Drip…Drip...Drip...Drip...Drip

The constant drip of water had long since become merely background noise to Tae-Won. For the first month that he’d been captive, it had been maddening. The promise of water to his parched throat that was just out of reach. He’d fought and struggled against the chains that held him against the wall until he’d had no energy left. His captors had left him starving and dehydrated. His energy hadn’t come back.

Now, after his left eye had been gouged out of the socket, and his entire left hand severed at the wrist, the constant drip against the stone floor allowed him to focus on something in the dimly lit

Drip…Drip...Drip...Drip...Drip

Tae-Won took deep breaths as he tried to ignore the pain in the infected stump of his left hand resting the cool stone floor beside him. The cold helped the burning of the infection. When he’d been a Fighter, that would have been the first steps in activating an ability to help get over his pain and allow him to be healed easier.

But with no ability to activate, he was just unsuccessfully trying to hypnotize himself.

His stump itched and throbbed constantly. Caleb, Paul’s lackey, had severed it days or weeks ago, he had lost track of time since his imprisonment. He couldn’t remember the last time Leah had messaged him. She had been telling him every day that she loved him and to stay strong, but he was not sure when the last time that purple text had shown up in the much smaller field of vision his only remaining eye allowed him. His other hand was still braced against a board with metal brackets, preventing him from accessing any game functions or messaging.

The cold stone walls of his cell helped with the constant pain of broken ribs and bruises as he wheezed. It seemed to him that it had been longer than usual since someone from the Blood Dragon guild had come in to abuse him, but that just made him more scared of the next beating.

The only person who he had seen that had not tried to hurt him in the months or years that he had been in the cell was that blonde Rogue, Alera. She had come twice, the first time he worried that she was a spy for Paul, a trick to make him give something up or torture him more with a glimmer of hope. She had told him that Leah had sent her to find him, that she was part of his guild. He had been so scared of Paul’s wrath that he had not told her anything.

But Paul never mentioned her at all.

When she came the second time, he tried to ask her if she was going to get him out, but his parched throat only managed to whisper “free me?”

“Leah loves you, stay strong,” with an attempt at a comforting smile was all she said before vanishing.

That was the last time he had heard from anyone.

CREEEAAAK! The metal hinges of the heavy door, rusted and corroded by salty ocean air, shrieked as it swung open. Tae-Won couldn’t immediately make out who was coming into his cell, but the choices were fairly limited on who it could be.

Through the shadows, Tae-Won saw the very familiar form of Paul enter his cell. His heart rate quickened as he waited for Erin, his sadistic sister, to follow him. They always came in together.

But the seawater corroded hinges creaked in protest as he closed the door behind himself.

Tae-Won blinked his remaining eye, still unsure of what his tormentor was doing in his cell.

As if he was the only person in the cell, Paul sat down and leaned against the wall directly across from him. If Tae-Won was not so used to being tortured by this man, he would have thought that Paul was just looking for a quiet place to be alone with his thoughts.

What is he doing? He watched in fear as Paul twisted and fidgeted with a gaudy ring on his right hand, a slight grimace on his face. Here it comes, he’s going to turn the ring so it hurts more.

Between his exhaustion, dehydration, and the numerous beatings they’d administered when he’d first been taken for “talking back”, Tae-Won was in no hurry to speak first.

“How, um, how’re your debuffs? Do I need to get a healer in here? I think I might have a healing potion in my inventory if you’re too close.”

The only thing that Paul could have said that would have shocked Tae-Won more was “hey, I’m about to let you out.”

Is this a trick? Tae-Won shook his head nervously. He only had 6 hit points at the moment, his in-game UI was always clear, no matter how impared his vision was. Even dangerously low though, he would not dare accept a potion from Paul.

“What about some water? Can I get you something to drink?” For the first time ever, Paul sounded genuinely concerned as he rose, summoning a leather water skin and a crystal vial of crimson liquid from his inventory.

The cool water felt heavenly in his parched mouth. He slurped greedily at the first non-stagnant liquid that passed down his throat since he had been abducted. It was not enough that Dehydrated debuff fell off, but he immediately felt better.

“Here,” he heard Paul stand up and the uncorking of a bottle. A gentle hand tilted his head up and he felt the glass bottle pressed to his lips. “I’m going to pour slowly, don’t want the shock to hit you too hard. I know you’re weak.”

