Indoctrination - Chapter 30

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WARNING! This is a work of erotic BDSM FICTION. It is ADULT ORIENTED MATERIAL of an EXTREME SEXUAL NATURE, including acts of abduction, exhibitionism, humiliation, and discipline. This is not for readers who are easily offended or incapable of distinguishing fact from fiction. The author does not promote such activity in real life unless it is between consenting adults and practiced safely. The copyright of this story remains with the author, Night Owl. This posting does not give anyone the rights to post or print content without obtaining the author's permission first.
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Indoctrination
by Night Owl


Chapter 30: The Furies

While Amber and Heidi were making their way through the tunnel, Sonia had been searching the whole house for them. She found Cobie, cleaning the bathrooms and Monique in the dining room. Neither had seen the other two girls, so she went to the stables next to talk to Len.

“Did you put Amber and Heidi to work in the dungeon?”

Len nodded sheepishly.

“Wasn’t that Monique’s assignment?”

“Well . . . I decided to change . . .”

“You mean Heidi talked you into changing it for her,” Sonia interrupted, “but that doesn’t matter right now. What does matter is that both of them are missing. Any idea as to where they might be?”

“Missing?”

“That’s right, MISSING, you oaf! Go back down to the dungeon and wait there in case they show up, I’ll search the rest of the grounds.”

“Y-yes, Ma’am.”

The other two handlers, Tony and a new man named Gino, hadn’t seen them either, so Sonia continued her search with even more urgency. Raven was meeting with The Board of Directors up in New York regarding the Jason/Marco matter. He had asked her to keep an eye on the two girls, and he wasn’t going to be happy when he found out they were missing.

Heading back to the house, she ran into Len.

“I thought I told to go . . .”

“But I just saw them.”

“Where?”

“Downstairs where they’re supposed to be. I was just coming up to tell you,” he then gave Sonia that ‘now who’s the oaf?’ look, though he didn’t dare utter the comment out loud.

“That’s impossible!” she stormed back into the house and down the steps to the dungeon.

Heidi and Amber never realized how lucky they were. After finding the entrance at the other end of the escape tunnel impassable, they quickly made their way back to the house, locked the tunnel door again, and cleaned themselves up just before Len came down to find them going about their work as if nothing happened.

Sonia was furious, but instead of confronting the girls, she hung back just around the corner and listened. It didn’t take long before Heidi whispered something to Amber about a tunnel, and then Sonia knew.

Hurrying outside, she cursed herself for not figuring it out earlier. She checked the tunnel entrance in the woods. It was still locked. Next, she waited patiently for Heidi and Amber to finish their cleaning, and then after they left, went down to the other end of the tunnel and found that door locked too, only there were signs that the keyhole had been picked.

Sonia knew now where the girls had been all that time while she was scouring the whole house for them. If not for that rusty lock on the outside entrance, then nothing would have prevented them from getting out and going to the police. Now all hell was coming down on them, and the fools hadn’t even realized it yet.

Later that evening when Raven arrived at the house, he barely said a word to anyone, but it was apparent to Sonia that his meeting with The Board didn’t go well because he was already in a foul mood. After she broke the bad news about Amber and Heidi, his reaction was immediate,

“Bring her up to my office.”

“Which one?”

“That blonde bitch,” he barked. “Heidi.”

Sonia paused a moment, “If you want to question one of them, then I suggest you start with the other girl. I think she’ll break much more easily . . .”

“I never said I was going to question her.”

He pulled the silver handled crop out of his desk drawer.


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Amber woke up the next morning feeling anxious with every detail of the horrible nightmare the previous night still vividly imbedded in her mind. She showed up for breakfast as usual, but quickly lost her appetite when she noticed Heidi’s absence.

She was sure Raven knew about their escape attempt through the tunnel. While trying to sleep, she remembered hearing the door to Heidi’s cell open and close, followed by footsteps heading down the corridor, as if someone had come to take her away to be questioned. Then there was the dream she had shortly after -- not just a dream, but more of a symbolic premonition of what was to come.

Her first session of the day was with Madam Isha, and the variation of dance they were going over was a difficult one called The Chain Dance. It required she strip nude and that a long, slender, gleaming chain be fastened to a steel bracelet on her right wrist. It looped downward before climbing gracefully to a wide chain ring on the front of her collar, through which it descended again, looping down and up to her left bracelet. If she were to stand motionless with her arms to her sides, the lower links of the chain would have fallen below her knees, so there was much that could be done with such a chain, because its purpose was not to confine, but to allow her to incorporate it in her dance.

