The following is an excerpt and hopefully the first page in the followup to the original "Sandmans Promise" dubbed officially "Traitors Dream".
"Forget what you know about torture. This isn't Wing Chi, you won't be killing anyone with a thousand cuts, this isn't the Iron Maiden, you won't be throwing anyone in a box and listening to how they bleed until they feel like telling you what you need to know. Your not here to simulate drowning by waterboarding someone who clearly isn't afraid to die!", Jared said, his passion bordering on zealous.
"You are not barbarians and this is the modern age, with modern tools!", he brought out a vial of colourless, odourless, and tasteless fluid. "I do not envy the positions you are in and I do not underestimate the toll it has taken, inflicting pain on another human being even as a necessary act to prevent the loss of life on a larger scale is unacceptable", he looked around the assorted group of men and women, all military, all specialised, all ready and willing to sacrifice both body and mind for the future wellbeing of their country.
"And without your objection I would like to hand you the single, greatest tool I can offer. It's parent drug is called "Sandmans Promise", for a anyone whose ever heard of "Enter Sandman" by "Metallica", I recommend you don't get ahead of yourselves", he said with a light chuckle, as some in the crowd smirked at the dark humor. "This, however, is its more refined variant "Traitors Dream", unlike the parent drug it is made to boost the metabolism to heal more than your standard papercut", he said wryly "it's made to allow your subject to last longer under punishing, physical conditions. Where natural stamina and adrenaline fail, this", he held the small vial in between his index finger and thumb before all of them "has been made so that round the clock interrogations on the same subject will not only be a possible, but ultimately", he said in a matter of fact tone "running like clockwork, if that is your hearts deepest desire", he said staring down the crowd, noticing some of them swallow hard, "but I hope it doesn't come to that".
"The whole point of me coming here and introducing this chemical is not purely for dramatics", he said with a warm smile. "No, a new tool requires new "orientation" for lack of a better word. I'm here to help you explore a route of interrogation like you've never seen before. By the end of this "debut" you'll hate me, you'll hate yourselves but not a single one of you will want to return to way things were before and the simple answer for that....is because your human beings, you have hearts to break and minds to crush. This...", he hinted again toward the vial in his hand "won't remove you from the equation, only invite you to involve yourselves more than ever", he declared with no small amount of glee before dialling it back and taking on a more business like tone.
"The drug is undetectable to the human senses, but until further development into an aerosolized version requires ingestion. The first signs will become apparent when you notice a glassy eyed look. Offer instructions, they will follow them, but for those you feel are too strong of will, those who until this point have resisted way beyond the norm... well," Jared's smile grew wider, "that's when we introduce the real magic."
He pocketed "Traitors Dream" and took out a second vial, filled with a liquid that qas equally colourless. "If the "Dream" was the parent drugs cousin. This little one...", he said holding it up to the light, is the crazy uncle you never talk about..a just in case you never want to use, like a pistol with the suppressor already attached, you don't want to mess with the intention behind this one hell...I almost wish I never came up with it to be fair", he said almost regretfully, which made some in the crowd shift uncomfortably. "But as the great philosopher said, necessity is the mother of invention, and sometimes the devil whispers the sweetest solutions".
"Ergo it's name "The Devils Pulpit", he said solemnly, as he looked back at them. "Now, let us begin", he said with an eager expression of concentration on his face that could have split bricks.
I couldn't resist starting this today, with a clearer context for how I'd portray the story after the first installment. Despite having quite allot on my plate editing-wise with other projects on this platform I thought it only fair to do this. Keep in mind this will keep in line with Jared as he is in the original story this is not a story I want to write about modern physical aswell as mental torture, I just mentioned it at the end of the original story as a potential way forwards for the next chapter. Thus is purely what it's always been for me a personal form of entertainment, fictional in form and creatively an outlet.
Until next time and as always please comment and feel free to provide contrast with your opinions and helpful, constructive criticism. I'm still new to this platform so I'm still learning the ins and outs, so bear with me.