Bab 22: Mental Fortitude
"Aughh!" I screamed out as electricity traveled throughout my entire body. It felt like a burning shock that only grew in intensity, only stopping at the whim of the soldier.
"What is your mission?" The soldier demanded. He was a rather bulky man with very big and defined muscles. He turned off the electricity to allow me to speak. As the pain slowly subsided, I was vaguely aware of Andres' screams.
"I'm not from the Eastern bloc," I panted. My hands were tied up and elevated. My shirt was ripped, revealing my chest where the cables were attached.
"Wrong answer!" He declared. He gave me a hard punch in the ribs, sending even more pain throughout my body. I sharply inhaled before the man went over to the generator and flipped a switch.
I started to feel the electricity again. A shock that never ended passed through my body, except this time, I felt myself start to black out.
'Had I made a mistake?' I thought. Officially, there would be no record of the torture. I even bet that they had the lawyer they sent in by the balls. My only hope was to get transferred to a regular prison where I may be able to plan an escape.
Yet, it seemed like it would be an eternity away before I could even dream to get to that point.
The pain kept searing through my body. I hoped for an end that I knew wouldn't come. Hell, I didn't even know how much time had passed. The room was dimly lit with no sunlight, making telling time impossible.
The pain suddenly lessened as I felt them throw ice-cold water onto me. Any hopes of passing out diminished as I was jolted back up. My senses began to slowly return back to normal as the smell of burnt flesh filled my nose.
"What is your mission?!" The soldier demanded once more.
When you feel pain, your body releases adrenaline. When adrenaline floods your brain, it starts your flight or flight response. It alters the way your brain operates, most notably shutting down critical thinking, and leaves only one goal: survival. So, if there's one thing you can't expect from a kid who had been tortured for who knows how long, is deception.
"I don't have one!" I responded desperately, my voice beginning to break. Tears had started to form in my eyes. When faced with no prospect of escape, mental fortitude is a myth. Everyone would break.
Yet, this didn't stop him. Or if it did, he just enjoyed torture.
"Well that's a shame," He said ominously in the same rough and deep voice. His voice reverberated through the entire room bouncing off the walls. He walked slowly towards me. He got closer and closer.
Suddenly, the door swung open. My eyes darted towards the foreign sound, hoping for some sort of relief. An end to the pain.
Yet to my disappointment, it was another soldier. The soldier wasn't as bulky or defined as the one who had been torturing me. In fact, he looked a bit on the scrawny side.
"Is he not cooperating?" The new soldier asked.
"No," the other soldier hummed out. "He claims he doesn't know anything."
The soldier walked up to me before gently bringing his finger to my cheek. He moved it slowly down my cheek until he reached my chin.
"Well, that won't do at all."
He took his finger back and hovered it over my chest. A bright green circle appeared at the palm of his hand as he moved it in a circular motion. The circle suddenly disappeared as the man began to speak, "He has no mana."
A devilish smile appeared on his face. "That's going to make my job a lot easier."
Suddenly, he extended his hand towards my chest. The force knocked the wind out of me and began to make me start swinging on the chains. I saw red particles appear near his hand as they went into my body. They began traveling in lines looking more and more like my nervous system as they began to travel through my body.
The sensation was an odd one. It felt like there was a ball under my skin that kept rolling and rolling through my entire body. It wasn't necessarily painful, but it was an odd sensation.
When the red particles reached all ends of my body, it began to fade as the soldier walked back. We walked over to a table with torture tools.
"P-please," I begged weakly. "Don't."
The man laughed. "If you want it to stop, just tell us why you were sent here."
"I wasn't sent here!" I yelled out. "We aren't from the Eastern bloc!"
He didn't respond. He continued to walk closer and closer to me with a knife in his hand. My eyes were shaking as I watched him inch closer and closer towards me. When he got in front, he immediately stuck the knife in my lower chest.
