Tormented and Tortured

"Crows? Here?"

Favian looked around, as he softly put on his fedora with a hole on top of his head.

Although he felt saddened that his fedora was ruined, there were more pressing matters.

Crows.

He hated them.

Usually, everytime he hears the squawking of crows, it is mostly meaningless. However, if it happens in a place like this, then...

His guts felt sick, and Favian wasn't ashamed to admit it. He knew, even if he was an Apostle, there are things far greater than he is.

Back in the day, trusting his gut saved his life.

At the thought, Favian smirked as he shifted his ripped fedora on his head to cover his face.

'To think I would lose my cool with my fedora being ripped. What an idiot I am.'

So, mentally commanding his clones to keep the woman occupied, he turned to escape. The ground crunched beneath his feet as he moved farther into the shadows.

Then, he felt a cold washing over his back.

A very chilling cold.

Even in a world of ice, it had been a long time since he felt such a chill. Even the winds he brought forth were blown away by these new winds.

Favian's body instinctively stopped and stiffened-no, he couldn't move.

'A curse? When did-' Favian thought, and then froze as he heard-

"𝗕𝗼𝘄 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗱."

"𝗞𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗺𝗲."

"𝗦𝘂𝗯𝗺𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗲."

He swerved his head around, and all remnants of his anger drained away as Favian's back trickled with sweat.

His eyes laid upon the source of these new winds at the sight of a woman standing there.

A different air of aura came about from the veiled woman. Previously, she was cold, yes, but now...she seemed to become even colder.

And she was all alone.

All of his clones were gone.

Examining her further, he noticed she had no noticeable injuries.

No spells being constructed.

No residue of mana used.

Only the woman was standing there, unmoving and unchanging

'All my clones...died? Just like that-no, wait!' Favian squinted his eyes.

What happened to his clones was more akin to being killed.

They were unraveled.

Reversed.

Opened like a book.

'The only way for that to happen is to reverse time, but that's impossible at this moment. The only other way this happened is for someone to truly understand the basics of the clone magic...'

Favian smirked at the sight.

Inside was a different story.

'Bollocks.'

"𝘒𝘶𝘩𝘶𝘮. Well, madam it seems like destiny is calling me," Favian said, coughing into his fist.

"I owe you a favor for letting me stand here and think as well. It's a good thing I always prepared two routes for my escape."

He then quickly bowed his, and with his left hand holding his fedora, Favian smirked.

"As much as it is a pleasure meeting you here, it is time to bid you...adieu~"

He raised his right hand and snapped his finger.

"..."

"..."

Nothing happened as the woman watched the man coughed into his left hand.

"𝘊𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩. My apologies. Now, it is time to bid you...adieu~"

He snapped his finger again.

"..."

Favian then began snapping his fingers quickly, but nothing happened. He quickly connected this with the only other variable that could possibly exist right now.

'This witch! What did she do-!'

Suddenly, the woman slowly walked over to him, and he instinctively stopped thinking. Favian quickly backed away in a panic each step the woman took.

"Ahem, Madam, it seems we have a misunderstanding here. I-!"

The woman walking towards him had nothing to say as she slowly raised her left hand, and it glowed a bright blue.

From the sky, a vortex appeared. As if in a vacuum, the dark cloudy fog was slowly being absorbed into the center, and from it...a large blue object appeared.

Favian sweated as he saw a large, transparent shining blue spear much, much larger than the others, slowly appearing from the center of the vortex.

"Um...madam, perhaps I could return the favor if you forgive me? I always remember my debts-"

Favian stopped mid sentence as the spear quickly fell towards him.

Before he could scream even further, the spear landed on the ground.

As it impacted the ground, the world around them became silent...and then trembled even more.

As if the world was trembling in horror, rumblings and cracks were heard. Then, a large explosion appeared, engulfing everywhere Favian could see.

And it was about to engulf him as well.

Favian eye's bulged even more.

"Oh bollocks-!"

A huge shockwave discharged from the center, swifter than the strongest of winds, destroying the trees and almost everything else not deeply rooted onto the ground.

...

In the dark world, dust clouds slowly floated here and there. From inside it, a shimmering light emerged.

A barrier, similar to the one the woman made, covered both the woman and an unconscious little girl.

