Kapitel 3: New Prison
A myriad of whispers filled her mind like tiny ants crawling within her ear. The cries of the Abyss and the howls of those who lost their life.
As though she was hearing the history of every victim claimed by the Abyss Waters, their haunting melodies clinging to her mind and body, Alice writhed in agony.
"!!!"
Jolting upright out of panic, Alice panted heavily as she quickly checked her body. The last thing she remembered was succumbing to the effects of the Abyss Waters. Without anything to heal her, she should have died before her body could purge the effects.
But she was alive. Joy filled her heart as her eyes glimmered with the shine of a thousand stars. Then she noticed the cuffs and a suffocating feeling clawed through her heart. It tore away the joy and bared its fangs at her throat, sinking them deep in her flesh.
Panic and anxiety crashed against her mind as she slowly raised her hand and placed it against the cold metal collar next to her throat.
Panting heavily, she could feel her heart attempting to burst out of her chest while a deafening ringing sound echoed against her ear, blocking out all noise.
Gritting her teeth, she tore away at the collar, trying her best to take it off.
The clashing sound of metal filled the room as Alice slammed her body against the metal bars of her cage.
'Was all of it a dream? Was the hope that I finally felt after all those years a lie?' She asked herself while going mad from rage.
Biting her lip, Alice continued to slam her hands against her collar in a vain attempt to free herself. The metal refused to budge.
A blinding flash of light obscured her vision as the taste of iron flooded her mouth. She felt as though the world crashed against the side of her face as blood rushed towards the impact point.
The impact caused Alice to relinquish all forms of control she had over her body, slamming against the metal bars. Her vision became blurred and a certain numbness settled within her mind.
Blinking her eyes in confusion, she failed to understand what just happened. All she could see was blood dripping against the rusted iron floor of her cage.
From the numbness and heat, pain flashed through her consciousness. It was then Alice realised she was hit by something against the side of her head.
The pain knocked Alice out of her panic attack. She was now able to calm herself to a certain degree in spite of being injured. It allowed Alice to reassess her situation. While there was indeed a collar around her neck, the girl understood that this was not the prison she grew up in.
After all, the one who had just punched her did not look like he belonged to a big family.
Countless, haphazard stitches stretched across his body with patches of skin belonging to different bodies covering the surface. She could only describe him as a towering monstrosity with malformed muscles. It looked like the muscles were expressly needed to lift the sheer weight of the cuffs and chains around his wrists. A large, rusted iron helmet welded together from scrap metal dug into his flesh as gaping wounds bled open on the thing's neck. Despite it all, the wounds didn't seem to inconvenience the behemoth.
Seeing the dent in her cage, she realised that he tried to punch her. The iron bars saved her life. If not for them, she wouldn't be left off with just a bleeding wound.
With Alice now no longer making a scene by trying to get the collar off her neck, the giant sat down and slumped over. Soon, rhythmic breathing sounds reached Alice's ears.
Looking around her, Alice noticed she wasn't the only one locked up. Tens, if not hundreds of deformed captives were in a similar situation to her, their limbs bound to the cage.
Some of the captives had more deformities than the others, looking neither man nor beast — a side effect of Abyss Blood usage. The degree of some mutations made Alice wonder if the captors were using illegal, experimental Abyss Blood.
The worst case she could see within this room was a man firmly attached to the wooden walls with roots growing out of his body. He was in the late stages of transforming into a plant-based Abyss Beast. A familiar variety at that.
He had iridescent purple flowers created from his flayed flesh blossoming across his back and body. A glowing stamen within the centre of the flower dripped with his blood as emerald vines weaved through his skin like thread on fabric. Bloodied roots took hold of his wounds as the man took care not to move from his spot.
Even the smallest movement caused the roots to split, making the man wince from the pain.
All of this pointed to one Beast in particular, one whose blood Alice experienced first hand during her time within the Zenia prison.
During those days, the head scientist leading the experiments would document the Abyss Blood administered, the different types used in combination and those without, including the part the blood came from, the Beast it came from and the results. Alice took care to memorise as much as possible since it was the only other form of 'entertainment' she could occupy herself with.
'Blood Lily, a carnivorous flower that lay traps for its prey with poisoned thorns and can keep itself alive through blood. When their 'blood' is extracted, the properties you'll gain is increased healing through coming into contact with any kind of blood. It can even go as far as regrowing lost limbs…' Alice thought to herself before glancing back at the man.
'Side effects include flowers slowly blooming on the body of the person the more they use this blood. And so, they had their name changed to Vampire Lily and deemed unusable for the general public.'
Judging by his physical state, Alice understood that just one more dose of the blood would kill the man.
She couldn't help but think back to the head scientist who constantly preached about how her body was a gift from the unseen gods, a path for humanity to discover the uses of Abyss Blood.
