When Nya awoke, she was on some kind of standing stretcher and bound in chains… again. This time, there were more chains restraining her and limiting her motion as much as possible. Sufficed to say it wasn't very comfortable, especially the thick collar on her neck, she figured that it was some sort of omen restraint since she couldn't activate her phantasm.
She was so tightly secured she couldn't even look around, but in front of her were Kiva and Terror, who were both lightly restrained compared to her. The room was dark, but thanks to her night vision, she could see just fine.
"You're up," Terror commented, "don't bother trying to use your blood aura-"
"There's something inhibiting my powers, I know," she finished, "I'm guessing its these collars we're both wearing, but Kiva doesn't have one since she's not an omen."
"They're inhibitor collars used for controlling omen," Kiva explained, "it's the only way normal people can control your kind,"
"Normal people? Our kind?" Terror said, offended, "I'd expect that from a fae like you."
"I'm sorry that omens are seen as wild brutes, but it's a fact of society." Kiva defended
"Can you two please shut the fuck up?" Nya chided, "We literally have much bigger problems to deal with than omen profiling."
"How can you be so calm?" Terror demanded,
"Because freaking out now won't do shit about our current situation." She scolded him, "where are we?"
"We're in a holding cell, awaiting trial." Kiva told her
"Trail?" Nya said, "On what charges?"
"Smuggling, trafficking omen, resisting arrest, aggravated assault, multiple counts of attempted murder, multiple counts of murder of military personnel." Kiva recited.
"Alright, that's pretty bad," Nya said,
"Most of it was done by you," Terror tells her
"I don't like being manhandled," Nya said, in defense of her actions,
All of a sudden, a door slides open, flooding bright light into the dark room, momentarily blinding Kiva, but doing less harm to the two omen.
After everyone could see properly again, a group of soldiers walked into the cell.
"I am Commander Amara Varaxi," a woman said. She seemed to be the leader of the group, with her pristine military coat and her hands were behind her back.
She had a reddish-brown complexion, with the patches of reptilian scales on her exposed neck and cheeks. She was a bit taller and leaner than a human, with four long arms, and three eyes on her narrow face and glossy black hair. She was a kobal, a fae race.
"It is time for your judgement. Be grateful, the World Lord himself will be present at the trial of you lowly mongrels."
"The World Lord himself?" Nya cooed, "Ooh, is he single? Maybe I should put on my sexiest underwear."
The commander walked towards her and struck her across the face with both her left hands, "Hold your tongue beast, or I will have it removed."
Nya spat out a little blood onto the woman's uniform, "Go fuck yourself."
"Why are you provoking her?" Terror asked Nya
"Because it's fun," Nya answered with a big bloody grin.
"I will love seeing you in the pits." she said glaring at Nya.
"Kiss my ass." Nya retorted, "I mean, you'll probably have to work at it, seeing as I'm heavily tied down to make you feel better about yourself."
"Nice try, creature," The commander said as she backed away and let her soldiers drag her out.
"We'll have to finish this another time, ciao." Nya said, winking at the woman before she left her line of sight.
"And gag her! I don't want her opening that filthy maw in the presence of the World Lord." The commander said
Terror and Kiva were walked out of the cell, escorted by soldiers and following the pair that were wheeling Nya down a long corridor.
They were taken to a very impressive chamber that could easily be mistaken for a senate room. There was a central stage in the middle of the circular chamber with a raised bleacher area for a jury. Directly in front of them was a large podium where a judge sat.
The bleachers were full of high ranking officials serving as the jury, judging by their appearance. and there was a closed off area secluded with curtains that hid the occupants. Nya could sense an intense stare coming from within the curtains and baring down on her. Someone was already interested.
"You stand before the Grand Tribunal!" one of their escorts declared grandiosely, "You stand accused of crimes against the public order that World Lord Davos has established on Draxia Urma!"
The jury began to murmur among themselves. Then, Commander Amara walked before them.
"This woman, Kiva Weren, an adept who kept her identity a secret," she began, "brought in two omen onto the planet without proper authorization and under false pretenses. Once caught, they assaulted loyal officers of the World Lord's forces and even murdered a number of officers before attempting to flee from justice."
The jury got more and more rowdy as she went on. But Nya kept her eyes fixed on the curtained booth.
"This omen right here is solely responsible for the casualties our forces suffered and the trauma of the surviving adepts at the scene." She pointed at Nya.
