First Day (2 of 5)
Breaking the Breaker: Zudaeshi seizes control at the dinner, forcing the Sanctum Masters to kneel and pledge allegiance
‘Breaking the Breaker’ Content Warning: Erotic Horror
Story contains graphic depictions of violence, non-consensual sex, psychological manipulation, power imbalance, humiliation, dehumanization, and other dark, disturbing themes.
This story invites reflection on what happens to the mind under sustained horror, how identity reshapes itself around trauma, and what traces of agency persist when autonomy has been stripped away.
Proceed with extreme caution.
Zudaeshi straightens and casts her gaze about with a smile. She stands and looks around in a circle and appears very pleased with what she sees.
The masters stumble to their feet. Their partners try to lead them away, but Zudaeshi interrupts.
"All hail your new Harmonarch!" she announces.
No reaction. The Masters still try to lumber away.
"Fine," she says and waves her hand.
The partner helping Ground Master Dalenna crashes to the floor screaming and covered in a watery mist. Everyone stops and looks at him just in time for Zudaeshi to wave her hand again and the man falls to his side, covered in dust.
Dalenna crashes to the floor, "Brennar?" She shakes him. "Brennar?!" She puts her fingers to his neck, then presses hard. She moves her fingers, looking frantic. She picks up his wrist. She then puts her ear to his chest and after a moment lets out a heart rending scream of horror.
Everyone looks at each other. Panic begins to roll through the room. Shaky voices begin to call out one by one, "To the Harmonarch!"
"That's better," Zudaeshi says.
"I want each of the Masters to pledge themselves and their Sanctums to me, your Grandmaster, the Harmonarch." The Masters eye each other.
"Starting with Garrick dear," she turns to face him. He sits down in his chair and crosses his arms, refusing to look at her.
Zudaeshi sighs and raises a hand and clamps it shut in a fist. Zeven's hands fly up to scrabble at his neck. His mouth is open in a silent scream and he bends forward and back as his face turns deeper shades of red.
Garrick stands abruptly, "Let him go!"
"Pledge," she merely says.
Garrick glances at Zeven and takes a few heavy breaths. "I pledge myself and my Sanctum to you, Your Radiance." Zeven falls to the floor and Garrick immediately drops to his side to tend to him.
One by one the Masters make their pledges. Dalenna makes hers through sobs while holding her husband's body. Mulsae is last. He pushes back his chair and kneels with his head bowed, "I pledge myself and my Sanctum to you, Your Radiance."
"Oh my," Zudaeshi purrs, "I saved the best for last, apparently."
Zudaeshi snaps her fingers and calls out, "Bring out dinner."
She walks towards the gap in the seating between the Thunder and Flame Masters and steps off the table. A servant is already approaching with a chair for her. A line of servants file into the room and place dinner plates for each guest.
"Dalenna, join us at the table," Zudaeshi commands.
A servant pulls on Dalenna's husband's body. She yells, "No!" and scrambles to hold onto his body tightly.
Suddenly, Dalenna's spine straightens and she rises off the floor with her arms and legs flailing and an expression of pain. Her feet lift off the floor a few inches, then she falls and lands on wobbly legs.
"Sit at the table, Dalenna," Zudaeshi demands. She obeys, tears streaming down her face.
Zudaeshi gives a wide blood red smile to her gathered guests. "Eat. Enjoy my hospitality," she says, sweeping a hand out invitingly.
Hands move and chopsticks click. No one speaks. No one dares move a muscle beyond what is required to eat.
"Are you not going to feed your pet, Mulsae?" Zudaeshi questions.
"Yes, your Radiance," he replies coolly with a bored expression. He offers some food to Damion. Damion accepts with a subtly confused expression. What the fuck is going on? Why are the Masters not doing anything? Why did they just pledge themselves to her? And why the fuck is Mulsae not answering me?!
The quiet lays heavy. Only light clinking of utensils. Not even a whisper.
"You never did finish that book, Mulsae," Zudaeshi says from across the table.
