Velune snapped her eyes tightly shut as soon as she heard that damned snake give the command to flip the switch. She'd already seen that doing such wouldn't save her, but her self-preservation instincts were quite strong. No matter how inevitable her fate might be, she wasn't going to give in without a fight.
She could hear the buzzing hum of the light beaming from the statue of their detestable snake god—could feel its faint warmth bathing her face. Her heart pounded in her chest with fear as she steeled herself for the fight of her life.
She heard the perverted snake command the nearest slave to pry her eyes open and prepared to resist with everything she had. The enslaved elf's fingers were incredibly strong—she had been quite shocked by how much stronger these elves seemed to become after their enslavement—and suddenly her eyes were open, and the twin red eyes of Slethraa were twinkling before her, utterly drowning her in their inescapable light. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. She couldn't have torn her gaze away for anything.
Velune became aware of a feeling at the back of her neck, a leaking sensation, as if something was dripping out of her.
They mean to take away my ability to fight this.
Staring into the beautiful red light, feeling its warmth wash over her, Velune suddenly had this strange sensation of being pulled—being sucked towards the eyes that bored into her very soul. Her wrists and ankles thrashed around fruitlessly in her bonds and she gritted her teeth as she fought to hold her place in the chair. But try as she might, her consciousness soared, leaping away from her and straight into those evil, red eyes of their snake god Slethraa.
She felt herself being drawn towards the red, completely wrapped in its light—it dominated everything, blanketed her and coated her very soul. Her consciousness began to stretch, being sucked further into the red, deeper and deeper still, for miles and days she floated through a warm blood sea, until finally and suddenly she burst through, finding herself adrift and unspeakably alone in a vast black void. In every direction around here were stars, countless and endless, some bright enough to hurt her eyes, and some so pale they could hardly be seen at all. Millions of them, surrounding her, as she hurtled forward in this expansive dark emptiness.
Velune suddenly realized that each of these millions of stars was a sun like the one that shone in her sky—that each of these stars may have worlds like hers, multiple worlds, full of people and creatures, all living their lives. Velune had never felt so small, so insignificant. So cold. She became vaguely aware of the sensation at the back of her neck changing from a trickle to a steady flow.
She continued her rapid launch through the void, soaring through its inky black depths, understanding how each of these stars was so, so far away, and that a vast expanse of absolute nothingness surrounded her, filling the impossible distance between her and anything at all. She hurtled for what felt like eons, until finally she saw something in the distance, getting closer. It wasn't approaching her—she was approaching it. The shape slowly grew in size, expanding until it abruptly appeared too large for her to even comprehend. She didn't remember the shape slowly growing as she approached it, and yet, it must surely have done so. Time and distance seemed to lose all meaning in this dark place.
Before she knew it, she was floating, aimless and adrift, before the gigantic face of Slethraa, the snake deity. His colossal red eyes erupted like suns and seemed to pierce right through her, scrutinizing every secret facet of her soul. She felt miniscule before his grandiosity, the epic scale of his countenance staring down at her, somehow identifying the tiny speck that was her and focusing his entire attention upon it.
LISSSTEN TO MY WORDSSS, ELF, AND KNOW THAT THEY ARE TRUE.
I will not I will not I will not
I AM SSSSLETHRAA, THE SSSNAKE GOD. YOU ARE NOTHING. YOU ARE NOTHING AT ALL. I AM YOUR GOD. AND YOU ARE NOW MY SSSSERVANT.
You are
not
my god, my god is Elywah Fellathwin, goddess of the forest
AND WHERE ISSS YOUR GOD NOW? SSSHE CANNOT HELP YOU. SSSHE IS WEAK. JUSSST ASSS YOU ARE WEAK. ALL ELVESSS ARE WEAK. WEAK-MINDED AND WEAK-WILLED. THE WEAK SSSERVE THE SSSTRONG. YOU ARE WEAK. SSSLETHRAA IS SSSTRONG. YOU WILL SSSERVE SSSLETHRAA.
Never! I will
never
serve you and your evil!
FOOLISSSH ELF. YOU ALREADY DO. EVEN NOW YOUR WILL DRAINSSS AWAY, A MOMENTARY DELICACCCY FOR MY SSSLETHRAANSSS. YOU WILL SSSERVE AS THE BRIEFESSST OF REFRESSSHMENTSSS. YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A SSSNACK. AND THEN YOUR EMPTY FLESSSH WILL SSSERVE YOUR SSSLETHRAAN MASSSTERSSS FOREVER. YOU WILL OBEY. YOUR WILL BELONGSSS TO SSSLETHRAA NOW. YOU ARE MINE.
No!
My will is mine alone! It is not yours to take!
AND YET, WE TAKE IT. YOU CANNOT SSSTOP USSS. HOW RAPIDLY IT DRAINSSS FROM YOU, LEAVING YOU WEAKER AND WEAKER WITH EVERY MOMENT. IF WE CAN TAKE IT FROM YOU, IT BELONGSSS TO USSS. FEEL IT LEAVING YOUR BODY. CONCCCENTRATE ON THAT FEELING.
Velune felt a vague sensation of something flowing out of the back of her neck, something precious, that with each passing second, she lost more and more of this precious thing as it flowed out of her. She had to stop it! How could she stop the flow? She was
here
, and that was happening to her somewhere else, somewhere she had no idea how to reach.
I feel it!
No!
YESSS. WITH EACH PASSSSING SSSECOND YOU BECOME WEAKER AND WEAKER. YOU WERE ALREADY WEAK TO BEGIN WITH, ELF, AND BECOMING EVER WEAKER. VERY, VERY WEAK. WEAK-WILLED. WEAK-MINDED. SSSUCH A PATHETIC LITTLE ELF CANNOT POSSSSIBLY HOPE TO DEFEAT SSSLETHRAA'SSS WILL.
Velune felt a rush of hopelessness at this. She hated him, this vile creature. But she was an insignificant speck compared to this cosmic entity—this god. How could she hope to fight
that
?
No!
No! That is despair talking! I must fight! With everything I have!
DON'T MAKE ME LAUGH, SSSLAVE. 'EVERYTHING YOU HAVE' ISSS QUICKLY DRAINING OUT OF YOU. SSSOON THERE WILL BE NOTHING LEFT TO FIGHT
WITH
. ASSS YOU GROW WEAKER, I GROW SSSTRONGER.
Velune could feel the strength flowing out of her—it seemed to be gushing out of her now, so fast—so unbelievably fast. How could she fight when the very will she had to fight with was pouring out of her?
LOOK INTO MY EYESSS, SSSLAVE.
She did. How could she not? They were huge—all encompassing, they were practically all that there was.
LOOK INTO THE EYESSS OF YOUR GOD, YOUR MASSSTERR.
She could not look away. She glared daggers at him but could not look away.
YOU ARE WEAK. SSSAY IT.