Amber still had to coordinate her movements carefully though, so she wouldn’t get tangled in it, and that morning, she was having trouble concentrating on what she was doing. Her teacher noticed it too.

“You seem distracted this morning,” Isha inquired in her Russian accent. “Is anything wrong?”

“No Mistress,” she lied. “I just didn’t sleep well last night.”

“Well your dance training is almost finished. I’m encouraged with how you have progressed so far, and in two weeks, I think you will be ready to perform in front of an audience.”

After her dance, Amber dressed and reported to Sonia for her second session, but the Madam had other plans.

“Master Raven wishes to see you,” she said flatly. “Follow me.”

For Amber, the walk up to her Master’s office seemed to take a century, and with each step, her feet grew heavy -- as if they were sinking in quicksand. To be summoned by Raven was never a good thing, but now her conscience was wracked with so much guilt that her entire body shook visibly underneath her red tunic.

She felt like a schoolgirl being called to the principal’s office for her punishment. The moment reminded her of a roll-play session she once had with one of the guests -- a man in his fifties who apparently enjoyed spanking the backsides of ‘little teenaged girls’ more than fucking a woman.

(The game went like this: Amber, the school girl, was ‘summoned’ from her room up to the Office of The Headmaster, dressed only in her pajamas. There, her guilt was immediately determined, and the punishment set.

“Normally a girl would be sent to detention,” the man referring to himself as ‘the headmaster’ told her, “but due to the seriousness of your offense, I am obliged to inflict on you the most severe form of punishment that is permitted at this institution,” and then a cold smile appeared on his face. “You shall be caned.”

She was ordered to stand astride a chair and bend over the back, grasping the legs as close as she could to the floor with her bottom raised high and in perfect position for what was to come next.

He pulled her pajama bottoms down, exposing both naked cheeks. She was then ordered to spread her legs wider, far enough to show him her treasures, which were shaved as baby-smooth as a pre-teen’s crotch. He swished the cane a few times in the air first, and then without warning, brought it down hard on her right cheek with an alarming whirring sound. A bright red welt sprang up immediately, but Amber did not. She clung to the chair, jerking back her raised hips in thrusting, orgasmic-like movements as he struck her again and again, first on the buttocks and then on the sensitive flesh in between).

Even now, Amber could still feel those stinging blows and the burning welts on her skin. She nearly swooned just thinking about it, but the sound of Sonia softly knocking on Raven’s door brought her mind back with a jolt.

“Come in,” came a voice.

Sonia opened the door and stepped aside, allowing Amber to pass before closing it again behind her.

Raven was seated behind his desk reading some papers, and just as Amber was about to drop to her knees (as slaves were expected to do when facing their Master) he spoke to her without raising his eyes.

“Remain standing.”

So Amber didn’t move, and while she waited, she was suddenly aware of how warm the room was in his presence. She could feel tiny beads of sweat rising on her forehead, and even though she was wearing a sleeveless tunic, her body was still percolating underneath, and the wetness gathering in her armpits began to soak into the bright red fabric creating dark stains underneath.

Thinking about it made her cheeks flush with embarrassment. Women were supposed to be cool creatures, not prone to perspire like men. If a woman broke into a sweat, it usually meant something hard was working on her body, or about to.

Raven finally raised his eyes to her and leaned back in his chair.

“Do you know why I summoned you here?”

“No Master.”

“You have no idea?” The sound of his calm voice grated on her nerves.

“N-no Master.”

He suddenly stood up from the chair, reached into his coat pocket and tossed something heavy and metallic onto the desk.

“Then would you care to explain THIS?”

Amber’s eyes grew wide as saucers as they focused on the open padlock from the escape tunnel. It was rusty all over, except for the fresh scratch marks around the keyhole where Heidi had picked it with her hairpin.

“I’m waiting for an answer . . .”

“I . . . I don’t understand what you’re asking, Sir.”

“I’ve read Sonia’s report,” he pointed to the paper on his desk. “So don’t make this any worse for yourself by lying to me, because it only insults my intelligence.”

