<~*~ Prologue cont. ~*~>

An enraged scream startled Yeisha, stopping her from imagining the unborn’s pain. The newly formed hybryd snarled up at her, displaying fang-like canines far larger and more pronounced than what she originally had. She growled low and predatory like a beast, no longer the human she once was. 

However, the woman’s stomach couldn’t handle the cellular changes being forced upon her body. 

Yeisha hopped backwards, preventing herself from being splattered upon. The ground gurgled, then the dirt and stones of the cave floor magically parted to swallow up the vomit. One of the Makers was an earth mage that dealt with some of the more messier aspects of the job. Nevertheless, the smell lingered. But Yeisha’s stomach lurched from more than just that.

‘“I-I never seen a transformation before. Is this normal?”’ Yeisha murmured. ‘“I mean, her changing like this?”’

“‘Yes, though usually with much more screaming involved,’” the robed mage answered dispassionately. They were building an army of warriors, after all, and he’d seen it all a thousand times. “‘However, she is processing it considerably faster than the established norm. Hers was instantaneous.”’

“‘What do you mean?”’

“‘He means, Yeisha, she is mutating faster than normal. That is only obvious, after all. Really, just look at her.’”

Yeisha cringed at the sound of that deep voice with its polished accent, smooth as a river stone and just as cold. Elric watched her through unimpressed hazel eyes. Even after all she had done for him, she was still deemed unworthy. Bitterness rose like bile in her throat as she watched Elric stroll forward to stand before the wench he chose over her.

“‘Yeisha, Yeisha,”’ he tisked, pushing back a stray lock of his blonde hair. “‘You surprised me, especially after you were the one who originally saved this one from being burnt at the stake. Now, my dear, remind me. Did I give consent for you to mutate her?’”

He stared at her, his handsome face devoid of any emotion and as aloof as always. All that cool confidence and sophisticated composure used to be alluring. But now… 

She flinched and wiped her eyes. “‘No… But I…’”

“‘You are correct, I did not give my consent! Thus, you stole something very precious from me. I knew eventually someone would try, but for you to do it? I would not have believed it if I had not seen it with my own eyes.”’ 

“‘Why? I loved you! I still do! I stood by you, sacrificed so much just for you,”’ she sobbed, choking back her tears. “‘How is she more precious than me?’” 

‘“I guess that is the problem with accepting some naive girl’s infatuation. One such as you, who holds too dear to your childlike simplicity of the world, cannot see beyond your pathetic notions of right and wrong. I thought it was refreshing at first, but…”’

Elric sighed with a shake of his head. “‘Clearly you are not enlightened enough to belong at my side. I have no use for those who lack the vision for a better world. To achieve that vision, one must put the needs of the campaign above their own, and as such, sacrifices have to be made. You apparently have neither the insight nor the basic understanding of that notion.”’

She stiffened at those words. “‘You are truly rejecting me? After all I’ve done?”’ 

“‘You rejected me with your asinine jealousy! You betrayed me and cost me something I desired! Finally, I had what I always coveted within my grasp, and you go and rip her away! If my brother had not told me of your plan, I never would have known what transpired.”’

Yeisha hadn’t noticed him at first. He stood a little behind Elric with his head downcast, looking very much like the anxious teenager he truly was. However, she was far more vulnerable than him right at this moment. 

‘“Draven?”’

He flinched and refused to look at her. He hung his head lower, his shaggy, brown hair hiding his face and his heterochromic eyes glued to the floor. 

Yes, he should feel ashamed!

‘“Draven! You rat bastard son of bitch! I trusted you!”’

“‘Restrain her,”’ Elric said to the Maker-mages, his voice devoid of any empathy. 

The Make-mages grabbed her, and with that touch, magically sent stinging jolts through her body, weakening her and clouding her head. She slumped to her knees, stunned, as they dragged her over to another detainment alcove. Cuffs were slapped on her wrists, chaining her to the wall and disabling both her body and her mana. She shook her head in disbelief. She was about to share in the same pain and humiliation she inflicted on that woman moments before. 

Yeisha’s eyes went wide. She tried to pull her wrist free, her shoulders burning from the strain. ““No! Elric, please! NO!!””

“‘Such a waste,’” Elric sneered. “‘Such promise, wasted. And all because some childish woman could not think beyond her trivial emotions. Just as some infantile men cannot think beyond their minuscule second heads.”’ 

