I know this is a dream, I know it.
It's too good to be my real life!
I'm in a restaurant, the restaurant I had my first real date with Carla.
Her family wasn't rich perse, but they could afford to eat out at places like this and drive around in the newest models that year.
And I'm not talking about a trade-in, they just outright brought the new car.
Carla was sitting in front of me, looking gorgeous in her couple thousand dollar dress.
Which made me feel like an ass, coming here in my was two hundred dollar suit when it was first made years ago.
She's a medical or bio... something? I'm not dumb, and I could follow her for the most part, but I was only a few credits shy of a community college degree.
She lost me after she she said something about the natural degradation period of some such thing.
We met when her 'friends' dragged her to a club where she definitely did not belong, and then abandoned her.
So, there she was at two in the morning, drunk, alone, in a not so good neighborhood, and without her purse.
I felt bad for her, so I went up to her, and offered cab-fare.
She looked freaked out, so I offered to just call the cab, and pay him before she even got in the car.
She agreed, but called me a perverted pig in Mandarin.
I responded, that kindness does not denote me wanting to fuck her, also in Mandarin.
After her initial shock, she spoke in Korean.
As did I.
Japanese?
As did I.
Tagalog?
As did I.
Urdu?
As did I.
Arabic?
As did I.
Russian?
As did I.
Amharic?
As did I.
Then, she really tried to stump me.
She spoke in Navajo.
As I didn't immediately respond, she smiled in triumph.
Then, I dashed that smile, when I basically said JK in Navajo. As if I wouldn't learn the language that won WWII.
We spent the rest of the night in a diner that serves the best damn peach crisp while she tried to stump me with other languages, we talked about anime, comics, current events, and whatever else came to mind.
Talking to her was like the easiest thing in the world.
It wasn't long after that, that we started to go out.
But none of that was why this dream is too good to be true.
No, it was what is sitting in front of me, a wagyu two and a half pound steak!
God, I hope it tastes as good as I remember!
I cut into it, the knife slid straight through it, I stabbed it with my fork, and lifted it to my lips.
The juices dripped into my mouth, and the aroma filled my nose.
I jumped up, awake and alert.
Looking around I saw the other prisoners and Flora waiting for me to wake up.
Patty, you asshole!
She could have waited two more minutes, I was this close to taking the first bite!
I looked, and saw scratches in the dirt... Wait! That's English! When did she learn to write English?!
I quickly read it.
-No magic, don't try. Tell me when the others get here. Don't fuck this up.-
I was about to say something when she gave me a death glare, and shook her head.
Fine, I got better things to do anyway.
Like escape from this cell.
I activated 'Transcendental traversal'...
Aaaaarrgh!!!!
A pain so acute that it robbed me of the ability to scream assaulted me.
It faded after a half a minute.
Patty, what wa...
I looked at Flora, and she pointed down at the words she just wrote in the dirt.
-Cages spelled. Magical Faraday cage that hurts instead of protects.-
I looked at her expectingly.
She sighed, held up a finger, wiped away her writing, then wrote something else.
-Anytime you use mana it will sense it, and cause a painful feedback loop.-
Painful, yeah, I know.
"Hey, what are those squiggles?"
The man who complained to the giant earlier asked.
And Flora just ignored him.
"Don't ignore me! I could tell them about what you're doing, you know?"
"Go ahead, like they'll understand what I'm doing anymore than you. Besides, if what I were doing was planning an escape, shouldn't you be as nice to me as possible?"
That not only got his attention, but every prisoner who heard it.
"You'll really help us?"
A woman in the back said.
She looked far healthier than the man.
In fact, all the women prisoners looked far better than the men.
The women looked bad, but the men were severely beaten and emaciated.
"Yeah, sure."
Before anymore could ask questions, a group of witches walked in.
I recognized a few of them.
One was the witch Flora injured with ice, another was Manny, and also the witch I saw abuse those kids.
"What is that?!"
One of the unknown witches asked, pointing at Flora's scribbles.
"Ooooh, I always knew y'all were no better than animals, but you can't read either? It must really suck to be you."
The witch's veins started to glow, she looked ready to rip Flora's fucking head off.
Like everyone else who's ever met her for a minimum of at least four minutes, but Manny didn't let her go through with it.
She grabbed her arm.
