When Briddle finished his torture session, he motioned to the guards to take Sarah out of the chair.

  “Hang her up in the city center for the rest of the day. Little girls like her need to be made an example of. Show our people that we won’t tolerate such insolence from these lower life forms.” Briddle commanded as he cringed with disgust at Sarah’s barely conscious body.

  Briddle's guards quickly dragged her out of the Boundless palace, scraping her knees and legs up against the rough gravel outside. They eventually brought Sarah into the center of the Boundless City and placed her in front of a large, sandstone platform. Once they let go of her chains, she slowly looked up and saw a stone pillar with a wooden beam protruding from the top of the platform.

  The guards pulled Sarah upward and fastened the shackles around her wrist to the wooden beam, causing her to hang there with her arms up and feet dangling. Her naked body was on full display for all to see, providing an unhealthy amount of embarrassment and tastelessness. The Boundless citizens stopped and glared at Sarah with absolute disgust, feeling appalled by her unsightly form.

  Many made various rude and hurtful comments about her, while others laughed or looked on with lust filled eyes, analyzing every inch they could see. She hung there and felt so incredibly humiliated by this situation, not wanting to put up with this any further.

  “We’ll grab you once the sun falls. For now, you just hang out here.” One of the guards laughed, finding his choice of words to be rather comical.

  He headed back to the palace with the others and Sarah started to cry as she closed her eyes, exhausted from such a ridiculous day.

  Hours went by until night began to fall and the crowds dispersed in the Boundless city center. The air was immensely chilly against Sarah’s body as she continued to hang there, shivering from the cold bite of the Fall breeze. She could barely keep her eyes open as her fatigue continued to increase. However, just as Sarah hit her limits, the Boundless guards arrived at the platform and retrieved her. They unhooked her chains and Sarah immediately fell to the ground below, landing hard on her side. The pain from the impact woke her up as she let out a small yelp.

  “On your feet, human.” The guards said as they aggressively gripped her arm, pulling Sarah upwards.

  She struggled to stand on her own and the rest of the guards pushed and pulled her along, trying to move Sarah as quickly as possible. They dragged her back to the palace and once inside, the guards forced a thin burlap bag over her body. The gown barely covered her body, but it was enough to hide the most vulnerable parts.

  They continued on towards the dungeons and navigated towards her cell, tossing her inside like a sack of potatoes. Her exhausted body slid across the damp floor and she grimaced from all of the previous pain she endured. Rivell quickly rushed over and checked to make sure that she was still breathing.

  “Sarah! You alright?” He asked with great concern, taking hold of her shoulder.

  The only thing she could respond with was a brief, yet pained moan.

  “She’s a resilient one, I’ll give her that.” One of the guards cheekily remarked as they exited the cell.

  Rivell, to their surprise, quickly stood up while shooting a nasty scowl at them.

  “What did you people do to my friend?!?!”

  The guards turned around and looked at the angered Siestian boy, wondering where all this fight was coming from. However, the intimidation theatrics were ineffective as the guards burst out laughing, finding his concern to be quite hilarious.

  “Settle down, boy! Keep that up and you’ll end up like your friend over there!”

  The guards left and their laughter carried down the hall as they got further away. Rivell went back to Sarah and tried to see if there was anything he could do to help, but to no one's surprise, she just laid there quietly.

  “Just let her rest... See how she is once the morning comes.” Caleb said with a calm voice, walking back to his corner of the cell.

  Rivell sighed and sulked before taking a seat next to Sarah, watching over her like a hawk.

  Within the upper floors of the Boundless Palace, Carmen continued to sit on her bed with immense levels of boredom taking over. She glanced at her new attire with slight disdain, not enjoying the fairly basic looking gown that went down to her calves. Even though it was comfortable and soft, she couldn’t help but be annoyed by the person that provided it for her.

  Multiple days had gone by since their untimely capture and she still hadn’t received any kind of information or idea for their plans moving forward. Other than Homura giving her food each day and checking in, no one else had spoken to her. Inside of this luxurious prison, Carmen was beginning to lose patience with each passing second.

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  “I don’t understand, why bring me to a place like this? And where did they take the others? I hope they’re okay…” She questioned, wondering why she wasn’t in a dungeon like most prisoners.

  Moments later, she felt a terrible headache coming on, causing her to quickly grip her forehead. The images of the Boundless and shadowy figures flooded her consciousness, growing more and more painful. However, just as fast as it came on, the headache dissipated completely.

  'Ugh. There goes that stupid headache again.. Geez, what is up with this place?'

  She glanced down at her palm as she tried to use her abilities, but once again, nothing happened. Carmen balled up a tight fist and punched her surprisingly soft bed repeatedly. However, as she took out her frustrations, she heard the sharp click of heels filling up the hallway. Carmen glared at the door as it unlocked and slowly opened.

  “Ohh, I see you’re awake, child. Did you rest well?” Homura warmly asked as she closed the door behind her.

