Behind the old man stood a woman and a man dressed in formal suits. They watched the madness unfolding without any particular emotion on their faces.
And yet, when the prisoner's injuries became completely unbearable, and his mouth was already foaming, the woman gave the signal to stop.
"Mine..." whispered the old man at the end.
He kept his toothy smile, but let go of the prisoner's head and stepped away.
"..." A man standing behind him silently opened a large suitcase.
Inside were three fresh corpses of black, squirrel-like creatures and two rat corpses.
He grabbed one of the squirrels by the scruff of its neck and approached the captive.
Then something unusual happened.
He began to squeeze the small animal's corpse like a rag. The bones cracked, the eyes popped out of their sockets, and blood spilled out. However, the red liquid did not rush to fall to the ground. It gathered near the man's hand and changed color to bright blue, resembling some kind of energy.
Then the man directed the blue stream at the captive, and his wounds began to change right before his eyes.
His shattered knee knitted itself back together, teeth grew back, and the lips no longer resembled crumpled fabric.
"Whaaa...!"
But, of course, the sensations from this treatment were simply indescribably painful.
After a while, only a couple of abrasions remained, but nothing critical. The body was like new and ready to endure a new wave of pain.
This sense of what awaited him was deeply depressing, and he didn't even know why he was being tortured.
His vision was no longer blurred, and the redness in front of his eyes had decreased slightly. Now he could at least think a little.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, he shouted.
"W-wait! I don't know who you think I am, but you're wrong!!!"
"..."
His cry elicited no particular reaction from either the woman or the man. Only the old man's smile became even more satisfied.
"I DON'T REMEMBER ANYTHING!!!" He caught his breath a little, trying to find the right words. "I woke up in that pit with no memories at all... I have nothing to do with those corpses! I don't even look like them!!! Please, wait..."
"****** spawn," the woman said barely audibly.
'What? What did she say?'
The language and the word were familiar. Not English, Spanish, or Chinese, but it seemed...
"Italian? She said... Partisan spawn?'
This realization made his heart sink. They didn't believe him.
"What do you think?" the woman asked her companions calmly.
She seemed to be speaking demonstratively aloud, and it worked.
The prisoner listened desperately to their answers, searching for even the slightest glimmer of hope.
"It's... strange. There's something off about him. Duality," replied the blue-eyed man, frowning slightly.
This answer made his heart believe in a tiny chance of salvation. However, the woman then turned to the old man.
"Dum?"
"He looks like a typical huckster. These pigs all look the same to me."
'No... no, no, no.'
The woman simply nodded in response. Then it was her turn to approach the prisoner.
And although her appearance could easily drive one crazy, something in the atmosphere made one expect something even worse than from the old man
"Before you answer, know that every lie will cost you more and more."
She placed two fingers on the prisoner's neck, and her violet eyes stared straight into his gray ones.
"Who showed you the way to the Pit? What exactly were you looking for here?"
"I don't..."
"Was it a broker? One of the dealers? Is Schrodinger involved?"
"What... Cat? Listen, I really... I've never even heard any of those names!" he cried out in panic, unable to contain himself.
It was clearly becoming more difficult to speak.
"..."
"Please believe me..." he whispered hoarsely.
For some reason, his throat barely obeyed him anymore.
The woman removed her fingers and stood in front of him.
"How are you connected to the Partisans of Darkness?"
He realized that this was the last question.
He could no longer speak.
"..." He shook his head and looked at the woman with tears in his eyes. The expression on his face literally said that he was begging her to believe him... or at least to spare him.
She nodded and accepted his answer.
Then she pointed her index and middle fingers at his neck and brought them together.
In an instant, his throat and neck swelled up like a balloon...
And then it began to melt, turning his flesh into a black, charred mush.
"...!!!!!!!!!!!"
He learned what it meant to be burned from the inside — unable even to scream.