I'll Be Here

Testing the Limits

Alatus couldn't tell how much time had passed by the time Zhui finally came back. For all he knew, it could have been anywhere from just a few hours to a few weeks. The fires in the room had gone out, leaving Alatus in the near pitch dark. The blackstone of the room glowed red, barely illuminating the room, but the looming largeness and suffocating quiet were all the more obvious. All he could hear were the resounding rattles of the chains and the panicked breaths that didn't even seem like his own anymore.

It was almost a relief to no longer be alone.

The archon snapped his fingers. The chains released from Alatus's limbs. He crumpled to the floor, gasping as the blood rushed back into his arms. Breathe in. Breathe out.

Zhui looked down at him as if he were a minor obstacle that just happened to be on the floor. "You're stronger than this," he said mildly. "Over time, you will get used to it."

Alatus glared daggers at the archon's black armored feet. His shoulders ached, and the cold floor was a welcome coolant on his back as he turned over. He exhaled shakily, breath finally began to steady. In. Out.

"Oh, come on." Zhui rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest, tapping one finger against the back of his gauntlet. "I want to take you outside today, and I can't if you don't stop being dramatic."

Alatus's eyes widened, and he sat upright, bracing his fist on the floor. "I can go outside?"He was going outside. He could see the sky again. He could run away.

"Yes!" Zhui smiled, and the expression was almost kind — then he summoned Alatus's mask, spinning it in his fingers the way he liked to do, and instantly dashed all of Alatus's hopes. "I told you before, Alatus. I can teach you things you never knew you could do and show you how strong you really are. You have been held back, and you have been holding back, but I can help you find out where your limits truly are."

By this point, the tingle of dread in Alatus's spine was almost familiar, but he looked up at the archon with fire and hate in his eyes. "I won't do it. I won't do anything you tell me to do. And I don't care if you force me, because no matter what you make my body do, I cannot possibly reach my 'potential,' or what say you, if I am not trying." He willed his legs to stand and lifted his chin defiantly.

Zhui's face flushed in irritation, though his smile did not fade. "This is for your own good, Alatus. In order to survive, you have to be strong." He took a casual step forward, and Alatus forced himself not to flinch. "Think of your fellow yaksha. Think of how they have said that they are nothing without you. Isn't it unfair for them to rely so heavily on you? As old and slow as they are, would you not benefit from being stronger? Would you not be able to protect them better?"

Alatus shook his head. "I am strong enough. I do not need you or whatever it is you think I am." He resisted the urge to reach out and shove the archon away from him.

Zhui stared back coldly. He was no longer smiling. "I need you to understand something, you innocent, stupid, naive little thing." He moved his face closer to Alatus's, so close that he could smell the putrid stench of burning hair and rot on the god's breath. "I am not a cruel master. There are plenty of archons and even humans out there who would do much worse things to you. Would you prefer me to give you to them?" His eyes flashed, a glimpse of red in the black abyss. "I can think of gods who would make you stand in fire until your flesh charred down to your bones, or hold yourself under water until your lungs screamed for air, or find some other more... creative... ways to use your body..." He reached out and drew a line down the side of Alatus's face with the tip of his nail guard.

Alatus jumped away, heart pounding, skin tingling where the cold armor had touched him, shock and dread shooting through his body in a whole new level of horror.