Amber felt the light silk of her garment flutter against her shivering body underneath. When she finally dragged her eyes up to meet his, they were greeted by a very pointed defined face. Raven had high, ridged cheekbones and a straight nose. His shoulder-length hair was slicked back against his scalp and jet black in color. That wasn’t the most intimidating part of him, though. His black, piercing eyes, now inflamed with such anger, were terrifying.

“Now tell me the truth!”

“We . . .” she swallowed hard, “we went into the tunnel, Master.”

Raven placed both hands on the desk and leaned forward, his stare narrowing into slits.

“You mean you BROKE in.”

“Y-yes, Sir.”

“Yes, you did what?”

“Yes, Master . . . we broke in.”

“You and WHO else?”

Amber paused. Raven already knew the answer to his own question, but he wanted to hear it from her, and she wanted to tell him. She wanted to tell her Master that it was all Heidi’s idea, that SHE talked her into it, that SHE picked the lock. Amber wanted to blame Heidi for everything, but something inside was keeping her from saying these things.

“Answer me, girl!”

“It . . . it was Heidi,” she finally stammered.

“And for what purpose did you and Heidi break into the tunnel?”

“To escape, Sir.”

“I see.”

Raven slowly approached her from behind the desk. A bead of sweat rolled down Amber’s cheek. He gently brushed it away and stroked her hair. It was a gesture of tenderness, until he raised the back of his hand and struck her across the same cheek with such force, that it sent her reeling head first into the wall behind her. She then fell to the floor, dazed.

“You stupid bitch,” his voice raised. “Did you REALLY think you could get away with it?”

She was too confused and terrified to answer. Lying on her side, the fall had forced her tunic to slip a good distance up past her naked thighs, but she made no effort to pull it down. She didn’t dare move a muscle.

“Not only did you betray me, you continued to lie about it. Even when you knew you were caught, you still tried to deceive me – you and that CUNT, Heidi. Now answer truthfully, did SHE put you up to this?”

“Yes, Master.”

“And it was all HER idea, wasn’t it?”

“Yes, Master.”

Amber was still lying on the floor, her tear-streaked face hidden under one arm. Everything was a blur – the throbbing in her head where she hit the wall, the blood trickling from her nose, her uppermost leg, exposed and vulnerable through the open tunic -- only the sound of Raven’s angry voice registered clear in her mind. She didn’t even notice the riding crop he was now holding in his hand, not until he struck her with it, the blow slicing across her naked thigh. Amber yelped like a dog, her body shuddered, but she still didn’t move.

“On your knees,” he ordered, “and cover yourself.”

She quickly got up and knelt before him while pulling the tunic tightly around her legs. She could feel the burning of her skin underneath where the crop hit it, and the throbbing in her head was more evident now.

When he called Sonia back into his office, the mistress was holding a leash and pair of wrist cuffs chained together.

“Ko-lar,” he ordered.

Amber immediately obeyed and raised her arms, crossing her wrists over her head, her eyes still lowered in supplication. One metal cuff was locked around her wrist, then the other, and when she lowered her arms again, the chains rattled in front of her. Both ankles were cuffed and chained in the same fashion, and finally, the chain leash was clipped to the front of her collar.

“You are going to get used to wearing those for awhile,” Raven told her. “Day and night, you’ll never stop listening to them clinking, reminding you of what you are, and what you will always be. This is for your own good and when your mind is ‘right’ again, I’ll make my decision as to what to do with you next. Now stand up.“

Amber slowly rose to her feet, eliciting more tinkling laughter of her chains.

“Remove her silk.”

Sonia pulled a knife from her belt and tore a hole into the back of Amber’s tunic, then with both hands, she ripped the garment off her body so that she was naked except for the cuffs and chains. The cloth could easily have been removed by pulling it over her head, but the act symbolized the ‘stripping away’ of her status as a slave. She was no longer a Red Silk, no longer a Gorean dancer; she was nothing, and possessed nothing.

“Now get her out of my sight,” and Raven turned back to his desk.

With a yank of the leash, Sonia led Amber down the hall. The chains rattled between her feet as she walked. They went down the staircase to the main level. Amber thought they would turn the corner next and then go down the narrow steps to the dungeon, but instead, Sonia took her outside.

They crossed the grounds to a thick wall of trees on one side and a path Amber had never seen before. It was uncomfortably hot and humid that day, causing her scalp to prickle with sweat and her chestnut skin to glisten in the mid-day sun. Her mind was swimming in a murky stew of fear, shame and confusion. She wanted to beg Sonia for mercy, but knew there was nothing she could say or do that would change the inevitable.

