The moment Vahn's fingers pressed against the sides of the woman's face, the padded room fell away without warning or transition, replaced not by darkness but by something heavier—a sensation that pressed against the mind like an icy blanket. There was no sense of movement, no descent or pull, just a transition—faster than a blink but stretched out like a long pause within the mind.
crack
As Vahn searched for congruency within the discordant sensation, a faint cracking sound reached him—not through his ears, but through the space behind his thoughts—the domain of Sis.
"It's been a while since we've met face to face," Sis remarked, appearing as a buxom woman with bright crimson hair, narrowed, naturally seductive blue eyes, and, notably, a pair of cat ears and a tail.
"We could see each other every day..." Vahn reminded, unable to resist the urge to wrap his hands around Sis's body. For a moment, the pupils of her eyes contracted. But as he leaned in for a kiss, she stood on the very tips of her toes and met him halfway, their actions perfectly in sync—as if they were two people sharing the same mind.
"Stay close…"
Interrupting Vahn's and Sis's first, completely unplanned kiss, the sound of a child's voice, small and trembling, reached their ears.
Though there was originally only darkness around them, the moment Vahn and Sis turned their heads, the world shifted. Then, like a bubble that expanded from nothing, they found themselves standing in a long, stretched corridor that appeared distorted—as if viewed from the perspective of someone small. Tall stone walls lined either side, polished yet cold, adorned with gilded sconces and murals that depicted angels, demons, and what appeared to be demihumans at war. The air was thick with the smell of incense, pungent to the point of nausea. But beneath it lingered the tang of iron—blood, fresh and long dried, soaked into stone.
Physically stepping back from the perspective they had been forced into, Vahn and Sis found themselves behind a young, bob-haired girl, small and trembling, in black-and-white robes reminiscent of a Nun. Next to her, the sleeve of his similarly black-and-white robes clutched tightly by the girl's tiny fingers, was a young boy with very similar features—their faces, eyes, and even hairstyles nearly identical.
"It's okay…" the boy whispered, forcing a smile that didn't quite reach his empty, emotionless eyes.
"They said we're special…" the boy appended, the word hanging in the air, causing the fear that tinted the scene to compound.
Following an abrupt scene change, Vahn and Sis found themselves as silent observers to several men in immaculate white vestments, laden with gold, encircled the two young children, their expressions serene in a way that felt artificial, detached from anything resembling actual warmth. One of them, the most embellished of the men, knelt, placing a hand atop the boy's head as if offering a blessing.
"You have shown remarkable aptitude. Truly remarkable..."
"Thank you, Sir..." responded the boy, adopting a similarly artificial smile.
"And the girl...?" asked one of the other men, his gaze and tone sharp—clinical in a way that caused Vahn's brows to furrow. The way the elderly man looked at the girl was not the look of someone who viewed her as a person, but how a craftsman might evaluate raw material.
"Her mana capacity is within acceptable parameters…" stated another of the figures, its face and voice distorted, suggesting that the memory was either fragmented or had been altered.
"Then we will take her as well. She might prove useful, even if only as a reserve Miko..." stated the sharp-gazed clergyman.
"I'm certain that my younger sister will prove an invaluable asset to the Church..." the boy stated.
"B-big brother? Didn't you say before that we should hide from the Church...?"
Following the girl's question, the atmosphere within the memory became even more oppressive and cold. Then...
crack
As the scene suddenly shifted, accompanied by the sound of shattering glass, Vahn and Sis found themselves standing behind the girl as she and her brother were separated by disembodied hands—stretched out from a black abyss.
"Wait! Big brother! Please don't go! Please don't leave me...!"
"Clementine...be a good girl..." responded the boy, the unnatural smile on his face unchanging, but a single tear rolling down his cheek.
"Big brother! Quaiesse...!"
As the girl cried out, her voice cracking in desperation, the boy she was reaching out to disappeared, engulfed in darkness. What followed was a feeling of falling, tears streaming down the girl's face as an agonized cry rose from her throat, completely devoid of sound but tinting the memory with a sensation similar to drowning.
brblebllblr
As the scene fractured yet again, the sensation of sinking deep into cold water compounded around Vahn and Sis before the world reformed into a cold, sterile space. Now, the girl was seated upon a metal table, her small body trembling as her bare feet failed to reach the surface beneath her. A white hospital gown adorned her thin, malnourished body, and all around her were people in white, clergically-adorned lab coats, their faces hazy, distorted, and monstrous.
"Please…" the girl whispered, her voice hoarse and the skin around her eyes dark, worn from tears and lack of sleep.
"I'll be good…" the girl muttered, her voice cracking with the precursor to a sob. Yet, despite her pitiable state, there was no acknowledgment from those who surrounded her. Instead, their faces morphed into countless, callous, seemingly dead eyes.
snap
Following the sound of something snapping against skin, the memory sharpened, marked by the same sharp-eyed man from before, appearing like a phantom. The sound was him adjusting his gloves, and though his face appeared human, he had multiple hands and arms, each holding a different surgical tool or syringe.
"Begin the infusion..." said the man, the command delivered without a single emotion.
"No! Please! I said I would be good...!" the girl cried, her too-thin body suddenly and mercilessly pulled to the table's surface as it were drawn by a powerful magnet. Leather strap then appeared to bind her entire body, leaving her unable to move as the distorted figures stepped forward and stabbed her body with innumerable syringes—some to infuse liquid into her and others to draw it out.
