A man clad in armor held a strange, steaming iron rod with spikes and a rune on the end in his hands, and he was getting ready to use it on me.
Shit…..
This was going to hurt like hell. I braced for impact, amping myself up to bear with the pain.
Hot, scolding iron pressed against my left eye burning through the skin and injuring my facial tissue.
The spikes punctured skin and drew blood from my face and leaked over onto the rune on the end of the rod.
Strange energies radiated from the burning end of the rod, spreading out and wrapping the entire room in an otherworldly gold that moved like it was sentient.
My right eye darted around in circles, Lucien stood in the back watching me shout in agony, dressed in lavish attire different from what he wore back at the palace.
"Lucien!"
"I'll kill you!"
I tried to bark at him.
I growled and gritted my teeth in his direction to display the sheer level of anger that hid deep inside.
Anger that was no longer willing to sit beyond that door, it wanted out and was now banging on the door at full force.
However, the more uncooperative I got, the less mercy I was granted by the guards.
One of them covered my mouth when I got too loud to demonstrate a control of dominance in the situation.
Lucien paid my ferocity no attention and continued to watch as his underlings applied more pressure on my eye, enough to scar it permanently.
The energy being emitted by the rune grew bigger the longer they pressed the iron. It made the whole room glow with streams of golden energy that merged with my dripping blood.
It felt bizarre and freakish.
Stamina was being drained from my body, but it didn't feel like stamina was the only thing being drained.
An unusual sensation flowed through me, like my soul was being touched.
I felt like I was decomposing then being rejuvenated back to full health in the blink of an eye. My future looked bleak, there was no guarantee I would survive this but I knew I had to.
Not yet.
I couldn't let this be my end, not yet.
Once finished, they eased on the scorching hot iron and backed away quickly.
The mystical energy that orbited around the room began to disappear in an instant where it would be swallowed by the mark on my face; draining me and then restoring me of all my energy in a flash.
I cried out in fury on the inside but on the outside I was limp.
Lucien didn't move a muscle and instead insisted on me being taken away to a cellar where light didn't stand a chance at showing. The guards nodded in compliance and immediately took me away to my cell.
The two men dumped me in the dirty cell and slammed the door behind me.
No care was given to treat my wounds, I had to manage on my own with the unimaginable pain they brought me.
I reached to touch my face but hesitated in fear that i'd irritate the injury or cause any more pain to myself.
My hand shook erratically when I reached to feel my left eye, the anxiety was insane and nail-biting.
When I touched it I felt a sting unlike any other.
I didn't have a mirror, but what I did have was the small puddle at the end of my cellar to use as a reflection.
I crawled over to the puddle in a second and took a look at my new remodelled face.
Melted, mangled tissue lapped over other destroyed tissue, what had been done to me would never be repaired, this was nothing short of life altering.
Although my body felt sluggish, I worried not over what state I was in.
The outline of the rune from before was now molded in my burnt tissue.
Arcane energy spilled out from the wound whenever my fingers got too close, scaring me off from touching it.
What…. Is this?..
The burn had spread over much of the general area of the left side of my face, not just the eye area.
The damage burnt my left eyebrow to ashes and just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, there was Lucien who was standing at the cell bars, watching me look in terror at my new face.
"Ahem."
Lucien coughed.
"Lucien? Lucien!"
I made for a dash towards the cell bars so I could maul him to shreds, but my reach wasn't far enough.
My hand was inches from Lucien's face.
No one really understands how bad I wanted him dead at that moment, and I didn't either.
Too many emotions clouded my judgement and decision making, I lunged at Lucien like a rabid animal in the wild.
Lucien didn't budge though, he wasn't afraid of me from behind those steel bars, but I knew that if I was just able to get my hands on him, he'd be as good as dead.
Lucien shook his head sorrowfully.
"Oh Nel. You poor thing."
"Look at your face…."
"It's beautiful!"
Lucien stated with sparkling eyes.
I looked at Lucien with all the crazy of a madman in my eyes.
"Lucien! Where's Craggle!"
I screamed like a maniac.
"Worry not Nel."
"Your friend's fine. I made sure he was taken by to his living quarters safely."
