Gustav looked out over the troops as they slowly vanished in the distance. Then he put his hand on Lyra's shoulder, as he reached for another blue vial, and drank the liquid it contained. The last one.
"You know, Lyra, this is not how I expected us to meet again." he began, but his tone did not seem all that regretful. He added: "I didn't really pay you any attention back on Earth. You were like a sickly ghost, after all. Didn't make a noise, never caused a ruckus. But hey, you've certainly had a glow-up."
He stepped around her, looking at her, hands moving up and down her waist and hips, all the while she just looked straight ahead. He smirked, acting far more unhinged now that no one else was around.
"You know, life has not been easy in this world. Certainly I am owed a little bit of pleasure, no?" He looked at her, and his eyes flashed purple again. Suddenly Lyra gained a playful expression on her face, and she giggled.
-"Of course, Gustav! You deserve all the pleasure in the world! I used to have the biggest crush on you, you know..." she said, lifting a slender hand to run her fingers along his chest, no doubt moving to some new command he had just given her.
"My, come then, darling, lets enjoy ourselves..." Gustav said, and took Lyra by the hand, leading her back down into the keep. She in turn giggled and batted her eyelashes, acting like a she had a teenage crush. What followed were hours in Gustav's private room, where he made Lyra dance for him, sing, even profess her love on her knees before him. By nightfall, she was on the floor, licking his feet as if there was no tomorrow while he pleasured himself. However so engrossed in the experience had he been, that he had failed to notice how late it had become.
Suddenly he jolted up, and began pulling his pants up. "Shit, mana is almost out... Lyra, follow me right now!" he said, as he put his boots back on. Lyra pouted, but adhered to his commands. Quickly, they hurried down into the dungeons beneath the keep. Gustav was clearly quite high-ranking as no guard moved to stop him or question his presence. Eventually, they arrived by a cell at the furthest depths of the dungeon. Thick metal bars covered the entrance, a single candle lighting up the cell, and two guards posted outside. Inside there was a magical circle glowing from both the floor and the ceiling, pulsing with an eerie green light.
As they approached, the guards opened the metal door, and Gustav quickly ushered Lyra inside. "Be a good little girl and stay here tonight.." he said, as he closed and locked the door himself. He seemed a bit vexed if not disappointed, that his had fun had not lasted longer. Then he rested his forehead against the iron bar, tired. He switched to English, to speak with Lyra without the guards being able to understand anything.
"When you come to, in a bit... do not hate me too much, Lyra. Not that it really matters if you do, I'll just apply the Mind Control again come morning, and you're mine to do whatever I want to... but I would prefer it if you didn't hate me." he said. Then he continued:
"The first years were hell, Lyra, you have no idea. They had us train day after day after day, without any break. We had to level up faster to be of use to them. The one who was the lowest level each month was punished. Whipping, usually. We spent three years like that, Lyra. Eventually we had grown and leveled up to the point they could not afford to treat us like that anymore, but they used other tactics to control us. Mostly emotional blackmail of different kinds. Many of us formed relationships with those around us. A maid often for the guys, a knight in shining armor for the girls. Of course we did not know then, that they were all just acting under orders, told to get close to us. Charlie did not fall for it. He was the strongest, always spoke out against the treatment..."
Lyra just stood there in the cell, listening. She had no choice after all.
"When the war started, we were sent to the Frontline. We had never killed anyone before. We were just kids, Lyra... but there we were. We had to kill to survive. And well, some of us... we quite liked it. It felt nice to be the one in control finally. But Charlie, and Jennifer, they were against it all. Then one day, during what should have been just a small skirmish, Charlie and his team were ambushed. Hundreds of Revean Knights, I am told. Charlie killed a lot of them, but even he could be outnumbered. He died, Lyra. Charlie is... dead." Gustav sighed, and gently pressed his forehead against the iron wall.
"I always suspected it was the Kingdom Alliance which leaked his position to the enemy, for the ambush. He was too strong, and too unruly to control. And afterwards, his death galvanized the others. Jennifer in particular was furious with the Revean Empire. And the Kingdom Alliance used this to their advantage. The Revean people were all devils, Godless cretins, cruel and evil. Look what they did to Charlie. You must fight, work with us, to survive..." he explained, before straightening himself out.
