Rhodopsera
Still shaking from the trauma of what had happened, Thea was led back out of the room. Her gait was unsteady, and she stumbled a few times. Being led by a leash isn’t the most comfortable of transport methods. After a few scant seconds of walking, the man opened a door into an enclosed yard outside, surrounded by high wooden fences.
Closing the door behind him, the man gestured for her to stay in position on a patch of grass, while he walked over to a hosepipe. She complied, wondering what was going to happen. Mentally, they’d definitely scarred her, but they didn’t seem interested in her sexually… what was going to happen next? Her questions were answered in part as a jet of icy water hit her in the back. She gasped from the cold, but otherwise kept still as she was blasted with it, trembling a little as she tried not to fall down. He brought the hose up and down on her body, soaking every inch.
After not too long, he shut the hose off, and gestured for him to follow her. He beckoned with a toss of his head and a wave of his hand, as one might a dog… or a slave. Was this really her life now? Not even being important enough for words? Gulping back a sigh, she took a quick breath to center herself again and followed him inside, still dripping wet.
Now that she wasn’t still in shock from being sold into slavery, she could take in a little more of her surroundings. As she looked around, she saw more of the hooded figures that had restrained her earlier. They filled up the hallways, some in small groups murmuring clandestinely to each other, some alone with their heads down, hurrying somewhere. The one thing they had in common was their dark cloaks, pulled completely around their bodies with the hoods hiding their faces. They looked identical, identity-less.
Her thoughts were interrupted as a panting woman ran up to her captor, holding on to his shoulder to catch her breath as she heaved. After a few seconds of silence, she looked up at him and said, “It’s urgent. One of our sacrifices for tonight’s offering has died, of exhaustion, disease, we don’t know. We need a replacement.” She stared at Thea, clearly very new with her roughly shorn head and shivering from the cold water drenching her body. “We can use her.”
“Our Lord may not accept such a lowly sacrifice, Abbess.”
“I don’t care, an inadequate sacrifice is better than none. Or should I get one of the devotees on the altar again instead?”
“No, Abbess. I’ll get her ready immediately.”
“Thank you, Baelor. Do it fast, and get all the adornments on her. Better maximise our chances.”
“Of course, Abbess.”
With that, the strange woman nodded to Thea’s captor – Baelor, she supposed, now – and strode off, with the regal bearing of a leader. Baelor turned to her for a second. His eyes traveled up and down her body, examining her like the piece of meat she was now. Then, he pulled her down the corridor again, in the direction they’d originally been going. However, judging by the flustered look in his eyes and the speed of his steps, it seemed his destination – and his objective – had changed. Even running, she could barely keep up and avoid being pulled to the floor by his frantic tugging of her leash. Still, thinking back to the conversation, Thea realized something. Her mouth opened, the words to a question forming in her head. “A sacrifice? What’s that suppo–”
“Silence!” A smack, and Thea was on the ground, holding her cheek in pain. “You will not speak unless spoken to. I thought I made that clear.” Baelor glared down at her, irate. “Well?”
“Y-yes, Master.” Shit. She still hadn’t gotten used to all the… trappings, of her new position.
Baelor led her further down the corridor, going around any number of corners, until the two reached another room. As Baelor opened the heavy wooden door, Thea took the chance to look around. Rather than the roughly hewn stone of the outside, this room was tiled, with a drain in the corner and a hose tucked away in the corner. A metal table stood against the wall, atop which were a very disconcerting assortment of instruments. Seeing it, Thea’s breath quickened, and it was all she could do to keep herself from running away. Baelor affixed her leash to a brace in the wall, walking over to the table and picking up a straight razor. “Kneel.” She complied quickly, sinking down onto the ground, with her back facing him, as fast as she could. On his way over, he grabbed the hose. The first indication Thea got of it was the wet gush of water onto her head, running over the floor and into the drain. Luckily, though, this water wasn’t as cold or as forceful as the hose outside had been. She let herself relax a little, dropping her shoulders.