Everywhere one looked, it was a dry, barren ground with no signs of anything worth mentioning for at least a mile.

The only noticeable mark was a large crater. Within it, was a limbless, ragged man, breathing ragged breaths.

Both the man's legs and his left arm were scattered at several different places.

A book laid flat on the ground beside him, empty and dim.

Lying on the ground, Favian fixed his ruined fedora on his head with his one hand.

"To think even with my relic's power, I was unable to even block most of that spear's power...hehehehe-𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩!" Favian coughed out blood as he started to chuckle.

As he was chuckling, he heard something fizzle somewhere away from him.

Taking a great amount of effort to turn his head, he saw the bright blue barrier amongst the clouds of dirt and dust brightly fizzle out and fade.

Then, he heard something from the dust clouds.

𝘛𝘢𝘱.

𝘛𝘢𝘱.

𝘛𝘢𝘱.

Having the privilege of laying against the ground, Favian clearly felt each vibration stepping closer and closer to him.

Every footstep he heard made him unconsciously breathe a tiny bit faster.

Finally, the steps stopped.

Squinting in the darkness, Favian can barely make out a person's figure standing tall over his embarrassingly broken body.

"Well, I am-𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 -at your mercy. Do as you will. I do owe you a debt after all of ambushing you..."

A brief moment of silence descended on them. Only the sounds of rough breathing came from the man lying on the ground, vulnerable.

After the while, the woman finally spoke.

"I must thank you, Apostle Favian," the woman said, and Favian couldn't help but flinch.

"...what do you mean?"

"You have brought me a great gift."

Then, to Favian's utmost surprise, from the darkness emerged another figure. It was...an exact copy of her?

"What-?"

"To think such a useful spell existed. Seeing the Fifth, I couldn't help but underestimate the gifts and magics of the First Calamity. It was rather foolish of me."

Then, another woman appeared beside him, and the feeling of dread rose from within him.

"Although I can simply make a spell similar to it, it would be sacrilege to compare it with a miraculous gift like yours. With such a gift I shall pardon you of some of your wrongdoings. However..."

All three women's staff slowly began glowing blue.

"You still have much to atone for."

One of the three women stepped closer to him, but Favian had different worries at the moment.

"How did you-no, how did you unravel the gift my Lord has given me?" he said, denying what he is clearly seeing.

These are clones! Not just that, but clones that felt extremely similar to the ones he made!

"You can't possibly-!"

"I refined your spell, enhanced it even further, and attuned it for my use," the woman simply responded, as if it was the easiest thing in the world.

'What is simple about that?' Favian couldn't help but think.

"Even if the eyes of the fae can see through lies, that only applies to facades and emotions. The question is, how are you able to see and understand the complexities of my Lord's gift?!"

The woman seemed to ponder for a moment, before deciding to answer.

"...after you withstood the first punishment, then I shall answer you."

"The first-!?" Favian stopped himself, and sighed.

"Fine, do your worst."

She raised her staff...and unhesitatingly stabbed it through where the upper-right arm and right shoulder was connected.

"𝗨𝗴𝗵-!"

Searing pain shot through him as the staff embedded itself cleanly right through his shoulder join, stabbing straight into the ground beneath him.

Then began the torture.

The woman 𝘵𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘥 her spear, shredding his bones and muscles.

As Favian's right arm was being teared away, his face contorted even more, but other than the first wince, he did not make a sound, instead gritting his teeth and closing his eyes.

...

After what seems to be an insufferably long time, the woman finally tore his arm away from his body.

With her staff, she simply flinged it away.

She looked down at the struggling man, but heard no sound of frustration and agony. Instead, the limbless man had a stony face.

"...as expected of an Apostle. You truly do have a strong will," the woman praised him in a dead tone.

"Very well then, I always keep my promises. In respect to your tenacity, you can ask your question. Be warned, your question could determine your fate."

Hearing that, Favian let out a small breath of relief. Taking a few moments to calm down and get his breathing down, he finally spoke.

"You...you have one of the seven gifts!?"

The woman-now three-only watched him in silence. As Favian watched her intently, the woman finally slightly nodded her head.

At that, the limbless man couldn't help but uproariously laugh and wheeze.

