He eventually came around to a large control panel fixed with many knobs, buttons, and levers. A wall of monitors displaying various amounts of information sat above it.

“Tell me, Daqir, describe these screens and their function to me,” the Lord asked one of the men sitting down.  

Daqir stayed silent for a moment. During that time, he contemplated the task asked of him. He had done the same thing a few days ago when the previous girl was inserted into the Coffin. Was this a test? Or was the Lord trying to give him a trick question? Daqir didn’t know, but if he waited any longer, he might've ended up like Cale.

“Of course, my Lord. The various monitor gathers data from the many instruments attached to the Coffin and displays them for us to analyze.” 

“Give me an example,” the Lord demanded.  

Daqir did as he was told.  

“For example, this monitor,” he pointed to one, “Tells us the subject’s current blood pressure and heartbeat. This one over here tells us the amount of acid in her stomach, and that one over there tells us her breathing rate and the amount of oxygen she breathes in.  Oh, there’s one more thing, but we don’t know why it’s showing. On that far monitor, there's only one piece of information, separated by a strange symbol.  The first is the word ‘blessed by,’ and the second keeps changing every time we have a new subject. First, there was the word ‘Luther,’ then there was ‘Kuee,’  and I remember seeing ‘Powir.’ We have no idea what that information is supposed to convey to us.” 

“This is important to us because..?” 

“My Lord, any information is good information. This is new technology, and we don’t quite know how it works. From what we know, the user inside acts as some sort of bridge or key for something. Even if we don’t know what ‘blessed’ means, we can try our hardest to figure out a pattern or a connection.” 

“I see. I see. Good job. I will give you three hours in Stress Relief. Good job,” the Lord spoke erratically before walking off somewhere else. Deep inside, Daqir let out a sigh of relief. This was the second time he had the same exact conversation with the Lord, but Daqir didn’t know how to respond. The Lord was a particular being that would not hesitate to kill someone.  

As the Lord walked away, he thought back to a simpler time. A time in which he had just received his current task from his teacher, who was a God.  His final mission was to use the Coffin and find someone compatible. He was told nothing more and nothing less. He did not know what being compatible meant.  The Lord wasn’t an all-knowing being.  

He gave off the allure that he knew what the Coffin was capable of and its purpose, but the truth was that he was as lost as they were.

The Lord had to be confident. It was the only of living his teacher had taught. There used to be many like him and his instructor, but that was the past. He was alone now, and he had no equal. The sheer stress of being the last of his kind was too much for a human to calculate, let alone a God. It’s no small wonder his mind slowly eroded away.

Trying to kill some time before the new experiment started, the Lord continued to walk from group to group, unknowingly giving each group a slight heart attack.  

Just as the Lord was about to head back to the Coffin, he spotted a couple of scientists crowded around a radio. The Lord made his way over there. The group huddled around heard the footsteps, and a look of intense dread replaced their already frightened face.  

“What are you boys doing over here?” the Lord nonchalantly asked.  

“My Lord, we were listening to the radio. We wanted to hear about the outside.” 

“Ah, yes, information. Information is the key to everything. Tell me, dear child, how is the outside? Please elaborate, and spare no detail,” the Lord chanted something as he conjured a black rocking chair from nothing and sat in it.  

“Of course. The radio host's talking about an attack by Keister that blew up a medical college and the surrounding town. It was a 50 kiloton bomb, and hundreds of thousands died with even more injured. Perua is thinking about retaliating,” the man answered.

“I see. What do you think about it?” 

“Keister and Perua are two mighty countries. If they were to seriously fight, I’m afraid that the world would suffer,” the man looked down at the ground.  

“You’re afraid?” 

The man thought hard for a few moments before replying. He knew he had to choose his following words carefully. “Yes.”  

“Why?”

“I have family and friends in both countries. I’m afraid for their lives. I used to live in Perua, so I know first hand how brutal they can be when they want revenge.”

“I see. Be thankful that the ones you care about are still alive. Most of the people who work for me have no family left.”

“Yes, my Lord.” 

“Good. Now go back to whatever you were doing,” the Lord sat up and clapped his hands, causing his chair to disappear.  

The man and the rest of the scientists saluted in unison as the Lord returned to the Coffin. When he reached the opening at the base of the giant structure, he saw the two men in black place the final tube in the girl’s body.  

“My Lord, she is ready,” the taller one said as the two backed up from the opening, giving space for the Lord.  

“Good job, both of you. You each have three hours in Stress Relief. You’ve earned them.” 

“Thank you, Lord!” the two men smiled as they walked briskly but calmly towards the exit of the room.

“Now, let me get a good look at you,” the Lord said to no one but himself. The girl was laid out on a tinier red Coffin inside the taller Coffin. 

The Lord took a close look at the girl from head to toe, whose body laid bare as the day she was born. Her once beautiful hair was shaved bald, and many tubes were forcibly stuck inside her head. Long, thick black wires wrapped her head like a crown of thorns, and when he looked closer, he saw sparks of lightning emanating from them. The girl’s face was untouched, and the gag was removed.  

“Hmmmhmmmmm!!!” the girl tried to say something, anything, but her vocal cords were still damaged.  

