My eyes snap open, heart already pounding inside my chest. The monster screaming and thrashing, ravenous in a primal rage and delirium. A rabid wolf that hasn't been fed for days trying to launch itself at the closest animal it can eat.

Looking up, groaning as I fight it off, the monster goes absolutely berserk at the sight of the devil in my cage. It takes control and bursts to get at him, and I don't even try to fight it down.

But I'm yanked back into the wall, my wrists burning as I continue to push against them. Roaring and screeching louder and louder as I fight to get to the blasted devil, a devil that must die!

"I wouldn't bother with that." I bare my fangs at him and scream at him, his every voice making my blood seethe inside me. "Those chains are the toughest ever created by man-"

I roar, silencing his words. I thrust all my strength into destroying these chains. I've already smashed through his cages so why not this too?

Only for my wrist and entire arm to wither in agony, the limb taking a terrible blow I never even saw. I screech and holler, glaring at the devil just standing there.

"And if you had let me finish, I would've told you that they're also enchanted with Smite V. Hate to break this to you, Leader of the Order of the Stone, but you're half undead now."

I internally shiver at his words, but growl at him. That's not even possible, or at least shouldn't be possible. But the monster screeches again, before fading away slightly and focusing on my arms. The significance of that doesn't get the attention it deserves when I'm still glaring at a devil.

I snarl at the truly vile demented man, opening my mouth to shoot something back at him. Only for shrieks and moans to resonate from my lips. That's right! This foul man took away my ability to speak!  

And that bastard actually smiles! "So don't even bother, they're immune to the wither and the human part of you couldn't even make the weaker chains creak before I transformed you. Although, because I've realized I need to take extra precautions around you, the chains have also been enchanted with Unbreaking and Sharpness."

For once, the monster and me are in complete sync about wanting to rip these chains from the wall. Just hearing him brag about how awesome they are just makes me want to do it even more.

"Although I can't even be sure how intelligent you still are, so I hope I'm not just taking to an animal."

I screech, yanking against the chains despite the burns. Wishing, wishing with every bone in my body to make him shut up.

"Of course, your memories must live on somewhere inside you. Since before you reacted when your friends were threatened."

All the fight in me freezes, my blood running cold. My friends, how could I forget about my friends? I have no clue what this insane, vile, demented devil has done to them!

"If the human part of you is dominate, which I'm beginning to doubt." I growl and snarl, rage lighting me up. "I suspect you'll be able to figure it out that if you lose control again, I'll punish them. And please stop with the noises now, I'm getting tired of it."

He sighs, as if he's the one with the rights to be annoyed right now. "Anyway, as I was saying, the fate of you and your friends are completely and utterly in my grasp. I have control of everything-"

I snort at him, obviously licking my lips. I may not be able to speak, but I'm still going to piss him off as much as I can.

His face crinkles into disgust, and I now feel a slight twinge in my stomach, the guilt of a cannibal. The monster makes that go away real quick, even creating a nice warm sensation at the thought of those men's gooey delicious organs.

With a forceful sigh, he continues. "You must always follow whatever anyone besides other subjects tell you. As a subject yourself, you're on the bottom. Anytime you fail to obey a direct order, you and your friends will be punished."

I open my mouth, ready to snap something else back at him. When I bitterly close it, I haven't been thinking about my friends at all. What if they have already suffered by my actions?

"Any attempt to escape and any benefits you may have gained by following the rules are immediately stripped away. Not to mention a harsh punishment on you and a punishment to each of your friends."

My blood begins to boil again, the monster lining up with my anger and hollering behind me. For the moment, I'm still in control. But man, if I could just kill him I would have no problem letting out the monster to do that.

"Absolutely no harm inflicted onto your superiors will stand. Any attempt to sabotage any equipment will not be tolerated in the slightest. Faking test results is an extreme offense and isn't permitted. Any violation will be punished, varying on the intensity of the violation itself."

Again, this blasted devil smiles at me. "These are the rules, and I have no patience with you at all anymore if you break them. After you and your friends have both been punished, I'll be sure to let you know in full detail all the agony and harm you forced onto your friends."

With that, the devil struts out of my cage. The door slams behind him and I mutter strings of insults and curses and swears without regard to what screeches are actually coming out. I'm just so infuriated at that demented devil.

I mean, I'm not going to do anything against my friends. I never will, never. It's all him, everything has been done by him and all the future torture will be from him. I don't want anything bad to fall on my friends, none at all.

My wrists burn and my arms seethe as I pull and pull against the chains. The pain kinda good, as it's sharpening my resolve, strengthening my determination. I will break these chains and I will break whatever chains are holding down my friends. I will, I swear it.

It doesn't matter what Mr. Devil has 'transformed' them into, I will get my freedom. I mean, we will get our freedom. By the time we escape I'll have a better grip on this monster thing. Even if it's half of me, it's the weaker part of me.

The searing agony in my arms gets me to stop yanking on the chains though. With a growl of hate I plop onto the ground, leaning my head against the wall. The snarling monster goes to focus energy onto the withering limbs.

A monster which I regretfully wasn't able to feel the entire time while 'talking' to that devil. Since it was so in tune to my own emotions, reflecting the same thoughts back to me, that I didn't even feel as if there was something different inside me.

That's bad, that is oh so bad. What if I'm becoming more monster than man? What will I do? I am literally half monster, half of me wants to kill everything in sight. Half of me doesn't care about my friends. Half of me just wants to see everything burn. And from what the devil man said, it can be more dominate than the human part.

I wail, wildly shaking my head against the obsidian. I am still the dominant half, the human half of me is stronger than this monster. I'm in control most of the time, only when that devil is around do I lose myself. That's it.

