Torture

Chapter: 2

"Torture"

After finding out what had happened to his bike. Our protagonist was intentionally suffocated until he blacked out. Even though it felt short, his vision went dark for about two hours. With a thump on the head, Zen abruptly opened his eyes.

He could feel his sweat squeezing out of his face and his arms and legs were tied behind his back. They were tied together with what felt like a thick rope clamping all around his skin, causing them to sore up.

"Wh-where the hell am I?" Zen thought anxiously as he tried to wiggle his limbs.

Aside from the smell of lavender infused with leather, he also noticed an invisible force pushing him against a wall. Other than that, there was a constant rumbling with the sound of grinding between asphalt, indicating that he was in an automobile of some sort.

"A car? Where am I being taken to?" Since Zen couldn't see a thing, he was extremely terrified.

Suddenly, he was jetted forward as if the vehicle carrying him had halted.

After a faint click entered his ears, there was the sound of footsteps stomping on cobblestones and pebbles like empty mortar ground by a pestle. It then got closer to our protagonist before another click sound was heard, this time, it was extremely loud.

Meanwhile, Zen was trying to silence his heartbeats. As much as he hated this feeling, he needed to pretend to be out cold since he didn't want to get knocked out twice. Shortly after, he could feel his stomach wrapped by an arm, lifting him off the ground and being placed on a hard surface.

*beep beep*

In the following, The person who was holding Zen began traversing up a plain. Our protagonist planned to attack the man but was discouraged due to the lack of comparison between their gap in strength both physical and magical.

"Think Zen, how the fuck are you going to win with your arms and legs tied together?" Zen thought.

After hearing a large gate opening, indicated by a metal wheel rolling, he knew he was being carried into a building. Upon entering, Zen assumed he was in a mansion of some sort as the vicinity was filled with cold air originating from air conditioners. Along with the sounds of smoothly polished tiles being stepped on, there were also people greeting the man who just came in.

"Psst! Hey man, what did he do?" One of them whispered as he got close to the man carrying Zen. "Boss said not to bring in any strangers."

"Not sure... this is Ms. Camile's order." The man replied before continuing. "I think I saw her in the training grounds this afternoon."

"Crazy bitch, I kinda feel sorry for him now." The guy sighed before murmuring to himself. "Damn, how many times has it been so far?"

"Quiet Carl... Don't speak ill of our mistress."

After eavesdropping on the conversation, Zen could feel goosebumps all around his skin. There was a jolt of electricity through his spine, wanting him to tremble. For a moment, he prayed. "God. if I lived through this, I hope she dies."

***

In a short span of time, the abductor arrived at a room adjacent to the entrance. Zen was placed in a sitting position before the bag was unzipped. He felt fear and anxiety while the zip was slowly going down causing light to seep in. Sweat was pouring down the side of his face while his hands and feet were shaking from the cold.

After the bag was unzipped fully, the big man could be heard stepping out of the room. Immediately, Zen could see himself in a concrete room with a table in the center. After a glance, he spotted the sergeant's table instantly since a light was shining upon it from the ceiling. It was filled to the brim with torturing devices and weapons causing him to gulp his saliva.

Standing beside it was the same crimson-haired girl whom he argued with last morning. She was in a red hoodie and black jeans, her ears had piercings and nails painted red. The walls behind her was cracked and the floor under him was stained with dried-up blood.

She was shocked to see Zen awake and mumbled to herself: "Wasn't he supposed to be knocked out?"

Trying to save his own life, Zen spoke out. "Look, I felt bad okay? I was instinctively mad. Couldn't we just talk it out?"

"Oh no~ you're not getting out of this one." The girl said as she grabbed a whip made of chains before rapidly heating it up. The chains instantly turned red in the eyes of our protagonist and instead of being just bright lights, the heat around it was distorting the air. "Zen Marcus, as powerless as you may be. You are still an abnormal."

"What! What kind of history do you even have with the abnormals?" Zen tried to slow down the pace of her walking but couldn't. With her glareful eyes, she dodged his question completely before standing a few inches in front of him.

"Bitch! are you discriminating me?" Zen yelled with his eyebrows touching each other. His mind could tell what was going on but he didn't want to believe it. "Fuck fuck fuck!" Zen thought as he leaped to his feet and touched the cold floor. Since his legs were still tied together, he quickly lost balance and fell face flat, breaking his nose.