"She's just baiting you. That isn't a language, just some scribbles in the dirt to try to get in our heads. Not that it will work."
Flora shrugged, and wiped away the words.
"Tsk. Too bad, you're smarter than the average rat. Tell me, I see you're doing okay,"
Flora pointed at the witch she injured with a ice spear.
"but how is the the burnt tart? Is she still crispy?"
The witch charged at her, and just like the last one, had to be restrained.
"You fucking cunt! Grete will be blind for the rest of her life!"
Good.
"Huh, thanks for all of that information."
Flora smiled.
"We didn't tell you a damn thing!"
"On the contrary, you told me plenty. Like how all of you here are just an after thought."
"Why you..."
"I mean there was plenty of time to get Grace here to a healer, but you said she'll be blind for the rest of her life.
So, that means you don't have a witch capable of magical healing, just a physician.
Which means that the higher ups couldn't give two shits about you, and didn't waste a witch with healing powers on you.
It makes sense, I mean y'all had to rely on people's good nature to invade towns, and couldn't just smash your way through.
Which is pathetic!"
Manny snarled.
"You know nothing of our greater plans."
"You mean like using mind control that Coby made?"
The complete and utter shock was written on their faces.
"Who told you about that?!"
"You just did.
Though I did have my suspicions all along.
There's no way she got that far without some kind of backing. Not that it did her any good."
Anka grabbed the bars.
"What did you do to our sister?!"
"What do you think I did? What any smart adventurer does to a witch."
Flora was effortlessly enraging them.
"You bitch! I'll kill you!"
"Hahaha! No, you won't, because she won't let you. Also, she wasn't sister material anyway."
As if to prove Flora's point, Manny pulled Anka back.
"Hahaha! That's just rich."
"If you know what's good for you, you'd shut up. She was our beloved sister."
Flora rolled her eyes.
"She was going to betray you, idiots! Anyone who deals in mind control is bound to be a megalomaniac. I'd say that I did y'all a favor, you know, getting rid of her and all."
Anka was giving her a death glare.
"You think you're hot shit, just because they need to keep you alive to get a brat fucked into you, but..."
"Five."
"What?!"
"They'd want to fuck five brats into me. I can see how lost you are, so I'll dumb it down for you.
Odds are y'all won't find a suitable male witch to fuck me, so a male mage will have to do. That means my kid will be human, and because y'all want to breed with a first generation y'all need me to have a son.
Because there's no way to accurately predict if a child inherited its parent's magical potential, y'all need me to have more than one, and as the probability of me having a girl is about fifty percent - five kids is the safest bet. Which would give me at least forty months of protection, not including the three to four months of trying to get me preggers in between the pregnancies."
They all had stunned faces once again.
"You..."
"Ignore her prattle Hermangild, she's not worth our time. We'll break her in time, just like all of the others."
The witch who abused those kids spoke up.
"Yes, Minthe, you are right."
The witch called Minthe turned her gaze to me.
"Now, is this the lizard I am to tame?"
She pointed at me.
"Yeah."
She cocked an eyebrow.
"It doesn't look like much."
Well, neither do you bitch.
"Looks can be deceiving. It took on a horde of curse beasts and Basha, by itself!"
"Really?"
"And it can even wield magic!"
"Now, that is something! Maire must want to show it off to the snots up the ladder."
"Minthe! It is high priestess! There are procedures on how to speak of those in power!"
One of the unknown witches said.
"Oh, hush. I've known Maire since she was a sniveling brat! I was apart of her trine before she became the 'high priestess'! Now, get it out, and take it to my workshop."
Knowing this was my time to attack, I got ready to charge out.
But when they opened the cell door... I woke up in another cell - this one circular - surrounded by monsters in other cells.
Damn! They must've hit me with another sleep spell.
I've got to figure out a way to prevent that.
The monster that immediately drew my attention was a huge curse beast, he is at least ten feet tall.
Though, as he was currently in a too small cage, he was forced onto all fours.
Plus he is chained down with horrible scars all over him.
He keeps gnawing on his chains, and bashing himself against the bars of his cell, injuring himself even more.
"Stop it, you dumb brute! We're the ones who have to clean up any blood you leave! Pain!"
Two young witches came in, one screaming.
His collar lit up, and he roared in agony, or just rage.
