"Somekind of brand, what the hell." Damon murmured with wide eyes as he saw a blistering odd shaped burn on the back of the girl's shoulder.
"Now let's see, I wonder what type of song a brown bird like you can create." The man spoke with a grin while holding a iron rod with five thin needles at the end. The needles were burning red, brimming with heat.
Damon turned his head and closed his eyes as the man approached twirling the rod between his fingers.
"Oh no, you will watch everything, you will feel everything my little song bird."
Damon could smell the stench of iron metal and musk as the man huge hand grabbed his head turning it, and forcing a small mechanical item over his eyelids which made his eyes stretch open with force.
Tears ran down Damon's face as the musky man began circling and whistling the same tune as before.
"Now, sing me a song ! "
Scorching heat stabbed into Damon's back making him thrash and move as he let out a gut wrenching scream. Damon cried and pleaded as the heat subsided.
"Why, why....it hurts." He cried out with slob hanging from his mouth.
Another stab penetrated his skin and Damon sqeeled and cried out for him to stop. One stab after another and he was now shaking and slobbering as if he was going into shock. He could feel his skin peeling back as if it was melting. The smell of his own burning flesh hit his nose turning his stomach as bile shot from his mouth.
"Ahhhh, now that's a hard knocking tune, i love it...give me more."
Only three minutes passed which seemed like ten, and Damon was now barely moving.
"Heyy, don't cry or scream...that sick bastard loves it. Fight the pain and show no emotions if possible. It'll shorten the torture "
A soft whispering voice spoke making Damon's head slowly move in it's direction.
"Oh, the pretty fowl is conscious again. You're a tough little bird, I'll give you that. I think I'll call you humming bird. Although you didn't scream for mercy, your discomforting moans were enough." The musky man responded while twirling Damon around.
With another stab, Damon jaws were filled with air like he was holding his breath as he could feel the hot needles puncture his skin. None of the stabs were deep, but they didn't need to be.
Damon's head shook violently as he held his breath trying to keep from screaming. He didn't know why, but the girl words pushed a new found energy into him. Maybe it was her courage and the fact the she withstood the pain of the same torture much better than him. Either way, he fought the searing pain as best as he could for several minutes.
A sudden multitude of thuds could be heard, thousands, if not millions of light and heavy taps on the roof as the musky man switched iron rods with another.
"Ahhh, it's raining. How about I give you a little taste of that too, right after the real brand. You see, the previous branding rod is only for outlining, but this one will put a real smile on your face."
Damon eyes were partially rolled back as he had been fading in and out of consciousness fighting the pain. He could hear the man's words, but couldn't process them in his head. At the moment, the big man speech sounded foreign.
Pressing the rod exactly were he made the outline at, the man grinned as he awaited for a unbearable reaction. His grin disappeared as all Damon gave him was a weak shakey exhale.
"Damn, maybe i played with him a bit too long." He thought while checking Damon's pulse.
The sounds of chains unraveling and falling to the ground echoed in the room as he took off Damon's restraints. Walking over to another door off to the side, he opened it starring into a pitch black forest that was currently being flooded with heavy rain.
"How about a bath my little bird, it's the least I can do." He whispered into Damon's ear saying while stepping outside. Damon's face entered a deep puddle of water for only a few seconds before he violently squirmed and showed signs of regaining his consciousness fully.
"Wakey, wakey." He said before pushing Damon's face back down.
Damon thrashed while gargling a mouth full of mud and water as his head was pushed harder.
The man whistled the same tune as before while casually dumping Damon's head over and over.
Gasping for air each time his head was brought up, Damon gritted his teeth as his head was submerged again. He noticed each time would be longer and longer before the man pulled him up and believed his life was on the brink of being extinguished.
Damon twisted and grabbed with all his might trying to gain the upper hand, but even with all of the chains off, he was too weak against the man who had a strong hand grip like a blacksmith. Before Damon knew it his body turned sluggish and the feeling of his limbs began fading as his heavy thrashing suddenly came to a halt.
Snatching him out, the man threw him to the side with a frown.
