And so it begins.

Pain

Isn't it?

What a joke, I'm still here feeling the air rushing into my lungs…

I tried to move, or at least open my eyes but I soon found out that what is happening is not mere mental trauma.

'weird... how come they haven't started a new round'.

Pain again....????

A new kind of pain made itself known, it was subtle a small amount that rather than inflicting fear left me confused.

'Something must have happened'

Seconds passed and I began to listen, I hadn't realized my hearing was gone all this time, just being able to listen brought a tear to my still closed eyes, I never knew how much I missed a thing that everyone takes for granted, it was fun to realize to say the least, well let's wait and see, maybe just maybe something happened.

I mean, they wouldn't let their own prisoner, just free would they?

No...

They must be plotting something, thinking of a way to get the Lock to let loose, maybe they'll sell me or maybe they got bored of me, that doesn't make sense, I'm a prisoner, not a slave, so even if they got bored they wouldn't throw me out, unless my value had somehow diminished.

Hell

...

Even if it's true, it's suspicious, those sadists wouldn't let a perfect prey like me go, I'm tired, I'd better rest while I can, fuck those bastards, I'm going to enjoy my last moments of peace.

More seconds passed and minutes turned into hours, the pain was gone and my other senses were slowly starting to work, my nose picked up a rotten smell nah scratch that, that shit is obviously broken, how in heavens name did it perceive so many rotten smells, it just doesn't make sense, it's disgusting, how can anything even be able to live in this literal shit filled pit.

Bzzzzzzz

And there goes another one, this...is...serious.

I could go on about the tortures, the threats, the pleasure hells, but the fact that maybe just maybe I'm going to live the rest of my life in this shithole just rubs me the wrong way, seriously YOU SIMPLY COULD HAVE KILLED ME!!!!!

BUT NOOO!!!!

INSTEAD THEY DUMPED ME SOMEWHERE LIKE A BAG FULL OF SHIT AND HOPE TO EARN THE PLEASURE OF MY MISERY!!!!

GO... FUCK.... YOURSELVES!!!!!

Haaa that felt good, now let's check the situation one more time, my hearing is still good, my sense of smell is not broken...unfortunately, I can feel my damp surroundings so touch is good too, my tongue...it moves so I'll let it have the benefit of the doubt and finally my eyes are still shut, but as I've come to learn this is temporary.

Well, I'll get my sight back soon so I think I deserve a good nap, gosh this brings back so much nostalgia, stop thinking stupid, otherwise I won't be able to sleep.

࿏ ⋙⋙⋘⋘ ࿏

I opened my eyes, scanning my surroundings I could make out what is a throne room, a large room with carpets made of exotic beast skins, quartz pillars, magical armor on stands and a crazy huge black diamond throne at the end.

As I watched something was doing the same thing I couldn't discern it but it looked humanoid enough to throw off the careless, not that this was good news.

Then a chuckle began, they must have found my pathetic state amusing, my hands and feet were bound and my body was bleeding slightly I could even see my skin turning black.

Necrotic damage, did they want to turn me into an undead? No, if that was their wish it would have done it already, so does they want to see me suffer or is there something else?

Well, if they wanted to see me suffer, they're bound to be disappointed, though it's strange that they doesn't show themselfs, they knows I know they're there, so why?

I soon found out.

The bastard was inscribing a rune inside my flesh, does they think a simple brand will make them my owner? Now that's funny.

"Being that lies behind the veil of darkness laughing, would you grace me the favor of revealing your esteemed self to this lowly human?"

I could not hide the disdain in my voice, though I regret it now.

My mockery was well received, the laughter ceased and it was revealed, with a smile so large that human anatomy became a joke, its sharp teeth best depicted as fangs, coal black eyes with a tail and horns that grew at once tearing at its clothing, it approached me.

A demoness.

"Fuck" this wasn't the worst case scenario I thought.

Clapping filled the silent room as the thing in front of me enjoyed my newfound dread.

I'll be damned, these things should have been banished by the heroes.

Now that I've taken the time to analyze the last few days, I realize that the quests I accepted were strange, the pay was good, but what good does it do me if I'm taken hostage by a demoness!.

Heavens I screwed up big time this time.

࿏ ⋙⋙⋘⋘ ࿏

I snapped my eyes open hoping to erase the memories of that fateful day, but what my eyes took in left me speechless, there was blue everywhere with stripes of white.

It took a while for my brain to process this long forgotten sight, it was an unfamiliar sky, but a sky nonetheless, I willed my hand to reach for the sky in a vain attempt, moving my fingers as if to grasp the beautiful canvas in front of me.

It was relaxing and feeling the warm rays of the sun caressing my skin made me let go of a knot I consciously ignored, I know this may be a trap but in this instant I didn't care about anything as I lay there enjoying this moment as if it was my last.

Hours have passed and the comforting state has soothed me, this time I haven't shed a single tear but I feel as if the seas have dried up.

