Prince of Porcelain

Chapter 2: Tortured

I woke up in a dimly, yellow- lighted room on the floor. My blindfold was gone, and for a single moment, I forgot what happened before I blacked out. But I quickly remembered and began to try to break free of my bonds.
My cloth gag was still tied over my mouth, and the rope burned viciously at my wrists, ankles, and knees. I yelled behind the cloth, but my lungs felt oddly dry and it came out strangled and muffled.
   Then, I took a moment to absorb my strange surroundings. The walls were peeling and dull, and a dusty brown color. Metal boxes with foreign attachments in and on them, and some parts of them even glowed. Bulbs of unnatural light hung from the ceiling on strings, and a single wooden door stood opposite of me.
   Suddenly, the door burst open, and the three men who kidnapped me walked in. Now, I could truly see their odd and sort of disturbing features.
One of the man's hands were almost blue, so I figured he was the cold-handed one. His hair was dirty blonde and messy, and his eyes were like two orbs of frozen ice. This man looked like he was in his early forties, with only a few wrinkles and dark circles under his eyes.
Another man had the white, fanged teeth that grinned at me last night. He had long, silky black hair and violent green eyes, resembling a black cat. Sharp facial features were drawn on him, and his skin was a sickly pale. He also appeared younger than the other two.
The last man I knew the least about. He had dark skin and barely any dark hair. Deep brown eyes stared at me, with only the slightest emotion. He wore a strange metal bracelet, and had some ink drawings on his arms.
   They all soon stood in front of me, two of them laughing. "Comfy, pretty boy?" the fanged man said to me, teasing me. No one had ever called me anything other than "your majesty," "my prince," or "Prince Victor."
   I mumbled behind the gag and tried to struggle against my bonds, but the rope burned my body terribly. The cold-handed man approached me and tore the cloth off my mouth. Finally free to breathe, I sucked in deep breaths of musty air. I don't care if it's odd or warm, it was still air.
   "Where am I?" I whimpered, almost completely unable to sound brave. "What do you want with me?!" The men laughed and the cold-handed one kneeled down to me. He smirked and grasped my chin tightly, the icy skin biting at my own skin.
   "You're in what we like to call paradise," he hissed at me. "And we want to just cooperate for as long as you're here."
"What do you plan to do with me?" I ask, my voice clearly trembling.
   He laughed and grabbed a fist full of my hair, pulling me upward and stroking it. I groaned in pain, my head still spinning from earlier. "We'll do whatever we want to you," the man growled into my ear. "Maybe even sell you if you don't behave."
   Sell me? Am I becoming a slave? Tears filled my eyes and fear filled my body at the sheer thought of becoming a slave.
   "No, we're not making you a slave," the man said. Did I say that out loud? "You're... our puppet, you could say. Our toy."
   I couldn't stop the tears falling down my cheeks. The man pulled away and let go of my hair and stood over me. "Joshua," he said. "Bring our little prince to his room."
   The dark skinned man, without a word, stomped over to me and put me over his shoulder. "No! Please!" I screamed, my voice cracking as if struck by an earthquake. "Let me go! Please!" The man called Joshua paid almost no mind to me as I tried to struggle and protest.
   "Carter, go with them," the cold-handed man said to the cat-like man. "Give our pretty boy a warm welcome."
"With pleasure, Marcus," Carter said as he ran up to Joshua and I.
   "Why am I here?!" I scream, mostly at Carter and Marcus, who shut the door on us as we left. "You never can shut up, can you?" Carter said, quite annoyed. "Joshua, stop."
   Joshua halted immediately as if he was professionally trained to do so. Carter pulled out a cloth from his back pocket and came closer to me. "No, no, no, no, no, ple-- mmph..." I was cut off by Carter tying the cloth around my mouth, gagging me once more.
   "Keep moving, big fella," Carter said to Joshua as I mumbled protests. The way these people talk is very... low-like. Joshua continued to walk somewhere I had no idea existed, with me staring at Carter, pleading for freedom.
   After what felt like forever, we reached a small room with only a table and a moderately-sized bed. Joshua threw me onto the bed roughly and backed away. Carter then climbed onto me and sat on my stomach. I gasped in both pain and surprise at his weight on my body.
   "Joshua," Carter growled. "Get me the Snake." I froze in fear, not knowing what that meant. Joshua went to the table and grabbed a thin, metallic object that hung limp in his large hand.
   He gave the foreign object to Carter and he pressed a circular... starter? Then the "Snake's" crystal eyes glowed a bright green and it coiled itself around Carter's wrist.
It's... it's alive?! But... it's made of metal... how?! Carter brought the living metal snake to his mouth and whispered something to it.
   Then the Snake quickly slithered off of Carter and onto my chest. Did they know one of my fears is snakes and reptiles? I felt the metal scales crawl on my body as the Snake slithered up to my neck.
   I began breathing heavily and tears formed in my eyes, in fear of what this thing would do to me. The Snake coiled itself around my neck as I arched it back. Then, as tears began to escape my eyes, the Snake bared long metal fangs and sank them into my neck.
   I screamed behind the gag in pain; it felt as though two needles were pricking harshly at my skin. It felt like the Snake was taking my own blood away from me.
   The metallic reptile took its fangs out of my skin and uncoiled itself around my neck. It slithered back to Carter, who was smiling wickedly. "Now," he said. "We'll know every single thing about you. Isn't that exciting?"
   Tears fell from my eyes as I also felt two small rivers of blood on my neck. Carter pressed the circular starter and the Snake's body fell limp and its eyes' flowed faded. He then began to unbutton my blue shirt, still sitting on me.
   I mumbled protests and tried to struggle, but being bound and gagged didn't help me. Looking over to Joshua, I saw that he still stood by the wall silently, as if he was under mind-control.
   Once Carter completely unbuttoned my shirt, he clawed at my pale, bare chest with his claw-like nails. I yelled in pain, muffled, as red marks grew on my skin. Carter smiled, continuing my torture.
   He kept clawing at my body, and his hands travelled to my neck. I thought I could see a little blood coming from where Carter scratched me. The fanged man's mouth came to where the Snake had bitten me, and he sucked out the blood that ran from it.
   I tried to make him stop by moving my neck in different directions, but Carter turned with me. "Does it hurt?" he teased, not even looking up to me. Tears fell from my eyes as I nodded.
   "CARTER!"