Ed converts his first thrall

Each time the bound naked woman was close to collapse from turning the huge wheel she was tied to Ed fed her some watery gruel while whispering that if she promised to serve him unwaveringly that she would be released from her backbreaking labour into his servitude. The woman resisted by cursing him for his cruelty and continuing her unending walk to nowhere. Eventually the unending turning of the wheel slowly began to break her spirit, turning, turning, ever around and around, always pushing forward until she soon returned to the same spot, walking for miles but going nowhere, she always felt exhausted and dizzy, yearning for freedom as her body ached from the pain of her endless journey. As her body began to yield her mind frayed and began to unravel from the unyielding nature of the contraption Ed has tied her to.

Ed came and went over the next couple of days as he made improvements to his base, creating a table, chairs, carpets, torches set into the walls, all to create something resembling comfort even though these objects had limited practical use in the harsh unforgiving world. The woman found that as her mind and body slowly succumbed to the wheel of pain that she missed Ed when he wasn't there. It was almost as though when he wasn't there she didn't exist. Ed was the only distraction her from the monotony of the endless wheel and the seemingly endless torment.

"Will you serve me?" Ed asked the naked bound woman for the nth time as he walked beside her while she turned the wheel.

With her head bent down the woman croaked through dry lips "...Yes..." .

Ed leaned close to her "I can't hear you"

The woman's voice was low, she licked her cracked lips and swallowed hoping for salvia but her voice remained weak "...I... I will serve you"

Ed slapped her, staring at her as he tested her for resistance "call me master.." he instructed

"Yes, master" the woman meekly replied keeping her eyes to the ground.

"Will you serve me in all things?" Ed asked

"Yes master" the woman promised as she raised her eyes towards him for the first time

"Will you kill for me?" Ed demanded as he lifted her head towards him.

"Yes master" the woman pledged as Ed sought any hint of treachery in her reply.

"Will you give yourself to me?" Ed questioned

For the first time the woman looked up and met Eds gaze "Yes master, I will".

Ed's eyes probed hers searching for betrayal but found none. Ed paused wondering whether she were capable of it, was she a human as he understood them with a capability for betrayal and free will or was she just a computer programme? He wasn't sure which was the answer he wanted, if she were a real actual person then he'd done a terrible thing, if she were a person then she were unlikely to be able to give him the answers he needed.

"How can you prove your loyalty?" Ed asked her.

"Release me master and let me prove myself" she pleaded.