There was a brief moment of silence before Zen was painfully scourged in both of his calves, ripping through his skin and flesh. Because he anticipated this attack, it felt excruciatingly numbing like a bullet ant's bite. His tears began to drip out of his eyes and landed on the bloodied floor.

Having never experienced torture before, Zen's mind almost went blank from the first hit. He was subjected to pain so great it distorted his sight and thinking for a moment. Not even after the pain went away yet, another strike had landed on the back of his ankles, immediately obliterating them beyond any repair.

Speechless as well as helpless, our protagonist tried to bear and grin through the session. The relentless thrashing continued until the floor was stained with fresh dark red, smelling like rusted iron. While his blackened flesh and bones were still intact, his nerves were severed completely. This meant that his lower body had been gruesomely maimed.

It was like his whole legs have been cooked in an oven, setting it to the highest heat possible.

In an attempt to ease his suffering, Zen bit his tongue. Sadly, it only worsened his condition. His heavy breathing grew heavier as he came to the realization of this cruel world's unfairness. To him, it seemed as if God was playing favorites, choosing the privileged to stay atop and pushing what was left into oblivion.

All his life, Zen never desired anything grandeurs. He never wanted anything or anyone outside of what life had given him as he had given up on gaining special abilities.

"You are special in your own way, huh? fucking bullshit!" As he finished his last human thoughts his mind shuts off all logical reason and plummeted into the despair of great magnitude. Rage was building up in our poor protagonist as he howled and growled. These actions were indistinguishable from a rabid dog.

Murderous intent flowed into his being, carrying afloat insanity.

The moment his stomach was whipped, Zen let out a loud cry as an indication of his last stand.

The girl grinned and said. "An abnormal needs to learn its place!"

When the girl finished her phrase, she stopped while simultaneously drawing out a gun that Zen had never seen before. It might've been a gun that only the rich use. Subsequently, it began glowing bright orange before making a distinct sound. "Die, trash." She mocked.

*bang!*

In that instant, a bright hot ray dug through his skull and into his brains, giving him a swift and painless death (Even though he has been brutally tortured). His breathing began to slow down and his red pupils began to dilate.

When the shot was heard, the guards abruptly arrived into the room before witnessing the horrors of what became of those who mocked their mistress.

"Clean this place up," she commanded.

"Yes ma'am!"

***

"This sucks..." Meanwhile, Zen thought to himself in a place where his thinking was still intact. Actually, he could move his whole body too as he angrily clenched his fist back and forth. He then sighed after knowing that his life had just ended with extreme prejudice before deciding to look around.

"I can open my eyes but what good would that be if I was in a dark place with no noise and smell." Zen said before standing up in a pitch-black place all alone. His first reaction was fear but then acceptance. "Fuck." he thought, remembering about his fucked up legs and how painful it was.

Suddenly, Zen dropped to his knees as a sharp mind-numbing pain echoed across his body. Over and over, It stimulated his last moments from life. It was truly a golden experience as he began groaning and rolling around like a man on fire.

"Fuck, I was kidding! I didn't mean to jinx it I'm sorry!" Zen instinctively yelled for help, not like it would do him any good. He assumed he was in hell as the people who went there would always scream for help and contribution.

After what felt like hours and hours of painful repetition, it finally stopped. Afterwards, a red text suddenly formed in front of him like a screen of some sort. Those words were cursive and each of them was like a painting made from blood. The text emitted a menacing aura before stating. "What is it that you seek? Power? Revenge? Fame? Riches? Subtlety? Wisdom?" Afterwards, it morphed and changed into. "Ask and they will be yours."

Instinctively, Zen screamed as if there was nothing left to lose. "Power and Revenge! I'll make that bitch pay for what she'd done. Just because I'm an abnormal? Fuck that, she just wanted to torture the living shit outta me."

A red smile suddenly appeared in the dark, donned by an ethereal creature. It was atrophied and had two large horns curving up into each other. Its mouth was filled to the brim with sharp teeth and it had two hollow eye sockets that stared into the eyes of Zen.

As satanic as this creature may be, our protagonist wasn't fazed by it at all. He felt as if he was being welcomed home to a place where he truly longed for.

"See you soon." It spoke in a voice that flowed like waves crashing and alternating between pitches of great highs and deep lows. Subsequently, the thing grabbed Zen's hand for a shake before red flames started appearing around him. "Spiritual technique: Binding contract."