… alone.
“Ready to start working out?” Zakuma smirked.
“Mmhmm.”
“Come,” Zakuma led Luna to the deck.
“As you can see, we are at the sea. We departed Xona a few days ago and will be sailing east while fighting whatever we run into. We train here. I prepared a bar for pull-ups, on the deck you do push-ups and squats. When we get to ten thousand of each consecutively, we move to fighting training,” Zakuma laid out the plan.
“I can do those easily.”
“Why don’t you give it a try?” Zakuma grinned.
I haven’t done it in a long time, but it’s not like I ever had to learn it. Alright, Luna, this is child’s play!
Luna caught herself on the bar, raised her legs and crashed to the ground.
OUCH! Can’t I even hold myself? Really?
“Pull-ups are a no go, why don’t you try a push-up when you are down already?”
Luna rolled over, put herself into the position and tried to lift herself up. She didn’t move. Luna pushed all her muscles to get up. She moved by a centimeter, then collapsed back to the ground.
“Do we need to try the squats?” Zakuma inquired.
“How am I so weak?” Luna breathed.
“You have no muscles; in fact, you never had any. Your old muscles were those of your wolf. Once the wolf spirit was pushed out of the body, it didn’t know how to use them, so they faded away. This, as you are now, isn’t a result of starvation. This is you without the spirit. The real you.”
I am so… so… so pathetic. Being myself sucks! Come on, Wolfie, don’t be shy, you can come back faster… I really won’t hold it against you… Wolfie?
“What’s the hold up? You haven’t done even one push-up. You aren’t getting dinner before you do ten of them,” Zakuma announced sadistically.
“How am I supposed to do anything without my wolf?”
“By yourself. You are now too weak to even talk to it. When we are done with the basic muscle training, you will be just about ready to start talking to your spirit again, plus he should be recovered by then. In combat training, we will go through the whole claws and teeth thing,” Zakuma laid out “and I hope you like fish because that’s what we are having. Today, tomorrow, the day after, pretty much every day for as long as we are at the sea. And we are headed for the Sea of Serpents, so it will only get worse from now on.”
“I hate fish. Why don’t you motivate me by giving me some beef?” Luna tried.
“Is that what you are going to tell Miranda when she shows up? ‘Hi darling, sorry I look like shit but you see, I wanted beef and the mean man didn’t give me any, so I just lied on the deck and did nothing’,” Zakuma mocked, trying to imitate Luna’s voice.
“You bastard,” Luna grit her teeth and tried to do a push-up once more.
Come on! A little
more… bit more… COME ON!
She pushed herself up and crashed back to the ground.
“I don’t count halves, so you’re still at zero. Push up is that you get up, down, up… so I suggest you do more in a row,” Zakuma evaluated.
“It hurts… really, really hurts.”
And I miss Wolfie.
“Pain is just weakness leaving the body. You wanna see Miranda? Then get ready for her wanting to hug you… right now a hug from her would crush your arms and send you to the ground screaming. So, you aren’t making it even to the first kiss… and you want more from her, don’t you?”
You fucking bastard… you are every bit as bad as James!
“Ever heard of James? You two really need to meet,” Luna smiled weakly.
“Wanna hide behind daddy? Miranda would be so impressed… I think for this she would smash your knees and suffocate you with a dildo. James would also be proud, wouldn’t he?”
That was really, really under the belt. But it sounded like he knows about James and me… and me and Miranda. Who the fuck is this guy? Is he someone James sent to help me? Of course, he is. How else would he just pop-up? Thanks, James, I really appreciate this. I know I won’t manage to tell you, but really, thank you.
“Now move! I will need to catch dinner and I’m not going before you do three push-ups!”
“I can’t,” Luna’s eyes filled with tears.
“I wonder… what would Miranda tell you in this very situation?” Zakuma mused, then he smiled as if he just realized and shouted in a pretty good imitation of Miranda’s voice:
“Woman up and deal with it you pathetic little shit!”
“RAAAAAARRRRGGGHHHHH!”
“Eight thousand forty-two…”
“RRRRRRRRR!”
“Eight thousand forty-three. COME ON!”
“Ugghhh!”
“Eight thousand forty-four. Move that ass! Miranda ain’t gonna wait all day for you to remember how to use your legs!”
“Hmmmppppfff!”
*CRASH!*
Luna’s legs gave out and she collapsed to the deck. The barrel she held as a weight rolled to the side.
Legacy of Death: Revenge (Legacy of Dreams Book 2) Page 5
