Time passed and she got to know and bond with the children around her in their shared suffering. If she thought about it, this was the first time in her life she was surrounded by this many people. The children could barely stand up from their beds but they made sure to comfort each other while another was going through the agony the mad man made them suffer. After a while, she got to know that the man was called a physician in the outside world, but he was secretly kidnapping poor children, and testing various poison he created on them. The place they resided in was a secret house he had close to a forest called 'the pathway of ascension' and that was the dreadful place the man saw her at death's doorstep, where he decided to kidnap her.
The pathway of ascension was apparently where one would undergo the beginning of cultivation, whatever that meant. It had a lot of monsters, and the deeper one ventured in, the more dangerous the monsters in the forest would get. The physician had seen her at the entrance of the forest where a three headed fox was trying to eat her.
The little boy situated on the bed next to hers was the one who would talk to her the most when he was conscious, he would tell her the little details about the physician, and the little town he came from. At first he was quite surprised at her naiveté and lack of general knowledge about the world but he soon got used to it. He and the rest of the children called her 'little one' when she told them that she didn't have a name.
Some of the children here had been kidnapped when they were just ten, some even younger. While some were in their early to late teens, but none older. To her knowledge, she was the youngest the physician had ever kidnapped, being measly four years of age. The man tested different kinds poison on them every day and he would sometimes disappear for days in a row. Whenever he disappeared would be the only time of respite the children would get.
On the day she was supposed to turn five, she experienced another heartbreak. She knew this would happen, she was actually expecting it to happen, but when it did, she couldn't stop the stuffy feeling in her chest. There was no way the children would survive for long after having poison tested on them, and being barely fed.
The girl who once told her "little one, don't give up. When we get out of here, I'll take you to my village where my parents are waiting for me, I'll tell them to take you in and we'll be sisters, okay?" while trembling in pain, did not make it back to her village. No in fact, she died on the uncomfortable bed after being fed a new poison the mad man created. All her blood vessels had burst and she died in unbearable pain as blood gushed out of her seven orifices.
"tsk tsk tsk it seems like this one is a little too strong" the mad man only muttered to himself as he watched the girl's body convulse.
"Perfect" he grinned and picked the girl up to dispose of her dead body.
Time passed after the girl died, but the stuffy feeling in her chest did not leave. No it only got worse.
After a week, two more children had died. They were ruthlessly tossed out by the mad man. All the while he was still feeding them with new poison each day.
After two more weeks, their number had dwindled to six, and the boy next to her was on the verge of death. She felt her chest getting tighter each day she spent in this hell. When the little boy, enan, breathed his last, she couldn't stop the heart wrenching sob that came out of her lips. The physician, as always, just disposed of the boy's body, like he was nothing but trash and went about his day, spreading misfortune around. She spent the whole day in a daze, crying and passing out sometimes in between.
After a year had passed, she was the only one remaining in the original batch of children in the room. The rest had all died. The physician replaced the dead children and kidnapped some more. There were now fourteen more children in the room, fifteen including her. The new roommates were just as miserable as her last. They endured countless poisons tested on their bodies and slowly broke down each new day. She was the only one who was growing accustomed to the poisons tested on her, the pain they brought her paled tremendously in comparison to the mysterious wailing she endured in her head. In fact, she had grown used to the wailing in her head after a year, and was now used to pressure that she carried.
Another year passed, she was now seven years of age, the children had been changed about four times this past year, all of them dying after mere months or so. She was still the only one alive, even the sweet death she desired alluded her. What was the point of staying alive in this hell? She had long forgotten the promise she made to go back home and properly send her mother off. Each new day only promised pain and heartbreak. Making friends, losing friends, still being the only one to survive each day made her confused.
She began to crave the sweet embrace of death, if only to go accompany her mother and companions in the afterlife. She also desperately wondered why she was the only one alive, even the physician was utterly confused, as far as he could see, she was in a state where she couldn't possibly have survived and he often called her a mysterious wonder.
Another year passed, she was now eight years of age. She survived through the pain by transferring all the remaining energy she had, into hating the wicked physician. She made a bitter promise to herself that she would definitely see his end.
Meanwhile, the wicked physician now considered her a treasure. He was obsessed with her and her mysterious ability to not die no matter what. She didn't die when her limb was cut off and left to bleed out. She didn't die after not being fed for several months. She didn't even die from any of the deadly poison tested on her.
After cutting off her left hand, from underneath the elbow, he smiled ruthlessly at her. The smile only made chills run down her back. She promised herself then that she would survive no matter what, just so she can see this man die with her own eyes.
After that, the man stopped kidnapping as many children. As almost everything could be tested on her. He only kidnapped some when he needed to observe their deaths.
Years flew by under the torture, she was now twelve years of age. She had spent a total of eight years in this hell. They were only four of them now, including her. The physician had been gone for almost a month after dropping off the three children to his lair. This was the longest the man had ever been gone, and she was able to catch her breath. Because he had been gone for long, the children were also able to survive without the poison ruthlessly breaking down their bodies. Though they still suffered the torment when he first tested poison on them before leaving.
On that particular day, other than the silence or the sounds of pained groans ringing out in the room, she heard the sounds of hooves coming outside of the lair. Accompanying it came the sound of people, it seemed like the man had finally made a mistake.