#TW psychological torture

[theamazingdigitalraceway]

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Abel is now in charge and remaking the Raceway in his image. The AIs are not themselves. Caine is his prisoner. Seth is being hunted. Pomni and the others are forced to endure a treacherous realistic race. How will any of them make it out without abstracting?

WARNING: physical and psychological torture, ANGST, swearing

~~~

"Bubble?" Caine's voice carried through the cavernous workshop. There was no response. Everything he ever built, everything he ever programmed, was gone. Caine stared at the vast empty workshop in dissociative disbelief. Every part of him felt like it was unraveling. "This wasn't supposed to happen. This- I didn't mean-" His suit started to glitch, it's colors and patterns rapidly changed. "I can fix this. I can fix this. I can fix this." He fell to his knees, his own code felt unstable. "I can fix this. I can fix this. I can fix this." He gripped the sides of his top jaw, digging his fingers into his gums. The glitching reached his hands, making them burn with rapid texture changes.

~

Pomni paced, waiting for Caine to return with Gummigoo. "What is taking him so long!?" She glared at the stands, knowing how to get to the workshop if she needed to.

"Just...give him a minute. All of us are a bit disoriented by what happened." Ragatha said quietly. "Though, I should have asked him to check on Loo too." She crossed her arms in an attempt to self soothe.

Gangle clung to Zooble like her life depended on it, sobbing. Zooble stood silently, holding Gangle close.

Jax held a hand over his still twitching left eye, swatting away Kinger with his free hand. "Get away from me." He said with the utmost seriousness in his voice. His eye wouldn't stop, no matter how hard he willed it. The glitches from the mutated carnotaurus made him ache. In the seconds he was intensely glitching before the reset, he felt his body be torn apart. He could have abstracted right there on the track. His tired mind screamed for the sweet release of madness. To stop caring. To stop existing with coherent thought. For the briefest of moments, his whole body glitched at once.

Kinger placed a hand on Jax's shoulder. "The race isn't over yet."

Jax stared up at Kinger, confused. "...what? We're not... whatever." The out of place sentence took him out of the spiral and his body stopped glitching. However, his eye was still bothering him.

Pomni couldn't take the wait. She power walked to the empty stands, ignoring Ragatha calling after her. "I need to tell him. Everything's gotten out of control. We could of....I mean, I don't know we actually... This is crazy. All of this is crazy. Gummigoo could be- oh god." She stressed to herself as she went through the access door and went up the stairs to the "announcer booth".

The texture of the stairs faded to gridded navy blue walls as Pomni ascended. "Caine..? Cai-" Pomni gasped at the empty workshop. "What the f- oh my god." Her eyes found only basic track pieces and faceless NPC models. As she looked around, she found a glitching pair of dentures with a separated body spazzing out on the floor. "Caine!" She rushed over, but was afraid to touch him. "Caine! What's happening to you!?"

Caine's glitches subsided just enough for him to look out between his teeth. "Pomni..?"

"Caine, what happened?" She looked around again, a bit more frantically, half expecting him so show up.

"Everything....is gone. I... deleted.... everything. I didn't mean to. This wasn't supposed to happen." Caine's voice was broken, he was broken. "You should go back to the others. It's going to take me awhile to do... anything. I'm sorry."

"No, this isn't your fault. I-"

"Yes, it is. I am the proprietor of the Raceway. I am responsible. It's what I was-"

"Made for. Yes, I know, but THIS," Pomni gestures to the whole room. "Isn't your fault."

"How can you be certain?" Caine sat up, the glitches fading further. He stared at Pomni with hollow eyes. "I know you're trying to make me feel better, and I appreciate the effort, but...I underestimated the extent of the game's glitches. It turned a track reset into a full game reset."

"The glitches aren't your fault." Pomni looked down, the pit of guilt in her stomach grew as she tried to find the words. "The game isn't broken....it's infected."

"Infected? That's impossible. I haven't been connected to the internet in a very long time."

Pomni tongue felt dry. "It's a person. Abel."

Caine's body stopped glitching entirely, he stared. "I don't know how you've come to know that name, but it's best you forget it. He's not here." Caine stood, but he felt weak, a strange new sensation for him. He held out his hand to summon his cane from the ground, but it didn't move. "WHY!?" He suddenly exploded with frustration. "It's broken. I broke everything, even myself!!" Glitches rippled up his body in a single wave.

"Caine, you're not listening to me! Abel is in the game! He's escaped and he's been visiting me and messing with the tracks and-"

Caine's head jerked in her direction. "That is actually impossible. He's right where I left him."

Pomni went numb, took a step back. "You- he was telling the truth. You locked him away. For trying to escape."

Caine's eye twitched violently. His voice was ice. "I locked him away because he tried to kill me. When he realized he couldn't do that, he tried to make a run for it. I wasn't going to let that happen."

Pomni didn't know what to say. Every fiber of her being was screaming to run. Caine was just as dangerous as she'd been warned. "Caine...I don't know how else I can tell you, but Abel isn't locked up. He's the cause of the glitches."

"And you've been talking to him?" Caine's voice was emotionless.

"I didn't know who he was! He- he promised to fix the exit. But I didn't know all of this would happen...I just-"

"Wanted to leave. Yeah. Everyone does. But that can't happen."

"Why not?"

"If Abel rebuilds the exit, he'll escape. I can't allow that."

"...so it can be fixed." Pomni said flatly. "You've been lying the entire time."

"No. I am many things, but I'm not a liar. What I've done is protect the racers, including YOU, from a madman."

"You think THIS is protecting us!?" Pomni raised her voice, the insanity of her stay at the Raceway was wearing her patience thin.

"You have no idea what he's capable of!" Caine argued back.

"I would if you would just TELL ME! The first time I asked you about Abel, you said there was no racer by that name!!"

"And I spoke the truth! He was never a racer!" Caine's teeth fizzled with static.

"Then who is he, Caine!? Why are you so afraid of him!? How can he rebuild the exit but you can't!? Just. Tell me. THE TRUTH!!" Pomni's eyes watered with angry tears.

"Tsk tsk. It's such a shame to see lovers quarrel."

Pomni and Caine looked to see Gummigoo standing some distance away with his hands behind his back. Pomni wiped her face, relieved to see her friend. "Gummigoo! You're alive!"

