Chapter 59 - Chapter 59: Edge of Insanity

Kalika tried getting back up from the ground, trembling from the strange experience. ""

She grabbed her throat. A cold sweat ran down her face. "W-what..." 

Her heart didn't stop pounding for a second as her confusion continued. suddenly Lillian's voice arose once again.

"Kalika~. Kalika~."

She looked around her small prison. she couldn't find anyone around. She even forced her weak, limp body to peek out the door's barred window. Still, nobody was around.

"T-there's no way..." Kalika, looked all over her dirty, grimy prison

"Kalika~" Lillian sang out again.

Kalika felt a presence behind her. She couldn't mistake, could she?

"Li- Lily?"

She turned. Her head, now starting to feel like her head was splitting apart, piece by piece. She held in desperation, trying to alleviate the pain from within. It pounded harder and harder and felt as though something was worming its way into her very mind.

"I-It... It's not real." She uttered as Lillian's voice became louder.

Lillians voices continued to call out mixed with those she didn't recognize. she panicked, looking around even more frantically. She even looked above and below to find the source of this maddening voice. 

"L-leave me alone!" She screamed, panicked.

A sudden laughter filled every inch of her cell with voices continuing to bombard her.

"You- You're not Lily…"

The voice began to speak.

"You can hear me. "

"I will find you. "

" You can't die? Even better!"

" Human!? Ahahahahaha!! "

"S-shut up!!!" Kalika yelled.

"A human. No like us." it whispered. 

"Have fun." It said more hushed.

Kalika was confused for a moment, but suddenly she was stabbed in the back and through the chest by Daji's blood spear. She was pushed to the wall and screamed out in pain before having the spear pulled from her body.

"W-what are they doing back here??"

"" Florin asked.

Kalika's eyes widened in utter shock.

Daji thrusted her spear back into Kalika with a smile. ""

""

"" she laughed. ""

"w-why... H-how can I understand them!?"

Daji twisted the spear inside Kalika. She almost screamed but quickly had her mouth muffled by Florin who smeared her own blood on Kalika. She then gestured to Kalika for complete silence.

Taking her hand off Kalika's mouth, Kalika tried screaming again feeling more pain from the torment. But she found herself unable to say a peep. It was like her voice was stripped from her completely.

"" Kalika looked back in time to see Daji's malicious smile.

"" Florin licked her lips, excitedly.

Kalika is stabbed through once again. she tried to scream but was still unable to. and for the coming hours she was forced to bear unbearable pain unlike what she felt before.

Even as Valam arrived, they continued to torment her with any little ideas they had in mind. They even went as far as to having her swallow burning coals and liquid metal just to see what would happen.

As this went on, only a single thought was on Kalika's mind.

"Why? Why? Why!? Why!?"

Their cruelty was on another level from what Lillian has ever done to her.

Their sheer malice, and hostility towards Kalika was practically unrivaled. They used her for their own sick pleasure, all until they were satisfied and left, slamming shut the steel door.

All the was left, was a lifeless husk of Kalika on the grimy ground.

After some time had passed, Kalika reorienting herself. She couldn't move a muscle and couldn't even blink. She felt like a living corpse unable to do anything aside from witnessing the progress of time.

She kept trying to move her body to little effect, forcing her to drift off in her own thoughts as laughter echoed around her, almost mockingly.

"Is... Is this real life? w-why can't I die? Am I really immortal or am I. drifting in some forever dream...?"

At this point, she didn't care anymore.

She didn't care if she'd become a slave to Rakon.

She didn't even care if Lillian came back to reclaim ownership of her.

To her, anything sounded better than staying where she was. 

"Please... I don't want to be here anymore...P-please..." 

Hearing a noise, she glanced up finding Rakon crouching over her. he wore a content smile on his face.

"You belong to me now," he said.

Kalika wanted to reach out. to move. But her strength wasn't there.

"P-please hel-"

He disappeared. She was alone again.

"He... doesn't care...?" Her thoughts turned to Bjorn and those other demon guards that saw her much earlier. "Nobody cares about me...I'm alone."

For the first time in her life, Kalika found herself in a sleepless slumber. She was left unable to shake the growing despair within her, as the horrible thought of what could come, terrified her.

********

Eventually, as the night ended, she was able to regain enough strength to muster her way back to her safe corner. Kalika was lost in thought as she pondered her own reality. She was starting to get hungry,

Just on queue, a guard creaked opened the steel door. He had a singular loaf of bread in one hand and a cup of water in the other. He uncaringly threw both into her cell haphazardly, sullying the bread and spilling the water on the grimy ground.

He slammed the door closed leaving Kalika by herself.

It was disheartening to see. But she didn't care.

Somehow, Kalika found new strength to crawl over to the sullied food and sat herself by the loaf of bread. she stared at the bread, dazed. Eventually, she grabbed it with her weak grip.