The path was a short trek to a building that looked like a kennel. They moved beyond that to a second building made of stone. There were no windows to be seen and the door was padlocked. Sonia pulled the keys and unlocked the door. Warm air rushed out to greet them, and when Amber entered the building, she froze. The mystery of what happened to Heidi was finally uncovered.

Standing naked and spread-eagled with her back against a stone support column in the center of the room, Heidi’s feet were shackled to the floor, her arms stretched high and wide above her head and chained to a metal bar. The bar was chained to a steel cable that ran up around two pulleys, then down again to a large barrel, now filling slowly with water from a tank above. A black leather mask covered her head completely – no holes for the eyes or ears, just two slits under her nose so she could breath a little.

Amber stood, her eyes transfixed with horror and fascination on what she was seeing. The strain in Heidi’s arms and legs were clearly evident. Rivers of sweat trickled down her body all over, leaving puddles on the stone floor. Her large, melon-breasts stood out from her ribs invitingly, and the smooth sex between her open legs could easily have been violated by anyone who happened by, but obviously this form of punishment had nothing sexual to do in its intent, and she guessed that Heidi had been hanging there for some time.

“Raven believes in keeping friends together,” Sonia told her. “But you have some catching up to do. Heidi’s been waiting here for over an hour now. Follow me.”

With a tug of the leash, she led Amber to the other side of the column. As they passed, Heidi jerked against her restraints, causing her breasts to shake provocatively off her jutting ribs. Her breathing was shallow, rapid and the air whistled through the tiny holes in her mask.

At the other side of the stone column, a second rigging identical to Heidi’s was already set up.

Sonia unlocked the cuffs, “Stand with your back to the column and reach for that bar,” she ordered.

Amber raised her arms high and grasped it tightly as Sonia locked her wrist irons to the chains on each end with her own leash hanging in front of her.

“Now spread,” Sonia ordered, and Amber widened her stance so the mistress could padlock her ankle chains to a pair of steel rings mounted into the floor.

"Well, I guess you're secure enough now. I don't think you will be going anywhere.”

Amber stood trembling, swaying weakly, her limbs stretched in an X and her back slightly arched. Beads of sweat flowed fresh from her body in the stifling heat of the room and fear of inescapable bondage. She could feel the adrenaline pounding through her heart against her chest.

As Sonia paced before her, she sensed from her Mistress the inward struggle of a woman trying to maintain her composure. When she moved in close, her eyes darted to Amber’s smooth, open armpits, now shimmering with sweat. She leaned forward and brushed the right arm with her tongue, then nuzzled the warmth there, breathing in the salty-sweet scent of her body.

Amber replied with a soft moan. She tugged her wrists above, but the unyielding bar would not relinquish its hold, nor would Sonia relinquish her hold, and with loving caresses, her wet tongue swirled, tasted and explored both pits.

Then with another shock of recognition, Amber felt both hands on her hips and fingers slowly trace the line of her ribs. Sonia leaned forward, kissed lazy circles around her breasts and whisked each lush rosy nipple with her wet tongue in a way that made Amber’s body shudder inside. One hand slid down her back and gave her right ‘cheek’ a squeeze, while the other moved in between her thighs. Amber felt a finger inside her, then two, and just as she was about to swoon, Sonia removed her hands and lips abruptly, followed by a sudden jerk of the leash, and when Amber’s eyes snapped open, she was staring into the leering gaze of her mistress.

“I almost lost myself for a moment, and forgot you are here.”

“Mistress . . . I’m sorry for what I’ve done! Please forgive . . .”

“It is a little late for ‘sorry’ don’t you think?”

Sonia let go of the leash and stepped back.

“You know it’s a shame. I’ve been looking for a slave of my own and I thought you were the one. I was sure of it the first day I brought you here. I saw the potential and I would have paid top dollar for you on the block if necessary,” the sound of her voice was seeping with regret, “but that’s water under the bridge now. Heidi really fucked you over with her crazy ideas . . . isn’t that so, Hon?”

As Sonia called over to Heidi, there was a moan from the other side of the column, followed by a brief rattle of her chains.

