Power in my apartment, which is off-campus, went out and the wifi, even after power was revived, wasn't functional until this weekend so that's why I haven't posted recently but I should be back to a decent publishing schedule soon. Thanks for reading, and I will see you in the next chapter.

-xkid11

Eragon awoke abruptly with a start, partially due to the creaking sound of the rusty door opening, and also due to the stinging in his eye, sweat that had rolled from his forehead down to his left eye. Blinking a couple of times to try to get rid of the salty substance, Eragon shook his head, his dark hair damp from the sweat that had accumulated on his head due to the humid prison cell in which he was being held in.

Gaining his bearings, Eragon was only able to look clearly for a second before a fist slammed into his jaw, snapping his head to the right, and the ache remained after the whiplash must have been from a broken bone.

Eragon had assumed that something like this was going to happen, having mere foot soldiers rough him up a bit, before the Shade that had captured him would start to try to enter his mind, but Eragon was used to physical pain. Another punch, this one to the gut, caused him to cough out of reflex and more punches followed.

What seemed like hours later, Eragon laid on the ground in a heap of broken bones and aching muscles. The guards had taken turns, each striking him whenever they could until they couldn't continue, either from their bleeding knuckles, or their grumbling stomachs. But Eragon was anxious for what was about to happen. He had already been administered food and water, in which a drug had been placed to dull his magic and his senses, and the guards were just the start.

The door latched closed, and Eragon could feel his heartbeat in several places along his body. Each of his arms was twitching slightly, and his head was throbbing like a metal drum, along with light breathing, for each breath upset his broken ribs.

Spitting out a coppery fluid, which the elf knew to be his own blood, as well as a few teeth, Eragon made to sit and assess his surroundings.

The cell all in all was very small. Only a twin-sized bed and a bucket to piss in was in the cell, and the door was wood with a metal outline and a small window that allowed people outside to look in. The window in the cell itself, however, sat above the bed near the roof of the room and was barred heavily, only allowing the tiniest of lights into the cell. The chains that held his hands were connected to opposite walls in the room, each one pulling his arms in opposite directions, and he could already feel the weariness set in them.

And with a heavy breath that got caught in his throat due to the throbbing in his abdomen, Eragon closed his eye.

*time skip*

The door opened again, and this time Eragon knew that no soldiers had entered the room. Shifting so he would be able to see, Eragon was able to make out a pair of beady maroon eyes that watched him with lazy interest.

The shade entered the tiny cell and motioned his hand, a cart filled with torture devices and weapons rolling into the room, being brought in by a soldier. The soldier, who looked young all things considered, quickly left the room, and the shade let out a deep chuckle that resounded in the room. He also had another pair of chains as well as a small, wooden stool. Setting down the stool, the shade motioned his hand again, and a pair of soldiers entered and immediately began to unhook Eragon and began setting up the new hooks, that would hold him up in that air, suspended and hanging in the tiny, dimly lightroom.

Eragon, too weak to do anything other than breathe, watched with barely opened eyes as the soldiers lifted him and chained his hands to the top of the cell, his hand limply hanging him on them, with his legs dangling from his torso, in a heap on the ground, with his head level with the shade sitting on the bench sitting in front of him.

The elf winced as the shade roughly grabbed his hair and jerked his head up, looking directly into his crimson eyes that slit like a snake's.

The Shade ran a singular finger down Eragon's battered face, said elf flinching as Durza ran the digit down a particularly nasty bruise and the elf quickly fastened his face into an emotionless mask that left no emotions for Durza to see. Apparently discouraged by said action, Durza stood up and turned around, walking around the stool and to the cart, and ran his hands over the dozen or so weapons that laid on the cart, waiting to be used.

A whip covered in what seemed to be thorns what apparently his choice and the shade muttered a few words in the ancient language, the noise coming out as a blurred-out garble of words that Eragon couldn't make out, and the shade turned back to the elf limply hanging from the ceiling.

What Eragon could make out of the whip terrified him, but he kept his face emotionless, his mask keeping in his panicked state. The torture device was long and had multiple thongs on it, each one covered in a barbed metal that glittered in what light had leaked into the room. The shade cracked it a few times and then approached Eragon, walking around him menacingly while still cracking the whip, and Eragon could hardly make out a few sparks that were stroke from the metal impact on the stone floor.

But suddenly the cracks stopped, and Eragon shut his eyes, waiting for the impending blow that was sure to send cracks up his spine, but the blow never came, and Eragon slowly let his swollen eyes open up, only to hear the wish of air and the crack on the whip on his back. The metal whip had left a trio of dark red lines that adored the elf's back and a trickle of blood leaked onto the floor from his wounds.

And hours later, when his entire back was covered in maroon lines that leaked blood and an unsatisfied Shade, Eragon's body went limp with fatigue, and the shade went back to the cart and placed the drenched whip onto it and went out the door.

"Damn Elf…" Durza muttered quietly to himself as the door closed with a sounding slam.

Again, thank you all so very much for reading and if you would please read a review I will try to answer any questions and if you have any questions you can post one as a review or you can pm me on . I don't have any social media, but I might start maybe an Instagram for questions and such because I know mobile users have a hard time sending and receiving PMs on

-xkid11

ps. if you really want me to make an Instagram for PMs, it would most likely be under xkid11 and I would need a good chunk of people asking for it either due to difficulty PMing or if they wanted to send in cover art of something.