Continued from [http://74.53.3.210/~sordidys/sordidystopia/viewtopic.php?f=42&p=742&sid=4ce3367868c2494c845c62c506b1ff40&sid=4ce3367868c2494c845c62c506b1ff40#p742].

It was impossible to tell how much time had passed. Even after waking up, there would be darkness. However... They were alive. The scarabs hadn't consumed them. In fact, while Ishi had been bitten before she had lapsed into unconsciousness, none of the three them had been bitten past then... Even better, they were in darkness, and the presence of the scarabs couldn't be seen or heard...

A few moments after awakening, though, the breathing of the other two members of their small group could be heard nearby. The air in the obscured room, while hot and stuffy, was moving slightly, an indication of a large room of some sort, though it couldn't be verified. At the very least, the three of them were alive, and they were even still with each other...

On the other hand, none of them had the benefit of any real protection or equipment. Skylar, Ishi, and Constantine were missing their outer clothing, as well as every sort of weapon or item on their persons. There were certainly questions that needed answering, such as who might have done such a thing, and why they were still alive and in a new location, but those would have to wait. It was still impossible to see...

Ishi had taken some time in waking up. She was hurt the worst of all of them; it was reasonable for her to be unconscious for so long. It didn't matter if the others were awake before her, though. There was no way for her to reach them, nor them to reach her, unless they could hear her speak. Ishi's breath was shallow enough on a normal day, making it hard to ever hear her coming if she was walking on carpet. That was even before the events in Xexoria; it was just a learned behavior that she had picked up on over the years.

The girl was a mess. Stripped of her outer clothing, she had little more than her underwear--panties, to be precise, and nothing more. She had an undershirt prior, one which would have not been removed, but it really wasn't a shirt anymore. It had too many tears and holes in it to be worn, not to mention tremendously stained with blood. It was practically necessary, anyways, especially since she had bandages on her. Large bandages; there was no other option. The scarabs had large bites. In some cases, she had even lost a bit of muscle tissue--but mainly on her leg. Three bites on her right leg, running up from one on her calf and two on her upper leg and thigh, a bite on each wrist, "stab" wounds on the bottom of her feet, and almost half a dozen smaller bites along her back, with two large ones on the left side of her ribs, and a cut on her left cheek, presumably from one of the creature's talons.

She was lucky to be alive.

Or unlucky, rather. It wasn't long after that Ishi started to open her eyes that she felt a miserable wave of pain that sent her into a fit of coughing and whimpering. They were all bandaged, but the pain wasn't treated. That was still excruciating.

I am . . . alive . . .

It didn't take long for Ishi to realize her state, either. Still whimpering in pain, she curled up into a ball--bare knees against her bare chest, arms wrapped around her legs and hugging them as tightly as she could, trying to abate the pain of waking. But her right leg didn't want to move . . . at all. She had to drag it up with all her strength, force herself to bring it to her chest. There was no way she was going to be able to walk with that leg, now. That was primarily where she had experienced muscle damage.

While in her state of suppressed agony, Ishi couldn't hear the breathing of the others, but if they were awake, they'd definitely be able to hear her. With it so dark, she wasn't going to see them, either--and it may have been for the best that neither could see her, either.

Why?

A quiet groan escaped her lips as she moved. Like a damn breaking, the memories of what had happened flooded her mind. Quickly she began brushing her arms and body off, her groans turning into panicked whines. Soon she realized that there were no scarabs crawling on her, but she also realized something else...she was in nothing but her under garments.

Through squinted eyes she strained to see. There was no light, no bugs, but there was the feeling that she was not alone. She remained silent however, praying that it was her companions that joined her here. The stale air that enveloped them was more then horrendous, but didn’t remind her of the tunnels either....where were they?

So many times through all of this, she swore she had never felt pain like she did in that moment. And now, was another one of those moments. Her body ached terribly, and her head was throbbing from the duel blows. Though she, unlike the others, had a natural, faster healing ability, which hopefully would allow her to help her two comrades.

Each of her movements were slow, and as calculated as possible. It was only when she heard Ishis cries did she move faster. “Ishi?” She felt around blindly in the heavy darkness until she reached the girl. She, too was half naked. Who would do such a thing? She pulled the girl close to her, and hugged her gently. Even if falsely, Skylar didn’t want Ishi to feel any more fear then need be.