"Please don't! Please! I'm begging you...!" cried the girl, each word heavy with desperation. Instead of heeding her, however, the innumerable eyes within the distorted faces viewed her with contempt.
"Weak..."
"Unworthy...
"Selfish..."
As each word echoed like a ghastly hiss from the void, a gag appeared in the girl's mouth, preventing her from crying out as her body twisted and began to distort, her fingers clawing desperately at the table's surface, tearing away. A scream emitted from her throat—raw, primal—but it didn't reach the ears of those present. Instead, the distress it contained seeped into the memory, causing it to tremble like an earthquake.
"Stabilize her—!" shouted the sharp-eyed man.
"Heart rate spiking—!"
"Apply restraints—!"
With the shaking continuing to increase, the girl's nail-bereft fingers scraped against the metal surface, leaving streaks of blood as her body contorted under the strain of what was being forced into her and what was being taken away. Her spine twisted unnaturally, muscles spasming, veins rising to the surface of her skin, and the ears on the sides of her head sloughing away, replaced by leaking pustules...
'Please! Make it stop...!' the girl cried out, her pain-addled voice echoing like thunder in Vahn's and Sis's ears. Unfortunately, it failed to reach those operating on her. And, even if it had, they wouldn't have stopped.
They never did...
As the memory began to fold in on itself, several additional scenes of the girls strapped to the table overlaid one another, blurring together until the only thing that remained was the girl herself, now pubescent—bound from head to toe with a leather blindfold over her eyes. Illusory syringes would appear, stabbing into her arms and legs, but she stopped reacting to them and no longer seemed to acknowledge who was inserting them...
'This feels too familiar...' Vahn thought melancholically, memories of his past life resurfacing after what felt like decades. He had long since gotten over what had happened to him, but seeing someone else going through a similar experience—it hurt. Fortunately, unlike the girl, he wasn't alone. He was surrounded by people who cared about him. And as Sis's warmth and softness enveloped him, her arms wrapping supportively around him from behind, he felt reassured—safe.
As Vahn placed his hand on Sis's arm, the memory shifted again—this time to the dim setting of what appeared to be a room—or perhaps a prison tower. The girl lay curled on a thin cot, her body altered in subtle but undeniable ways. Her nails had regrown and were sharper now. The pupils of her lifeless red eyes had become slits. And, most notably, there were a pair of cat ears and a triple-striped tail protruding from the top of her head and lower back.
"Excellent…" muttered an artificially warm voice, followed by the sharp-eyed man, now much older, appearing out of thin air to caress the girl as she lay in her bed—his hand brushing possessively through her bobbed hair, styled in a way to conceal the scars where her originally human ears once were.
"Please…" the girl whispered, her voice barely audible and heavy with fatigue no one her age should know, as she muttered, "I'll do anything…"
"Of course you will..." the sharp-eyed man acknowledged, a low chuckle emanating from his throat. Then, as if someone had taken a hammer to it, the memory fractured—violent and loud—into a kaleidoscope of pain and suffering. As the scenes flashed across his vision, Vahn felt a degree of rage he hadn't experienced in quite some time, a cold sensation filling his mind as Will of the Emperor activated to calm him...
Just as Vahn was about to cease his delving early, the memory became whole again, materializing into the setting of a training hall, where the girl, now a young woman, sparred with half a dozen men in heavy padding and armor. The girl's movements were inhumanly swift and agile, and though she wasn't permitted a weapon, she didn't need one to dent the armor of the men with her punches and kicks—shattering bones and sending them flying like ragdolls.
"Again..." said the sharp-eyed man, now with a fair amount of grey in his hair, standing on the periphery of the training hall in the robes of a high-ranking member of the clergy.
Following the man's orders, the girl attacked—harder, faster, and more desperate with each passing moment.
"Again..." said the sharp-eyed man, his tone deep, heavy with impatience and disappointment.
'I'm trying...!' the girl shouted, her voice, once again, reaching only Vahn and Sis as she hit one of the men so hard in the stomach that their spine snapped like a twig. Yet, despite her knuckles breaking from the full force blow, the sharp-eyed man repeated...
"Again..."
"Again..."
"Again..."
"Again..."
crack
Accompanied by the sharp sound of bone cracking, Vahn and Sis found themselves in the woman's room again, better furnished than before but still giving the impression of a prison cell. Like so many times before, the woman found herself naked atop the sharp-eyed man. This time, however, she wasn't desperately trying to please him to avoid punishment. Instead, she had her hands wrapped tightly around his neck, tears streaming down her face, and a crazed smile adorning her lips.
"Mon...ster..." croaked the sharp-eyed man, now old, fat, and purple in the face as the life was slowly, purposefully choked out of his body. He tried to resist, striking at the woman's severely bruised and scar-covered body, but she didn't relent. Rather, the more he hit her, the broader the smile on her face became until the same breaking sound that preempted the scene repeated...
...
..
.
Retreating from the woman's mind after observing her core memories from her childhood to the present day, Vahn found himself stunned by the weight of her life and experiences. He could not condone the many, many lives she had taken in an attempt to fill the void within her heart and soul, but he understood—he empathized with her on a level few could.
"You poor girl..." Vahn muttered, unaware that similar words had been said about him, long ago, by Klyscha—the Goddess of Dreams that had vested him with The Path and the power to change his life in ways he could never have imagined...
...
..
.