“That’s right. She’s the one to blame for this little predicament you’re in, and now you’ll both have to pay for betraying us,” Sonia’s words trailed with her as she turned and moved to where the barrel stood, full of water.

“This set-up is impressive, don’t you think? The water slowly fills this barrel from the tank above it. The weighted barrel goes down, and YOU go up. This red valve here keeps the water in the tank. A simple twist . . .”

Sonia turned the valve about one quarter turn, and water started to pour from the hose into the barrel.

“And . . . WA-LAH . . . there you have it! Now, if my memory serves me correct, you weigh approximately 112 pounds, and at 8 pounds per gallon, that comes to an equivalency of just under 14 gallons. This barrel holds more than 50 gallons of water and that will easily lift you off the ground . . . WHOOPS . . . I almost forgot . . .”

Sonia knelt down and reached under the barrel. There was a hole there that allowed the water to pour into a floor drain, so she took a stopper dangling from a chain and pushed it in, plugging the hole.

“There. Now the water can’t escape, and neither can you. Just one more final touch . . .”

Sonia took out a mask from the closet identical to the mask Heidi was wearing and pulled it over Amber’s head. Suddenly, her world was plunged into artificial darkness. The straps were tightened, pressing the leather snug against her nose and face. She could barely breath with her mouth through the holes.

“This should keep your mind focused on what’s happening to you, though I doubt you’ll be able to think of anything else. In a few moments, you will feel the cable and bar pulling on your arms as the water forces the barrel down on the other end. Then slowly, it will counter your weight and lift you up in the air, naked, helpless and gloriously suspended, that is, until those floor chains start tugging at your feet, and that’s when the fun REALLY begins.

“For the next half hour or so, you will feel the constant ever-increasing pressure on your limbs while your body is forced into a painful, yet sublime tug-of-war between two forces much more powerful than your delicate features.

“Eventually, all of the water will be drained from the tank, and the barrel will stop its descent, but that’s 400 pounds, and I imagine a lot of physical damage will be been done before that happens. Usually the shoulders pop free of their sockets, followed by the joints where the thigh bone meets the pelvis. You will also have trouble breathing as the muscles responsible for filling your lungs are stretched so much they’ll be unable to perform their task.

“If you ask me, the period following the onset of asphyxia is the most spectacular, satisfying part of a terminal rack session, because the subject is already in immense pain from the stretching, but now with the sweet agony of strangulation added to her ordeal.

“Of course, none of this will happen if I return in time to pull the stopper out of that barrel, so you better pray hard that I don’t trip and fall while going back to the house and knock myself out . . . or perhaps I may just leave you hear indefinitely . . . you know . . . the way you were going to abandon us.”

“Mmmmmmmph,” Amber tried to speak.

“Sorry, Hon, I can’t hear a word through that mask, and there’s not much you could say to save yourself at this point. At least you won’t be alone, because you’ll have your ‘partner in crime’ to share this misery with you while I’m gone . . . and that reminds me,” Sonia turned to the barrel again. “I mentioned before that Heidi already has a head start on you, so perhaps I should open your valve just a wee-bit more so you can catch up.”

Amber moaned in agony as she heard the squeak of the valve, and the water gushing out even louder. She was already feeling the barrel pulling against her arms as it inched downward.

“That should do it . . . well, enjoy the trip.”

Sonia kissed her mask tenderly at the mouth.

“I'll be seeing both of you on the other side, hopefully sooner than later!"

Amber heard the light click off and the door lock behind her. The weight of the barrel stretched her body tighter, and in the darkness of her mask she could hear the water spilling into it. The worst discomfort came from the shackles, for the added pressure caused the metal to dig even deeper into her wrists, causing them to scream in burning agony.

She tried lowering her arms and, using all the strength she had left, managed to pull the bar down to her eye level, but she could get it no further, nor could she unhook her shackles from the bar. The chains between them were short, but just long enough to keep her fingers from reach. She tried holding the bar as long as she could, then slowly, allowed her tired arms to be pulled up again until they were fully extended even tighter than before. Amber knew she could do nothing to stop the inevitable, and the rigged device would do its work as it was designed.

She thought of Heidi and reached back with one arm as far as she could, stretching past the column until she found her hand. Heidi moaned, their fingers clasped tightly, and for a moment, she felt some comfort in knowing there was someone else close to her, suffering as she suffered.