Constantine. Suddenly the thought of him hit her. “Ishi, hold your breath.” In an overly dramatic way, Skylar inhaled, since Ishi could not see, she wanted her to hear, that after the inhale, she held her breath. When both females were quiet, Skylar listened carefully...

To the right of them she could hear someone else breathing. God, please let it be Constantine. “Ishi sweetie...stay here. Don’t move, and breath as quietly as possible.” Her words were hushed as she stroked the girls head. Getting down on all fours, she placed her feet against Ishi before moving. “One.” She whispered to herself as she felt around. “Two.” She moved another “step” away from where she left Ishi, until finally she felt the soft fleshy arm of another person. “Constantine?” She whispered, her voice wavering with the hint of fear that she could be wrong.

Constantine's arm lay on the floor, his body lying face-down, just a short distance away from Skylar and Ishi. He had his clothing removed as well, dressed in a pair of plain shorts. His head hurt immensely, and both his eyes had been blackened by being hit, but nothing was broken... As Skylar woke him up, he didn't jump for lack of awareness...

"Skylar? Is Ishi there? Hold on..."

Constantine would groggily move towards Skylar, intending to stand up. However, the clinking of a chain and then the sound of it pulling taut would accompany the end of his movement. His other arm was handcuffed to something. After a moment of feeling, it seemed to be a support column for one of the many houses that formed the underground network of tunnels...

"I can't move..."

Constantine would close his eyes for a moment, partially because the swelling made it difficult to keep them open. Ishi and Skylar's eyes would slowly begin to adjust to the overwhelming darkness, at least enough for the group to see each other and the nearby room. A faint amount of light was filtering in from somewhere, but it was impossible to tell where. However, paint and markings on the floor would begin to become evident. They were exquisitely large if still hard to discern, marking the purpose of their current room as something decorative...

"S-Skyrar . . . . .?" Ishi called out weakly.

Skylar's voice. Oh, God--she was alive. Ishi would have been running to her and throwing her arms around her if she could walk. As it was, though, the agony running throughout her body kept her from doing anything as simple as getting up. She wouldn't have been able to get up if she wanted to. Ishi reached out as soon as she felt Skylar close, weakly setting her fingers upon the woman's skin, feeling the warmth of her body, however small of a touch it was, knowing that there was another person close. She wasn't dreaming; she wasn't trapped in her mind in some cruel state of pre-death; this was real--Ishi was really alive.

When asked by Skylar to hush, Ishi did her best to keep from whimpering--to keep from breathing. But it was so difficult . . . every time she took a breath, she wanted to cry. Every time she didn't breath, she could feel the pain even worse--and wanted to start bawling even more.

And soon, Skylar was gone. That was what she got for being good--that was what she got for not breathing. Ishi reached out in Skylar's direction once she departed, and couldn't help but let the tears flow again. Everything hurt. By this time, she could see . . .

. . . not that she wanted to see, though . . .

Skylar, over by Constantine, was out of Ishi's reach, and the girl, unable to bring herself to do something so simple as crawl, started to cry into her knees. Just because she felt dead in the mind didn't mean her body didn't feel pain--and so far, this was the worst.

"S-Skyrar . . . . .?" Poor Ishi, she had to be so scared...and yet so brave, too. “It’s ok sweetheart, I’m here.” Her voice was still low, as if someone didn’t have the upper hand on them.

"Skylar? Is Ishi there? Hold on..." Thank god. Her sigh of relief was loud, and obvious. So was the sound of the chains. She didn’t have to ask, she already knew. “Yes, Ishi is here, but both of us have been stripped.” She ran her hand up his arm, to his shoulder, and across his bare chest. It answered her question. “I’m not chained, and I don’t think Ishi is either.”

Her eyes began to adjust to the faint light. She could see them all now, and although it was not clearly, it was still enough to ease her a little. Ishis sobs however, changed her course of thinking. “Constantine, I’ll be right back, I’m going to grab Ishi, so that we all can be close." Her hand, still on his chest, eased over his flesh as she moved back toward the little girl.