Still, he kept on thrashing around.
"Acolytes! I thought I told you to have that lizard prepared for me!"
Minthe appeared from outside, and looked pissed.
"We tried, but none of the enslaving items you gave us work! So, we headed out..."
Minthe decided to cut her off.
"I don't need excuses, just solutions. Get that slave boy in here, now!"
The two of them ran off to comply, and Minthe went over to the curse beast's cage.
When she came closer, he really started going buck-wild.
She bent over, putting her face just inches away from his bars.
"Oh, whatever is the problem, Bors? Hungry?"
He roared, and nipped at the air. Sending globs of spittle at her, spittle she just casually wiped off.
"Pain. Hahaha!"
She laughed as she came over to me, and left him growling in pain.
She looked over me the same way you'd look at a melon at the supermarket, trying to figure out what's too wrong with it that they decided to sell it this cheap, and failing to figure it out.
It tasted a little wonky.
Yeah, I had diarrhea for days after that.
"Now, let's see how those incompetent twits failed to enslave you."
Her veins and eyes glowed as she looked over me.
"Huh, that's weird. It doesn't look like you've been tamed at all?! How is that bitch controlling you then?"
While she was distracted I activated 'Dash', and charged at her.
I barely grazed the bars, when pain shot up my arm, and flung me back.
My arm was numb.
She didn't even flinch, instead she went over to table, sat down and started writing.
"I might have to use tintoberry for the potion. Maire will not be happy I dipped into the reserves, but it seems you have a stronger will than you're supposed to."
Her writing and mumbling to herself went on for awhile, until her acolytes returned with the boy from earlier.
He was worse for wear, his lip swollen, bruises all along his little body, and a black-eye.
"We have returned with the boy, ma'am."
Minthe stood up in a huff.
"You should have been back ages ago, my time is precious!"
"We know! We would have been here, if not for the boy! Another sister was holding him for questioning!"
"Questioning? Questioning about what?"
"Another brat escaped, and everyone knows these two were close!"
"Well?"
"Huh?"
"Did he tell them anything?"
"Uh... No, ma'am. He denied knowing anything."
"Who was interrogating him?"
"Uh... Frytia ma'am."
Minthe scoffed.
"Makes sense, she always was too soft."
She went to the boy and slugged him.
When he fell down she started kicking him.
"Where is he, bastard?!"
"I... I... I... don't know."
The boy meekly answered.
"Tell me!"
"I... don't... know."
She's going to kill him!
Pizzow!
"STOP IT!!!!!!"
I yelled, and banged on my cell, causing it to spark and fling me all the way back to the opposite side.
Making my whole body numb.
"Haha! It all makes sense now! It's intelligent!"
Minthe stopped hurting the boy to come up to me.
"Like us?"
One of the acolytes asked.
"No, we are sentient, it is just a smart animal. But it does explain why neither of you could tame it.
The methods y'all were employing is for weak willed beasts."
"Let... him... go."
I barely whispered.
"What?"
"You don't have to hurt him, he's just a kid. Let him go, and I'll let bygones be bygones."
"Hahaha! I know I don't have to hurt him, I just want to."
"You can't be this evil, please, just let him go."
"What is it with men and thinking that everyone needs their help, when they don't? Well, except for when we do."
She lifted her robe, showing a nasty keloid scar running the length of her belly button to her chest.
"Where was that big strapping man sixty years ago to stop this from happening?"
Sixty? She doesn't even look thirty!
"I'm sorry that happened to you, but that doesn't give you the right to hurt kids!"
Feeling starting flowing back into my legs.
"Ain't this something, a beast with morals! Don't worry, Bors here thought the same way.
He came here thinking he'd save us from our oppressors. Ha! He was really surprised when we did that to him."
She pointed at him thrashing and bitting the air.
"I think he went a little bit mad, maybe you'll also go mad."
Her face filled with glee, either because of his insanity, or for my impending insanity.
Either way, this bitch is fucking crazy, like joker-level crazy.
"You betrayed him? Even though he just wanted to help you!"
I just got to milk her for as much information as possible.
Not that it's hard, one thing assholes love more than anything else is hearing how they are smarter than everyone else.
"He had massive reserves of mana, and I couldn't pass up the chance to use that for my experiments. He's the finest curse beast I've made yet! Which brings me to you."