Her skin crawled and a pain surged once more through her body. She tried ignoring it and brought the bread to her mouth.

She stopped. Then dropped the bread back onto the dirty floor involuntarily, sullying the bread even further.

"What's wrong Kalika~?"

Lillian's voice entered Kalika's ears once again. "t-this again?"

"Aren't you hungry?"

"Y-you're not real." Kalika retorted quietly.

Kalika reached back for the bread, but just as she tried grabbing it, the bread disappeared.

She looked at the floor confused, now seeing that the ground was dry with the cup still there,

"Where… Did it go?" Kalika looked around, stunned

""Now that was delicious, wasn't it? Mmmm. Yum, yum." Lillian said.

"N-no! I didn't eat anything…!" Kalika's eyes widened in shock and confusion, looking around for the lost food. Not long after, she came to a realization. "It... It wasn't there… It was never there." Kalika stared at the ground, completely befuddled.

"Hmmm? Then why is that cup still around?" Lillian asked.

"T-that cup. I-it isn't real!" Kalika grabbed the side of head. "J-just like you're not real… Y-you're... You're not-..."

'Who's to say I'm not real?" Kalika felt a touch on her shoulder, followed by an embrace from behind. shocking her to her core.

"You're not real, Y-you're not real."

Kalika turned around, finding nobody there.

"Then what am I? Dead? Is that what I am now? Just like him?" Lillian said.

Kalika looked up to find Tilus standing before her. "T... Tilus?" 

"Miss Kalika! Are you alright!?"

Looking to her right was Rhonda.

"Kalika. Let us help you."

Now standing to her left was Donovan.

Kalika was left dumbfounded seeing everyone in front of her.

Lillian's voice came back. "See… Everyone's here. Me, Rhonda, Tilus, even that man from that foreign country.

For a brief moment Kalika felt a comfort she hasn't felt in a while. But then a deepening pain in her heart quickly settled back in her. As much as she wanted this to be real, she understood that everything was fake.

"W-who are you? Who you are!!?"

With regained strength, Kalika whipped her head around, finding that everyone disappeared.

Voices of everyone she knew began to fill her head. their words started to meld together, becoming indistinct words calling out to Kalika, throwing doubt her way and insulting her and her own shortcomings.

She held her ears to block out the voices in vain. But she struggled to stay up as she was pelted by the words of both the dead and the living.

"S-sh-shut up! Shut up! Shut up!!!"

Slowly, she retreated to the safe refuge of the corner of the prison. Despite this, the voices became louder and louder.

"N-no more… P-p-please… No more." she whimpered.

Everything suddenly became quiet. 

She looked back up, finding a visage of herself smiling sinisterly. "Who am I? You already know who I am, you sad little child…"

Kalika was confused by this statement.

Suddenly the visage disappeared, and the steel door creaked open. Daji and her posse entered along with some guards. All of them wore a smile that screamed malicious idea.

"Let's play a game," Daji said.

The guards encroached on Kalika and grabbed her by the arms. "N-no. Don't touch me! L-let go!!!"

 Kalika tried resisting in vain and was escorted from her solitary prison.

Daji snickered, amused at seeing Kalika's reaction. "" She noted.

"U... Ugly?"

"" Daji finished.

With the three women leading the way, the guards followed, escorting Kalika with their hand holding tight to her arms and shoulder. They traveled deep through the dungeon hall, down some winding paths.

"W-where are they bringing me!???"

Kalika kept searched around frantically. She was terrified, knowing that they were clearly up to something. 

After some time, they finally entered the prison, with jokes and laughter were tossed around among the three demon women. Eventually, they reach the prison arena.

Opening the door, everyone entered and to Kalika's shock a large gray beast stood tall with its long neck and rocky skin. Its eyes were a solid white and were equipped with gnarly fangs that could rip a person's arm off with ease. 

It was a beast unlike what Kalika had ever witnessed in her life.

She was immediately thrown down in front of the caged door that separated the beast and everyone else. Daji then stepped up, throwing a misshapen broken piece of a mirror to Kalika's feet.

"Kill it~," she said, ever so playfully.

Kalika looked at the broken mirror, stunned.

Daji smiled more widely and spoke brokenly. "Grab that. And kill it."

Kalika reached out with her one hand, but stopped upon seeing the back of her right hand. It was riddled with blue spots. "W-what the-"

CRACK

Daji stepped on the tip of the broken mirror, making the broken mirror piece much smaller.

"Oops." Daji cackled to herself, pushing the biggest piece to Kalika.

Picking up the shard, she found that same pigmentation of blue scattered along her face. A sense of dread started to overcome her as she touched her face. It felt as though her own skin was peeling off.

"T-this can't be real."

Kalika was suddenly grabbed by the guards and thrown into the cage with the hungry looking beast. The caged door closed shut and locked, leaving Kalika as she stood in front of a horrific demonic beast.

