Summer 4996, date unknown...
He sat on the floor behind the door. He didn't want to be seen by anyone, though He also knew He couldn't really hide.
His skin was red and raw beneath His dark tan. He'd scrubbed for over an hour... and still felt dirty. He hunched into Himself, squeezing His arms, and digging His nails into the sore flesh below the silver bands, focusing on the pain. He deserved it.
Dirty... Weak and dirty... That's all He was. He didn't deserve a name.
Long silver hair fell forward to hide His face, brushing against the glistening white scales, like polished quartz, or even diamonds. It had grown long over the last few months. They weren't interested in those samples anymore...
He crossed His ankles, pulling His knees in tighter and pressing His eyes on them. He hated this place, these people, this body, and Himself... He needed to get out. But they would just chaise Him down. Even if He could get out, and He had a few desperate plans that might've worked, He couldn't run fast enough to get far enough away that they wouldn't find Him.
Someone knocked on the door and He flinched, squeezing still tighter. The door pushed open, there was no point in hiding, but He didn't move anyway.
"Icewyrm? Dinner is ready handsome boy..." That voice. He curled His fingers, feeling the cold trickle of blood flow beneath His nails. He'd loved that voice once... and she'd convinced Him she'd loved Him back... That she really didn't mind His cold skin. That she'd actually wanted Him to touch her... Well. That last part might have been true, but the first certainly wasn't.
The Journeyman pushed the door closed with her foot, and He flinched again as it clicked and locked. "Ah, there you are." He could feel her moving to His bed, setting down the food tray, and her slow steps towards Him.
He looked up, watching her through His hair as she swayed her hips with each step. "Go away." He mumbled.
"Oh, don't be like that..." she purred, dropping to her knees and leaning forward on all fours to bring her face close to His, letting her loosely tied robe droop revealingly.
He looked away.
Soft fingers brushed His cheek, trying to turn His face back, and He leapt to his feet, back flat against the wall. "Don't touch me!" He snarled at her.
She pouted, crawling closer and ignoring the order to rub her hands up His thighs. "Now now... I know you don't mean that." She smirked up at Him, "Or... is it just that you prefer to be tied up?"
He tried to run, but there was nowhere to go, so He stopped on the other side of the door to spin back to her. "Don't touch me!" He screamed at her. His life hadn't been good before, but He'd been content, the Journeymen were His friends. Then... Then...
He squeezed His eyes closed, turning His face away to whisper, "I don't like it... any of it..."
"Humph," He could hear her standing, brushing off her robes, and He struggled not to step back as she sauntered closer once more, "You say that... But your body doesn't lie. You like the new samples we take. I can tell. Why else would you get so very..." her voice dropped an octave, taking on a sultry purr, "very..." she leaned forward to whisper in His ear, "hard."
She touched His face again, tracing along the white scales, one finger for each of the two points, merging to one at His jaw. The line would continue down His neck and wind its way with the set from His other cheek around His body, reappearing to spit into two points once more on each hand and foot. He slapped her hand aside before she could follow the trail any further, ice and frost flying from the impact.
She cradled the hand, looking much more hurt at the emotion than at the slap or cold. A silver and diamond ring glittered on her finger, protecting her from His ice. "Would you prefer Gai then? You liked it just as much when he did the extraction, last time."
He growled like a beast, white beginning to creep into His vision in His rage. That same rage helped block the pain of the constricting armbands at His use of magic. He'd gotten to the point where He could still use His magic even with the pain. At least until He hit a certain threshold and they would cut off the ice completely, leaving Him numb.
He held back any further use, however, and she continued to speak, her smirk returning, "You should be grateful. We're trying to find your favorite way... To make things easier for you. Do you really think anyone else would want to touch you if they knew what you really are? What you really crave...?"
"Stop it..." His voice cracked, only shaming Him further. She giggled.
Before she could taunt Him further, the door opened once more and Journeyman Gai himself poked his head in, "Dyan. We're moving. The Archmages need us."
He swiveled to look at Gai, slapping His hand on the frame to keep them from closing the door on Him, "Moving? Now?"
Dyan was already rushing past her counterpart and up the spiral stairs outside His door, though Guy took a moment to explain, "Yes. The barbarians are on to us. Lay down, it will help with the nausea." Gai started closing the door and He pulled His hand back from the frame. Of course, He knew already that laying down would help, they'd moved the tower countless times over His life. But they seemed to be distracted and in a hurry.
Could He really be this lucky? Could He really manage it...
The door closed. But didn't click. Ice filled the hole in the doorframe where the latch would connect.
He leaned against the door to keep it from swinging open again, trying to listen through the pounding of His heart. Gai didn't check if the door had locked and was running up the stairs after Dyan.
He didn't have much time, but He waited anyway, calming and counting His breaths. He had to time it perfectly...
He gave the Warlocks the time necessary to set up and prepare. It would only take the Archmages to move the tower, but it would require all of them to be present to assist, a journeyman and apprentice for each.
Was He counting too fast? Too slow? He grit His teeth and pulled the door open, sprinting up the stairs to the ground floor.
He stood on the landing. Too fast. The doors to the Archmages' labs stood open on either side of the wedge-shaped hall, and at the far end... "Freedom..."
The ground began to vibrate. Not a true shaking but more like a buzz running up through His feet and into his bones.
Now! He sprinted past the doors, Dyan's voice calling, "Icewyrm!" His shoulder slammed into the wood as He struggled with the handle in His desperation. Still pushing, it swung open into a world of rain and green. Trees twice as tall as the tower loomed above, dripping with water and vines. Now! He lept, hearing again the call, like a death cry, "Icewyrm!"
Something brushed His back, tugging on His shirt, but it was too late. Behind Him, the ground opened into starry night. Above, a similar circle mirrored the lower. They rushed to meet each other as Dyan pulled on the cloth. He dipped, twisting and slipping out of the loose-fitting shirt, stepping back just in time to see the Journeyman's horrified face before the lower circle passed her, joining the upper.
A loud pop and rushing wind strong enough to pull Him forward and throw Him to the ground accompanied the disappearance of the tower. Of His prison, and His torment.
He dug His fingers into rich wet soil, then threw His head back and laughed into the rain. It was over! Finally over!
He calmed Himself, reality sinking in, then scrambled to His feet. "Not yet..." He told Himself, then started running. Leaving icy footprints to quickly melt in the oppressive summer heat of the jungle. North, or what He hoped was north, and as far away from this cursed place as possible.
