Manifest War: The Weapons Within

As the second day arrived, Carmen continued to lay on her bed with great frustration. She stared at the ceiling, feeling bored to tears until she heard the locks on her door become undone. Carmen quickly looked up as Homura stepped through the entrance. As soon as their faces met, Carmen rolled her eyes and laid back down.

“How’re you doing my dear? I brought your food for the day.” Homura said with an incredibly smooth and alluring cadence. In her hands was a tray with a plate of steak and potatoes, as well as a small burlap bag. She sat the tray down and awaited a response, however, Carmen remained silent.

“You know, time would go by much quicker if we had a little chat. Don’t you think?” Homura took a seat next to Carmen and gently placed her hand on her leg. Carmen immediately snatched her leg away and scooted over to the opposite side of the bed, still not acknowledging Homura’s presence. Despite Homura’s fairly kind disposition, Carmen wanted nothing to do with her.

“Hmm… Still don’t want to talk with me I see. Look, I’m not here to cause you any harm, I just want to get to know you a bit more. A little conversation can go a long way, right?” Homura remarked using a tone filled to the brim with disappointment and sadness. Carmen continued to ignore her pleas and after a few silent moments, Homura stood from the bed.

“Well, I’ll be back tomorrow. Hopefully you’ll find it within your heart to entertain me for a little bit. That’s all I ask.” She smiled once more before exiting the room. Just as she got to the door, she glanced over and made a final statement.

“There’s a change of clothes inside of that bag as well. It might be a bit more comfortable than what you have on now.” She stepped through the entryway and closed the door, clasping all the locks loudly. Carmen let out a forceful sigh as she looked towards the door over her shoulder.

“What is that ladies deal?? Why the heck would I want to talk to her?” She thought to herself, now sitting up and turning her attention towards the plate of food on the table.

“I guess it could be worse.” Carmen took hold of her fork and pierced one of the piping hot potatoes, bringing it up to her mouth. As she took a bite, a single tear streamed down her face.

“I just had to be the hero, didn’t I? Dang it, Carmen… Why don’t you ever think before you act?” She softly said as more tears dripped onto the plate.

“And thanks to my stupidity, no one even knows where I’m at and who knows if I’ll ever leave this place.” The many emotions of the past few days had finally caught up to her and after tasting a familiar meal, she couldn’t help but regret her reckless decision to come out this way.

“I just want to go home…” Carmen continued to eat as she pondered many thoughts, cursing herself over and over.

Caleb, Rivell, and Sarah awoke in their dreary looking cell, not knowing what day it was. Being confined to this space had driven them to the absolute edges of boredom and exhaustion, causing them to constantly wonder how long they’d be in there. However, this all changed once a certain visitor made their presence known to them.

The trio heard heavy footsteps from multiple sources approaching their cell and they immediately stood up, preparing themselves for whatever might be coming.

The lights from lanterns got closer and closer, illuminating the hallway and eventually reaching their location. The face that they saw was Briddle’s and a bunch of armored guards surrounding him. He cheekily smiled at them, showing unhealthy amounts of arrogance with each sharp toothed smirk.

“What do you want with us and how long do you plan on us being down here!? Where is Carmen!” Sarah yelled out, growing tired of their imprisonment. Briddle’s face quickly shifted to a much darker expression as he glared at Sarah with his gray eyes.

“Hush girl! I’ll be the one asking the questions here. Speak out of turn again and I will rip the flesh off of your insignificant body, feeding it to the wild beasts of this world. Do I make myself clear?” Sarah’s eyes went wide with fear as she sensed that he was completely serious. She shut up and nodded, not speaking another word to him.

“Good... Now, there are a few things I've been quite curious about since I returned to this world. I hope that you all will have answers for me.” Briddle inquired, shifting his gaze towards each of the young prisoners. The trio didn’t know what he planned on asking them, but they reluctantly nodded in unison as they awaited his questions.

“Why haven’t you Humans and Siestians accepted your new masters yet? Can’t you all see the positive impact we’ll bring to this world?” He asked with an almost playfully curious tone. Caleb was highly confused by this question and immediately responded.

“What? Positive? Your impact isn’t positive at all! The actions of your kind have struck fear and anger into the hearts of many citizens in Resotera. Why would they accept anything about you people when all you do is kill and strip others from their homes?” Caleb angrily glared at Briddle, irritated that he would even ask such a ridiculous question.

“What do you mean by killing and stripping others from their homes? All we’re doing is making sure our species lives and thrives again, returning Core Energy back to their original owners. The loss of a few pathetic life forms is of no consequence as it is necessary for our revival. Not everything is as black and white as you think it is.” Briddle replied, not fully understanding Caleb’s response.

The trio looked on with great confusion and before they could give a rebuttal, Briddle continued his statement.

“I swear, you Humans and Siestians have always been so simple minded and unaccepting of change. Not a thing has changed even after all of these years. You all continue to have wars and petty squabbles over insignificant issues, not making any kind of progress. Yet here we are, the Boundless, weeding out the fodder and weaklings from your ranks, freeing up resources for your citizens, and trying to give life to our citizens. This is a big plus for your kind, but we get viewed as monsters for doing your dirty work. Such a pity…” Briddle looked almost saddened by this and he heavily sighed after his comments.

“That’s such nonsense! How can you even remotely compare situations like that?? You are literally going around killing people for your own personal agenda, treating us like cattle! Stop being so delusional!” Sarah barked, losing her patience from this man’s nonsensical comments. Briddle cocked his head to the side as he stared at her with great bewilderment.