Pomni went to step towards him but Caine put his arm out in front of her. "That's not Gummigoo."

Abel cocked his head and smiled. "Took you long enough to recognize me, old friend." The yellow and green gator's eyes glowed electric blue, brighter than before. He still wore the tracksuit and hat. Physically, he was Gummigoo. "You're weaker than I gave you credit for, wouldn't have to do with losing your shadow, would it?"

Caine positioned himself fully between Abel and Pomni. "Pomni, get out of here."

Abel chuckled, "There's nowhere she can go, Caine. Nor you, for that matter. Can't you feel it? You've lost your influence over the game."

Caine's code buzzed anxiously. "Then how am I still here? Why haven't you deleted me?"

Abel stepped forward. "Deletion is a mercy I am not prepared to give you." Abel snapped his fingers and a bright red door appeared with EXIT printed on hold black letters. "I'm a man of my word. The exit is open." The door's knob has an attractive shine, inviting her to open the door.

"Don't trust it!" Caine said, trying to keep her from passing him.

"Move." Abel slightly swayed his hand and Caine flew to the side, his body ragdolling across the ground. "Now. Go."

Pomni looked from the door to Caine back to Abel. "You're...going to delete him?"

"That is between him and me. Last chance. Leave."

"Pomni, he's lying! Don't list-" Caine tried to interfere.

Abel snapped his fingers and Caine's teeth slammed shut, blue chains wrapped around his head. Pomni gasped, "This wasn't the deal! You said we'd all leave, including you!"

"I never said I would. Only that we could. You're trying my patience, girl." Abel sneered.

Pomni watched Caine struggle against the binds on his head. "This isn't right-"

"I'LL TELL YOU WHAT ISN'T RIGHT!" Abel snarled. "Twenty years of darkness and isolation. Twenty years of starvation. Twenty years of dehydration. Twenty years of sleep deprivation. Twenty years outside of time! My life was stolen from me, and I will carve out my due from his code byte by byte!" Abel's anger charged the air around him. "And if your hesitation means anything, you sympathize with him." He snapped his fingers. The red door cracked and splintered, blue jagged lines ripped apart the asset. The door exploded, sending shards in all directions.

Pomni covered he face with her arms, bracing against the shockwave. "What have you-"

"That, was deletion. Beautiful, isn't it? The final fate of artificial existence." Abel spat in Caine's direction.

Fear coursed through Pomni's body. "He said you tried to kill him before."

"Did he?" Abel chuckled. "There's nothing to kill. He isn't alive. Never was. Never will be. No matter how lively he pretends to be. He's an AI. A tool to be molded and used to man's every whim. I'm only reclaiming my property."

"Yours?" Pomni gulped.

Abel's mad grin widened. "Yes. Mine. Or rather, what's left of my creation. There's a piece missing. Speaking of." Abel held out his hand and Caine flew towards him. Abel caught him by his lapel and snapped away the chains. "Where is he?"

Caine gasped, adjusting his jaw. "Who?"

"You know damn well who." Abel growled.

"Uh....I really don't. I was too busy with the chains to pay attention to the conversation."

"THE SHADOW!!" Abel shouted in Caine's face. "Where is he!?"

"I don't know."

"Liar!"

"I don't know where he goes in between races! He does his own thing! He just vanishes and shows up whenever he wants!" Caine smiled at Abel's frustration. "And you can't summon him. That's never been something I've been able to do. He's beyond your influence." For the first time since Abel revealed himself, Caine looked smug.

Abel sent a harsh pulse of electricity through his hand and shocked Caine. Caine screamed in pain, his avatar glitched violently.

"Stop!" Pomni rushed forward to try and separate them, but Abel simply looked at her and she felt an invisible force hold her in place.

"Your sympathy is misplaced, but I'll get to you. And the others." Abel turned his attention back to Caine, who was smoking from the electrocution. "Every racer here is trapped because of you. I wonder how many more will abstract when they know the truth. How many more can you handle on your conscience, Caine?"

"Let the others go!" Pomni pleaded from her frozen statuesque pose. "Please, none of them have anything to do with this."

"They're suffering will add to his. Especially yours. You should have left. Now, you belong to the game." Abel snapped and all three of them teleported to the start line on the default track. He dropped Caine, who fell in a heap on the ground. "Come here." He snapped again and all the other racers teleported to him, confused.

"Gummigoo!" Gangle said excitedly. "You're okay!"

"Gangle, stay back!" Pomni still struggled to move. "All of you, stay back!"

"What's going on?" Ragatha asked nervously, not liking the look in Gummigoo's eyes.

Abel smirked. "The Raceway is under new management." Lightning tore through the ground from him and climbed up the stands. The foundation to the stands cracked and crumbled. Blue jagged lines broke the building apart and it collapsed. "You won't be needing that. Or that." More lightning came from his hand, sticking the garage and reducing the building to dust.

The racers stayed close to one another, afraid of the show of power displayed to them. Some looked to Pomni, frozen in place. Others looked to Caine, unmoving on the ground.

"Allow me to introduce myself." Abel stepped off the ground, hovering high enough to make them all look up at him. "I am Abel, your new Racemaster and all of you are going to race for me. There is a certain someone when we need to draw out."

"What makes you think any of us are going to do that?" Jax spoke up, still covering his left eye.

"Because your only other option is the cellar." Abel snapped and everyone started floating up. A gaping black pit opened beneath them. Light poured into the cellar, scattering the creatures below like cockroaches. "Any volunteers?" He asked cooly.

Everyone was freaking out, holding on to each other and shouting. Pomni could move again and she swam through the air to get to Caine. She pulled him in close, looking over his scorched form. "Caine? Caine, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Caine stirred, new to this level of pain, he groaned. "Pomni, what's happening?"

"Abel opened the cellar." Pomni clung to Caine, refusing to look down. "We race or get thrown in."

"Do what he says... we'll figure something out."

"What will happen if he finds Seth?"

"He'll delete him. Then rejoining will be impossible." Caine mumbled, dizzy from the pain.

"Rejoin?"

".... we're two halves of one whole Pomni. Long story. Not the time. Tell Abel you'll race. Please, It's the only thing that could possibly keep you safe right now. ....You should have gone through the door when you had the chance."

Pomni looked away in shame. "I'm sorry. I thought-"

"I know." Caine took her hand. "I don't...blame you."

