Chapter 6 The Cell

A month passed before Evernya emerged from her coma. Her unfocused eyes flickered open. Too disoriented from her long sleep to think clearly, she laid unmoving on the bed.

After a few minutes, the fog cleared from her head. She tensed upon hearing an ever-familiar slow beep of the EKG machine.

“Hello miss, how do you feel?” asked a middle-aged man with graying brown hair. On his white coat was a name tag with Dr. Fisher printed on it.

Evernya tried to sit up to converse with the man, but she found only her head could move. The EKG machine went wild as her head snapped up, staring down at her restrained body with terrified, glowing eyes. She had thick silver woven leather straps running across her shoulders, waist, hips, thighs, and shins all tightly cinched down to the frame of the bed. Thick silver woven leather padded cuffs wrapped around her wrists, upper arms, and ankles secured her limbs to the frame of the bed, removing any remaining freedom of movement aside from her head.

“Miss, can you hear me?” Dr. Fisher asked in a calming voice to the bound and frightened catgirl.

Her fingernails elongated into six centimeters long, razor-sharp sapphire claws. Upon glimpsing her claws, her struggles increased as her terror escalated. She fought against the restraints with all her might, but they refused to budge.

An idea popped into her terror clouded mind. With her newly discovered claws, she attempted to cut any restraints within reach of her bound hand, but her bindings were just out of reach. Unable to break free stripped away any remaining coherent thought as her mind descended into hysteria. Tears freely flowed from her shining, terror-filled blue eyes as she continued to struggle frantically.

“Miss, you are at Druth Magicals Hospital. You are safe. We will not hurt you.” Dr. Fisher tried to communicate with her again, but he received no response from the terrified catgirl.

“Nurse, ready the sedatives! She is becoming unresponsive! We don’t want her to hurt herself struggling!” Dr. Fisher ordered.

In Evernya’s terror-filled mind, all she heard was “prepare the sedatives”, turning her terror into rage. How dare they try to confine me!

The bound catgirl turned her furious, fiery gaze upon the doctor and nurse.

Under the unrelenting gaze of their patient, Dr. Fisher and the nurse froze in primal fear. Before they could react, an explosion of force ripped out of their patient, sending them both airborne.

The moment Dr. Fisher landed on the hard tile floor two meters away from his original position, he shouted to his nurse. “Rachel, sedate her now!”

The nurse dashed toward the IV with a determined expression. She plunged the syringe full of sedatives into Evernya’s IV a split second before she went airborne, blown back by another explosion of force. Prepared this time, she landed on her feet a few meters away.

Dr. Fisher and the nurse scrambled out of the room, slamming the door shut. Once outside, they gathered in front of a blast-proof observation window to witness the destruction of the room.

Evernya showed no signs of succumbing, despite having a hefty dose of sedatives running through her veins. She ran wild, no longer having the bands to contain her. Explosion after explosion rocked the room, decimating everything in a five meters radius. Equipment blasted away or got destroyed on the spot. Even the walls within range showed cracks as each successive blast bombarded them. The only thing weathering her storm of destruction was the restraints and the bed frame bolted to the floor, which only increased her rage.

Finally, after over ten minutes of constant bombardment of the room, her struggles weakened. Unfortunately for the hospital room, it had long since lost its one-sided battle against the restrained catgirl. Only the walls, which had dozens of fractures, were still standing. Even the blast-proof observation window had several cracks.

Despite her draining strength, Evernya continued to struggle, still secured to the bed. The frame and restraints appeared to be undamaged, but the mattress, pillow, and sheets laid in tatters, leaving her lying on the metal frame. Her physical struggles progressively weakened as the sedatives did their work, but her storm of destruction continued. Her eyes drooped, but she refused to give up her battle against her bonds.

Soon she was fighting just to remain conscious, but it was a losing battle. Within seconds, she could barely keep her eyes open even a crack. Her bound body felt as heavy as lead. With one last massive explosion of energy, she finally succumbed to the sedatives.

This final explosion shattered the blast-proof window, forcing the group observers to duck for cover.

During the episode, several members of the staff had gathered to find the source of the loud explosions. By the end, about a dozen doctors, nurses, and others stood frozen, ashen-faced, taking in ruins of the hospital room.

Dr. Fisher, being a professional, was the first to respond. “Everyone not assigned to this patient please leave. No need to gawk at a young woman’s panic attack.”

He turned to Rachel, the nurse who administered the sedatives. “Outstanding work under pressure. You may have saved our lives.”

An unknown time later, Evernya jerked awake from an excruciatingly painful combo of suffocation and pressure. She cried out in agony between gasps for breath while struggling against her bonds.

Evernya’s eyes sprang open upon realizing that she could, in fact, move. She found her wrists and ankles shackled with heavy metal cuffs anchored to a bluestone wall attached to thick chains, with a meter of play.

Unable to make any meaningful attempts at escape, she laid spasming and gasping in pain on the thin mattress cushioning her from the blue stone floor. Despite the excruciating pain, she tried to keep herself calm. From prior experience, she found losing control didn’t help.

“Miss, are you awake?” asked an unknown male voice to her right.

Evernya reopened her eyes, pointing them toward the source of the voice. To her right was a mirror taking up the entire wall. Evernya’s eyes widened as she realized where she was. Her tenuous grip on her control frayed, prompted by flashbacks to the jail cell in the lab.

Evernya tried to keep control, but her power unleashed on its own accord. Her pain increased tenfold as her power went haywire, allowing shock waves much weaker than in the hospital room to ripple out of her. Each round of force exacerbated the pain further as it shredded through her body against her will. She flailed, screaming as each uncontrollable explosion ripped through her body.

Unlike in the hospital room, her outbursts glanced off the bluestone walls harmlessly, without a scratch.

