Chapter One, Memento Mori

"You have power over your mind-Not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength"

Cold... pain... His body convulsed to life gasping for air. The pain of tens of thousands of needles ripped through every nerve, every muscle. He could feel his voice in his dry throat and chest as he choked down air, gagging and coughing along the way. His hearing failed him. His vision was slowly being liberated from the darkness, but blindingly so.

His hands bound in steel shackles attempted to push himself up away from the panic but failed. Through the needles his skin felt numb, the pressure of his body against the floor; it felt like loose meat between bone and plate. At every pressure point, his skin made contact with, the needles intensified. His mind was an array of panicked and scrambled thoughts of hell and torment. Every sense had betrayed him, screaming in chaos. His ears now added to the cacophony of his torment as it rang violently loud and cut out only to hear the muffled internal sounds of his own distressed heart pumping frantically. All he could do was wait until he perished.

The needles retreated only reappearing when moving, and the deafening pumping of his heart turned into voices, A language he couldn't recognize from a deep demon-like voice. Shattered thoughts began swimming in his mind, now that the pain began to become tolerable. His vision began to return ever so slightly, he could feel the cold air wash over him, with almost careless relief he had thought death had taken him.

Martin looked up from his position on the concrete floor shivering from the cold. A... man?

His sight must still be lost to him as this man had four eyes and sharp teeth, Death, "I'm dead." He thought.

He looked away from the creature as the blurred sight of it made his heart race. He could hear more talking, this time something that sounded like orders were being given. One of the figures stepped over him and grabbed him by his damp shirt with both hands and pulled him to his feet. He quickly grabbed its forearms in a lazy refusal, another assisted the first and placed him against the wall of the room, his legs barely able to stand. The two demons left him there on display to the rest of the room. The blur from his eyes finally cleared away after wiping his eyes, he saw these four-eyed freaks standing in front of him. One, who seemed to be a leader dressed in a black uniform or suit with brown highlights approached him. He pressed himself against the wall away from the thing approaching him.

The demon stopped just inches from his face. The smell of it caught his nose and made Martin wince. The demon examined him. Moving his face from side to side as if he was examining a cut of meat. His fear of seeing this repulsive creature soon turned to anger. His only thought that remained was that these things must have caused his pain, and hell wasn't too far now.

The demon stepped away as he issued an order to the other two and they aggressively grabbed Martin and pulled him away from the wall. One of them nudged him forward, then hit him with his rifle after Martin didn't move on the nudge.

"Kaf, Birajuu!" The one commanded.

Martin decided to play along for now as he was still recovering from whatever condition led him to this point. As he began to walk towards the doorway he was finally able to peek around the room, there was some kind of pod near where he was laying on the ground just a few moments earlier. Some computer-like devices looked to have been plugged into the pod and a pool of what appeared to be water.

He exited the room with the two demons in tow behind him. He was forced to use his chained hands to hold up his pants which were still heavy with water. His bare feet started to hurt from the coldness of the floor. His joints ached as if he hadn't moved for months. The walls of the hallway he entered weren't much better looking than the room he was in. They too were made of concrete but seemingly in disrepair. A few pipes ran down the length of the wall and numerous cables were hung overhead.

As he led through the hallway towards a closed door, one of the demons cut past him and began to walk ahead. It placed its hand on the illuminated hologram being projected into the door. Martin wanted to look around to see how this was possible but his mind was still reeling from the pain.

The door split open and a surge of bright white light and cold air smacked into him, the coldness of the air took his breath away. He tucked his head in and looked away trying to shield himself. If he wasn't cold before, he certainly would be very soon. Martin was nudged again to keep walking. He was forced to squint to see what was going on around him as he ventured out; Unable to hold his wet pants up and shield his eyes at the same time. He could feel his feet sink into about 4 inches of snow and he walked forward his toes now starting to go numb.

The wetness of his clothes and the freezing wind began to make him shiver. The air felt as if it was cutting his skin through his clothes. He struggled to breathe in only half breaths. From behind him, the Demon would nudge him to attempt to lead its blinded prisoner through the snow. After a little while of nudging the demon grabbed the back of Martin's shirt and forcefully guided him to the destination. As they kept walking he began hearing the sounds of people talking... people, people. He also heard coughing and crying from what sounded like children. As he grew closer he heard the sounds of jet engines, though somewhat quieter than expected. The chatter in the background grew louder, more demons yelling and others crying for help.

Although he couldn't see due to the blinding white light, by the sounds there had to have been hundreds of people there. Martin came to a stop in front of what he could only suggest was a cargo container of some kind but different. It was only six feet tall and maybe 10 feet wide. He was walked into the Pod and forced down into the back bench. They then locked his shackles to the bench. For what seemed like an eternity Martin sat shivering in the container as people and other creatures were placed around him. He closed his eyes and focused on staying warm and possibly alive. He tried to lock away his fear and doubt, tired to push off the pain and his body going numb from the cold.

As he sat there wishing for either heat or death, Then he heard the metallic doors shut. The wind had stopped, and he heard whimpering and the sounds of chains clanging about. He opened his eyes only to see complete darkness. After a few moments, he heard the sounds of a fan and what appeared to be warmth although still a little warmer than the cold air, still was cold. Something next to him calmly grabbed his arm. He couldn't see whose hand it was but it wasn't human. He only felt three digits but he was in no condition to argue, the hand was warm and comforting, the first near human comfort he has had yet today. Whatever it was leaned towards him and spoke in almost a dual tone. It reverberated in his ear, it sounded pleasantly female, comforting... although he couldn't understand it.

