Uggh....my head. What the hell happened?

Garren slowly opens his eyes, but there wasn't much to see. The room was dim, and the only light coming into the room was from a small candle. The light didn't go far, and many spots in the room were still darkened to a great extent. It looked like a medieval dungeon. He tries to move, only to realize his wrists and ankles are chained to the wall.

"What's going on?" Garren demands, speaking to no one in particular. Has he failed a test, and is now dying for it? He's about to repeat himself, when he sees something lying on the ground not too far from him that makes his coração nearly stop.

Kayleen.

Kayleen slowly comes to, and very slowly, gets up into a kneeling postion. She's blindfolded.

"What are you doing here?" Garren asks, repressing the uneasiness in his voice.

"Garren?" Kayleen asks, her voice full of surprise. "What's going on?"

"I'd like to know myself. How'd you get-" Garren's words are interrupted as something flys out from the dark and impales itself deep in Garren's stomach.

Taken por surprise por the knife, Garren yells out in pain, causing Kayleen to panic.

"Garren?! What's wrong?!" She asks frantically.

Before he can answer though, two figures step out from the shadows. Two men, por the looks of it, wearing long robes, covering their faces with hoods. Kayleen continues to talk.

"Hush, child," hoodie #1 commands. He turns to hoodie #2. "Restrain and gag her."

At once, hoodie #2 grabs her violently por the arm, and cuffs her to a nearby pipe. Then, he grabs a cloth from his sleeve pockets and shoves it in her mouth, silencing her.

Garren, in response to Kayleen's treatment, gives hoodie #2 his I'm-gonna-beat-you-so-hard-your-great-grandchildren-feel-it look, which caused him to quickly back up. Hoodie #1, however, gave a different response. He grabs a large wooden plank lying against the wall, and swings at Garren's face. The plank makes contact, and Garren's face is covered with cuts from the wood.

Just then, the voice speaks. "This is a test of endurance. Stay conscious for one hora as you are mercilessly beat during that time. Failure to do so will provoke the torturers to turn to your friend. Good luck."

And with that, hoodie #1 and 2 begin their hour-long, painful torture.

-----------------------------

It was, well, torture.

One after another, without even pausing, they dealt any type of damage they could to Garren. They kicked, punched, stabbed, and beaned anything in their reach, which was, needless to say, everything.

Several times, Garren came close to blacking out, but always managed to keep awake. To keep himself from focusing on the pain, he decided to count how many times they did something. So far:

14 stabs
5 hits with the plank
56 punches
41 kicks

Garren was bleeding from everywhere. There wasn't a place on his body that wasn't covered por blood or cut. Kayleen had managed to pull off the blindfold, and was sickened por what she saw. How he was still alive was anyone's guess. She nearly threw up everything inside of her.

But she kept track of the time. She had heard the Sentinels, the fonte of the voices, speak, and knew Garren had to only live through 30 mais seconds.

Again, the torturers kicked him, a sickening crunch coming from the blow. Still, Garren remained conscious. He wasn't going to let them hurt Kayleen.

10 seconds.

With all of his might, torturer #1 swung the faca across his chest, cutting the skin once more. Garren coughed up blood, the sticky liquid splattering on the walls. He was at his limit.

5 seconds.

Torturer #2 backed up a little, got a running start, and aimed a kick towards Garren's head.

3.......2........1!

The torturers froze, #2's kick only a millimeter from contact. With a horrifying yell, they burst into flames, and disintegrated. Garren, too tired to even blink, finally passed out, but not before hearing the Sentinels again.

"Pass. There is one final test you must pass. Not a single person out of the 10 anterior has passed this. Will you choose correctly?"