In the past

Time, as it was in the Punishment Zone, had passed without me realizing it. Trixie's body was bruised. Her mouth leaked blood from the several teeth I removed and placed into a jar on my desk. Her hands were covered in numerous cuts and slashes.

"No...!" Trixie begged as I slowly bent one of her bleeding fingers in a way it's not supposed to. Little by little. The strain building. Her body trembling. The fear in her eyes of what's to come. "No, please!"

I saw desperation and tears before me, the unicorn strapped down onto the table made me feel pity for the first in a long time, and I hesitated and was about to let her fingers go.

Big Boss slapped that feeling out of me by striking the back of my head.

[Physical Resistance] has leveled up!

"Remember, Sweet Tooth," Big Boss said by my side, grabbing and straightening me before I fell. "Take control."

This is how my lesson went. I would follow the griffon's instructions as best as I could. His praise was that of a proud father watching his young continuing his legacy. It didn't stop him from using physical force as a means to correct me; hesitation or thoughts of mercy were relentlessly beaten out of me. While my physical body didn't show signs of trauma, my HP would be frighteningly low. He knew how much to hit me so it wouldn't kill me, but enough so that I wouldn't risk my health.

He wanted any softness, any mercy or hesitation when completing a task, gone. He was content to beat it out of me if that's what it took. He may be aware of my power, but he doesn't know the specifics - perhaps he thinks that [Gamer's Body] just numbs and reinforces my body. I didn't want to risk dying because he misunderstood my abilities - with my HP is low as it is - and I certainly wasn't going to give him any personal information either.

I had to make sure he didn't do anything extreme against me. Obedience was demanded in these sadistic lessons, but he didn't try too hard to motivate me though.

It was because of my old urges.

All he had to do was tempt me of the opportunity to gain more knowledge. When I accepted, I discovered that when someone with greater knowledge of a subject is teaching me, I get an {Apprenticeship} buff that increases the progression of any skills related to what I learn from my teacher. In this case, it was the [Torture] skill I had received since the beginning of this sadistic lesson.

However, now I am aware of my skills being able to evolve to greater forms after maxing them out. Providing a powerful form of it, the skill description gave extra lore in its origins, and it only made the hunger pangs surge to greater extremes. I wanted to know what my [Torture] skill will evolve into.

It only made me eager to work harder under Big Boss.

I looked directly into Trixie's eyes, her breath quick and panicked. "If you blink," I repositioned my grip on her hand. "I'm going to repeat it."

"Re-" Trixie swallowed, fear mixed with confusion. "Repeat what...?"

I grabbed one of her fingers. "This."

I jerked my hand forward, making Trixie's finger bend back with a sickening crack. She thrashed on the table, wailing and sobbing in pain that made her previous cries quiet by comparison.

I would watch as her sobs died down, and in a sick and twisted way, I couldn't help but compare her to the filly in the corpse pit - how she was suffering so much that even when her voice gave out, she wouldn't stop screaming.

Until she became silent by my blade.

Perhaps Trixie will too.

Big Boss nodded with approval. "She blinked," His grin wide as his sadism. "If you don't keep your promises, it will undermine your frightening image; they won't take you seriously."

I started to break Trixie's bleeding fingers on her hands. One by one, in a sloppy and inexperienced fashion, her cries were full of life and agony - spiking in volume with each finger I break. But it was nowhere near as horrifying compared to what I've experienced, and the dying screams of a filly I ate were far more soul-chilling than Trixie's.

Disturbingly, it made me happy knowing I've been through worse, and it makes lesser evils like this much easier to do. I only stopped because I ran out of fingers to break; Trixie wasn't strong enough to endure it, unlike Zecora who lasted a while before succumbing to the pain.

"Good," Big Boss inspected my work, his sharp talons brushing against the many cuts I made on Trixie's left hand, adding a few more shallow wounds while aggravating the others. Trixie thrashed from the agony, but she bleeds all the same. "Now do you understand the methods?"

"To cause as much pain as possible in the shortest amount of time," I answered, and received a nod in return. "I made the cuts all across her hands, so when I grab them to break her fingers, I stimulate them to cause more pain..." Then the words died out as Trixie's cries became loud - sobbing and whimpering as if she was right next to my ear. It reminded me of the filly I ate, and how I wanted her to be quiet. "...I think I could have done more."

"What else could you have done before you broke her fingers?" The griffon asked me, snapping me out of my musings. "And do be creative, you aren't being penalized, this is merely hypothetical."