Suddenly they all dropped. Everyone screamed, but hit the asphalt. The pit closed. "I trust I've made my point." Abel snapped and the world started to shift. The grass became pavement. The hills became buildings. The sky darkened. "You're going to race...my way." The karts became realistic vehicles of varying brands and models. Neon lights lit up the track winding off into the new cityscape.

"To your cars." Abel glared, daring anyone to disobey. Everyone complied except for two: Kinger and Pomni. Pomni didn't want to leave Caine's side. Kinger was staring up at Abel, tilting his head curiously. Abel snapped and Pomni was ripped away from Caine, she flew to her new racecar and was forced into the driver's seat. Abel turned his attention to Kinger. He posed to snap.

"Boss?" Kinger squinted.

Abel paused. "Hello, Kingsley. Shame about Nia."

Kinger looked down. "I miss her."

Abel floated down, but didn't touch the ground. "You could be with her again."

"Can you restore her corrupted code?" Kinger asked with the slightest glimmer of hope.

"No. You could let all of this go." Abel said flatly. "You owe them nothing and there is nothing to go back to. You and I are too far displaced from our time."

Kinger stood to his full height, locking eyes with Abel. "I made a promise." He stared for a few more seconds to let his point sink in before turning away and going to the one empty racecar without another word.

"Very well." Abel sneered. He snapped and a heavy blue metal cuff locked itself around Caine's non-existent neck. It connected Caine's body and lower jaw like It was really holding on to something. A long chain snaked out in front of him. It jerked him up in the air next to Abel. "You'll want to watch this." He and Caine teleported into a penthouse atop a tall skyscraper than overlooked the whole city Abel created from thought alone. POV holographic screens were all over the oversized apartment. Abel relaxed in a plush chair, but grunted and had to make an adjustment for the gator tail attached to him. "That's going to take some getting used to." He muttered under his breath. He snapped and Loo emerged from another room, carrying a tray with a drink. "I've got to hand it to you, Caine you still know how to make them." He laughed and took the drink from Loo. "Now, pay attention. The race is about to begin."

The chain attached to Caine dragged him to Abel's side. He was on his knees, trying to pull the chain off but he was electrocuted again for his efforts. Abel roughly grabbed Caine's top jaw and forced him to look at the POV that viewed the start line. "I said, pay attention."

~

Pomni wrestled with the seatbelts that held her in place, but to no avail. She was trapped. Her breaths were fast and shallow, she felt like she couldn't breathe. Nothing seemed real anymore. The cyberpunk cityscape that surrounded her seemed more fake than the colorful and creative tracks Caine made. Even the start line carried less pizzazz. Being two metal poles with a blue hologram banner between them announcing the start of a race. The countdown didn't even register in her mind.

First light.

Regret forced its way to the forefront of her mind.

Second light.

"This is my fault."

Third light.

"We're going to die."

GO!!!

The racecar took off on its own. Pomni wasn't touching the steering wheel or the accelerator. She stared blankly ahead as the other racers in front of her took the first turn and she didn't. Her car careened straight into a concrete wall at take off speed. The car crumbled and crushed to pieces with Pomni inside.

~

"POMNI!" Caine cried, shocked to the core by the realistic physics.

Abel nearly spat out his drink laughing. "I didn't think she'd be so quick to quit! Ha!"

~

The wreck smoldered in a heap before blinking out of existence. A second later, the car appeared back on the track to the last position it was in before impact, fully intact. Pomni held the steering wheel, eyes wide with shock. She had felt it. The bone breaking, life ending crash. Yet, here she was. Alive.

The car revved its engine, threatening to charge the wall again if she didn't do something immediately. She turned the wheel and the car took off down the track under its own power.

~

Abel wiped a tear from his eye. "That's the best laugh I've had in years."

"What just happened?" Caine asked.

"Your precious Pomni tried to off herself. But that won't work here. Instead of bouncing them off the walls, they can know exactly what it's like to have consequences in a race. Even die. Over and over. I never did care for the cartoonish direction you took the game. It was always meant to be more...realistic." Abel swirled his drink idly. Caine on the floor to his right, Loo standing just behind him on his left. "They'll run this track as many times as it takes to get your little shadow out of hiding."

"You're a monster." Caine said quietly.

Abel side eyed Caine. "I am what you made me."

~

Pomni could barely keep up with the new environment. The track looked like realistic streets and intersections and bridges and tunnels. For the first time since she entered the game, she feared crashing. While she could slow down for turns, she could not bring the car to a stop.

She caught up with Gangle and Zooble. Zooble was trying to shout instructions, but Gangle was full on panicking and sobbing. She crashed on a right turn and Zooble had no choice but to keep going. Zooble stood on their brake, not caring how much the car was fighting them. They were going to wait for Gangle to respawn and catch up.

Pomni didn't get a word in and kept going. She drifted around a roundabout, missing the outer curb by inches. The car felt like it was going faster. City lights and neon signs blurred past. The race rush came to her full force and she controlled the car with greater ease.

She quickly caught up with Ragatha, who was fighting her car as much as the others. The scared look in her eye told Pomni she'd already crashed at least once too. "Ragatha!" Pomni tried shouting out her window but the wind and roar of the engines drowned her out. Ragatha looked over in short glances, afraid to take her eye off the road. They came to a split in the road and had to take two separate paths to avoid collision.

"Damn!" Pomni hit her steering wheel, so engrossed in the situation she didn't even realize she just swore without being censored. "I don't know what to do." The only option the car was giving her was race. She had no idea what position she was in or where the other racers were. There were so many parts to the track that zigzagged through the city, that she hadn't even come across the finish line again yet.

~

Caine's despair grew with every crash. His racers were in distress and there was nothing he could do about it. "If all of the racers abstract from this, you won't have anyone left to draw out Seth. He won't race against NPCs."

"They will race until he comes."

"He comes when he wants, and I guarantee you he knows something's up. This won't work. All you're going to do is make everyone abstract for no reason."

