'It's suffocating...'
Those were the first words that left Bane's mouth as he gradually felt his consciousness returning back to him.
No.
Saying that it was suffocating would have been an understatement. It felt like he was surrounded at all sides by thick walls not even allowing a little bit of room for movement. His body was stiff and no matter how much strength he put into it he couldn't break free.
What kind of prison was this?
Compared to the hell thunder it might certainly feel mild but what was the purpose of him being thrown inside of here?
It was suffocating but strangely enough he never lost his breath. Perhaps it was because of his spiritual body that he was till alive? He didn't know.
'Where am I?'
Days could only pass by. He had lost his track of time.
But no matter how much time passed he had never felt any hunger.
It was strange.
Perhaps he had truly died and that divine dragon wasn't just a dream?
Was this how hell felt like? He had been here only for the first time. But it was surprisingly mild compared to what he had originally imagined.
But Bane would soon be forced to change his opinion.
*Thump* *Thummp* *Thump* *Thump*
'Ugh what is this?'
A sharp pain ran through his whole body. He wasn't sure what was happening but seemed like the prison he was in was being ferociously hammered from the outside.
The pummeling itself didn't have much of an intensity to them but for some reason every time they connected it caused a sharp piercing pain to jolt through his entire body.
When did his body became so weak? It couldn't even bear something like this.
'UGh'
'Ack'
Not even a word left his mouth. Rather it felt like his body was too weak to even move its mouth. And yet he felt like screaming out in agony. If he were to be honest it was as worse as the divine lightning he had faced earlier.
*Thump* *Thump*
'Damn it must be that dragon again.'
That was the only one he was bound to suspect at this point.
But Bane couldn't have been more wrong about it. The reality of the matter would only dawn upon him in the near future.
But just the thought that it was the dragon realizing his tyranny over him was enough to drive him crazy as he got consumed by hatred.
He squirmed and churned giving it his all to break free of the prison. But it was no use.
Bane could only conclude that his body - spiritual or not was much weaker than before.
But despite all of this his hammering didn't disappear.
He cursed the Gods with all of his might. His insides were on the verge of being pulled apart but despite that the curses flew like birds off his consciousness.
'Huh?'
But it was then that his severely weakened senses perceived something incomparably strange.
Curses that was equally filled with hatred flew past along with his own.
It was strange.
They didn't seem to be something tangible or something he could touch, but Bane knew that someone else bore the great deal of hatred just like him.
Perhaps before his fall and death if he had met such a person he would have concluded him to be dangerous to approach.
But not anymore.
All he felt from it was a deep sense of comradeship.
*Thump* *Thump*
The constant thumping and wallowing that passed into his body like shockwaves kept shaking his inner organs like crazy. But even in between such severe pain he could feel this companionship getting intensified.
'Who is it?' the question came back in circles.
Bane tried to recollect his thoughts as he focused on the grudge of the other party alone, ignoring or at least trying to ignore the piercing pain that was shooting throughout his body.
But there was only one strange conclusion that he could reach...
'Is it the prison itself?'
Although an incomparably strange conclusion but that was what his soul was howling out to him. It felt so incomparably surreal but at the same time an absolute truth.
Could it be... that the prison he was in had its own life?
Then since they shared a similar goal perhaps he could call for a truce?
It was a good theory... but like every good theory it was only good on paper.
Bane didn't have any means to contact the prison anyway.
He was so incomparably weak at this moment that he was sure that even if he were to utter so much as a single word through his mouth, his throat would burst apart shattering all of the veins that pass through it.
And what was the prison anyway? Both of them were complete strangers. There was hardly anything to talk between them let alone come to the negotiation table.
Bane continued to squirm and chirm trying to break free of the prison. But all of that being of no use, he could only tighten his belly trying to resist the force of the thrashing from the outside. He saw no light out of his current situation.
'Ugh'
After what felt like eternity the thrashes finally came to an end. It wasn't perhaps that long but with Bane's dulled sense of consciousness and the pain running through his body that still caused him to squirm in the after effect, he could hardly be sure of the time and place.
The prison was suffocating as it was and now his body seemed to be at its death's door. Or so was what he felt, but hadn't he already died?
What was even more shocking was that it was not Bane alone that was squirming in pain. Rather the whole prison was squirming as if crying out to the unfairness that it had been subjected to.
A surreal realization dawned upon Bane.
'You are in pain too, aren't you?'
It was only understandable.
This prison was different than the tyrant dragon that he had faced.
Bane was at least inside and protected by the prison as he was being thrashed around. But the prison had to face all of those wounds directly upon itself!
Bane was beginning to question what the purpose of the prison was.
Was it to detain him or was it to protect him?
He hardly could say anything now.
But, if it really did have life like it seemed like it then it must have been incomparably painful.
Once again he was reminded of the comradeship that he felt with this so called prison whose true identity he was completely unaware of.
Little did he knew that this comradeship was going to go a long way as it was only the beginning of their sufferings together.