Sold as the Alpha King's Breeder

Chapter 114 : Let's Go Home

Whatever light had been in the crack of the door was an illusion. It was completely dark on the other side.

I stepped into the room and let out a sigh of relief. This wasn't as bad as I thought.

Drip, drip, drip...

The strong scent of copper and rust filled my nose. I frowned. Blood.

There wasn't light, but I could see clearly. There were pools of blood on the floor. Some were fresh, but some were old and dried.

The same crimson red was covering the walls, too.

Then I noticed there was someone else here—she was bound to a platform in the center of the room.

Her hair was messy and unkempt, clothes torn and shredded. She was tied to a post, arms behind her back, a gag in her mouth. Her skin was smeared with blood and dirt, eyes red and puffy. But the rest of her was pale and thin. Nothing but skin and bones.

I gasped. The fresh blood was dripping from her legs, which had been cut off at the knees!

A rough, dirty tourniquet had been tied around them but it was obvious these people didn't care if the wound got infected.

Tears sprang to my eyes.

"Helen!" I shouted.

Although this woman didn't look anything like the Helen I'd seen in my dreams, I knew it was her. Her face was younger and she was so beaten and tortured, but it was her!

"Aunt Helen!" I called again, but she didn't move, as if she didn’t seem to hear me.

A man came out of the shadows with a whip. The end of the whip was split with several flogging strips. At the end of each one was a needle.

Smirking and chuckling, he snapped the whip at Helen

She groaned into the gag, the sound muffled but the pain all too clear in her wide eyes.

The needles raked across her skin leaving dozens of tiny slices across her back, where hundreds of scars matched the fresh cuts.

“No, stop!" I cried, but my legs were so heavy all of a sudden, I couldn't move.

Helen's head rolled backwards and she groaned. I thought she'd pass out in a minute. But the whip swung again and as soon as it struck her, she cried out, her body jerking and spasming against the pole.

Blood soaked through the gag. She was either biting her own lips, her tongue, or her cheeks in pain, causing her mouth to bleed. Drops of blood dripped from the corners of her mouth, hanging off her chin and one tear rolled from her eyes.

“No...no...please...stop!" I begged, but no one in the room paid any attention to me.

Another man appeared from the shadows. Both of them wore masks. They looked at each other, showing clear distaste for Helen's responses.

One of the men started turning a wheel and the post Helen was tied to lifted in the air even more on a pulley. Helen whimpered, being lifted with the post.

The other man threw charcoal bricks on the floor. He grabbed a torch and lit the coals, which burned and smoldered, causing the air rippling with heat.

They waited as all the coals turned red, glowing in the darkness.

All of a sudden the platform dropped, and I heard myself shrieking in horror as Helen's muffled scream tore my heart.

Her arms were almost ripped from her body!

"Stop!"

Those bastards, how could they...How could they do this to her?!

Through my tearing eyes, I saw the second man start to slowly lower Helen closer to the coals.

The blood on her severed legs started to bubble and what clothes remained on her body curled and withered in the heat.

My eyes bulged and I wanted to look away but I couldn't!

Her arms were torn and broken, her legs were cut off and being burnt, and she whimpered and shook her head back and forth.

A little closer, and suddenly, her skin started to blister and burn.

How could one bear so much suffering?

The men tied the post in place, keeping her just close enough to sear and scar her but not to light her on fire and kill her.

At first, she tried to fight it but then she couldn't. Helen screamed and screamed in pain.

My eyes watered relentlessly.

My sobbing mixed with her screams as they echoed in the air.

That wasn't good enough for her torturers. The one with the whip snapped it at her gag, tearing the fabric until it fell away.

Helen's hoarse screams filled the cavern, echoing around. She thrashed and struggled to no avail.

I could almost smell her burning, sizzling flesh.

“Kill me! Please, just kill me!" Helen pleaded.

The torturers looked at each other and chuckled.

“No can do. We're having too much fun. You'll live to suffer, b***h!"

“Kill me now! Please!" She kept begging.

My stomach lurched and I fell on my hands and knees, dry heaving. My vision was blurred by tears. “Stop! Stop it! Please STOOOOOOP!" I shouted, my voice was dry and I couldn't make any more sound.

It all fell on deaf ears. They couldn't hear me, because what I saw wasn't real, instead, something happened in this room years ago.

I covered my eyes, and slowly, all the noises started to fade. The torturers weren't laughing and Helen wasn't screaming. The only sound left was my own weeping.

When I looked up, Helen and the men were gone. So was the post she'd been tied to.

Sniffling, I wiped my tears and got control of my heaving. Everything that had been around me was gone. I was back in a black pit of silent, hopeless despair.

For a moment, I thought I'd fallen out of my vision. But if that were the case, where was my cell?

I squinted my eyes into the darkness and realized I was still in my vision. I was still in the room Helen had been tortured in. The only difference was, the contents of the room had changed.

