When you live in constant darkness, time is imperceptible. I cannot tell you if I was in that cell for hours, days, or months. Most of the time, the slow, distant dripping of water and chattering of rats were my only indications that there was still a world outside my cell.

Now and then, I would lift my arms, feeling the chains attached at my wrists as the manacles dug into my flesh, wearing it raw. Nearby, something would move, its little paws scurrying on the stone floor. Another cell would slide open in the distance, then slam closed again with a cry like a wailing widow.

The air was full of dust and mildew. An old taste in my mouth or smell in my nostrils. Not the stench of rotting flesh, but of bones long since cleaned white. My nose could detect the ghosts in this place, souls who died in despair. Some intentionally abandoned to rot, others forgotten and left to starve.

A terrible, high-pitched screech. Louder than any noise I'd heard in a lifetime. Far away, light poured in. Blinding. Two dark shadows of men entered the prison, one carrying a piercing yellow lantern in his hands. Rats and mice scurried by, terrified of the evil that had intruded into their world.

Though I was already certain of my impending fate, I prayed to God that it would not be so. Maybe He would hear even this sinner's prayers.

As the lantern drew nearer and nearer, assaulting my eyes with its burning light, I realized that God had long since passed the point where he would forgive the sins of a man so wicked as I was. If there was to be any escape, it would have to be on my own strength, of which starvation had robbed me.

The two black silhouettes of men stood before my cell. One raised his lantern higher to shine the flickering light upon me. "Here he is. The Crow we captured. What did you want with him?"

"Dr. Yves has a special fate in mind for this blackheart."

"Crow!" the one with the lantern bellowed at me. "We're going to open your cell. If you try to escape, we'll make you suffer so terribly the denizens of Hell will pity you."

The threat was unnecessary by then. Hunger and despair had robbed me of the ability to fight anyone or make any attempt to escape.

The cell door screamed as the lantern man slid it open. Rough hands seized me by the arms and forced me to my feet. The chains pulled on my wrists, and I felt warm blood ooze from those wounds, turning cold the instant it hit the air. The lantern rested on the ground, and a black silhouette bent down to unlock my chains.

Once I was loosed from the cell floor, the taller silhouette dragged me along, twisting my arms behind my back to ensure that what little strength I had left would be no threat to him.

I suppose I must have walked, but I do not recall doing so. I remember it more as being carried just above the ground by some invisible force, my feet never touching the stone floor. From behind me, the lantern cast strange shadows on the walls. Two of the men who'd come for me, and one with wild, gnarled hair. Me? I couldn't be sure, but it made the most logical sense. The shadows of the bricks in the walls resembled twisted, smiling faces, mocking me for the terror which awaited me.

Then came the staircase. I ascended toward a doorway with blinding light on the other side, but I knew this was not Heaven, because I was headed toward it.

My head throbbed as the light overwhelmed my senses.

Then the cold air of night hit me. The full moon above may as well have been the sun for how bright it was.

"Murderer!" a young woman cried.

"Bastard!" shouted an old man.

Splat!

Something first hard, then soft, then moist struck the side of my face. A rotted vegetable of some sort? Yes, the smell suggested it was a cabbage gone bad. Despite the stench, my stomach grumbled with hunger, and I wondered if any parts of the food that had struck my face was still edible.

"Monster!" screamed a young man, followed by another moist vegetable, this one square in my chest.

Dogs barked nearby, snarling and growling at me. I could feel the heat of their breath, and vaguely make out their dark shapes around me.

More and more voices rose up in outrage.

"Kill him!"

"Hang him!"

"Burn him!"

And a multitude of other phrases lost to the chaos of their jeers.

"Dr. Yves has something special in mind for this one!" shouted the man who dragged me along. "Stay back!"

The cries and jeers and hate continued, spit covering my weakened body as my captors dragged me along.

Darkness ahead of me.

A door closed behind me, and the violent shouts of the crowd faded. Muffled behind as I entered through the doors.

"Thank you for bringing him," came Dr. Yves' voice. "Throw him in that room there."

"Yes, doctor."

I still couldn't see as they pushed me through a doorway and slammed the door shut behind me.

My eyes adjusted to the candlelight in the room, and for the first time in a long while I got a good look at my surroundings. Six candles rested upon the floor, each equidistant from each other. Their light reflected off mirrors on every wall.

I got a good look at my own face. Gaunt. Disheveled. Covered in hair, and paler than bone. And because the walls were covered in mirrors, I saw myself reflected a thousand times over. No. Infinitely.

The door to this new room was made of iron, and there was no handle on my side. The flap on the bottom of the door lifted, and through the gap slipped a plate with bread and bits of meat. The smell was the most beautiful thing I'd experienced in longer than I could remember, and my stomach begged and pleaded with me to partake of the food.

I knew it was a trap of some sort. Poison. Drugs. Something of the like that the mad alchemist had prepared for me. But I no longer cared. I fell upon the plate, picked up the bread and meat and shoved it into my mouth, greedily devouring the morsels offered to me. Once they were gone, I licked the plate, catching a glimpse of my own reflection in the mirrors. Savage. Beastly. I had lost all the dignity of a man.

Once I'd finished off the plate, I slid it under the door, hoping that they might give me more. I knew not what meat they were offering me. It could have been lamb, rat, or even human for all I knew. But I wanted more.

And they gave more. Another plate slid under the door with more meat and bread. I ate again, ravenously shoving everything into my mouth. Barely chewing as I tried to get it into my stomach as quickly as it could reach.

And after the fifth plate, a pain overtook my gut, then spread out through the rest of my body. My head throbbed, and I heard a high-pitched ringing sound in my ears. I raised my hands to the sides of my head, only to discover that my fingernails had become claws.

Some invisible force pulled upon the area around my nose and jaw. It pulled forward, and agony shot through me as my bones started to elongate.

I cried out, and all my teeth started falling out, one after another. I spat teeth and blood from my mouth.

Before my eyes, in the mirrors, I saw fangs grow where my teeth used to be, the longest of them in the middle and on top. Hair sprouted from my flesh all over, until my body was almost completely covered in thick, brown fur.

My back arched forward, forcing me to hunch over. There was no part of me left that did not tremble, for every nerve was ablaze with agony.

All the while, I watched as my once human form changed into something grotesque. Monstrous. I clawed at the mirror. "Make it stop!" I screamed, but even my voice did not sound like my own anymore. "Please, God, make it stop!"

I beat the nearest mirror with my fist, sending cracks through the glass. Shards broke off, cutting my hands. My blood spilled upon the ground below me, putting out one of the candles.

"No! Oh, God, please! No!" I bashed my head against the mirror, shattering it further.

But when I turned, the other three mirrors revealed to me the beast I'd become.

Vermin.