That calmed me down although only slightly.
"Lucien.. I swear to you when I get out here you're fucking dead!"
I angrily yelled back albeit more calmer than before.
"Me? Dead? Let's not delude ourselves, Nel."
"You wouldn't be able to kill me even if you tried with all the might of the 3 nations."
He chuckled.
Lucien's cocky attitude added fuel to the fire.
"Lucien…. What did you do to me!?"
I asked in heavy breaths.
"What did I do? I made you better Nel."
He told me with a straight face.
"Be excited. Because soon you'll be an awakened."
"What?"
I was confused by what he said.
"Impossible. Awakened hunters aren't made! They're chosen! What game are you pulling Lucien?"
"And you were chosen, Nel."
"By me. I did tell you that you are the prized possession of Solim. My possession."
"That dream of reaching Valeria? We both share it, and we will complete it."
"But before we do that, I need to make sure you'll listen to me, and we need to make sure we have enough firepower to achieve that dream."
Lucien laid it out bare.
"Be my Black Thorn Nel. Join me, by my sword, and you will keep your strength and your life."
Lucien awaited my response.
My eyes shot big.
"Be your sword?? You're lucky I don't rip your throat from your neck!"
I lashed out.
"How do I know this isn't just another one of your games!?"
Lucien looked at my animalistic appearance with pitiful eyes.
"I tell no lies here Nel. I have found a way to manufacture the first set of forced Awakened."
He said aloud with an unyielding aura behind his words.
We both paused for a short while and then resumed right where we left off.
"The effects won't settle in until a full 24 hours."
"Of which at about 13 hours in, your body will begin to undergo a physical and spiritual metamorphosis."
"So until then, just sit tight my dear."
"I'll let you think over my proposal as you sleep. Farewell Nel."
"Oh and don't forget Nel. Pride will get you nothing in this but a gruesome death."
And after that, Lucien walked, leaving me to mend my own scars.
I let myself hang on the bars of the cell.
Looking at the mossy floor beneath my feet as I leant over.
What was he saying about becoming an awakened.
Was it all another game?
Lucien is one of the only people who knew that my dream of travelling to Valeria was in the nicest way possible, not plausible without me being an Awakened.
Nevertheless, I kept trying no matter what anyone told or called me. Delusional is what they called it.
If what he was saying is really true, then maybe I could actually make it to Valeria.
I thought for a moment, shaking off the thought that what Lucien did to me wasn't something he had to die for.
I swore to myself that regardless of whatever it took, Lucien was going to die sooner or later.
The next day came, after an excruciating night of tormenting pain, I still felt the same. Same old burn mark, and same old cell.
A couple of guards came to my cell that morning, handing me food through the small gap in the cell bars.
As I reached for the food, one of the guards swiftly grabbed my hand before I could react and placed hot iron on my palm, keeping it there for around 5 seconds.
I screamed and resisted against it to no avail.
After the five seconds, the guard let go and I retreated to the back of the cell, grabbing my wrist and watching my smoking hand shake uncontrollably.
The guards then slid the food between the bars and made their exit.
"What the fuck!?"
This would continue for a few days, hours were spent burning me all over my body back to back, they didn't care how they went about it either.
Some days I would be tricked, other days they would just come in and strong-arm me.
Before one day, I woke up in the cell with my body feeling lighter, and my burn marks gone.
No messed up tissue or nothing, my skin was back to normal as if nothing ever happened.
The only thing still there was my scarred face and that damn symbol.
That morning, the guards came back to perform their usual task of burning me for a reason I do not know.
But this time, when the hot iron hit my skin, the pain was less of a worry.
When they were finished, I backed away and watched as my skin healed itself with a golden glow effect.
The symbol on my face ignited into a brilliant shine the same time the glow from the wound sparked as well.
Huh???
Me and the guards shared a similar expression.
An expression of complete bewilderment. What was happening to me???
Shortly after, one of the guards called for Lucien and explained the situation to him; whereas Lucien took a look at me with a grin from ear to ear.
"We've done it."
"Atlas. We've actually done it." Lucien repeated himself.
I looked up at Lucien, suspense filling the dungeon's cold air.