[Redacted]: Lost In The Darkness

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Eira
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[Redacted]: Lost In The Darkness

Post by Eira » Thu Jan 06, 2022 8:36 pm

“Do you know why I hurt you?”

No! the prisoner wanted to scream at him, the dark shadow that lurked next to the bars of the cell door, close enough to grab and try to throttle, though past experiences taught them such an attempt brought only more pain that would last far longer than any beating... Just leave me be, they begged silently, daring not to gaze up, lest the hatred simmering in their eyes brought another lash.

But as if he could read the prisoner’s mind—and perhaps he could, from the clench of their fist at their side, and the tenseness of their shoulders—the tail end of the whip cracked through the bars, licking underneath their chin so they were forced to snap their head up and glare balefully at their captor. The burning touch of that whip lingered even when it was coiled back up, and though they felt the warmth of their own blood dripping down their neck, they kept quiet.

The tormentor smiled. His voice sounded almost pleasant enough to fool as he continued. “Of course you do not; you still despise me, I understand. Though your hatred is that of the trapped and victimized, as if you deserve to call yourself such a thing. But I know you believe you do, and I do not blame you for it.”

He often approached the cell to speak like this, always that same even pleasant tone in between beatings or worse tortures. The prisoner could even hear that voice in their nightmares, though some days the night terrors and the waking reality were one and the same. And all they could do was glare.

“There! That is precisely what your pain is for. Do you even know why you hate me? Why you are supposed to? No, of course not. You have the lies you were fed from birth, for you believe you are the chosen people and loved by your God—how quaint to call him Father—above all others. You believe that any harm or strife you undergo is unjust and you can act as you please without consequence. Is that why you dared to leave your lands and delve into the ‘Dark?”

He waited, as if an answer would be forthcoming. The prisoner would not give him that satisfaction, though they still did not dare to lower their eyes again.

“You hate me, for you believe you do not deserve this pain. You do not believe that you are as much a traitor as those you name dhaerrow. You still believe that when your people attacked mine in the blood-soaked millennia before... that you were justified—oh, do not look at me like that; you may pretend you are nothing like the Vyshaanti, but in removing any association with them, though it is as clear as the gold of your hair and gold of your skin that you are not so different as you would wish to pretend. And yet, in those punished by your god, by your so-called Father, your people faced nothing. They merely erased the past.”

“You are wrong,” the prisoner finally spat—and flinched, waiting for the coming lash.

But it never struck.

Perhaps worse was the low joyless chortle from their captor. He laughed like it pained him to do so.

“How feeble your defense of your false history. But, as I said, I understand. It is no simple thing to cast off Corellon’s own pride and accept your place as any common person... or lower, as you are. For now, you will bear the punishment of your race for their atrocities, and you will learn to accept that you are worth nothing more than any other filth.”

He smiled again, and his tone turned kind, as if it would make the prisoner swallow his lies more easily.

“Hatred leads only to suffering. I do not truly want to hurt you. But learning is difficult, and I am a patient teacher.”

I exist to describe the world around us.

Akorae

Keth'ym Evanara - wandering better paths
Veriel Xyrdan - married and happy
Reena Welkins - Dead

Discord: eighra


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