Pain. His universe consisted of one sensation, of one fundamental truth of existence. Pain. Every fiber of his being, every cell of his body, all that he knew, rang with pain. He couldn't even scream. Who he was no longer existed. All that he had known before ceased. All that there was now was pain.
The human mind is a wondrous and unknown entity. It's self-preservation instincts beyond anything we can believe. To block memories that would harm the person. To deal with issues subconsciously for the benefit of the waking mind. So many wondrous things. All to survive. To survive the pain, Xander's brain did what it needed to survive.
Memories cannot be truly erased, merely blocked. And inside Xander's mind lived all the memories of a soldier who was trained to ignore pain. The mind ravaged the memories it held of the soldier, taking parts of it and immediately enacting the ability to push aside the pain that was lessening its grip on sanity. Once the sensation of pain was diminished, even only as slight as was possible, the mind awakened.
Xander's eye opened to the vision of a cave-like ceiling. Trying to sit up he found his arms and legs were immobilized. Raising his head at least, he could see his arms and legs encased in clear, vaguely crystalline blobs for lack of a better term. Around his arms were coiled what looked like snakes.
His eye picked up that his right knee was properly set and long slits were made in the skin there, opening it up. He could see something moving in the opening and was glad he couldn't feel it, it might not hurt but he doubted the sensation of something moving inside of him would be pleasant. Then on to his chest, where he had basically been gutted, he saw small creatures, looking like demented crosses between leeches, maggots and spiders going over the previously opened wound. They seemed to be eating the blood, fresh and dried, and, with a twist to his stomach Xander noted, excreting a substance over the wound.
He then felt a skittering on his head and did his best to look at his forehead. He was rewarded for this by seeing another of the creatures on his forehead. This definitely wasn't what Xander wanted to find when he first woke up. His body was becoming acclimated to the pain, but still letting him have some tactile sensation. It was then he felt a squirming movement in his left eye socket, not the movement of the other creatures. This one seemed to be rolling around, as best as Xander could feel.
Squashing the competing urges to scream and throw up, Xander lay on his back and was still. Whatever had him was apparently trying to heal him. That was good, unless they wanted a healthy sacrifice, he thought to himself. He knew he'd stopped the demons and he'd already said his goodbyes and made his peace, whatever happened now he'd deal with it as it came.
At this thought he heard a rustle of movement coming from his feet and raised his head to look. Another of the creatures he saw before passing out was there, though this one's head reminded him of Medusa as it seemed to writhe slowly, and the creature, Xander noticed what looked like breasts so he dubbed it a she, she had a right hand with snake-like fingers too. With a broad, ill sitting smile the woman walked up to where his head was raised, trailing the fingers of her left hand on his body and tracing a few of the numerous scars on his chest. He barely saw the movement as one of the fingers on her right hand shot out at him, hitting his neck. He then fell unconscious once more.
The one who had originally found Xander entered the room where the female was checking the creatures moving along Xander's prone body. Motioning toward Xander's scarred chest he asked the woman something in their own language. With a nod of her writhing head she ran her vaguely serpentine fingers over his scars and spoke back. The man again spoke, and the woman moved to Xander's head, peeled back his left eyelid and pulled out a small red caterpillar type creature and bade the man to come look at the socket which was now exposed, and raw. With a nod, the man moved back as the woman now dropped five small white pupae in the socket and smeared a clear gel over the eyelid, which immediately hardened, sealing it.
The two beings continued to talk over the unconscious body, the woman often pointing out parts of Xander's body and explaining something to the man. After minutes of this discussion, something the woman said had the man reaching for his ear, only to stop at the woman's shaking head. Another discussion, somewhat heated then with gestures from the man. The woman said something with finality to it, and the man left the room. The woman tilted Xander's head back then and dropped a handful of small black creatures in his mouth, then held it shut until he involuntarily swallowed.