So if I can just learn how to keep my cool even with him around, then the monster will never be strong enough to overthrow me, not even for a second. That's great, that's grand. I'll kill off the monster part of me, I can do that. I've killed a much tougher wither before.

My arms begin to feel weird, and I wiggle them around. The strange feeling they're emitting muddying my thoughts up. I've only been expecting them to be in pain, and I can ignore that, not this... thick sensation.

The monster lets out a grunt of victory, its smile somehow making its way onto my face. I hurriedly wipe it off, the monster doesn't get to control anything. Nothing at all. Before anything else, I have to make sure I'm in control.

Once I shove the monster down and away, my attention flutters back over to the stiff thickness coming from my arms. I try my best to bend them, anger simmering at these darn chains, and find it is slightly harder to move them. Not because my muscles are stiff though, but more like if mud is all over my skin.

My anger shimmers stronger, lashing at the devil who did this to me. For putting me here and changing me, for torturing me with no soul of his own.

I growl, trying to control the anger. The anger being fed by that stupid monster. I begin to pull at the chains, pulling harder and harder as I push and push against the rapidly boiling primal rage threatening to take over.

The chains creak a bit, my brief shock letting the rage burst up higher. Forcing me to yank against the chains harder and harder, the burning pain beginning to grow stronger in my arms. I desperately try to grab onto that pain, use it as a weapon against the monster.

It wails, not listening to me as adrenaline fights off the pain to only a faint stinging. It digs, harder and harder. I must get out, that devil is an idiot if he thinks he can keep me down. These fancy chains of his won't work, nothing will. He cannot keep me caged!

Machines and pressure fill the air with their sounds, and I silence them with a roar. Using everything I have to rip these chains off the wall, even that pesky fearful part of me beginning to help. I screech, urging that fear to help me, to break us out of this vile prison! I will get out! I will kill that man!

Just as the fear caves, bottles rain down and glass shatters all around me. There's nothing I can do to stop the liquid from splashing onto me, running all over my skin. I shriek and launch backwards, slamming into the wall, trying to get away from the vapors burning into my lungs.

The crashing bottles stop, but I'm drenched in this foul liquid seeping into me. The air thick with this poison that I'm forced to breathe, the foul gas running into my blood. Already the strengthen skin on my arms fading back into normal, too weak against the chains now.

With a final growl, I collapse against the wall. Panting, as the fight in me becomes numbed. Everything going numb. I shake my head, muttering curses at myself for letting the monster totally take control. Right after I told myself NOT to let that happen, it happens. Great....

Sighing, I wish I had one of my hands to just rub my eyes. My eyes getting so heavy and tired. My arms throw their fit, refusing to let me fall sleep quite yet. My wrists bickering at the torture I just forced them to suffer, the rest of the limb sighing in a mixture of tight exhaustion and bitter heat.

It's not as bad as the first time though. Strange, when I was pulling against them harder it hurts less than when I was pulling against them weaker. I can't completely blame the lack of pain on adrenaline or the heaviness wrapped around me. Not when full rage and adrenaline was plowing through me the first time too.

That stupid monster must have done something to my arms, something that's not human. I don't know what it is, and I don't care. It's part of the monster, I can't use it. I can't give into these things. I've been giving in way too much when I shouldn't be at all.

What if I can't control the monster around my friends? What then? What will I do then? Will they be able to keep me somewhat human? Would they at least be able to hold me down? Will I end up hurting them? I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I hurt or even killed them.

My stomach churns and flips when I think if I actually ate them. If I tried to eat Olivia's heart or gnaw on Axel's bones...

I dry heave, jerking rapidly against the wall as most of my nerves are being shut down. My heart shivering in disgust as my stomach twists and clenches, bouncing around trying to ban anymore thoughts like those. It's just unthinkable.

Then again monsters don't generally think about anything.

Wailing, I bash my head against the wall. These thoughts are wrong! Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! I can't have these! I will never hurt my friends, no matter how strong this monster is I will never allow it to do that. Never. I'd rather sacrifice every other aspect of my humanity if I just keep my morals.

The pain from the bashing finally drives me to stop. It's not every bad, my muscles are all heavy and numb. Any and all my movements are staggered and jerky, as if I'm spasming with no rational reason. I love and hate it when they numb me. I love not having to worry about the monster, but I hate that I can't move.

I growl, not like that matters anyway now. I can't break these chains, I can't move at all. Completely trapped, just like what the devil said. Mark my words though, I will prove him wrong. I proved Hadrian wrong, and I am so going to prove him wrong too.

Sighing, I bitterly realize that is exactly what the monster wants to do too. But when I need to stop that devil for the good of others, it makes it hard to resist the monster who also wants him gone. Who also wants to stop him, but more in an unstoppable rage of death kinda way.

How would I even come close to stopping him though? So far, he has an endless amount of minions that is latched onto his every breath. Even if I get out these chains, he can put me to sleep. Even if I get out of this cage, I'm trapped in a maze. Even if I try to find my way out of the maze, he can drop the walls and send dozens of demons at me.

For the first time ever, terror boils in my numb body. Not the scared feeling I felt when the Wither Storm first broke out. Not that anxious nervousness when the Old Order weren't living to my expectations. Not that cold dread when we first walked into the portal hallway, or when Lukas and Petra got chipped, or when I saw Olivia and Axel imprisoned by Hadrian.

I am completely and utterly terrified. Terrified at the power that devil holds above me and my friends, with the snap of his fingers he could any one of them killed. I go frigid cold whenever I try to think about what to do next because I can't think of anything. I can't think of anything because I'm so terrified of the future. I'm so terrified about what's going to happen next.

For the absolute first time ever, I have I can't even hope that we're going to make it out of this bind.