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M y chest heaves with exertion as I pause beside the babbling brook, the gentle current a siren’s call amidst the dense foliage enclosing me. Sweat trickles down my nape in rivulets, my entire body thrumming with an adrenaline-fueled restlessness that leaves me simultaneously wired yet utterly drained.

Christ, I’m parched.

Without a second thought, I fall to my knees at the water’s edge, calloused palms scooping out a handful to guzzle greedily. Lukewarm liquid slides down my throat with each swallow, quenching the fierce burn that’s tormented me since this bloody Trial began. Scooping out another palmful, I tip my head back and let it cascade over my face, the cool relief sluicing away the grit clinging to my pores.

A sudden shadow falls across me, every hair along my nape prickling in warning an instant before a vice-like grip clamps around my throat. The breath seizes in my lungs as I’m ruthlessly wrenched aside, the world tilting on its axis as I crash onto my back amidst the rocks. My skull bounces off the bank with a sickening thud, and for a dizzying moment blackness threatens to swallow my vision.

Then, just as abruptly, I’m submerged beneath the surface, that merciless hand forcing my head under the churning current. Liquid surges into my nose and mouth as I instinctively gasp, bitter and gritty. It rushes down my oesophagus in an icy deluge, the shocking chill momentarily obliterating every other thought beyond sheer, animal panic.

I thrash and buck beneath the oppressive weight pinning me, lungs burning with the desperation for oxygen. Feet scrabble for traction against slick rocks, seeking any foothold to leverage myself upwards—only to find nothing but empty water.

Then, just as spots begin fizzling across my vision, the torrent abruptly recedes and I’m allowed to breach the surface, coughing and spluttering violently. Water streams down my face as I wheeze, blinking away the droplets clinging to my lashes. As my eyes refocus, a familiar figure swims into view—Arius, looming above me with an utterly blank expression devoid of any discernible humanity, like a shark sizing up fresh prey.

Fuck.

Instinct kicks into high gear, every lesson and drill reverberating through muscle memory as I struggle to break his grip. But Arius’ hands remain as implacable as iron shackles, one still clenched around my throat while the other dips lower. A heartbeat later, the waistband of my leggings is being ruthlessly wrenched down, the material dragged over my hips to bare my most intimate areas to the chill night air.

“No—!” I choke out, only to find my protests muffled by a fresh onslaught of water as Arius shoves my head back under with brutal indifference. The current crashes over me again, silt and grit flooding my mouth as I fight the rising urge to inhale. Fingers dig into his wrist, clawing and gouging, but that merciless grip stays unbroken no matter how desperately I strain against it.

Blackness gradually creeps in again, senses dulling to a muted roar of blood in my ears and churning water. Every ragged inhalation scorches my abused lungs as I wheeze and cough, hacking up brackish liquid that coats the back of my throat in a gritty film. Fuck, I can barely concentrate through the wave of dizziness crashing over me.

Arius finally grants me a reprieve, hauling me back to the surface. One instant I’m spluttering, on the verge of retching, then his iron grip wrenches me upright with casual brutality—face-to-face with that ferocious glower burning through the shadows. I shrink back instinctively as something cold is pressed against my bare thigh, heart pounding a frantic staccato against my ribs.

“Wha—?” The strangled syllable dies in my raw throat as every nerve suddenly blazes with blinding agony. A guttural scream rips from my core as lightning sears through muscles, limbs convulsing in violent spasms against Arius’ restraint.

Fuck, fuck, fuck! What fresh hell was that?!

White bursts dance across my vision, the coppery tang of blood flooding my tongue where I’ve bitten clean through my cheek. My lower abdomen continues to seize in excruciating throbs, the muscles clenched so rigidly it feels like I’m being hollowed out from the inside.

“Quit fucking squirming!” Arius’ teeth are gritted, although I can’t discern if it’s from exertion or sheer contempt. I don’t get the chance to contemplate it further, that torturous sensation igniting along my nerves once more when the device hisses against my flesh. This time, I recognise the source of that unholy agony—clenched between Arius’ fingers like a vile parody of a sex toy, the glass globe nestled snugly against my clit.

“Oh god—no! Don’t, please!” I buck wildly against the water, desperation lending my thrashing a frenzied edge. The spasms are even worse this time, each contraction cramping my womb into a tight fist, like I’m being ripped apart at a cellular level.

He’s really doing this. Christ, I knew there’d be challenges during this induction. Trials to test my resolve and obedience. But this? This is some fresh brutality plucked directly from the darkest pits of depravity, sending shockwaves of revulsion and… no. No, I won’t complete that thought. Cannot permit that sliver of arousal to gain a foothold, no matter how the frayed edges of my sanity are slowly coming undone.