Trying to stand up, I look at my body while ignoring the filth around me, my skin was slightly pale and my limbs were bruised, a beaten human, a normal beaten human, no matter where you look, still that answer scares me.

'Why is my body so small?'

'What happened to my powers?'

'Where did the mana go?'

'How come everything is so quiet?'

"...What the hell is going on?"

As I was bewildered by my new circumstances I began to move my little feet, escaping from this dump in god knows where.

It was then that I was spotted by a fellow human, by his clothes he was obviously a worker, however my mind did its best to prepare an attack stance even though I could barely move with my raw control, so what my mind was telling me to do and what my body could do ended up messing up my control and I slipped.

When the man came all I could do was throw my gaze towards him, it was awkward to say the least and humiliating to my pitiful self.

⁎ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ⁎

A week has passed since and everything feels nostalgic, people were playing with their phones, cars were racing to jump traffic lights, children were going to school, such a quiet life is a blessing, it's a pity that most people don't know how to appreciate it.

Anyway that's not as urgent as the fact that I am now in an orphanage, I have officially become an orphan, the reasons? I was lazy to hear the whole story, but it was something along the lines of child abuse, come on dude, why would this body's past host be of any importance to me?

This isn't like those damn cultivation novels with heart demons and weird shit from my past life, well, the me from that time would have called it everyday life, but that's not the point, what I'm trying to say is that I can make the best of this new life with only the minimum living standards, which honestly are pretty high, at least if I compare it to the all the time lows that haunted the masses in my past life.

I'm always thinking about those wretched lands, I must stop, it's not good for my health to stress about a past that probably doesn't matter anymore.

A sigh left me, I have yet to finish my train of thought....

Let's take it as a goodbye, yes I will take it that way, so this past week I have been busy trying to figure out what is going on and I came to the conclusion that I am not inside an illusion nor a secret realm, this place that has eerie levels of similarities to the ancient era of my old world made me think of those fantasies of old, I am talking about stuff like reincarnation.

Like I said, there are similarities but there are enough differences to call this place a parallel world, so a regression is out of the question, I couldn't say I'm reincarnated, since I woke up stealing someone's body, nor was I isekai'd, since I didn't keep my cool body, so I'll go with the latter option, the all time favorite of the Chinese: Transmigration.

Geez, I didn't think it was possible to remember that information, I mean, it's useless information for a hopeless survivor in a miserable world, what was it my grandmother used to say, 'Childhood defines the man' ..., I don't accept it at face value but I know there is some truth in that statement.

However, this is so fucking wrong!

How?!...how?!...how?!....

I couldn't understand how I was free, yesterday I was in a good mood when I realized I was finally free, only to remember that it was literally impossible for me to escape that hell of a castle.

Fortunately 'God bless that sigil' the Lock is intact so I reviewed the last memories before my awakening here, and I have to say, it wasn't my brightest decision....

To make it quick as it looked like they were going to find my new room soon, my value as a hostage hit rock bottom somehow and I ended up as an experiment as my sigil carved into my own soul made it resilient enough to withstand the nine hells and some more.

What came when she released my soul into the void was pain, utter unadulterated, maddening pain.

My soul feeling like it was being ripped apart went into depths no mortal soul should ever reach, my body had long been gone and the Lock doing what it does best locked my state, so I continued to see eldritch horrors that my pitiful quasi-transcendent soul could not process, while still suffering because my sigil held my soul together in an attempt to safeguard my sanity and it worked, fuck yeah it did!!! for 3 minutes....

My crazed self then chose the most ridiculous option, it chose to eat itself in hopes of thriving for the rest of the voyage.

It didn't work either, but it gave me enough clarity to cast a few sigils, the first was meant to shut down my soul, it was dangerous as most things here could outright kill me with a snort, however, I would rather die in my sleep than witness my death, the second sigil was meant to absorb the energy from the mildier energies and use them to feed my ever dying soul, the conversion rate was low almost reaching negative numbers but it did what I wanted, the third was to awaken if and only if my soul entered a human vessel and finally the fourth sigil was a trigger to activate the other three sigils at the expense of a chunk of my soul effectively causing my soul to split.

One impossibly shattered fragment of my soul made it here, as for the other, I wonder where it is, well it no longer is my problem.

I felt a light tap on my shoulder that brought me back to reality.

"Valia dear let's go see the others" I looked up to see a middle aged woman with a kind demeanor, something about her gave me reassurance.

Nodding I turned my attention to the door in front of me, inside this wooden door are the other children with whom I will share my life at least until I can become independent or get adopted, I can't say I like this starting over but whether I like it or not what lies behind this door will change me for better or worse.

As my determination rose the woman dropped her hand on the handle and slowly began to open the door, the feeling of a new start affected me as my heart began to pound and then I saw it.

I guess living inside a spatial vacuum wasn't so bad after all.