The dripping of moisture echoed through the underground space, its walls were covered in growths of mold and rust with the air being thick and unpleasant, chains were attached from the ceiling from large series of unnaturally perfect nails. The chains themselves looked rudimentary, as if composed of dozens of individual fine pieces of metal which were woven together by hand to form an intricate web.
Hanging from the chains a figure of a tall imposing man could be seen, with dark hair covering most of his face, his clothes had been torn with dried blood staining the surface of his skin as multiple nails of all shapes and sizes exuded from various points, digging deep into his flesh. In front of him a man wearing the skull of a beetle-like creature with a cloak draped over him almost seemed to fade into the shadows beneath his feet.
Behind him stood two other people, both wielding long spear like nails with expressions of disgust and torment painted over their faces, the masked man had his hand over the face of the one bound by chains and spoke,
"You have been far too resistant so far Damian but how much longer will you last in your state hmm? I am slowly chipping away at your mind and body and will continue my efforts until you submit to my will and tell me every little detail about you and your friend."
He pulled away before kicking the man in the stomach, with Damian wheezing for air at the sudden impact,
"First things first, is your name truly Damian?"
The man looked up with his amber eyes he wanted to resist the tortures pull on his emotions but the past few days of endless abuse had broken more than just his body,
"Ye-es"
The masked man smiled before continuing,
"Good, tell me Damian, do you have a true name?, What rank is your soul core and how much saturation have you reached?"
His mind was burning from the pain, his usual methods for focusing his mind useless in the force burning from every wound on his body, his strange connection to his own desires made him uniquely aware of when his own were being manipulated. The strange resonance coming from the nails within his flesh had given him an insight to Javier's abilities but it wasn't enough, not yet and eventually he succumbed to the compulsion to answer his questions,
"I do not have a True Name, my soul rank is listed as Dormant currently and I currently have forty saturation currently…why do you keep asking me this? What's the point of asking the same questions day after day, you truly are insane for expecting a different result.
Javier smiled but it wasn't visible from beneath the mask as he tsked at Damian's answer,
"Well that is where you are wrong my friend. You have already changed your answers a few times now, for the first few days you were rather resilient. I will give you that but when the first cracks began to show through you did unravel rather quickly. So pardon my repeated questions. I just need to make sure I know who I'm dealing with."
Damian glared at him trying to push against the nails in order to bash his head against the floor but he couldn't budge, the force holding him in place was as much mental as it was physical,
"So let's continue then shall we, and this time if I like your answers I will remove a nail or two, how does that sound?...Good right, I am nothing if not a benevolent god. First question, how many attributes do you have and what are they?"
Damian hated every second of this, his body was restrained and his mind was being twisted against his will and all he could do was bare the burden for now,
"I have four, the first one is [Deadeye] it improves my eyesight beyond normal limits, the next is [Incessant], in all honestly I don't really know what that one does for me, the third is [Undisturbed] it makes it so I leave no traces behind, and my final one is called [Mark of Divinity], happy?"
Javier looked down at him with a look of curiosity burning in his eyes,
"Very interesting, you have claimed that we are not gods yet you bare a mark of the divine within your very soul? Tell me if that does not prove how right I am that we are the chosen of the divine, fated to rule over humanity itself then what does it mean?"
Damian scoffed, with his every breath burning as he tried to move yet was forced to speak,
"It means nothing, its description mentions being touched by the Divine, I got it after having my throat slit by a god, it's a mark I was granted by opposing the will of the gods, and you will be no different."
Javier walked backwards pacing through the isolated chamber for a few moments before opening his palm, as he did a long nail pierced from his skin as he turned to face his prisoner, lunging forward he stabbed it into the man's gut and pulled back.
"You think you have the right to oppose the gods! You may be a divine yourself whether you deny it or not but you are nothing but a lesser one. So know your place, if you think I will fall by your hands you are mistaken, you are my puppet and will obey in time. Final question until I leave you to ponder your loyalty, what is your flaw?"
Damian was looking at the man with hatred in his eyes, he knew he could take this punishment but he shuddered to think what had happened to Jasper in this time, he had asked before but never got a straight answer. His mind was pressing on him to answer the man but he had some questions of his own to ask.
"My..my greatest Flaw is my need to protect the others around me, so tell me where is Jasper? Is he even still alive?"
Javier looked down on the man before punching him in the face,
"That shit again, I don't want to know your 'greatest flaw' is you bastard, I wanted your flaw, the one bestowed on you by the spell. I'll make sure Jasper pays for your lack of cooperation once again, how does it feel old man, having others take a beating which you deserve."
Laughing on his way out of the damp cellar with one of his servants following close behind, leaving the other to stand guard over the prisoner. The tall metal doors of the cellar were pushed shut with inhuman strength as the locks were engaged from the outside, the remaining guard leaned back against the door not letting Damian out of his sight.
Damian coughed out what felt like his entire lung onto the cold damp floors, the rattling of the chains and the pressure of the nails made every movement agony but still he had to find a way to get out of here, and he only had a limited amount of time until his captor came back for some more interrogations.
"Hey…you, you've got to help me out here, I can set you and everyone else he has captive here free. You've just got to…. release these nails from my body so I can escape."
The guard looked at him with a forlorn expression on his face before answering,
"As much as I would love to indulge in this little fantasy of yours Damian my answer is still the same, there's no fighting back against Javier, you may have powers as well but he is simply overwhelming, there's nothing we can do to fight back.
"Thats where you're wrong, his powers are not as overwhelming as you may think, I have an idea on how to beat him, you just need to let me go…please."
The man looked at him and took a single step forward,
"Then tell me how, what do you know that the rest of us don't? How do we fight back against that…monster in the shape of a man then? Tell me."
Damian looked at the man, his face still covered in blood obscuring his vision as he tried to read the man's expression,
"Its the strange helmet he wears, it's what gives him the power to compel others, to spew darkness from their bodies and kill them without ever lifting a finger im sure of it, I just need to destroy it and he should lose most of his power."
Damian looked away before continuing,
"However a..person like you or even any of the other guards will not be enough to break through his defences, me and my companion are the only ones who can so please, break me free and I will set you free, would you rather die a slave or fight for your right of freedom."
The man didn't say anything but approached Damian with a distant look, he knew he was sealing the fate of all of his fellow survivors one way or the other with what he was about to do, but what he said was right, so he had to take the chance, for better or worse.
Using his spear he unlodged the nails keeping the man in place and watched as his body fell with a limp thud to the floor, the man was bleeding and more injured than any human should have been able to handle, The man placed a bloodied hand on his shoulder and simply thanked him, and suddenly a blinding pain coursed through the guards body, he was unconscious before he ever knew what had happened.