章 59: Chapter 59: Edge of Insanity

Kalika Tried getting back up from the ground, trembling from the sudden experience. "<What-?>"

Kalika grabbed her throat. A cold sweat running down her face. "W-what..." Her heart didn't stop pounding for a second. suddenly a familiar voice arose.

"Kalika~. Kalika~."

She looked around her small prison. she couldn't find anyone around. She even stumble to peek out the doors barred window. still, nobody was around.

"T-there's no way..."

"Kalika~"

Kalika felt a presence behind her. one she couldn't mistake. "L-Lily?"

She turned. still no one. She then remembered Rakon's words about how Lillian was dead along with his brother. She still didn't want to believe his words. "I-It... It's not real.

The voices continued to call out. she panicked, looking around above and below to find the source of this maddening noise. "L-leave me alone!'

A sudden laughter filled every inch of her cell with voices continuing to bombard her.

"You can hear me. <That is good.>"

"I will find you. <You will find me.>"

"<Such a weak girl> You can't die? Even better!"

"<Human?> Human!? Ahahahahaha"

"Shut up!!!" Kalika yelled.

Suddenly she's stabbed through the chest by Daji's blood spear and pushed to the wall. Kalika screamed out in pain before having the spear pulled from her body.

Kalika looked back terrified. "What are they doing back here??"

"<Are you sure we should leave Valam with them Daji?>" Florin asked.

Daji thrusted her spear back into Kalika with a smile. "<She can handle them. Let just have fun with her.>"

"<But what if they find out?>"

"<Find out? About what? Nobody actually cares about this girl. She's just some girl that Rakon's needs to use.>"

Daji twisted the spear inside Kalika. she almost scream but quickly had her mouth muffled by Florin who smeared her own blood on Kalika. she then gestured Kalika for complete silence.

Taking her hand off Kalika's mouth, she tried screaming again. But she she found herself unable to say a peep. It was like her voice was stripped from her completely.

"<Besides with your power we can keep all the guards under our thumb. and we can keep this bitch of a women quiet too.>" Kalika looked back in time to see Daji's malicious smile.

"<That's as long as her will remains weak. But since she's a human I doubt she'll be able to resist>" Florin said.

Kalika is stabbed through once again. she tried to scream but was still unable to. and for the coming hours she is forced to bear unbearable pain unlike what she felt before.

Even as Valam arrive, they continued to torment her, having her even swallow burning coals and liquid metal just to see what would happen. and as the torment continued a single thought passing.

"Why? Why? Why!? Why!?"

Their cruelty was on another level from what Lillian ever did to her. Their sheer malice and hostility towards her was practically unrivaled as they used her for their own sick pleasure.

After a long time, they were finally satisfied. They slammed the steel door behind them, leaving the lifeless husk that was Kalika on the ground.

Kalika couldn't move a muscle. not even her eyes would move. she felt like a living corpse unable to do anything aside from witnessing the progress of time.

At this point, anywhere felt better than where she was now. She didn't care anymore. She didn't care if she'd become a slave to Rakon. She didn't even care if Lillian came back to reclaim ownership of her. Anything sounded better.

"Please... just let it be one more day … I don't want to be here for another week... I don't want to be here anymore...Please..."

That night. For the first time in her life, Kalika found herself in a sleepless slumber night. She flinched with every subtle noise, no matter how muffled. And as the night continued thoughts of returning to being tortured again, terrified her.

Eventually as the night ended, a guard opened the steel door, throwing a singular loaf of bread and a cup of water that spilled to the floor.

He slammed the door closed leaving Kalika by herself.

Somehow, Kalika found new strength to sit up. She slowly crawled and sat herself by the loaf of bread. she stared at the bread, dazed, eventually grabbing it with her weak grip.

Her skin crawled and a pain surged once more through her body. She tried ignoring it and brought the bread to her mouth. She stopped. Then dropped the bread onto the grimy floor involuntarily, sullying the bread.

"What's wrong Kalika~?"

Lillian's voice entered Kalika's ears once again.

"Aren't you hungry?"

"Y-your not real." Kalika muttered.