They listened to each other’s ragged breaths and smelled each other’s sweat, then suddenly, Heidi pulled her hand away and threw herself forward from the column, rattling her chains before slamming back against it. Again and again, she hurled herself outward. Amber listened to Heidi’s chains banging in a steady tempo, forging in her mind the fear and anticipation of what she would soon be facing. Eventually, Heidi sagged back into her chains. Amber rubbed the back of her own hand against hers, and tried to speak to her. A few sounds filtered in from Heidi’s side of the column, but they seemed far away.

Time seemed to stand still with nothing to do but languish over their condition. Water continued to pour into the barrels. Even with the masks covering their ears, the sound was deafening. Their bodies tightened. Joints began to stiffen and their muscles ached. Cuffs pressed against skin, the column rubbed its rough surface against their backs.

When Heidi’s barrel started to lift her up, their hands separated for the last time. Amber tried to call out to her with muffled moans, but there was no response. Heidi was gone and she was now alone. Nothing but blackness filled with steel and concrete.

Again Amber pulled against the chains, fighting their grip, but she didn't have the strength to lower her arms now. The pressure on her wrists was tremendous and she could only work her fingers in the air. The open valve on her tank allowed more water to flow through it than Heidi’s tank, so it would just be a few more minutes before the barrel started lifting her off the floor.

More sweat flowed in lazy rivulets down the curves of her body. The inside of her mask felt like a furnace and it was difficult to breath. Wet strands of her hair mashed against her scalp and more sweat rolled into her eyes, making them screw shut in irritation.

When her heels rose up, she pointed her toes as much as she could to maintain contact with the floor. She tried to adjust her feet to get a better stance and slammed hard against the gritty column behind her. She couldn’t seem to get her body to work right. Nothing moved and every muscle hurt like hell. Several seconds later, her toes cleared and it seemed as if the whole earth had dropped out beneath her and she was now suspended in a black void of nothingness. She jerked against the chains, an instinctive reaction to crossing the threshold. She uttered a long wail within the mask. The cuffs were digging deeper into her wrists now, cutting into her flesh.

Up she rose, several inches until the chains at her feet tightened and pulled against her. The muscles in her legs and arms cried out in agony. Movement eased a few points of contact and ignited several more.

Behind the column, she felt Heidi struggling again. At first her suspended body rocked languidly back and forth. Her breath was shallow and rapid, whistling through the breathing holes of her mask. Amber tried calling back to her again, but there was no answer.

Suddenly, Heidi’s chains twitched so violently, that Amber could actually feel the vibrations through the column. A deep guttural moan welled and slithered out into space. Heidi was no longer on the other end of the chain. Something else was there, shaking and fighting with a monstrous strength.

By then, Amber’s hands were completely numb from the tightness of her shackles. A thousand little nips and needle pricks hovered around the rest of her body, and she could do nothing but feel these little assaults. Slowly, the barrel and chains exceeded what she had mistakenly thought were the limits of her capacity to stretch. In her lower back she felt her spine unload and straighten, the vertebrae decompressing from one another. She felt and heard a ‘pop’ of cartilage in her left shoulder, followed by a terrible shooting pain down that arm.

“Oh my God please, no more please . . .” her mind begged.

But the water poured steadily and showed no signs that the tank was getting empty. The chains kept pulling -- her stretched form hung, silently suffering in agony.

It was about that time that a fear of another sort flooded her brain. Panic bubbled up in her throat. She couldn’t see them, but she knew they were near – The Furies – as Monique once called them.

A violent frenzy quaked through her own body as her blind eyes searched the blackness. She thrashed against the chains and babbled incoherently. In the vast darkness, through the mask, her mind's eye beheld the monsters, living on the far side of the circle and moving in closer. The little nips became bites as they swarmed around her like ants, ripping the flesh off her bones.

Deep in her mind, the wailing began, for they also struck from within, rising out of the depths of her soul. Muscles, tendons shrieked and tore, blood boiled in her veins, bones shattered under the onslaught. Her head exploded into space, scattering itself in the dark void. Excruciating pain became softest pleasure, passionate love became murderous hate, immobile bondage became perfect freedom. While the chains scraped and bruised her shattered body, and the blackness invaded her gaping mind, the Furies devoured her soul, swallowing it down in great bloody chunks.

Finally, she wrapped what she could find left of her being around the creatures and embraced them with all her might.

(continued)