“Why...? Why don't we take it with her? It is the only cell with only one person.”

“Don’t! I don't want a dirty rat touching her! Imagine if the smell hits me when it's my turn? No, I want her clean... or at least not so dirty.” By now the discussion between the guards seems to heat up.

“Think about it, the boy didn't even grow the balls. What can he do to her? Also, if he dies in a couple of hours, it will be as if never existed.”

“Mmm… Okay. Overall, I was starting to get tired of her.”

Ezer slowly begins to lose consciousness, the last thing he remembers being the cold, hard floor on his back as he is thrown into the cell. Although also hears a few last words before giving up completely.

"If you survive the night... you will be reborn." Those soft words are followed by a comforting warmth that envelops part of his body allowing his aching and feverish body to relax.

Prison

It was a strange sensation not feel your own body, but to perceive a certain warmth. It reminded Ezer of the times in his childhood when his mother used to tell him bedtime stories, those days when he was so young that didn't notice the coldness of the people who lived in his own home.

"...Awa..ke?"

Was it a memory or a dream? Where was he now? Whose voice was hearing? Slowly, Ezer's mind clears enough that and tries to open his eyes.

At first he does not understand what sees, although after a few seconds he understands that a person was in front of him. He looks up from the bare breasts that allow him to immediately recognize that it was a woman, to the face covered with locks of strong black. Not having the strength to discern the person's expressions let alone care about the fact that a naked woman was hugging him, Ezer just closed his eyes again enjoying the warmth and soft throbbing coming from her.

This time it was a nightmare and not a pleasant memory that hits Ezer. Dark forests surrounded him covered in black that only let through the sound of the beasts and blocked the light, although from one moment to another, a white spot breaks through the darkness and pounces on him.

It was because of this that his eyes opened again, this time abruptly, immediately noticing that the woman was still hugging him. The darkness was such that he could not distinguish anything and could only feel the soft breathing of the woman while he slept, he also managed to discern a strong aroma of feces and the characteristic acid smell of urine that permeated the place.

His body began to respond to him and thought he could move, although when tries, the fatigue returns along with the pain and they force him to give up his attempt. Before he even notices, he falls asleep again.

“Hey! Wake up...!”

“Hey! Hey!” An annoying voice resounds in Ezer's ears who frowns begging it to stop.

“Let it be, the boy suffered a lot.” Another voice, much softer and more pleasant than the first coming from nearby, answers.

“Hahaha! Suffer!? Hahaha! Too much!? I'm sure in less than a month he'll wish to be dead.

“There are people with more will than you think.” The woman replies a bit angrily, but apparently the words were directed at herself rather than at the man who was even paying attention to her.

"Ah... the only bet I was sure to win... why did the boy have to survive? I can't believe it, with how dead he seemed...” The annoying voice finally seems to go away, although it had already woken Ezer.

He opens his eyes and this time the woman is not next to him, he had his clothes on again and, even so, felt cold. Moves his head trying to understand where he was, seeing first the bars that closed the small space.

“Are you awake?”

“Yes, I think so.” Ezer moves trying to get up, but since he can't, leans his back against the wall opposite the one where the woman was.

"It's not a dream, even if you soon wish it was one... believe me."

"Were you the one who helped me last night?"

“And the one before that. You were between dreams and awakenings for two days, with so much fever I thought you wouldn't last a single one. Yet here you are, alive and breathing.”

Ezer watches the woman carefully now that he is feeling better and his mind is responding well despite being a little dizzy. She was wearing worn clothes, too worn, so much that there were even some parts that... were uncomfortable to see. Her face was beautiful and well-proportioned, or at least it would be if it weren't for the obvious malnutrition, plus the dirt that hid the finer features and smeared her hair. But looking at where they were and in what conditions, the appearance of the young and beautiful woman struck by precariousness was not unusual.

“What? Do you miss seeing me naked?” She asks noticing Ezer's gaze.

“I don’t! I...uhh...wasn't-”

“Pfff... Calm down, calm down, I'm just teasing you a little. My name is Nataña, by the way.” She contains her laughter when she sees Ezer's incredulous expression, it was refreshing to see someone so pure after so much time.

“Armond. Thank you so much for help me.” Ezer tells him the false name that he had prepared long ago.

“You do not have to. If you want to see me again, I'm afraid that…” Nataña hints again, amused by Ezer's instant blush.

“I will not do it!” He instantly averts his gaze. He sighs and understands that his cellmate was just using him for fun, but that didn't bother him so much, at least it served to momentarily forget about his worries.

“Hehehe... The days are going to be interesting, a change after so much monotony.” Nataña's initial joy fades a bit, leaving a bitter smile on her face.

“Where we are? I can tell it's some kind of prison, but...”

“It is, albeit a rather strange one. Prisoners come and go, some stay for years while others are taken away and never come back... and if they come back, they do it worse than they came.”

"It's strange... Why have prisoners when they can be sold as slaves? In fact, before I came, I was on a ship of that class and... for some reason I ended up in this place.”

“The people here made the mistake of offending someone important, and if you believe the wildest rumours, they experiment on us.” It is not Nataña who answers Ezer, but a man who was in a different cell.

This man surprises Ezer since his skin had a dark hue that he had never seen before, although he knew that they existed in countries far to the south. He was leaning against the bars in an effort to have line of sight with the cell Nataña and Ezer were in due to the uneven design of the dungeon that left both diagonally.

"Those are rumors that were made up to pass the time. Experiment what? If something is possible, it is that someone with money and a pervert mind takes one.” Nataña responds in a mocking and somewhat serious way, knowing what people are capable of when they have time and resources to waste.