A scream was torn from my throat until my voice gave out and still I fell, tumbling through eternal darkness. I tried counting and gave up somewhere in the millions. I thought through my next Path of Exile build, if I ever made it back to earth. I thought about my new friends; I spent a long time thinking about Hannah. And then even longer chastising myself for thinking about Hannah too much.
"Who's there? Stay away! Or just kill me already. Please." A voice pleaded out of the darkness.
I whirled around and stumbled as solid floor was suddenly under my feet. My heart was racing, but I could finally see again. Well, somewhat. The room was pitch black and spinning, or maybe I was spinning, but my devil eyes could pick shades of gray out of the shadows. The floor and walls were cold, rough stone and I could see a heavy metal door on one side. I had somehow landed in a dirty, grimy dungeon cell. I could just make out a bucket in one corner and in the other there was what had been a bedroll in a previous life with a dark silhouette sitting up a little and looking blindly around the room.
"I know you're there. I can hear you breathing. I always know.." Her voice cracked with terror and pain and trauma as she called out again.
As I moved closer, my heart broke for her. It was all but impossible to tell her hair or shin color under all the dirt and grime, but the dozens and dozens of scars both old and new stood out brightly. She wore scraps that could almost be called the remains of a dress if one was very generous to them. Her ears were round, and I couldn't see any evidence of wings, or horns, or tails, so I made a very rough estimate of humanish, perhaps in her mid thirties. Just a few years younger than my human self had been, if my guess was anywhere in the ballpark.
My voice was still gone from all the screaming, so I couldn't speak to her. Instead, I just knelt down close enough that she could feel my body heat. The minutes of silence stretched out between us until finally her hand tentatively came up and delicate fingers ever so gently brushed against my cheek. When I didn't bite or pull away, the fingers returned and softly traced down to my lips and then along my chin and down the curve of my neck.
When her fingers brushed against the top of my breasts, I heard a gasp and the hand jerked away. "A woman? I-I don't know how you got here, but please, PLEASE if there's anything you can do. Please.." Her voice broke with sobs. "My name is Paz. I've been stuck here longer than I can remember!"
"Paz." I croaked, my throat throbbing with each letter. I gently raised my own hand and delicately ran my fingers along her cheek. Her eyes closed and she leaned her face into my palm.
Her eyes flew open and we both froze as heavy footsteps pounded up to the big door.
"He's coming back!" She frantically whispered at me. "Hide! Save yourself!"
I hesitated for a moment, before backing away into a corner of the room and holding my breath just as the door was thrown open. A lantern poked through followed by a giant monstrosity that had to duck to fit in the door. It was vaguely man shaped, although with weird bulges and too many arms. As he drew close to her, I finally got a good look at her face and it took my breath away. She was absolutely gorgeous, even buried under all the dirt and grime of years of captivity. Not that it made any difference. I was determined to help her and would have done so even if she looked like a shoe. But like.. I'm only human. Or.. devil-blooded, whatever. You know what I mean.
His mouth opened and guttural gnashing and growling sounds came out. In my mind I felt, ~Time more fun, girl.~ Holy shit, I could understand what he was saying. Did I speak demon tongue now? She started screaming as his meaty paw grabbed a fistful of her hair and lifted her up until her feet were dangling a foot off the ground. His third hand raised a whip. And just.. nope! Nuh uh. Not gonna FUCKING happen.
I hadn't even realized I was naked until now, but was immediately thankful as my bare feet pattered silently across the stone floor and I took a running leap. As I sailed gracefully through the air and landed surprisingly high on the thing's back, I wondered how high my Dexterity could be, and thanked the gods Above for whatever number it was. I growled and jabbed my fingers at his eyes. I was partially successful; I did considerable damage to two of his eyes. But then I realized he had four more. His fourth hand reached up, grabbed my hair, and chucked me across the room like a shot-put. I yelped pathetically as I hit the wall and felt my bones break. I crumpled to the floor, coughing up blood.
~They give new toy.~ He did a gurgling chuckle as he stomped over towards my broken body. I dragged myself up to my elbows; every inch an explosion of agony. Paz and I locked eyes as I reached out a hand towards her. I felt myself start falling. She gave me a sad smile, and was gone as I fell through eternal darkness once again.