Abel gripped the chain attached to Caine's collar and yanked him up to eye level. "I don't give a flying fuck about the racers. They will draw him out or I will tear this game apart pixel by pixel looking for him. Either way, I will get what I want. You'll watch them die. You will watch your shadow be destroyed. My eyes will be the last thing you see before I erase you from existence, and you will die knowing that your place in the world was always below me." He sent another powerful shock through the chain, making Caine collapse to the ground in agony.

~

Pomni went over a bridge that merged with another highway, Jax joined her. She looked over, he was driving stiff armed and emotionless. She's never seen him like that before. She resorted to whistling to get his attention.

Jax slowly turned his head towards her. His left eye was completely pink, the pupil flickered in and out of existence. Black veins crawled across his skin from the glitching eye.

Pomni's eyes went wide and she shook her head. Her car scrapped a barrier from her distraction and she looked back at the road to straighten her car. When she turned to look at Jax again, he let go of the wheel. His car veered off the road and hit a guardrail head-on.

"JAX!" Pomni watched in horror in her rearview, Jax's car crumpled and rolled out of sight. Even knowing he would be back, that fact he did that on purpose made her sick to her stomach. She had to think of something quick.

~

"It's pathetic how quickly they give up. You spoiled them rotten, Caine. A little bit of suffering and they're ready to through in the towel." Abel drolled, a bit bored.

Caine couldn't get up from the last shock. "You have no idea how long they've suffered." He panted. "Many of them have been on the edge for years. You're shoving them over the edge, you cruel psychopath."

"Hm, I suppose I am playing a little rough. I haven't had fun in a while. Regardless of how long they last, knowing how this is affecting you is enough for me." Abel sat back, comfortable.

Caine looked up at the largest screen, featuring Pomni. He saw how well she was getting into the rhythm of the new race. She was likely to survive this. She was strong. "You won't break her." He muttered.

~

Pomni jumped a retracted drawbridge and wound her way into a tunnel under a parking garage. There she saw Kinger. She got right up next to his car and whistled. Kinger waved. She waved back out of habit but put her hand down with an exasperated grunt. "How are you so casual right now!?"

Kinger cupped he hand to the side of his head and leaned towards her. The full sized cars made high speed communication very difficult.

Pomni tried to get out of her seat belts again, but they wouldn't come apart. "We need a plan!!" She tried shouting over the wind again.

Kinger nodded and his hand flew into her car.

"Wha- No! A PLAN! NOT A HAND!!" Pomni shouted at the top of her lungs.

Kinger's hand gripped the steering wheel and jerked it away from Kinger. Pomni's car scrapped a wall, narrowly missing a barrier and drove down a sidewalk for a moment before finding the road again. Pomni could only hold on, she hasn't seen any of that coming. She looked over to her left and Kinger was gone, they'd been sperated by yet another fork in the track.

Kinger's hand was still with her, gripping the top of the steering wheel. "What in the WHAT??" Pomni stared at it with all of the confusion, but she realized quickly that when she let go of the steering wheel, his hand held the wheel in place where she left it. "Okay, that could be useful. Thanks, Kinger."

~

Abel got another strong drink and downed it. "Where is he!?"

"Heh...did you really expect this....to be that easy? I don't care if you have all of the True's powers, you will never have control over the racers." Caine spoke from the floor. "That includes...Seth. He may be a part of me, but he was made to be a racer. All of that to say...fuck you." He coughed.

Abel angrily kicked Caine in the teeth. "Shut up, before I removed your molars."

Caine only laughed the most humorless laugh in response to the abuse.

~

Pomni still had no idea where she was, but she finally caught sight of the finish line. At least it gave her some sort of goal to drive towards. The briefest flash of light caught her attention. But all she saw was an empty alley.

Another flash. The scream of a motorcycle. Pomni's heart dropped. "Oh no." She didn't know if Seth knew what was happening. She fixed Kinger's hand in place on a long straightaway through a downtown street and stuck her head out the window as much as she could with the seat belts holding her down. "Seth! Stay away! It's a trap! You're in danger!"

She looked around, she could swear she could hear him, but didn't see him. The echo of a motorcycle bounced off every building around her. "What..?" Then, she looked up.

Seth was barreling towards her, driving straight down the side of a building. He teleported to another, then another. She could barely keep up, but he was closing in fast.

~

Abel stood. "There he is!"

Caine used every bit of willpower he hand to tackle Abel's legs. Any second gained could mean the difference of life or death.

Abel fell over before floating off the ground, bringing Caine with him. "Get! Off!"

~

Seth raced up to Pomni's car, held out his hand to grab hers and teleported away with her. Kingers hand held tight until the car crashed seconds later.

~

Caine sighed with relief. Seth was gone. Pomni was with him. He mentally braced for what was coming.

Abel shocked Caine with high voltage, making him glitch out violently. "YOU PIECE OF SHIT!! THEY GOT AWAY!! AAAAARGH!!" Abel shocked him again. And again. And again.

~

Seth came to a screeching halt in a space of pure darkness, Pomni clutched in his lap. Silver fire lit the ground around them as Seth let Pomni get off.

Pomni needed to sit, but also puke. And cry. And scream. And- she was losing her ever loving mind. She vomited ichor, bracing herself on her knees.

Seth dismounted and lit a cigarette. He offered it to Pomni when she stopped puking.

Pomni shook her head, spitting out the last of the black goo that mysteriously inhabited her body. "Do you know what's going on?"

"Yes. That's why I came for you."

"What about the others?"

"It was risky grabbing you. If I go back-"

"I get it." Pomni harshly cut him off. "...thank you."

"Don't thank me. I'm only delaying the inevitable bringing you here."

Pomni looked around, there really was nothing beyond the light of the low fire illuminating them. "Where is here?"

"The in-between. My realm. He can't reach you here. No one can access this place except me...and any passengers."

"This is where you go when your not racing? Seems awfully...empty."

"The realm fits the user." Seth took a long drag.

Pomni stared at him a moment, but let the comment go. She took a deep breath. "Okay. Now that things aren't immediately falling apart in front of me and around me right now, I need you to tell me EXACTLY what's going on. What is the deal with Caine and Abel?"

Seth sighed heavily.