There is a part of me that hesitated to answer. I am fully aware that with my bad habits of craving knowledge, I would ponder and think and elaborate before I am satisfied; I would be trapping myself in this, engulfed in this sadistic topic, and won't stop thinking about it until I know it all. I am well aware.

But it didn't stop me from answering when I saw the slightest hint of Big Boss preparing to hit me again. "I could have burned her hand so severe that a mere breath on Trixie's skin would have been agonizing," I quickly answered. "It would have made the cuts I inflicted on her a dozen times worse before breaking her fingers."

Big Boss gave me a smile of approval. "If you also coated your palms in an irritating substance and then broke her fingers, it would rub and seep into her cuts, and making it so much worse!" He laughed before turning to look down at Trixie, his eyes still closed, his face mere inches away from her own; her eyes were closed, growing in tears and unbearable pain. "Can you imagine that, Trixie? Having salt rubbed into your cuts as your flesh is gripped in a vice, messaging the pain into our hand - the mere friction making everything worse before a devastating climax of broken fingers?"

All Trixie could do is whimper and cry, she tried to say something, but neither of us heard what she said, and the possible scenario he proposed only made it worse.

The smell of urine on the table became noticeable.

"You see?" He turned looked at me. "Using their fears against them can get results, even better than the actual physical methods. It works best when they're vulnerable, otherwise, they'll think you're bluffing and won't take you seriously."

He focused on the unicorn again. "So Trixie... now that I have your undivided attention, you need to tell me something," The griffon's voice was hard as metal, smiling while his eyes are closed. "I know Zecora is up to something, and it involves the other labor slaves. I also know that you are aware of what she is doing-" His tone became imposing and charismatic. "So you tell me what the zebra is doing, and I will stop hurting you."

"R-Really?" She stuttered, she opened her eyes; puffy and red from her crying. "Y-You will stop h-hurting Trixie-?"

She tensed when he gripped her head. "It's a yes-or-no question," He reminded firmly, squeezing her enough that his sharp talons caused blood to trickle out, making the unicorn whimper. "If that's too hard for your dumb mind to grasp, then I guess I could do this the hard way by gouging out one of your eyes-!"

"No!" She cried out, nodding desperately - best as she could with her bleeding head in a lethal grip. "Trixie will talk! Please! Don't hurt her!" It still weirded me out how she would always refer to herself like that. Of all the short time I've known her, she has never used the word 'I' in any sentence. "Trixie knows what Zecora is doing!"

Big Boss tightens his grip on her head, making her grimace. "Then what is Zecora planning to do?"

"She..." Trixie began, and the air was still as she tried to speak clearly through the pain. "She has been practicing her shaman arts; to make potions and totems!"

"Is that why the herbal supplies I've been building up for the past months have been dwindling?"

"Trixie had nothing to do with it! It was all Zecora's fault!" She cried out desperately, doing anything to turn Big Boss' hostility away from her - or rather, direct it to anyone but her. "Trixie never used anything Zecora offered, unlike the others!"

There was something in that sentence that felt wrong, but I couldn't focus on it as Big Boss continued his interrogation.

"...Others?" His voice was curious and very dangerous. I think Trixie sensed it too, and easily - and all too willing - told the griffon everything; listing off everyone who received medical aid from Zecora, who risked her safety to help the other labor slaves from recovering from the cult's cruelty.

"Well," He straightened up, releasing his grip on the unicorn. "That explains why my herbal supplies have been decreasing, and why the other labor slaves have been more resilient as of late." He turned to me. "Always interrogate the selfish ones, Sweet Tooth - they'll do anything to save themselves, even if it means damning others in their place."

"Is that why you picked Trixie?" I asked. "To give a living example of the lesson?"

"Of course," He said. "This is how you do a proper interrogation; if you promise to hurt them, you follow through - and if you make a deal with them in exchange, you better fulfill your end of the deal. That way, your reputation will have a solid foundation - of course, this only applies if you're planning on sparing the individual you were interrogating."

"So you're not going to kill Trixie?" I'd thought he would snap her neck.

"She has her uses, just like you." He said, but there was a lingering threat in his tone. "As long as someone has value to the Daoloth's Acoytles, I see no reason why I should dispose of them... but even my generosity has limits, and after hearing what Zecora has done, she is cutting it close as of late."

