My torturer, the slimy bag of shit that he was, came back the next day oblivious to the change in psyche that my mind underwent. He prepped his tools and his book, making a few markings therein, before coming up to me again. Perhaps he thought I was sleeping, but he said nothing as he pulled up a knife and cut into my arm. When that didn’t get a reaction, his face contorted into confusion and he cut again, peeling back a section of flesh from my arm.
I had nothing to say, nor any sound to make in response to his provocation. “Did you actually die?” He said more to himself than me. His hand came and felt my pulse, his eyes also examined how my blood flowed from the wound on my arm. “No, you’re still alive. So, I take it you finally lost your mind, disappointing.” He muttered to himself about throwing off the results of his experiment and general complaints about the accuracy of the data being ruined.
Such things didn’t matter, I could barely even hear him, or feel anything he was doing. Not to say there was no feeling at all. The bite of the blade still made its way through my body, but it felt more like an uncomfortable pressure than the agonizing pain it used to bring. He tried to get some sort of reaction out of me, breaking bones, poking me with a hot iron, multiple lacerations and blunt force trauma, yet the only thing he could get out of me was a discomforted groan or involuntary twitch.
He swore at me for being a useless subject and that might have made me happy to make him so angry if my mind was capable of that at the moment. The annoyance died down after a little while and he returned to his regular cold demeanor. “Fine, I suppose this will be an opportunity to see what it would take to break someone out of madness.” Right back at it with the experiments, he was nothing if not devoted.
His methods and attempts to snap me out of my maddened state grew more complex. He tried placing burning coals against my head or some form of magical water torture that would keep me on the edge of drowning. But the one that was the most effective at getting a reaction out of me was when he put several incisions into my flesh and then poured some form of acid into them. It made me groan and twitch all over, but my body felt like it was the equivalent of lemon juice in a cut. The acid must have eaten into something important because my vision faded away until everything was gone.
Again.
I didn’t even have the strength of will to be angry at the voice anymore. It was simply just another thing that happened around me. Everything felt so disconnected, like every thought and sensation was happening to someone else, and I was only privy to the bare minimum of information from the stimuli.
My death came and went a couple of times that day, seemed less than usual, but I wasn’t really counting. My psychopathic companion appeared to be finishing up for the day by writing in his infernal book that might as well have been made out of human skin for all the evil that it contained within. Hell, he probably removed enough of my skin that he could bind an entire series of books in the stuff.
“Subject remains largely unresponsive, attempts to stimulate a reaction have been negligible at best. No change has been observed in regenerative ability leading me to conclude that state of mind has no bearing on the ability. Will seek out new methods of inducing a reaction in the subject strong enough to break the hold of madness.”
He closed the book and packed up a few things before leaving me. It’s almost peaceful really, being insane. Worries and concerns mean nothing to you when you lose your mind. But it wasn’t nirvana, it was a blanket that suffocates the senses and warms you against the cold beyond. You can take comfort in it for a time, but you are always aware of what lies in wait should it come off.
Sleep and consciousness came a number of times. The concept of day and night was foreign to me. I slept when compelled to and woke when I felt like. There was only the dark and the intermittent time spent outside of it.
My torturer tried for two days to snap me out of my insanity. Techniques were wild and varied during this time, ranging from the brutal to the downright strange. At one point he attempted to replace one of my organs with that of an animal’s to see if it would take during regeneration. Apparently, my body cannibalized it during the process and absorbed the meat as either nutrients or repurposed flesh.
On the third day he came in with a happy smile that would have made me vomit. He carried some sort of contraption with him, sort of like the ones that in the marketplace when I first came to this hell hole. He placed the device down on the table and made some notes in his book before finally addressing me.
“I made a most interesting discovery earlier today. Apparently, an inventor claimed to have been able to trap a storm inside of this device here. Ahh, the wonders enlightened minds such as ours come up with. It cost a miser's bag of coins to acquire, but I think the data I will gain from its use will be most interesting.”
It was brought over to me, and I got a good look at it. It was a fairly large wooden box with knobs and levers about it. Two copper prongs extended from one end of the device most likely to facilitate a physical demonstration of the lightning that was supposedly within it with a crank being what generated or released it. Basically, it was a really crappy steampunk taser.
“Let’s see here, first I have to pull this lever to activate then I crank the wheel on the side, right?” He seemed to be recalling the instruction and experimented with the device, giving it a brief turn of the wheel. A bit of electricity jumped between the prongs at the end of the device startling my torturer. “Oh! My, how wonderous! I was skeptical about whether or not this was a farce and I needed to go acquire a new subject to experiment on, but seeing it work now I have to say the man is a genius.”
