Amber's Enslavement Ch. 02

"You asked to be punished? That doesn't make sense. Why?"

"I wanted to learn. I wanted to be the best slave I could. I love what and who I am. Being punished helped me learn control, to see the pleasure that others received from holding them just shy of orgasm."

"Why do you love being a slave? Don't you realize that they kidnapped you, stole your memories from you, and took everything that was you away?"

"Yes, they did. But it had already been done. Honestly, the choices were slavery or death. But that's not the real reason. As a slave, I'm useful, I serve a purpose. I bring people pleasure. I love to see the rapture on a Master or Mistress' face when I give them ecstasy."

"That's now, but what about when you were a captive, before you were collared? You can't tell me that you wanted to be a slave then?"

"Yes, I did. I know some come to accept their fate slowly, but I saw what slaves did, what they enjoyed, and I wanted that from the second day. Please, try to understand, being a slave on Destran is something wonderful. We're valued, greatly valued. We lack for nothing and we serve a noble purpose. What more can one ask for?"

"Freedom!" came the emphatic reply. "You're in a cage. It's a luxurious cage, made of gold and silver, but a cage none the less. You're nothing!" Amber yelled, "They can kill you with a word!"

Garth pulled Amber back from Bethela by her chain. "No, we can't. You don't understand anything yet." He drew a knife from that magical pouch in his jacket. Handing it to Bethela, he ordered, "Stab yourself in the heart, Bethela."

Amber screamed, "No!" and lunged against the leash, tripping two feet short of the slave as she calmly took the knife and plunged it into her chest, sinking it to the hilt. She gave a low cry of pain and sank to her knees. Amber raised her sobbing face to look into the eyes of the slave who had just killed herself, only to see that same slave pull the knife from her breast, the wound closing visibly. Soon, the only evidence that she had been stabbed was the scar forming on her breast and the trail of blood down her torso.

"Amber," Garth started, "slaves are protected by the strongest magic known on Destran. I've never tested it, but the guild assures us that nothing short of decapitation would kill a slave, and even then, if it did not separate the head from the neck, it would reattach and leave the slave alive. The only way for a slave to die is by the collar being removed, something only the slave him or herself can do, or by the slave wishing to no longer be a slave, in which case, the collar will put her to sleep."

"We…They can't be killed?"

Garth did not comment on the mental slip of counting herself as one of the slaves. "No, you can't, at least not easily or casually. I suppose that something that destroyed the entire body, like being immersed in acid might do it, but not something as simple as being stabbed. You don't know this yet, but the laws protecting slaves are more sure than those protecting the rights of nobles. That's one of the things you'll learn as a slave. To be honest, your revulsion to slavery is far more intense than other captives."

"You mean that I'm different?"

"Yes, very different. For one thing, you seem so sure of things that you have no memory of, or shouldn't have memories of."

"I've wondered about that. I just know things, but I don't know how. For example, I know that sexual slavery is the worst kind of slavery there is."

"The amnesia doesn't take away skills for the most part, things that you know how to do because they are trained to the point of being routine. Many slaves have found an aptitude for certain types of athletic activities that we don't specifically train them in. It could be that certain attitudes and information are so ingrained into the inhabitants of your world that they're as second nature as pussy-eating will eventually be for you."

"You mean you don't know?"

"Amber, it takes a long time of immersion to learn about a culture. The venturers learn about the potential captives, whether they have the personality to be a slave, and whether they can be easily abducted."

"Easily abducted?"

"Yes, are they someone who will not be missed? We want to be able to continue visiting the world, and unexplained disappearances of the wrong sort would raise too much suspicion. Also, can they be easily separated from others and taken to a place where the portal can be opened without being seen?"

Amber shook her head at the seemingly well-oiled slavery operation. Clearly this had been going on for quite some time. She watched as Garth recovered his knife, cleaned it off, and returned it to the pocket (she didn't know it, but the knife was kept in a different magical construction, one more like a sheath).

"Come along, Amber, there's more to show you today."

Amber rose and let herself be guided to the door they had used earlier. She was led to a large room that was obviously a dining area. Several slaves, both male and female, were sitting at tables eating. The slaves sitting at one table all had pointed ears and almost childlike features. On one wall was a counter full of food, with another room beyond that. When they were closer, she saw that the other room was a kitchen. Slaves were doing the cooking. With the smells came the realization that she was, in fact, hungry.