Kalika reached back for the bread, and just as she tried grabbing it, the bread disappeared. She looked at the floor confused, now seeing that the ground was dry with the cup still there,

"Where… Did it go?" Kalika looked around, stunned

""Now that was delicious, wasn't it? Mmmm. Yum, yum." Lillian said.

"N-no! I didn't eat anything…! It wasn't there… It was never there."

"Hmmm? Then why is that cup still around?"

"T-that cup isn't real!" Kalika grabbed the side of head. "J-just like you're not real… Y-your... You're not-..."

'Who's to say I'm not real?" Kalika felt a touch on her shoulder, followed by an embrace from behind.

"You're not real, Y-you're not real."

Kalika turned around, finding nobody there. Suddenly another familiar voice made its presence known.

"Then What am I? Dead? Is that what I am now? Just like him?"

Kalika looked up to find Tilus standing before her. "T...Tilus?"

"Miss Kalika! Are you alright!?"

Looking to her right was Rhonda.

"Kalika. Let us help you."

Now standing to her left was Donovan.

Kalika was dumbfounded seeing everyone in front of her.

Lillian's voice came back. "See… Everyone's here. Me, Rhonda, Tilus, even that man from the Celestine empire.

For a brief moment Kalika felt a comfort she hasn't felt in a while. But then a deepening pain in her heart quickly settled back in her. As much as she wanted this to be real, she understood that everything was fake.

"W-who are you? Who are you!!?"

Kalika with regained strength and whipped her head around, finding that everyone disappeared. Voices of everyone she knew began to fill her head. their words started to meld together, becoming indistinct words calling out to Kalika, throwing doubt her way and insulting her and her own shortcomings.

She held her ears to block out the noise in vain. She struggles to stay up as she is pelted by the words of both the dead and the living.

"S-sh-shut up! Shut up! Shut up!!!"

She found herself, seeking refuge in the corner of the room. Despite this, the voices became louder and louder.

"N-no more… Please… No more.

Everything suddenly became quiet. Looking back up to she found a visage of herself smiling sinisterly. "Only thirty-eight years of life? what a sad little child you are."

Kalika was confused by this statement. Suddenly The steel door opened with the visage disappearing. Daji and her posse entered along with some guards. All of them wore a smile that screamed their malicious intent.

"Let's play a game," Daji said.

"N-no. Don't touch me." The guards encroached on Kalika and grabbed her by the arms. "L-let go!!!" Kalika tried resisting in vain and was escorted from her solitary prison.

Daji snickered at Kalika seeing her. "<Heh. What an ugly face you have now. Bring her with us.>"

"Ugly?"

With the three women leading the way, the guards followed, escorting Kalika along with them through the dungeon corridor.

"W-where are they bringing me!???"

Kalika kept searching and looking around frantically. She was terrified, knowing that they were clearly up to something. They entered the prison going through the corridor.

The women started joking around with their smiles becoming much wider the closer they seemed to reach their destination. Soon they reach the arena.

Opening the door, everyone entered and to Kalika's shock a large gray beast stood tall with its long neck and rocky skin. Its eyes were a solid white and were equipped with gnarly fangs that could rip a person's arm off with ease. It was a beast unlike what Kalika had ever witnessed in her life.

She was thrown down in front of the caged door that separated the beast and everyone else. Daji then stepped up, throwing a misshapen broken piece of a mirror to Kalika's feet.

"Kill it," she said.

Kalika looked at the broken mirror, stunned.

Daji smiled more widely and spoke broken. "Grab that. And kill it."

Kalika reached out with her one hand, but immediately stopped upon seeing the back of her right hand. It was riddled with blue spots. "W-what the-"

CRACK

Daji stepped on the tip of the broken mirror, making the broken mirror piece much smaller.

"Oops" Daji cackled to herself, pushing the biggest piece to Kalika.

Picking up the shard, she found that same pigmentation of blue scattered along her face. A sense of dread starts to overcome her as she touched her face. It felt as though her own skin was peeling off.

"T-this can't be real."

Kalika was suddenly grabbed by the guards and thrown into the cage with the hungry looking beast. The caged door closed shut and locked, leaving Kalika as she stood in front of a horrific demonic beast.