He looked at me with a sadistic grin. “Let us begin the experiment then.” He placed the box so the prongs were touching my side. He got everything balanced so it wouldn’t fall or break and then began to turn the wheel. The first few cranks saw nothing happen, the current must have been too weak and was absorbed by my body as simple static.
He looked a bit disappointed, but quickly renewed his cranking of the wheel with more vigor than before. This time a jolt ran through my body that caused me to involuntarily arch my back. He laughed; the bastard actually laughed at my reaction after everything he had coldly done to me.
“Seems that finally got a reaction out of you. Now for a prolonged exposure this time.” He cranked the wheel again and kept up a fast pace. The electricity coursed through me causing my entire body to lock up and strain against my bindings. It forced a pained sound out of me as life was artificially put back into my body. The asshole looked very pleased with himself as he continued to pump electricity into me.
The clamps on the table started to groan underneath me, a sound that neither of us paid any attention to as we were rather preoccupied. Then, something unexpected happened. The wood around my left wrist cried out in agony before splintering, suddenly releasing my hand in a shower of woodchips.
Both of us froze, dumbfounded by what just happened as we stared at the hand. After a prolonged silence that felt like hours, my eyes finally flickered away from my hand towards my torturer, and there was a flash of panic across his face. It was a realization that came far too late for him as my hand shot out towards him, seemingly moving on autopilot. I grabbed the collar of his robe and yanked him towards me, bringing our heads together.
The crown of my head collided with the bridge of his nose. It felt like a pillow fight had taken place to me, but it broke his nose, stunning him and causing him to cry out in pain. My hand then immediately shot into the folds of his robes and latched onto where he kept his key ring. Removing the plundered goods, I gave him a shove to the ground and then located the key to the rest of the shackles before starting to work on releasing my right hand.
My hand was freed as the torturer staggered to his feet, bleeding heavily from his nose. While working on my ankle restraints he looked at me, eyes wide as he realized I was almost out of the clamps. He rushed over to his table and grabbed a knife off it just as my last ankle restraint was undone.
I turned to see him lunging at me with the blade, he seemed slow for some reason. My hand shot up and grabbed his wrist with a squeeze while my other hand came to seize hold of his throat. To my hazy surprise, his wrist snapped causing him to drop the knife as he was lifted several inches off the ground by his throat. I was barely processing all this; my mind was still booting back up and too much had taken place in such a brief span of time.
My gaze remained on my torturer who was weakly kicking out as he dangled in my grip, making strained chocking noises. A moment passed of me staring blankly at him before my face slowly contorted into a snarl of rage. There’s an interesting thing to note about rage. It’s an emotion that’s so close to madness that the two often cross paths and mingle with one another. My rage cleared away the last of the fog from my mind and focused my steely gaze upon the sorry piece of shit in my grasp.
My second hand locked itself around his throat as well, slowly applying more pressure until his eyes looked like they were about to pop out of his skull. He tried punching me with his unbroken hand, but they felt like soft love taps compared to all the suffering he put me through. The light was fading from his eyes, and not in a state of mind for any complex send-offs, I simply told him one last time.
“Fuck, you.”
Squeezing as hard as I could, something in his neck broke, causing him to go limp. When my grip released, his body dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes. I stood panting over his corpse as my mind caught up to this situation. Freedom was mine, at least from the table, but I was still in the middle of hostile territory in what were probably the bowels of the castle. I needed a way out that wouldn’t land me right back on another table.
Looking around the room for ideas, the oil lanterns gave me one. Nothing like a roaring fire to cover a single person's escape. And I knew just the room to start in. There were three in total that kept the room decently lit, an amount that could be worked with. Checking to make sure that my escape wouldn’t be blocked, the exit door open as my plan was set in motion.
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Saying that I took pleasure in what came next would be an understatement. Smashing a lantern on top of his worktable, the satisfaction as the flames ate away at his ‘life’s work,’ if you could call what the sadistic fuck did that, was immense indeed. Now, it was all going up in smoke and a smile spread across my face as the fire made the short jump to the bookshelf as well.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t stick around to watch it become ash. There was still the plan to escape the castle, the city, this entire fucking world. One thing at a time though. Exiting the torture chamber found me in a hallway with several doors spread about intermittingly. They probably led to similar if not the exact same room that I had been in, either that or just holding cells for other prisoners to be cycled in and out of the torture chamber.
