Chapter 1: Prologue

It all started on a day like any other. Me and Satie were weaving some pretty dresses for the millionth time, when one of the customers here for the girls bumped into me hard. Despite the fact that it wasn't my fault, I turned around to apologize like usual, only to find the gigantic man staring down at me with an emotion I could only describe as "abject horror". I couldn't bring myself to say anything, while he stared at me with a face going through a dozen different emotions before he seemed to come to a realization, immediately dashing out of the building afterwards. Normally the enforcers would be mad at me (even if it wasn't my fault) for running off one of the customers (and clearly a very important one too considering he had several escorts), but this time they didn't yell at me or threaten violence, nothing of the sort. Instead the two men escorting him seemed just as confused as I was. Eventually they turned around and ran after the man, pleading with him to come back.
"What was with baldie? Did you elbow him in the crotch or something, Eve? He had a really weird look on his face." Satie leaned over and whispered to me.
"I don't know what that was about... he was a priest, right?"
"Yep, he was. He wasn't wearing the annoyingly bland outfit they all wear, so he must've been someone high up. Not surprising at all considering what they come here for, no way the losers of the order could afford the services here."
There wasn't much more to say on the matter so we went back to work. I sat there weaving those stupid dresses like I had done for the past 14 years straight, all the while daydreaming about taking those needles and slowly killing everyone in the compound, completely oblivious to the horrors that were about to be visited upon me.
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I had met Satie soon after I was brought to this hell hole. Unlike me and my sister Serah who were sold by our parents, Satie was kidnapped, I'm honestly not sure which is worse. She had a light-brown skin tone with short matted hair and a perpetual smile on her face that really didn't match this place. According to her, everyone from her country is brown skinned because they used to live in the desert down south.

Ever since we met, literally from day one, she was convinced we'd all escape eventually. And for awhile there I believed her. Why wouldn't I? I was 6 or 7 at the time and more than ready to believe in fantasies of escape from a heavily guarded cave with only one entrance.
All that changed when my sister was shuffled over to one of the other businesses taking place here, services of the physical kind. She was never any good at weaving or anything involving her hands, and unfortunately for her, she was quite attractive. Also, I came to understand much later that Kitsune like me and my sister, are the most sought after females in this place.

After that the days became very monotone.
Wake up and make yourself presentable.
Head to the workshop.
Work for 12 hours with a 2 hour break in the middle.
And then go to bed.
Year after year... with my mind slowly decaying. I could see the others around me changing in different, more positive ways. Most of them, straight up adapted. They were safe from the monsters during the ten day blackout, plus we were well fed and treated surprisingly well so long as we did our jobs. I grew tired of listening to their tales about how hard life was outside, especially after the moon changed. I began wondering if the sky really was blocked out like they claimed...

Over the years I became very good at making dresses. To the point where they started bringing in cloths that were so soft I couldn't believe such a texture existed. Satie was apparently not up to par, because about 4 years after she first arrived, they had moved her to the alchemy workshop, then it was just me and three of the older girls who were "past their prime" doing the weaving. They didn't like me and I didn't like them, but they left me alone fortunately. It didn't take long for me and Satie to drift apart. She started eating lunch with her new friends, and eventually even the friendly waves turned to nods of recognition, before ending in complete disregard for each other.

Not long after that my sister began eating with her friends as well. She invited me along but... I could sense it, she didn't want me to follow her. I'm not sure why she started shunning me as well, but it was probably for the best. At this point I was already retreated into my own mind, playing out fantasies of murder with the enforcers almost all day long.

Eventually they brought in looms for us, no more doing it by hand. This is also what led to my greatest regret at the time. Apparently me and the other girls were so good at making dresses with this new silk cloth and loom, that one of the ladies selling our dresses came all the way out here to see us in action. She was some big-time wardrobe saleslady in the capital, and had nothing but praise for all of us. No one had ever praised us before so I was happier than I should have been. At one point she called us "The best free-labor weavers she's ever seen!" She went on for awhile about how wonderful the profits were before I realized my mistake, she was already far away from me talking to the bosses, having lost interest in the little slave girls. I knew I was never getting out of this cave... so at this point I had just been looking for a way to make them hurt, even if I died. What better way than to kill someone major from the capital who was supposed to be safe here? And now I missed my chance because I was happy being praised for the first time in my life.

My sister told me about a certain noble lady who would come 4 times a year and stay for a week straight with Yurie, our residents most prized prostitute. Yurie was convinced that the woman was in love with her, and was planning to buy her freedom. The other girls would pretend it was true, for her benefit. To everyone's shock, it really did come true. We were all slack jawed watching Yurie walk out of the cave arm-in-arm with the noble lady wearing one of the dresses that I made. We had never seen one of us actually walk out of here before, and never again since. On no level did this give me hope, who would even buy me? Whoever is selling my dresses, clearly doesn't want or need me to be close by. Plus it would just be another form of slavery.

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At this point I was not only ready to die, but absolutely certain it would be soon. The question was, how do I inflict as much damage as I can before they get to me? I kept coming back to one word, fire. The compound is massive and filled with all sorts of flammable materials, including a big alchemist workshop out back that I could pilfer. But... it was all pointless. I may hate these people, but there is no denying how well built and managed this place is. It was something I heard once when they had several massive bonfires going that dashed any hopes I had of burning these people to death. One of the nobles was worried about all the smoke and air quality, which led to his friends mocking him incessantly. They went into some highly advanced magic conversation on how the compound had several mages in rotation that did nothing else but keep the air here clean. There is also a big lake in the cave right next to us, so putting out the fire wouldn't even be difficult either.

On and on like clockwork.
Wake up and make yourself presentable.
Head to the workshop.
Work for 12 hours with a 2 hour break in the middle.
And then go to bed.