"So you weren't aware of what Zecora was doing?" I couldn't keep the surprise out of my voice. "If you can see into the future, and know everything was going to happen the way it is, then you should have already knew about Zecora stealing from you."

"What Daoloth blesses me with is a mere fraction of the true gift she bestows," He said, once more giving praise to his god. "Even so, despite the power of the accurate ability to see into the past and future, is limited; for only in rare instances can the feeble minds of mortals can endure such tiny fragments of revelation."

"So there is a limit..." It honestly gave me hope that he has a weakness, something I could exploit if needed. "There is only so much of the future you can see at a single time."

"I do need some sort of bais or direction to see into someone's future," He admitted, but the way he said it was full of confidence, rather than a reluctant confession. "But to switch between priorities of what to do and what I can see only lasts for a mere moment; once I get what I need, and plan, I can focus on more pressing matters - like Zecora using my herbs to brew medicine for the other labor slaves, and undermining my recruitment process."

I admit, there was a hint of worry within me for Zecora, but I had my focus on something else. "Why expose a vulnerability that might end up killing you?"

"Oh you could kill me," He corrected, much to my surprise. "But the odds of you succeeding will be very slim, and you won't win without being gravely injured - I've been raised in the Griffon Empire after all - and it will make it so easy for the others waiting outside to come in here and snap your neck."

"...So I even if I succeed, I wouldn't survive in the end..." I said, and there was bitterness in my tone before I just accepted it and moved on. Still, I pondered something and asked, "You took over the cult after killing your predecessor, and I'm going to take an educated guess that someone else will do that too if you were to die?"

"Of course," He nodded. "A single death will not halt progress, Sweet Tooth, only fools think that way: you have to think of the long-term as well."

"The only 'long-term' I see is that my success ends up being so detrimental that I would lose in the end."

"It's called a pyrrhic victory," Big Boss elaborated, effortlessly playing the role of a teacher. "Sure, I would be killed, but the Daoloth's Acolytes will survive, Sire's Hollow will still be raided, and you would be dead. Tell me, does that seem worth it?"

My silence was a good enough answer for him. "I'll be back later to check up on your work - make sure you don't kill Trixie, she still has her uses... like snitching on her fellow slaves."

"...Zecra probably had a reason." Given how kind and open Zecora is, and from what I learned using [Observe] on her, I know she wouldn't be using that hidden stash for herself. "I mean, isn't it good that she's taking care of them-?"

I doubled over when Big Boss punched me in the stomach.

[Physical Resistance] has leveled up!

"Don't do that," Big Boss interrupted, disapproval in his tone. He crouched down to speak directly to me. "See, this is what happens when you are raised by Equestrians - making excuses for acts of kindness where it only makes things worse for yourself in the end."

He hauled me up to my feet, making me face Trixie as he stood behind me. "I used to treat Trixie well, you know," He revealed, and my body twitched from the surprise. There was information [Observe] didn't show me. "As long as she did what I told her, she would be given special treatment - just like you. Do you know why she's on the table, and not you? She forgot an important rule."

Big Boss spun me around and made me face him directly as he - with his eyes still closed - looked down at me. "To know your place." He said with firm conviction. "We all have a part to play. I, like you, was lucky enough to have our lives influenced by Daoloth. So are you going to throw away the advantages you have here, a blessing by the Render of Veils, simply because a zebra introduced herself to you?"

It felt like I was being scolded by a parent, and the humiliation made it worse; reminding me of my life before I was thrown into the corpse pit in the Griffon Empire, how I was raised on the notion of kindness and compassion being its reward and strength to forge a bond. Yet here I am, in a camp of cultists where cruelty is common, and I willingly just defended Zecora's actions. And for what? A punch in the stomach because now Big Boss is being skeptical about my priorities and loyalty.

Am I going to give up my advantageous position - a sheltered tent with personal crafting stations, with opportunities to learn and create - all because one zebra invited me to a pathetic fire that ended up getting her fingers broken? Why did I open my mouth earlier to defend Zecora's actions, when she would clearly be aware of the consequences for stealing from these fanatics?

"What I said was stupid," I said with conviction. I was done balancing my thoughts, juggling my decisions, and constantly pondering the outcomes. I felt humiliation for being alive after all that I went through to get back to Equestria, and I felt a burning hatred for those who stood as an obstacle to my freedom. Zecora is now one of them. "I don't have the luxury to worry about others; my life has always come first, and I am not going to let a zebra I just met get in the way of that. If something good can come from this that benefits me, then I don't care about what happens to anyone else."

