Strangers of the Forsaken.

Chapter Three: Part Four.

Chapter Three: Part Four.

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Stefan soon awoke from his slumber, overly groggy and painfully confused, his mind racing suddenly and the most sickening feeling was present in his stomach. He knew not where he was, what had happened before he had first arrived, or just how he had even found himself here in the first place. He remembered feeling uncontrollably angry, a memory that was still very much burned into the back of his mind. The reason for such a dangerous feeling however, was something he could somehow not recall. There was a certain, telling voice at the very forefront of his head, a voice that was screaming at him with everything it could possibly muster. It was telling him that there was a tragic event that had taken place not too long ago, involving someone very dear to him. A dearly unfortunate fate had befallen this very person, leaving Stefan feeling a great sense of remorse and the deepest of regrets. He could not be entirely sure of why he was unable to clearly remember the exact event though. Whatever it was, he thought that perhaps it had something to do with this place he was currently in. Wherever it is that he was, it was most certainly playing the worst of havocs upon his heart, soul and mind. Thus, leaving the poor boy extremely open, weakened and vulnerable to all sorts of vicious and merciless attacks on his already broken emotions. The state he was in right now, just about anyone could take hold of his mind and control him, just as if he were a mere puppet or a rag doll.

He was currently in a very similar state to how his most dear friend Carsten was right now, bound in extremely restrictive metal harnesses, that limited any hopeless attempts at movement that either boy may have tried to make. The overly rough, hardened wooden lectern upon which Stefan was now lying, was digging harshly into the young boy's back. Cold, hard spikes of iron poked out from within the wood and Stefan could feel the blood seeping out, from the marks and scratches they were making. The metal harnesses bound his head and both his feet, while his hands were very securely tied with what looked to be brightly coloured rings, of some sort of magic. The young boy's vision was repeatedly fading away and then returning again, a cycle which continued to taunt Stefan for quite some time. Uncontrollably, he would drift in and out of consciousness, as his mind would torture him with painful visions of Carsten's demise. In spite of how utterly sick and dizzy he felt, Stefan was somehow still able to find it within himself to know that there was something missing from deep within himself. A deep, darkened void of lifeless nothingness within his heart, that could only be filled by the returning presence of somebody special to him. A certain person who had always remained loyal to Stefan, throughout all of the good and the bad times they had endured together as friends. To be lucky enough to be able to find such a person in this life, was both a blessing and an extreme rarity. It was something that not everybody would get the chance to fully experience, but that never did stop them from giving it their very best shot.

The Guardians were currently swarming themselves all around their underwater city, actively seeking out poor human slaves who were not working hard enough in their eyes. Upon happening across such unfortunate beings, these monstrous creatures would waste absolutely no time in handing down the most appropriate punishment. Usually, this would involve the use of either physical or mental torture methods, all of which were designed to further break what was left of their slaves' already weakened human spirits. There were the odd rare occasions however, when both forms of torture were used at the same time. Although such a harsh level of punishment was typically reserved for those humans who, in the eyes of the Guardians at least, had been repeatedly slacking off and purposefully neglecting their duties as slaves. The one and only thing that the Guardians truly cared about, was the design, creation and wide expansion of their great, wonderful city. They had absolutely no care for the way in which their poor human slaves were treated, so long as they worked hard and ultimately got the job done.