Marked Ones: Advent of the Demon Prince

Though Nerill's eyes had adapted to the darkness, the shadows of the room had become heavy and murky. Elves and beastmen both had the ability to see in the dark, though elves in a lower capacity. For the first time in their lives, they were experiencing true darkness.

Nerill felt something wrap around one of her wrists. As she tried to yank away from the unseen attacker, a second thing wrapped around her other wrist. When her arms were held in place, the woman was yanked to the ground and forced into a sitting position once again. Slowly, she regained a small portion of her sight.

Directly next to her was the young man she was infatuated with. Covering his wrists were these strange, wispy black appendages. Along his legs were more of these small tendrils, some of them had malformed hands, while others simply looked like vines or tree roots.

These same entities slowly began to crawl up Nerill's own legs. No matter what she did to resist, the pressure they exerted on her body to keep her still as they continued to bind her was far too strong for her to fight. Some of her men started to shout and grunt from the exertion, but their cries were quickly muffled.

Silence fell on the room. Only subtle shifts in the darkness were perceptible paired with subtle footsteps from Titan moving between them. She heard the quiet whisper of metal scraping against a scabbard at one point, but never detected a slash or death cry. What was it that he wanted? What was this?

'The captain…' she thought as several minutes passed, 'Where is he? What did that man say? [Abyssal Prison]? What in the name of Celestia kind of skill is that?'

Footsteps grew louder and slowly approached her. They were much heavier than before, unlike the ones from their captor. Alongside them was the slight clatter of metal. A moment later, the captain she was thinking about entered her vision.

He stood tall before her, free of any shackles or restraints like Nerill and the other elf. At the thought of the young man, she glanced his direction only to notice he had vanished. In his place was an empty space occupied only by an unholy and otherworldly presence.

Nerill saw nothing, but could feel something in the shadows staring at her hungrily. Somehow, she could tell it did not desire her bones, blood or body. No, it hungered for something much deeper. Whatever the thing was, it wanted her dreams, hopes, nightmares, and fear… it wanted her very soul.

The captain fell to his knees before her, making Nerill jump slightly, though hopelessly with the bindings. His face was mere inches from hers. Tears flowed freely down his cheeks, falling like rain upon her legs. His eyes lacked pupils or irises, appearing milky white. The captain's mouth twitched slightly before it started to form the words, "I'm sorry." And he collapsed to the floor.

From behind the man, Titan appeared. In his hands was an odd-looking machete. Normally a utility tool for farmers, this man seemed to be using it as his primary weapon. It was intricate in design with a number of fantastical embellishments decorating the flat of the blade and its hilt. A dangerous, red energy hummed along the cutting edge.

The blade slowly pressed against her cheek, slicing through Nerill's soft skin as though it were a surgical implement. When Titan pulled his weapon away, a small trickle of blood ran down her face and chin. Nerill cast an enraged gaze at her expressionless enemy.

As she began to speak out against him, her heart beat suddenly quickened. The cut on her cheek began to flare up in pain and her face quickly flushed as though she had become feverish. The sensations in assaulting Nerill's mind were unlike anything she had ever experienced.

Something started to congeal at the site of the wound. The skin began to visibly bubble as a foreign mass gathered together and writhed just beneath the surface. Hundreds of small tendrils shout out from this mass, each one moving a different direction.

Pain and discomfort joined with every movement of these tendrils as they latched on to different parts of her body. Nerill felt as these small entities crawled around beneath her skin, first encircling her skull and eyes, then moving slowly down her neck.

The veins in her neck and arms bulged when some of the tendrils began to invade her bloodstream, looking for faster modes of transport to other areas of her body.

Every muscle in her body was forced to tense up to the point that she shook despite herself. Each attempt to scream out was stifled by her own vocal cords and throat muscles flexing and releasing against her will. What seemed like hours passed in a matter of seconds.

When the sensation of thousands of bugs crawling under her skin passed, a satisfied grin appeared on Titan's face. He squatted down until his face was equal with her own.