  The maid accompanying her stood off to the side, holding a brown paper bag. Carmen didn't respond and instead turned her head away from Homura in an annoyed fashion. Homura, now feeling frustrated by their lack of progress, frowned at the childish display as she briskly walked towards Carmen. Homura leaned over and forcefully gripped Carmen’s face, turning it so they could see eye to eye.

  “I asked you a question, little girl. Did you sleep well?” She asked with a cold delivery, staring deep into Carmen’s red eyes.

  It was clear that she was fed up at this point and no longer saw the point of utilizing her typical motherly approach.

  “Y-Yeah, I did..”

  Homura’s expression immediately changed to that of someone kind, smiling as she let go of Carmen’s face.

  “Good to hear!” Homura replied as she let go of Carmen's cheeks.

  Carmen rubbed her face before posing a question.

  “Who are you and why did you bring me here?”

  Homura was surprised to hear Carmen finally speak up and with a quick step back, she did a slight curtsy and properly introduced herself for the first time.

  “My name is Homura. I’m the lady of this splendid palace and the bearer of Lord Briddle’s heir. And yours?”

  Carmen looked intently at this woman’s face and made notice of her features, now getting a better look at her.

  Homura’s two short horns poked out from the bangs above her forehead, making their presence known with each subtle movement she made. She had the typical Boundless features of pale skin, sharp teeth, and thin black lines racing down from her eyes to her chin. Her red hair was long and draped past her bare shoulders, covering the top of her strapless, black dress. Homura’s belly was also protruding greatly as the dress hugged her tightly, showing that she was quite far along in her pregnancy.

  “Carmen…” She replied with slight hesitation, still not wanting to have a conversation with this strange woman.

  “Nice to meet you Carmen. I hope we will get along wonderfully. Now, was that really so hard?”

  Carmen didn’t respond, she instead looked back down to the floor. The lack of reply did nothing more than irritate Homura further, causing her tone to grow rather dark.

  “Carmen... My dear.. I brought you here away from the dingy dungeons out of the kindness of my own heart. Stop disrespecting me with your lack of attentiveness. It’s been four days and you’ve still refused to hold a conversation with me. I think it’s high time you change your attitude, otherwise those friends of yours won’t make it into the evening…”

  Homura's glare was absolutely soul piercing as she spoke, making her point very clear.

  “Uh, S-Sorry!”

  Carmen’s eyes went wide and she quickly changed her demeanor, now giving Homura her undivided attention.

  “Now, about my visit today... I brought you a little something, please accept it.”

  Homura turned her attention to the maid and motioned for her to come towards them. The maid stepped forward while opening the bag, taking out an incredibly well made dress. It was short in stature, deep red, sleeveless, and woven with some of the finest fabrics Carmen had ever seen.

  “Here, put this on. Think of this as my welcome gift to you.”

  Homura handed over the dress to Carmen and smiled, hoping she would accept it.

  “Why?” She asked, still showing large amounts of hesitation towards this overly generous hostess.

  Homura gave a toothy grin and her face lit up with great excitement.

  “Because I think you would look absolutely divine in it! Carmen, honey, your doll-like physique is just so perfect! Plus, I know you must be bored. Play dress up with me, why don’t you?”

  She looked at her with pathetically innocent eyes, trying her best to convince Carmen to indulge this simple request. Carmen turned her gaze towards the dress cautiously, she still wasn't sure why this lady was being so friendly towards her, a mere prisoner. After a brief thought, she reluctantly took the intricate garment and walked over to the washroom.

  Moments went by and she walked out in her new attire, looking extravagant and striking. The red color accented perfectly with her eyes and silver hair, propelling her to new heights of beauty.

  “Gorgeous!! Absolutely Gorgeous!!” Homura exclaimed as she approached Carmen with child-like glee.

  Homura examined her from all angles as she brushed her hand through Carmen’s long, silky hair.

  “This dress used to be mine when I was your age and I must say, you wear it wonderfully. With your looks, you could have any man within our nation. Once we go back down to the Core Depths, I'll allow you to take your pick. Any one of them would be happy to have you.” She said with a smile, insinuating some strange things.

  Carmen raised her eyebrows as she quickly snatched her hair away from Homura’s hands, backing away slowly.

  “What do you mean by ‘back down to the Core Depths?’ And why would you match me up with some random person? What do you want with me?”

  Carmen desperately wanted to understand why she was in this current situation and no amount of friendly behavior was going to put her at ease. Homura looked surprised by the outburst as she rubbed her hand from Carmen’s forceful snatch. She sighed before breaking the news to Carmen in a very calm and alluring manner.

  “Carmen, dear... Once we hit our quota of Boundless citizens, we’re going to move back to our home down in the Core Depths. We’ll finish raising up our new nation and rule over the people of this world from there, as per our original design.”

  Carmen’s expression was filled with confusion as she pondered Homura’s statement. However, little did Carmen know that this was only the beginning of the mental gymnastics she would soon endure.