He threw me against the ground. "You miserable failure. What did I tell you about reminding me of your existence?"
I curled into myself, covering my head with my arms, my eyes blurry, unable to see anything. Just a dark shadow looming over me.
His feet kicked me in the stomach, rolling me over the ground, again and again. I couldn't protect my back, or my head, they were all fair game for his feet.
He only stopped when I stopped moving. My bones felt broken, and my muscles felt torn, but I still breathed, barely.
"Still alive?" he asked, squatting down to check. He grabbed my hair and lifted my head, "Of course you are. You always survive...and all thanks to whom?"
He held my face up, his ear close to my mouth, waiting for my answer.
The sound of my painful breathing was not enough.
"Ma...ster..." I croaked, and he dropped my head back on the ground.
The blur in my vision refused to go away, and my eyes refused to focus on his face. I was glad they didn't, seeing him would only bring more pain.
"That's right. Your master was enjoying his evening and you just had to ruin it for him." His voice sounded calm, but it always did before he decided to do something terrible. "How will you make it up to me?"
My body refused to listen, my head refused to work.
"Think fast, or I will think for you."
All I could do was breathe, and that was getting harder by the minute. Every beat of my heart made it worse. At that moment, the last thing I was afraid of was death.
"Nothing?" His hands grabbed my legs and spread them open.
I realized I had no clothes on. Was Madam and the owners just a dream? Their scent was gone from my skin. Were they ever real?
The touch of warmth they left on me stayed, and I held onto it. It felt like the last piece of warmth I would ever have.
"Finally, the stench of your heat is gone."
He dropped my legs and stood up.
My heat was the only thing that remained from my time with the owners. It was gone now. I no longer had any trace of them on me.
The shadow moved away, and my vision began to clear. He owned many circus groups, traveled from one to another to collect unique animals and performers for his shows. Each had a theme, and each had a ring leader to manage it.
This must have been one of the more prestigious groups. The tent alone was as big as the owner's, and the decorations were lavish.
The walls were lined with animal skins, and the furniture was made of gold and jewels. The ceiling was painted with image of the world's map, the land and the sea in different colors.
My eyes didn't have enough time to get blurry again when he appeared in my field of vision. Standing by the basin, he washed his hands, removing my traces off him.
The scars on his arms, chest, were covered in deep red-orange tattoos. White feathers dangled from his ears, with green jewels hanging from them. His ears were shaped into horns on his head, which was his griffin beastman trait.
I closed my eyes, as if that would help me become invisible. He was not a male a female should look in the eye, unless she wanted to be blinded.
The thought of Madam facing him made my heart skip a beat. It somehow changed into his eyes being plucked out by Madam instead. A Supreme Being, one who could make the sky shake, and the earth tremble, suddenly became a helpless creature at the hands of a female (in my mind).
My smile never formed on my lips, but I felt it in my heart. Like a bright light shining in a dark cave.
Baron was right. There really seemed to be some light inside me that never dimmed, despite the darkness surrounding me.
"There have been some males asking about you. Did you go around advertising yourself?"
When no response came from me, he concluded I must have fallen unconscious.
He stepped on my thigh to check, and I let out a painful whine. He moved his foot to my stomach, and pressed down. Air escaped my lungs with a groan, and I couldn't take it back in. Just when I thought I was dying, my back burned.
The burning sensation moved through my body, and my lungs began to function again. I took a breath of air, and the pain in my stomach eased.
He moved his foot away, and I curled to my side, coughing as I clutched onto the rag. The only thing I had to cover myself with, a piece of cloth that prevented me from becoming a Wilder, a female beast that lost all reason.
"You better be careful nobody finds out about it," he said as I slowly recovered.
It took me a few minutes to get on my knees and bow my head. Throbbing pain and aches shot through my body with each movement, but it was much more bearable than before.
The mysterious healing came from the Master, that's what he meant. His warning was not to reveal this secret to anyone. Shame would come to him if others found out as he wasn't known for being merciful toward females.
I wasn't sure how or why he did it. He was full of secrets, and his actions were unpredictable.
"I...I will be good," I said, still trying to get my breathing back to normal. "I will be... better."
"Get your filthy body out of my sight," he dismissed me, his back turned to me, already sitting in his chair. He poured himself a drink, and took a sip, his eyes on the world map above.
I got up on shaky legs, and walked to the entrance. Opening the flap of his tent, there was nothing but darkness outside. Even the ground looked like a bottomless pit, with just a small amount of light coming from behind me.
I stepped out, and crouched by the entrance. Could this be the space inside a miracle core? One you could obtain by defeating another beastman? A place to keep your treasures?
They worked similarly to the beastman's shifting ability, the bigger and stronger the beastman, the bigger the space inside the core. It was my first time seeing the inside of one. Master's rank was unknown to me, but he had to be high up there.
"Move," his voice came from inside the tent. He must have felt my presence still lingering near the entrance.
I stood up and walked into the darkness.