Hi guys! This is currently a one shot, but I will continue if you like it. Hoping to tie in Cornerstone. Based on a tumbler prompt.

He senses the punch, but doesn't even attempt to dodge it. A gloved fist strikes him in the stomach and he doubles over, coughing up blood. The chains cut into his wrists as he loses his footing, hanging from the frigid iron. Rythian looks up wearily at Duncan, the scientist's goggles reflected the torchlight of the gloomy dungeon. It seemed to fill his eyes with fire.

"Had enough?" Duncan snarled down at the weakened mage. Rythian just glared back, the thick gag in his mouth preventing an answer. Another punch, painfully impacting on Rythian's eye. He can already feel it swelling up. Duncan kicks his legs out from under him, then shoves Rythian and lets him swing, dangling from the ceiling.

"Duncan!" A sweet voice calls from the courtyard above, causing Duncan to start guiltily. "Come see what I built!"

"I'll be right back." He promised, a wicked smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "Coming Kim!" The dungeon door opens ahead of the scientist, briefly allowing a small square of light into the room. Then it cuts off.

Rythian sagged in relief, regaining his footing. He winced as multiple bruises and cuts throbbed in an agonizing unison. It seemed like an eternity since he had been captured, but it had only been a week. A week filled with day after day of pure agony. Duncan seemed set on causing as much pain as possible, physical and mental. Every day was something different, and he had learned not to trust anything around him. Duncan experimented with reality altering drugs, causing horrible nightmares. He had stood over Zoey's broken body more times than he could count, always jerking awake to the sound of Duncan's laugh as he screamed her name. There didn't seem to be a purpose to this endless, mindless torture. Exhausted, Rythian's eyes began to slide closed as he fell into a dreamless sleep.

A sharp stinging in his arm woke Rythian up, he looked over just in time to see Duncan removing a syringe from his arm. Rythian's eyes widened and he began to thrash against the chains. He didn't want to go through this again. But it was too late, the hallucigenic had already worked its way to his brain. Rythian could feel reality slipping away, Duncan's smirking face melting like wax. As he clung to his last fragment of conciseness, he heard Duncan.

"This one's gonna be fun."

Rythian jerked awake, frantically searching the room around him. A smooth marble floor, dark stone walls, he was back in Blackrock? That wasn't right. Blackrock was gone, wasn't it? Duncan had nuked it. He stood up dizzily, trying to process his surroundings. He was in the upper floors, the spare bedroom. It was pitch black but for the glow of his eyes. The teal light illuminated the bed and book shelf. Everything seemed off, the plant by the bed was blackened and decaying. The air even smelled wrong, a nauseating mixture of decay and a sharp metallic smell. Rythian froze when he realized what it was, blood. He carefully made his way over to the door, slowly turning the nob. The hallway was equally dark. The stench grew stronger when he neared the master bedroom, his dread rising with every step.

"Zoey?" Rythian whispers as he rounds the corner into the bedroom. Maybe, just maybe it would be different this time. Maybe…

She lay in a pool of her own blood, he couldn't tell where her hair ended and the blood started, they had swirled together into a horrible unison. Her lips were crusted with crimson and the hilt of a sword protruded from her stomach. A glowing sword…

"No." Rythian backed away. This wasn't real. This couldn't be real. Lalna was just messing with him. Shakily he stepped closer again, peering into her eyes. Her expression was frozen into permanent shock and betrayal, open eyes glazed over in a look of abject horror. He could see himself reflected in the empty pupils, paler than death. He reached out, shakily closing her eyelids. There was blood on his hands.

"No!" He cried again, collapsing by her side, desperately clutching at her decomposing flesh. "This isn't real, it wasn't me! You're not dead. Zoey, ZOEY!" He was sobbing now, the tears leaving gleaming patches on his blood coated face. He knew this wasn't real, it couldn't be real. She wasn't dead.

"How do you know?" The shadow of doubt pushed its way into his mind, freezing his tears. "You left her, alone in a forest. You said you'd be back, how long did she wait before she knew you weren't coming back? How long can one dinosaur and a little girl stay alive in a place like that?"

"I didn't leave her." His voice muffled as he pressed his face into Zoey's side. "Taken, kidnapped. Oh god what if I can't get back!" He began to shake her now, past the point of reason, beyond sanity.

"Wake up! C'mon Zoey you can't just leave me! Zoey, ZOEY!"

And the room was ripped away, the gleeful laugh of a madman drowning out his frantic screams.