There was a tense silence before he nodded in approval. "...It's a good thing you don't lie. So remember this, Sweet Tooth," He then made his way to the tent's exit. "Compassion will only hurt you."

"...So what do I do with Trixie?"

"Whatever she needs to be, as long as you don't kill her," He reminded. "Remember, just ask for any materials you need, and we will provide what we can. I'll stop by occasionally, so unless I give you a specific task to accomplish, and if it helps the Daoloth's Acolytes, you can make whatever you want. Just remember to use those shards you have on the table, and then we can eventually move on to the next lesson... after I deal with Zecora and those she helped; I saved those supplies for your lessons."

Big Boss left the tent, and a new notification greeted me.

Your teacher has ended the lesson! {Apprenticeship} buff is no longer active! Bonus XP to certain skills have been calculated!

[Torture] has reached max level! This skill cannot evolve until you have the Sub-Class: Corporate Espionage!

The irony was not lost on me when I read that; how eager I was to see what the skill would evolve into, only to be denied afterward. I should be feeling something in response - perhaps a self-reflecting on the dangers of my vices - but I only felt the dissatisfaction of being denied. The hunger got worse.

But I had another source to satiate me.

I went to sit down at my desk. Four white shards laid upon it, near the Chalice of the Cosmos where I left it. I picked up one of the shards before using [Observe] on it.

Human Knowledge Fragment [???]
A white shard of physical knowledge.

This shard carries a tiny legacy of the human race, a mockingly small amount compared to what they have discovered and accomplished.

ABILITIES:

• A one-time use item that is absorbed into the user.
• Grants a random boon of knowledge when used.

Do you wish to use it?
[YES/NO]

The hunger returned. A twisted, gluttonous knot in my being grew monstrous as I thought about the implications of what I held in my hand. From that short description, I am holding information in physical form that originated from an unheard species, and this shard is merely a crumb compared to the vast collection. It's times like this that I wished I had the resolve to finish what I had started in the Punishment Zone.

I tapped YES.

You have gained the perk: Gunsmithing!

In the future

"Gunsmithing?" Cadence wasn't familiar with the word, but she only asked after a few minutes; trying to hold back her nausea of what I had done to Trixie. She recovered quickly, and I thought she was building up a tolerance; now I realize she was trying to focus on something else. "That's the name of your new perk?"

"It just represents that I know about making a gun," I answered, but I know she didn't know what that is. "Just like when I used the rest of the shards to receive other the perks; Metallurgy, Chemistry, and Machinery. It didn't provide me with any specific bonuses - those were separate skills I had gotten when I received my Class and Sub-Classes. I just didn't have time to read or use them. Whatever the human race was, their knowledge was beyond what the world uses now." Although the Minotaur Clans were still ahead of everyone else on a technological level.

"But you are a human, right?"

"Yes, Cadence, I am a human," I reminded. "Although until I unlocked my power and saw my profile, I didn't know what I was called." My adopted mother thought I was deformed - a freakish thing that should be pitied. "And until I used those Knowledge Fragments, I had no context to what a human is capable of."

"That certainly would narrow down the rumors about you," Cadence said. I doubt it since I always cover my body when I can. "So do all humans have the same power as you, or...?"

"I didn't have time to ponder my existence, I was too busy being exploited by a cult," I said. That's a story for another time. "Big Boss didn't leave me to figure the basics of crafting on my own though, he left some blueprints and instructions in the desk's drawers for various weapons and armors. They're more of a base template that I could modify for my creative use."

"Like using Trixie for your ends! How could you do that to her?"

"The same reason Trixie used Zecora for her own ends: we didn't want to die," I said. "In the end, Big Boss had taught me so much. Lessons that I value to this day."

"He was constantly hitting you! How could you praise him for that?"

"I'm not claiming him to be good, he was crazy," I would never forgive him for what he put me through. "But he did have a point. Why should I purposely put myself in danger to help someone I barely know?"

"There's nothing wrong with being compassionate!"

"Not if it earns you the ire of someone who can kill you," I argued. "Just because you have good intentions, that doesn't mean your actions will be good as well - you know, like how you brainwashed two ponies who were arguing with each other to fall in love against their will?"

And with that, any ferocity Cadence had to argue against me died out. Replaced with shame, her confidence shaking - collapsing harder than a demolished building.