Indicating she should select what she wanted, Garth carried a plate with her food to a table. Four slaves were seated at the table. They smiled as he approached.

"Master, it's good to see you. Is this the new captive?" asked the slave with a red collar.

"Yes, Bressala, this is Amber. I wanted to give you a chance to meet her before her collaring."

While Bressala started to speak, Garth clipped one of Amber's ankle cuffs to the bench, released her hands, and left them alone. "Amber, I'm looking forward to being your trainer. These are my current trainees: Thebes," Bressala pointed at the one male slave, "Yolonda, and Carli. Carli won't be with us once you're collared. Marlena will be taking over."

Amber couldn't help but notice that Carli had things attached to her nipples and seemed to be in pain. "What's wrong with Carli? What are those things?"

"Those are pain sticks. Carli has started a particularly intense training regimen."

"What kind of training? Will I have to go through that?"

"Pleasure/pain symbiosis training. Carli is learning to experience pain as a source of pleasure. Once she's completed the training, she will be able to climax from being whipped."

"What!" Heads turned at the loud exclamation. Amber didn't notice them. "That's impossible. Pain and pleasure are different things. You can't cum from pain."

"All slaves can. I can."

"You're saying pain doesn't hurt anymore?"

"No, it still hurts. I'm simply able to experience it as a source of pleasure, to orgasm from the pain."

Turning to Carli, Amber asked, "And you want this…this…training?"

"Oh yes. In fact, I asked for the pleasure free week because I can't seem to reach symbiosis."

"Pleasure free week? Why do I think I'm not going to like this?"

"Until I reach symbiosis, I will experience only pain, no pleasure of any sort."

"You asked for nothing but pain for an entire week?"

"No, not a week, as long as it takes to reach symbiosis. That could be tomorrow, or a month from now, though I hope not that long."

"You're crazy. You're fucking insane."

"I'm a slave. I want to be the best possible slave. Some Masters enjoy causing pain and a slave has to be able to bear up under it. Knowing that I will climax eventually from the pain, makes it possible to take whatever a Master wishes to give me."

Every slave had been through the rejection phase of captivity, though none as intensely as Amber was experiencing. That experience allowed them to ignore the harshness of some of her comments.

"Should I tell her, Mistress?" Carli asked.

"That would be a good idea. I think it'll help her accept it later."

"What?" Amber asked, suspicious, "what do I need to know?

"Have you been told that you will see a demonstration of punishment?" When Amber nodded, a look of dread coming to her face, Carli continued. "I'm the recipient. I volunteered for it."

"Why? Why do you want to be hurt?"

"I want to be a slave. I want symbiosis. I want to help you understand how important being a slave is. Amber," she said as she reached across the table to clasp Amber's hands, "we're going to be fellow trainees for a while. It helped me to have someone further along in their training those first few months, someone who could talk about how hard it is because they'd been through it recently. When I heard that the new captive was going to be one of Mistress Bressala's trainees, I volunteered for the demo. I'm just sorry that I'm going to be transferred to Marlena. We won't be able to see as much of each other."

"But you don't even know me. Why?"

"I knew you'd need it."

Amber was speechless. Carli was a stranger, yet was willing to help her; even if Amber didn't understand the kind of help she was being given. It occurred to her that everyone, from Garth to the lowest of the trainees, had treated her with the utmost kindness and respect. She couldn't deny the fact that these slaves acted anything but oppressed.

Amber ate; her thoughts, and the emotions they provoked, displayed for all to see. The conversation among the other slaves, as they gave her time to absorb what she had learned, would have sounded just like table talk from any other world: gossip, advice shared on any number of subjects, jokes. Lost in thought, Amber's gaze kept returning to Carli.

"Carli?" she ventured many minutes later.

"Yes, Amber?"

"Are you afraid of what's coming, the whipping?"

"Yes, but probably not for the reasons you would expect."

"How do you mean?"

"I suspect you mean 'Am I afraid of the whipping, the pain I will suffer?' Am I right?" Amber nodded her head. "That's not what I'm afraid of. I want to feel the pain; I need to reach symbiosis. What frightens me is not being able to. That would be a failure. If I fail, never reach pleasure/pain symbiosis, I wouldn't want to be a slave anymore. My collar would put me to sleep."