He showered her with news on what the latest product had done for the world. His fanaticism with the cursed blood that runs through the depths of the Abyss reached heights Alice couldn't even imagine, with her body the perfect toy for him to use. He would talk about how, if one person's suffering could cure the world, it was that person's job to offer themselves up.
Alice shivered.
Shaking her head, she tried her best to ignore the past. She needed to find out about her location. The strange man told her to search for a woman called Allura, but he didn't mention what she looked like nor what her full name was. How was Alice supposed to find a woman just based on the first name?
Standing up, she instantly felt a wave of lethargy kick in from the head trauma as she tripped over her own feet.
"Unless you want the Bruiser to punch through that cage and kill you, I suggest you don't move around too much and just sleep." A voice whispered as Alice glanced over.
The voice belonged to a sickly woman with short grey hair that looked as if it had the colour sucked out of them. She had a single golden pupil, the other having disappeared into a flower. Similar to the man in the late stages of Vampire Lily abuse, the woman's eye was turned into a Vampire Lily. She wore a tattered burlap sack with the same cuffs and chains as Alice.
"Okay. Erm… here, where?" Alice asked after a short pause, trying to find the words in her mind. After being thrown into the prison with nothing but experiments to look forward to, her family didn't really place education high on the list of things to do.
"That's a weird way of talking, but okay. I'm not too sure either since I've been recently resold to this place after my last owner got fed up with me. They said this place was like a fighting arena or something. That's all I know, sorry." She apologised with a small smile.
"I'm guessing we'll find out tomorrow so just rest for now. Plus, you got this guy sitting in front of our cage. It's best we stop talking and just sleep." The woman pointed at the Bruiser twitching and showing signs of waking up once more.
Nodding her head slowly, Alice laid down and stared at the metal roof of her cage. Countless thoughts crossed her mind but she only had one goal. To get out of this place and find the woman who would apparently help her get her revenge.
She was skeptical of the strange man's lofty promises but for someone like her, this was probably the best chance she's got to get back some semblance of life.
'Please don't let this be a dream… I don't want to go back. I can handle being collared like this… At least I can die if I want to…' Alice thought to herself as she rubbed her finger against her choker once more. She didn't fear death. For her, she had been living side by side with death for 10 long years. What she feared was a life worse than death, one where she couldn't end it even if she desired.
Suppressing the anxiety within her mind, she allowed herself to rest on the stack of straw in her cage. Even though this cage couldn't compare to the room Alice's family gave her, she felt more relaxed here.
###
Standing in the empty white room while holding a mangled collar, a man stood in deafening silence. Wearing a decorative red coat that hung off his shoulders, adorned with golden markings, the man wore a black and gold nobleman's attire beneath the jacket with an ornate sword hanging off his waist. Despite his age, he still had a head of dark brown hair swept back along with a full beard.
Behind him was a corridor filled with countless patches of blood and hundreds of bodies. They were some of the finest guards in the Zenia family, yet all of them met the same fate.
Known by the name Luthor Zenia, head of the Zenia family, he was Alice's father. The one who ordered she be imprisoned after her physique was discovered.
He could remember the creature he kept in this room, the one who used to be his daughter.
Clenching his fists, he shattered the collar without any issues.
Bitter memories from Alice's birthday filled his mind, a time where his world was cut in two.
"Assign people to find out what has happened here. Get our trackers to hunt down any traces. I want to know exactly what the hell happened in this room. If the subject is alive, she cannot be allowed into the hands of another family. Capture her at all costs." He ordered through gritted teeth.
"If you can't capture her…
"Kill her."
His eyes blazed with a cold flame.
The light in the corridor flickered as a few dozen shadows appeared for a moment, coalescing into monstrous figures, before disappearing into nothingness.
Once alone, he pulled out a locket. Opening it, he gazed at the picture of a beautiful woman. She had dark purple hair tied into a low ponytail. Wearing a silver dress, the woman carried a small child in her arms while two boys stood beside her.
"Sienna…" He muttered before taking a deep breath and putting the locket away.
"Concerned about the monster we kept in here, dear husband?" A feminine voice rang out behind him as Luthor shook his head.
"Do not worry about it. A monster like her has nowhere to go." Luthor reassured while leaving the white room without looking back.
AUTORENGEDANKEN 
Reili
Reili Edited by: Tales Bringer
Chapter length will be less crazy in the future and settle down around 1.5k words like nanomancer and be uploaded at 3pm UK time daily. Feel free to leave any feedback as it helps me tremendously. Thank you for reading as always.
Kapitel 4: Fighting Arena
Waking up from the sound of chains clashing around her, Alice sat up to see several Bruisers moving about, ordered around by men in black cloaks.