Already, Skylar was feeling better. Not well, but better. Still she crawled over to Ishi, reaching out again to stoke her hair. “It’s alright, we’re alive, and we’re together.” She scooped the girl up, and instead of trying to walk, Skylar, afraid of falling on Ishi, remained on her knees until she was again beside Constantine.

She sat against him, Ishi resting in her lap, should she chose to stay there. Again her hand come to rest on his chest as she moved her hand upward. “How bad is it?” She was curious about his face, but still unable to see it clearly for what it was. “I need to know.” Her voice was more quiet now as her hand eased over his face gently. “M’sorry if it hurts...” The swelling was worse then she imagined. “Can you see?” She wasn’t sure if she could heal him. She hoped at least, that she could ease their pain some.

“It’s obvious whoever done this considers you the biggest threat.” She would open herself to both of them, offering them her prowess, even though she, herself was still weakened. She had a lot of questions, some she wasn’t sure she wanted answers to, and some she didn’t know he had answers to. “How many people knew this was where we were headed?” The only question she would ask, least for now.

"That's just it... There's no one..."

Constantine, as far as he could tell, was one of only two people who ever came down here, and his brother was the other. Even if, god forbid, someone was actually able to catch Danyr, he couldn't have known Constantine would be entering the underground. No one else had made an expedition in at least five years... And no one could have followed them down. It just didn't make any sense...

"No one could be down except... Well, the people who were thrown down here in the first place..."

A scratch and a hiss from across the room could be heard, as if on cue, soon revealed to be a torch of the kind Constantine had equipped them with. The room itself was perhaps thirty feet wide and fifty feet long, with a throne placed in one end, occupied by an aged, near-skeletal gaunt and pale man. He had no visible hair, and his face bore a strange expression, a mix of disgust and elation...

"Correct. We're still down here..."

All around the room, roughly a dozen other men would start to come into focus, some older and some younger, but none younger than 25 or 30. All were unhealthy, pale white and barely alive from the looks of things. However, none of them appeared frail. They all looked on at the trio in the center of the room silently, waiting for some sort of reaction out of them. Constantine struggled to look around, not saying anything until the situation sunk in...

Shortly after Skylar had Ishi resting in her lap, she'd find some sort of wetness on her leg--a liquid, damp, and sticking to Ishi's side. It could very well have been sweat; there wasn't a lot of it, so at the time, it wasn't something worth paying much attention to.

Needless to say, despite her pains, she felt more comfortable with Skylar nearby. The earlier cry of pain she let out when Skylar lifted her up was worth it. Actually, the more bodies she could feel close to her, the better--so, when she discerned that Constantine was near, she reached out for him, inevitably laying her arms out over his stomach and chest, all the while still laying on her side, curled up in Skylar's lap.

But then, a torch was lit. Ishi had just started to open her eyes prior, and once there was light, it started to hurt. She shut them again, rather quick to do so, but not before catching the image of the man in the throne. In her peripheral vision, she had seen others, but only that brief image of the pale, sickly man in the throne mattered.

Among other things--the individuals scattered about the room, the throne, and the man upon it--the light provided for them also allowed Constantine (if he could see decently) and Skylar to see exactly how badly Ishi was wounded. It was for that reason alone which she could not react. Not only would the large bandages, cuts, and bruises become visible, but the liquid that was rubbing against Skylar's thigh: blood. Ishi, who had been laying on her side on Skylar's lap, particularly with her wounded side facing Skylar's legs, was still bleeding. It wasn't much, and considering how pale she was--about as pale as those around the room--there was a good chance that she had lost a lot of blood already. The movement had simply reopened a wound on her side; it'd heal over on its own, though. Nonetheless, it was just a testament to how wounded the girl really was.

Ishi tried to silence herself, but now she couldn't stop herself from panicking. There were people around--people that helped her, people that stripped her. Men that had to touch her to patch her up. Violent flashes in her mind caused the girl to almost defensively place her hands in-between her thighs, not so much worried about modesty as she was about lower regions. She'd have felt pain down there, too, if something had happened--but paired with the pain all around her body, there was a good chance that she hadn't noticed anything.