"You see, this is why I wanted to talk to Celestia," I scoffed. "You judge and condemn me for doing what I do to survive in impossible circumstances - yet you easily forget that I didn't want to be there. I didn't want to be in the Punishment Zone, dying brutally hundreds of times and unable to die. I didn't want to be with the Daoloth's Acolytes and be used to make the cult stronger. I just wanted to be away from the conflict, yet I was always dragged into it."

"...You purposely let yourself die in the Punishment Zone," Cadence tried to argue, trying so hard to find some solid ground to verbally stand against me. "And you willingly helped Big Boss!"

"So I could survive," I reminded, although I knew it wouldn't stop her from trying to debate against me; I refuse to let her have any kind of victory over me. "If I didn't learn how to benefit from every problem crashing into my life, I wouldn't have lived long enough to enjoy my freedom."

"There is more to living than just surviving."

"Yet to live, you need to survive," I easily countered, but it brought me no satisfaction. This isn't the first time I had to deal with naive ideas and beliefs. "That's a truth every prisoner in that cult had to learn - Trixie just learned it earlier than everyone else. Yet she taught me what to do if I ever met someone who was just as desperate as me to survive no matter the cost."

"To work together and thrive?" She is so foolishly optimistic.

"Who to kill on the spot."

In the past

(Sweet Tooth)
Level: 10
Species: Human
Class: Merchant.
Sub-Class(es): Gambler, Abyssal Craftsmen.
==========
XP: 8,450/10,000
==========
HP: 200/200 (-50%) = 100/100
MP: 1000/1000
==========
STR: 21
DEX: 24
AGI: 27
CON: 20
INT: 100
WIS: 26
LUK: 20
==========
Perks: Forbidden Knowledge, Language of the Old Gods, Tortured Mind over Matter, Primal Nightmare, Medium Magic Affinity, Magic Vampirism, Gunsmithing, Chemistry, Metallurgy, Machinery.
==========
Stat Points: 50

I looked away from my profile when the last crate was set down near the forge. Like Big Boss promised, anything I requested was brought to me, and I just explored and looked at the list of skills I had received when I waited for them to finish. As the last cultist left the tent, piling crates where there was space, I tapped on one of my Sub-Classes.

Abyssal Craftsmen
The lines between insanity and creativity become blurred as unorthodox methods to harvest abnormal ingredients are used to create wonders and nightmares; normal crafting processes and techniques are more convenient to allow more dedication to the item.

Would you like to begin the crafting session?
[YES/NO]

I tapped YES as I opened a crate and pulled out a bar of iron. I wanted to see how convienent my new set of skills I had acquired is.

Crafting session is now taking place! [Crafting Assistance] is now activated!

Crafting Assistance Level 1:
Every step is crucial when forging an item; messing up on any step - even in the slightest mishap - can ruin the item, especially if it's complicated and made with exotic materials.

• Combat abilities are disabled.
• Physical prowess when crafting is increased by 10%.
• XP will be rewarded in proportion to the quality and quantity of items created.
• Information is received to aid you when crafting.
• Information depends on the material being used.
• More information is revealed with skill level and WIS.

"[Smelt]," I said, watching as the ingot in my hand glowed and soften.

Smelt Level 1:
Have the ability of a mobile furnace! Use magic to heat the metal to the desired temperature while protecting yourself from its heat.

• MP cost is proportional to skill level and the material.
• You will not receive any damage from any material heated with this skill.
• You can only use this skill on metallic materials.

I couldn't use it in combat, nor as a survival skill since it wouldn't work on wood. It would have been too easy to have touch-based fire skills to help me escape if I had to fight my way out, but I've learned to accept the disappointment created from my hope.

I placed the heated metal on the anvil before I started hammering at it. I didn't need to wear special leather gloves or tongs, and I didn't have to use coal to heat the forge. I knew how hot the ingot is, where to strike with my hammer, and how to get the desired shape.

Sparks flew as I struck the metal, [Crafting Assistance] letting me know when to reuse [Smelt] to maintain the temperature, and when to stop before I heated it as hot as I could before using my eldritch cleaver to chop the heated material into multiple separate lumps. Heating it too hot into a liquid state would only ruin the process, and I wanted the divided proportions to be as accurate as possible.

But that didn't stop me from using [Smelt] to soften one of the lumps I molded in my bare hands. It felt like I was playing with wet clay. Pinching and pulling in my hands until I got the desired triangular shape with small hooks coming out from its sides. Normally, I would have had to cool it a bit before using a chisel to bend out and hammer out the serrated edge.

