28. Chapter 28 - The Handmaiden's Training, Part 1

29. Chapter 29 - The Handmaiden's Training, Part 2

Warning

WARNING TO READERS

This novel explores themes and scenes of extreme violence, including torture, non-consensual sexual acts, and psychologically very disturbing situations. It is therefore naturally and formally prohibited for minors under eighteen years of age.

The universe you are about to discover is a science-fiction dystopia whose logic rests on a technology of regeneration and resurrection without limits. This postulate, central to the plot, allows the antagonists of this story to commit acts of unimaginable barbarity, reducing life and the body to simple disposable and infinitely repairable tools. It is precisely this technology and the perverse use they have made of it over time that has led them to become monsters.

It is crucial to understand that the practices described in these pages, even the most extreme, have no relation to BDSM or any other form of healthy and fulfilling sexuality. BDSM, in its fundamental principles, rests on informed consent, communication, trust, and respect for limits, always framed by ‘safewords’ and very strict rules for the safety and well-being of persons, both physical and psychological. BDSM can be something beautiful and wonderful. What is depicted here is the exact opposite: it is the total abolition of consent, a pure and simple violation of the human being.

This book is a fiction, an exploration of a terrifying ‘what if’. The question posed is the following: if death and pain were no longer limits, how far could a perversion lead us? The characters who inflict this suffering are not models, but monsters, misled by the illegitimate use of a technology that gave them power over life and death.

I condemn without the slightest reservation any non-consensual sexual or violent act in the real world, regardless of the context. Torture, rape, and any form of coercion are abominable crimes. The fictional nature of this narrative must never be interpreted as a justification or banalization of these abject acts.

If, in a distant future, technologies were to change our relationship to pain and mortality, the principle of consent and the integrity of each individual should imperatively endure. Because without that, we would all become monsters. Respect for life, for consciences, and for the relationship to the body and acts that revolve around sexuality must always remain the unbreakable foundation of any human relationship. What follows is the nightmare of what would happen if this foundation were annihilated.

By continuing your reading, you accept to enter this dark fictional space, keeping in mind this fundamental distinction: the literary exploration of unspeakable horror is and must never be the approval of this horror. This should also make us question an essential question: why is all this so exciting for many, when any sane person would rise up and find themselves broken to witness, in real life, even a single one of the acts described in this book?

I think that every human being is and will forever be attracted to power, notably for the sensations it provides. This leads some to always want more, to seek this sensation of the absolute until they lose themselves totally and destroy everything around them. It is this power over reality and over others, when it reaches a certain threshold, that transforms us into monsters. One only has to see the Epstein affair or the acts of Vlad Țepeș, nicknamed Vlad the Impaler. The lack of humanity and the accumulation of power, including simply economic power to the detriment of others, tends to change us into monsters, gradually.

Let us explore this concept safely and always keep precious this spark that is our humanity. It is much more fragile and has much more value than one thinks.

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Prologue - The Order

The Nemesis slipped into the sidereal void like a shadow, a gigantic mass of dark, angular metal that seemed to absorb the light of distant stars. For several decades now, it had been the nightmare of trade routes, the phantom that corporate convoys dreaded seeing appear on their scanners. The method of the Great Nebula Pirates was almost always the same: send a message indicating whether they were only interested in the cargo, or whether they intended to take prisoners as well. In the majority of cases, if the pirates were only after the merchandise, targets allowed themselves to be boarded, unwilling to risk an escalation with such a ruthless adversary.

On the other hand, if ...