The Downfall of a Mage
Posted Sept 17, 2018 9:01:21 GMT -7
Post by Diana on Sept 17, 2018 9:01:21 GMT -7
It looked like it was working, but this mage seemed just as determined to stick around as Diana was to get out of there. The chains rattled as she tried to find someway to force her drenched body out of them, but it felt like every time she made even a bit of progress there was another chain stopping her from going further. It wasn't even about flexibility. If it were that'd be easy enough to fix, she was just so thoroughly locked in place between the chains and nails that she could barely even move at all. Even with her strength enhanced and all her efforts to pull them apart, or out of whatever was holding them to the ground, she wasn't making any effort there either despite how much it was destroying her body trying. A human body wasn't intended to have that much strength, her muscles and bones weren't able to stand up to exerting that much force. It was getting to the point where it was difficult to move at all even if she was intent on fighting through the pain. At some point, her muscles would just tear themselves apart so much that they simply couldn't function, and she was approaching that limit.
Her movements were never frantic, but her current injuries, both the ones the other mage inflicted on her and the self-inflicted ones, were starting to catch up to her. At this point she was having trouble even swaying back and forth enough to get the chains to clang together and her breathing was getting heavy. Diana wasn't even thinking that hard about how hard she was to kill despite that. It was something in the back of her mind reminding her that she had time to figure this out, but her thoughts were completely focused on getting out of here. Unfortunately, she was starting to run out of options.
All she could really do was passively watch as the pool of blood approached her. She had no idea how her power would interact with something like that and wasn't feeling inclined to try it right now. All she could really do was shift slightly and try to adjust the chains she was stuck in to protect her head a little in case the other mage decided to actually try to kill her again rather than continue to toy with her like this. That wasn't what happened though. Gradually, it moved around her and simply formed a box. A few seconds later, Diana stopped moving entirely, going limp in her restraints, and the chains stopped rattling.
On the outside, nothing appeared to change. Gravity was still amplified, the other mage's senses still exponentially stronger. Diana wasn't exactly sure how her power worked, but she did know that once she did something she couldn't undo it even if she wanted to. The effect would be there for the next hour and she had no way to stop it. As far as she could tell, neither did anyone else. Even trapping her like this wouldn't help. Even leaving the area wouldn't get rid of the ones she directly applied to people. It made the power flexible, but dangerous since she didn't always know what kind of effect it would have until she saw it.
Diana herself hung limply in the chains. Slipping out of chains was one thing. Pulling herself out of nails was one thing. But this was a wall of some unknown magic material with no doors or other obvious escape routes. It was another thing entirely. Now she was isolated, immobile, trapped. She could handle people saying mean things about her. It happened all the time and she could dish it out just as much. She could handle people hurting her, even badly. Fights were one of the simplest joys in life and injury came with them. She could handle people trying to kill her, someone tried fairly regularly. It didn't bother her. But she would never forgive anyone that, successful or not, tried to trap her and this was the second time this mage had tried.
It was the one thing she never wanted to face again. Being trapped in a room and completely at the mercy of whoever might take care of her during that. Being completely separated from the world, only able to dream of what it might actually be like. Being so completely and utterly alone that she felt compelled to talk to herself so she cold at least pretend like she had some company. Never again, she would never let it happen again. Not since magic gave her her freedom. The world was hers now, and she wasn't going to let anyone take it away from her. She wasn't going to let anyone send her back to where she was before.
But it was about more than that now. It wasn't about memories or fear or paranoia. In fact, it would be almost accurate to say that she felt nothing if it weren't for the pure contempt in her heart right now. Her eyes were completely empty when she lifted her head to get a look at the other mage through the swirling red walls of her cell. Normally she avoided killing mages. They were an endless source of entertainment and curiosity and she wanted them to stick around. This was different though, something else entirely. Diana felt nothing, not anger not hatred not even fear, her heart was nothing but a hollow pit of contempt and she wanted to watch this mage burn. And unlike this mage, she didn't want to play anymore.
Diana mumbled under her breath, though with her voice amplified like this it was more at normal speaking volume. Still as incoherent as mumbling, doubly so given the clamp over her mouth, but if anyone nearby was good at translating such speech they might have been able to make out what she was saying.
"I swear sometimes you people forget you're still human."