At the center of the room, something heaped on the floor.

Squinting harder, I tried to get a closer look. It was the shape of a person. However, I still couldn't move.

"Helen...Aunt Helen, is that you?" I cried, my voice hoarse. “Wait for me, I'm coming. I'm coming!" Suddenly, I snapped awake in my cell. My mind raced and I clutched my chest as my heart and lungs tried to claw their way out.

What I saw must be Helen's past...So the real Helen must be the person I'd seen in a heap on the floor!

All I knew was that room was where Helen had been tortured and probably kept for years. I had to get there!

My cheeks were damp and I quickly wiped the tears away. First thing first, I needed to get out of this cell.

When the guards had brought me down here, they'd hung the keys at the bottom of the dungeon stairs. I heard it just before they left. It seemed like it was so far away, but it wasn't a problem for me.

I grew a root in my cell and made it longer and longer until it touched the key hook. The root picked up the keys and brought them back to me. Quickly, I let myself out of the cell and put the root back in the ground.

There was a luminous stone on the wall nearby and I grabbed it, just like Soren had done in Norwind. My knees wobbled as I raced down the hallway, which was the tunnel in my vision, toward the door at the end.

My footsteps echoed through the dungeon reverberating over and over again until I couldn't tell if I was the only one running through the hallway.

It didn't matter, I knew where I was going and nothing would stop me.

Knowing what I might find brought tears to my eyes. With every step closer to the door, I sobbed, shaking even more.

I remembered the turns from my vision, and had to figure out a few hidden entrances disguised as walls. The dungeon was an enormous maze. Had I not had my vision to rely on, I would never be able to find my way.

When I got to the door, I fumbled with the keys. My vision blurred, it was hard to find the right one. I tried several on the key ring and finally the lock let out a dull clang sound. Without pause, I threw the door open and ran inside.

It was the room from my vision, and just like what I had seen, there was a crumpled heap in the center of the room... a person.

I held my breath and moved closer. The person was missing all four limbs. Her hair was gray and dingy, her body broken, twisted, and bent. Her bones stuck out against her skin and I could see her ribs and her vertebrae under her thin, stretched skin.

My aunt Helen... she was dry and papery, gray.

Hearing me approaching, her body moved slightly. Thank the Goddess she was still breathing! Fresh tears came to my eyes and I threw the keys and luminous stone on the floor. Dropping to my knees and sobbing, I carefully picked Helen's emaciated, fragile body up and wrapped her in my arms

"Helen, I'm here,” I whispered.

I brushed her brittle, straw-like hair from her face and was careful not to hold her too tightly or touch her with too much pressure.

She was so light and delicate I thought she'd break apart in my arms if I wasn't careful. She mumbled softly and I was afraid I'd hurt her. I tried to look into her eyes for any sign of pain but I couldn't—because her eyes were gone.

She looked 30 or 40 years older than she really was. Not at all the same person as the one I met in my dreams, but I was certain this was her.

"Who did this to you!? Was it Dylan or Sebastian? Tell me who it was and I will kill them! I will kill them all!"

I kept my voice soft and soothing. I didn't want to startle her or hurt her with my loud voice

Helen trembled in my arms and turned her head from side to side. Her pale, chapped lips pulled back and I thought she was trying to smile. Behind her lips, she had no teeth left. They'd been broken off at the roots, like they were smashed with a hammer, not pulled out.

Helen's mouth moved a little and I had to lean down to hear what she had to say.

"Ah, Mila, you're here..."

The stretched smile over her skin and bone face broke my heart. Tears dripped from my eyes and landed on her wrinkled cheeks.

“My... dear, sweet M-Mila...I'm so glad to... meet you again... in person... now th-that you're grown.” “Shh, don't talk. Unless you're going to tell me who did this," I whispered. Talking was such a strain for her, I could tell.

“You shouldn't... be here."

“I'm here to take you home, Auntie... Let's go home."

She shook her head almost imperceptibly.

“Mila, don't waste your time on me..."

Sniffling, I ignored her. I cradled Helen's body in my arms and picked her up. She was so weak and skinny she was light as a feather.

Suddenly, I heard noises from outside the room. People were coming directly to the room. Had the king figured out my plan already?

My fists clenched in fury, blood boiling.

Slowly, I went down on one knee and placed Helen carefully on the floor. I stood between her and the door, ready to destroy anyone that dared come near her.

"Go... Mila... go."

I scoffed. “Let them come! If those bastards dare touch one hair on your body, I'll make them pay with their lives!"

I chanted the spell and modified it slightly. What ripped out from the ground were arm-thick roots that grew lethal, sharp thorns, large enough to impale a grown man. They flailed around, the thorns slicing at the air like bloodthirsty monsters.

They would take down anyone that came into this room!

"Mila!" Helen gasped, her voice breaking.

The footsteps got closer and the door opened.

I froze.

It wasn't the Alpha king I'd been expecting.