*A few years later*
As Celest sat alone in the cage, the chilling silence was broken only by the haunting presence of lifeless bodies, the remnants of the once-vibrant children she had come to care for. A profound sense of despair settled over her, casting a dark shadow on the remnants of hope that had sustained her. She realizes that no matter how much she tried, she could not save them from the cruel fate that awaited them.
New children were brought in, their arrival a cruel reminder of the vicious cycle that persisted. Kidnapped and used, they became unwitting participants in the same harrowing fate that had befallen the ones who came before them.
Desperation clung to her like a suffocating shroud, and the once clear boundaries between sanity and madness blurred with each passing day. At some point she started getting picked , she thought Rashid was tired of her finally but the realization gnawed at her—the knowledge that Rashid only spared her when the experiments posed no immediate danger, making her existence a macabre twist of fate within the confines of this unending nightmare.
She was tired.
Her mind wanders to her own situation, trapped and powerless. She wonders if there will ever be a way for her to escape this nightmare. She longs to see her family again, to feel the warmth of their love and protection.
But for now, she is alone in her cage, her status as a victim of this cruel system unchanged.
The arrival of new children, mere pawns in the merciless game, triggered a surge of disconcerting emotions within Celest. A haunting laughter, tinged with the echoes of insanity, bubbled up from the depths of her exhaustion. Her eyes, once filled with the spark of defiance, now flickered with a vacant gaze, a reflection of the toll exacted by years of relentless suffering.
Rashid suddenly remarked, "Seems like you like your new roommates."
"They are so boring, they don't have a sense of humor," Celest answered with a chilling nonchalance, her laughter morphing into a maniacal echo that reverberated through the cage. The façade of sanity crumbled further as the darkness within her spilled out in unsettling waves, a stark reflection of the twisted reality she had become entangled in.
Rashid sighed with a mix of exasperation and amusement. "Tsk, you are getting boring. I guess you broke, kekekeke. Well, if you hadn't, you'd be more of a monster than you accuse me of being, kekekeke. Guess we'll start the real experiments today. Let's go," he said, the casual tone contrasting with the gravity of his words, signaling the ominous shift towards even darker depths in the twisted experiments that awaited Celest
"Shit , won't you grant me an eternity? I need to bid farewell to my friends , hahahaha" She exclaimed maniacally.. Rashid simply shrugged..
Rashid's ominous warning lingered in the air like a foreboding storm. The promise of the next experiment being the most powerful yet weighed heavily on Celest's already burdened mind. She knew, with a sinking certainty, that this could be the one to finally snuff out the feeble spark of her existence.
Attempting to brace herself mentally, Celest found the fatigue and weakness consuming her, making even coherent thought a monumental struggle. The weariness had permeated her very core, leaving her on the precipice of surrender, not just to the impending experiment but to the unrelenting darkness that enveloped her world.
In a moment of twisted desperation, she managed a snide, insane remark, a hollow laughter escaping her lips, "Well, let's see if this is the grand finale, shall we? Maybe I'll steal the spotlight and become the star of your morbid show, kekekeke." mimicking his laugh.
As Rashid approached her cage, Celest braced herself for what was to come. She knew that there was no way out, and she had resigned herself to her fate.
As he unlocked the cage, she lunged forward, stabbing the makeshift weapon made of bone into Rashid's hand with a fierce determination.
A muffled cry escaped Rashid's lips as he recoiled, blood oozing from the wound. Celest, eyes gleaming with a blend of madness and vengeance, leaned in close and whispered, "Hope you remember me when I'm gone, Rashid kekekeke."
"Fuck!" Rashid said as he smacked her down and kicked her. "This is what I get for breaking my toys I guess." He dragged her by her legs and put her in the room she's seen the kids over and over again.
"There ,you can start , he said looking at the noble."
The noble didn't even hesitate as if she wasn't a human and activated his concept.
She closed her eyes, hoping that it would be over quickly. But as the experiments began, Celest felt an overwhelming surge of pain and fear. She gritted her teeth and tried to hold on, but she knew that she couldn't take much more.