There was only one way to go, and that was up the stairs at the end of the corridor, so I hauled my naked ass as fast as possible in that direction. The spiral staircase continued up for about two stories before it ended in another door. I unlatched the lock and pushed it open cautiously, scanning for any signs of people as the door slowly creaked open.
The part of the castle the stairs emerged into didn’t seem as lavishly decorated as the others, so it was probably an obscure corner, and for good reason considering what the purpose of this place was. Sneaking through the area, I hoped that no one would walk by as I was carrying two light sources that gave away my position. Luckily it seemed that the area was largely empty, but that didn't absolve me of caution while moving briskly through the halls.
Passing by a room made me do a double take as I saw what it was. It was storage, for a variety of different things from old furniture to tapestries. A better pile of kindling couldn’t have been asked for. With a strong throw another lantern flew into the pile with enough force to shatter it and spread the oil that subsequently caught fire over some pieces of furniture. It was time to make myself scarce as the smoke started to flow out of the room.
Eventually my path took me back to the main part of the castle, as gaudy as it always was. With the appearance of the windows, I saw that it was getting dark outside, cloudy sky turning a vibrant shade of orange. Continuing down the halls in search of another target, one eventually presented itself in the form of several windows with large curtains and a decent amount of furniture.
The curtains were quickly set on fire individually with the lantern before shattering it over a nearby table. The entire hallway was ablaze now, and the sound of shouting was coming from the area that I had been through already. Someone must have found the other fires that were started. That was as good a signal as any that it was time for me to get out of here.
Moving fast, my goal was to find an exit where one could slip away unnoticed in the chaos. It seemed like whatever god was still fucking with me decided that my plan had gone well enough for too long. I rounded a corner and ran face first into a pair of guards who upon seeing me looked utterly flabbergasted. A naked man covered in the dried blood of a thousand deaths would probably make for a truly strange sight.
“What the...” before the guard could even finish that thought I rushed forward and shoved him into his buddy. He actually lifted off the floor and flew into his partner with enough force to bring them both to the ground in a tangled heap. I took off in a dead sprint down the hall as shouting from the pair echoed behind me as they righted themselves again.
So much for a stealthy exit. Moving through the corridors with a haste born of fear that I would return to my life of suffering after only so recently escaping it. Their shouts were gaining the attention of a few others who joined the pursuit as a wild chase ensued around the castle. It sounded like they were torn between fighting the fires and trying to capture me, meaning my plan probably did save me from being immediately surrounded at least.
I found a door near the back end of the castle and crashed through it into a garden area. There was no real time to look for the easiest exit, so picking a random direction, my escape continued. Hurdling over short bushes and trampled through flower beds, all the while several voices yelled out from behind me, spurring me onward.
The escape path ended up going around the castle and into the main courtyard. You could see the smoke and the fires raging inside the castle from here and several more guards were running from the main gate towards the chaos. They were probably going to help deal with the fires, but when they saw me, they immediately switched targets.
Damnit, how am I supposed to get out?! The main gate had been the most likely exit, but that was being cut off now. I changed directions again and started running towards the walls, specifically the towers that had the staircases that led up to the walls. My shoulder rammed into the door, throwing it wide open and fracturing the wood. Again, my mind briefly touched upon this newfound strength, but more pressing matters drove the thoughts away quickly.
My escape led up the stairwell onto the ramparts and across the wall towards the other tower on the far end. My plan didn’t account for where to go or how to get there, but I needed to keep moving until a way out presented itself. The tower door that I was running towards suddenly burst open and a trio of guards came pouring out. I skidded to a stop and turned around only to see more guards already advancing towards me with spears lowered. Shit!
I was trapped with no way out. Jumping off the wall back into the courtyard would probably just break my leg and lead to me being captured. On the other side, however... a quick glance over the edge of the wall revealed that it was about a forty foot drop down the wall and a bit of a cliff-face to the street below. Not exactly a pleasant option, but considering the alternative it was far superior.
Before they could get close enough to try and stop me, a quick jump sent me over the far end of the wall and into a free fall. Against every instinct that told me otherwise my head was angled to land face-first against the ground. I needed to die, not be horribly injured just to be captured again. A shattered skull and broken spine would take approximately twenty-five seconds to heal. A side effect of being subjected to that asshole’s mutterings was I had pretty good grasp on what injuries take how long to regenerate from.
My face smashed into the ground, and everything went black immediately. At least it was painless. I thought to myself while I drifted in the void.