The water had been a blessing, but the peppery sting of the healing potion that came next, however, was another level entirely. Tae-Won tried to force himself to not swallow the potion, he had no reason to trust that Paul was actually feeding him a potion. His body, however, reacted on instinct from his long suffering, and he found himself greedily swallowing the healing potion.

To his surprise, the burning in his arm instantly stopped. The debuffs related to exhaustion, dehydration and infection all ended and his health skyrocketed up to fifty percent. He tried to stretch his legs and was shocked at the ease of the movement. His vision cleared slightly, and he felt better than he had in months.

“Better?”

Tae-Won nodded, waiting for the other shoe to drop and the expected torture to start.

“Sorry I don’t have any food with me,” said as he walked back to the wall opposite of Tae-Won. “Next time.” He stared up at the ceiling, gently tapping his head against the rough, stone wall, his arms on his knees.

They sat in silence for several minutes, Paul not taking his gaze off the ceiling.

Finally, when Paul had made no movement, nor any other member of his guild burst through the door, Tae-Won tried to speak.

“Why,” Tae-Won cleared his throat, not used to being able to speak. “Why did you do that?” Even his voice sounded stronger and more full.

“I’m sorry?” Paul dropped his line of sight down to Tae-Won

He cleared his throat and spoke again, “W-hy did you do that?”

“The potion?” Paul cocked his head and blinked. “I was worried you were getting too close to death.” He shrugged.

“Usually just… low level heal.”

“I can’t heal,” Paul frowned and shrugged again. “Potion is the best I can do.”

“Oh,” even with the effect of the healing potion, he could not get his voice above a whisper.

They sat in near silence, only the ever present drip of water echoed in the tiny cell. Tae-Won felt a heavy weight pressing against his chest as he waited for the beating he knew would be coming. This is a trick. He is trying to play nice so I will reveal something. He did not know what Paul could expect of him though. In the long months that he had been imprisoned, the torture had been unending, but he had never been questioned.

“I’m sorry about all this,” Paul’s whisper was only slightly louder than the dripping, but it was unmistakable. Tae-Won’s heart beat harder, but he said nothing.

“I didn’t want to keep you this long, but things kind of got out of hand,” Paul looked at Tae-Won and chewed on his lip.

Emboldened by his health being higher than it had in months, Tae-Won pushed his luck.

“You could let me go,” he did not have a hard time keeping his voice calm as he asked, even with the burst of health, he was still so fatigued that he could not manage much more than a whisper.

“No, I can’t,” Paul broke eye contact with him and stared at a spot on the floor as he shook his head. “Not yet at least.”

He had expected to be declined, but being told “not yet” left him stunned. Is he going to some time in the future? Is that why he came down here, gave me the potion, to tell me he was going to release me at some point?

“Look, I acted rashly when I kidnapped you,” Paul lifted himself off the damp stone floor and approached, causing Tae-Won to push himself against the wall in fear. “I wanted to make Ethan pay for getting us kicked out of the raid clan, I wanted to hurt him for embarrassing us like that.” For a brief second, a malicious sneer split his face that carried into his eyes and Tae-Won searched for anything to protect himself. Here it comes, his much clearer head recognized the incoming danger.

But Paul’s expression quickly changed, and he took a step back from Tae-Won.

“I’m sorry. This has gotten out of hand,” he sighed and ran his hands through his hair. “We’re hiding out in the middle of nowhere, unsure if the raid clan or the PvP guild is coming for us. Hell,” he threw his hands up in the air, “I don’t even know where Ethan is anymore. He dropped off the face of the earth weeks ago.”

Tae-Won tried to calm himself as he absorbed everything that Paul had just said.

“When we all,” Paul paused and bit his lip in frustration as he paced, “got trapped here, I just wanted to be one of the people who helped get everyone home. I wanted to get out of here and people look at me and go ‘Hey, Paul Denti saved our asses.’ See, because I knew I could. All I needed was that chance, but Ethan got it taken away from us. So then I went a little crazy, and I abducted you. I shouldn’t have done that, I became the bad guy he made me out to be.” Paul stopped and looked at Tae-Won with a pleading look.

“But that’s not me,” he placed his hands on his chest. “I’m the good guy, you’re going to see. Everyone is going to see.” He sighed again and turned to leave the cell. “I’m going to send you some food in a little while, get your strength back up.”

Tae-Won sat in silence and confusion after the door closed behind Paul, unsure of what exactly had just happened.