Vague silhouettes flickered between roaring pillars of flame and twisted masses of metal. The shadowy figures ever-shifting forms complementing their distorted faces warped in a mixture of rage, disgust and anguish as they tried to get closer. Their arms and elongated fingers stretched out before them, seemingly wanting to grab Nyx and pull him into the circle of fire. To drag him back to where he-
"-op of Althern-"
Nyx's new body faintly shook as his eyes abruptly opened, only for them to be reduced to the narrowest of squints due to the painful glare of the dimly lit room. His body sucked in long, shuddering breaths as his vision pulsed in time with the thunderous heartbeat emanating from his chest.
"I'm... alive..."
As he tried to ignore a throbbing headache, memories from the dream mixed confusingly with what he had experienced before falling asleep, making it difficult to distinguish between reality and fiction.
The strange, cold sensation of stone pressing against his front soon distracted him from his scattered thoughts. Most of his body was numb, but Nyx was still able to sense the changing pressure on his chest and upper thighs as he was seemingly rocked back and forth. An image of him bent over the table he was laying on entered his mind's eye, as the rhythmic sound of slapping flesh reached his ears. Alongside the strange, vaguely familiar noise was the sound of heavy, somewhat out of breath, panting of someone else.
While the combination of sounds and movement could have been many things, images of torture practices, strange rituals and even devices that flayed the skin from the body popped into Nyx's mind, he quickly ruled them out. Each time his body shifted forward after each sickening, fleshy slap, and the occasional pig-like grunt reached his ears, a sinking sensation grew at an alarming rate.
"My name is Nyx."
Anger, fear and helplessness combined with the lack of control as the emotions raged within. The joy that he had felt when he first woke was quickly consumed by the unknown. It had been a long time since he had to worry about the future.
"I am Nyx. From the darkness, I was-"
A strange, sour taste appeared in Nyx's mouth, without cause or reason, as his headache's throbbing suddenly increased and small motes of light entered his blurred peripheral. Simultaneously, a strand of dark brown, somewhat curly hair fell blocking half the almost useless eyesight from his right eye.
Nyx blinked slowly, realising from the cold sensation on his face that his head seemed to be resting on its left side. The cold stone offering a small amount of relief from the mild pain as he tried to make sense of the situation.
He had been summoned, but it didn't seem like they knew who or what he was. He couldn't feel any soul bindings or suppression arrays that could suppress or control his kind. If that was the case, he was an unknown. An accident that had slipped between the cracks. All he needed to do was survive until he was sure his death wouldn't result in a return to the loop, and then he could return to the Abyss.
The smile that had been starting to form on Nyx's face vanished as a more forceful thrust reminded him of his current situation as an uncomfortable, invasive sensation began to build around his crotch. At the same time, his blurry vision started to clear.
He could now see the grey table he was pressed against. A pale, thin arm reached out from below his sight with a golden band around its wrist. The band seemed to be connected to a silver circle engraved into the stone with golden, glowing runes.
Without much thought, Nyx tried to move what he assumed to be his arm. While he watched some of the muscles weakly tense in a bid to follow his command, he was able to feel the faint pressure from the band locking his wrist in place. Two light, warm spots just above each side of his hips emerged, as he continued to regain his senses and the numbness faded.
Nyx attempted to lift his head. However, even if he ignored the fact that his body seemed unable to respond appropriately to his instructions, there was a line-like pressure around the back of his neck that kept his head firmly in place. Looking at the band on his wrist, he could guess what it was.
As the claustrophobic, panicky feeling inside continued to increase, Nyx once again tried to call on his essence. While it was slightly stronger than before, there was still nothing more than a slight tug in response. The same sensation, though accompanied by a pop-like sound deep in his chest, appeared when he tried to rouse his soul power.
He suddenly had the worrying notion that his current incarnation was either a cultivation and magical invalid, or the previous owner had been locked in a glass cage their entire life. No matter which it was, both would drastically reduce his chances of survival and escape.
Nyx violently shivered, both from the cold and the powerlessness he suddenly felt, while subconsciously releasing a faint, eerie hiss.
He tried to move his legs, which he now realised were stuck apart and locked in place. While he couldn't feel much from them yet, he was almost sure it would be because of bands similar to those on his wrist and neck. While the method and implementation were flimsy at best, it was more than enough to deal with him in his current state.
The feeling of being trapped, unable to fight back or even control the smallest of movements bombarded Nyx's mind. Not only was he being violated, something no one had been brave enough to do for a long, long time, but he actually had less freedom than when he was trapped in the loops.
"Survive."
The single word calmed Nyx down, but the unsettling, slightly nauseating sensations continued to grow as he bit his bottom and his heartbeat continued to thunder in his chest. Unlike his expectations, he found it incredibly difficult to deal with his emotions. In the loops, he never had to. He was alone. It was a play for one, by one, seen by one.
It had lasted for such a time that the seemingly emotionless mask that had terrified the world, friend and enemy alike, was gone. Something that scared him almost as much the thought of returning the loop. Even the frailness of his body seemed to pale in insignificance.
"Weak."
His breathing turned short and ragged as he struggled against his bindings. However, instead of yielding any results, Nyx's exertions seemed to only excite the heavy breathing man as he released a strange sound, and the pressure and tempo of the slapping sound increased.
"No."
Nyx closed his eyes for a few seconds, repressing the anger and disgust threatening to take over. This wasn't the first time he had experienced something like his current situation. In his early lives, he had been nothing more than a slave at the mercy of an insane, delusional woman. A pawn on a chessboard to be used.
After taking a deep breath, Nyx noticed a slight disconnect between him and his new body's reactions. While he was undeniably unsettled, his trembling body seemed far too extreme a response. The strange thought helped him further disconnect from what his body was going through and compose his thoughts.
He needed to survive and escape. Only then he would be able to correct any slights.
His jolting vision moved beyond the table and onto what appeared to be dirty-yellow crystals barely illuminating the stone brick walls. There were two bookshelves full of various worn books in each corner with wooden workbenches between them. Metal devices and glass containers littered nearly every available space.
Most of the containers were empty, but two contained red, mostly round objects that looked like lumps of flesh. Another one to the side, filled with a slightly glowing green liquid held what looked like a dull brown sack. The only other noticeable thing was what looked like the skin of a humanoid face fixed to the wall, the gaps where the eyes, nose, mouth and ears combined with the dark green tint making it seem almost unreal.
"What? Not struggling anymore? Be a good girl and tighten up for daddy." Just as Nyx was trying to work out what the fleshy objects were, a deep, rumbling voice came from behind, causing his body to flinch.
"A new ma- ... good girl?" It was only when he heard the sentence that Nyx remembered how the four men had referred to him previously. Combined with the strange, pressing sensation of his chest on the table things started to make sense. As they did, his mind momentary jarred as he was overwhelmed with a sense of disbelief.
Along with his body's position, Nyx quickly filled in the gaps and his muscles suddenly tensed. It wasn't like before. What was being done to him was something that had never happened in his countless lives because he was, no had been, a man.
Somehow, that seemed to make it worse. As if in response to the realisation, the invasive feeling below suddenly erupted into intense stinging, making him suck in a gasp of air through his teeth.
The warm spots on his back, which Nyx now recognised to be the impression of hands, drastically increased in pressure as his body subconsciously jerked.
"Oooh~" The man thrusting into Nyx groaned as his fingers dug into Nyx's skin to the point he was almost sure it broke the skin. "That's it, princess. Tense for me~."