"Hmph, gargling tunes aren't beautiful at all, but the ruffling sound of someone splashing and fighting for air is something grand."
The man pondered for a few seconds. He was thinking about adding such a torture to his normal routine, but with a tub of water instead since he wouldn't be able to rely on it raining all the time or at the right time.
"Ahh well, one casualty out of the bunch isn't bad. I'll just tell the boss your little body went into shock and you died after the brand."
Damon laid there unmoving with his mouth partially open, filled with water looking like a ragged out doll, but the moment the man turned his back and took a couple steps away the rain turned more heavy.
"Increase. "
Damon's body slightly increased in size, his arms, shoulders, legs and chest buffed up to the point his scrawny and malnurished body didn't seem so poor.
Opening his eyes, he slowly crawled to his feet as his torturer back was turned. With the hard rain, his staggering little body couldn't be heard shuffling as he stood. With gritted teeth, Damon took a step forward but stopped himself.
"No " he thought.
He then began taking slow steps backwards that increased as the man disappeared back into the ragged looking house. Running with all his might, it wasn't long before he was breathing heavily while hiding behind a tree.
"I have to keep going, I can't believe my ability got me out of there in a sense." He thought while looking up at the rain, embracing the coolness of every drop.
Damon's ability was strange, weak and completely harmless.
Looking at the rain, it began to slow down with a simple thought. He pushed himself inside his head, telling himself his ability was more than it seemed and that all he had to do was nurture it. It had been over three months since his ability awakened and all he could do was produce rain.
"Oh snap out of it, I've gotta get out of here. There's no time to think about how useless my ability is." He thought slapping his head and few times as if he was trying to knock some sense of urgency in his mind.
Looking around the tree, he surveyed the area for a moment before running further. The rain became heavy once again as Damon was attempting to use it to obscure the big man sight if he was being followed.
A few minutes later, his intuition had proven him right. The sound of heavy, fast pacing footsteps could be heard coming his way. The splashing steps were loud, but so was the heavy rain hitting the ground which interfered with Damon's sense of direction.
He could hear the heavy steps, but couldn't decern which direction it was coming from clearly. Stopping in his tracks, Damon pulled himself up on a low hanging tree branch and climbed up hiding within the thick leaves. He grimaced in pain as his back brushed against the tree bark, making his freshly branded skin flare up causing a strong stinging sensation that brought tears down his face.
"A clever little bird are we, you won't get away. I'll find you, and when I do you're going to wish you were dead. Damn it, if it weren't for this God awful rain tracking you would be easy." He cursed out loud not knowing Damon was right above him.
Damon watched him carefully as the man disappeared running deeper in the forest. He didn't move immediately due to fear, but after a couple minutes of waiting he climbed down slowly.
Not waisting any time, the moment his feet hit the ground, he was stretching his scrawny legs as fast as they could in a steady stride back towards the house. It was crazy to head back, but Damon also thought it was his best chance to outsmart his foe.
"Yea, there's no way he would think I doubled back, I'll just stay off the the side of the shack and move through the brush until I pass it." He thought trying to convince himself it was the right choice.
Reaching the old looking house, he remained moving within the cover of the forest and his rain, but as he passed the side door which was still wide open, he saw a glimpse of the girl and the other kids still hanging by their chains.
Damon's body came to a halt before he even knew what was happening. Ducking in cover further, his eyes became fixated on the kids, but mainly the girl who tried to help him. The fire pit in front of them was still burning bright making the kids in the torture room easily visible.
It wasn't long before he had begun talking with himself about how so many things could go wrong if he tried to do what he was thinking. Back and forth, he weighed his options.
" The best choice is to run and find help, yea..... if I can find help then I can bring them back to save all of them. "
"Wait, what if help is too far away...i don't know where I am, we could be hours, days, or even weeks from the nearest city. She could be dead by then, Damn it." He thought battling with the choices in his head.
He chewed over his thoughts for another minute or two while paying close attention to the door way and the path of the forest where he had last seen the man. From what he could tell, it was clear.
"Im going, I have to return the favor." He told himself as he sprinted from the brush towards the door.