"Your only fear is of failing to be a good slave?" Carli nodded. "I don't understand. How can all of you be so happy being owned by someone else, to have no freedom, to be at the whim of whomever is using you? I could never feel that way."

Thebes spoke up. "Amber, we all felt like you do right now. We all accepted and embraced being slaves in the end. It's all we know. Everything we used to be is gone, the memories lost forever. I do wonder what my life used to be like, but I know that I'll never be able to have it, whatever it was, again. Being owned is not all that bad. We're well taken care of. Plus, there's plenty of sex."

Tears filled Amber's eyes as she recognized a joy in Thebes' words that she was convinced she would never experience. The reality that she would likely die in three days hit her and she lost it. Huge sobs rocked her body as she broke into tears, tears of fear and loss. Carli came around and sat beside Amber, holding her as the pent up emotions released themselves. Tears dripped onto Carli's breasts and ran down her belly.

"I don't want to die. I don't want to be a slave. I'm so scared."

"I know, I was too, we all were. It's okay to be scared. We'd be worried if you weren't."

"Everything feels wrong, too. I'm too sexy."

"How can you be too sexy?"

"I mean, I respond too strongly. I don't know why, but I do. It's like something's made me hornier and more responsive to sex."

"How would you know what's normal? There are no memories to compare to. You may have always been this way."

"I don't know; I'm just so sure it's wrong."

Amber's tears had eased, though Carli was still holding her. Carli's hand slipped down to Amber's cunt, finding the lips moist and slick. Amber gasped and bit her lip. Part of her wanted to push Carli away, but she didn't. The sensations were just so good.

"Can this be so wrong?" Carli asked.

"Yes…no…I don't know. Oh God! That feels so good."

Carli's fingers caressed the fold of Amber's pussy. Instinctively, Amber opened her legs to allow Carli greater access. Thebes sat on the other side of Amber and coaxed her to turn slightly, allowing his mouth access to her breasts. The two trainees, already well skilled in basic pleasuring techniques, played Amber's body like a fine instrument.

Amber found her body responding with gusto. Her already damp pussy was producing copious amounts of lubricant, preparing itself for penetration. Her nipples hardened like little rocks, becoming increasingly sensitive to Thebes' damp caresses. Carli smiled as Amber's hood pulled back from her clit, letting the pleasure button seek out loving contact.

Amber's eyes were closed, her body spreading to allow more contact. Hands roamed across her body, pleasuring places she had not even suspected were capable of experiencing sexual joy. When Carli's finger probed the inside of her cunt, Amber hissed and arched her back. Her body was trembling in anticipation. Carli, nearly fully trained, knew how to keep a man or woman on the edge for as long as she wanted. She applied these skills to Amber, prolonging the glorious feelings of arousal. Amber found that someone had taken hold of her hands, keeping her from forcing her orgasm.

"Please…please?" she begged.

"What? What do you want?"

"I want to cum. Please let me cum."

"All right. Think, as you explode, how wonderful it would to be able to give someone else this." As she spoke, Carli thrust three fingers deep into Ambers cunt, pressing on the sensitive patch of inner flesh every woman had, while simultaneously thumbing her clit. Amber, oblivious to the spectacle she was giving, screamed in ecstasy as her body was catapulted over the edge. As her orgasm shook her body, her thoughts, guided by Carli's words, imagined a lover writhing like this in her own arms. A feeling of joy joined the ecstatic feelings already present. At that instant, Amber could not imagine anything more wonderful than having someone experiencing such feelings at her hand.

When Amber came back to her senses, she saw that four men and women were near her and numerous others were looking on, smiles on their faces. Her body started to redden in embarrassment. She had just been driven to a mind blowing orgasm in front of the entire cafeteria. It was only then that she realized what she had been thinking as she came. A sob was torn from her lips.

"What's wrong, Amber?"

Struggling to free herself from the hands holding her, she exclaimed, in tears, "I wanted it! For a second I wanted to be able to give pleasure like that."

"What's wrong with giving pleasure?"