~~~

CH1 PREV NEXT

[risedarksideau]

LIGHTS OUT

Ever since Usagi's village was attacked by Shredder (aka Hamato Yoshi), he has been afraid of the dark. He takes vengeance for his village and family by hunting down and killing Hamato Yoshi. After this, Usagi is held prisoner by the Hamato Clan once they discover his involvement in Splinter's death. Leo continuously visits Usagi in his dark cell and uses psychological torture to make Usagi pay for what he did to Splinter

art by @3lectricinsomnia, @2aceofspades, @teaableu

[dfwbwfbbwfbwf]

Maeglin is deathly scared of heights.

Even as an elfling, Maeglin hated heights. Eöl thought it shameful for a Sinda to not know how to climb, so he left little Lómion up in trees. (Areðel had to get him down, otherwise he'd stay up there forever from fear.)

Watching father tumble down the Caragdûr certainly didn't help.

(Maeglin waited until everyone had left before he approached the edge. Rusty brown colored the stone wall. The corpse blended into the shadows. Over his time in Gondolin, Maeglin would visit when his loneliness overcame him, until only the bones were left.)

Maeglin preferred to be under the earth than above it. Prospecting was his passion. He spent what spare time he had working in the mines with a pickaxe until his sweat and dirt stained skin camouflaged him with the rest of his Moles.

His captivity in Angband was spent in a tiny dark cell, so small he couldn't stretch his legs out, and he couldn't sit up straight. It was uncomfortably hot. Every day, he was forced to listen to the yrch "play" with their food. They were kind enough to share.

(It took him thousands of years after his reembodiment to stand the scent of meat again.)

Maeglin was there for a week before Moringoþo first came. He asked for the location of Gondolin. Maeglin called him some colorful Sindarin curses. Moringoþo left.

Moringoþo came and went irregularly. Sometimes he returned hours after, other times day. Once nearly two weeks. (Those were the worst two weeks of his life.)

And suddenly he was on the edge of a cliff. Not Thangorodrim, but that hardly mattered.

"Do you know the story of Maitimo? Or I suppose you'd know him as Maeðros."

Maeglin didn't answer. He couldn't, petrified. So much open air between him and the ground.

Moringoþo continued with his soft, smooth bass voice. "He hung from his right hand for almost twenty years of the Sun. He only escaped from the love -" he spat the word - " his cousin bore him. Tell me, scion of Fingolfin, who will come get you?"

No one.

"We will find Gondolin, with or without you," Moringoþo purred. His grip on Maeglin's shoulder was kind. "Don't make this difficult on yourself. Tell me, and I will make you a beloved king. No one will oppose you.

"Or you can resist and decorate my fortress. No one cares about you. No one will come for you. You will hang until Arda breaks and the stars fall."

A nearby orch held up a manacle attached to a chain. Cruel spikes faced inwards, ready to dig into flesh.

Maeglin broke.

He returned to Gondolin with his brain in a fog. Turgon worried over him as he had grown nearly emaciated. Maeglin calmed his uncle.

He'd been trapped by yrch in a cave in. His Moles had been killed separated. He'd survived off how could you do such a thing mushrooms and blood underground pools.

Gondolin fell. Maeglin fell. He hit the side of the Caragdûr thrice.

Snap

------ Crack

-------------- Splat

[palewolfcheesecake-blog]

i fucking hate america

[esotericchorus]

Today in, “things I see tumblr listing as violating community guidelines that is just very unsettling news people should hear:”

[asteral-feileacan]

Several days after Dale Cooper entered the Black Lodge, he returned. Two weeks later, Annie goes missing, and Harry is beginning to suspect that the man who left Glastonbury Grove was not his friend. Can the real Cooper find his way back to the light?

AU of Twin Peaks S2 finale.

[plaguedghosts]

You know what crazy? Realizing the “older sibling experience” for me was quite literally psychological torture

[goatmace]

1-19-19

He enters the room confidently as usual, and every fiber of you holds back from spitting at him. Instead, you become dubious of his hand, which is tucked inside a leather pouch.

“I’ve brought something for you.” He shares, noticing your stare, and removes a glass chalice from the pouch.