"Your captain broke quickly. I'll break you next. Know that there are things in this world worse than death, and I can make it so that your entire existence becomes as such. Until I can trust that your mind is mine, you will taste such a future." He said quietly. "Every sensation you experience will be multiplied dozens of times over. Enjoy what awaits you, should you reject me."

Titan pulled away from her slowly and gently flicked his wrist. Suddenly, the tendrils binding her began to forcefully move her body until she was stretched out in a star formation on her back.

She had thought that her outstretched position would have had her make physical contact with at least one of the other guards, but the ever-shifting darkness messed with what little perception she had at the moment. For now, all she could see were Titan and her guard captain.

Titan slowly circled around her with a hand on his chin. "I'm going to use this space as a getaway. You are going to ignore my actions and the actions of the people I associate with. When someone asks questions, you answer like normal. To the rest of the world, my presence does not exist. Is that clear?"

"Why would I betray my people like that?" Nerill growled?

Titan sighed before he brought down a foot directly onto her fingers. In a single instant, Nerill's world became nothing but white-hot searing pain. Her vision darkened even further. It was no longer an absence of light, but rather her brain simply cut off her sense of sight to try and process the amount of pain coursing through her body.

"Okay!" she cried finally; the intensity so great that she couldn't even scream. "I'll do it!"

"I don't think you are there yet." Titan whispered as he brought his foot down on her other hand. Enjoy exclusive adventures from empire

Each slam shattered every bone in each of Nerill's fingers. Her sense of pain had increased so heavily that it seemed as though she could feel each and every crack form in the bones before they shattered apart. The nerves in her body were on fire. Not only could she no longer see, but she was almost convinced that she could no longer smell, taste, or speak.

How was she supposed to let him know that she understood if her body wouldn't let her speak? The muscles in her throat tightened and constricted her airways in response to the destruction of her fingers. It seemed as though her lungs themselves refused to listen to commands to intake more air.

Nerill's head became fuzzy; logic and reasoning dashing away from her feeble grasp. Titan continued circling her outstretched form. Though she could not see or hear him, somehow she knew where he was. It was as though he was projecting his presence to her so she knew what was coming next. He was using anticipation for pain to increase the horror of the moment.

Nerill's feet were the next to be attacked. Once as a child she had her foot stepped on by a foal running wild outside of it's pen. The incident broke two of her toes. The sensation and memory of the pain replayed in her mind hundreds of times in succession to try and help her cope with her current reality.

The pain of her memories paling in comparison to every twitch of muscle in her body. Nerill begged for peace, for unconsciousness, maybe even death. However, no matter how much she pleaded and prayed, no release came. Whatever he had done to her chased away her brain's attempts at shutting itself off from the experience. Her self-defense measures failed in every aspect, refusing to provide any escape.

She continued to live through the destruction of her body again and again; hundreds of times in a second. Eventually a warmth enveloped her. Soothing, calming waves began to wash over her body and a light formed in the darkness. Though her nightmare was reaching its end, the shadows still remained.

From within them the presence from earlier appeared once again. The warmth of the healing light turned cold before the gaze of two golden eyes. A soul wrenching laugh reached her ears. Panic threatened to consume her the laugh gave her a promise.

"Remember, girl, this can be your life. Never-ending suffering, a life where you beg for the release of death that will never come. Be a good girl now. If not, well… I can't wait to meet you again."

Against all sense, Nerill could have sworn that she felt a tongue run itself along her cheek. The golden eyes vanished and the third floor of their guard post once again greeted her. Surrounding her were all of the guards in the post.

Each of them moved like puppets on strings and they slowly turned toward the stairwell behind her and kneeled. Nerill did not need to see in order to know who they kneeled to. Realizing her wounds had been healed, she slowly sat up and joined her brethren in kneeling to their new liege.

Never would they be able to surpass him. The man before them was backed by the Abyss itself, and unless they wished to join whatever lurked in its depths they would listen to Titan's every word as though it was a commandment by the gods.