They came like shadows in the night. I awoke to the creak of a floorboard. For a brief moment, I looked upon my sleeping bride, her face stuck in a bright grin even as she slept. How I wished we could stay in that moment forever.

The door burst open, and my hopes were dashed as four men rushed in. The first of them held up a scroll and proceeded to shout at Frida and I, naked as the day we were born.

"Phinneas Autumnsong II, you have been found guilty of murdering the Duke Ringo Jewelshine! In light of your noble lineage, you will be sentenced instead to a life sentence in the Cube of Despair, where you will atone for your crimes. May the gods have mercy on your soul." He rolled up the scroll, and I barely had time to register the sentence before they ganged up on me. Frida reached for her weapon, but I shouted for her to stay her hand.

"It's just me they want! It's alright, love!" Not that I believed it was at all alright. I didn't know what was going on, but I couldn't let Frida become involved in it. They dragged me outside, my wife right behind them, beautiful and terrible to behold in her glorious body decorated with the natural markings typical of her people. I hit my head when they threw me into the back of the paddy wagon, but that didn't stop me from moving to the door after they locked it. I reached my hand out, and Frida took it, holding my fingers to her chiseled cheeks. How I longed to tell her to break me out. But I could not risk her being taken as well, or worse.

"It's going to be alright. I need you to promise me you'll take care of yourself." I leaned against the bars and pressed my lips to her fingers.

She squeezed my hands tightly, her eyes burning with barbaric fury. "And I need you to swear to the gods that you'll find a way home. Don't you dare let this be the last time I see you, Finn Autumnsong."

"I swear to the gods I'll find my way home, Frida Summerwind. Even if it takes me years, I'll come back. I'll find you, I swear it!" I didn't shed a tear in that moment. I knew she'd be alright.

That was the last time I saw her. They took me and a few others convicted in actual trials of similar crimes to the port of Kaina, where we were shipped off to the Cube of Despair.

The Cube is an island off the coast, a flat piece of land surrounded by jagged rocks and vicious underwater monsters, ensuring nobody leaves alive by swimming. They dropped us close to shore, where boats ferried us through carefully routed channels, landing on the island safe and sound. Each prisoner was read some shlock about our crimes getting us sent to this hellhole and how we were going to spend the rest of our lives here to atone, blah blah blah. It didn't matter what they told us once they opened the door in the ground.

Inside was a hole, and in that hole could be heard...nothing. Dead silence. We weren't sure what to make of it. Then they started shoving us in. The first man screamed, then went quiet. Same with the next guy, and the guy after him and so on. When it came to my turn, I didn't scream. I knew I'd be alright.

I jumped into the hole before they could push me. Down, down, down I fell, before passing through the darkness and coming to land on my feet. I must have fallen quite a few hundred feet, but the landing was gentle. Some spell, I think, for cushioning a fall. There wasn't much light, and what little I did have didn't give me much to go on.

The Cube of Despair is called that for a reason. The hole drops you into a massive six-sided cavern, at least a hundred yards or more on each side carved in such a way as to leave no potential for leaving. Only the most horrible crimes get you sent there; grand larceny, treason, and of course murder of a nobleman, if someone decides to take leniency on you. My own status kept me from just being gutted in my bed, I suspect. Light doesn't enter, but you can start it from within using rudimentary torches. There's hardly any food to go around, and what little you do get is dropped off once every two weeks, lowered down on a platform hanging from a long rope through the hole and dumped for all to fight over. Some prisoners even end up becoming cannibals, if they weren't already. For drink, your only source is the single line of water that runs the length of the center. But the heat of that many bodies keeps it so unbearably hot, you wind up fighting for drinks. And of course, when sharing your house with maniacs and murderers, you'd best keep your back to a wall when you sleep. No guards to speak of, as what's the point in guarding those who will never see the light of day again?

Here I stood in that hole in the ground. I didn't think of how I'd survive first. That was easy, I just needed to be careful not to do anything stupid. No, my first immediate thought was of how to escape. That was going to be the hard part.

It would take me ten years to do it.