Nya rolled her eyes as the woman went on and on, speaking semantics about the honor and loyalty of the soldiers and how horrible and cowardly they were for attacking the soldiers.
All of a sudden, a deep booming voice silenced every other in the hall. "ENOUGH!"
The curtained booth opened up and everyone bowed as the World Lord stepped forwards. He was an imposing man, dressed head to toe in dazzling platinum battle armor –like a knight of old— adorned with an exquisite fur-lined cape and all sorts of military medals. His face was hidden behind a helmet with a shining red visor that looked down at everyone. His voice boomed loud and clear for all to hear.
"I WILL NOT SIT HERE ALL DAY! THE ADEPT WILL BE DRAFTED INTO MY ARMY, THE LYKAN WILL BE SENT TO A LABOR CAMP LIKE ALL OMEN. HOWEVER, THE ANOMALOUS VAMPIRE IN RESTRAINTS WILL BE SENT TO A RESEARCH TEAM TO BE STUDIED AND PROCESSED. I HAVE RENDERED MY JUDGEMENT, IN TRUST THERE IS NO DESCENTING OPINION?" no one dared object so he turned his back and walked away.
"A-a wise verdict, sire," the judge congratulated, banging his gavel down, "As the World Lord has decreed, Kiva Weren will be drafted into the Draxia Urma military service, the lykan will be sent to the service center and the anomaly will be given to the war department research team."
"You can't do this," Kiva protested, "I'm not even a citizen of Draxia Urma, I can't be conscripted."
"This planet belongs to World Lord Davos. The air you breathe, the ground you tread on, everything you see and everyone who sees it belongs to the World Lord." The Judge told her as she was taken away along with Terror and Nya.
* * *
Being forcefully conscripted into a World Lords army was one of the many things that Kiva hoped to avoid in her life on the run. After spending so many years under the influence of a mad tyrannical dictator, she wasn't welcoming to the idea of serving another, at least this one didn't give birth to her.
She was assigned to the adept's division, as she knew she would be, but she would be damned if she lets them know what she is really capable of, who she really was.
"So, you're the criminal who smuggled omen on our soil?" the commanding officer in front of her said
"I didn't smuggle anyone here, I just needed help hauling my load and I didn't want to pay extra to bribe security." She answers.
"Well, now you belong to the World Lord and are expected to commit your everything to World Lord Davis and his endeavors."
"I'm not feeling very committed." Kiva said bluntly
"Not to worry," the commanding officer said, a smile on his face, "You will be." he then turned to the guards, "take this one to the Reeducation Center."
* * *
The service center, as the judge put it, was more like an omen concentration camp. Omen unfortunate enough to be on the planet or be caught by its forces were sent to places like this for what was basically slave labor.
In his life, Terror had heard of places like this before, but seeing it with his own eyes was worse than he could ever imagine. He saw omen of all kinds; orcs, taurus, lamias, and so much more.
"Welcome to your new home, omen scum." The warden said to him as he was taken to his cell. "This is the largest of the World Lord's labor centers, we have all kinds of your ilk in this facility. We even have a sasquatch."
Terror's eyes widened, sasquatch were an extremely rare species of omen, they didn't even have a grading since they were so rare.
"This is inhumane," Terror growled
"You're not humane," the warden snickered
"And yet I shit more humanity this morning than the you all have combined." He snarled
"You also work faster than regular people," the warden said, "be grateful that the World Lord sees a use for your kind, we could always do as the elves do and slaughter you all like the beasts you are."
"Don't worry," Terror snarled, "When I get out of here I'll be sure to thank him personally."
"What makes you think you're ever getting out of here?"
"You really don't know what you just gave to the research team do you? I almost pity you!" he chuckled mockingly as he walked away.
* * *
Nya woke up naked, strapped to an operating table, her arms and legs in special braces, the inhibitor collar still on her neck. She sensed movement of several figures in her periphery.
"You better not have groped me," she said, attracting their attention, "I get very upset with people who touch my body without my consent."
"You're awake, good." Said a doctor who came into her field of view. He looked old with a balding head, liver spots and thick spectacles covering his eyes and a creepy smile on his face,
"You most certainly cannot touch me," Nya said looking at him, "you look more the part of an old pervert than a scientist."
"Don't worry my dear," the old man said picking up a scalpel, "I may be interested in your body, but not in that sense, your virtue is safe."
"And that's supposed to make it all better?" Nya asked, "you've got me strapped to a bed naked in some creepy ass operating room."
