Elwen the Conquered

Elwen heard a knock on the door, before the door opened. A young woman stepped through the door, one who looked vaguely familiar. She couldn’t tell who it was, but she felt like she had seen her before.

“Hello Elwen, it’s nice to see you again!” The woman said, a bright cheer filling her voice. She wore the same black uniform as everyone else, although hers seemed to be more tailored than the others. It fit her well, conforming to the gentle curves of her body. She carried a clipboard into the room, clasped closely to her chest, slightly crinkling her white armband.

“Um… who are you?” Elwen quietly asked, embarrassed that she couldn’t remember the woman. She clearly had remembered her, which meant that she should know her.

“Oh? Don’t remember me?” the woman lightly giggled, “I’m Sophia. I was your nurse in Westport… It was only a week ago.”

“Oh… right... um… sorry…” Elwen’s embarrassment only grew as she realized that it wasn’t even that long ago that they met. Plus, she was the nice nurse lady that took care of her after that mean bald man grabbed her hair. She felt much better after the nurse treated her, too. The ointment for her feet really helped, they stopped aching by the time she woke up in the morning.

“Don’t worry about it!” Sophia comforted her, “We only met for a little bit. Plus, you probably had a lot on your mind. Now, if you don’t mind, we’ve got a lot to do…” Sophia began a barrage of questions, not unlike the one Mary had subjected her to. She tried to answer all of them as best as she could, but she got confused on a lot of them. It made her feel embarrassed, not being able to answer them. Sophia had to explain them for her to answer, most of the time, but sometimes she just skipped that question. It made her feel a little better, especially as Sophia explained that some of the questions were pretty obscure and that it was perfectly normal for her not to know what some of them were about.

After they were finished with the questions, Sophia started a physical exam. It made Elwen feel like she was in a doctor’s office, and she light up like a lightbulb, realizing that that was exactly where she was. All that was missing was one of those eye exam diagrams and a jar of popsicle sticks, which Sophia pulled out of one of the cabinets after tapping her knees with a rubber hammer. It was kind of awkward, having her poking around on the inside of her mouth checking… her teeth? Actually, Elwen didn’t really know what she was doing. What was more embarrassing was the eye exam, where they had to go through several diagrams before they got to one that she could actually read. Why did there have to be so many languages?

“Everything seems to be good so far. How are you feeling?” Sophia said as she started to put on a pair of gloves.

“Um… fine I guess?” Elwen answered.

“How was the trip over? It wasn’t too rough, was it?” Sophia continued her interrogation as she picked out a stethoscope from the cabinet.

“No, it was fine! Well, there was a storm, and that was pretty scary, but other than that it was fine. Skye and Lydia and Evelyn were really fun? Have you met them? Yusha was fun, too, but she spent most of the time sleeping… Although I did a lot of sleeping too, I guess. That was really all we could do, sleep and play games. Oh! There was this really fun one we played… I think Skye called it ‘Rocks and Cups’? Although we didn’t have any cups, so we had to use our hands. Have you ever played it?” Elwen shrunk back as she realized that she started talking too much. “Um… sorry…”

“Oh, it’s fine, don’t worry. I’m glad you found some friends on the way.” Sophia laughed at Elwen suddenly turning into a chatterbox. She was glad that she didn’t have too hard of a time, she seemed like a nice girl and didn’t want anything bad happening to her. Her chart was marked with a special note, so she hoped she had someone on the outside waiting for her. She didn’t want to see her end up with a lecherous old man or a thuggish brute. She saw that far too often. “Maybe you’ll see them in camp, you should keep an eye out. Despite what the Overseer said, it’s fine to find friends and have a little fun, as long as it doesn’t interfere with anything.”

“Um… yeah. I’d like that.” Elwen responded, still feeling a little guilty at exploding at the woman.

“Now, go ahead and lay down. I have to check a couple things,” Sophia told her. Elwen complied, and she spent the next few minutes awkwardly laying there as Sophia’s wandered her body.

“Good! Everything seems healthy!” Sophia happily declared. “Now, if you ever have any issues, make sure to tell the guards, or any of the trainers. They might seem mean at times, but they have your best interests at heart, ok? So make sure to tell them! They’ll bring you here so that we can take a better look at you.”

Elwen was surprised by Sophia’s sudden enthusiasm. Still, she nodded, agreeing to let someone know if she needed help.

“Good! The doctor will be in shortly, so just wait for a bit.” Sophia said as she got up and left the room.

