The half-demon woke up in the back of a large truck. His vision was blurry, and he could still feel a sharp pain in his head and legs. As his vision cleared up, he looked around him and immediately noticed that his hands were tied behind his back. He also noticed other people tied up with him, they all appeared to be demons. Some young, some old, males and females, the conscious ones all had looks of despair on their faces. Many of them had injuries similar to Toranto's, he could distinctly smell blood on the bed of the truck. Toranto noticed the bruises, blood, and bullet holes in the other denoms in the back of the truck, he could immediately tell this was just how the new regime treated people. It disgusted him but there was nothing anyone could do about it. He took note of his surroundings as they were being transported, he could only tell he was being driven further into the Esfan region.
It took him a while to realize, but Toranto could also sense the draining feeling he came across when he stole food from the soldier's camp. It was distinct, unlike the physical pain he could feel throughout his body. He could tell it was directly draining his body's energy supply, slowly but efficiently. Whatever it was, he could now tell that it was linked to the presence of the soldiers and that if he stayed around them for too long, he would die. However, he had no way of escaping right now without risking his life, this much he was aware of. So, he waited until they got to wherever the soldiers were taking them.
After about ten minutes worth of driving, they arrived at the location where the soldiers were intending to take them. The soldiers immediately forced them off the truck and held them at gunpoint. It was hard for many of them to walk, Toranto included, due to their wounds. With guns trained on them, they walked painfully through the front gates of the facility. Toranto saw three interconnected, broken-down buildings. There were hardly any windows and the place looked decrepit, with barbed wire and other fencing built around it to stop anyone from escaping. As they walked into the facility, Toranto immediately felt the sensation of his life slowly draining away from him again. Only now, it was a lot more prominent. He immediately sensed the source of this aura, a giant beacon protruding atop the main building housing what looked like a white crystal at its peak. Toranto looked around him and immediately noticed massive holes dug around the front yard with other people digging more of them, most of them being other demons. When they got to the front of the main building, another soldier walked out of the front door looking at the group brought by the soldiers. Toranto immediately noticed a distinguishing tag on this one that the other soldiers didn't have, the word "Overseer" was imprinted on his gear. The group was forced to line up in front of him. The overseer looked at the first person in the line and pointed behind him, this was all it took for the remaining soldiers to force the demon inside the facility. When the next one walked up, the overseer pointed to his left, and the soldiers forced the second demon to stand in front of a hole outside of the facility. Toranto could feel his heart racing at what could happen if he were forced into the building, but also feared what could happen if he were forced to stay out here. When Toranto was at the front of the line, the overseer pointed behind him and Toranto was forced inside of the facility. This went on until no one was left standing at the door. When Toranto was forced inside, he was met with a line of soldiers who forced him to walk with the rest of the people who were pushed inside the building. While he walked, he heard gunfire from outside the building, and his mind sank at the realization of what happened to those left outside.
He was forced to walk in a line with the rest of those who were taken inside the facility, where they eventually followed in line with a larger group of people. Toranto immediately noticed that the larger group consisted mostly of members of the demon race. With his hands confined and the feeling of searing pain coursing throughout his body, there was nothing else he could do but comply if he wanted to live. They all were forced to have their identification numbers imprinted on the back of their hands. Toranto could hear the screams and the pained moans of those far in the line in front of him. Looking on either side, he could see that they were surrounded by soldiers carrying machine guns. Any form of movement or plan to escape would surely end in death, and everyone knew this. Toranto would soon be at the head of the line and forced to receive his number, which is when he realized how the numbers were inscribed. To his right was a bender, bearing the insignia of the regime on the sleeve of his right arm. His hands were held up with casting circles directly in front of them. Toranto took note of the sigils and immediately identified that one was for the process of inscribing the number and the other was for the process of integrating the symbol onto the skin of the victim. Toranto was forced to show his left hand, his restraints were cut loose, and guns were trained on him in case he tried anything. The caster closed his eyes to focus on the sigils he retained fixated on his hands. His sigils began to slightly glow as the charms were promptly executed. Toranto immediately began feeling the letters and numbers being imprinted into his skin, he felt a strong and concentrated burning sensation that radiated through his left arm. He tried to maintain the pain he was feeling to stop himself from falling over or instinctively grabbing the area. Once the procedure was done, he was forced to walk to the back of the facility with the others. He looked down at his hand as he walked to the back of the facility reading the number engraved on his hand: 00004638. Toranto and the rest of the line behind him were immediately forced to go out into the backyard of the facility. As they were walking, Toranto took note of the layout of the main building. It was mostly made up of assembly lines and heavy machinery, a lot of which was still in the process of being constructed. He could not tell what they were attempting to manufacture based on the short glimpse, but he could tell it would be for heavier machinery.
