Bear Scene Original Artwork by Lewis Ingram

Screaming was all that could be heard through the bone-chilling halls of the dungeon. This was what the supposedly great nation of Hace really was. The ugly abominations lay underneath the stunning Admor Keep, and Caelin made the long journey, his head being banged off from stone rocks thrown by the public. He felt pathetic, being bound in iron shackles, bruised and bloody and the Admor guard loved every last wound they inflicted; they had waited a long time for this.

Caelin knew from the moment the arrow struck his calf that it was over; the Hacian guard had finally completed the hunt, they had their man, a wanted serial killer, guilty of multiple murders of innocent people. Caelin disagreed. Political figures are anything but innocent.

Stripped of his various killing tools and placed in these pathetic pieces of cotton clothes mandatory to the Admor prisons, he walked through the icy corridors, past each dungeon cell where hands reached out in a feeble attempt to grab the infamous killer. He felt like a fat pig being paraded in front of the homeless. As he and his two captors continued to make their way through the dungeon, turning into the next corridor on the right, he felt a hand grip one of his shackled and bloodied arms. Too groggy to react, Caelin was pulled toward a black cell, with a dirty, long-haired man behind the bars, who now had an arm around his neck. “Ohh they’re going to love having you,” he whispered faintly into Caelin’s ear, as the guards ran to the cell and freed the killer from the prisoner’s grasp. “You won’t lay a hand on him again you fucking dog” the taller guard screamed at the prisoner. As he opened the cell door, the prisoner expressed a shocked look on his bruised face. Backing into the corner like a pathetic frightened animal, the guard grabbed the prisoner’s neck, before plunging his blade through it. The man’s corpse slumped to the floor,a distant expression taking grip of his face as blood spat from his open neck like a volcano. The guard stood over the corpse, staring into the lifeless eyes of the prisoner, before exiting the cell to join the other guard and their prized murderer. Caelin did not even shudder nor blink as he watched this slaughter. Death was a sight that would never cease to please him.

“One more fucking hand is laid on this creature here, and I’ll have you ripped limb from limb” shouted the taller guard, as he faced back down the hall they had walked. The arms disappeared from through the bars, and the prisoners returned back into the dark corners of their cells. “Until we’re done with him,” the guard said, a sinister smile formed on his face. He was like a hound hungry for the kill. “Yeah, then you lot can do what you want with him.”

Caelin’s heart sank deeper than all the oceans combined. He prepared death for everyone but himself and suddenly he felt a sense of fear he has not felt in a long time. It made him feel human for the first time since before the beginning. It brought him back down to the world. And now, there was no escape from it.