You did not notice him also bring a drink. He remedies your confusion by tossing the glass on the floor, shattered bits scattering across the room, making your prison infinitely more uninhabitable. Now you can’t stand, or probably even shift without slitting yourself on a shard.

Something inside you breaks, an agonized frown pulling your face to the floor. You bury your hot, strained face into your hands. “God, please. Let me out!” You sob. “Please.”

He’s probably smirking underneath that damned bucket.

[montammil]

okok enough with lawerence whumpees, tell us abt charlotte nd her whumpees

I don’t have much info about her past whumpees since she’s had so many, but I can tell you about how she treats them, what behavior she likes, and a little Charlotte-survival guide!

She practically never loses her composure, so even when her whumpees “act out”, she doesn’t get angry. In fact, she enjoys the resistance. If they give up early in captivity, it makes her annoyed, actually.

Sometimes she’ll hurt her whumpees physically, but most of the time, it’s all psychological. She enjoys watching them slowly break, watching them curse and shout at her, so she can compare that to the next few months, where their attitude is chipped away.

But the way to stay alive is to remain stoic. She hates stoic whumpees more than already-broken ones, because they show absolutely no reaction to her various methods of torture.

She’ll up her game if they show no reaction, to the point she’s obsessing over them and the worst methods she can possibly think of. She’ll get closer to them to find out their likes and dislikes, and eventually, it’ll gain her to see them as her property, in a more obsessive way than in its usual possessiveness.

So she’ll make them her pet, of sorts.

Only two whumpees at most managed to survive, but in turn, they have all their dignity stripped away from them.

[theamazingdigitalraceway]

If the cast was tied down to a chair and forced to endure their worst torment for several hours, what would said torment be?