Elwen returned to cloud watching, waiting for the doctor. After only a few minutes, she heard a light knock and turned to the door as it opened. Another woman stepped through, wearing a black turtleneck and a similarly-shaded black pencil skirt with a white lab coat. Her brunette hair was pulled up into a perfect bun, with only two strands of hair not contained, which flowed down in a shallow wave, framing her face.

“Good afternoon. I’m Doctor Nadia, I will be taking care of you while you are here,” the woman introduced herself. She quickly thumbed through a few papers in a yellow folder.

“Um… hello… I’m Elwen,” she returned her greeting. She didn’t have the same feeling of familiarity toward the doctor, so she felt a little relieved that she couldn’t have forgotten her name, but with the unfamiliarity came nervousness.

“Well, let’s get started,” the woman gently smiled, trying to ease her nervousness. They started another series of tests, even repeating some of the ones that she had already gone through earlier. It seemed a little redundant, but the doctor did seem to do slightly different versions of the tests.

After taking her height and weight, again, the doctor finally stopped, moving to the countertop to write down some notes. “Go ahead and take off your clothes now,” she casually said, scribbling away at the papers.

“Um…” It was a strange request; she didn’t think that she ever took her clothes off for a doctor’s appointment. Still, she slowly started to unbutton her vest. Her clothes were very dirty after almost two weeks of not washing them – some strange magic keeping them and her from getting too dirty, which she assumed was the system – and she somewhat happy to get them off, but she was still embarrassed to be undressing in front of the doctor.

The doctor turned around, hearing that she had stopped. “Oh, no, dear. Take everything off.”  She then turned back to her paperwork, filling out another section of the form.

Elwen felt like a truck hit her as her heart started rapidly pounding through her ears and her face flushed with warm blood. With trembling hands, she slowly unclasped her bra, folded it up, and placed it on the bed. Then, her hands wandered down to her hip, shakily pulling down the straps there, too. When her panties were down to her ankles, she stepped out of them. She slowly stood, dropping her panties off by her bra while her hands moved to cover her private parts. Elwen awkwardly stood there, waiting for Dr. Nadia to finish. When she finally did, she turned around, gently smiling at her before snatching her underwear, throwing them in a little bin by the door.

“Alright, I’ll need to take your measurements,” she declared, pulling out a cloth tape measure. She spent the next few doing just that, wrapping the cloth strip across various parts of Elwen’s body. At the same time, Elwen played a game of keep away, hesitant to give up parts of her body, and also trying to keep herself covered, or at least as much as possible. But of course, Dr. Nadia didn’t need to just measure her limbs, but she other things as well. Soon enough, Dr. Nadia was taking her three measurements. By the end of it, Elwen felt like she had measured every bit of her. Dr. Nadia could probably build a perfect true-scale model of her with all of the measurements she took.

“Go ahead and lie down,” Dr. Nadia told her as she gently guided her to do so. Elwen felt a little better when she could bury her face in the bed, but she still didn’t like having her entire backside exposed. Dr. Nadia did a similar routine to Sophia, her hands wandering all over her body, checking various things. It felt kind of like a massage, but not nearly as pleasant. It was awkward, and Dr. Nadia’s hands were cold. It became even worse when Dr. Nadia had her turn over and face upwards. Luckily, it was over quickly.

“Good! You seem to be in perfect health, sweetie.” Dr. Nadia said as she moved back to the countertop, needing to finish off Elwen’s chart.

“Um, can I get some clothes?” Elwen asked as she sat up on the bed.

“Oh. Sure, sweetie.” Dr. Nadia responded, briefly stepping outside. When she returned, she handed Elwen a sand-colored dress made of a rough fabric. “Go ahead and get that on.”

“… Is this burlap?” Elwen asked, feeling the coarse material. While she did want clothes, these seemed very uncomfortable.

“Hmm? I think it’s either that or canvas…” Dr. Nadia responded, briefly glancing at her as she continued to write down her notes from the appointment.

Elwen threw the dress over her head, letting it fall down her arms onto her shoulders. She could immediately feel how rough the material was, although it wasn’t as uncomfortable as she thought it would be. The dress was fairly baggy, having plenty of extra material around her chest and waist. She tightened a rope belt around her waist, which made it a little better. The skirt fell to just above her knees, which she thought was a comfortable length.

“Alright,” Dr. Nadia said as she finished, flipping the file closed, “Wait here for a moment. I’ll send the nurse for you.”

Elwen stood up, pacing around the room. This was certainly the worst doctor’s appointment that she had ever had, and she was glad it was over. Still, she felt like they weren’t done with her yet.

There was another knock at the door as Sophia poked her head into the room. “Ready?” She asked, stepping into the room.

“Um, ready for what?” She had a bad premonition about this.

