Chapter Text
CH 1 - Dazed and Confused
It wasn’t long after he awoke that the panic began to settle in.
Slowly, at first. More quickly, then, after he opened his eyes and realized all he could see was total blackness. He tested his eyesight by screwing his eyes open and shut several times. The knot in his throat became tighter when it dawned on him that the darkness remained unaffected - it was suffocating.
What had happened? His head throbbed and pounded painfully. He was shocked when his hand reached for his brow to pinch his headache away, only to remain utterly frozen in place.
His limbs, too. He realized they were immobilized at his side - it felt like laying in a casket. The comparison caused his breath to hitch sharply, and instinctually he began to writhe as much as his rigid confines would allow.
The screams - gods. After some time in this bound state, all he had first registered was a tinny ringing in his ears, and the taste of copper on his tongue. Blood. Now, in the quiet confines of wherever the hells he was, he began to hear it. The constant droning of wails; it sounded like the dull buzzing of a wasps hive. Only when focused on the whole could you distinguish the individual noises for what they were. Torturous.
Closer now, he could hear the distinct sounds of quiet sobs from somewhere behind his head. Another in the same room as himself, perhaps? They sniffled pathetically.
These were sounds he knew well.
Several hours, or possibly short moments, passed like this for the man. The other voice nearby had finally stopped crying. Or perhaps they still did so, only silently. Time fluctuated, and the lack of sensory stimulation increased his panic by the second.
Suddenly, surprisingly, just as he felt this unending abyss would never cease - light. Something about the scene had changed, and with the landscape now finally thrown into view, he could see a thick and mottled panel of glass lay between himself and freedom. His eyes squinted instinctively against the bright intrusion as he still fought to observe as much as he could.
Pods? Insect husks? Fleshy structures of completely foreign origin flashed across his vision. He was moving, himself trapped within a similar pod to the ones he saw outside. The lurching movement and his own rising bile forced the man to bite back his own sick; panels and rows of these pods were moving and shifting, being transported to some unknown location within wherever the hells they were now.
The sheer number of cries heard earlier began to make sense as it dawned on him. Trapped, captives, all of them. How many of these pods could be occupied? As his mind began to awaken, he reluctantly remembered his own abduction. The mind flayer parasite insertion. His imprisonment.
He vomited freely now. Mercifully, this sensation passed quickly, too, as his and other’s pods were moved into a new room. A circular chamber lay before him, illuminated in ghoulish red and green ambient light. Everything was diffused, hazy, as he watched through the glass in front of him.
He could make out a singular pod, different from the rest, centered in the middle of the room. One entrance and exit was positioned at the far side of the room. He grimaced. Inside the centermost pod below him, an unresponsive woman also lay trapped. Her head lolled to the side gently, and her mouth hung slack. She looked otherwise completely peaceful.
More time passed in this inert condition as the man desperately wracked his mind for options. Anything, anything… At the far side of the room, the fleshy door drew open. A trio of humanoids approached, though the thick glass before him obscured some of the finer details. Finally. The man hoped.
Women, all of them. What appeared to be two young humans, and a gith - of all things. Watching, immobilized, bewildered, the man urged his limbs to move. To free himself of this paralysis, to reach out - anything.
His hopes were dashed as soon as he saw the creature the group carried in tow; a small brain, animated on grotesque legs. It followed the group closely. It brushed up against what appeared to be the leader’s legs, like a cat would. Thralls, then. He sorrowfully concluded.
The three of them busied themselves about the room, approaching near his pod momentarily to interact with some alien apparatus nearby. The previously unassuming scene quickly turned horrific as new, fresh screams split the air. Pealing wails were now coming from the woman trapped in the center of the room. Gurgling cracks and gushing blood intermingled with the choking woman’s protestations - in a matter of moments, she had changed. Transformed. A newborn mindflayer now rested within the pod.
The man stared on in abject horror as he comprehended what he had witnessed. Agents of the monsters? Trusted enough to usher in the transformation of mind flayer spawn. Disgusting.
Now, with the scene in full relief, the man finally got a clearer look at the culprits. A human woman, plain in the face, led the group. Her clear expression was unassuming - he realized now that the second woman with them was not, in fact, a human at all. Instead, a half elf in armor stood close to the human . The githyanki trailed behind, arms crossed over their chest.
The man could hear nothing of their conversation, but saw their lips moving in rapid speech. Their conversation appeared heated. Abruptly, however, the group turned heel and left the room altogether. Below him, the newborn mindflayer rested harmlessly in its new cocoon.
Very well. He mused bitterly. I have experience enough in biding my time. The man attempted to quiet his mind as much as he could to his dire predicament. Time - all he needed was time. And a bit of luck. Luck to exploit some new situation, find some loophole, gain some advantage. Anything.
The man gritted his teeth, and waited patiently.