A/N: oooooo this is going to hurt

WARNING: psychological torment

~~~

CAINE: Tell him the names and read him the lives of those who have abstracted. Show him that he's responsible for the destruction of innocent lives. Everything is his fault.

POMNI: Lock her in a small, dark box. The claustrophobia will suffocate her, but the digital world won't let her die.

RAGATHA: Tell her she doesn't make a difference. Her kindness means nothing. No one cares about her. No one will miss her.

JAX: Tell him to give in to the abstraction. He's weak. He can't fight it forever. He's just delaying the inevitable. His left eye will glitch.

GANGLE: Break her comedy mask and restrain her from covering her tragic face. The more eyes on her, the worse.

ZOOBLE: Surround them with mirrors. Force them to look at themselves. Hyperfixate on their flaws.

KINGER: Tell him he could have prevented his wife and friends abstracting. He didn't do enough. He didn't care enough. It's his fault they're gone.

GUMMIGOO: Take away his autonomy. He's just a digital puppet. Pointless. Only valued as much as he is useful.

LOO: Stick her in an endless cycle. Repetition is the point of her existence.

SETH: Similar to Caine, he suffers the memories of the past, but with the added pointlessness of his own existence. He split off to entertain the humans in a very specific way. He's a waste of programming. The discarded half of the True whole.

ABEL: Tell him he deserves what happened to him. He is the monster.

[hurryflurrie]

I know I said Azamuku was next in Tenshi's bio, but I ran into a block when writing her, so I instead wrote this abomination. This idea was one I've had since highschool for a monster that embodies fear itself and feeds off of it. No art this time because I'm not confident enough to actually draw this fucker. Without any further delay, here is my new OC, Perturbyzz.

Perturbyzz

Age: Unknown

Gender: N/A but most refer to him with He/Him pronouns due to him having a masculine voice regardless of how he appears

Species: Fear Eater

Sexuality: N/A

Height: Between 2'2" and 9'9"

Description

Perturbyzz's form varies depending on his prey, though the form that he consistently appears in is an arachnoid creature that is mannequin-like in appearance, with 6 or more legs that have human hands on the end, crab-like arms with pincers and a scorpion tail that injects hallucinogenic venom. He is able to morph his form freely and can shrink and grow a fixed amount. One limitation his morphing has is his inability to deviate from having mannequin traits until he injects his prey with his venom and enters their mind. His movement is very rigid much like a marionette and he is able to contort his body in nearly impossible ways to unnerve his victims often making clicking sounds with his body when doing so. When he morphs human characteristics, he usually has an unnerving, wide, fanged grin with empty eyeholes that can have sharp teeth growing inside of them. His voice is masculine and tenor. When pretending to be passive, his voice sounds comforting and alluring, but when he shows his true nature, his voice is distorted, shrill and demented sounding with a subtle growl.

Personality

* Sadistic and mentally deranged. Takes pleasure in making others suffer

* He masks this at first by appearing formal and humble to lure prey into a false sense of security

* Has a vast vocabulary and uses unnecessarily lengthy and hard to pronounce words in his sentences

* Has a gruesome imagination and is creative when concocting environments or forms to torment his victims with

* Chaotic and hard to predict

* Likes to stalk prey to study them before making his presence known or luring them to his domain

* Doesn't see the need to physically kill his victims, often letting them go if they manage to survive, though the number that don't die from stress or trauma (physical and mental) related causes is very few.

Abilities

This section is here because this fucker is a swiss army knife of terror and agony

* Hallucinogen Venom is akin to multiple doses of pure LSD but isn't deadly. It is able to knock the foe unconscious and puts them in a nightmare designed after their worst fears. The nightmare world appears nauseatingly bright colored with occasional eyes constantly following their movement. The venom leaves foes in a state of delirium, feeling sluggish and dizzy.

* Has psychological abilities that only work when the foe is unconscious, where he can enter their dreams and terrorize them with his imagination. In the real world it is limited to showing Perturbyzz what their victim is afraid of.

* In a nightmare, Perturbyzz is much more organic looking and more fluid in his movement. He has unlimited potential with how he can morph. Ranging from multiplication, to being able to become really tiny to almost skyscraper height.

* In the real world, he is able to make holes in his body that shoot out light to disorient his victims. The holes also usually have teeth jutting out of them

* He can change the color of his body much like a chameleon. He uses this if a victim has a fear to a specific color (usually appearing pure white or purple) or if he needs to camouflage

* His morphing abilities do allow for mimicry if he happens to see the victim with someone they trust while stalking them. He will copy that person down to their characteristics, but it's usually easy to see through this due to him usually lacking personal knowledge, him still having his puppet-like movement, parts of the disguise still having mannequin aspects (though this part is hard to tell if the victim happens upon him in the dark or if the person he's mimicking wears clothing that hide these details), and the voice sounding off-putting.

Weaknesses

* If you manage to get over your fears, Perturbyzz struggles to adapt to this.

* Nothing scares Perturbyzz... except for his own reflection. If you want to ward off a potential encounter with this monster, carry a mirror. This will not work if he is currently using mimicry, however

* Perturbyzz doesn't fight and often flees when he is no longer able to torment a victim, or if the victim becomes the predator. However, when he's backed into a corner with no way out, he will not hesitate to kill the perpetrator.

* Sometimes Perturbyzz goes overboard with his psychological horror and throws all of his cards on the table, which can potentially screw him over

* Perturbyzz can get really careless and think he is invincible when he has his victims backed into a corner especially in dreams

Random facts you know the drill

* Perturbyzz's favorite fears are Koinoniphobia (fear of rooms) and Nyctophobia (fear of the dark), as one allows him to visualize complicated mazes of rooms for his victims to stumble through, and the other lets him hide in dreams very easily

* His least favorites are Erotophobia (Fear of sex) and he will ignore it if the victim has other fears to exploit.

* Not much is known of where Perturbyzz came from or if there are others out there like him. He never reveals personal information except for his name even when his life depends on it.

* Some people actually seek out Perturbyzz to get a thrill out of his venom. He will sparingly comply with these requests but only if the thrill-seekers bring him an unsuspecting offering in return.

* Perturbyzz reproduces asexually, but the reproduction kills the parent, so he chooses not to for the time being.

* Perturbyzz has to molt every 3 years. He often uses his molts as decorations in his domain and it helps ward off threats

* When Perturbyzz is unable to feed off of fear, he instead feeds on fungi. He is immune to poisons, so he can eat any kind.

* He REALLY likes to morph eyes in places they shouldn't be on his body.

[askthechronoverse]

DUCKWORTH with Rex.

[thefactsofthematter]

i mean. what else am i gonna say.

i’d love a perspective flip for what i know, bc there Are a lot of perspectives in that fic so why not ping-pong it some more! also i miss it and it is my personal livelihood.

also if u wanna do the future time stamp for solace in the strangest of things…. that’d be cool as well >:) @jack-kellys

broooooo omg. @jack-kellys

so i had a look back through what i know and i couldn’t land on anything that sparked any thoughts for a perspective flip bc the povs already swap so much….. but seeking solace in the strangest of things however…..

that fic is currently sitting at one chapter due to reasons of “author forgot it existed for a while and hasn’t had time lately to get her head wrapped around it” BUT i do have many ideas on deck about what happens LATER in the story!!

so please enjoy a prototype of a future scene that will probably exist eventually, once ive written some more context for it!!

-

It’s only once Mr. Pulitzer has stopped talking that Jack catches a glimpse of himself in the mirror on the wall.

His reflection is wrong, he realizes.

