Avery: Trial 1, part 1

The first time Master Gustav used his elixir on me, it was imperfect. I never figured out what was wrong or what he did to fix it, but at the time he used it, it did nothing to heal wounds. As he did with all of his experiments, he used harsh torture to test his elixir. 

The night it happened seemed normal enough. I finished my chores, ate my dinner, and fell asleep reading in bed. I woke up sooner than expected, though. I was tied onto a metal table with leather straps that bit hard into my skin. The table was at an angle so my head was elevated above the rest of my body, but not wholly vertical.

The basement tuned lab was lit with the candles Master Gustav had me make for him, many of them nearly melted away. Master Gustav himself was standing at a table a few feet from me, and I could hear him messing with something glass, the tink-tinkles echoing around the room.

Not making a sound, he turned towards me and crossed the few feet between us. In his hand was a glass full of a liquid a horrid shade of green, nearly the color of vomit. With no warning, he reached for my face, pinching my nose shut. I tried to fight it and hold my breath, hoping he would give up and go away, but I did not really expect that to work. The second I opened my mouth the slightest to let a breath in, he shoved the glass between my lips, pouring the elixir down my throat. 

It burned all the way down, and I spat out as much as I could, but he seemed satisfied enough at how much I had actually ingested. He left me alone as the liquid made it’s way through my body, burning the entire way. I screamed and shouted at him until my voice was hoarse, but he refused to acknowledge me at all. After what seemed like hours, the burning stopped and I relaxed, thinking it was finally all over.

It was not long before he noticed I was no longer in intense pain. He came back over, some sort of sharp instrument in hand. He poked and prodded me with it for a few minutes, before dragging it hard across my face. I felt the blood rolling down my face before I felt the searing pain of the gash. I thrashed against the straps holding me to the table, but by now most of my strength had dwindled. When nothing else happened, he seemed to get angry.