Oh, shit! That's never good.
"I don't think I will tame you, instead you'll do wonders for experimentation."
"Didn't your boss want me though?"
"Maire will get over it, I'll just tell her something was wrong with you."
Some fucking sisterhood! They are all willing to betray each other without a second thought.
But... I can use that.
"I could tell her, if you don't let me, the kid, and Flora go."
"Wow, I was wrong about you."
I grew a little smug, Flora isn't the only one who can use people's nature against them.
"You aren't as intelligent as I thought. You already played your hand."
She gestured towards the boy - who was crawling toward the door.
The two acolytes went and dragged him back.
"For reasons unknown by me you actually care about this thing who you have never even met before, and guess what? There are dozens more like him.
If you even look at Maire the wrong way, I'll do this,"
She waved her hand, her veins and eyes glowing, and all of the kid's bones in his left arm shattered.
"Aaaaaaaahhhh!"
The boy screamed, then fainted from the pain.
"to all of them."
I looked her right in the eye.
"You don't have to worry about me running my mouth."
"Good, now onto the experiments!"
The dead need not worry about secrets.
____________
Three days passed with her taking samples, and by taking samples I mean ripping chunks of flesh off me once she knew of my great healing.
She would do some weird shit with her samples, then I was dragged back to the prisoner cells.
After the first day I told Flora I had spoken, via writing it down.
She just rolled her eyes, and wrote back to stick to her plan.
The plan she told me nothing about, save to tell her when Eric gets here.
I don't particularly see how Eric will be able to not only take on this many witches to free us, but how she going to find us in the first place.
The witches have magic to cover their tracks.
But I told her I would.
_______
The kid lost his arm.
The next time I saw him, he had a stump where his left arm should have been.
The fucking bitch didn't heal him, they just amputated it.
It was on that day that Maire came.
She came in, and saw the boy.
"Another one? How many does this one make?"
She asked Minthe.
"You know I lost track after the twentieth, it's not my fault those animals are so weak."
"I need breeding stock, it's the reason we have to keep raiding their villages. The only reason I have any standing with the Supreme Mother is because I provide enough males to ensure our numbers are always on the rise."
"Don't worry, I only take the infirm ones. He barely had a drop of mana in his entire body. He would have produced inferior witches."
"Fine, but after you get rid of this one, run your next selection by me."
There is no hell deep enough for these monsters, but I'll be glad to send them down nonetheless.
She came over to me.
"You still haven't tamed it for me? I wanted to show it off when I go meet the Supreme Mother later this week."
Minthe looked at me, then at the boy, then at me again.
"I'm sorry, but something is wrong with it. When that bitch tamed it, she disturbed its energy flow."
Maire had the look you get when you know someone is spouting complete bullshit, but can't prove it.
She sighed in acceptance.
"Well, is there anything you can do with it?"
"Now that you ask, I've been using samples from it to strengthen the curse beast spell. The next batch will be stronger than all previous ones!"
Maire looked at Bors.
"Will they also attack their masters?"
"Bors was a special case, and he's still the strongest beast we've got. Once I break him..."
"You should just get rid of it! If it escapes..."
"It won't! It's impossible for it to break out. Someone would have to break the cell from the outside!"
Good to know.
______
On the fourth day stuck here Eric bliped on my Malignity locator.
Which indicates that she's within ten miles of me.
When I used my ability to spy on her immediate surroundings, I noticed that the witch hunters we meet before were with her and Lyra.
How or why she went and got them I have no idea.
I turned to Flora.
"They're here."
"It can talk!"
That random dude exclaimed, though others were also surprised. Including the witch left on guard, meaning no one told her.
Just another example of their complete dysfunction in running a sisterhood.
The witch turned on Flora.
"Who's here?!"
Flora glared at me.
Yeah, I probably shouldn't have said that out loud.
Then she looked back at the witch.
"My party, they're here to rescue us, and kill you."
"Not if I warn the others, they'll gut your friends like the gutless fish they are!"
She turned on her heels, and started to leave.
"And how about the three hundred or so witch hunters? Think that they'll be easy to gut as well?"
That stopped her right in her tracks.
"Wh... what?"
She stammered, turning to face Flora again.
"Oh, did I forget to mention that? My bad, we were sent here by the Hexeian government."