. . . Vimal . . . . . . . is here . . . . too . . . .

"That's just it... There's no one..." That was when the panic struck her. “No one knows where we are?” Meaning, no one is going to come looking for us when we don’t show up, at least, no one we want to. Her eyes fell closed, as she fought to keep herself straight.

Through closed lids, she saw the light illuminate the room. As she opened then, she squinted and winced slightly, only until she saw them. Her gasp echoed in the room. Her eyes could not adjust fast enough as she looked around at the pale anorexic men. It was the one on the throne however, that caught her attention the most.

She wrapped her arm around Constantine, and held Ishi close. These creatures had touched her, touched them all. Outwardly she shivered. As she pulled Ishi closer, she felt something on her thigh. As she wiped it away, the crimson stained her hand. She moved just enough to look over the girl. “Christ..” Her voice was barely a whisper. It would seem Ishi and Constantine got the brunt of the injuries, and for some reason, her healing was not working on them.

Then she remembered the incident in the ally way. She could only wonder if that strange occurrence drained her enough that she couldn’t help these two. Her thoughts were shoved aside as Ishi became frantic. “Ishi...shhh...no...you’re safe baby. I got you.” Skylar rapped her arms around the girl, nuzzling her and humming a quiet tune. Though she flashed a look at Constantine, a look that said she wasn’t sure she believed her own words.

"Safe? You're safer here than anywhere up on the surface, that's for sure. You two have quite a few men here that would die to keep you safe..."

Mentioning two, it seemed likely that he wasn't referring to Constantine. His voice wasn't exactly commanding or cruel, but in fact, it almost seemed... Reverent. It was obvious there were no women among the group, and it was unlikely that any would have ever come to be among them... There was no ill intent, really...

"You! Constantine, is it? At least, that's what your brother called you. You're pretty brave to come down here so many times, and even try to make it your own little home... You turned out useful, though. Much more useful than the rest of the bastards up there who locked us down here. You brought not just one, but two females. The one is a bit young, but she'll grow. We've been down here for years, a few more years on her won't hurt..."

He didn't continue talking, and Constantine tugged slightly at the handcuffs, looking at their make. They weren't anything he could break through easily, especially without any sort of equipment to aid him. He was stuck. Not that it mattered much. They could be anywhere under the city, and they'd never make it out on their own. He didn't speak still, perfectly willing to let the man talk...

Skylar's reassurance could do little. She wasn't all right. She felt uncomfortable. Maybe it was her mind playing tricks on her--maybe her brain was filling in a blank and causing a sensation to match it. Hopefully that was it, but that hope wasn't there for the girl. Ishi felt uncomfortable, and drew her own conclusions.

From panicking to sad. The feeling of being used was harsh, especially for someone who had already experienced it so brutally. Had she not already been crying in pain, she would have been crying out of sheer depression. Circumstance had it that she was running out of tears, though.

Sadly, Ishi could recognize bits and pieces of Common, and had done so with the man's speech. Two females; the one is young; few more years; her. It linked up with the bit mentioned about many men willing to die to protect the two of them--Skylar and Ishi. The girl began to tremble. Ishi clamped her eyes shut and hugged her knees to her chest again. There was no use in defending herself anymore--she already felt like she had failed, anyways. Failed while asleep, perhaps. To make everything worse, they wanted her there, they were interested in her as a long time investment. This . . . wasn't what was supposed to happen with her life . . .

"Doushite~~?!" she whimpered loudly.

The man who used her first-- Vimal. He wasn't dead. Ishi saw him when she saw the man on the throne, and when she closed her eyes, she imagined him getting up after she had gutted him, pulling his organs back in, and preparing to take revenge on her. It wasn't true--Vimal really was dead, but this was something that haunted Ishi. Every person who may have taken remote sexual interest in her, malicious intent or not, was going to make her think of Vimal, and every time she thought of him, it trudged up that delusion.

". . . Vimar . . ." the girl had become incoherent, ". . . I kirr Vimar . . . he come back . . . he no die . . . doushite . . . ."

