Deep Inside the Abyss
"The humans are too weak. Most of them are already giving up," Zadek reported to General Kimdo.
General Kimdo walked slowly around the cell, his boots echoing against the stone floor.
"Have you injected them with the black poison?"
Painful screams filled the underground chamber. The air smelled of routen blood and rusted iron.
"Shut up!" a demon roared inside the torture room as he struck a chained human with an iron rod.
The crack echoed.
"Ahhh—!"
"Who told you to dodge?" the demon snarled, kicking the human hard in the face. The chains around his wrists rattled violently as he fell, his body scraping across the floor.
General Kimdo stepped inside.
The human barely looked human anymore. His skin was torn. His lips were split. One eye swollen shut.
"How is this one doing?" General Kimdo asked calmly.
"He's stubborn," the demon in charge replied. "But he's stronger than the others."
Kimdo crouched slightly, observing him.
The human tried to lift his head.
Their eyes met.
There was still defiance there.
Kimdo's lips curved faintly.
"That's good."
He pulled out the black substance — thick and dark, almost alive — and flicked it lightly before pressing the needle into the man's arm.
The scream that followed was not normal.
His body arched unnaturally. Veins darkened beneath his skin like spreading ink. His fingers clawed at the air as if trying to grab something that wasn't there.
The chains tightened as he convulsed.
"Interesting," Kimdo muttered.
The human's screams slowly turned into broken breaths.
Then laughter.
Low.
Unstable.
The demons in the room went silent for a second.
Kimdo stood up slowly.
"He's improving," he said, dusting his hands as if he had done nothing significant. "Lock him in the cooler. Let the poison settle."
The demons dragged the trembling body away, his laughter echoing faintly down the corridor.
"If you complete this task without mistakes, the Mistress will reward you greatly," General Kimdo added before walking out.
Behind him, the screams continued.
But something about them had changed.
*****
The Village of Urk
Isabel sat on the wooden bench in front of her small hut. A narrow river flowed quietly behind it, the water clear and calm.
She stared at nothing in particular.
The wind moved gently through her hair, but she did not react.
Zach approached carrying a bundle of firewood. When she noticed him, she stood immediately and helped him set it down.
She smiled at him.
The kind of smile that made him forget everything else.
They had lived in the village of Urk for five years.
Five years.
And Isabel looked exactly the same as the day Zach brought her from the woods.
The villagers had noticed.
They always notice.
Rose noticed the most.
Before Isabel appeared, everyone believed Rose and Zach would marry one day. It was almost certain.
Until Zach went into the forest for firewood,
And came back with a girl no one had ever seen before.
A girl with no family.
No past.
No explanation.
And eyes that did not look afraid.
The rumors started slowly.
She bewitched him.
She cannot bear a child because she is not meant to.
She does not age because she is not human.
Isabel never defended herself.
She never argued.
She just smiled.
That morning, as she prepared to serve breakfast, a knock sounded at the door.
It was sharp. Impatient.
Isabel stepped outside.
The moment she did, Rose grabbed her hair tightly.