When he walked outside, he was forced to take a shovel as a new set of chains were affixed to his feet. He could sense that the chains were inscribed with the potential to shock the victim when infused with energy, this was likely used as a deterrent to keep others from escaping. The captured souls were forced to dig holes without any explanation as to why. This went on for the rest of the day, the prisoners were paired into groups of four and tasked with digging wide holes approximately ten feet deep into the ground. Toranto quickly realized that these holes would be the resting places for many of the individuals around him, as well as himself if he wasn't careful. Many individuals passed out from the constant labor; guards would come to carry them away into different parts of the facility. The indefinite presence of guards, security cameras, and the electrically charged fence around the facility held constant reminders to the inmates that escaping was highly unlikely. When night fell, Toranto quickly learned of the "living" conditions of the establishment for the inmates, if they could be called living. When the moon was fully in the sky, the inmates were relocated to one of the three main buildings of the facility where they were all forced into dirty mattresses on the floor. As Toranto walked into the room, he immediately realized that the room was too small for the number of people brought into the room and the number of mattresses was also too small to accommodate everyone. The lighting was dim and bleak, it was clear that the lightbulbs in the room were previously scrapped. As the crowd was forced into this room, they were told to lie down for the night and that all their activity would be monitored. The crowd of inmates looked among themselves, there were about thirty people in this group. Some of them began to quietly talk amongst themselves about the conditions they've been kept in, their families, and their experiences with the siege of their home while most kept silent. They started to settle down for the night, and Toranto noticed that a demon woman next to him was pregnant. He pushed over his mattress in her direction, she thanked him and laid down while Toranto lay down on the floor. The chains around his arms and feet constantly hurt his wrists and ankles, making any position he would lay in incredibly uncomfortable. The constant stress made it hard for everyone to fall asleep, but Toranto slowly forced himself to sleep as this became the only way to escape the pain around him.
Toranto was awakened in fright by the sound of a loud alarm which jolted everyone awake. The crowd was forced to get up so the soldiers could count the inmates, it dawned on Toranto at this point that two of the inmates did not wake up. They were both older demons, and one of the soldiers went up to both of them to check their pulse. This solder appeared to be a female demi-human with a medical cross on her uniform. Nevertheless, all the soldiers present carried guns, so everyone kept still so as not to provoke one. After she determined that the two demons were dead, one of the soldiers crossed off their numbers from a sheet on a clipboard he was carrying. The third soldier present immediately walked in to pick up the two dead bodies and carry them out of the room. After this, the rest of the inmates were forced to walk to one of the main parts of the facility which had multiple assembly lines. Toranto could not tell at first what was being assembled but he immediately noticed the metal and plastic pieces had very distinct shapes. He assumed this was an assembly line to manufacture more weapons and equipment for the militia. As much as it disgusted him and the other inmates to help produce the weapons that would kill their fellow citizens, they had no choice, the only other option was death. Toranto and his group spent the rest of the day working on this line, the room, however, was sweltering with heat as there were no air conditions, and no ventilation, and the machines produced a massive amount of heat. One member of his group even passed out due to a heat stroke. Luckily this was the only work they were put through that day, when the night fell, they were once again brought to their designed room. This time, however, one of the soldiers walked in with a small amount of food to ration between all the inmates. Toranto hadn't even realized that he hadn't eaten in the past two days until this moment. The food was small and inedible, many inmates threw up their food due to lack of nutrients or their bodies rejecting it. Toranto managed to hold his own although it caused him extreme stomach pain. But he had no choice but to weather through this if he still wanted to get out of this place someday.
