"Day 2."
The whisper of the demon woke me up.
The first thing I noticed was the sensation in my body.
When I fainted, I was experiencing the verge of terrific pain. But now, I felt normal. No, I felt great without the sensation of my skin cut and flesh sliced. There was not even a trace of blood.
It was as if yesterday was just a dream.
I wish it was true, but the pain was too real to be a dream.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
Following the sounds of her heels tapping against the floor, Roxanna sat on a chair in the center of the room and crossed her legs.
In front of her were holograms showing…they were showing the different experiments conducted on my blood and flesh.
I felt a sense of revulsions. She had done every damn test on them and acted as if nothing happened.
There wasn't even a hint of a frown on her face. Rather, she looked pleased.
Swiping the holograms away, she locked gazes with me. "Since you know what I'm capable of, I expect you to be obedient now."
Her voice was full of complacence. It was as if she was proud of what she had done to me.
I understood that she was a crazy psychopath. But only now did I realize how crazy she is.
She is a broken woman with completely twisted values, but an intelligent mind.
I shuddered at what this meant…a monster with no inhibitions and all the intelligence to pursue what she wants.
"Who are your parents?" She asked with a curious face. "I checked your DNA with the database. There is none. Even if your parents are the poorest of poor, their DNA signature should be stored."
My face paled and I realized that this woman was coming close to my secret.
"Forget them, even if your father and mother's DNA signature is missing, there should be your grandfathers and grandmothers." A dangerous glint flashed in Roxanna's eyes.
I took a deep breath and calmed my pounding heart.
"But nope. I checked your DNA with people in the past 200 years. No one matched." She declared and stared at me.
"So, my assumption is that you're either an alien or someone who lived for more than 200 years."
"T-That's absurd!" I retorted strongly. If she knew, things would only get worse.
"It's absurd indeed." Roxanna nodded, but before I could sigh in relief, she continued. "But what remains after all the impossibles are removed, no matter how absurd, must be true."
I stayed silent.
"Well then, answer me. Who are your parents?"
"I don't know. I grew up in an orphanage all my life." I said with a serious face.
"But your reaction earlier and my own senses tell me you know something more. Tell me that." Roxanna clicked her tongue.
"I don't know anything else." I shook my head and prepared for the next torture.
But surprisingly, Roxanna didn't pursue the matter anymore. "I'll know the truth soon."
She said and tapped on a hologram to her left. With a beep, a machine in the lab began emitting green light.
I tensed. She might really find out something.
"Moving onto the most important question," Roxanna propped her chin on her palm and looked at me condescendingly.
"From your blood and flesh, I checked the activity of your aura. Compared to the old aura, the new aura's activity rate is extremely high."
I frowned but didn't speak.
With a nonchalant expression, she said. "Oh, in layman terms, your talent rose before a few months."
My heart dropped.
It was on his birthday…
"Looks like you know." Roxanna raised a brow. "Are you telling me how your talent increased or should I force it out?"
Ths woman…there's no way I can change her opinion. Then the only thing I can do is…
"Try." I spat.
I could've tried lying to her, but she'd find out.
After all, for the sister of Julius Xander, accessing the complete data of my life wasn't a problem.
She knew whom I knew, where I grew up, what I ate, and perhaps what I wanted to do.
So, I did the only thing I could.
I stood up to her.
"Today, you won't even be able to scream." She smirked.
I didn't understand what she meant, but the next second, my whole body went numb.
A golden light flashed and my skin started to burn.
"Ar—"
I couldn't even scream. My voice was cut off as the muscles in my throat stopped working.
It started as a tingling on my skin before an excruciating pain flowed through my body.
Every fiber of my being shook as the heavy inflow of electricity coursed through me.
My skin started to burn and my muscles were twitching, in fact, my whole body was twitching as I collapsed on the ground.
Like a fish out of water, I struggled on the floor.
My arms, feet, and back were burning under the heavy electricity. Every muscle in my body contracted a thousand times trying to fend off the dangerous current.
Soon, my breathing became labored.
My vision turned black and the only thing I was aware of was that my body was on fire. I was having fifth-degree burns.
I didn't know how I managed to hold on. Maybe it was because I couldn't scream from the pain.
But.
In all that pain, I found a small spark within me.
It said 'Don't give up.'
I lost consciousness.
*** *** ***
"Day 3."
Roxanna asked the same question and got the same reply.
Then, I was nearly frozen to death.
I shivered as my body temperature dropped rapidly. My breathing turned hard and I was on the verge of closing my eyes forever.
My blood was also close to being frozen.
Like that, I lost consciousness.
*** *** ***
"Day 10."
The devil called me again.
As I opened my eyes, she looked at me with a frustrated expression. I looked back at her with spite.
I really wanted to do one thing right now. Kill this demon in human's skin.
Ten days of extreme torture didn't break me.
I was as surprised as Roxanna.
There were times when I just wanted to die. But I was able to grit my teeth and live through it.
I thought there were many reasons for my resilience. Maybe because I was a hybrid. Maybe because I was a mind awakener and had more resistance towards torture.
But I realized that the most important reason was much simpler.
…I wanted to correct things.
I wanted to go back to him.
I wanted to live a happy life.
This became my purpose to live despite the hellish pain.
This torture would've broken even a veteran. But when faced with a young girl whose heart longed for just one thing, it was powerless.
Pain still affected.
It burnt me. Froze me. Electrocuted me.
It hurt.
But that's it.
I am not immune to pain.
Sometimes, I cried. I screamed. I wailed.
But I didn't give in.
"You non-human bitch!" Roxanna cursed me like a shrew.
The composure she showed on the first day was long gone. From my DNA test, she concluded that I wasn't a human.
But that was the limit to what she could deduce. Even if she was a genius among geniuses, her civilization was ultimately not advanced enough.
"Your talent, it's above everyone I know. It's a celestial grade!" She said with mad light flickering in her eyes.
I glared at her. Ten days of crazy torture hadn't broken me. But it was filled with a lot of pent-up emotions.
"Even though you gave no answers, I found a way to use your talent." She smiled and flicked her finger.
A crystal vial appeared on her palm.
"This is an alpha potion." She caressed the bottle and explained. "It improves talent of a high grade mortal to low celestial grade. Basically, it gives a person a certainty in reaching Sovereign state and a chance in reaching the higher state."
I looked at the potion in disbelief. aʟʟ0ᴠeʟ F uʟʟ . c 0 m
…This is made from me?
Then I recalled Sarah's massive improvement and a thought occurred to me.
...If only I knew this earlier, I'd have helped him!
"It's complicated, but I can't extract this infinitely from you without killing you." Roxanna looked at me like it was a pity. "Of course, I won't kill the golden goose. I assure you a lifelong safety in that glass tube."
"Bitch." I cursed.
"…I still need to stabilize this potion." She stood up and snapped her fingers.
Her demonic voice lingered in my ears. "So, please offer me more samples, Sia."
"Suffer more."
Wheez!
The flaming blades in the glass tube started to spin.
I closed my eyes and imagined the future I want to live for.
I imagined Varian hugging me.
'Sia, you'll get through this.' He said in a gentle voice.
I nodded through tears and the pain enveloped me.
*** *** ***
"Day 30."
The monster said.
"Cursed woman who'll never have a family of her own." I cursed her.
But instead of electrocuting me or showering me in metal thorns, she smiled.
I looked at her with eyes full of hatred.
She started giggling.
"In trying to make me crazy, have you gone crazy?" I mocked, though I had almost no energy for anything except speaking.
"Hehehe." Roxanna giggled. "I gave Charles the potion. His talent rose. Now, he completely surpassed his father."
"…" My face scrunched up in disgust. "He'll die a dog's death."
The smile on Roxanna's face vanished and she waved her hand.
"Arghh!"
My screams filled the lab as blood painted the glass tube red.