Looking at the display in confusion, she spotted the Bruisers carry different cages onto a leather belt moving on cylinders. There was a tube placed along the length of the belt with a flashing red liquid moving around from within.
'Is that… Abyss Engineering?' Alice wondered to herself, finding the sight completely alien to her understanding. She only heard bits and pieces of information about such technology, from the scientists who sometimes chatted with each other while she was experimented upon.
Noticing something off to her left, she glanced over and widened her eyes in shock. The man from last night had completely melded to the wooden walls behind him. His skin was a deep, sickly shade of green, while a pool of fresh blood oozed out of him. Flowers blossomed all over his body as he stood motionless.
'Did he die in his sleep?' Alice thought to herself with little pity. Perhaps it was from seeing her own body being opened up countless times before but she didn't even feel her heart fluctuate at the sight.
"Seems like he died while everyone was sleeping. Poor guy overdosed on A.B. I must say you don't seem surprised by his body, did you come from a battlefield?"
Hearing the voice, Alice turned to her side. It was the same woman from last night. She was currently sitting with her legs crossed while watching the Bruisers carry people away.
"A.B?"
"Yeah. Abyss Blood. Hm, I thought with how you talked, you probably came from the streets. But it doesn't seem that way if you don't know about A.B." The woman scratched her head in confusion.
"Sorry, situation weird." Alice apologised.
She didn't want to go into detail of her past with someone she had just met, especially someone in this weird place.
"Fair. No one has a normal situation if they got sold here. You do seem out of it, to boot. Regardless, it was nice talking to you. I hope we meet again." The woman smiled while pointing at the Bruiser about to lift her cage away.
"Ah, your name?" Alice asked in a hurried tone.
"My name? You can just call me Lilia." She replied, giving Alice a small wave.
"My name… Alice!" Alice shouted out before she lost sight of the woman.
Sitting back down on her cage, there was a hint of happiness in her eyes.
It was her first time talking to someone else like a normal person after 10 years.
'I'm glad she's a nice person.' Alice thought inwardly. Despite her happy mood, her face did not reveal any of her thoughts. It was blank as usual.
Soon, her cage was placed on the leather belt and moved through the building. She didn't know what to expect so she could only do her best to calm her heart. There were others in a similar situation to her, but they soon disappeared from view as her cage was placed into a wooden box.
Considering that the man she saw last night died from Abyss Blood, Alice knew that the substance was most likely going to be involved. The only issue lay in how it was used.
'I don't want to come into contact with any of the blood, if possible. If anybody finds out about my mutation like they did, who knows what will happen to me.' Alice bit her lip in fear as she hugged her arms at the thought of her old family.
Tilting her head back, she peeked through the gaps of the wooden box. She was currently on some platform that may raise her up, since there was a large empty space directly above.
With no idea about what was going on, she could only wait in silence. Thankfully, the wait was rather short. Clamouring sounds could be heard above along with the echoes of many footsteps and the chatter of hundreds of people.
Alice couldn't hear what they were saying. But she knew that more and more people were filling up the arena, as the sounds only got louder.
The footsteps continued for a time before a loud voice overwhelmed all noise.
"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen! I am happy to welcome you to tonight's coliseum event! I am sure that many of you are excited to find out what we have planned for tonight! You've heard the rumours! You've seen the posters! And you certainly know the dangers! We are excited to announce that we have obtained the infamous Grave Robber! A behemoth of flesh and bones, stalking the shadows of the Slaughter Docks and digging up the bones of Hunters!
"And tonight! He'll be facing against a batch of newly acquired slaves from around the Abyss! There are some fine combat slaves along with a few poor souls who are simply in the wrong place at the wrong time! Feast your eyes tonight and bid to your hearts' content! We have plenty of hunters to assure that the asset you win will be protected should they be chosen!" He shouted out with glee in his voice while the thunderous cheers in the crowd shook the coliseum.
Before Alice could continue listening in on the announcements, a blue glow appeared on her choker as the number 10 manifested itself. Understanding that this was how they were going to identify her, Alice could feel her platform being raised up towards the trap door.
'From the sound of things, it seems like I'll have to fight against Abyss Beasts. If they get interested in me, I'll be bid on and protected.' Alice thought to herself while clutching her chest.
She had no experience fighting anyone, let alone Abyss Beasts. However, compared to the fear of going back to that white room or dying before she could get her revenge, a little bit of fighting didn't even make Alice react.
Filling herself with a false sense of bravery, Alice clenched her fist and focused up.
The moment her cage opened, things will become a battle of life and death.
As her cage reached the surface, Alice could see more than 20 slaves in different cages being released into the arena.
