Ameni opened his eyes in a daze, he was seated on a cold, hard surface, with his back forced straight by what seemed to be a stone wall behind him, his body was in a sort of dull, throbbing pain, the kind that got your attention, but was not enough to make you really notice. He began slowly taking in his surroundings, he was in some kind of dungeon, with solid stone walls that sported exposed bricks and concrete surrounding him in a tight, neat cube, that was just barely wide enough for Ameni to raise both arms to either side, and was just barely long enough for him to be able to comfortably take two medium-sized steps, in other words, claustrophobically small, the air in the dungeon was musty and still, as if no-one had disturbed it for years

Ameni coughed a little from the dusty embrace of the air, then rubbed his head, attempting to

comprehend where he was, and why he had been brought there, playing back everything that happened that day

He put his head onto his hands, and started to quietly sob, he did not understand what was going on, where he was, why he, someone how, through bloodline alone, should be guaranteed a deal a good companion, was instead sent to some horror realm, what the entity he met meant about wanting his body and about what it did when it forced itself down his throat

Due to his crying, Ameni did not notice the sounds of slowly advancing footsteps that echoed down the hall, nor did he notice the newly appeared shadow of a figure that darted right onto him

“Boy”, a familiar voice rang out

Ameni opened his teary eyes and slowly looked up at his father, he took on an imposing figure standing against the light, with his grim face. Ameni bolted up and ran to the bars of his dungeon, a relieved expression covering his face

“Dad!”, he exclaimed, holding the bars that separated them, ”I am so glad you're here, I thought I had been kidnapped in broad daylight or something, let me out!”

“Shut up”, the man grimly said, “Boy, I want you to answer truthfully for once in your life, What. Did. You. Do ”

Ameni tilted his head in confusion, his relief gone, slightly perturbed by the odd look of his father’s eyes, they were cold and calculating, the same look the boy had often seen his father employ with particularly scummy customers in their family business, yet also a angry, with what seemed to be a deep feeling of betrayal

“What in the world is he talking about”, he thought out loud, “What did I do? What does that mean? I don't remember having done anything particularly bad, anyway why have the discussion here, I’m in some sort of dungeon for god's sake”

“Don’t even try endearing yourself to me”, his father suddenly screamed, “What did do you”

Ameni, aghast, and, surprised at his fathers tone, slowly paced backwards, as if he was dealing with some kind of wild animal, and placed his back against the wall, cowering.

“What do you mean”, he said in a weak voice, all the relief and reassurance he felt in his father’s presence evaporating, getting instead filled with yet more confusion and fear

“A companion”,his father barked,”Why were you not accepted by a companion”

“What godforsaken crime did you commit to not be accepted by a companion”, he continued, his voice getting louder and more aggressive the longer he spoke, till it reached a point where it physically hurt Ameni, “You have two generations worth of family devotion behind you, your place under our lord's grace was guaranteed, but then you come back from the Test of God with NOTHING! NOTHING!”

“Dad”, he slowly said, his voice breaking in fear and sadness, deep confusion evident in his speech, “I did not do anything”

“You mons-”,his dad screamed, reaching between the bars and grading ameni by the throat, and beginning to strangle hi-

“Rysserd stop…”, a determined and cold female voice called out

Ameni looked with hope at the direction of the voice of his mother, “She’ll understand, she’ll knock some sense into dad, right? Right?”

“There's no point filthying your hands by touching it”, his mother barked

Ameni blinked, processing what she just said, his hope for his mother dissipating as fast as it appeared, his eyes widening into what almost looked like perfect circles.

“Listen here, I don’t know what you did, but it was definitely something inhuman, so I don’t care”, his mother continued, coldly looking at Ameni, ‘twas a look full of hate and aberration, one without a trace of sympathy or empathy, “I don’t want you to talk to me, your father, or your sister ever again, in fact, don’t even consider yourself part of our family”

Ameni felt the pit in his stomach grow as he heard those words, part of him refused to believe that these were his parents, they couldn't abandon him so quickly, without anything other than circumstantial evidence however part of him knew that this was happening, and , worst of all, that this was genuinely true

“Bu-”, Ameni attempted to protest, however his mother interjected, “No nothing, if you truly loved your family, you would know that associating yourself with us would harm us in the long term”

Ameni grimaced for he knew this to be true, the society he was born in was one where reputation and purity were king, if he continued associating with them as someone who has at the very least been suspected of horrid crimes, their family business would get boycotted or even lynched, he then put his head in his hands again and wept