It wasn’t long until she forgot where she was, with her eyes closed against the water. So, when the man put the razor against her head and started slowly shaving off her wet hair, it jolted her back into reality. Right. This was where she was. She was a slave to some… mystery swindle cult, and would most likely die without that fact having changed. As the man gradually moved from front to back, she didn’t protest nearly as much as she had the first time – why would she? There was so little of her hair left that shaving the rest of it off would make no difference. Besides, if she didn’t stay in line, her dear sister would be brought back into this mess. Every logical part of Thea knew that what was happening was no big deal. So why was it, then, that as Baelor shaved a strip of her short-cropped hair from her crown to the back of her head, that she couldn’t help but let a tear slip down her face?
Her nails dug into the soft flesh of her thighs as he gradually pared the stubble from her head, line by line. It was clear by his speed and steady hand that he had had practice with this. Just as she thought that, his hand slipped a little, nicking her scalp. She hissed, and flinched, her shoulders popping up and her head down for an instant. He stopped for a moment, clicking his tongue at her, but continued anyway. Her heartbeat rose a little as he went around her ear, blade coming dangerously close to cutting into the cartilage.
He finally made the last strokes of the blade, and rubbed a hand over her head to check if he’d done his job. She was astounded by how… smooth, it felt. She almost leaned up into Baelor’s hand, it felt so good, but she stopped herself at the last moment, remembering where she was. He didn’t make her look in a mirror again, not like last time, but she had a pretty good idea of what she looked like. His hands left her head, but he didn’t call for her. What was going to happen next? Not daring to turn back, she waited in silence as he walked away and picked something up from the metal table. He walked back. She could feel his presence behind her. Suddenly, a needle stabbed into the skin of her head, and she gasped in pain. instinctively moving away. “Be still!” He grabbed the back of her neck harshly, keeping her in place as he continued to tattoo her scalp. Thea’s mouth stayed open in a silent scream as she tried not to move. She had no idea what he was doing to her, but she was pretty sure it wasn’t good.
The pain on her head lasted too long, spreading down her forehead and the sides of her head. She was barely aware of the whole ordeal, shocked into dissociation by the sheer agony of the experience. By the time he finally stopped, she was panting, a few drops of sweat, and tears, rolling down her face. She barely noticed him coming around in front of her and pushing her down onto the ground until she felt her legs being pushed apart, knees still up. She opened her mouth to protest, but remembered what had just happened and said nothing. Her eyes widened when Baelor brought out the razor again, this time placing the sharp edge just above her red mound of pubic hair, still wet from the hose. He started slowly peeling it off, carefully bringing the razor down little by little.
Thea was blushing a little, turning her head away from Baelor and his blatant view of her genitals. She couldn’t help but glance back occasionally, though, out of sheer curiosity. He’d gone in from the edges of her hair, paring her dense bush away until there was scarcely a trace of it. She’d never really taken care of it herself, preferring to let it grow naturally. If any of her partners didn’t like it, they were free to leave, after all. It was a combination of laziness and a political statement. So this, being shaved against her will? It felt like an affront to her personhood. Then again… thinking back to what had happened to her in the past hour or so, it definitely wasn’t the worst thing that had happened to her.
She got to her outer labia, and she held her breath as the cold metal of the razor came nearer and nearer to her sensitive spots. There was nothing helping the blade along but cold water, and if he nicked her here, it would hurt. Luckily, though, as he gradually went lower and lower, frequently switching the side he was working on, she realized he’d done this plenty of times before. His movements were steady and fluent, and he didn’t seem fazed at all by her genitals out in front of him. He was finishing up now, shaving around her asshole, and she let out an inward sigh of relief as he brought his razor away from her skin for the last time, walking away again. What followed was yet another gush of water covering her, washing away the ginger flecks of hair covering her shoulders and back, and the insides of her thigh. As she watched it, she felt a strange numbness amidst the burn of the cuts on her head. This was her life now. There was no going back.
