Chapter 6 Pain

I couldn't sleep at first. Not with shadow watching me with those glowing eyes from the corner of the room. I try to ignore its presence but I can't help but feel frightened. It's a creature made up of dark matter and I didn't know if it would attack me while I slept.

I'm not given any clothes and I'm not used to feeling this exposed so I huddle away.

As time goes by I give in, falling into a restless sleep, only to wake up the next morning and repeat the same thing over.

Shadow appears and disappears with food and water and he stands by, watching me. Headlight eyes blinking occasionally.

As the days go by I become restless. I start to pace back and forth and I see Shadow watching me go from left to right. I've been here so long that I'm used to him by now. I haven't seen or heard from the Zakarian in days and I'm worried for Lucy. I don't know if she's okay or if her injury had healed.

I wish I could run away and go find her but the moment I step out of this heated room, everything is cold. I cannot survive. One hour he said before I became hypothermic and eventually die. If I need to get out of here and I need to get in contact with the Zakerian somehow and find a way to persuade him or to best him. So I can escape. The plan is a long shot but I'm out of other options.

The invisible door opens only for Shadow I realized later on. I watch him as he steps through the door.

He brings the food close to me and I smack it all away watching everything clatter onto the ground.

He watches me for a second, confused.

he picks up some of the food and offers it to me again.

"I don't want it!" I say furiously, pushing him away. To my shock, my hand disappears into his black body and we both look at it confused. I quickly pulled it back to see there was no damage.

There was some truth to what the Zakarian told me. I'm immune to dark matter.

But how? non of this made any sense.

As the days went by I felt myself slowly succumb to insanity. I stopped eating and drinking. I threw everything away. I made a mess and didn't bother to clean it. I'd rather die than be some prisoner locked away in some room forever. The more I kept refusing the food the weaker I got. Although, I didn't bring myself to care anymore. The Shadow loomed over me too, not knowing what to make of my behavior.

A day later, I hear the invisible doors open with the familiar hum. Frustrated with shadow and his very annoying nature to force-feed me or to clean me, I turn around ready to smack everything away again.

However, I came face to face with the Zakerian instead. Shadow stood behind him blinking at me slowly.

My breath hitched at the sight of him. It's been so long that I've forgotten how regal he looked. He radiated a silent hum of power that got my nerves on edge immediately.

He looks at the food on the floor and frowns.

"We've been kind enough to feed you, yet you've wasted it all." His anger is barely hidden underneath the surface. Yet my anger is way above the surface at this point.

"I don't want your food. I want to be set free. You promised me, you'll let my sister go! " I yell furiously.

He walks towards me and he stands so close. I could feel the heat emanating off of him in waves.

"I've made no such promise earthling. I only promised her safety if you behaved and by the looks of it you haven't been doing just that."

"Well, I'm not going to behave! I'm done being your prisoner." My voice is loud and foreign in my ears. I cannot recall being this angry in my life. Perhaps it's all those days being locked up or maybe it's cause I'm hungry. I did not know.

He looks at me with amusement, like how someone would look at a child throwing a tantrum. It fueled my anger more.

"Come. I didn't know leaving you alone would take such a toll," he says as he grabs for my waist and in a fit of fury, my palm made contact with his face.

I slapped him.

The sound echoed throughout the room and I stumbled back.

I looked at him in horror, instantly regretting my decision. He stood there, face expressionless and his body exuding an aura that screams danger.

My instincts demanded that I run because this was going to get ugly.

Before I could, I felt myself get hauled and slammed against the bed. The breath left my body as I struggled to get up.

A heavyweight is against my back, pressing my face down against the mattress. I could feel the Zakerian's Warm chest press against my naked back and I feel a deep growl reverberate through his chest and I've never known fear till that very moment.

"Did you think you could get away with such blatant disrespect?" he whispers into my ear and I try my best to struggle.

"Please.." I whimper not knowing what else to say or do.

"You seemed so confident earlier, what happened to all that fire?" He says pressing down on me harder

"I did not know one could be this naive. I hope you'll learn how to embrace this pain because it's all you will feel for the next few hours," he growls into my ear in silent fury.

I feel his hand touch the back of my neck and

excruciating pain follows, as though there are a thousand wasps in my body stinging from the inside trying to be set free. I try to hold back the tears but I can't. I can't stop them once they start.

It felt like my bones are being penetrated by massive needles and oh god it was painful and I wondered why I didn't faint or die then and there. What was he doing? it was like he was injecting some kind of painful energy through my neck and into the rest of my body.

The pain kept growing higher and higher and I couldn't break free. My sobs turned into screams as I writhed underneath him. At that moment I wished for nothing but death. To welcome it with open arms.

The Zakerian leans towards my ear once again.

"Let this be your lesson."

As promised the pain continued for the next few hours.