Outrage momentarily overpowers the burn scouring my muscles, lending strength to my struggles. I thrash and twist, writhing in a frantic bid to create enough space to evade Arius’ next assault. For the briefest beat, he actually loosens his grip, only to immediately tighten that vice around my forearms, pinning my wrists against the rocks in a manoeuvre I recognise—holding me immobilised to ensure I cease fighting back.

With my upper body restrained, I resort to my only option: kicking my legs in wild arcs, hips bucking in a frenzied attempt to displace whatever sick torture device he grips. Yet Arius continues weathering my frantic assault with that stoic indifference, moulding his bulk around my blows like an oak.

My knee finally connects with something solid, his grunt of pain fuelling my desperation. As his hold slackens a fraction, I surge with renewed vigour, wrenching my leg free amidst a shower of glass shards as whatever he was holding hits the rocks. They rain down around my outflung limb, slicing a myriad of lacerations along my hip—shallow gashes that instantly well crimson even in the faint moonlight.

Breathe. Just fucking breathe through the burn, !

With my leg at last unencumbered, I swing it upwards in one smooth arc, knee drawing back to drive into Arius’ ribs again. Or perhaps further upward, if the trajectory holds true and momentum favours me—possibly driving into the granite cut of his jawline. Either impact would buy me precious seconds to extract myself entirely from his clutches.

My knee connects with stunning force, slamming into Arius’ ribs and driving the air from his lungs in a guttural wheeze. He doubles over instinctively, massive frame hunching as fingers loosen their bruising clamp around my wrists. Yes!

Seizing the fleeting advantage, I pivot at the hips, jamming my knee up and hooking it over the crook of his elbow. Bracing my palms on the rocky streambed, I thrust upwards with everything I have, buckling his rigid form just enough to fully dislodge his restraint around my arms.

A high-pitched whine tears itself from my raw throat as I scrabble backwards through the shallows. The sopping leggings are tangled around my thighs, currently my most immediate impediment, but I’ll deal with that clusterfuck when I have a single bloody moment to breathe.

Arius recovers with frightening speed, ferocious snarl slashing across his rugged visage as he lunges for my flailing leg. Callused fingers clamp around my calf in a vice, dragging me back towards his bulk like a recalcitrant child through the churning water. Christ, his strength is inhuman.

With a desperation-fueled surge, I twist at an angle, planting the ball of my freed foot squarely into the juncture of Arius’ neck and shoulder. Every ounce of power wrenches from deep within, slamming the sole of my shoe into the flexed muscles with the meagre leverage I can muster.

The impact radiates up my leg in a shuddering jolt, but accomplishes my objective. His grip falters just long enough for me to rip away, scrambling upright in a graceless flurry. I scrabble across the slippery stones, chest heaving, as the unforgiving spray sluices down my back in frigid torrents.

Reaching the opposite bank, I surge upwards, yanking those fucking leggings up around my hips as much as the saturated material allows. It barely restores any dignity, the clinging fabric revealing every gooseprickled curve like a second skin. But at least grants my legs the range of motion to move unencumbered.

The earthy scent of damp foliage and moss fills my nostrils as I gulp down ragged breaths. Furtively glancing across the churning brook, the shadowed void betrays no trace of Arius’ hulking form. He must have slipped away back into the brush. For now.

Every nerve splinters beneath the surface, my pulse thundering at a frantic gallop. Adrenaline spikes in a crimson tide, muscles primed to spring into explosive action at the first hint of attack. Not that it will matter if Arius elects to unleash any more of his… devices upon me. The phantom memory of frayed nerves convulsing has me shuddering violently.

Squeezing the water from the sodden mass plastered across my nape, the night’s crisp chill sends a tremor rippling down my form. It’s inescapable. Permeating my very marrow despite the sting of fresh lacerations from that shattered glass. Rivulets trickle down my bare skin, leaving their garish trails in the silvery moonlight—slick and viscous.

I’m utterly alone now. Vulnerable and exposed in this hushed sylvan glade, the only sounds drifting on the breeze being the languid brook and the rasp of my own unsteady respirations. Yet I can’t shake the insidious sensation of being watched. Hunted.

Fuck me, what else could Arius possibly unleash?

My battered mind scarcely gets a chance to ponder it, consciousness blurring at the edges as I crumple to my knees on the banks. I can’t do this. I’m not cut out for the lengths these Trials demand.

Sucking down a wheezing breath, I hug myself tightly, fingers digging into the meat of my biceps until the knuckles blanche from sheer force. Wet strands drape around my face like a shroud, clinging to the tracks of moisture streaking my cheeks that I can no longer discern as tears or river water.

I’ve never felt so painfully insignificant.