"Most bought into it. Some of us didn't, but it doesn't matter. It was easier to play ball, and get rewards, than to resist and be slain. If they could kill Charlie like that... then they could kill any of us too. So I began working for King Damien, Lyra. I use my skill to help him, and he ensures I live a nice and comfortable life, away from the battlefield. The first years were hell, but now I got a good thing going, Lyra. All the food, wine and women I could possibly want."
Then, the spell suddenly ended. He had run out of mana. At once, Lyra fell over, grasping at her head as her sense of self suddenly returned. Her thoughts were wild and sporadic, like a whirlpool of emotion stirring within her. The first emotion she felt was disgust. Sheer disgust, at what she had been made to do. She was thankful nothing had gone further than kissing, but it could have been much worse. Immediately, she vomited on the floor, spewing up anything she had in her stomach.
She panted like an animal, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. She was disappointed. Extremely disappointed with herself. She had been far too confident again. Too sure of herself. And she had been rendered powerless, the one thing she had vowed to never be. Just a toy, dancing to someone else's flute, powerless to affect what happened to her. She clenched her teeth so hard she could taste blood in her mouth.
Then came the fury. She had never been a person prone to anger before, always taking every set-back in stride, but this was different. She had been humiliated, abused, her very person-hood stripped away from her completely. Her body had been defiled, and the sanctity of her very mind had been destroyed. For once in her life, she would not try to calm down. Her hands clenched into fists, as she felt unable to contain this range of emotion she was feeling. Just feeling Gustav's gaze on her made her feel both sick and a kind of burning rage she had never once felt in her entire life. How dare they do this to her? What gives them the right to dominate not only her body but her mind too?!
Finally, there was the sensation. This oppressive force which bore down upon her, coming from the glowing green circles in the ceiling and floor. She felt it instinctively, a force which disturbed her mana, and ought to render anyone completely unable to cast any spells. Key word, ought too. To Lyra, it seemed the magic-circle had a range, and was capable of rendering the mana of any potential victim unstable up to about 5,000 mana. That was how much mana the magic circle was able to affect at once. Which would naturally be enough for almost anyone. But not Lyra.
She stood up slowly, no longer the calm and composed and gentle self she usually was. The air around her was different, almost as if simmering with unseen heat. When she turned to look at Gustav, he took a step back by sheer instinct alone. Lyra's face was twisted with anger, and she was beyond caring at this point. She had been abused. She had been violated. Her body and her mind had their integrity broken beyond repair. And it was ALL his fault.
Gustav took another step back, noticing the hatred simmering behind Lyra's blue eyes. He raised his hands, as he spoke: "Hey.. hey, easy. Look I understand you are angry, but this is for the best. Frankly, you should be thankful, yeah! I've saved your life, essentially! Had you remained on the enemy side, you would have surely died! Because of me, you'll get to li-"
-"Wind Blade.[1]"
Gustav was interrupted mid speech, as his head fell to the floor, no longer attached to his body. Then came the metal bars, sliced clean off, clattering to the floor loudly. Finally, the guardsmen standing guard outside also found themselves missing their heads, as their bodies crumpled to the floor, falling over in an almost comical fashion due to the armor they wore. A fountain of blood burst from their necks, and within seconds the stone floor of the dungeon was covered with a red pool of blood.
Lyra had wasted no time as soon as she had regained her senses. Gustav's skill was too dangerous, and he had to go, least she risk being made his unwilling thrall again. Even if that wasn't the case, the fury she felt surging up within her was beyond anything she had ever experienced before. So she had called on her mana, overpowered the anti-magic device, and then unleashed her Wind Blade spell without hesitation. This was the first time she had killed a person in cold blood, come to think of it. The Assassins had been different, as she had actually not tried to kill them, so their deaths had been accidental and not intentional like now.
Still, the deaths did absolutely nothing to still the rage that burnt within her like a wildfire. And she was just getting started...
[1] Wind Blade: Costs 500 mana. The caster compresses the air and unleashes it in a sharp burst of air akin to a horizontal blade. Deals 300 dmg + Spell dmg. Has a high critical hit chance.