“Oh, just the last steps of processing. It shouldn’t take long.” Sophia responded.

“Okay…”

“Come on, I’ll take you there.” Sophia said as she beckoned her to follow. They left the room and went down the hallway, a pair of guards following them. They went down a set of stairs, entering the basement of the hospital, and down a long hallway before arriving at a room with a big sign above it, reading “PROCESSING 3 A.” Pushing the door open, Sophia led her inside.

There were a few people already in the room, two guards and another man in black robes. They were all right in front of the doorway, blocking her view of most of the room

“Good, you’re here. We just finished getting everything set up.” The man in the robes said as he moved out of their way. “Put her in the device. I need to get the implements.”

There was a strange bit of furniture in the center of the room. It consisted of two pillars, the first of which has a small platform at the top, and the second one was topped with a wall of wood with three circular holes in it. Just as she was about to ask what it was, the guards behind her grabbed onto her forearms and dragged her toward it. She was startled and tried to resist, but was quickly bent over the first platform, and the wooden planks in front of her were opened, cutting through the center of the holes. The guards pushed her head through the center hole, placing her neck in the groove. Her wrists were placed in the two outside holes, and the whole contraption was quickly shut, trapping her in place. The two men then tied her ankles and knees to the pillar, and a final loop around her waist which fully locked her into place.

“Alright, sweetie, we’re just about ready.” Sophia said, leaning down in front of Elwen so she could see her. “This will sting a little bit, but don’t worry, it’ll be over soon.” Then, she walked behind her, and Elwen was stuck looking at the wall.

Someone lifted up her skirt, and she felt something cold and wet being spread on her right cheek. It made her want squirm, but she couldn’t move because of her restraints. She couldn’t see its source, but there was a warm red glow coming from behind her.

“Have you already changed the crystals?” The man in the black robes asked.

“Yeah, they’re fresh ones. Should have plenty of juice.” She heard a voice respond behind her, one she didn’t recognize. It was probably one of the guards, she hadn’t heard them speak yet.

“Is the marker correct? I don’t want any more mistakes.” Sophia asked, a hint of worry in her voice.

“Yes, it’s correct. And even if it wasn’t, it isn’t difficult to fix.” The Robed man responded. She felt the heat from behind her grow and concentrate around her right cheek.

“Check it again,” Sophia demanded. Elwen felt the heat lessen for a moment before it returned, now even more intense.

“It’s correct. Now let’s get this over with” The robed man declared. Suddenly, Elwen felt something hot hit her right cheek. She let out a little scream, but the heat quickly faded, until it felt rather cold. Whatever poked her quickly withdrew, and all she was left with was a stinging sensation, like she had just had a vaccine.

As quickly as she was put into the strange device, she was released. Once she was standing up, she could finally look at what they were doing, finding a black mark on her cheek, about the size of her fist. It looked like a black dragon standing on a mountain, all on a knightly shield. There was some writing along the bottom edge o the shield, but she could read it, both because it was upside down and too small.

The robed man snapped, and the mark disappeared. Another snap, and it reappeared. “Everything seems to be working right. Get the ledger,” he declared. One of his men ran off to a desk in the corner, grabbing a large book.

“Well, let’s get ya’ outta that collar an’ inta a more permanent one,” another of the guards said, walking up to her with another collar in his hand.

 

 

 

‘Well, at least I know what killed those adventurers.’ Varian thought, staring down the lion-headed monster. It was larger than lions were supposed to be, even more so than just having a nice, steady diet of adventurers would make it, indicating to him that it was, indeed, a monster. The scorpion tail helped, too.

He spent hours looking down at the ruins, waiting for any movement. Unfortunately, he was too focused on the ruins, and didn’t pay enough attention to his surroundings. His first clue that the monster was hunting him, too, was the growling. If it wasn’t for that, the monster’s attack would have gone much differently.

He only barely managed to dodge the beast’s lunge at him, and unfortunately, he didn’t have time to grab most of his gear. All he had was his sword, which was less than idea for fighting… whatever that thing was.

He used [Appraise], hoping to identify it. If he knew what it was, maybe he could figure out how to kill it.

‘Appraisal: Scorakion (Chimera)’

That… did not help.

Just then, the… Scorakion lunged at him again. He didn’t have time to evade, but he did manage to block its bite, replacing his yummy flesh with the hard steel of sword. Of course, that didn’t help when the scorpion tail plunged through his shoulder. Nor did it help when a snake crawled out of the lion’s mouth, wrapped around his sword, and bit his arm.

‘What the fuck?’

Then everything faded to black.

‘Shit! Did I just die?’