A slave does not think.

A slave does not feel.

A slave is not a person.

A slave is what only his master wishes him to be.

Those are the rules. And the rules are all that mattered.

He was a slave. He did not have a name. Oh, he used to. He used to be a Hero. The Savior of Olympus. But then he failed. And now he is only a slave. Now he is merely It, the slave of his Lady, Mother of the Earth.

He had fought, and he had failed. But They would not let him go. All he new and loved was gone.

But They made him stay.

They made him watch.

They made him kill.

And They enjoyed it.

They liked Pain.

They liked to see Pain. They liked to watch him feel Pain.

But that was gone now. And he was a slave.

So he no longer felt Pain. Because Pain was real. And he was not.

He no longer was real.

He was a slave.

He was a Shadow.

And a Shadow does not feel Pain.