"Hahahahaha! What kind of sick joke is that? Did fate somehow bless you? You of all-𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩-people!?"

The woman only stayed silent, and he couldn't help but feel more and more discontent.

"Well, I guess that's to be expected, after 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 day. Ahhh...this day cannot get any worse," Favian sighed.

Here he planned and schemed, and now it all backfired. Did he unconsciously underestimate her or something? Was his hubris the source of his demise?

No, it was his fedora that finally pushed him to go all out.

'Why must you fail me now, my dear fedora?'

"Now then, your second punishment..."

"Bollocks..."

"Tell me everything that you know, and I shall pardon you."

"...uh, everything?"

"𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨. Or else."

Right after saying her demand, the three women simultaneously held out their right hands towards him, glowing an insidious black and blue color.

Favian couldn't help but gulp.

"Wait we can talk this out, okay? No need for tortur-𝗔𝗚𝗚𝗛𝗛𝗛-!"

He screamed as one woman began slowly closing her fist, and he felt all his organs being slowly squashed.

"Wait, let's talk this out, please-𝗔𝗚𝗛𝗛𝗛𝗛𝗛𝗛𝗛-!"

The scent of charred and burnt meat rose into the air.

Smoke slowly rises into the air, it's source coming from a part of the man's body, which was being burned and peeled off by one of the other woman's staff.

As the tip of the staff glowed blue, it slowly touched an open part of Favian's skin, and the scent of charred meat increased.

The man couldn't help but begin wriggling around like a dying worm.

"How nauseating. A proud Apostle of a Calamity, wriggling around like a bug slowly being squished under my foot. If you did not attempt to trick me, then this would not be necessary," one of the three women said blankly.

Favian did not have the privilege to listen as he was occupied with something else.

"Dagnabbit! Barnacles! Fudge Cakes! Son of a MonKE-𝗔𝗚𝗛𝗛𝗛𝗛-!"

The once fancy man-now looking like a beggar-continued writhing on the dirty floor.

Screaming and cursing, Favian truly wanted to kill himself, but he knew that this terrible woman wouldn't allow it.

So his only choice was to plan a way for the woman to quickly kill him, or he could only curse in order to slightly relieve himself.

He knew that the woman won't let him off easy, and that made him more frustrated. Eventually, the repertoire of curses continued to grow as Favian desperately tried to make it all end.

"Stop, stop-AHHHHHHHH! You cursed woman, I'm just a clone! I don't have what the main body has! It's meaningless-!"

"I know."

"AHHHHHH-huh?"

Favian's eye bulged open as he stared up at the woman.

As it was a dark gray world around him, and with her hand glowing a black and blue color, he could barely see the shadow of a veil on the woman's face.

He was unable to see any detail of the woman besides her opened hand reaching out for him.

"I know. My eyes see through lies veiled behind a blanket of shadows. However..."

As she trailed off, her hand began glowing with a more insidious color, inching ever closer to his face.

"I also know that when clones die, their memories transfer back to the main body. However, with a clone directly connected to the main body, their feelings also transfer back."

Favian grimaced and felt his back drenched in sweat as the woman continued exuding a cold air.

"That method means I can inflict mental pain upon your main body through you. Your main body has probably and most likely has some resistance, seeing as you're an Apostle. So, I will increase the amount of torment I give to you. Prepare yourself, Apostle Favian, and submit before it ends. I am willing to pardon and offer you redemption if you offer information and your loyalty."

On the ground, with his semi-charred, limbless body, Favian's face became stony once more.

"That's the one thing I cannot do, Madam. The one thing I cannot do is betray my Lord. You can torture me all you want, but giving away anything about my Lord is the one thing I will never, 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 do."

All three women could only shake their heads at the response, and one of them spoke.

"Your loyalty is admirable and praiseworthy. Sadly, it is a pity that there is only one choice. No one can escape my vengeance. 𝗡𝗼 𝗼𝗻𝗲."

Favian couldn't help but chuckle gloomily as he watched the woman's hand brighten more and more insidiously.

"Heh, what a terrible day this is, and it's my fau-𝗔𝗚𝗚𝗚𝗛𝗛𝗛𝗛𝗛𝗛𝗛-!"

More screams followed as brief flashes of light flashed many, many times.

Until there was silence.