Mulsae appears bored. "I had decided not to finish it, Your Radiance."
"Why is that?"
"The nature of my relationship with Damion changed. It no longer seems appropriate."
"What changed?"
"It's consensual now. We have an Agreement that we abide by and update regularly."
"Your work was clearly quite successful if he willingly came back to you," she eyes Garrick, then turns back to Mulsae, "You must tell me all your secrets."
Mulsae dips his head, "I am at your service, Your Radiance."
Her smile grows wide. "I would like to see a demonstration." Mulsae inclines his head. Quiet returns.
"Perhaps tonight," she says.
Mulsae inclines his head again. "Yes, Your Radiance." Damion’s stomach churns. He doesn’t like the sound of that.
Gradually, eating stops. Silence reigns. Soft sniffles echo.
Zudaeshi stands. "Thank you all for attending dinner. You will each be retrieved shortly and escorted to your rooms. The Sanctum Masters will attend a breakfast meeting with me in the morning. Further instructions will follow."
She hooks an arm around Garrick’s. "Garrick, you’ll be joining me privately before heading to your room." He and Zeven exchange a look. Zeven nods and steps away. Zudaeshi leads him out a back hallway.
Shinran soldiers begin escorting guests. Mulsae stands with a proprietary hand on Damion’s head while he kneels.
Eventually, one of the escorts approaches. "Heel," Mulsae says without looking back. Damion stands and follows.
They are led down bright white hallways that do not reflect the somber and stunned mood. They arrive at a door and the guard escort opens it and ushers them inside. "You'll be fetched in the morning, Master. Be ready," he says gruffly, then shuts the door. There is a loud ominous click of the door locking.
Mulsae spins to face Damion and pulls him into a tight hug. They have never hugged before. It's just not what they do. They don't hug or kiss, it's their unspoken boundary.
Mulsae pulls back and frantically looks Damion over, "Are you okay?"
"Am I okay? What about you?! What the fuck is happening, Mulsae?" Damion presses.
Mulsae turns to pace, nearly panting, and running both hands through his hair, "She stole our powers. We're powerless," he looks up at Damion in an expression of shocked grief, "I'm powerless."
Damion's jaw drops. That's why he hasn't been talking to him in his mind. He can't. His powers are gone. And they're trapped.
Damion notices a flicker of rippling light spill from the open doorway to the bathing chamber. It's soft and undulating like moonlight on water.
"Mulsae," they hear a soft voice call out. Mulsae spins toward the sound and they watch Nori step out of the bathing chamber.
Mulsae marches up to her in a fury, "I specifically told you NOT to come, Nori!" Mulsae snags Nori by the arm and drags her back into the bathing chamber. Damion follows.
"I didn't hear that, Mulsae. All I heard was 'Zudaeshi stole all our powers' and then you were garbled. Of course I came with a message like that," says Nori calmly.
Mulsae runs his hands through his hair, "It is absolutely imperative that you and your veilwalker abilities stay hidden until this is over. From everyone, absolutely everyone. I wiped everyone's memory of your existence. " He paces in a circle with his hand in his hair, "At least I tried to anyway. It probably isn't complete. There's probably going to be rumors of your existence."
"You did... what?" Nori says, clearly struggling now to maintain her emotionless demeanor.
"Zudaeshi cannot know that you exist, therefore no one can know you exist," Mulsae grabs her by the shoulders and looks her right in the eye, "You must stay a secret. Zudaeshi cannot get her hands on you. She will use you and all of Harmura will lose hope."
Then Mulsae pulls Nori into a tight hug and Nori stumbles into it. "Your life is at risk, too. And I just wouldn't be able to stand it if anything happened to you. We've been friends since we were kids, Nori. I can't lose you," he pulls back to look Nori in the eyes, "You must keep hidden, do you understand?"
Nori nods, "I understand."
"Do not come here again," orders Mulsae.
"Mulsae, why don't we just leave? I can easily take you out of here," points out Nori.
