There was darkness all around me, and I felt so alone. I thought I knew this place well, and for some reason, I was scared of it. I moved, feeling twinges of pain go through me. That's right. There seemed to always be pain.

I reached my aching arms out and felt walls right next to me, icy stone. I smiled a little, feeling my lips crack and begin to bleed. I took in a breath, the hot sensation of agony spreading through my chest, and then I remember that the scientists had tested the affects of acids on human skin on me.

I looked up as I heard a lard door slam open, footsteps, and moments later my eyes were met by harsh light that came from a small slit in my cell's door that had opened. I saw the filthy fingers of the man who came for me each day the scientists wished to practice their methods on me. He smiled at me, and I saw his large, white teeth.

"Hello, pretty." He said, and I could see a flicker of his soul with my (e/c) meister eyes; red. A Keshin egg.

If I had had any desire to talk with the thing in front of me, I would've tried to form words. But I had no yearning to greet him, and would never have any reason to.

The metal door of my small cell opened and he reached in one of his large hands, grabbing me roughly and hoisted me to my trembling feet. "I see they did a number on you yesterday." He said as he began to drag me to the entrance of the basement where my cell was, along with the area where my food, if you could call it that, was kept, and the small bathroom they would let me use daily.

I hit the doorway of the basement area and flinched, feeling the bruise already begin to form on my hip and shoulder. The man just chuckled and continued pulling me. My tattered body was covered only in a hospital gown, which was more of a faded blue sheet.

We finally reached the room where all of the experiments took place, and I took in a ragged breath, not sure if I was ready for another day of torture so soon after yesterday's horrors. The scientists usually waited at least a day before they tired another experimental "surgery" on me, or tried another one of their chemicals on me.

The man set me down on the table, tying my hands with the familiar leather bonds that were connected to the table. I began to feel the familiar anxiety that followed the leather straps being tightened, and I closed my eyes, knowing that more pain would be coming soon.

The scientists came in, talking quietly, and setting up their tools. They were all keshins themselves, seeming to take great enjoyment in the consumption of human souls. One of their faces appeared over me, a bright light flashing on behind her head and a mask already over her mouth. "What a lovely experiment we have for today." She said. "How much pain can the mind take before one, the subject falls unconscious, or," she said, one of the others coming forward with a scalpel. "Until the subject's mind snaps." She said.

I could feel tears forming in my eyes. For the years that I had been in this wretched place, this had been the worst of all of the experiments; seeing how much pain I could take.

The woman took the scalpel in one hand and lifted a pair of plier-type things. "Why don't we try snapping your ribs with these?"

This wasn't science, I thought as tears began to flow down my cheeks.

This was torture.

It's funny, knowing the sound of your own ribs snapping. It's one of the worst pains in the world, and, as a child, I had seen many people experience this and had wished never to endure it. It's seems that all wishes don't come true.

By this time, more than five of my ribs had been snapped, countless cuts had been made all over my body, and I had been sliced open and sewn back up a few times. I was starring at the sealing, my mind to far gone to even care that I could taste my own blood in my mouth, and could feel my shattered ribs digging into my lungs.

I tried to breathe in, and felt a numb agony spread through me. The scientists had left, and I knew that after something like this, they would just leave me on the table to "heal" a little. But I knew there would be no recovering from this.

I smiled, my dry lips hurting, and I tried to breathe once again, having trouble and started chocking on the crimson blood in my mouth. Maybe this time I would die, finally, and then I wouldn't have to live this nightmare anymore. I closed my eyes, trying to will myself to die. It would be a pretty awful way to go, dying like this. But it would be better than living like this.

I heard something, a commotion, and I felt the presence of new souls in my meister awareness. Half of me wanted to scream for someone to help me, whoever it was in the building now, and the other half cried for death's cold embrace.

I heard the door to laboratory open, and many people run in. "It's her!" a voice said, and stared up at the sealing, tears still streaming down from my face, felling like a stream of memories fading.

"Her soul is so faint." A boy's voice said.

"Is she hurt badly? Check her." A man's voice said this time, and I felt hands move over me. I gasped in pain as one of the several people touched my shattered ribs, now hidden by the hospital gown, and I wheezed, trying to get air.

"Don't touch her." The older sounding man said, and I felt the two sets of hands leave my body. A face appeared over me, and I looked up into the grey eyes of a middle-aged man. "(y/n), right?" he said.

I nodded slowly, not taking the second to wonder how he knew my name. What if he was just another scientist come to take me and use me as a test subject? He looked like a test subject, a giant screw protruding from the side of his head, a pair of round glasses shimmering in the faint light.

I tried to take in another breath, and a surge of agony flamed through me. My back lifted off the table as I writher for a moment, my lips parting in pain. I fell back on the table a second later, tears streaming down my face once again. Why couldn't I just die?

I felt something cold in my arm, and I looked over to see the man, slipping a syringe into a pocket on his white lab coat. He placed a hand on my forehead, and I shivered at the warm touch of his fingers.

He cursed under his breath, muttering something about a fever. "(Y/n). We're taking you back to somewhere safe, okay? All the keshins here are gone." He said, and I saw the room beginning to blur. "Just go to sleep, and when you wake up you'll be safe." He said.

I looked up at him, the edges of my vision beginning to grow dark. Would I really be safe? Were they lying? I didn't have time to think about it any longer, because I was drawn into the darkness of unconsciousness.