Calen thought he knew pain - he didn't.
What he was currently experiencing made the sliver lotus look pleasant - at least there the pain was purely physical, and therefore limited by human physiology.
But not here.
His mind was frozen, his soul was on fire and his flesh was being shredded - at least that's how it felt, in reality only his soul was being directly affected by the ritual, the rest was just a side effect.
The only thing he could perceive was pain, any other sensation or feeling was completely cut off, leaving him deaf, blind and mute.
He tried to scream - and maybe he did, it was difficult to tell in his current state - he did everything to keep focus, to not lose the grasp on his tenets.
To do so, he attempted to recall what made him decide on each of them:
The case of Konrad - how deep the conspiracy went, and how many plot twist they went through before they finally arrived at the TRUTH.
