Ignacio, Please Help

Celeste pulled her arm, the chain rattling. Her teeth bared, the shackle around her wrist digging into her skin. The strain in her shoulder felt like it would rip it off.

She fell, chains clattering to the floor. She stared at the thick shackles swallowing her hands, trickles of blood running around them.

“Ignacio,” she whimpered. “Where are you?”

Her voice was hoarse from screaming. One moment she’d been in their lounge, her and Igancio together. The next she was in a beautiful landscape with mountains and a sky bluer than any she’d seen before. The next she was in that room.

Then the masked men had come for her, cast her hands in metal and shackled her to the wall.

The stone floor was cold as ice, a lone torch flickering on the stone brick wall across from her. It felt like she'd been there for almost a whole day. But when she closed her eyes, she caught glimpses of Doctor Ivo. Flashes. It had been days and only four hours that felt like four months, all at the same time.

She lay on her side, legs curling against her chest. Tears warmed her eyes and streaked down her cheeks, her lip quivering.

“Ace,” she whispered, the cold floor pressing against her cheek. “Please, help me.”

She startled as the door behind her thumped open, the torchlight flickering. She scrambled to her feet, backing up against the wall as those men walked in again.

Plain black robes covered their entire bodies, hoods over their heads, masks glittering with various gemstones on their faces. The masks resembled different creatures. One was a dark blue man with a sharp beard, horns growing from the sides of its head. The other a green dragon. The last was silver and… empty. Just the angles of a human face and slants for eyes, with a set of sharp silver teeth bared. The other two who followed were new.

Their masks were black with white teeth. One resembling an Oni. The other was some kind of beast with no eyes, a set of sharp teeth, and a three point crown atop its head.

“Have you reconsidered, Miss Torvado, Celeste?” the one in the dragon mask asked.

Her back pressed against the wall, chest fluttering as panic threatened to set in. “I… won’t… do it.”

The dragon mask lowered his head. “That is a shame.”

The Oni masked person stepped forward, and Celeste screamed.

“Ignacio, please help me!”