Library of Rain

Final Trial

Rain turned to see a nondescript man in rough Low Ring garb. He had tough-looking features, but the kind a person gained from a life of hard work, not from thuggery. Rain could almost have missed his intentions if not for the other man who was with him and the second pair who stepped in behind her to block off her escape routes. 

“Okay.”

Rain didn’t even need to fake the tired surrender in her voice. 

“Good answer. We’ll make this nice and painless.” the leader said, laying his hand on Rain’s shoulder and holding her in place.

“You sure we want this one, boss? Just lookin at her makes my skin crawl.”

“Why not? The shipment leaves soon, so she won’t be our problem.”

The second man only grunted at that. 

Rain allowed the man to lead her into a building nearby. This was a gamble, but hopefully, they had an underground pen for their new slaves out of range of the tracking stones where Rain could safely hide until her curse wore off and she could deliver her people to their new homes. She hoped they would be okay until she could let them out. 

The building smelt like alcohol and vomit. The low lighting didn’t help, leaving her mind with little to focus on besides the nauseating smell. It didn’t take long for the man behind Rain to manhandle her towards a set of rickety stairs leading down. 

As they descended into the underground room, the smells transitioned from alcohol and vomit, to just vomit, to the all too familiar scent of too many people crammed into a small space without a place to wash. There was a slight difference in the smell from Rain’s time growing up in the pen. It took her a moment to recognize it as the smell of blood mixed in with the more familiar scents. 

As they reached the bottom of the stairs, Rain was able to see the room - a cramped earthen thing filled with bronze cages, most of which were full.

“Where should we put her? The cages with youngsters are already full.”

“Throw her in the cage with the farel.”

“Ya sure?”

“Yes, like you said, something’s off about her, so it's better to put her with him than to risk a more valuable item.”

“Fine.” 

One of the other men grabbed Rain by the hair and started pulling her deeper into the room. Rain tried to keep up, but with her hurt ankle, she ended up falling. The man didn’t stop and dragged her the final few steps to one of the larger cages. 

The two men who hadn’t spoken yet stood to each side with crude weapons in hand as the jerk who dragged her opened the cage before throwing her in. The bars clanged behind her, and Rain could hear the men's footsteps recede. 

Rain rubbed her scalp and looked around her new home for the next day or so. The cage was one of the larger ones. Rain would easily be able to stand in it, though someone fully grown would have to crouch a bit. To one side, a burly figure with dirty red hair was sleeping. Something about how he was sleeping made Rain think of a bear: one of the animals from the mainland. On the other side was a small huddle of people, all of whom looked like they were trying to take up as little space as possible despite there being plenty of room.

Rain waved to them.

“Hi, I’m Thorn. It's nice to meet you.” 

None of them would so much as look Rain in the eye. Instead, they just ignored her. Shrugging, Rain curled up on the floor. This was working out perfectly. She was deep enough that the tracking stones wouldn’t be able to sense her down here, and she doubted the Tineak soldiers would expect her to be trapped in a slave den. All she had to do was relax until her curse wore off. She was so tired right now that she might be able to sleep without the usual nightmares. There was only one way to find out, and since she couldn’t do anything for hours, Rain allowed herself to drift off to sleep.

***

A sharp impact to her back brought Rain out of her dreamless sleep and flung her into the cage's bars. Rain cried out as all her injuries flared at the same time.  Before Rain could orient her groggy mind, another impact caught her in her now exposed ribs, once again lifting her off the ground and forcing all the air out of her lungs.

Rain bounced off the bars again as she desperately tried to pull air in. Her inability to do so after the blow dragged her mind back to the water in the aquifer. Rain panicked, thrashing about at the thought of being back in that water.

When Rain finally managed to relax her abdomen and breathe again, she started drawing in quick, shallow breaths as fast as she could until her head started getting fuzzy. Air! She could breathe. She wasn’t drowning. Rain's breathing stabilized, and for the first time, she processed the sounds around her, laughing. Peeking out of the defensive ball she had huddled herself into, Rain saw the source of the grizzly laugh: the man who’d been sleeping. He looked down at her, the dim light reflecting off his bared teeth.