“But-t I-I a-am i-inno-cent”, he sputtered out

His parents stared at his pathetic display, the traces of a smile appearing on their faces, “Sure ye’ are”, his father bellowed, his jovial tone contrasting heavily with the image of his former-son crying his eyes out inside a dungeon, and, trying to stifle a laugh, motioning to his wife for them to leave

“By the way, the guards told me to inform you of the fact that your court trial is in a week, also since you are no longer a part of our family, we will not be providing you with a lawyer”, his mother said in a matter of fact tone

“Actually why don’t we deny the public defender too, I don't think you’ll particularly need it, since your an open and shut case”, she added, smiling sadistically to the look of disbelief her former son gave her, then turning and leaving with her husband

Ameni started on at the retreating shadows with tears dripping down his eyes, a his mind a maelstrom of doubts, implications, disbelief, confusion, and grief, he thought about how his father yelled at him, how he tried to hurt him, the cold looks he got from his parents, the way his mother called him an it, the implications of him being booted from his beloved family, how they planned to deprive him of a public defender, a horrid pit of anxiety growing in his stomach as he asked himself those questions, constantly beating himself up for letting this happen, for embarrassing his family, for letting them down, for being such a failure, for getting in their way, and in the dark frame of mind he was in, he fell asleep

Ameni spent the next week in a daze, unable to eat or even move, simply sitting down on the hard bed provided inside the dungeon, and staring at the roughly cut stone wall behind the bars of his prison, falling asleep only when exhaustion made it impossible for him to stay up any longer. He felt a deep pit in his stomach as he thought about how his life no longer had any purpose, how he no longer had any prospects, how he had no future beyond execution, or, if he got particularly lucky, life in imprisonment. Part of him wanted to fight his fate, prove himself innocent, and win back his freedom, however this fire was drowned out by the torrent of self-pity and lament that was his soul, after having been betrayed by the family he had devoted his entire life to, Ameni knew he could not go back to his old way of life, and so, he wanted nothing more than to crawl into a little hole and perish, dying a meaningless and insignificant, but, at the very least quiet, death.

“Goldmell”, a gruff voice rang out.

Ameni lazily moved his head up slightly to follow the direction of the voice, ‘twas one of the guards.

”Oh ya, guards”, he thought, “Of course there would be guards for someone who society perceives as a monster, such as myself”, he had not even noticed the guards before, having focussed too much on his internal battles.

“I can’t go by that name any longer, Mister”, Ameni meekly said, remembering his horrid encounter with his parents, “I can only go by Ameni now”.

The guard raised an eyebrow, “Oh, you can talk”, he said, ”And here I was thinking that you had gone brain-dead”.

“I might as well be,” Ameni bitterly mused, the company of another person raising his spirits somewhat.

“Here’s your food”, the guard said, guffawing at the child’s remark,” By the way t’days your court date”.

Ameni gave him a surprised look for a second before turning his gaze to the ground, “Not that it would matter anyway, he would never be able to prove his innocence and even if he could, he’d never be able to go back to his old life now, so this was a show trial if anything. Ameni then wondered if he could get a faster execution if he begged for it, or if he tried running away, maybe he’d get beheaded by the guard and end his torturous and insignifacant existence then and there.

“Hey Mister”, Ameni said, as he looked up to stare the officer dead in the eyes,”Could you do me a favour?”

“Maybe, if it isn’t against any rules”, the guard bellowed, with a deep laugh

“Could you please use your magic to quickly kill me”, Ameni asked with a sombre voice

The guard looked at Ameni with a face that strongly resembled that of a fish

“Pfft”, he sputtered,”What!”

“Please, sir”, Ameni pleaded, “You can pretend it was in self defence”

“What's wrong with you kid”, the guard asked, with deep amazement and horror in his voice,”Why are you so suicidal, also arn’t deaths by magic particularly painful?”

Ameni let out a sigh,“I am too tired to live on, sir” he said, burying his head into his hands,” I just want it all to end”

The guard’s eyes widened even further,”I don’t know what happened for you to be like this”, he said, with a soft, warm tone that contrasted heavily with his extremely rough and gruff voice, “but remember kid, you have 80-ish odd years of life in front of you, don’t try tossing it all away just because you got caught doing something bad once”

Though Ameni was reassured by the man's tone, he couldn't shake off the feeling that he would change his tone the moment the man learned what happened to him, for the child was unable to reconcile how people had treated him before The Test of God, with how he was treated after, going from reverence, pride and envy, to hatred, detestation, and abhorrence

The worst part about how he was treated was how logical it was. The companions judged people on their ‘purity’, which meant, due to the fact that he had not been chosen by any of them, something which was quite the feat considering that there were companions that restricted themselves to only dealing with murderers and rapists, he had committed something truly obscene and truly vile to have done so.