Constantine didn’t have a chance to answer her, before the man on the throne did. She turned her attention to him as he spoke, his words sending a shiver up her spine. She sat, dumbfounded for a moment, thinking on his words. Why on earth would these men die to keep her safe? It dawned on her, and she drew Ishi even closer still, almost smashing her against her own chest.

Reproduction, mating, however they saw it, it wasn’t going to happen. Again she tossed a glance to Constantine, whom seemed preoccupied with his restraints. She continued hushing Ishi. She decided in that moment, she was no longer important, Ishi however, was. She would die a brutal death to make sure that none of these monsters touched the child.

“What makes you think we would agree to stay here?” Skylar spoke defiantly, for someone who had few options. Though she held her chin high, though secretly wished to cover herself, feeling the eyes of the vultures lingering over them, violating her in their minds.

“If no one else is going to speak, I damn sure will...” Her words fell off as she took a better look around the room. She wondered how long they had been living down here, and how they survived, which, by the looks of it, was on little. “Why have you stayed down here for so long? If we could get in, which we obviously did, surely you could get out?”

Constantine looked at his restraints, his thoughts quickly overtaken with concern for Skylar and Ishi. They were talking, but were they chained, too? Maybe they could get out of them... Wait. They weren't chained. Maybe he could get out of his own, too... No. He'd thought about that already. He'd already had these thoughts... Something was wrong. Perhaps it was the blow... He could hardly form a sentence in his mind... He just tried to absorb what was being said and regain his wits.

"We're still down here because we can't leave any more. When we first arrived, all there was to eat were the scarabs, and eating them changed us... Light is too painful. Everyone who even ventured under moonlight died for it... The surface isn't an option any more..."

That brought up an important question. How they'd survived the scarabs at all. As if sensing the question, the man on the throne raised his hand, and immediately, there was a dramatic filling of the room, as scarabs swarmed in all around, stopping just a few feet short of the trio on all sides, the ceiling filled to capacity by the creatures. They completely ignored the rest of the watchers, and seemed to be at the man's total command...

"I'm afraid it's not a matter for agreement. It's a fact! You two will be staying here with us. The man... We'll see. We may let him be one of us. Of course, he would be the lowest ranked among us, but you two could even be together again, eventually. It's not a good life, perhaps, down here, but I can promise you it would be the best we could make it..."

The scarabs would just as quickly leave the room to prove the point...

The scarabs were called into the room . . .

Ishi hadn't actually been paying much attention to the goings by that point, but as soon as she heard the skittering of the hand-sized insects, she was immediately alert and defensive. While still in the fetal position, she brought her arms up to cover her head. Those insects had really done a number on her. She was still bleeding from some of her wounds, after potentially hours of unconsciousness. Of course, that wasn't going to kill her or anything--she was bleeding slower than her body produced new blood.

When the scarabs withdrew, though, it became clear to her that something was very wrong. They had to be under someone's command--someone important, someone who couldn't be usurped. Ishi finally opened her eyes, trailing her gaze up to the man in the throne, the man with power.

". . . Vimar . . . oni . . ." Ishi whispered, glaring up at the man in the throne. In her mind, he was Vimal--back to haunt her again. The word she used, however, was a word known outside of Cizok, one of the few that most people that didn't speak the language knew: demon.

She watch Constantine for a moment. Something didn’t settle right with her. His actions were strange, and unlike him. Still beside him, she placed her hand on his chest and massaged it gently, praying that soon her prowess would kick back in. She needed him now, more then ever...

Then man on the throne spoke again. His voice was a bit more defiant then before, almost to the point that she was beyond frightened. What was truly scary was the commanded entrance of the scarabs. They were at his total command, that in itself, was beyond dangerous, and something they would have to consider when they decided to leave this damned place.

Again he went one, advising her that their stay would indeed be a permanent one, and speaking of Constantine as if he were a disposable item. Yet again, Ishi began to freak. With Constantine completely outta it, and Ishi not understanding what was going on...or maybe just reliving the hellish things her young mind has had to endure...

“This is bullshit!” God, she wanted to break. She wanted to scream, and rant, and break things. “We need to get this little girl home. LITTLE GIRL...what about that do you not understand? Your trials are not ours! Nor are ours yours.” Her chest heaved as she became more and more angry at the situation.