The large gray monster growled as it towered over Kalika. Her hands shook and breathing hastened. She could tell that the three women were watching closely, excited slaughtered to come

"This can't be real." She gazed upon the reflection within the shard again. Her jaw trembled seeing her reflection again. Gazing upon her face she saw the blue bruises slowly enlarged. And with her teeth looking sharp, she could barely recognize herself.

"T-this can't be-"

Kalika is suddenly slashed through the stomach, hitting the caged wall behind her. She looked on in terror as the monster pounced at her and without mercy ripped her apart. Luckily for Kalika, she revived far from the beast as she reassembled back together on the ground.

Kalika turned her head, looking at the shard still in hand. Getting up she found the beast charging at her again. And like before, she was killed.

She revived again and again. Each time she would, she'd glimpse at the mirror still in hand. And the more she did, the more unbelievable this world became.

To the demon guards cheering on the monster. to the demon women laughing and enjoying the spectacle. Even to the cruel joke of being armed with something she's not able to fight back with. It felt like a world created to cause her pain. A nightmare beyond the reality.

"None of this can be real."

Getting up onto her Kalika caught a glimpse of Rakon standing next to the horrifying beast, seemingly petting it like a pet. The monster then charged at Kalika, attacking and sending her flying into the caged wall behind.

Getting to her feet, she looked at her wound, noting a lack of pain. Feeling the newly made scar, she still felt nothing. She then looked at the mirror in her hand, finding that her hand now bled, Even the pain she should feel wasn't there.

She could hear the laughter of those demon women become ever louder as she panicked. She dropped the shard on the ground and watched as it shattered before her. her reflection spread out throughout the floor.

Peering into one of her reflections she saw a black strand visible amongst her blonde hair. Then another appeared. And another. The black strands came one after another, overtaking her golden lush of each hair.

This wasn't natural and Kalika knew this.

The monster before Kalika growled.

Her heart race uncontrollably and her breathing became non-existent. Kalika was losing her mind from the madness that surrounded her. She fell to her knees grasping at her head with both hands... only to discover two unnatural pointed bumps.

Her heart stopped at once.

"This… isn't real."

Kalika blurted out a laugh. "This isn't real."

Kalika continued to laugh as the monster approached.

"None of this is real!" Kalika looked up with tears in her eyes, smiling from her own laughter until the beast chopped down, eating her whole.

The demon women laughed as they watched this. "<I bet she's wishing she had that stupid dagger of hers. Too bad for her that it's in the pit.>" Daji smiled and was satisfied.

"<Daji, what do we do about the girl now?>"Valam asked.

"<What do you mean? We'll pull her out and Florin can use her powers to keep that girls mouth shut.>"

Daji looked back at the monster in pride. "<But we'll pull that girl out later. I think our little friend there is still hungry>"

Suddenly the beast screeched out in pain. All attention was on the beast now.

It let out its blood curdling cries. At that very moment, a slice from within its stomach is made, and a being made of flesh dropped from its stomach onto its knees. They had a blood blade dagger in hand and wore prisoners' clothes that were slowly burned away from the stomach acid.

Slowly the skin and hair returned revealing an invasion of blue with human skin. Each second passing the invasion of blue peeled off the person that was Kalika. Even her blonde hair wasn't safe as each strand was converted by the dozens to black.

Getting up the monster fell to its side as Kalika could only laugh maniacally.

Everyone there witnessing this is shocked. Even Daji is completely left in complete shock by this as they watch something they should've been impossible.

Kalika, looking back up with her green eyes and half blond and black hair, looked at Daji and her friends. She slowly trotted herself forward and in the blink of an eye she already grasped the bar, laughing. "So, this is a dream!"

To their shock, Kalika slowly bent the bars of the cage

"<Tch! Florin!!>"

Florin raced head long in the front, readying her blood on her fingers but suddenly… She found her arm cut from her body. Looking back up she saw Kalika just staring at her, unnervingly close. Kalika studied her a few moments before dropping her head to the ground.

She watched both Daji's and Valam's shocked expression as Florin's body fell to pieces. A gradual feeling of satisfaction rose within her, bringing a smile to her face.