She felt a tug on her leash, and Baelor’s stern voice telling her to “Get up. We must go.” Barely opening her eyes, Thea clumsily pushed herself upright and stumbled after Baelor as she exited. In the reflection of the wet tiles on the floor, she saw her face. She noticed her face first. She couldn’t make the colour out, but sharp-angled, almost demonic-looking designs covered her forehead, going down the bridge of her nose and the sides of her face to curl onto her cheeks. She didn’t doubt that it traveled all the way back down her scalp, too. She barely even noticed her smooth, hairless head, devoid of any sort of stubble. Jesus Christ, she thought, even if I manage to escape, there’s no way I could get a job like this. I look grotesque.
Her lack of pubes surprised her more than she thought it would. She’d never seen her pussy bare before, ever since hair had started growing there, and she was a little disgusted by how much more childlike it looked. It looked alien to her, unfamiliar, like someone else’s body. Her thoughts were interrupted by a harsh pull on her leash, sending her tripping forward and out of the room.
Baelor led her away from the direction they’d come, down a set of winding stairs. And another, and another. She could see the rocks that made up the walls getting larger and more rough-hewn the farther down they went. Just how old is this place? When they finally exited the staircase, she was shocked to see a cavernous opening, stalagmites coming up from the floor. It looked like it was lit by some sort of lava, heat radiating up from the walls and a red glow covering everything. Baelor strode forward again, pulling her into the center of the giant cave, where a coven of the hooded figures were waiting. Behind them, Thea noticed kneeling figures in a line, with collars chained to the floor, and realized that they all had similar designs to her carved into their heads. This was her fate.
Baelor pulled her over to one end of the line, and commanded her to kneel, which she did without issue. It was a little jarring how her thighs stuck to her crotch, now, without hair to keep them from chafing. He attached her leash to a loop on the floor, then stepped away, walking towards the circle. Thea turned back for a second, taking in a little breath. Baelor, though he had been the one who physically stripped her of her humanity, had been her only constant throughout this whole ordeal, and she supposed she’d almost grown attached to him. That all left her mind, though, when she heard the click of heels and a deep, chanting alto enter the chamber. It sounded like the woman she’d encountered earlier. Now, her voice filled the cavern, echoing off the walls to create a cacophony of dissonance. After a few seconds, the hooded figures and Baelor joined in, chanting a counter-rhythm to hers and keeping silent.
As the cultists’ chanting filled her ears, Thea felt the tattoos on her bare head starting to burn. She let out a silent exhale of pain, clutching at her head and curling down onto the floor. A quick glance to the side revealed that the others were doing the same. Thea felt a cold shiver go down her back when she put the pieces together. If she was feeling something this strongly, from a simple chant… did that mean this cult’s beliefs had substance to them? No, she thought, shaking her head frantically. There’s no way this formulaic money-grab of an organization would be the one religion that got it right. But when she turned back to see what the cultists were doing, her heart dropped as she saw an empty room. And yet, the chanting grew ever louder, reaching a deafening crescendo. She finally let out a scream as her head felt like it was being split open, falling to the ground and writhing in agony. Her eyes rolled back in her head, and whether the others were doing the same, she couldn’t tell, but she’d guess on it.
Thea could barely think. Her eyes weren’t opening anymore, and the only thing going through her mind was “Pain, pain, pain.” Blood filled her mouth. She’d bit her tongue. The sensations were getting weaker, but no less severe… she was growing unconscious, fading away. In the distance, from the far side of the cavern, came a boom, then another, and another. Footsteps. Still struggling to stay awake, she clung to herself, gripping her own wirsts so hard they bled, but it wasn’t enough. She was still fading. In the final moments, the last thing she heard was a crunch of bones. Then, silence.