Eventually a day came when I realized I truly was going insane. Now I was having this unbelievably strong desire to devour everyone here with my tail. Despite understanding how ridiculous that was, I was positive that I would be able to soon. It was during this time that my sister came into the room and dropped a bombshell on me, she said our luck is finally turning around, looking at me with a little smirk on her face I hadn't seen in many years. Apparently, she was going to be the next Yurie, except with a count out in the countryside who was more than happy to buy my freedom as well. I didn't notice, but she had showed the man my work station while I made dresses, and the man remarked that I don't need to work if I want, but I'd be compensated quite well if I kept working for him afterwards. It sounded way too good to be true but with how happy my sister looked, I wasn't going to be a downer. Besides, even if it was a lie, seeing her smiling at me for the first time in ten or more years, was worth it.
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"...Aaahg..guh...!!!"
W-what is this?! Oh god it hurts, it hurts so much...
I... can't get my eyes open. As soon as I try to will even a tiny amount of force into my eyelids, I feel like my eyes are being stabbed with daggers.
This smell... I recognize it. It smells exactly like the part of the cave with the lake in it. However its mixed with other, way more worrying scents. Blood, and something I don't know at all. It's not bad exactly, but the smell itself is scaring me more than anything and I have no idea why.

God this pain is so excruciating!! It feels like something in the very core of my being has been broken.
Also, I can vaguely hear some type of wail that sounds like a creature in the last moments of its life. From the sounds of it, it must be in the main compound area. There is a long tunnel that connects the lake to the compound, and what I'm hearing sounds like it's far away so it has to be out there.
This is no human scream, and the other... voice, is even more frightening. Whenever the wailing sound comes, a victorious sounding snarl comes directly after. I say snarl but it doesn't sound like any monster I've ever heard before... granted, I've only heard a few that attack the compound during the blackout. This one sounds absolutely massive.
Is that what happened, monsters attacked?! But why am I in the lake area... I only come here to bathe with the others, and I'm definitely hearing no 'others'. Am I alone in here? I don't understand any of this and I can't move damnit...
{GET UP!!}
Suddenly I heard a booming sinister sounding voice that made my head hurt 100 times more than it already did. Not only that but it startled me and I tried moving on instinct, bringing even more pain onto my already broken body. However, the fear was greatly beating out the pain at this point.

Screw it, I don't care how much it's going to hurt, I'm opening my eyes.
Ignoring the ungodly amount of pain assaulting my eyes, I open my eyes and see nothing but the lake and empty ground between it and me. I know exactly where I am, this is around the spot I usually wait for the other girls to finish, but there wasn't any platform right here... so why am I laying on a stone platform?
{Girl--kuh,ker---}
There it is again, that voice. I could barely make out the 'girl', the rest was broken and barely audible. Normally this would scare me to death, but I'm already frightened and hurting to the point of smashing my head on this platform in the hopes it'll knock me out.
Whether I'm going to listen to some mysterious guttural sounding voice or not really doesn't matter, because leaving is the only option anyways.
How though? Even opening my eyes was clearly a mistake. My vision keeps going in and out, I can only assume it's from this damned unending pain. Why am I even in this much pain?!!
{Hurry...before it...finishes...}
At first I didn't understand what it was saying, but when I think about the sounds I'm hearing from the compound... ahh, it's all over for me. Something is eating something out there, and whatever is in my head is telling me to get out of this cave before it finishes. But to get out of the cave I'll have to walk through the compound area itself. That's the only exit. Well maybe this lake leads somewhere, but there is no way I'll be able to swim with my body like this.

It's amazing what fear can do for you. The pain I'm feeling from forcing myself to get up is being drowned out by the fear from whatever is in the next room. The only silver lining, is that my feet aren't hurting more from standing on them. I was positive that'd be the most painful part, at least something worked out in my favor.
As I walk (very slowly) to the tunnel, I can't help but notice I'm only wearing panties. Normally I'd wonder if I was assaulted, but that's obviously not the case here. It stripped me for some other reason... no time to think on this now though.

Oh god, as soon as I reached the tunnel I nearly fell down in terror. The sounds are much louder here... and way more frightening. But I haven't stopped moving, I can't. If I fell down here, there is no way I'm getting back up again. Especially since there is apparently something on the ground here that's tearing into my feet. I'm leaving bloody footprints now. If any other part of my body got cut up like that... there is just no way I could continue.
Before long I reached the end of the 30-40 yard tunnel. I had no idea what to expect, but this was way outside my realm of understanding. I've seen monsters before, but this... thing, is something else entirely.
{Sneak}
You want me to sneak out? I mean, obviously that is all I can do. Fortunately the monsters are far to my right, while the cave exit is much closer on my left. But I'm sorry mysterious voice, it seems I'm not meant to survive here. Whatever I'm stepping on has already alerted the monster and its prey to my presence.
The wailing one I can barely see, it's almost entirely wrapped up in the roots of the one crushing it (or is it eating him?). The fires are almost out here, but despite the lack of vision, I can still make out the myriad of different eyes staring at me. One big eye from the raven looking monster being eaten, and then a hundred or more eyes all over the tree limbs from his aggressor.

Without even thinking about it, I dashed for the exit as fast as I could. I'm moving way faster than someone in this shape should be able to move, but it won't matter in the end.
I turned my head to look back, making sure the tree wasn't coming for me, just in time to see my own death. The tree was extending a limb towards me at an extreme speed and distance that seemed impossible. Was it with the intention of killing or capturing me? I really don't know. The monster it was eating had its left arm from the wrist up completely wrapped in roots, with only its hand hanging out in my direction. Whether it was a last act of defiance, or for some other reason, the raven pointed a claw at me, and immediately unleashed some type of wind spell I couldn't see at all till the last second, killing me instantly.

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