'It was just another job... Until it wasn't.'
'What went wrong?'
'What did I miss?'
'Why, why did they betray me?'
'Perhaps the more important question is, why didn't I see it coming?'
'I always completed my jobs to perfection, cleanly, with no loose ends, so why?'
'It was supposed to be just another job, so how did I end up here, in this hell?'
***
Varin looked down at himself and sighed. How did he let himself get in this sorry state? His thick black hair was made flat with grease. His pale skin, filthy with patches of dirt and dried blood, covered in little cuts and bruises of all colors. Dark circles accentuating his deep blue eyes. His cheeks slightly sunken in due to being perpetually starved, fed just enough to keep him ticking. His hands and feet bruised from being shackled to a concrete wall in a cold dark 8' x 8' cell awaiting more torturous poking and prodding. The only clothing remaining on him was his perfectly fitted dress pants, now tattered and stained with blood.
The only source of light being a strip of dim bulbs running the length of the hall. The lights were barely bright enough to illuminate the front half of his cell. Leaving him mostly in the dark.
The view available being the concrete walls beside him, the stone floor beneath him and rusted bars in front of him. The only amenities available being a shabby metal bowl in the back right corner with a hole in the bottom that led through the floor.
'At least this place has some semblance of a toilet. I suppose even the keepers of hell don't want to clean up human feces if they don't have to.'
Beyond the bars on the other side of the hallway was a similar cell.
In this dingy dark cell lay a man on a cold stone floor, likewise in shackles but in seemingly better condition. The unfortunate man arrived a couple weeks after he did. From what Varin could tell, the man was a couple years younger than himself and about the same height, perhaps 24 years old, 5' 8". He has wavy brown prince-like hair, now disheveled. With light blue eyes and tanned skin. Slightly less battered than Varin, and was in nothing but his boxers.
The hallway they were in had 12 of these
8' x 8' cells. 6 being on each side of the hallway making the hall about 99.5ft long with a width of approximately 6ft. 1 door on each end.
Unfortunately for Varin and his neighbor, their cells were situated near the center of the hall.
Varin didn't know how many cells were occupied but from what he could hear, and the amount of stale "food" the guards walked by with, he guessed 10… well, 9 now. Assuming each cell only had 1 occupant including himself and his neighbor across the hall.
Given the state of this arrangement his neighbors weren't particularly talkative, to the point where Varin would occasionally question if there really were other people here. However, he did manage to talk to the man across the hall, whom he would have short conversations with between guard rotations.
Varin came to know this man, as Dagen.
***
Upon awakening in his new hell Dagen groggily sat up and rubbed his head, feeling it pound with every heartbeat. Every bone in his body ached from laying on the rough stone floor.
'Why is my arm so heavy?'
Blinking his blurred eyes to see why his arm felt heavy, his eyes came upon a shackle locked to his wrist.
'...What!'
But before the panic of his new reality could fully set in, a voice came from the shadows of the cell across from him.
"Well look who's finally up. Morning sunshine, sleep well?"
Still dazed and confused all Dagen could muster was,
"huh?".
Looking at him with slight amusement Varin decided to alleviate his boredom by watching his new neighbors reactions to the revaluation of his current situation. With a slight giggle he said:
"You didn't so much as twitch for 2 days, I thought you might've kicked the bucket… glad you didn't cause it would've smelled even worse than it already does in this hellhole."
Bewildered by the carefree tone of this voice Dagen Leaned forward as much as his new leash would allow and caught a better view of the strangely nonchalant man across from him. To his surprise, the man looked to be in a way worse condition than himself, pale, beaten, showing signs of starvation and exhaustion.
"Who are you? And… where are we? What is this place?"
This sudden barrage of questions made Varin annoyed and glad simultaneously, having been here for weeks with nothing to do and no one to talk to he answered:
"I am called Varin; now as to where we are, I can't say for sure because I don't know."
His lips curled into a dark smirk as he continued.
"I can say that this place is hell, so welcome, make yourself comfortable cause you're gonna be here a while."
Dagens eyes widened as he slumped lower on the floor, quickly looking around as panic and despair sank deep into his very being. After a few moments he heard chuckles escape Varins lips, sparking rage deep within his heart. Looking up, he snapped,
"What's so funny!? How can you laugh in this situation!? What is wrong with...you?"
The sudden shift in Varins demeanor stopped his words in their tracks. Looking at him with nothing but pity in his eyes, Varins face had the words ``poor kid`` written all over it.
"You better keep your voice down, unless you want them to retract your chains. They'll leave you standing until your legs give out, you'll be hanging from the wrist. Quite a painful experience I might add."
Looking at the end of the chains, Dagen realized that the ends weren't just bolted to the wall, they went into it.
'What?'
As if reading his mind Varin continued:
"There's a mechanism outside our cells that they use to reel in the chains to immobilize us. Only giving us slack after they're safely out with the door locked, not even giving us enough slack to reach the bars. Smart bastards."
Then, a somber question suddenly crashed into Dagens mind:
"How long have you been here?"
With a short pause that felt like an eternity, Varin sighed and answered:
"Honestly, only about 2 weeks, but you'll soon realize how long 2 weeks can be in a place like this."
With that, Dagen fell silent, taking a moment to process everything that has happened.
'How did this happen? Why me? I was just hunting in the mountains, something I've done solo many times before. So how, how did I end up here?'
After another guard rotation Dagen collected himself and asked:
"What are they going to do with us?"
Upon hearing that question, Varin just looked down and trembled slightly, he said nothing. He wasn't quite ready to reveal that answer just yet. Especially since Dagen was still visibly in shock, he decided to wait, but Dagen would find out eventually, as he did… Just how close to hell this place really was.