I placed the heated shape on the anvil again, before hammering it to properly temper and flatten it, only to heat it again when I wanted to fix something; getting the curling protrusions to a desired curve and thinness was a challenge on its own. When [Crafting Assistance] told me when to stop, I gently picked it up, holding it in the palm of my left hand before walking over to Trixie.

The unicorn instantly panicked when she saw the hot piece of craftsmanship in my hand, repeatedly screaming over and over again. Thrashing on the table despite her broken fingers, sobbing uncontrollably while her mind feared what I am going to do.

She wasn't wrong. "I need a refill." Using all those skills drained my MP. I reached out with my right hand and placed it on her horn.

Perk, Magic Vampirism, is now active!

This is my reward for doing what I did in the Punishment Zone. The theme of gluttony carried over to this perk, allowing me to absorb magic with physical contact - but it would be accurate to say I'm actually digesting it. But even as it refilled my MP, it was slow.

It only made the taste more addictive.

I wanted more - even as I desired it, the flow remained the same. The texture of magic entering my body was so smooth and alive as if I had a new sense of taste that was exposed to something so euphoric. I only craved it more, and my irritation grew as I couldn't receive it faster. I was tempted to crack open Trixie's skull like an egg, licking the magical yolk that would ooze out-!

[Gamer's Mind] is now activated!

However, Big Boss wouldn't like that - with how ravenous I can be, I don't think Trixie would survive. I let go of her horn and watched as she gasped for air, shuddering as her now-bloodshot stopped trying to roll into the back of her head. I didn't even notice she was suffering to fill my cravings.

Still holding the hot piece of metal in my left hand, I used [Quench] to cool it down in my hands, and at the desired pace that wouldn't ruin it. I now held an arrowhead with sharp hooks at the sides, bending away from the tip of the arrow.

"You..." Trixie stuttered, her body trembling in pain. "You can't keep doing this to Trixie! Big Boss said to you would stop hurting Trixie if she told him everything!"

"That's not what he said," I turned to look at her, desperation in her eyes. "Big Boss said that he would stop hurting you, while I on the other hand still can as long as I don't kill you. So you are going to stay on this table, shut up, and let me work in peace until I am done with you, Trixie."

There was that look she gave me - one of disbelief, shock, and horror; equally mixed like nothing I've ever seen before.

It stirred something in me, as I felt the corners of my mouth twitch upward into the remnants of a smile.

Recalling Big Boss' lessons of unicorn anatomy, and how they will have a passive flow of magic flowing through the protrusion, I quickly gripped her horn as my perk activated again when she opened her mouth again, but the only thing coming out of her mouth was choked spasms and spit. I focused on the arrowhead in my other hand. "[Sharpen]."

Grind Level 1:
A sharp weapon is only goods for its ability to cut, slash, and pierce. This skill allows you to focus your MP on filing out any uneven areas of material to improve balance, appearance, and sharpness.

• Lowers the weapon's durability in minuscule amounts to smooth and sharpen certain areas that cannot be reached with a grindstone, or are too complicated and delicate for a whetstone.
• Speed and MP cost of this skill are determined by skill level, INT, and DEX.

I watched with child-like amusement looking at the metal shaving that fell off, bits and lengths of metal gathering in my palm before I stopped using the skill. I knew it would only go faster as my skills leveled up, but I would be limited by MP regeneration - and I don't plan on using my stat points either.

Especially when I have a source of magic strapped to a table.

Trixie's strangled gasps snapped me out of my amusement. "Don't worry," I let go of her horn, walking over to a different, larger crate, containing the most important part of this crafting process. "I'm not going to let you die."

"W-Why..." Trixie wheezed out. "Why are you doing this to Trixie?"

"To prove a point - which you will understand very soon." The awful stench immediately flooded the tent when I opened the crate.

Revealing it to be full of rotting severed heads.

Author's Note

There's one thing I hate in HIE stories, is that the human protagonist can be very stupid sometimes - doing something that has obvious consequences, for the sake of someone who was simply nice to them. I'm not going to list any specific stories, but after posting my questions on various forums, I found that I'm not the only one who has this issue.

It's another reason I like this site; the writing community is amazingly helpful. It's actually why this chapter took so long, I was having conflicted feelings on certain parts I planned for my story and I had asked for advice. The feedback was amazing, and I had to make improvements and omissions.

Let me know what you think in the reviews.