"We need to protect Lirae." While he paces in a circle.
"How does you staying protect Lirae?" asks Nori.
"She's going to pillage all of Harmura. I need to keep her eyes off the Water Sanctum. She cannot discover Lirae. So, I'm staying. I'll keep her distracted," Mulsae explains.
Nori ruffles her wings, "Okay. Whatever you think is best."
Nori waits a beat then continues, "I'm going to leave a mirror with each of you." She pulls two small mirror pendants from her pocket and hands them over, "I'll keep tabs on you. If you need help just call out for me and the Veilspirit will hopefully get my attention. Hopefully. If it's in the mood to." She sighs. The parasitic Spirit that is attached to her is moody.
Mulsae nods, "Understood. But it will be dire circumstances if I'll call for you. Do not come unless I call you. Do not presume, okay? Wait for me to specifically call you."
Nori nods, "Understood."
"Now go, they're coming to collect us soon and I don't want to risk them finding you here," Mulsae orders.
Nori gives a curt nod, "Good luck, Mulsae. Damion," then she steps up onto the counter and puts her hand on the mirror. It ripples then steadies and now shows a dimly lit room. She crawls into the mirror and it ripples again to show the actual reflection of the bathing chamber.
"I failed so miserably tonight," Mulsae is back to pacing and combing his hand through his hair.
Damion doesn’t interrupt. He just watches Mulsae pace, and quietly slips the mirror pendant into his pocket.
"I was so busy running through my plans to get her to use the truth bowl that it didn't occur to me she would lay a trap for us the moment we showed up," he stops pacing and looks up at the ceiling, "I thought I was the one laying a trap. Instead, I walked us into hers. Gods, I was so fucking stupid."
There's a knock on the room's door and the door opens. Mulsae's expression turns blank and he strides confidently out of the bathing chamber and into the other room. Damion tentatively approaches and peers from the doorway into the other room.
"You've been summoned. Come," a soldier escort says.
Mulsae nods and walks out the door. Then the soldier escort points at Damion, "You, too." Damion steps forward and follows after Mulsae.
The soldier escort leads them through the many turns of the brightly lit hallways until they reach an apparent wing of the palace which has a suite of opulently decorated rooms. They're led into the bedroom with a grand four-poster bed on one side and two chairs in front of a hearth on the other side. Zudaeshi is sitting in one of the chairs.
Zudaeshi looks over at them, "Ah, Mulsae. Do sit, please," she gestures to the chair opposite her. "Yes, Your Radiance," Mulsae says as he strides over confidently and sits.
Damion has no idea what to do. He stands near the door awkwardly. He direly misses the mind-to-mind communication he has had with Mulsae. Zudaeshi looks at Damion, then shifts her eyes back to Mulsae, then back to Damion. Mulsae gets what she wants.
"Damion, come. Sit here," he gestures to the side of his legs furthest from Zudaeshi. Damion sits on the floor leaning against both the chair and Mulsae's leg.
"Mulsae," she levels him with her gaze, "I called you here this evening to discuss your secrets on how to successfully break someone."
"How may I be of service, Your Radiance?" Mulsae says as if nothing is wrong at all.
"Stop being coy," Zudaeshi snaps, "You've been dancing around the subject all these years. Tell me how you do it."
Mulsae inclines his head, "Apologies, Your Radiance. I'll try to be more forthcoming," he leans back in his chair and places an ankle on the opposite knee, "The key to breaking someone is stripping them of their sense of dignity. This needs to be tailor designed to the individual being broken."
"Painful torture has generally been successful to break someone because of the stripping of dignity, not because of the pain itself," Mulsae continues to explain, "The pain eventually becomes so overwhelming that the individual loses control over their bodily functions which in turn strips them of dignity."
Zudaeshi hums, "And how did you strip Damion of his dignity?"
Mulsae looks down at Damion and shifts uncomfortably, betraying his emotions.
Continue Reading: First Day (3 of 5)
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