Draven flinched and shook his head in denial. His mismatched blue and hazel eyes darted from his brother back to Yeisha. With a small rumbling sound, he shoved the mages away from her. He was her friend and confidant, and even though he basically betrayed her, he was now going to rectify that mistake by stepping up to be her savior. 

He ignited his mana, it engulfed his hands in a greenish-blue glow as he reached for the chains to magically break her free. That is, until Elric hissed something incoherent in that silvery language of theirs that Yeisha was never taught. Those words stole all that heroic chivalry and reduced him back to his scared, intimidated younger brother state, effectively dousing both his valor and his mana in a puff of pale green smoke.

“‘No! Please don’t do this!”’ She tugged on the chains, her wrist burned as the metal cuffs tore her skin. She tried to focus her magical will. Her mana surged forth, only to fizzle out in a jolting pain inside her head. She couldn’t wield her mana! The minerals in the cuffs neutralize the mana flow within her and prevent her from generating any form of magic.

Elric scoffed, ‘“Remember, you did this to yourself the moment you betrayed me. Draven mutate her. She is of no use to me now, and I prefer not to see her face ever again.”’

“‘P-Please, Elric,”’ Draven choked out, barely above a whisper. “‘Don’t do this. Not her. Don’t make me do this.”’

Kaya felt weak, the serum wormed its way into her bloodstream, making her woozy. Her head lolled forward, her swollen belly wasn’t large enough yet to prevent her from seeing her knees poking out from her skirt. Knees that were now blackened as if scorched by the flames her people had ignited to consume her flesh.

 Alatoric, she swore to herself. That curse in her native tongue seemed even more appropriate now, she was black as char and chaos surrounded her. She was more burnt than the dark brown woman with the singed looking hair who had freed her from the purging ritual’s fire a few seasons ago. Kaya growled low and guttural, like the dog she truly was. That burnt-woman saved her, only to imprison her now and prick her with a strange stick that made her insides burn. That stick broke the fire demons’ spell and transformed her back into the black creature the demons had altered her to somehow. 

She watched the robed demons subdue the burnt-woman with their spells and chain her to the wall. The burnt-woman was a dog, just the same as her. Men care nothing for dogs, and her cries (which Kaya could understand none of) would go unheeded. Better to not show it hurts, then the men will get bored, finish, and be done. 

She watched the fire demons in front of her. They spoke in their incomprehensible tongue that sounded of growls and gruff grunts, like wild boars vocalizing over some fruit. The sand colored demon with hair the color of the sun seized the collar of the dust colored one with the two colored eyes. Odd eyes, one the color of the clear sky over the ocean and the other brown, though not like hers, his was more like that of mud covered moss. Those mismatched eyes did not offer the deliverance she had hoped for when she first encountered them, nor did they offer any now. But the odd eyed demon was only half-demon after all, and still too weak to wrestle control away from the dominant one. That one was authoritative and cold. Eyes the color of the ocean would have been more befitting for the sun-haired demon who appeared sculpted from beach sand. But no, he had eyes almost like her people. However, he frightened her far too much for him to be only half demon. 

Then again, even with them changing her to some blackened beast, these demons still treated her better than her own people ever did, so maybe she was confused. Perhaps demons were people and people were the real demons after all?

A scream woke Kaya from her ponderings.

The burnt-woman begs with tears in her eyes. Pleas are meaningless, there is no pity in the eyes of men for dogs. The sun-haired demon shows no emotions, but oddly, the half-demon hands shake as he jabs the burnt-woman with the strange stick that burns like fire. She screams again. Unwise, screams only give cruel ears pleasure and encourage more. She has a lot to learn if she’s to survive as a dog. She screamed louder and thrashed against the chains, her tears falling to the floor like the piss of a frightened dog. 

Sun-hair picks up the dropped stick and tosses it back to the dusty half-demon. The half-demon closed his eyes, and Kaya thought she saw tears roll down his cheek. But that had to be false, men care nothing for the women they force themselves upon. Women were nothing, just lowly dogs to men. 

Sun-hair turned his attention back towards her. He squatted down before her and cupped her chin, forcing her eyes to meet the cold rage in his. Kaya couldn’t even spit in those eyes; his fingers pinched her cheeks too tight for that. 

“What a waste,” he whispered, his voice barely audible over the other woman’s screams, yet somehow, Kaya now understood every venom filled word. “All this mana, wasted away to rot, and now I can do nothing to extract it. But I will find you again, my pet. And if not I, then some other mage will. You will never be free of us. And that mana you hold, will never be yours to weld.” 

Then her world went completely black…