"You don't get it! I wanted to be a slave! What are you doing to me? Get away from me! Don't touch me!" Her leg jerked at the clip holding her to the bench. Unable to free herself, she collapsed her head onto the table and sobbed, terrified that she would break, that in three days she would want to be enslaved, that she would be as brainwashed as the poor fools surrounding her. She didn't respond to Carli's comforting hand as it rubbed Amber's back.

It was like this that Garth found her. Her tears had slowed to a trickle, but her fear and sadness remained. Bressala explained what had happened while out of Amber's hearing.

"Master, Amber is still struggling with what's happening. It's much stronger for her than I've seen in any other captive. She's also convinced that there's something wrong with how sexual she is."

"I've heard her mention that as well. I'm not sure where it comes from. She has nothing to compare her present state to. Is she ready to witness the punishment?"

"I think so. It'll be hard on her. She already knows that Carli volunteered."

"It's hard on all captives. I smell sex. Was she…?"

"Yes, Master. Carli gave her comfort and soon she was in the throes of pleasure. The thought seed was planted as well."

"Good, good. We'll let her remain in her current state, smelling of her pleasure. It's time to prepare Carli for her punishment."

He walked over to the table. Touching Carli on the shoulder, he said, "Carli, it's time to prepare. Are you ready?"

Carli pulled away from Amber to kneel at Garth's feet. "Yes, Master, please punish me."

Amber's head jerked at the exchange, her eyes open wide. "Please don't hurt her."

Garth looked at Amber. "This has to happen. She's chosen to help you this way. Don't belittle what she's doing."

"Carli, I'm so sorry."

Carli looked up at Garth and, at his nod, stood next to Amber. "It's not anyone's fault. Every captive has to see a maximum punishment, that's the law. You can't choose to be a slave if you don't. Let me do this for you without guilt on your part." She turned Amber's face towards her. "You didn't cause this, no one did. I'll be all right. My collar will keep me from being injured. It's only pain."

"I don't understand, I just don't understand how you can do this, let this happen."

"Do you want to take my place, save me the pain?"

Amber gasped at the thought, and at the realization that she would, if she could, suffer in Carli's place.

"Then you do understand. I want to do this for you, to save you from something worse."

"Worse?"

"Yes, you see, before the demonstrations were mandatory, half of all captives rejected slavery and slept when collared."

"I don't get it. How can seeing a cruel punishment make one want to be a slave? I'd think it would do the opposite."

"Because the punishment is the worst that can happen to you. When you see what that is, and know that nothing a slave experiences will be worse than that, you'll find it reassuring. I did, eventually."

"Eventually, as in I won't right away?"

"No, I doubt it. It is hard to watch, to imagine being there yourself, feeling the pain of the whip. But I, and everyone else, came to understand that it wasn't as bad as the nameless fears we imagined for ourselves."

"Does it have to be you?"

"I want it to be me."

Amber gave a sob and clutched Carli tightly to herself. "Can I see you after?"

"Of course, I'd love for you to be with me. I have to go; there is some preparation I must go through."

Carli walked off, leaving Amber feeling very alone. Garth gently took her hands and bound them behind her again. He attached the leash and freed her ankle from the bench. Saddened, Amber stood and let herself be guided from the dining hall. The walk was longer than any previous trip in the facility. There were also stairs to climb. Through an opening was a large room with a vaulted ceiling and seating for many people. The seats were on a slope, allowing for people to clearly see the front area.

The sight there caught Amber's breath. On a small stage were two poles that stood taller than a man. There seemed to be metal rings at the base and top of the poles. Garth directed her to the seats on the lowest level, directly in front of the dais.

"Is that where she'll be whipped?"

"Yes, the slave is strung between the poles for punishment."

A musical tone sounded through the room. Shortly after, people began to enter the chamber from the numerous entryways. Most were slaves, but some were clothed as Garth was. Three more people, naked, but without collars were brought to the front of the room. All three were on leashes, directed by someone. Garth nodded knowingly at the three overseers.

The three captives, two males and one female, were what had Amber's attention, however. They were different. Two seemed to be human, but had a different skin color than Amber did. While Amber's was what many would call white or flesh tone, the male had ebony black skin, even the palms of his hand (a thing that Amber knew, again without knowing, was unusual). The woman's skin was a deep crimson and Amber first thought that she had been burned by the sun. When she noticed the woman was also looking at her as if Amber was strange, Amber realized that the reddish hue was normal for her.