Surprise, surprise, I'm still alive. Seems like what our dear old Prince had to say held some truth in it.

I'll kill that bastard.

As for my current situation, not much is known. I'm not sure how long I was unconscious, nor do I have any idea where I am. I can tell I'm moving. I assume I'm in some form of wagon judging by the occasional bumps and jolts. I can't see, hear, or smell, but I still have some feeling of touch. I would explore my new environment, feel my way around, find the walls, etc. However, as if crushed by their own weight, my limbs won't move no matter how hard I try. My guess is that the very nerves that control my body themselves are dead.

Thankfully, I can breathe again—the few hours of drowning in my own blood were more than enough. I'm not sure why I can't die. The Prince could have been telling the truth. Saying I was abandoned by the gods or God when I came to this world. That or maybe I really did die back in my room, and this is a sort of personal Hell.

My one mercy is that my body is completely numb. Just as the nerves needed to move my body have gone missing, so too has my sense of pain. I can still feel the force of the occasional beatings, and the effects the suffocation had on my mind are nothing to scoff at. But I assume that I should be in immense pain considering my body's state, just one more thing to think about.

If what that bastard Prince Lato said about eternal suffering is true, then this lack of pain may be my only way to remain sane.

This should be the part where some beautiful female rogue and her band of rebels come and save me. I should be whisked away as the chosen one, and together we will take on the world. After many trials and tribulations, the female rogue will reveal she was actually the princess directly in line for the throne. With the princess now revealed, this world will be plunged into a chaotic storm that only I will be able to stop. Once we defeat the armies of injustice and rip Lato off the throne, the princess and I can live happily ever after. Yep, that's how this will end.

Stop. That very thinking is what got you into this mess.

I push the somber thought aside. This wasn't my fault. I've done messed up things in my life. I was never a paragon of virtue or whatever, but I don't deserve this. Don't deserve to have my humanity ripped from me to be killed over and over again. No one deserves something like this.

Frustration begins to eat at my stomach like a rabid dog. That's right, none of this is my fault. It's all because of Lato, all because of this world and its gods. It was just like this in my old world too. It's not my fault I turned out this way. It's Dad's fault for being a stubborn fool, Julia's because she never forgives, Tom's because he set me up, and Mom's responsibility because she let it all happen.

Anger dominated my mind. I began to dream of killing my family. Of ripping apart everyone, I knew and hated. All the people who should have treated me better. The people who betrayed me. I am interrupted from my daydreams of ripping the shitty prince limb from limb when after a final bump, the wagon suddenly came to a stop.

What happened? Did we finally reach our destination? Did someone come to save me?

A cold metal hand grabs my chest, each finger punching a hole into my skin. Using my collarbone as a handle, I am torn from the back of the wagon. The skin of my back peeling away as I was forced up. The owner of the metal hand paused for but a moment before throwing me to the wet ground.

With my head to the ground, I can feel the vibrations of the wagon leaving with my captors. Was this it? Was I actually going to be saved? My imagination ran wild. I once again dreamed of what my new life would be like. How my story would unfold. The Knights, disillusioned with the bastard prince, decide to leave the chosen Hero at a drop point for the rebel army. Here he is found by a legendary magus who will teach him how to overcome all obstacles through the epic power that is magic. He will free this world from the shitty Prince and get laid while doing it.

You still prefer to escape to fantasy instead of facing reality. Even after dying twice, you haven't changed at all.

The thought swiftly puts an end to my dreaming—a feeling of equal part shame and frustration wash over me. Before I can spiral back into a frenzy of denial, another wave of vibrations tickles my ear. From their rhythm, it seems like they are footsteps. Although they are relatively frequent for a human's footsteps. Maybe a group of people?

Before I can come to a proper consensus, I am hoisted off the ground by a meaty hand grasping my entire head in its palm. I am dragged by my head for what felt like days before being slammed up against a wall. The force kills whatever nerves I had regenerated, and my senses once again dull. A cold metal chain crushes my body as I am tied to the wall.

I try to stay conscious. To focus on my senses. To stay alive. It works for a few minutes, and I can keep conscious by focusing on the cold of the chain. But soon, I lose the sensation of temperature, and my consciousness fades out.

"Wake him up. It's time for the Corpseling to meet the pit." The thunderous voice tore me from my slumber.

In an instant, all of my senses exploded back to life. I can feel skin peel as the chains around me are being undone. With great effort, I open my eyes. Although initially blurry, my surroundings soon come into view.

I am chained to a wooden post in the middle of a dark forest. Bonfires light the area, the ground a disgusting red-brown mixture of mud, blood, and guts. A circle of flaming pikes surrounds what I assume to be the "pit." Most surprising of all is my captors. The two tall knights have been replaced by thin, malnourished centaurs. Each wielded a bow with no arrows. Only one centaur was given armor and a Gjallarhorn. Probably the leader.

I try to speak, to reason with my captors. Only a pathetic gurgle comes out.

I look down onto my naked self. I am still nothing more than a dirty scab-ridden skeleton of what a man should be. Hell, the only thing that separated me from a skeleton are my small shriveled-up organs that seemed to have melted into the chains.

Sadly, those organs didn't stay in place for long. As I am freed from the chains, so was the pig's scrap that made up my organs. When the final chain was pulled, I lifelessly fell face-first into the ground. I couldn't rest for long as I was flipped onto my back, and a centaur forced his arm up into my ribcage. With his hand firmly placed around my heart, he lifted me up and walked me to the pit. I couldn't help but cough and choke as we moved. What feeble strength I had left wholly used up attempting to claw his arm from my chest.

After having enough of my resistance, the centaur released his hand from my heart in favor of holding me by my neck. The centaur effortlessly lifted me over the pikes and dangled me over the pit. Giving me just enough time to look down.

It was at that moment that everything finally clicked. I was going to suffer for all eternity, never given the respite of death. It didn't matter whether or not this was another world or Hell itself. At this point, they might as well be the same.

I looked down on thousands of corpselings piled upon one another. Always biting, clawing, and tearing at each other. None kept their limbs for long. Before I could fully take in the nearly indescribable horror before me, I fell and was met by the thousands of others keen at tearing apart new flesh.

Every part of my body was grabbed as I was torn apart. Bits and pieces of me were forced deeper and deeper into the pile. I tried everything I could, but I still couldn't move. My eyes were gouged out by the fingers of a hundred red leathery hands. Teeth were lodged and forgotten in my limbs and chest as I was bitten. The weight of hundreds of bodies slowly crushing me as I was brought deeper and deeper. Worst of all was the pain.

Oh, so much pain.

Unadulterated.

Unbridled.

PAIN. It wasn't supposed to be like this.

I was supposed to be a hero. That's how it was in all the books and games. I would be given some stupidly broken power and effortlessly save the world. I was supposed to have a harem of beautiful women, princesses, childhood friends, hell, maybe even the Big Bad's daughter. I was supposed to prove my worth to everyone immediately; they were supposed to love me and care for me. I should have friends, comrade-in-arms, a new family.

But none of that happened.

There were no cool powers, no great welcome, not even a GOD DAMN demon king for me to fight. No "Welcome Hero!" no loving women or friends, nothing!

It wasn't supposed to be this way.

All I got was pain. Unending, eternal suffering.

Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain.

Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain.

Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain.

Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain.

Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain.

PAIN

PAIN!

…..I was supposed to be a god damned Hero.