There was three layers to the coliseum. First, the base arena, where a myriad of obstacles, walls, and platforms were placed. Second, the viewing stands where hundreds of people watched with smiles on their faces, their identities hidden with masks, each of them provided with a wooden board for bidding purposes. Third, a place exclusively for VIPs. They had special rooms hanging over the arena to allow for a full view. Despite their distance, Alice found it strange she could see them in full clarity. Her eyesight was never this good before.
Furrowing her brows, she turned her attention back to the arena. Her cage had been opened as she was allowed to step out. She could feel several glances, probably due to her weird hair colour. However, the gazes were brief since she wasn't the main attraction of tonight's event.
Aside from the Abyss Beast that they had brought in, the announcer started to introduce one of the slaves.
"Plucked from the front lines of the twilight zone, our slave here has seen the battle with his very own eyes! He was arrested for accepting bribes and allowing criminals through the defensive line, causing the assassination of his superior! He has not been branded by the slave brand yet, so you can be the very first owner! Despite his traitorous behaviour, he is a three sigil warrior!" The announcer shouted out in excitement as the crowd went wild.
'Three sigil warrior? What's that?" Confusion filled Alice's mind as she turned towards where the spotlight was focused towards. A single man that stood in the centre of the arena.
He looked to be middle aged, with scars across his body. The side of his brown hair had been shaven clean while the top of his hair was tied back into a ponytail. He was given a rough set of clothing that was still much finer than what Alice wore. He was also equipped with a longsword and shield.
The cuffs around his body were much bigger than those around the other slaves. There were glowing purple runes etched on their surface.
"Lars! Show the power of your sigils!" The announcer shouted as the cuffs started to glow with a purple hue. Faint sparks of electricity crackled as the man flinched before gritting his teeth.
Through the gaps of his clothes, one could see a writhing shadow expanding into a tattoo that spread across his body, forming intricate sigils across his skin. One was on his neck, one was on his right hand and the last was on his back.
Hearing that he was going to demonstrate what it meant to be a three sigil warrior, Alice focused her attention on him.
Taking a deep breath in, Lars gritted his teeth as the sigil on his neck started to glow with a golden hue. His flesh started to bulge as rock-like material started to pierce through his skin and reinforced his body in a suit of armour.
As the second sigil activated, flames erupted through the gaps of his armour. Waving his sword, he stabbed it into the ground before pulling it out. The blade was now covered with a layer of molten rock that spewed flames with each wave.
With the final sigil lighting up, all of the flames turned blue and his body started to grow in size. Cracking his mouth open, he let out an earth-shattering roar that resounded throughout the arena, causing the crowd to cheer even louder.
"And there you have it! A quick demonstration of his sigils so that our fantastic VIPs know his potential! I can guarantee that he will make a spectacular battle slave once you purchase him! He will be proving his worth through a battle against the Grave Robber tonight while the other slaves will fight against our regular entertainment beasts. Keep an eye out though, there may be a diamond in the rough amongst this batch! You never know what might happen!"
From the opposite side of the arena, several new cages appeared from the ground. Each cage holding a nearly identical quadrupedal beast without a speck of fur. Grey muscle covered its body while sharp talons protruded from the spine and claws. Its whole body seemed to be shaped for speed as it had an arrow shaped head with crimson eyes.
Standing out from the batch of monsters in cages was a single reinforced prison holding a ghastly white behemoth of bone and flesh.
Three skulls adorned its humanoid body, with one on the neck and one on each shoulder. A stinger-like tail protruded from the back of the head and whipped against the cage while an iridescent glow reflected from its skin due to the lights shining against the surface.
A low growl reminiscent of the clicking of rocks echoing against each other escaped its skulls. Beads of red lit up in the eye cavities and focused upon Lars. It seemed to have recognised him as the biggest threat.
But it sensed someone else, too. A faint resonance from within the group of slaves, something that sent an aura of oppression within the Grave Robber's body. Before it could focus its attention to the source of the resonance, Lars released a wave of killing intent towards the beast.
He knew that his future depended on how well he performed. If he surprised the VIPs with his power, he'll be treated better than the average slave.
"It's you and me, beast!" Lars roared with a flamboyant flare, making sure all eyes were on him.
"Seems like our main attraction can't wait any longer! Then let's get the show on the road! Release the beasts!" The announcer shouted as the crowd cheered.
*CLANG!
With a loud rumble, the cage bars dropped as the beasts jumped into the arena. Despite the obstacles in the arena, the hound-like beasts immediately started hunting down the weak looking slaves as they couldn't deal with Lars.
Alice braced herself for the incoming battle.
AUTORENGEDANKEN
Reili
Reili
Edited by: Tales Bringer
Hope all of you are enjoying the new story! The start may be a little slow but I intend to slowly introduce you all to the power system and lore behind this world so stay tuned!
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