Before you read on, let me say that this chapter is meant to be brutal and awful. This antagonist needs a ghastly beginning, so please, please do not write a review saying this chapter was gross and unnecessary.

Also, please do not let young children read this, it is too much for even young adults, even after I toned it down a lot.

Switch gears. We are now on planet Exp-24, which is the abbreviation for Experimental Planet 24. This was a mystery planet, far beyond the reaches of any galaxy. Only a few such planets still existed, since their purpose was too extreme for any life form. The only buildings there were Hyron Asylums. These notorious asylums were around since the beginning of time, started by the earliest and the vilest Sith Lords.

The asylums were the definition of torture and agony. Terrible experiments were conducted there that were so unspeakably heinous that I am not legally allowed to describe them. The main purpose of these "tests" was to create a monster to destroy the very fabric of the universe. Many suffered their entire lives under endless torture by Elenn beings that eternally inhabited the torture camps.

A young boy of seven was being mercilessly dragged across the floor, his face mutilated and his shackled limbs drenched in blood of many colors – from many beings. He didn't know or care where he was, what they wanted with him, or if this was his last moments alive.

His story would start here. His family had been murdered and he had been brought here, since his kidnappers had heard the rumors that he was… special. Today, his life would change.

His face was missing both ears and the nose. The lips had been sliced and diced so many times that they were indistinguishable from the rest of his lacerated face. A white, faceless creature hauled him past the ghastly screams and horrid rooms. One room contained a living, screaming head. Another, a terrible creature burnt all over.

I need not mention what, or who, lay, in the blood-soaked corners of the demon-place. They are, or what were left of, ones who dwelled in the torture rooms. Some were dead, others were dying.

A feeling of sickness swept over the child as he was dragged past more awful torture chambers. He did not yet understand that they hoped to break the mind of one of the people to create the perfect being. But instead of being slammed into one of those chambers, the boy was thrown into a room and locked there. The room was dark as midnight and covered in sound-absorbing panels.

He just lived against the wall for a terrible long time. Hours or weeks, he did not know, as time was impossible to discern from this pitch black room. This place was the equivalent of a living Hell, or a land of zombies, and the boy knew it.

A tear squeezed out of his eye. Why was he crying, he asked himself. Was it the mental breakdown of what he had witnessed? Was it because he watched his entire family die? Was it the pain or the darkness? Maybe it was all of them. But for his stay in that room, the boy wept.

It was longer than eternity before the door opened and terrible forms entered. A dim light was turned on as one creature picked up the boy and tossed him on a table. They made ghoul-like rasping noises, supposedly as a means of communication.

They gasped at each other as, one by one, strange contraptions were brought into the room. Each machine was placed around the table as the boy was strapped to it. A foul-smelling rag was placed over his mouth, and his eyes rolled back as if he was dying.

His nightmares were awful, depicting terrible scenes of what had been his life. They showed the past, present, and future. His future was not so different from the present, save that he would be bringing such torture to others.

In time, the visions of shadows evaporated, and he felt a… life in him again. A hate and rage filled him as he regained semi-consciousness. His eyes shot open and his hand laid hold of a being, snapping him like a twig. He jumped up, enraged at the existence of his tormentors and captors. Enraged at the raiders. Enraged at life itself.

Many of the faceless creatures fell trying to halt his fury. He did not stop until a hooded Wraith-like figure entered. The moment he stepped through the doorway, the living experiment stopped and froze like a pole.

"I am the Void, Keeper of this Asylum." He stated simply.

The Void motioned to the experiment's arms. For the first time, he realized his enhanced physical form. His strength and size was that of a man, and his mind full of horrible thoughts. But… his mind had something more… something… elusive… and more powerful than muscle alone.

"Do you feel it?" The Void breathed.

"Yes." Came the reply.

"You are the one Bender in the universe. You can manipulate thoughts, impulses, personalities, motives, and, ultimately, reality itself."

"What am I?" The experiment growled.

"You are… the Hellbender."

There was silence as something about the name sent shivers down his spine.

"Whom do you serve?" The Void hissed.

"None."

"What must you do?"

"Destroy."

The Void, if his form had not been a shadow, would have smiled. "There is one more thing I require of you."

More creatures grabbed him and forced him onto the table.

"Your memories."

Don't worry, the next chapter will be happier.