This cycle continued for about three months without any significant change. Toranto did, however, get slightly more adapted to the situation. He learned different ways of casting minor charms that the facility could not detect to make his body survive for longer. He quickly learned how to cast less energy-demanding charms without the need for a casting circle by calling the energy to shape itself within his body using pure mental focus. He also learned how to manipulate the heat in the air away from his body just enough so that he wouldn't pass out. During this process, he made a disturbing discovery that he had not fully thought threw at this point. He found out that a small amount of his energy was slowly being drained from him constantly, this would explain the constant draining feeling he experienced. He assumed the soldiers were doing this via some form of advanced field charm and that this was true for everyone else around him. However, he had no idea where their energy was being channeled to and what it would be used for, and he was afraid he would never get to find out given his current condition. Throughout the last three months, he had seen many of his inmates die, some right before his eyes. One person being the pregnant demon he helped throughout all this. He gave her more comfortable mattresses, and some of his rations of food, and took on some of the more grueling tasks of labor so she wouldn't have to. Despite all this, however, she died just a few days ago. Toranto could not get her out of his mind, his hope for getting out was draining exponentially and his body was no closer to giving out. His movements began to slow down, he was unable to cast any of the previous charms that kept him going, and the soldiers noticed he was working much slower. The strain became so daunting on his body that he feinted daily, only to wake back into the nightmare and do it all over again. One day, a soldier came up to Toranto as he was working in the backfield. He was trying his hardest to dig the holes as instructed but he could hardly hold a shovel without passing out. He immediately noticed the soldier and started to fear for his life, he froze as the soldier performed a charm to free him from his chains. He was forced to walk back into the main facility as his vision was blurring and his knees were barely holding him up, it dawned on him that he had become one of the inmates he witnessed so many times in the past. He would be working in the field or on some form of assembly line and a soldier would come up to one of the inmates and take them away as he was being taken away right now, however, he had never seen any of those inmates again.
The half-demon wanted to do anything to free himself, but he was completely powerless to fight back or try to escape. He was led to the front yard of the facility and forced to stand in front of one of the massive holes in the ground. Toranto felt a mix of hysteria and fear as he was faced with the last moments of his life. He could hardly think straight due to the condition of his body, but in his final seconds, he decided not to show fear. He tried to put on a strong face for his mother, he took a deep breath as he calmed his mind and prepared for the end. He was at least happy that he would see his family again, he couldn't wait to see his mother. His hands flopped to his sides as he accepted his fate. The soldiers in front of him realized that he had finally come to terms with his death and prepared to fire. Toranto kept his eyes closed as he heard the sound of them loading their guns and continued to think of his mother to ease his mind. Finally, it happened, the soldiers opened fire on the half-demon, and the bullets pierced his arms and legs with very little entering his stomach area. Within a few seconds, he fell into the hole. He expected the soldiers to walk up to the hole and finish him, but it never happened. Instead, Toranto laid atop a pile of corpses, some of whom he recognized. Toranto felt a rush of immense fear course through him as he looked into the sunken eyes of those around him, he could even smell their bodies rotting around him. With the feeling of intense pain coursing throughout his body, he instinctively tried to crawl away from the corpses but could not move. He was damned to slowly die laying on those who met this fate before him, he began to quietly cry to himself and wonder what this was all for. He began to wonder why this was happening to him, why this was happening to his home, and why he had to die this way. Then, the answer came to him as he looked up into the sky one last time. He noticed that the white crystal was slightly glowing and the rest of his body's energy flowing into it. He then realized that they were collecting their energy into this crystal and that he was not finished off as to drain as much energy from him as possible before his body was incapable of producing anymore. However, it seemed he would never find out for what purpose. The half-demon accepted this as his final resting place, as his body and mind deteriorated to the point of him losing consciousness. He thought this to be his end, and although he was never able to truly find himself, he found comfort in the fact that he would not have to endure this pain any longer.