Chapter 13

Prisoner of the Forest

Ember sat in the cage made of living wood and felt his soul ache. For months he had been subjected to the process of having his memories and identity stripped away. Every day Dryad would submerge his spark in a stream of rushing mana. He hovered barely a threads distance from the bottom of his cage and heard the familiar click-clack of approaching boots. Ember looked up to see Alta, Dryads Lord Spark in her elven form.

“Greetings Alta,” Ember said trying to hide the tremble in his voice, “met any more monsters lately that put you on your back?”

Alta glared at him, “Still trying to get under my skin with that barb?”

“Me? Never, I just find it interesting that a Lord Spark gets overpowered by some rogue monster and then raped like a common mortal. Its really rather amusing from where I’m sitting,” Ember said with a snicker.

“Just as I find it amusing when my lady wipes your memories,” Dryad snapped her body trembling with anger, but Ember detected traces of fear and revulsion as well.

“I may lose my memories but unfortunately for you will always remember your weakness,” Ember said mockingly.

Alta snarled and grabbed his cage and marched him down the dirt tunnel its roof supported by a lattice of roots.

Ember braced himself for the pain as he was thrust into a stream of flowing green mana that seared through his soul spark and latched onto his being. Without a body to support himself the mana could do nothing but show itself into him and burn away bits of himself with raw unadulterated power. Ember screamed, and his screams joined the dozens of other screams of the few remaining soul sparks who had not already given up and been wiped. Ember was lasting longer than the rest of them but the months or maybe years he could no longer tell were weighing on him and he knew that soon he would lose all sense of self and anything he had. He could barely remember details about his past and the processes of using magic. His memories of Wraith were becoming fuzzy and he struggled to hold onto them.

Ember didn’t know why he struggled like this. There was no point to it, Wraith couldn’t save him. He was trapped in his dungeon defenseless unable to help himself or others. Ember was alone the only things he had left were barbs and insults to throw at his captors.