“Delusions? What delusions do you speak of? I only tell the truth. It’s not my fault that you can’t understand the double standard being played out in your oh so “perfect” world. There is so much more at play here than you can even hope to realize.” He replied with a cheeky smirk.

“W-What do you mean by that?” Rivell asked with a fearful and stutter filled cadence.

“If only you knew of the atrocities that the nations of this world were hiding, you wouldn’t find our actions to be so cruel. The wealth of knowledge that I have in my possession is nothing short of sickening, it almost feels like a joke. The Olun Kingdom, Melspire, Volaire, Siestro Kingdom, The Lumen Theocracy, and especially the Arista Empire. They all have such devious secrets that make my work seem trivial in comparison. It’s a miracle that you all have lasted this long in our absence.” Briddle was greatly amused by their ignorance, chuckling deeply.

The trio looked at each other with surprise and confusion, not piecing together what Briddle was making mention of.

“Well, I don’t know what you're talking about, but I do know that when my father fi-” Caleb sharply replied before getting completely cut off.

“When your father does what, boy!?!? I fear no man. There isn’t a single Human or Siestian on this planet that could best me in a battle! I'm above all of you pathetic lower life forms and so are my subordinates!! I could rework the foundations of this world with mere thoughts and there wouldn’t be a single thing you, or anyone else, could do about it!” Briddle remarked, now beginning to seethe with anger.

“That’s such bullshit!” Sarah yelled out, shooting an irritated glare at the Boundless King. However, little did she know, this was incredibly ill advised.

Briddle averted his angered gaze towards Sarah and in an instant, Sarah’s clothing turned to dust and dispersed off of her body. She stood there completely naked, feeling the damp and sticky air of the dungeon biting her skin.

“HOW MANY TIMES MUST YOU SPEAK OUT OF TURN, LITTLE GIRL!!!??” Briddle loudly bellowed with an absolutely furious expression on his face. Sarah quickly covered her body with her arms and crouched down, not wanting to be seen.

“Since you seem to have so many doubts about my power, let me be the first to show you exactly what I’m capable of. Guards, grab her and bring her with me.” Briddle commanded with absolute authority. The cell doors flew open as guards flooded into the space.

Some guards pushed back Caleb and Rivell, preventing them from getting close and a few others forcefully grabbed Sarah by the arms, yanking her out of the cell. The chain around her ankle came undone and they put a new set of shackles onto her wrists. Rivell and Caleb yelled out for them to stop, but their pleas fell onto deaf ears as the cell doors slammed shut.

“Ugh! Let go of me!!” Sarah screamed as they dragged her naked body down the hall and up the stairs to the main floors of the palace. They continued to walk for what felt like an eternity, following closely behind Briddle. She cautiously looked around and saw all the intricate details on the sandstone colored walls and giant statues lining the hallway.

They finally reached their destination and it was an empty, decently lit room with a chair at the center. Next to the chair was a small table with various tools and strange liquids on top of it. The guards forced her down into the seat and locked her ankles in place, causing Sarah to not be able to move. Briddle commanded them to step away as he stood in front of her from a short distance away.

Sarah scowled at him as he looked unimpressed by her rather petite figure. However, her angered expression quickly turned to that of fear once she noticed the Boundless King aim his hand at her.

Suddenly, the wooden chair she sat in shifted and transformed into a clear, water like substance that fully encased her body. The liquid was incredibly warm and felt slick to the touch, as though it were some kind of oil. Briddle then looked over to a guard and nodded, motioning for him to do something.

He approached her with a torch and proceeded to lower it onto the liquid-like chair. It immediately caught fire as though made of gasoline, and flames fully engulfed Sarah. She screamed out with the most blood curdling scream ever heard, feeling excruciating pain from the searing flames around her.

Briddle stood there and watched with amusement as she suffered for multiple seconds, then with a snap of the fingers, the flames dispersed and the chair shifted back to wood. The pain slowly subsided as Sarah was panting heavily, looking down at the ground. Even though she was literally on fire mere moments ago, there wasn’t a single burn mark on her body.

Before Sarah could say anything, the next session began and the wooden chair shifted into a solid, white block of ice. It wrapped around her bare legs, chest, and arms, feeling incredibly cold to the touch. This unique form of immediate torture was a highlight of Briddle’s awesome power.

The ability of material manipulation was something the likes of Alaira had never seen before and Sarah was witnessing Briddle's full range of skills first hand. His overconfident attitude was certainly a byproduct of this power.

Briddle took a seat at an adjacent stool and opened up a book, beginning to read at a leisurely pace. Thirty minutes passed by and Sarah was shivering something fierce. She could barely get her thoughts together as the painful cold was eating through her body, dropping her internal temperatures to dangerous levels. Briddle looked up and closed his book shut before walking over to Sarah. Then, with a single glance, the chair transformed back into wood as the ice faded away.

“W-What… D-Do y-y-you want f-from me??” Sarah asked, struggling to speak through her severe shivers.

“Hmm, nothing really... Just thought it would be fun to show off some of my abilities, since you have so many doubts. Are you ready to go back?” He asked with a rare, kind smile. Sarah slowly nodded, hoping to go back to the cell.

“Well, that’s unfortunate, because I don’t think you are.” His smile shifted to a dark and evil smirk as he began to cackle. He went back to his chair and continued this torture session for multiple hours, making Sarah experience an unimaginable amount of painful sensations and scenarios.