The large gray monster growled as it towered over Kalika. Her hands shook and breathing hastened. She could tell that the three women were watching closely, excited slaughtered to come.

"This can't be real." she repeated in her head.

She gazed upon the reflection within the shard again. Her jaw trembled seeing her reflection again. Gazing upon her face she saw the blue bruises slowly enlarged. And with her teeth looking sharp, she could barely recognize herself.

"T-this can't be-"

Suddenly her stomach was ripped open, struck by the large beast. She hit the caged wall hard and watched it charge straight at her and tore her to shreds. She awakened, practically hoping she was simply dreaming, But turning her head, she found the same shard in hand with that same reflection.

The beast roared loudly, punching onto Kalika. Again she was killed by this beast, and like all those other times before, she revived. Tears welled up in her eyes as she heard the laughter and joy from the demons watching.

Surrounding them was a plethora of guards that seemed to be enjoying her torment.

She got up, watching as the best charged straight at her. She didn;t even waste a breath on running from it. Instead, she dropped her head, understanding how powerless she truly was.

Again and again. she was killed, torn, eaten. She fueled the beast's merciless rage.

The more she died, the more fake the world seemed to her. With the guards cheering the monster, and the laughter from the three demon women. 

Everything slowly started to feel like some cruel joke, like a world created to simply cause her more pain and suffering. A nightmare beyond reality.

She didn't want to believe it. She couldn't believe it.

"N-none of this is real… It can't be." Her words shuddered just beneath her breath.

Getting up onto her Kalika caught a glimpse of Rakon standing next to the horrifying beast, seemingly petting it, like it was a cute animal. The monster then charged at Kalika, attacking and sending her flying back into the caged wall.

Getting to her feet, she looked at her wound, noting a lack of pain. Feeling the newly made scar, she still felt nothing. She then looked at the mirror in her hand, finding that her hand now bled. Even the pain she should feel wasn't there.

She could hear the laughter of those demon women become ever louder as she panicked. She dropped the shard on the ground and watched as it shattered before her. her reflection spread out throughout the floor.

Peering into one of her reflections she saw a black strand visible amongst her blonde hair. Then another appeared. And another. 

The black strands came one after another, overtaking the golden lush of each hair strand.

This wasn't natural and Kalika knew this. 

The monster before Kalika growled.

Her heart raced uncontrollably and her breathing became non-existent. Kalika was losing her mind from the madness that surrounded her. She fell to her knees grasping at her head with both hands... only to discover two unnatural pointed bumps.

Her heart stopped at once.

"This… isn't real."

.....

.....

Kalika blurted out a laugh. "This isn't real."

Kalika continued to laugh as the monster approached.

"None of this is real!" Kalika looked up with tears in her eyes, smiling from her own laughter until the beast chomped down, eating her whole.

It brought its long neck up, gulping down its meal in one go.

The demon women watching this, laughed. 

"" Daji smiled and was satisfied.

"" Florin asked curiously.

"" she retorted with a chuckled. 

""Valam asked, now seeing the beast thrash about.

""

Daji looked back at the monster in pride. ""

Suddenly the beast screeched out in pain. All attention was on the beast now.

It let out its blood curdling cries. At that very moment, a slice from within its stomach erupted!

Contents of both flesh and bone spilled out, along with a being made of flesh that dropped from the beast's stomach onto its knees. They had a blood blade dagger in hand and wore prisoners' clothes that were slowly burned away from the stomach acid.

Slowly the skin and hair returned revealing an invasion of blue with human skin. With each second passing the human skin slowly peeled off that very person, who was none other than Kalika. Even her blonde hair wasn't safe as each strand was converted by the dozens to black.

As she got up, the monster fell to its side leaving Kalika standing victoriously. Reawakening from reviving, she slowly laughs at the circumstance, all before laughing maniacally.

Everyone there witnessing this was shocked. Even Daji was completely left in complete shock by this, as they watched something that should've been impossible.

Kalika, looking back up with her green eyes and half blonde and black hair, looked at Daji and her friends with a wide smile. She slowly trotted herself forward and in the blink of an eye she already grasped the bar, laughing. "So, this is a dream!"

Kalika stared straight at them with crazed eyes as she was practically drooling now.

To their shock, Kalika slowly bent the bars of the cage

""

Florin raced head first in the front, readying her blood on her fingers but suddenly… She found that her arm was already cut from her body. Looking back up she saw Kalika just staring at her, unnervingly close. 

Kalika studied her a few moments before her face completely relaxed itself in her hands. Seeing the light leave her eyes she dropped her head to the ground.

She watched both Daji's and Valam's shocked expression as Florin's body fell to pieces. A gradual feeling of satisfaction rose within her, and her whole body burned with excitement

A dark aura started emanating from her entire being as she smiled knowingly. "I can… Do anything…"