Martin felt the container move, everything inside was shoveled around. He bounced between the wall the whoever or whatever was next to him. He tried to brace himself against the corner of the container to not bump into his neighbor but the more the container shook the more it pressed against him, also trying not to be thrown around. The voice spoke again to him or so he thought. The voice this time was also being drowned out by the sound of the craft's engines and the cries of the others in the container. "I can't understand you!" Martin yelled over the noise. The voice didn't speak again for the rest of the trip.

Eventually, the container stopped shaking he could hear a low hum verberating in the walls. Sitting in complete darkness Martin still feeling unwell from his awakening found it best to sleep in his corner. There was nothing else he could do besides sleep and prayer. The... person next to him still had a hold of his upper arm. He had figured that they were scared or maybe disoriented from the darkness, but eventually, it appeared that the person had the same idea and fell asleep.

Martin awoke to loud banging and a horrible stench which he could only imagine coming from one of the others. The doors were opening and with it, a bright light flooded the entire unit. He looked away as it hurt his eyes. He heard the demons speaking back and forth to each other. Eventually, his eyes adjusted to see two of the four-eyed things walking down the container. He also got a glance at the individual sitting next to him. Its face was a grayish hue and looked like a mask of some sort, and stranger yet had flanges that hung off its jaw. It turned to look at him and he caught a glimpse of its green eyes with cat-like iris'. He paused, the look on her face didn't frighten him like the faces that walked towards him, however still very strange to him.

The two demons came and unchained him from his seat and escorted him out of the container. He looked around and appeared to be in some sort of warehouse or hangar. He saw dozens of containers stacked on top of one another. He noticed the walls weren't concrete but flat and appeared to be made of smooth metal.

He was forced to follow the lead demon to a doorway that led down the hallway. After making a few turns they arrived at a room. When he entered the doorway there was what appeared to be an operating table that was in an upright position. There were a few countertops, cabinets, and what looked somewhat like a computer in the corner. One of the demons walked in front of him and unlocked his shackles from his hands. He quickly gripped his wrists in relief. Then the two demons approached from either side and grabbed both of his arms and aggressively shoved him into the table. Martin began resisting gritting his teeth and swinging his arms around as the two tried to wrestle with him. He attempted to push off the table with his ass for leverage. Two more demons came to assist from the outside. After a short struggle, they managed to subdue and strap him into the device. The four left the room as a new demon walked into the room, this one wasn't wearing a jumpsuit like the others. This one wore plain clothes. This one acted like he did not notice him at first.

The plain-clothed demon began talking, Martin wasn't sure if he was talking to him or out loud. Until he turned around and spoke while looking him in the eye.

Martin remained quiet. The demon turned around and grabbed something resembling a tablet and began reading from it. It raised its head again and began speaking to Martin.

"I can't understand you."

It raised its voice repeating its question.

"I can't understand you," Martin replied.

It began yelling at him "I can't fucking understand you!" The Demon backhanded him across the face.

"Kawuk'sa!"

The Demon stopped for a moment as if he realized something and began to laugh. A machine on his right emitted a bright orange light that passed over Martin's body. He laughed again as he turned around and opened the gray cabinet door. The demon pulled out a box and grabbed a very large syringe with a wide needle, unpackaged it, and walked toward Martin. His heart began to race as he started to panic. Anything could be in that needle. After a few moments, the demon speaking began to change languages.

"Can you understand me now, human?" The demon's words became understandable.

"Fuck you, what did you do to me?" His chest was still feeling the effects of the fear.

"I gave you a subdermal implant, you never had your translator installed..." The demon paused. "Strange, you'd think by now you humans would have universally adopted these."

Martin's anger began to intensify with every waking moment.

"Now I will ask you again, where do you come from, what Planet was you born on?"

"Fuck you"

The demon quickly punched Martin in the gut, taking the wind out of him. "Again, what planet do you come from?"

"Go fuck yourself"

The demon repeated his response with another punch. "Again!"

"You're..." Martin gasped for air "a Dumb fuck four eyes."

The Demon Repeated. "I can keep at this all day human, but soon you'll run out of stamina and insults."

Martin attempted to catch his breath. "Unlikely, you'll get tired before I run out of..."

The Demon Punched again.

"Cocksucker!"

The Demon did not seem to be amused by his attempts to avoid answering him. The demon backed away from him seemingly frustrated. "Some of you humans seem to be resilient, let's see if we can change that." The Demon turned to the cabinet behind him and pulled out a silver pipe. He gripped it hard and it quickly extended out, at the end of the device was forked, and began making crackling sounds. The Demon jabbed him, the stinging pain ripped through Martin's body forcing him to recoil. "Yes, things are different now, aren't they, human." He began zapping him, every non-answer was responded to by another, and another, until the zapping lasted nearly fifteen seconds per strike. Martin's mind was focused, he let his body recoil as was necessary. He hid his mind away, a tactic he learned through years of injury and past tortures. He pulled his hand down in the metal brace that held his hands onto the table, the metal restraint pinched a nerve in his hand, he would focus on this pain instead; purposefully causing this pain.

The demon worked on him for hours. Punching, beating, electrocuting, using freezing water, blinding him with bright lights, and even burning him. Martin kept quiet, though exhausted. This demon seemed to enjoy his work but was frustrated at the lack of results. Soon the demon stopped. The four others came into the room and unstrapped him. "Take him to detention, he will need some work." He was dragged into a cell deeper into the complex.