"You're lying! You're a woman!"
"Am I? Think! This isn't the first time a foreign woman has been hired, and why would your high priestess keep me human?"
"Because she wants to breed you!"
"Oh, please, why would she risk her life by keeping me around not under complete control? It's because she needs me."
"For what?"
"There, right there! That's the true question to be asking! It's because I am a bargaining chip. She knew that as an agent of the government they'd send an entire army to wipe y'all out, and she wants to trade me to save her own neck!"
"That... that has to be a lie!"
"Why? Because she wouldn't keep this from you? That's a stinking pile of bullshit, and you know it! How many lies have been kept from you before? How many?!"
I could see from her face, that all of this was ringing true.
I don't know how, but Flora knew all of this.
"I... I... I..."
"Of course, there is a way for you to get out unscathed, buuuut...."
The witch grabbed the bars.
"What?! Tell me!"
"The witch hunters are surrounding this encampment as we speak, and the only way you can escape is if I make a big enough distraction."
"You'd... really... help me? But we are enemies, why would..."
"We know that not all witches are evil, they just join evil covens because they're scared... and alone. I can see the good in you, please, save yourself."
The witch took a deep breath, then looked Flora right in the eye.
"What do I have to do?"
"I have to get out of this cell."
"I can't do that! These cages are spelled, and..."
Flora reached out of the cell to palm her cheek.
"Shush! It's okay. Just get all of my stuff they stole, then get that giant to come here."
"Okay, but how am I going to get her to..."
"Just tell her I saved Coby's notes, but say you overheard my bragging to the other prisoners about being able to keep it from her. Oh, and throw in some random insults about her intelligence, and to be on the safe side, say I called her a babyfucker as well."
"How will..."
"Just do it, wait fifteen minutes, and then run into the forest."
"I... I... How can I ever repay you?"
"Just live a long and honest life."
The witch nodded, and then took off.
"Did you really mean all of that?"
One of the female prisoners asked Flora.
"Huh?"
"You know, how not all witches are evil, and that you'd let her go."
These fools were looking at Flora like she is like Jesus or something, those poor fools.
"Pfft, no. She'll probably be dead the second she runs into the forest."
"Oh."
______________
After the witch - Who's name is Myrdeth - got all of Flora's stuff and gave it her, it wasn't that long until Basha came bursting into the holding area.
"Where are they?!"
Flora smirked.
"You'll have to be more specific."
Basha grabbed the bars, conveniently, she already had hand-holds from the last time she grabbed them.
"I know you have something that belongs to the witches! Give it to me!"
Flora shrugged.
"I don't think I should be discussing this with you, is one of your owners available?"
"You fucking bitch!"
"That's rich, a dog calling someone else a dog. What's next? Are you going to tell me that you think they don't use you, and just see you as a convenient tool to be used then tossed aside. Oh, you did, didn't you?"
Basha just growled in response.
"I mean even a giant should be able to figure out that they don't care about your petty revenge. That's what all of this is about, right?"
"Shut up."
"Giants have long ass lifespans, so you were probably alive during the giants' war, a little brat, but alive nonetheless.
My guess is that a family member got offed, and you just can't move on."
"Shut up!"
"Now I know that they had it coming and all, but how'd they die? Fire? Someone strong enough to break their subcutaneous armor? Or - my personal favorite - did they just drown them? They did, didn't they? Were you there? Watching like a coward as they murdered your family?"
"I. SAID. SHUT. UUUUUP!"
Basha ripped Flora's cell door off, magical sparks flying as whatever spell placed on the cell was destroyed.
Flora retreated further back into her cell, her arms behind her back once more.
"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!!"
Basha charged in, only to get a egg-shaped clay figure - pulled from Flora's capacity gem - thrown into her face.
A small white - with hints of red - mist puffed out, and settled onto her face.
"AAAAAAAAAAH!"
She fell back, clawing at her face, and growing at a fast pace.
My guess is that the trinket she uses to shrink requires her to mentally keep herself that way.
And any pain causes a battle within to keep herself small, a battle she lost.
She exploded upwards, bursting through the roof, and going on a rampage of pain through the coven.
Which left Flora in her cell with a sour look on her face.
"That was my contingency for the slave, this trip is making me bleed money."