"I interviewed the adepts that arrested you, they seemed absolutely terrified of you, like you were some sort of demon –though you seem more like a mutant to me. The World Lord has instructed me to find what secrets I can from you."
"So you're going to torture me? Well, you seem creepy enough for that line of work," Nya commented dryly
"Not torture, that word is so barbaric. Now words like vivisect and autopsy, those are much more fitting for us educated types."
"I'm an educated type? Did you discern that from our limited conversation? Are you also a psychologist, too?"
The old man chuckled, "I do dabble in the study of the mind, thank you. And those subtle non-verbal cues you give lead me to believe that there is great knowledge and experience behind those intriguing eyes."
"So between taking me apart, you also want to crack open my head and see what's swimming around in my mind?" Nya asked
"What an interesting notion. Yes, I believe talking between sessions would help shine a light on your mysterious psyche." The old man said as he made his first incision, from her sternum to her pelvis, she grits her teeth and shuddered in pain as the scalpel parted her flesh.
"Interesting, you seem to have an accelerated healing," the doctor noted as the incision started to close itself, he then jabbed the scalpel into the freshly healed flesh and she flinched, "And something of a good pain tolerance, excellent. Let's see if we can't find your pain threshold now, shall we?"
"You first," Nya shuddered, a brief yelp escaping her lips as he cuts into her again, digging the blade deeper.
"Ah, progress." The old man said with a satisfied smile, "let's keep this up."
"You are one sadistic fuck, you know that?" Nya asks
"I've been called worse." He said as he picked up a larger blade.
* * *
Terror had been at the concentration camp for a while now, he'd stopped counting the days after about five and a half months had passed. His days typically involved being sent for hard inhumane labor anywhere on the planet; be it at the mines that could be found almost everywhere or the refineries and factories at the eastern continent, the farms in the western plains or just working round the different cities scattered across the four continents of this planet.
A while back, he had been doing some construction work by the army barracks and had encountered Kiva there, although she was different, she was completely indoctrinated into the army's principles. She seemed nothing like how she was when they first met, she barely recognized Terror when he approached her and she nearly killed him when he suggested they escape. Nya hasn't been seen since the trial, and rumors about how the World Lord's top scientist has been experimenting on a monster doesn't give him much hope that she'll be around anytime soon.
As he spent the night in his cell, he contemplated his situation, once again, a though formed in his mind. For some time now, he had been planning on a means of escape, so he could go and save Nya, then Kiva, then they could get off this godforsaken world. But now, he thought of all the other omen trapped here, forced to live in such indignity and inhumanity, he couldn't just leave them to suffer, he had to do something for them.
As he laid on his cot, with seven other omen in the cell, he proposed a question to them,
"I'm tired of this, aren't you?" He asked, "I mean, we outnumber them 40 to 1, we can do something with that kind of advantage."
"Our numbers are our only advantage," one of his cellmates chided him, "many have led failed rebellions before, but the fae have all the weapons, and we all have these accursed collars to stop our phantasms."
"Yeah, and it's not like that numbers advantage you mentioned will do us any good." another cellmate added, "all the different gangs keep to their own,"
Terror grinned, "Then that's the first thing I need to do; get the gang heads together." He already had the makings of a plan forming on how to turn things around.
* * *
Pain. That was all Nya knew over the last fourteen or so months. The demented doctor had shown her new heights of pain that she never thought possible, and she'd screamed so much her voice ran ragged. When they weren't cutting into her, they would pump her full of drugs and other chemicals to see how she reacted to it. They fed her nutrients intravenously, just enough to keep her active, since they couldn't let her die until they understood everything about her existence.
He would work on her for days at a time, before leaving her in complete isolation for a stretch so she could rest and heal then he would start over. Once in a while, he'd put away his tools and just talk to her, asking her questions, and making comments, he never got any replies from her beyond insults or snide comments, and the odd death threat here and there. At some point, Nya had even been tempted to give in, to tell the man all her secrets, just to make the pain stop, but speaking was difficult to do without a tongue… or teeth… or vocal chords. As she had unfortunately discovered, even her healing factor had its limits, and her body had stopped fully regenerating, now just healing enough to keep her barely alive.
Now, she lay in pieces. She had been flayed alive during their last encounter, stripped of the top layer of her skin from most of her limbs, exposing the flesh underneath, she looked weakly to her right arm, which was mostly bones and cartilage after much of the muscle had been removed, her torso was a tapestry of autopsy scars and was missing one breast, but she was still alive… if you could call this alive. This was one of the rest periods, and for the first time in a while, she pushed herself to stay awake, rather than drift off into the sweet relief of unconsciousness.