"Mmmm," I moaned softly. The pain was intense. More intense than it should've been. Whatever the soldier did, it increased the amount of my pain three-fold.
The man took the knife out and took out a lemon, rubbing it over the area. The acid intensified the burning. It was even worse than the electrocution. After rubbing it continuously, he took it off and threw it to the ground.
He immediately turned over to me and punched me hard on the head. My vision began to double and get blurry. The pain was the only thing keeping me conscious, but I knew the moment that it went away, I would pass out.
"We're wasting our time, he and the other kid don't know anything," The soldier said somberly. He walked to the table and picked up a small syringe and injected it into a bottle. He pulled back on the plunger, bringing the liquid in. He flicked it before ejecting a small amount of liquid to get rid of air bubbles.
"Are you sure?" The other soldier asked, almost disappointedly.
"Yes, they would've cracked already," The man walked over to me and put the syringe into my arm, injecting the liquid into my bloodstream.
I began to really blackout as the sounds around me began to drown out. "For what it's worth kid, I'm sorry you had to go through this. The morphine should make you feel better."
The constant pain began to slowly subside before a feeling of euphoria came over me. My eyelids began to feel heavy as they closed, allowing me my long-awaited rest.
-----
Michael Payne, the youngest king of England. Atlantis is more like a continent, divided into several smaller sections that resemble our world today. There's England, France, Portugal, Russia, Spain. These five are the main countries in Atlantis.
Michael wasn't having a great day. Hell, he wasn't having a great year. The Eastern bloc, composed of the other four countries has been gaining more and more power. Michael wanted to end this peacefully. After all, spilling blood isn't a good way to start your reign. But alas, war is rarely so simple.
Michael was staring at several maps and listening to his generals talk and talk about their course of action.
"We simply don't have the forces to launch an offensive!" One of the generals declared as he stared at Michael. "If we do, we're jeopardizing our homeland."
"If we stay on the defensive, we're going to lose," Another general stated. "We have to focus on a big offensive attack."
Nacio, the old king of England, began to speak up. "That isn't a good optio-"
Michael closed his eyes and sighed before interrupting. This argument had been going on for hours. "Both options aren't feasible. However, my goal is to shed the least amount of blood."
"If we attack them, then there would be minimal loss of civilian lives in England!" The general pointed out.
"But if we win, we have to worry about the backlash from the citizens of the bloc," Michael said defeatedly. The weeks they've spent debating meant weeks that they continued losing. They were nowhere close to a solution.
Suddenly, the door to the meeting swung open. All eyes were drawn to the small man who had been standing near the door frame.
"You are interrupting a war meeting!" One of the generals yelled out.
"Pardon me," The man said. "But I have a message for General Knighton. The pilot that was apprehended doesn't have any knowledge of his mission."
All eyes were drawn to the general in question. "What pilot?" Michael asked.
Knighton cleared his throat. "The Royal Air Force chased after a jet traveling at an incredible speed. The pilot surrendered and we have been interrogating him and his copilot."
The general tapped on his computer as pictures of me appeared on the screen. I was a bloody mess hanging from a chain, swinging with my head slumped down.
Michael's eyes widened upon seeing the picture of me. 'Zack!' he immediately thought.
"Release that man immediately!" Michael declared. "Have a doctor examine him!"
Everyone faced Michael after his strong declaration. Michael was usually a calm person making his reaction strange. For a few, it was the first time they saw him lose his cool.
"Pardon?" The general asked. "He's a spy. Interrogating him will give us intelligence on the Eastern bloc and their capabilities."
"I know him and he is not a spy," Michael said. "Release him at once," He demanded once again.
Nacio was surprised at his answer. "Everyone leave the room."
The generals were surprised at the turn of events, but they complied with his request. In a straight line, they began exiting the hall.
When everyone left and silence filled the room, Nacio posed a question. "How do you know him?"
Michael didn't meet Nacio's face. Instead, he continued to look forward. His eyes looked detached from reality.
"He was a friend from my previous life."
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone