Sefirian Chronicles: Avielle's Inferno

Chapter 3: Breaking Bodies

December 2016. Deprivation Cave, Unknown Rainforest

Avielle sucked her teeth as another lash hit her arm, stinging and burning her skin. She struggled to catch her breath as another one landed on her back and she twisted her body away instinctively, hissing under her breath. Isidore blindfolded her on purpose and led her to a deep, underground cave where there was nothing and the air was so thin, she could barely breath even before the torture. Her senses were muted on purpose and she was forced to deal with Isidore while gagged, bound and helpless.

The shapeshifter taunted her, telling her to just say the word and he'll stop. He insulted her, screamed at her with his booming voice, mocked her being and tried his very best to continue to break her. His words wounded her deeply and it was almost as bad as the beatings, but then she would hear the smooth swoosh of thin bamboo stalk whizzing against the air and feel it cut through her skin—it would not actually bleed her or break skin, but the pain it gave was just as bad as a piping hot iron fireplace poker. It is a technique in torture. Her senses are blocked out and her torturer would overwhelm her with himself, pain, and degradation for days on end until there was nothing in her world but him. Only him. Every second that the pain would stop would be his mercy in action and manipulate her into thinking that he is fair and just if just given what he wanted.

The first time they did the exercise, she lasted two hours before breaking and losing control as usual. If not for the magically enforced iron chains and cuffs that bound her, she would have brought the cave down on them. But Isidore stayed with her throughout the moments where she wasn't herself, constantly reminding her of her resolve. He believed in her. And so Avielle believed in herself and gritted her teeth, barely making any noise anymore as blow after blow landed on her body. He gave her pain that would put the fear of God in her eventually. It is essentially also a part of her training to teach her that no matter what happened, she should never let herself get captured. Because what he is doing to her now, even if it was pain close to death, is nothing compared to what humans will do to her given that their torture arsenal is not limited to a bamboo stick and punches.

A few times, she came close to getting angry enough to go berserk but she caught herself in time to take a deep breath and regain control once again. Isidore eventually explained to her her destructive nature.

"You know what the most dangerous animal in the forest is?" Isidore suddenly asked her as Avielle quietly went back from her afternoon meditation in the Creation cave. He was sitting idly on their long bamboo bench, drinking hot mint tea. It has been two days since her rampage and Isidore never mentioned it to her. But she had a feeling they were going to talk about it today.

"A tiger?"

"No, it is any animal that is cornered and trapped by a predator. Every nerve in its body is alive and readying itself for one thing and one thing only: survival."

Avielle hung her head and sat herself beside Isidore, looking at the distant waterfall. "Is that what happened to me?"

"It's called being a berserker Sefir. Every one of our supernatural kind has a survival instinct, but not quite like Sefirs. Sefirs have the power to harness the power of the earth and life itself. But being unable to control it has its consequences."

Isidore turned to look at her meaningfully.

"How do I control it?" the teen asked, searching desperately for a hint that Isidore might have any answer for her.

"No one knows," the shapeshifter replied honestly. "It is such a powerful ability that it overwhelms your kind. And so, no one has actually tried to. Not even during the Great War."