My life devolved into a living hell that day. That demon, Alistar, tore at me each day with something new. My thought processes began to blur as I fled from the harsh, painful reality and sought haven in my mind.

The pain came in many forms: At first it was small blades cutting into my flesh and tearing through it like wolves. My vision was stained red as my body wept blood. The rusty blades pierced deep into me, but not deep enough to end my pitiful life. My vision faded into darkness, before I would suddenly jolt back up due to a particular cut. This continued for what felt like eternity - my only respite was when I passed out completely. I was stuck in a sea of agony when it suddenly stopped.

Instead of the sharp pain I was expecting, a warm feeling enveloped my body and an intense itch spread across the wounds. I opened my eyes to see my skin and flesh stretching and mending itself making it seem like the hours of pain ever happened. Shocked, I swung my head up looking for the source of my healing. I saw the blurry figure of Alistair changing out of his blood splattered robe and another figure standing next to me with glowing hands. While I was being healed and my mind wasn't being bombarded with pain, I had a moment of clarity. My eyes focused on the individual beside me. It was a young woman with blond hair wearing a white robe similar to Alistar's.

I as I looked at her, hope blossomed in my chest. Perhaps this person convinced Alistar to stop and save me. My hope evaporated as I noticed the black brand on her forehead and looked into the dead empty abyss in her eyes. I could tell instantly that she was no longer a person and that she wasn't my saviour but was just my predecessor.

“Thorin, meet Sylvia. Sylvia will be keep your body together while I shatter your mind. I wouldn’t want you dying on your first day, now do we?” Alistar said as Sylvia finished healing me.

“See you early tomorrow for more fun!” He said before extinguishing the torches in the room with a flick of his hands and closing the doors. I was left alone again, surrounded by darkness and dreading what was to come next.

The next day I was woken up by the guards and was forced to eat and drink while Alistar prepared his tools.

After Alistar checked over me to make sure my condition was passable, he began his next round of torture. This time, it would be flaying.

That demon using a long rough blade began to remove my skin, one strip after another. I started to bleed but, he had Sylvia there to make sure I stayed alive until he had finished removing most of my skin that fell of like sheets. I eventually slipped out of consciousness and felt the sweet relief of nothingness.

I was out for what only felt like a moment before I was brought back by him splashing some sort of acid onto my raw flesh. It sizzled and bubbled as it began to seep into my flesh melting my muscles. The intense surge of pain caused my brain to hallucinate. It felt like I had been swallowed by a snake and was being digested whole. I passed out once again unable to stand the new type of pain. Alistair responded by splashing another dose of acid onto my exposed flesh.

Not only was he making me endure this he was forcing me to remain conscious for all of it. Tears streamed from my face I forced myself to hold onto reality to avoid another dose of acid. Eventually Alistar grew bored of seeing me struggle and left the room. Before he left he dumped the rest of the bottle on me leaving me to writhe in agony for the day.

The next day I was brought back to the peak of health by Sylvia again only for another day of agony. It became a pattern. Alistar would come in each day and torture me with something different. Each was worse than the last, whether it was being burned alive, having my fingers, toes, and teeth removed, or opening my chest to show me my own organs. I began to hate Sylvia and dream of dying. Each day I was hurt terribly and each day my body was healed. I was only left with my damaged mind warping. I must have lasted for at least a week and a half before Alistar grew tired and decided to finish it all.

Like every other day Sylvia entered the room and healed me back to perfection, but instead of casting a spell or pulling out a tool, Alistar was just standing there holding a metal box.

“I have grown sick of you. Grown men were easier to break. As a reward for your useless struggle I will treat you to a special method.” He said while opening the lid of the box and setting it down.

“Enjoy today and cherish the feeling of pain because today is the last day you feel anything.” He exclaimed before he and Sylvia left.

A single torch was left lit and I picked my head up to glance at the box he had left me. I wasn't able to see into it, but after a second a small purple bug crawled of the rim and crawled down to the floor. As the first one made its way down six more began to make there way out of the box and onto the floor. At this point I didn't couldn't think or even panic as they made their way over to me. As they got closer I managed to get a better view of them. They were each about a half inch big and were a metallic purple beetle.

Eventually they reached me and started crawling up my legs. I tried to shake them off but they clung on and continued to move up. I felt one stop for a moment before I felt it start to claw through my calf. I felt it starting to dig its way through my calf making my moments become more desperate trying to shake off the rest of them. It was futile though as I felt another the other bugs decide to start burrowing into my flesh whenever they reached a part of my body. One crawled all the way up my chest, but luckily decided to burrow in my shoulder instead of continuing up to my face. Eventually all of them were burrowing into me as I thrashed from side to side in pain. I could feel their mouths biting me and their legs forcing them farther and farther into my body.

It was incredibly painful, but other days were worse. These bugs wouldn't break me. For a while I just laid there trying to distract myself from the pain as the insects squirmed in my body. I managed to slip into a state where I didn't feel much of the pain, just the unnatural movements beneath my flesh when suddenly I felt my left leg in complete agony. I felt that the bug in my calf had made its way to my bone and was now attempting to grind its way through it. It was extreme pain as it slowly whittled away. Soon I felt even more pain as other bugs began to make their way to my bones. It was too much for me.

I withdrew into my mind seeking shelter from the pain. I sifted through memory after memory seeking something that I could latch onto in the sea of pain. Each couldn’t hold up to the storm of agony and weathered away as I desperately clung to them. They were too weak, I was too weak. No, I was pathetic. Unable to do anything as my mind was being washed away. Herald wasted his life trying to save me, when I couldn’t even save myself. His final moments flashed before my eyes once again.

“No! I am fucking tired of being weak! I am sick of this world taking away from me!” I screamed out as I grabbed on to the memory of Harold fighting to the end and let my anger burn brighter than ever. It flared hotter than any pain I had felt during my time in the dungeon and washed away my despair.

“This world owes me and I am not going anywhere until I get pay back!”

I felt a surge of power and my mind piece back together solidified by my rage. I felt my soul become reforged in the flames of hatred and come out stronger. I believed in that moment that nothing was going to break me and that I would some how life through this.

I was wrong, dead wrong. At that moment the bugs managed to break through the exterior of my bones and reached the soft tissue inside them. There is no way to describe the agony. In that instant my mind shattered and I was left powerless. My mouth foamed and various limbs spasmed as I lost consciousness. The last thing I felt before closing my eyes was brand on my forehead burning as the spell took full control of my mind.