*The days blurred into a single, endless stretch of damp stone and gnawing hunger. I stopped counting the sunrises and sunsets, the passage of time marked only by the rhythmic drip of water from the ceiling and the growing ache in my bones. Escape was the only thought that kept me going, a fragile spark in the suffocating darkness of my mind.*
*I spent hours each day, curled in the corner of my cage, trying to summon that blue flame. I closed my eyes, focused on the memory of its warmth, the way it had hummed with power. But it was like trying to catch a shadow. Sometimes, a faint tingle would prickle at my fingertips, a whisper of the magic I'd felt that first night. But it never grew. It never bloomed into the flame I needed. Each failure was a small death, another crack in the fragile hope that kept me alive.*
*One evening, as the moon cast a thin, silver ribbon of light across the floor, I felt something shift.*
*The man from before came in with two other men who were grinning from ear to ear. They opened the cage and came in. Finally we have a potential buyer for you, he smirked excited *
*A cold, sharp dread coiled in my gut, tighter than the ropes around my wrists. The man's smirk was a promise of pain, and the grins of the two others—burly, silent, their eyes glinting with cruel anticipation—sent a shiver down my spine. They weren't just guards; they were predators, here to collect their prize.*
*The leader stepped forward, his boots crunching on the stone floor. He reached into his tunic and pulled out a small, jagged crystal, its surface swirling with a faint, sickly green light. "Our buyer's... particular," he purred, holding the crystal up so it caught the dim light. "Wants to see exactly what he's paying for. No tricks, little bird."*
*The two men flanked me, their hands rough as they grabbed my arms and hauled me to my feet. I stumbled, my chains clinking loudly, but they held me steady, their grips like iron. The leader pressed the crystal to my chest.*
"what are you doing with that?" *I asked struggling uselessly against the strong holds of the men *
*A low, cruel chuckle rumbled from the leader's throat, the sound vibrating through the crystal pressed to my sternum. His fingers dug harder into my collarbone, pinning me in place as the two guards tightened their grip, their knuckles digging into my biceps like iron vices. The sickly green light of the crystal flared brighter, casting warped shadows across the damp stone walls.*
"Just a little demonstration, sweetness," *he crooned, his breath hot against my ear. The crystal's cold seeped through my tunic, and suddenly, it felt like my veins were filling with ice. A sharp, burning sensation coiled in my core, not the warm hum of my magic, but a harsh, invasive force tearing at my insides.*
*He twisted the crystal, and a choked gasp ripped from my lungs. The blue spark I'd been chasing flickered to life against my will, a tiny, defiant flame dancing at my fingertips before the crystal snuffed it out with a sharp hiss.*
*His face fell as the little flame. it can't be. he said in disbelief. He pressed it deeper into my chest.*
"There has to be more!!!". *He said, raising his voice in annoyance. The pain felt like it was about to tear me apart.*
"It hurts,it's hurts... Please stop." *I begged him but his only response was him pressing it further into me *