Finally, it was over. Rashid looked at her with a smirk on his face, pleased with the results of the experiment. Celest collapsed to the ground, completely spent.
As Rashid walked away, Celest knew that she had lost. She was nothing more than a tool for the nobles to use and abuse. But despite everything, she still held on to a small glimmer of hope that she could find a way out and escape this nightmare.
Celest endures the pain and suffering of being experimented on with various concepts, including freezing and fire. She feels like she's on the brink of death, and wonders why the other kids were killed while she's being used as a test subject. Despite the agony, she tries to find a way to escape, to no avail. The days blend together as more and more concepts are tested on her, leaving her weak and hopeless.
As Celest struggled to endure the excruciating experiment, a realization settled over her—a grim acknowledgment that she couldn't take much more. The boundary between endurance and surrender grew increasingly thin, and she fought to maintain a semblance of strength in the face of the relentless onslaught.
Suddenly one day she got something she didn't know she was waiting for.
[System Notification: Congratulations! You have unlocked the Space and Sound Concepts. Your abilities in these areas have been enhanced. Keep training to further develop your powers.]
Name: Celest
Understanding: None
Concepts: Space, Sound
As Celest processed the notification from the system, her heart sank. The fact that she had finally unlocked her powers was a double-edged sword. On one hand, she finally had the ability to fight back against Rashid and the nobles. On the other hand, it was too late for the other children. They had all been used as test subjects and had lost their lives. Celest couldn't help but feel a deep sense of regret and sadness.
Celest's cries echoed through the desolate space, a heart-wrenching symphony of pain and despair. Tears streamed down her face uncontrollably as she unleashed a gut-wrenching cry that reverberated with the weight of her shattered soul.
"Why? Why? Whyyyy?" she exclaimed, the anguish in her voice shaking the very foundation of her being. Her desperate plea repeated in a relentless barrage of "WHYs," each iteration carrying the burden of a thousand unanswered questions.
"WHY WHY!!!, WHY!!!WHY!!!, WHY!!!WHY!!!, WHY!!! WHY!!!, WHY!!! WHY!!!, WHY!!! WHY!!!, WHY!!! WHY!!!, WHY!!! WHY!!!, WHY!!!WHY!!!, WHY!!! WHY!!!, WHY!!! WHY!!!, WHY!!!WHY!!!, WHY!!!WHY!!!, WHY!!!WHY!!!, WHY!!! WHY!!!, WHY!!!WHY!!!, WHY!!!WHY!!!, WHY!!! WHY!!!, WHY!!! WHY!!!, WHY!!!WHY!!!, WHY!!!WHY!!!, WHY!!!WHY!!!, WHY!!! WHY!!!, WHY!!! WHY!!!, WHY!!! WHY!!!, WHY!!! WHY!!!"
The cries intensified, a crescendo of agony echoing in the grim confines of her reality.
"Why now? Whyyy? Why not when it mattered? Does the world hate me!!!!? WHY!!!, WHY!!!" she cried out in frustration, the echoes of her words resonating with the injustice of her torment. As tears streamed down her face, Celest grappled with the overwhelming weight of her suffering, questioning the cruelty of a world that seemed to revel in her despair. "Why? Why did this have to happen to me? What did I ever do!!!!!!" The questions lingered in the empty air, the universe offering no answers to the tormented soul who had long sought solace in the midst of relentless agony.
Rashid, taken aback by Celest's sudden and intense outburst, was about to react when, suddenly...
BOOOM!!!!!!
A powerful burst of energy erupted from Celest, a forceful manifestation of the emotions that had been bottled up within her for so long. The shockwave reverberated through the room, creating an explosive spectacle.
The force of the explosion blasted away everything within a 100-meter radius, leaving Celest standing alone amidst the devastation. Staring in shock at the aftermath, Celest could hardly believe the extent of her new powers. The energy pulsing within her was palpable, a raw force she had never known existed. The room, once a symbol of her torment, now lay in ruins around her.
Celest wept on her knees amidst the wreckage, the weight of remorse pressing upon her, she couldn't help but look around at the aftermath of her unleashed power. Amidst the debris and destruction, something caught her eye—remnants that seemed eerily familiar.