Xander began to regain consciousness. After his ordeal, the torturer had shackled him to two metal posts. They said something about burning him, that was all him picked up before passing out from the pain of getting his eye gouged out. He was near his breaking point and sure that the others were there, as well. Although, he couldn’t see them, he knew they were all still alive. Every so often he would hear a blood curdling scream from either Calypso or Slenria. Danis would occasionally howl out in pain.

Xander could feel heat to his right side, his gut started sinking. He glanced over to see his torturer standing over an oven of sorts. They pulled out a rather large, glowing, brand and pushed a button, making a small garage door open. There sat Calypso, tied to a chair, surrounded by her own blood. Xander’s heart dropped when she looked up at him. Her eyes were dim. It wasn’t like this was the first time he had seen her. Just a few hours prior, the torturer had opened the same door when they had stabbed his eye out. Seeing his friend look as broken as she did made the young elf shudder. She was usually bright and happy.

The torturer gazed at the brand a moment longer before placing it back in the furnace and pulled out a smaller brand. The person turned around slowly and cracked a wicked grin. They stared down at Xander with the look of insanity that an animal would have after finally capturing their prey after not eating for weeks. Xander tried moving away from the white hot metal. He would be lying if he said he wasn’t scared, or down right terrified. The moment the brand touched the skin of his arm, Xander hollered out in pain, causing Calypso to flinch and look at him. The pure fear and helplessness that shone her eyes haunted Xander. He wanted to break free and save the woman he came to love but he had no means of breaking the chains.

He grit his teeth as the torturer pulled back the brand, pulling bits of skin from Xander’s arm. The person pulled out the bigger brand and turned toward Xander with it. It looked like a sun. The middle circle was surrounded by crescent moon shapes. There were spikes pointing out of each of the crescent moon shapes. The brand was glowing white. Xander could feel the heat radiating off of the brand. The person moved to be behind Xander and brought the brand up to Xander’s back. They slowly pressed the brand into the elves back, causing him to shriek in pain. The cell slowly filled with the smell of roasting flesh. Xander’s world started fading in and out of darkness. The last thing his saw before succumbing to the blackness was Calypso’s terror stricken face.