She used her power once more, this time to increase the intracranial pressure of the other mage's skull. Even small amounts of increased pressure was enough to cause severe headaches, nausea, and vomiting in most people. It was extremely painful and disorientating. But this was on an exponential scale. It was enough that, if the mage had no way to counter it, would cause her eyes to ooze, if not outright pop, out of her skull, cause severe brain damage, and would probably lead to death if not treated very quickly. She had no idea how much control this mage had over her other bodily fluids, or if she would even know that draining her skull of fluid might help, but if that wasn't enough Diana had plenty of other ideas.
Her movements were never frantic, but her current injuries, both the ones the other mage inflicted on her and the self-inflicted ones, were starting to catch up to her. At this point she was having trouble even swaying back and forth enough to get the chains to clang together and her breathing was getting heavy. Diana wasn't even thinking that hard about how hard she was to kill despite that. It was something in the back of her mind reminding her that she had time to figure this out, but her thoughts were completely focused on getting out of here. Unfortunately, she was starting to run out of options.
All she could really do was passively watch as the pool of blood approached her. She had no idea how her power would interact with something like that and wasn't feeling inclined to try it right now. All she could really do was shift slightly and try to adjust the chains she was stuck in to protect her head a little in case the other mage decided to actually try to kill her again rather than continue to toy with her like this. That wasn't what happened though. Gradually, it moved around her and simply formed a box. A few seconds later, Diana stopped moving entirely, going limp in her restraints, and the chains stopped rattling.
On the outside, nothing appeared to change. Gravity was still amplified, the other mage's senses still exponentially stronger. Diana wasn't exactly sure how her power worked, but she did know that once she did something she couldn't undo it even if she wanted to. The effect would be there for the next hour and she had no way to stop it. As far as she could tell, neither did anyone else. Even trapping her like this wouldn't help. Even leaving the area wouldn't get rid of the ones she directly applied to people. It made the power flexible, but dangerous since she didn't always know what kind of effect it would have until she saw it.
Diana herself hung limply in the chains. Slipping out of chains was one thing. Pulling herself out of nails was one thing. But this was a wall of some unknown magic material with no doors or other obvious escape routes. It was another thing entirely. Now she was isolated, immobile, trapped. She could handle people saying mean things about her. It happened all the time and she could dish it out just as much. She could handle people hurting her, even badly. Fights were one of the simplest joys in life and injury came with them. She could handle people trying to kill her, someone tried fairly regularly. It didn't bother her. But she would never forgive anyone that, successful or not, tried to trap her and this was the second time this mage had tried.
It was the one thing she never wanted to face again. Being trapped in a room and completely at the mercy of whoever might take care of her during that. Being completely separated from the world, only able to dream of what it might actually be like. Being so completely and utterly alone that she felt compelled to talk to herself so she cold at least pretend like she had some company. Never again, she would never let it happen again. Not since magic gave her her freedom. The world was hers now, and she wasn't going to let anyone take it away from her. She wasn't going to let anyone send her back to where she was before.
But it was about more than that now. It wasn't about memories or fear or paranoia. In fact, it would be almost accurate to say that she felt nothing if it weren't for the pure contempt in her heart right now. Her eyes were completely empty when she lifted her head to get a look at the other mage through the swirling red walls of her cell. Normally she avoided killing mages. They were an endless source of entertainment and curiosity and she wanted them to stick around. This was different though, something else entirely. Diana felt nothing, not anger not hatred not even fear, her heart was nothing but a hollow pit of contempt and she wanted to watch this mage burn. And unlike this mage, she didn't want to play anymore.
Diana mumbled under her breath, though with her voice amplified like this it was more at normal speaking volume. Still as incoherent as mumbling, doubly so given the clamp over her mouth, but if anyone nearby was good at translating such speech they might have been able to make out what she was saying.
"I swear sometimes you people forget you're still human."
She used her power once more, this time to increase the intracranial pressure of the other mage's skull. Even small amounts of increased pressure was enough to cause severe headaches, nausea, and vomiting in most people. It was extremely painful and disorientating. But this was on an exponential scale. It was enough that, if the mage had no way to counter it, would cause her eyes to ooze, if not outright pop, out of her skull, cause severe brain damage, and would probably lead to death if not treated very quickly. She had no idea how much control this mage had over her other bodily fluids, or if she would even know that draining her skull of fluid might help, but if that wasn't enough Diana had plenty of other ideas.