Unbearable pain
Chapter 44
...
"HAAAH-AAAAA!!!"
Eidolon's scream tore through the chamber-raw, animal, breaking at the edges.
Laughter answered it.
Not kind.
Not sane.
"HAHA...!"
It echoed inside him.
Not outside.
Inside.
"Fool..." the entity whispered, its voice dripping with something darker than mockery.
"You thought what you felt before... was pain?"
A pause.
Then-
"That was mercy."
Something shifted in Eidolon's mind.
Cold realization.
"You don't understand..." the voice continued, softer now... almost amused.
"...that was only the beginning."
Eidolon's breath hitched.
No.
No-something was wrong.
Because beneath the fear...
Beneath the pain...
There was something else.
Power.
He felt it.
Faint-
But there.
A flicker.
A memory of freedom.
His fingers twitched.
His chest tightened.
His eyes widened.
"I..."
His voice cracked.
"I felt it..."
A whisper now.
Desperate.
Hungry.
"I had it... I had it..."
His head jerked slightly, as if searching for something that wasn't there.
"HEY!"
His voice rose-fractured.
"I NEED IT!"
Chains rattled violently as he struggled.
"Please...!"
His throat burned.
"Just this once-!"
His breathing shattered.
"Give it to me... I'm begging you-!"
Silence.
For a moment-
Nothing answered.
Then-
"...pathetic."
The entity's voice returned.
Cold.
Distant.
Unforgiving.
Eidolon froze.
"You still don't understand anything, do you...?"
A pause.
Heavy.
Then-
"You sealed it."
Eidolon's pupils shrank.
"What...?"
"We are both sealed, Eidolon."
The words landed like iron.
"Your fear... your pain... your desperation-those were the keys."
Each word drove deeper.
"And now... even if that power still lingers within you..."
A whisper-
"...it's useless."
Eidolon's breathing stopped.
"Without fear... without pain... without the things that made you reach for it..."
The voice faded.
"...you have nothing."
Silence.
"...just give up, kid."
And then-
Nothing.
Gone.
"WHAAAT-?!"
Eidolon's scream cracked the air.
But this time-
No one answered.
Except-
"Go on... scream."
Vaelor's voice slid in like a blade.
Low.
Satisfied.
"No one's coming."
A slow grin spread across his ruined face.
"...didn't you kill them all, Eidolon?"
Those words-
They hit deeper than anything else.
Vaelor stepped forward.
One step.
Then another.
The hooked instrument gleamed faintly in his hand.
Cold.
Patient.
Hungry.
Eidolon's defiance shattered.
"...wait..."
His voice broke.
"...please..."
Vaelor didn't stop.
Didn't hesitate.
He reached out-
And grabbed Eidolon's jaw.
Hard.
Fingers digging into bone.
Forcing his head upward.
Locking it in place against the restraint frame-cold metal biting into the back of his skull.
"Don't move."
A quiet whisper.
Almost gentle.
Eidolon trembled.
Violently.
Tears blurred his vision.
"Please... don't-"
"You have no idea..."
Vaelor interrupted softly.
"...what these eyes are worth."
He leaned closer.
Close enough to see every fracture in Eidolon's gaze.
"But I do."
The air shifted.
Something dark seeped out from him-
Thick.
Rotten.
Invisible... yet suffocating.
It crawled over Eidolon's face-
Then-
Into his eye.
His right eye.
Eidolon gasped.
A freezing, burning sensation spread through it at the same time.
The sclera twitched.
The pupil dilated unnaturally.
Vaelor's energy coated it-
Protecting it.
Preserving it.
Keeping it alive.
No matter what came next.
"See... I'm not careless."
His smile widened.
"I don't break valuable things."
The hook rose slowly.
Steady.
Precise.
The curved tip hovered inches from Eidolon's eye.
Eidolon thrashed-
Screamed-
Begged-
"PLEASE-!"
Too late.
SCCHLKK-!!
The tip pierced through the outer membrane-
Sliding past the cornea-
Tearing into the delicate layers beneath.
Eidolon's body convulsed violently.
A scream erupted-
Inhuman.
Unending.
The hook twisted.
Carefully.
Expertly.
Slipping deeper-
Hooking behind the vitreous body-
Avoiding rupture.
Avoiding collapse.
Vaelor's energy pulsed-
Stabilizing the optic nerve-
Keeping the eye alive...
While it was being taken.
"Beautiful..." he whispered.
The tool pulled-
Slowly.
Deliberately.
Tension built-
Flesh resisted-
Nerves stretched-
Thread by thread-
Refusing to snap.
Eidolon's scream broke into something else-
Something beyond pain.
Something that shouldn't exist.
And then-
...