Chapter 3

Day 3 of prison life. It's boring. The guards don't let us do anything, and from time to time, they make us entertain them. They haven't listened to anything I tell them, and instead laugh at me when I try to explain. At least they leave us alone at night. Or what we think is night, since there are no windows down here to tell time. I don't think the other prisoners believe me either. Pretty sure they think I'm crazy, actually. But, at least they don't give me a hard time about it.

The guy who claimed to be part of The Embers is a human named Daniel. He's optimistic about things and believes he's going to be rescued any day. According to Anna, he's believed that for months, though. As for Anna, her cell is next to Simon’s, at the back right of the room. She's a short, starwing fae woman, and I can't tell if she's a pessimist or a realist. The things she says scare me, but Daniel tells me not to listen to her too much. My cell neighbor on my left is a feline beastkin woman named Betty. She can't talk. Apparently, she injured her throat when she was a kid, and the scar is similar to a group of assassins who physically mute themselves, which was enough for guards to arrest her. Simon is a human, and he seems to hate Daniel. Any time Daniel talks about escape or talks about things getting better in the future, Simon gets mad at him. I still don't know why he's in here. Henry is a starlost fae thief, which were rare. Not a small time thief, either. Apparently, he raided the palace armory with a group and stole some really important things.

Every day, one of us gets taken away, and a few minutes later, the rest of us can hear them screaming from down the hall. Anna says that's them trying to get what they want from us. She also says that it's going to be my turn soon and that no matter what, I shouldn't give it up because once they get what they want, they'll kill me. It's got me terrified. I don't know what they'll want from me, and I'm scared to be tortured. Daniel says that our cell section is just one of many, and that you can tell how many prisoners are down here by how much you get to eat and how often you get taken down the hall. More prisoners mean less food, but less torture as time and resources are spread. The odd thing is that when I arrived, there were suddenly more guards when it should've been the opposite. Now, 2 guards always stand outside our door while 4 more stay in the room. Usually sitting at the table playing cards or something.

The door opened and in walked a man in a white coat with 3 women in masks. He was smiling and looked at me as he entered. The fat guard, stood up to and approached him.

"Dr. Borscht. What brings you here, and who are your nice friends?" He said while ogling the women.

"The royal family has requested that I extract... information from the prisoner, Johnathon. These ladies are here to assist me." He said.

"Damn. Lucky him. But I didn't know you were that kind of doctor. Always heard you were more of the "making things" and "researching stuff" kind. Are we so short-staffed down here that they got you doing this stuff, too? No offense, but you even know how to get your hands dirty?"

"Oh, I assure you, it's not due to any shortcomings from the men and women working here. The king is quite satisfied with the results produced so far. Rather, I'm here to apply my research and develop it further using low-value prisoners like Johnathon. An opportunity for something like this is rare, so I'm more than happy to, eh, "get my hands dirty" as you said, though, it may be a bit different from how it's normally done here."

"Low value prisoners? Ain't they all low value?" He and the other guards laugh.

Dr. Borscht laughed along with them a bit, though it was half-hearted.

"Well, some hold less value than others. For example, there is no shortage of people accused of being a part of The Embers. Mr. Johnathon, in particular, is believed to be a well-trained spy and liar. Most likely, he holds little useful information, would be difficult to get anything honest out, and could deceive those who question him. Normally, he would be executed, but fortunately for him, another option was available."

"I see. Need any help escorting him?"

"That would be a big help. Just down the hall. However, I must ask that once he's restrained inside, that I not be disturbed for any reason. The exact nature of my research is top secret. I have orders from the king to ensure that none learn of it."

The doctor reaches into his pocket and pulls out a paper or the guards to see.

"Hmm. Alright. I'll let the rest of the guards know after today. You two! Take the prisoner down the hall for the doctor."

As I'm escorted out of my cell, I can't stop my legs from shaking. My heart pounds in my chest as the guards drag me with them after the doctor down the hall, around a corner, down another hallway, until we reach 1 room of many with doors that all looked the same. One of the female nurses opens the door and we enter. There's a metal table in the middle with straps hanging over the sides, a cart with a sheet over it in the corner, a drain in the floor, and the "lights" spell had been cast on the roof covering it in small shimmering orbs that illuminate the room without torches.

