John was curled up in the corner of his cell, exhausted. He had lost track of the time as he drifted in and out of consciousness. Occasionally a cultivator from the Rainy Cloud sect would abruptly appear through the portal in the wall and force him to eat some strange pill, other times they would splash him with huge buckets of water, draining accumulated filth down the drain in the center of the floor.
Sometimes the pills would flood him with energy, wiping away his hunger, thirst, and physical exhaustion in one pass. Usually, he would be unable to sleep after these energetic pills, no matter how mentally worn he was. The small cell didn't allow for him to move much, though he still did his best to work out the squirming energy in his limbs.
The other kind of pills were the worst, however. John had experienced various tortures from the cultivators, no matter how much he begged to be released, returned to his family, or eventually, to be killed. The first pill merely prickled his skin and emptied his insides. The second pill seemed to rip and tear at his skin instead, burning its way across his entire body leaving nothing but a raw pinkish tone and a layer of filth, even his hair was gone, vaporized in the sensation.
Recently they had targeted his muscles, his entire body clenched in the most horrific cramp imaginable. The pain kept him conscious as his own body betrayed him, twisting on itself to exhaustion. John had vomited immediately, but despite his hope that the pill itself might be disgorged, the cramping continued and John dry heaved for hours painfully. Eventually, John awoke.
Curled in the corner, he was contemplating biting his own tongue off. Anything would be better than this hell. He did try, but at the first taste of blood he chickened out. Eventually he settled on simply choking himself to death. The pressure on his neck was so calming, as he began to feel his mind drift away.
The portal opened, and a cultivator stepped in, expressionless.
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Three pills floated out of a small jade bottle. One was large and angry red, with a hint of gold. Once was a polished metallic color, reminiscent of quicksilver. Last was a bone white. A pit opened in his stomach, some dreadful new torture was coming.
John whimpered as his hands were pulled from his neck and held fast to his sides, his body straightened into a board and hovering in the middle of the cell. The pills came, forcing their way uncomfortably down his throat, nearly choking on the huge red pill. A burning heat quickly spread deep in his body, Thick icy veins followed, doing nothing to stop the heat, but allowing John to enjoy freezing and burning to death at the same time. Tears streaming from his face and snot running down his nose, he felt the mysterious energy grip his body tightly. Then, every bone in his body shattered.
John screamed so loud his throat filled with blood, eyes rolling back in his head as filth as thick as slurry spewed from his pores and left his body. John barely noticed. Energy flooded him so fast he was unable to lose consciousness, enduring every second of this hellish torture. At some point, he was sure he had gone insane. His spirit left his body, observing his physical form like some kind of sick circus jester. The screaming stopped and was replaced with inhuman laughter. Eyes rolling about and tongue lolling about his mouth, laughter wracked the floating body.
The cultivator seemed to stiffen, its eyes widening in fear at the insane display. The body snickered at the foolish cultivator like someone had told it the funniest joke in the world, barely stifling uproarious laughter. The spirit felt something brush against its senses, as it turned to a direction beyond the cell surrounding it. A presence so huge and horrible was crawling toward this room that the body and spirit gasped at the same time. The presence shifted and shuddered, sending ripples through the space that the spirit occupied.
The ripple screamed, 'SOMETHING IS COMING, JOHN'
The body shouted its agreement in a high pitched whine, "Something is coming! Something is coming! Something is coming!" over and over again.
The cultivator stumbled backwards, opening the portal and tripping over its lip, before scrambling backwards, kicking at the floor.
The body cackled at the fool one last time before the portal closed, isolating him once more.