Again.
Just shut up and send me back.
My eyes shot open, and immediately I was on my feet again. Night had fallen at this point and the crystal streetlamps turned on. Taking off into a nearby alleyway, the dark would help me avoid detection. The guards might assume that I died and would leave me alone for a while to help with the fires. They were right in a way, but death was not a permanent option for me, and I made full use of any time it would give from their assumptions.
As my winding path took me from one dark corner of the city to another, I felt a water drop hit me on the head. My first assumption was that it was just runoff condensation from a roof, but then other drips began to hit me. It had started to rain. Of course! Why else would God take a massive shit on my life if not so he could be fucking dramatic about it!
I spied some clothes hanging from a line between two houses that someone had left out and not yet pulled back in. Barely slowing down, I nabbed some that seemed about my size and slipped them on while continuing to move. They were tight, but manageable, and they made me feel more secure to boot. Still no shoes though. Back to square one, I guess.
My path took me up to another house with open window shutters on it. It was dark inside, which meant either that nobody was home, or they were asleep. I pulled myself up and through the window and fumbled around in the dark for a moment until my eyes adjusted. Trying to move quietly through the house, I eventually found a cabinet that had some food in it.
My empty stomach growled, encouraging me to consume the food. It was a command that was obeyed readily. A whole roll of bread was stuffed into my mouth before it was torn apart and subsequently choked down. There were also some preserved meats that were greedily ripped to pieces and consumed before I started pulling food out to take with me. My pillaging of the pantry halted for a moment as I came to grips with my situation. Is this what I am now? A thief stealing food from some random family.
My heart sunk as memories of my old life surfaced, how I had wanted to be a force of good in the world, and now I was nothing but a petty criminal. No, fuck that! I’m here against my will. I was tortured to death and experimented on a thousand times over! I will thrive in any fucking world you try to kill me in, even if I have to burn everything to the ground to do so. It didn't matter that my greatest chance of getting home was probably the fucking knife eared bastards. I will tear down his cities brick by brick if I must, and then when all that is left is Alathos, when all his hopes and dreams are buried and dead, I’ll rip him apart the same way he did to me.
After eating my fill, I wrapped all the food in a bit of cloth that was laying around. I also took what looked like a traveling cloak to block out the weather and threw it on. It would additionally serve for maintaining anonymity as it would not be surprised if I became a wanted fugitive.
Clambered back out the window into the alleyway, the rain was now coming down hard. Once out, I glanced back up the hill at the castle and saw the glow of the fire as well as the smoke rising into the air. A smirk touched upon my lips as I watched the beautiful view before me. This is just the start you asshole, watch your back.
slinking away into the shadows with my ill-gotten goods, my plot for revenge had begun. Whatever I was going to do would have to wait until my foothold in this world was more secure. My knowledge on how things operated here was still next to nothing, so I would need to lay low and listen for a while. First order of business though was getting out of the city.
I kept to the shadows while making my way to the outer wall, navigating around until the main gate came into sight. The guards were away from the gate a little bit, gawking and talking about the fire in the castle that could be seen. No better opportunity would present itself, so I strode through the dark and passed behind the guards, under the gate, and out onto the road.
There was no shouting or yelling that suddenly started up, and as I got further away from the gate, my pace accelerated until my legs were moving at a jog away from the city. Glancing behind me showed that no one was following, my escape was clean, for now. It was risky to use the road, but it was better than being lost in the wilderness.
Under the cover of night, I ran. My strides were long and firm, breath was a steady rise and fall. Everything about me felt strong, better than ever before. What the hell is going on with my body? It was probably more magical bullshit that I didn’t have time for, so I used it and kept running. Several miles disappeared faster than I even realized because when I turned around the light of the city was already on the horizon.
Once inside the woods the visibility dropped to almost non-existent. There was no way to keep going through this area for very long, so after making some progress deeper into the forest, I cut off the path and into the undergrowth. My limited vision made me stumble more than a few times as I blindly made my way forward. After a comfortable distance was made from the main road, I found a small rock formation to take shelter in from the rain.
Settling into the rocky space was difficult, but manageable. I was wet and cold but the fire that burned within me kept me warm. I would not give up; this world could go to hell for all I cared. The rain pelted the ground around me, a soft lullaby amongst the storm that raged. My eyes slowly closed as the sound of the rain consumed my senses until sleep caught up with me, a sleep without the fear of being awakened by death. It felt peaceful... almost.