“Now we know the truth! The Doctor did not fix your throat. See, I always knew he didn’t,” the calm, almost comedic tone the Lord spoke in terrified the girl the most.  

The Lord resumed his overview and performed a final check of the girl’s body. Her arms were strapped and chained down to the bottom of her personal Coffin. Even if she had all the strength in the world at this very moment, it would not be enough to break those restraints.  

There was a giant tube wrapped in red wires sticking out of her stomach.  

Wrapped inside her lower area and leading to a small tank nearby were two tubes whose sole function was to aid with bladder relief and stool removal. This way, the girl would not soil herself or the Coffin. This little addition was something that the Lord had thought up by himself, so he was proud of it.  

The girl’s leg had five tubes going down them, and each was wrapped in a different colored wire.  

“Perfect! Just perfect. I got to find myself to give the two guys more time. Maybe double? No tri—no quadruple the time in Stress Relief! Wait, find myself?! I’m right here!!!!” the Lord danced a small pirouette while a terrified girl stared at him, her eyes full of tears.  

Her body and soul, now defiled and filthy. Her strength and resolve, long gone. She had nothing left. Her terrible father, loving mother, adorable brother, and precious dog were no more. She realized she was truly alone in this world.  

The Lord stopped dancing and brought his cane down to the ground. Then, with a humorless voice, he began chanting.  

“Oh, Master Coffin, take this subject that I offer you. Her blood is your life. Her flesh is your nourishment. Oh, Master Coffin, take this girl,” with a tap of his cane to the ground, the door closed.

With the door shut, the Lord began to make his way back to his room. Before he exited, he barked out an order to a nearby scientist who looked like she was about to cry. The truth was that not all who worked here believed in what the Lord was doing.  

“As always, if anything happens, come tell me immediately.” 

“Of course, my Lord,” the scared young girl replied.  

With that, the Lord was gone from the room, walking away back to his chambers while humming to himself.  

Inside the Coffin, the girl was alone. Due to the numerous tubes and chains, she was unable to move. Every so often, she would hear weird noises, and she could feel something vibrate.  She could only yelp in fright.

Eventually, her prison-like space lit up slowly, revealing dark black walls and a single screen. On it, laid a countdown starting from ten seconds. It was now on two. The girl was too stressed to realize what the numbers meant, and so, she was unprepared for what happened next. The small wires on her body and tubes began to hum slightly before being electrified. Her body convulsed in pain, and she screamed out, causing even further strain on her throat.

Spit, blood, and mucus flowed from her ears and nose as the electricity stopped. Her bladder gave away, and yellow liquid poured through the tubes attached to her crotch. Breathing weakly, she struggled to lift her head high enough to look at the screen. There was already another countdown.  

Then, for the first time in a long time, the girl prayed.  

Please, those who sit above the clouds and live on the stars, help me.  

Nothing. The frightened girl's prayers went unanswered as the time on the monitor counted down. It reached zero, and she tried to brace herself the best she could within her current limitations.

Tremendous shock flowed through her body, and she struggled against her restraints. She gritted her teeth as she screamed. When it was over, the girl was barely breathing. Now, she really had nothing. The Gods, who she was told to pray to, ignored her.  They betrayed her.

As she laid there suffering the recoil from the shock, the feeling of fear and terror slowly dissolved from her heart and soul. A new emotion was filling the hole it left behind.  

 Anger. Hatred. Resentment. Hostility.  

With the new feelings came a new sense. Strangely, the girl's previous exhaustion felt like a leaf in the wind. It was gone. A noise rang out as she looked at the screen. Another countdown. Another ten seconds.  

The girl smiled a wicked and scary smile. 

I will endure this. I need to. For my family. For my brother.  

Three seconds.  

I was always taught to wash these feelings from my heart. Hatred and anger will lead to suffering.  But what if I have nothing but murderous thoughts for my enemies?

Zero seconds.  

Lightning ran through the wires, and the girl expected to scream and cry out in pain, but that never came. The pain was acceptable. It even felt great. Maneuvering her head, she saw the electricity flowing and dancing around her dark skin.  

She started silently laughing as she relished the pain and the feelings it brought with it.

Elsewhere, the Lord sat alone in his room. Not even a single bit aware of this monster he had just created. But that wasn’t the only thing he was unaware of.  

In a different country thousands of kilometers away, a small handheld device buzzed on a glass table. A woman with long flowing red hair sat nearby. She was enjoying a nice glass of wine and was admiring the taste when she noticed the phone. Glancing over, she saw the name ‘Ahab.’ Clicking on the name brought up a message. ‘The Son is here. I repeat, the Son is here.’

The message brought a smile to her beautiful face as she placed the empty glass on the table. She dropped her phone in her ruby red purse and walked out of the restaurant she was in. Her long black dress had a slit in the side that showed off her toned yet smooth leg, catching the gazes of men and the scorn of women.

Finally, after eighteen years, we found him.  

While walking down the street, she took her phone out of her purse, and with shaking hands, she sent off a message to four different people in four separate countries. 

Now I just have to wait for a reply.

The woman put her phone back and made way for the hotel she was staying at. All the while, she kept repeating a silent prayer.

Please be safe, Luca.