Don woke in darkness but that wasn't the first thing he noticed. He ached. Every part of his body throbbed with a dull pain, unlike anything he had ever experienced. It was worst beneath him. He was lying on something hard, bumpy, cold, and wet. Don didn't necessarily love his recliner but he would never say it had any of these qualities.

He rolled in an attempt to find a softer surface, or he tried to. It felt like he was drugged and he only managed to rock a little but It was enough to dig the cold, knobbly floor into his ribs which flared with sudden pain. He hissed in pain but stopped moving.

Don strained his ears into the ensuing silence and his eyes into the pitch darkness around him. He willed his eyes to see something, and then he wished he hadn't.

A flare of light erupted into existence only feet away from Don's face. He was blind, hurt and now embarrassed by an unmanly yelp of surprise. Then he nearly soiled himself when a terrifying howl threatened to deafen him. Don desperately tried to blink away the purple and blue spots swimming in his vision and take advantage of the sudden illumination. Before he could, he was rudely interrupted.

"Shhh"

"Who-" Don began to ask but was interrupted again by a horrible guttural growl and wisely shut his mouth. He clenched his eyes shut too for good measure.

"I'm here to pull your bacon out of the fire! Now shush!" someone exclaimed.

Bacon? Don thought. He had no idea what that might be but he did know how serious fire was. He also knew how to take orders. He recited a quick prayer of thanks that somebody was in charge before cracking his left eyelid open. He squinted at the room for a couple of seconds before his eyelids snapped open and he bolted upright from surprise, unsuccessfully.

He lurched forward, bashing an elbow and both of his knees against the cobbled stone floor in the process. This time he couldn't help but curse at the throbbing in his joints.

"Rusting Void!"

This time, his outburst produced a furious roar from the monster. Don finally managed to look around but there was nothing in the cramped stone chamber beside himself, the floating light source and a handful of stone boxes fitted into nooks in the walls. Just then, a harsh grinding, scraping emanated from the far end of the room and its walls fell away.

Wildly dancing, wavering light bathed the inside of the chamber, making the floating ball seem dim by comparison. A pair of silhouettes stepped into the entrance.

"Now don't do anything stupid," Said the disembodied voice

Don wanted to follow the instruction but he needed more clarification. 'Nothing stupid' was a pretty broad field after all. Maybe he could get these people to help him sit up at least.

"Please clarify" At the same time he spoke, a spitting growl filled the room. It sounded like the verbal equivalent of pure loathing and it made don's skin crawl. The two silhouettes at the door reacted immediately.

One of the shadows lunged forward, resolving into a dirty man wrapped in dirtier cloth, thrusting a pole towards Don's face. The other moved a moment later but didn't target Don. The spears clashed and the deadly thrust was diverted at the last second. Diverted into Don's shoulder, slicing several inches into the muscle. Don screamed in agony and the monster bellowed alongside him. As he slowly moved his left hand to cup the injury the two men argued. Don had other, more painful things to worry about so he paid them no mind and they eventually left, closing the wall behind them.

It took Don several minutes to notice that the beastly whimpering was coming in time with his own quiet sobs. Then it didn't take long to test this new hypothesis. Quietly, Don confirmed that he couldn't form words or even individual sounds properly anymore. They all came out as the most unsettling collection of growling, hissing, spitting and something that sounded horribly similar to regurgitating. After a while, Don lapsed into a meditative trance to put the pain out of his mind until more orders could come. He didn't have to wait long.

"Are you done yet?" Asked a disgusted voice "Wait! Don't answer that. You should stay quiet, we don't want to give the guards any reasons to come back."

Don smiled, such an easy request was like a balm to his bruises. Considering the change to his voice, Don decided to take Inventory. Then, totally unexpected, a blue bar appeared before him.

What the void is this? I don't need to start seeing random things right now! Don thought frantically. The bar disappeared so suddenly Don wondered if it was ever there at all.

Must have just been a leftover afterimage. Don glanced at the small lightbulb which was still just hovering in place before going back to taking... stock.

Without risking another failed attempt at movement, he just looked down at the arm reaching past his face to his injured shoulder. It was a patchwork of deep purple bruises and one large scrape crusted over with black scabs. Where there was no injury, Don's skin revealed itself to have a deep, bloody shade of red pigmentation. Don pulled his hand in front of his face, noted the black blood covering it, and the small but sharp looking claws at the end of each finger. Don couldn't help but sniff the blood, it smelled coppery. before he could help himself, a black tongue flashed out and licked the biohazard.

Don drew his bloodied hand away from his face in disgust but his tongue rolled around in his mouth savoring the metallic taste. It was at this point when the ball of light which had been bouncing more and more erratically around the small space lost all its patience and bodyslammed don right between the eyes. The impact was barely noticeable, but it drew his attention away from his personal explorations.

"Hey! Listen!"

Remaining quiet, Don stared obediently at the light.

"We need to communicate, but even if I could stand that verbal diarrhea Demons pass off as a language the guards aren't going to be pleased with it."

Don continued listening attentively and he was beginning to make out an object at the center of the light.

"I can teach you a special skill, only useful between the two of us, but it can let us communicate silently whenever we have a clear line of sight. How does that sound?"

Don remained obediently quiet and supplied the fairy with a thumbs up.