One of the guards whistles. "Pretty fancy for a torture room. I guess you doctors have a particular way of things."

"We do. Now, if you could please restrain him to the table." He said, a little impatient.

The guards shoved me toward the table. My fear suddenly amplified. Screw this. "Wait! I'm not Johnathon! My name's William! I was summoned with the heroes! Please! You have the wrong guy! They lied to you!"

Nobody even reacted. I was forced onto the table and strapped down with arms at my side, legs together, and head back.

The guards stepped away when they were done. The doctor thanked them and they left. The door closed and for a moment the only sound was my panicked breathing.

"Oh, finally. I've been waiting eagerly to have everything ready for our meeting, Mr. William."

"Y-you know I'm not Johnathon? You know who I am?! Who are you?"

"Of course I know who you are. You've been at the front of my mind since the day Sir. Lawrence showed me your head. My name is Dr. Borscht, and I'm, well, a doctor. Mainly, I work with magical artifacts, both their function and their creation."

"N-no... Th-that wasn't me. I still have my head. So that's impossible. Since you know who I am, you can let me go. I'm friends with the heroes so they'll be worried about me. Nothing bad has happened yet. It's just been boring days with bad food, haha. So it's ok."

"Yes, well, actually that's what I would first like to test. I apologize in advance for being doubtful, but it's in my nature to be a skeptic unless I see something for myself. I hope you understand."

The doctor walked around to the cart in the corner and removed the sheet. From the corner of my eye I could see all kinds of tools, knives, saws, drills, hammers, and other things on lower shelves. He reached for a scalpel first and walked over.

"Please... Don't..."

Ignoring me, the doctor unhesitatingly drove the scalpel into my neck. Blood immediately started gushing in thick streams to the beat of my racing heart. I didn't even scream. I was panicking so much, I think I just froze. The initial cut hurt, but after that, all I felt was the warmth on my face and chest. After a few seconds, I started to feel cold and realized I was going to die. My arms strained against the restraints as I tried to break free and stop the bleeding. Eventually, things started to spin. I felt weak, tired, and colder. The doctor stood above me the entire time, watching without blinking. As my vision faded to black, his face was the last thing I saw.

Until I saw it again when I woke up. I still couldn't move, but other than my quickly returning fear, I felt fine.

"Amazing! So it's true! You can't die!"

I screamed at him while fighting the restraints as hard as I could. "Yeah! I was summoned with the heroes! I am a hero! I have a hero's blessing! So let me go!"

The restraints didn't budge, and instead of letting me go, the doctor turned away and began taking notes on a pad held by one of the nurses.

"Well then, I suppose I should begin tackling the quota. The limit on the resurrection is unknown, so we'll be playing it safe today. We will be trying for 3, and depending on his physical exam tomorrow, we'll see if we can push it past that."

"What are you talking about?! Let me GOOOO! HEEEELP!"

"Nurses, please silence the artifa- I mean, the patient. Sorry. Force of habit."

Two of the nurses worked to gag me. I tried to bite them, but they seemed to be used to doing this sort of thing and effortlessly avoided it.

The doctor moved to the side of the table next to my chest.

"Scissors"

A nurse passed him scissors, and he used them to cut open my ragged prison shirt.

"Scalpel"

I held my breath as the blade made contact with the top of my chest. I saw blood ooze out as it cut down toward my stomach until I couldn't watch anymore and shut my eyes tight. It didn't even hurt until a few seconds after the cut was made. I shook uncontrollably all over out of pure fear. I screamed constantly through the gag, but it didn’t amount to anything.

"Saw."

I kept my eyes closed, but I could feel my skin being pulled back. I screamed with all my might until I had no air left to exhale. It felt like nothing I had ever felt before. The pain was so intense it made me dizzy, like I was being ripped apart for hours, when it was probably only a few minutes. I knew I shouldn't look. I didn't want to see what was happening.

"He's bleeding a lot. Let's speed up. Rib shears."

What the hell were rib shears!? I opened my eyes to look, and it was immediately the biggest mistake I had ever made. The doctor was holding long scissors that looked like large gardening shears to cut branches off trees. Not to mention my own body. It was something I couldn't even imagine seeing in my worst nightmares. My head spun, and everything went dark.

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