“I don’t want you in my space. So I’m going to keep beating you until the bastards put you somewhere else, or you die.”

With that said, the man brought his leg back for another kick. Rain shot pleading eyes toward the people grouped in the corner, hoping someone, anyone, would save her. They all pointedly looked away. Then the blow landed, and Rain slammed into the bars again and again and again.

***

Rain hurt - everywhere. The last few hours had proven just how good her life in the pen was. She had thought she was lonely there, but Rain hadn’t known what true loneliness was. True loneliness wasn’t being alone; it was being surrounded by people who wanted to hurt you without a single friend or so much as a kind face. It was being trapped and powerless as those stronger than you beat you, as they threatened to break you in ways that didn't heal. Rain understood that now.

The bear man had beaten her several times by this point, and even when a slaver had passed by and heard Rain’s whimpering plea for help, he had completely ignored her. That was when Rain realized why she had been put in this cage. She was here because she was disposable. They had put her here to draw the anger of the violent man so he wouldn’t hurt the others. And it was working.

***

Three beatings later, long after Rain had run out of tears and become too exhausted to even whimper, she heard the sound of the cage opening. Peeking out of her huddle, she saw a boy little older than herself being thrown in the cage. 

Were they sending another sacrifice to help take some of the dark spawn's anger off Rain? The darkling, seeing a new trespasser in his cage, rose to teach him his place. The boy cringed but had nowhere to run as the darkling punched him in the gut. 

The boy folded in on himself and fell to the ground. That was when one of the people huddled in the corner spoke for the first time.

“By the gods Zer, he’s just a kid. He’s no threat to you.”

The darkling, Zer, slowly turned to look at the other man. 

“Are you telling me what to do?”

“No, of course not.” the man backtracked, “I’m just saying there’s no reason to hurt the kid more; he learned his place.”

Why? Why hadn’t this man stood up for Rain? Even as she thought the question, Rain knew the answer: because she was a monster, and they could feel it.

The man's next words confirmed Rain’s thoughts.

“Besides, isn’t that thing far worse than this boy?”

Zer looked Rain’s way, and for a brief moment, they locked eyes. 

Rain looked away, but she knew it was already too late. Zer had decided to return to his old victim. Rain closed her eyes as the feelings of helplessness and loneliness washed over her. A foot crashed into her again and again. Rain whimpered at each impact until the last hit, which caused her to reach out with her left hand to steady herself out of reflex. It was a mistake.

Seeing the opportunity, Zer stomped down on Rain's hand. Rain screamed as she felt the bones in her small hand grind and shatter under the large man’s heel. 

Rain let herself lose balance as she cradled her shattered hand to her chest while Zer laughed.

The feelings of isolation and helplessness grew as a third emotion was added: fear. Fear that even if she survived, it would be as a cripple. Would her hand ever work again? Would he take her eyes or something worse?

The emotions swirled in her mind, crashing into the pearl of even darker emotions Rain kept restrained. The same emotions she tapped into when she wanted to increase her aura. And as the turmoil in her mind grew, the dark pearl cracked. Before it could shatter completely, Rain focused on a good thought, her only good thought.

She had a family.

She had a kind older brother and an adorable little sister. And no matter what, Rain would be returning to them. That knowledge calmed the storm in Rain's mind, and she held on to it. Whether Zer was hitting her or lounging, she held to that thought, repeating her siblings' names in her mind. Sunrise, Lucus, Sunrise, Lucus… As the pain in her hand throbbed and her fear of it never healing grew, she kept repeating their names. Lucus, Sunrise… As Zer started to bore with hurting her, and her battered body stiffened. Sunrise, Lucus… As the dark pearl absorbed the bitter emotions in her mind sealing them away. Lucus, Sunrise… Until finally.

[Curse of Sealing: time remaining 0 minutes.]