You breathed deeply as you looked down at the figure, gauging that from the rate that their arms were regenerating at, that you'd either have to consider restraining them after a few questions or dealing further injury to keep them incapacitated. You had questions though, lots of questions and they were going to provider answers.
"Lets get this straight, I have questions for you, and you probably think that you're able to recover from anything that I dish out. If you dare try and lie to me, we'll see if some of the creative things I'll do to you don't leave their mark. Do I make myself clear?" You stated, positioning yourself so one foot was on their chest and your machete was pointed at their neck. The frantic nodding from them said that they understood, that they didn't want to be injured further.
You could understand that sentiment.
While you yourself couldn't be killed, it took you time to recover from anything that was done to you. You shifted slightly as you allowed the flat of the blade to slap against their cheek forcefully, sneering as you decided to go with the image of a cruel captor. "Oops. You'll have to forgive how unsteady my hands are, I tend to slip and accidentally remove things. Especially when I'm being lied to, then my hands just seem to go all over the place."
The figure beneath you shivered, nodding again as they tried to make it very clear that they had no intention of lying to you. You leaned down, pinching their cheek smirking as you did so. "Good. I'm glad you're clear. You might not lose anything else if you give me no trouble. Wouldn't that be nice?"
More nodding.
They were scared out of their wits.
"Now, I want to know, just what were you doing setting a trap for me?" You asked, while the figure before you stuttered, before speaking at a hurried pace. "It w-wasn't a trap for you! We lured it out of the water so we c-could harvest it!" they stammered, prompting you to frown. You didn't believe that you were just a victim of chance like that.
"You're lying." You stated, lifting the machete ready to strike as you did so. "It's the truth, we harvest tainted flesh from the some of the things that come out at night!" they whimpered as you leaned closer to them, narrowing your eyes.
"For what purpose?"
Those words had them shiver, falling silent as they knew they'd said too much.
"For what purpose!"
You roared those words as your face contorted, bearing the visage of unbridled rage as you slammed the machete down, ichor seeping from their shoulder as you drove the blade through it. Their cry of pain filled your ears as you twisted the blade slightly, before withdrawing it, pointing it at their neck again. "I suggest you tell me, before I strangle you with your damned intestines."
You took a deep breath, appearing to collect yourself as you leaned down again, narrowing your eyes as they started to speak. "They will punish me if I tell you!" came their sobbing voice. For a brief moment you disinterestedly ran your thumb across the edge of your blade, wiping some of the ichor from it. Bringing your thumb to your lips, you sniffed at it, wrinkling your nose at the stench of it, before you extended your tongue to taste it.
It tasted as vile as expected.
You knew that you'd just done something stupid though as you felt your head begin to spin, as you felt your eyes burning, as the world about you started to twist and deform. Your eyes closed for a brief moment as you shook your head sharply, trying to shake it off. For a brief moment you could see scales and spines running up your arm, you could see the figure before you as a maiden in distress, as you, a horrific monster stood over her.
As quickly as it set on it seened to disperse, that tiny taste of her blood enough to tell you that you didn't want to do that again. It also gave you an idea that seemed just out there enough to be what they were doing harvesting these corrupted creatures. "You're harvesting them, seeking to use their tainted natures to accelerate the speed at what you change, to become closer to the god you stole the secret of your immortality from."
Their shocked silence said it all, you had just hit the nail on the head.
"One thing does bother me though. I have heard that the rumour is that you people found your 'god', that you stole from them the secret to immortality..." You breathed deeply, grinding your teeth as you did so. "I, am an immortal, robbed of their memories, of who they had once been. Potentially by you people. I awoke to find myself with no more than fragments of my former glory, and I want it back."
You leaned closer to the woman, as she squirmed fearfully beneath you, narrowing your eyes as you spat your next words hatefully.
"Am I your god?"
"No... God... God is dead."
You almost recoiled at those words. You had been certain that you had been that one that they had called their god, that you had been the immortal that they had stolen the secret to immortality from. "How did you kill him?"
"He was the head of our order... Tired of living eternally he gave us the gift of immortality, the secrets that he had gathered... And then... Then we watched him wither away..." You could feel the pain in her voice as she recounted this, telling you that she had been there long enough to witness this.
"Why did you people mark my hut, threaten me when I was just finding my feet again in this city?" You asked, taking note that the womans arms regrown to the elbows by now. You were going to have to sever them again at this rate, and that was an action you didn't want to have to go through with again and again. You were better than some brute, some bully, some monster that tormented and tortured.
This was just a means to an end, you told yourself as your head started to spin again.
"You said it yourself, you're an immortal. The head of the order would... Would..." She swallowed, looking at the machete and how close it remained to her throat. "The head of the order would have your place of residence marked once they sensed you, they would have you contacted and see if you were friend or foe. Most immortals are neutral towards us, but some..."
You nodded ever so slightly as you took a deep breath.
"You're recovering quickly. You better not give me reason to cut more than your arms off before I'm done." You stated flatly, while the woman nodded slightly, swallowing as she took another look at that machete. You'd already proven in her eyes that you were quite prepared to use it, and she wasn't about to question if you were bluffing.
"How do you recruit people?" You asked, rubbing your eyes with your free hand, before you brought your elbow to a rest atop your knee, leaning on it casually as you tried to hide how you were feeling increasingly light headed.
"We allow most of them to come to us, we allow those that wish to embrace us to-" you cut them off, knowing where this was going. "To jump through hoops for you, before you put them through some form of ceremony to join you. How do you weed out the ones that seek to take the gift of immortality and secretly harbour hate for you?"
"The ceremony kills the non-believers, it kills those that do not truely wish to embrace us... It kills those that join us with deceit in their hearts." She smiled slightly. She had been through that indoctrination process of theirs no doubt, though the question was, now you could make her certain she had betrayed them, would she remain unwaveringly faithful?
"What'll they do to you for telling me all this?"
She was silent.
Fearfully so.
"They... They will know and they will punish me and I will be no more..." You could feel the fear rolling off her. Most of them must have joined to become immortal because they had a fear of death, because they would willingly embrace the chance to live amongst this crazy cult if their answer was the one they thought they wanted to hear.
"What is your name?" You asked, leaning a little closer to her as you did so. "I... Do not see how knowing my name is important to you." She responded, while you shook your head. "Maybe I desire to know the name of my victims before I butcher them, maybe I am not such a bad person and I feel the pangs of guilt, knowing that I have condemned you."
You shook your head again, swaying unsteadily now.
"I am Anxiety."
She who makes you falter...
Her expression as she looked up at you was one frantically searching for compassion in your eyes, for hope, for that guilt that you had mentioned may be what drove you to ask meaning you would extend your protection to her. Your head was spinning, you weren't entirely sure where the thought was coming from, but she was anxiety, you could kill her and be free of her.
Was an act of brutality really what you wanted to carry through, knowing you weren't quite yourself right now or did you want to extend a hand in peace. Did you want to leave her to her fate or did you have other plans?
Author
Topic: They told me I could be anything... (Read 79079 times)