In desperation, Evernya stared at the mirror as she begged. “It hurts! Please let me out!”

Unfortunately, Evernya received no response before her body seized up as another round assaulted her abused body. She wailed out, unable to keep from screaming from the torment.

After twenty minutes of relentless torture, the broken catgirl sobbed out in desperation, “I’m sorry! I will be good! I won’t try to escape again!”

Unbeknownst to Evernya, the voice did try to communicate with her several times. Unfortunately, she couldn’t hear it, as her world of agony blocked out all external stimuli.

Over the next hour, Evernya’s struggles weakened until they stopped altogether. She curled up on her side with her arms wrapped around her knees, silent, voice gone from over an hour of screaming. Her magic had stopped exploding out, instead favoring to form around the broken catgirl as a protective cocoon of force. This cocoon didn’t mitigate the pain as her body continued to spasm every few seconds.

Still stuck in her room of torment another hour later, Evernya’s force cocoon was sputtering before ceasing altogether. Evernya laid lifelessly on her side, unmoving, with blank eyes.

Under her hospital gown, Evernya appeared to have had substantial weight loss. Her appearance no longer resembled the beautiful young woman of a few hours ago. Her once flawless, ashen skin imitated a dried lakebed, arid and cracked. Even her previously shiny, soft raven black hair was dull and falling out in chunks on the thin mattress.

Out of nowhere, the mirror wall shattered. In walked a tall, otherworldly visage of an elven woman. The elf had long silvery blonde hair flowing down to her lower back, coupled with emerald green eyes and the iconic pointy ears. Fair and soft skin covered the lanky frame of the elf, who had to be at least 190 centimeters tall. Adorning her frame was a spotless white sundress with white matching strappy heeled sandals.

Tears fell from the elf’s eyes as she took in the poor state of the girl. “Oh, you poor kitten, it appears I was too late.”

The elf glided across the room, almost as if walking on air. She crouched down to the mummy, unlocking the shackles, before picking up the dried-up husk that once was a beautiful woman. Pieces of the mummy’s skin broke off, dissolving into dust upon impacting the floor as the Elven woman carried her out of the room.

Outside of the room stood a pale Dr. Fisher and the shaken nurse, Rachel. The elf turned her unrelenting gaze upon the duo, forcing them to their knees with an unknown pressure emanating from her body.

“I should have your heads for what you did to this poor kitten! Your human fear and incompetence snuffed out a young life before her time! So what if she destroyed her hospital room! That doesn’t mean you have the right to lock her in a cell designed for dangerous criminals! If you couldn’t handle someone as young as her, then you should have contacted someone who can!” the enraged Elven woman berated with each sentence, increasing the pressure of the unknown energy on the duo.

“B-but, how were we supposed to know a mana isolation cell would kill her?” Dr. Fisher sputtered, resulting in the unknown energy forcing him to his hands and knees.

“Even if she was unaffected by your cell, you should never have put her in there! Stupid humans always ruled by their fear!” The elf snapped.

Her chiding session stalled when she felt something puncturing her forearm. She glanced down to find the mummified catgirl feebly suckling on her forearm with two fangs the mummy had sprouted on instinct. An elated smile bloomed on the Elven woman’s otherworldly, gorgeous face, witnessing signs of life from the girl.

“Kitten, there is more to you than it appears. To think you were a mana siphon as well, no wonder the cell hurt you.” The elf whispered, smiling down at the suckling girl.

The dead dried-up skin continued to fall off the suckling girl, revealing new healthy skin underneath. Simultaneously, her hair regrew as healthy as ever, filling in the bald patches within seconds.

After a couple of minutes, the elf felt her suckling parasite grow hot. “I’m sorry kitten, but I’m too much for you.” The elf said, prying the clinging girl off her forearm.

The elf turned her gaze back to the duo who caused her kitten’s suffering. A smile bloomed as she transported the malnourished, feebly struggling girl toward them, gently laying her down next to Rachel. The Elven woman grabbed Rachael’s arm, placing it within the malnourished girl’s reach.

With surprising strength Evernya latched on to the forearm, piercing it with her fangs, then sucked. Within seconds, Rachel swayed on her knees from the rapid mana loss.

“Don’t dare resist, she needs mana to recover, and you two will provide it willingly or not.” The elf threatened.

Neither Dr. Fisher nor Rachel dared to refuse, terrified of the powerful elf.

They watched with intrigue as the girl sucked away on Rachel’s arm. She rapidly regained her healthy body, no longer appearing malnourished but still on the underweight side.

Within five minutes, Rachel slumped over, unconscious from mana loss. Running on instinct, the girl dropped Rachael’s arm, then pounced on her next prey. Evernya latched on to Dr. Fisher’s arm, then pierced his skin with her fangs to begin her next meal. Dr. Fisher, being older and having more potent mana, provided the girl with more sustenance. Muffled moaning came from the suckling girl as she enjoyed her meal.

He lasted over ten minutes before he too swayed. Just as he was on the verge of passing out, the suckling girl unlatched herself and retracted her fangs before falling over out cold.

“Pitiful, both of your mana capacities are low even for a human.” Commented the elf.

The Elven woman glided over to the group, retrieving her unconscious kitten. “I will take my kitten home with me since this hospital has proven incapable of caring for her. Don’t think I’ve forgotten about your near murder of my kitten. If my kitten needs anything that either of you can provide, I expect you to do it. Otherwise, this incident will become public knowledge.” The elf threatened.

She sliced through the girl’s hospital ID band with a precise application of air magic before wrapping her in a fluffy red blanket she materialized out of thin air. Without glancing back at the stunned Doctor and nurse pair, she glided to the elevator, hugging her bundled kitten in her arms.