She gathered her thoughts, for over a year now, she had remained captive of the doctor and his assistants so she could study them, analyze their patterns and habits, and understand their behavior, the same thing they had been trying to do with her, only difference was that she had learned more than they had about their psyche. The doctor himself was as she pegged him, curious and sadistic, taking pleasure in his work far more than required, but still brilliant. The male assistant apparently lusted after her, because every time he came to treat her fresh or infected wounds, he was take as much time as possible to grope and molest her scarred body, she was pretty sure he had her missing breast. The female assistant was an omen servant, a harpy, and her job was to administer the different drugs and nutrients, she didn't particularly enjoy her job, but she also didn't seem sympathetic to her plights, or that of the other omen on the planet, from the comments Nya heard from her. She had been lucky to be chosen by the doctor and considered herself better than the others.
Annoyingly, they still refused to take her damned inhibitor collar off, even after all her pathetic begging and whimpering to them about her surrender, so she still couldn't use her phantasm. But she could still meditate, and discovered that she could still control her blood flow somewhat, to a degree within her body. And also, she had accumulated a small reservoir of nutrient that she kept concentrated in her spleen, collected over the months she had spent here, and enough to give her a sudden boost of energy when needed, but it was only temporary so she was saving it. With all she had acquired up till now, she decided that she was almost ready, now she just needed to wait for her next session.
The next time the doctor and his two assistants came into her chamber, they began the routine once again; he would initiate a conversation and she would remain silent, then he would start his work and she would scream, he didn't seem to mind her screams, no matter how loud she got. However, this time, after an hour of screaming, her voice suddenly died down.
"What's wrong, my dear?" the doctor asked, with his hands inside her abdomen sifting through her intestines, "don't tell me you've lost your voice again?"
She didn't respond and the male assistant checked the machines that monitored her.
"Doctor!" he called panicked, "her heart has stopped and her vitals have dropped,"
"No!" the doctor said pulling his bloody gloves off his hands, "She is not allowed to die, restart her heart, now! You, go and get the emergency serum."
The female assistant ran out of the chamber as the male assistant flipped a switch of a machine and connected some nodes onto her chest. A shock went through her body, causing her convulse, but nothing else happened. They tried this several more times as the female assistant came in clutching a bag in her winged arms.
"I have the serum." She said, the serum was a cocktail of stimulant devised by the doctor, to jumpstart any dying omen, like administering adrenaline to restart a heart. However, for some reason, it didn't work on omen with their phantasms inhibited.
"She's not responding!" the male assistant said
"Get that collar off her and administer the serum." The doctor ordered.
The collar came off and the male assistant, jabbed the injector with the serum right into her heart, emptying the serum into her bloodstream. As is surges through her system, it reaches the reservoir of nutrients in her spleen, electrifying her body and momentarily boosting her back to full power.
Her eyes flew open, more awake and alert that she had been in months. Within a second, she took notice of everyone's position and launched into action. The male assistant that was right by her was defenseless as she lunged forwards and tore out his throat, inhaling his blood and she activated her phantasm. Her blood aura ignited, surging from the many open wounds and forming long tendrils that instantly impaled the doctor and the harpy, right through their hearts. She so starving that she drained them all within a minute, then the accelerant wore off and she lost most of her energy, she dropped to the ground of the bloody mess and lost consciousness as a familiar sensation spread all over her body.
Sometime later, Nya woke up, the last thing she remembered was feeling great, then feeling very tired. Her memory caught up seconds later and she looked around, the three people who systemically tortures and experimented on her lay dead on the floor, so drained that they looked like dried husks of their former selves. Nya on the other hand was fully restored, her bones, flesh, muscle and skin, had all been replenished and she felt stronger than ever, she even regrew her breast. On her back, her prime crest was bright and vibrant for the first time in months;
Her hair had started growing back while she was out, the doctor had shaved it off with plans to study her brain, but now short choppy red hair reached down to her shoulders. Also, her eyesight seemed to have greatly improved, probably traits gained from the harpy, along with hardened claws.
She stood up to her feet and immediately started to strip off the clothes that the female assistant was wearing, putting them on and walking out the door, using the keycard that was in her pocket. She remembered where the World Lord had sentenced Terror and Kiva, but she didn't know where those places were located, so first she needed information, then she would get to work.