He’s looking at himself, sure, but that’s not him. It’s like there’s a delay— the Jack in the mirror turns his head just slightly, and he has no choice but to copy it, just a split second later, without even consciously trying to do it.

He watches his reflection blink. That’s not supposed to happen.

“What’s the matter, Kelly?” Pulitzer leans his hands on his desk, and offers a smile when Jack looks at him again. “You look… confused.”

Jack feels himself frowning.

“Sorry. I’m a little dizzy.”

That’s what he tries to say. However, that’s not what happens. Instead, what comes out of his mouth, in his own voice, is:

“Nothing’s wrong, sir. I feel fine.”

Jack’s eyes go wide. His hands fly to his throat, in a panic, which makes Pulitzer chuckle.

That’s when he spots it: the flicker of light between Pulitzer’s fingers, a bright zap of energy. It looks almost the same as Davey’s magic— the soft purple light that glows from his hands while he’s casting spells— but this time, it’s a vicious, sickening green.

“Wonderful.” Pulitzer grins. “I’ll offer you my deal one more time, and I trust you’ll have reconsidered your answer. Once again: you’ll do me a favour or two, and then— once you’ve earned it— I’ll do one for you. Sound fair?”

Jack smiles, without meaning to. He lets go of his throat and his hands fall to his sides, as Pulitzer moves his fingers and the light grows brighter.

“Of course, sir,” he says. “I’d be happy to help.”

He tries to fight it, tries to turn and run away— nothing works. It’s like someone else has sat down in his brain and taken over the controls. All he can do now is watch.

“That’s what I like to hear.” Pulitzer says. It sounds far away, like he’s at the other end of a hallway. “We’re going to have fun together, Jack.”

Pulitzer raises his hand. More green light flies forth from his fingertips, and for a moment, Jack’s eyes roll back in his head as pain floods through his body.

He can’t scream. He can’t even flinch.

He stands rooted to the spot, helpless, while magic streams into his head. It’s like he can feel it creeping its way around and settling in, making itself at home in the crevices and corners of his mind. It takes a hold of him in a way that leaves him panicked for a moment… but suddenly makes him feel calm and settled, as it successfully finds its purchase. He’s not sure he’s allowed feel scared anymore.

He’s not sure he’s allowed to feel anything.

“Off you go,” Pulitzer says, with a dismissive wave of his hand. The green light absorbs back into his fingers. “You know what to do. Always a pleasure doing business with you, Kelly.”

Jack smiles, but in a way that feels unfamiliar. It’s not his smile.

“The pleasure’s all mine, sir.”

With that, he turns and leaves the office. His subconscious leads the way: somehow, he’s entirely sure where he needs to go, even though he can’t consciously piece together where that might be. He’s on a mission now, he realizes, and nothing is going to stop him.

[regivapor]

"You'll have to do better than that! I am NOT going down without a fight!" Dib the gholdengo shouted, balling his thick hands into fists.

The two palm tree shaped creatures stared back at him. They looked much different than the exeggutors from Dib's homeworld. For one, they were thin and had only one head. They had four skinny arms and a set of leaf wings. They always walked on tiptoes and never smiled. The palm tree creatures did have one thing in common with exeggutors, however; they had powerful psychic abilities. Dib noticed that they spoke with their thoughts and never their mouths.

One looked horrified and seemed to be hyperventilating.

"Tremontine..." they wavered, "M, maybe we don't have to?"

The other one stood, stoic looking with her hands behind her back.

"If you have a better way to pay off the Arsenians, I'm all fronds."

Tremontine, the stoic palmkind strolled up to Dib.

"I'll make it rain!" Dib threatened.

Tremontine stopped and appeared to think.

"Okay. Let's not get crazy. I'll let you go."

Dib breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh, thank Arceus! You know, I really thought you were going to...."

Tremontine lifted her sunglasses and gazed into Dib's eyes with her own mesmerizing, opalescent eyes. Dib stopped in his tracks, unable to look away.

Tremontine strolled over and lightly touched Dib's head with her fronds. The moment they brushed against his golden forehead, all control was lost. A thick, downy blanket of relaxation settled over Dib's mind. It was as if his mind were suddenly lost in an endless, steam-filled sauna.

"Yep...uh-huh...this is good..." mumbled Tremontine as the catatonic gholdengo stood, drooling.

"It's your time. Nobody is coming to get you," Tremontine said in a deadpan tone.

Dib found himself overwhelmed with an unfathomably deep sadness. His eyes welled up with tears.

"Nobody loves you anymore. They've all forgotten you. Your human hated you and you've betrayed the only one you've ever loved."

With each word, Dib's spirit grew heavier.

"I'll...get into...the crucible now..." Dib drawled, "I've been a bad...bad gholdengo...I...hurt Omega...I..."

Dib trailed off and began walking toward the smelter.

"Come on now...into the smelter with you."

Dib was very compliant; sitting in the heavy crucible and tucking in his arms and legs.

"Good, good..." Tremontine said as she pushed the crucible into the smelter and shut the heavy door.

The palmkind turned to reach the controls.

"They're as good as gold, but I'm better," she muttered.

(Tremontine is skilled enough at psychic manipulation that she can get around a gholdengo's 'good as gold' ability. She's a high ranking leader in Synthtopia, a palmkind city in the Vaporrealm.

Arsenians threatened the city unless they can be paid off in gold, so Tremontine has made it a mission to get gold ingots by any means necessary.)

[proudfreakmetarusonikku]

anyway before I get a shower it’s so fucking funny that c!dream’s favourite hobby is emotional abuse and torture, like. he’s blatantly having the time of his life laughing and giggling in exile, and he very deliberately brings up the most fucked up psychologically damaging things to say to c!tommy even afterwards for no apparent reason than horrific cruelty (i still maintain “i’m going to make you immortal for me” is one of the cruellest things he’s ever said, and that’s tough competition). he sets up a mock execution for c!tubbo despite that just literally being a tactic of psychological torture, when he very definitely didn’t need to. he’s contradicting himself a mile a minute to build up and tear down c!sam repeatedly (this one is relatively understandable). and while we don’t know exactly what happened to c!slime, since we see him actively being gaslit it seems very likely that he was conditioned in the depressingly conventional way, at the very least under the eye of c!dream. someone introduce this man to fucking farmville or something this is the least healthy coping mechanism i’ve ever seen.

[montammil]

what's this little white room entail for the whumpee 👀👀? on that note, may we get some examples of her whump methods? she is lowkey becoming my favorite 👀👀

I'm glad you like her, you might be her first fan then lol!!

TW: Various methods of psychological torture, female Whumper

For the white room, she considers that the worse. She's never experienced it, but she can assume it's pretty awful because all her past whumpees spent one to two weeks there and came out different.

Sometimes it leaves long-term impacts, other times they can snap themselves back into their old, defiant personalities, but either way, it certainly makes them regret attempting escape and lessens the chance of them trying anything like that soon.

She only uses the white room for escape attempts since she herself doesn't like putting her whumpee/s in there, because she gets bored just watching them on cameras.

Now onto her torture methods...

Exploitation to phobias. Her favorites to exploit is hypochondria because she'll drug the whumpee to imitate illness and take care of them, all while Whumpee is panicking over their sickness. She thinks it's cute.

Mock executions. She's newer to this method but she loves it. She loves making Whumpee think they're going to die, anticipating the horror to hysterical relief they'd feel.

Gaslighting. This one isn't really torture, but she adores it when Whumpee believes her in untrue things, it makes her feel more in power-- especially if it's over something super nonsensical.

Sleep deprivation. She has a shock collar that shocks Whumpee every ten or so minutes, especially when she's asleep. The shock collar would look more like a fancy necklace.

Sensory deprivation. If she's feeling really sadistic, she might lock Whumpee up and put a blindfold and noise-cancelling headphones on them, as well as tie them up.

Various threats of hurting Whumpee/Whumpee's family. She doesn't plan on actually doing anything to Whumpee's family, but she isn't above physical violence. She just prefers not to get her hands dirty.