The Brutal Man

A freezing liquid splashed onto my body and face, instantly waking me to my surroundings. My eyes were unable to make out my surroundings due to the water still being in them. I attempted to move my hands to my eyes to remove the water . I found that I was unable to move my arms as they were held above me.

What’s going on? Why can’t I move my arms, and where am I? I tried blinking furiously in an attempt to get the water out. After a couple minutes of blinking, the water had cleared out. Once again, I attempted to look around, trying to get a feel of where I was and why my hands were bound.

I could not remember why I had blacked out or why I was here. I looked around at the decrepit place and saw that it was made entirely of stone. There was also something that seemed to be a window, but it more so resembled a hole. I wasn’t able to make out the entire room since it was so dark. I could make out what seemed to be a silhouette, but I wasn’t certain, as it wasn’t very clear. I tried moving my arms and legs with more force, trying to break the restraint, but to no avail.

“Haha!” A chuckle came from the same direction as where I had seen the silhouette.

“W..” I tried to respond, but was unable to as my dry throat cracked under the force of the air leaving my lungs. Only silence remained in the room with the occasional sound of rustling from the shadow watching me. Once in a while I made attempts at the binds that held me, but after the third attempt, I realized it was futile.

A warm light started to illuminate the room from a distance, allowing me to see both the room and the one past it. The light forced away the dark, revealing rusted bars ahead of me. The sight caused me to try and push my way through the metal securements which held my wrists and ankles once again. This was also useless.

The silhouette was revealed to be a man wearing a metal helmet and some silver armour. The memories of the moments before I had blacked out suddenly came rushing back to me. I cried out in pain and fear until my voice finally gave out from the lack of hydration. As the light grew closer, I could see a man holding the source of the warm light. His size far exceeded that of the others around him. So much so in fact, that it looked as though his armour was struggling to stay on.

“Haha! It would seem you’ve finally awoken.” The man spoke, observing the shaking of my body at a force which seemed as though it would break the restraints themselves. “Well, we can finally start questioning the spy.”

“What spy? Where am I?” I asked in a low tone in order to lessen the pain my throat was feeling.

“Don’t kid us buddy. You were clearly a spy, being captured at the border and all. Not to mention those weird clothes. I swear you spies get worse and worse at your jobs. At least try to learn what people normally wear around here. You’re gonna answer every question we got for you if you wanna get out of here, or else.”

“What do you mean? Or else what?”

“I’m not gonna sugar coat it for you. We don’t have enough time to get through every damn spy we’ve already captured. Answer our questions, or we’ll be as brutal as we decide.” The man spoke as though it was just standard procedure.

“What? You can’t do that, it’s against the law!”

“Huh. So it must be illegal in Lores, then. Well that doesn’t matter here in Milarch.”

“Huh?” I replied, confused about what he had said. I’ve never heard of a Milarch or a Lores. Those places aren’t real. Where am I? Wait, if it’s not illegal here then that means—My thought’s broke looking towards his face. A searing grin confirmed my thoughts.

“Alright boys, take him out of the restraints and let’s escort him to where all the toys are.”

“Wait! Why are you starting with torture? You didn’t even ask me any questions!” I pleaded with the guards.

“Oh, I guess you’re right. Are you a spy?”

“I don’t know anything! And I’m not a spy.”

“Well, now you know why, huh? Take him away, boys!” He exclaimed, having his men grab me and turning away as if to guide them where to go.

My screams echoed through the place, making sure everyone around could hear my pleas for help, but no one came.

We reached the room far quicker than I’d ever wanted to. The men dragged me to a chair and threw me into it. I tried to get up and run, but after my initial struggle and shaking, I was out of energy and could no longer summon the strength to move.

As the men strapped down my arms and legs to the chair, my last feeble attempt at struggling was met with a brutal punch to the gut, causing my organs to rumble in dismay. The restraints this time were far tighter than they had been before, but this time were made of leather rather than the cold steel used before. The leather had been strapped so tight it was starting to burn.

The man in charge pulled out a tool and brought it towards me. The other men were bringing a stool as high as the armrests in front of the chair.

“Do you know what this is?” The man questioned, sadistically.

“Please release me, I didn’t do anything wrong!” I exclaimed, hoping some humanity would come from them.

“Do you know what this is?” The man repeated the question louder.

“I-I-I don’t.”

“Well, since you’re new, we're going to start lightly. Hopefully this’ll change your mind, so to speak.”

“That’s great!” I replied hoping that he had finally realized I was innocent.

“So for today…” He started. “You’re only going to lose your fingernails!” A large smile came onto his face, almost as if someone had offered him a million dollars for free. The sheer joy in his smile caused a shivering in my core before I could even process what he said. He began walking towards me.

“NO! NO! NO! NO!” I hollered hoping someone would stop him. The strength that I thought had left me came back into my body as I began to try to break the restraints. The men who came with him walked towards me and held me to the chair. The large man came and placed my finger into the machine. I held still as if I moved, I knew it could end up even worse. With a slow meticulous press, the nail was ripped from my finger.

“If you feel like talking let us know, but we’re going to be coming back everyday.” The man explained to me. It seemed as if he had hoped I wouldn’t talk so he could continue his sick pleasure.

“Water.” I spoke aloud, my nails still dripping with blood. The man grabbed my head and pulled it back. Using a vase he dropped, he allowed me to take 3 sips before dumping it on my head.

“See you tomorrow.’ He spoke to me, reminding me this hell was going to continue everyday.