Whispers filled Jinn’s ears, distant and close at the sa ti, echoing through his ears.
The air was heavy, thick with a strange scent of iron and ash, and it clung to his lungs as he struggled to breathe.
It was suffocating.
At the sa ti. His arms mysteriously ached.
*clank...! *clank...!
He heard the subtle clanking of tal chains as he tried to move, the sound bouncing chains around whatever room he was in.
"urgh..."
Groaning softly, he slowly cracked his eyes open.
What greeted him was an eerie scene—the chamber was dimly lit with a blue hue of light, radiating from unknown devices placed randomly throughout the dark room.
Dark-robed figures moved purposely in the background, so hunched over tables with bubbling chemicals, while others stood before floating holograms of what looked like twisted strands of pure black corrupted eidra.
Jinn’s vision blurred as he blinked hard, trying to make sense of where he was.
But the situation only grew worse.
One of the robed n approached him, holding a syringe filled with a dark, shimring liquid.
The substance seed alive, moving erratically like a creature in a glass prison.
Jinn’s heart quickened.
The mont the robed man drew close, his adrenaline spiked as he knew what will happen if corrupted eidra were to be inserted inside his body—he rembered what happened to Kain.
At that mont, his instincts scread.
"What the fuck are you doing!?" he shouted, trying to twist his body free.
*Clank! *Clank!
But the restraints held tight—thick, black chains etched with glowing runes bound his wrists and ankles.
He could feel them suppressing his eidra, nullifying it completely.
The robed man ignored the struggle that Jinn showed, instead lifting the syringe toward Jinn’s neck.
"Stay still, child," the man whispered, voice distant and hollow beneath his hood.
"It’ll be over soon."
Jinn snarled and lunged as far forward as the chains would allow. With every ounce of strength, he bit down on the man’s hand.
*Crunch!
The man yelped in pain, his grip faltering.
The syringe slipped from his hand,
*Crash!
shattering against the stone floor, spilling its dark contents in a splash that crawled slowly outward, along the floor, making a ss.
"Tch!" the man snapped, stepping back.
A second later, his fist ca down hard on Jinn’s face.
*Thud!
Once.
*Thud! *Thud!
Twice.
*Thud! *Thud!*Thud! *Thud!
Over and over.
Jinn gritted his teeth, his head snapping to the side with each strike, blood dripping from his lips and nose.
But he didn’t cry out.
He didn’t yield.
"That all you got?" he muttered, voice hoarse but still defiant.
"Damned brat!" The man seethed, turning away to retrieve another syringe from a tray.
This one glead just like the last, black and glistening with a fluid that seed to whisper on its own.
He ca back, stomping on the ground as he made his way towards Jinn.
His arm then snapped forward, grabbing Jinn’s hair and forcing his head sideways to expose his neck.
Jinn jerked, cursed and tried to resist—but the syringe pierced his skin.
*pssh!
He inhaled sharply as the cold spread through him.
His body tensed.
The liquid was ice, burning from within, wrapping around his bones, weaving through his veins like venom.
Then the numbness hit.
Then a mont later...
Pain.
Blinding, paralyzing and excruciating pain.
It felt like his very blood was turning against him, each pulse a new agony.
"ARGH!" Jinn scread.
His body arched against the chained restraints, muscles convulsing every split second.
His eidra flared in instinct as he could feel the excruciating pain that echoed and pulse throughout his body.
The room ignored his cries.
The robed figures continued their work without pause, adjusting controls, murmuring to one another in a tongue he didn’t understand.
Suddenly, a large tal door opened with a hiss.
A new figure entered.
She moved with grace, her black robes flowing like liquid shadow.
A golden crown partially masked her face, leaving only her mouth visible—then a sharp, calculating singular beam of light ca from the crown that scanned Jinn with unnerving interest.
"So you are a child of Muradryn..." she whispered, stepping closer, her tone both curious and reverent.
Her hand brushed his bruised cheek, fingers cold and gentle.
"Soon," she said with a twisted smile, "you shall beco sothing more. A child of the darkness. You shall be reborn."
Jinn didn’t reply. He could barely focus as the pain took his attention.
She then turned and flicked her wrist.
The other robed figures responded imdiately.
With a hiss, a large cylindrical machine at the side of the room lit up, rotating with chanical clunks as it dispensed another set of syringes.
The woman sat on an ornate tal chair beside Jinn’s table, crossing her legs as she observed the procedure with a calm smile.
Another robed man stepped forward, syringe in hand.
Jinn jerked.
"You bastard!"
He struggled, teeth bared, body shaking.
But it didn’t matter.
The second injection sank in.
Then a third.
Then a fourth.
Then another.
Screams echoed across the chamber as the corrupted eidra surged within him, pushing his body to its limit.
His veins darkened, a sinister glow dancing beneath his skin. His breathing turned ragged, desperate.
Each dose tore deeper into him, attacking every fiber of his being.
His vision blurred to red, then black, then white with pain.
And then,
nothing.
He couldn’t scream anymore.
He couldn’t even move.
He felt hollow.
The last thing he could rember was the sound of a machine whirring down, and the voices dulling.
"First process is completed, your highness," one of the robed n reported.
The woman stood, giving Jinn a final glance.
He was pale, barely breathing, limp in his restraints.
His chest rose and fell in shallow rhythms.
His hair, once a brilliant crimson, was dimd and damp with sweat and blood.
"Good," she said.
"Let him rest."
She walked to the door and paused, turning back to view the boy one last ti.
"Tomorrow," she whispered with satisfaction, "a new beast shall be born."
*Hiss!
And then, the door sealed shut, leaving only silence, machines, and the soft, steady beeping of sothing unnatural beginning to stir within Jinn’s veins.
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