Pain was the first thing to greet William as his consciousness flooded back into being. He remembered making the leap into the blackness of the ravine, and his last words to his friend, Enrique... "See you on the other side!"

William would have shook his head if he didn't think the action would send him reeling back into the darkness that he even now teetered on precariously. Sometimes he wondered at his own sanity. But enough of such foolishness. He had leapt in after his friends, and if the newfound pain was any indication, he still had life in his battered body. He must find them!

William braced himself for the inevitable and cracked open his eyes. Sharp needles of torturous agony stabbed into his muddled brain as the light hit his eyes. He quickly shut them as a new wave of nausea swept over him. Steeling himself yet again, he tried to move his arm to shield his face... to no avail! Neither arm would heed his call for movement. William began to panic slightly, as the awareness of his seemingly paralyzed state became clear. It was then that William realized he was not alone.

He heard faint shuffling near where he imagined his feet to be. Then subtle whispering, almost imperceptible over his own breathing worked its way into William's head. It was rhythmic, almost a chant, in a language that William was unfamiliar with. His thrust his eyelids open again. This time, necessity and desperation overriding any pain that might have forced them closed. The world burst through in a hazy white glow. Apparently his head was resting, lolled to one side, as the dimensions of his newfound prison became known to him. He was in a ramshackle room, shelves and benches adorned with unnamed clutter as sunlight streamed through unseen cracks in the walls and ceiling. A cloying smell, at once sweet and sickening, clung to him and worked its way into his nose and skin like a persistent tick. Bile rose in Williams's throat as he stared in horror at the form across from him. Lying on a dark wooden table, wrapped to the neck in burial swaths, was the still form of his countryman, Jenner. They locked gazes, Jenner seemingly a victim of the same strange paralysis that had William frozen in place. His eyes were alert though, and they conveyed the same desperate look that William was sure his own could not hide.

William struggled with every ounce of his being, every shred of hidden strength that had saved him countless times in the past, to simply open his mouth and scream. He could not... The chanting stopped. The sudden silence tearing William back from the brink of terror and madness that his helplessness had almost sent him into. A dark shape suddenly moved in front of William's vision, blotting out the pitiful rays of sunlight.

"Awake at last, I see... too bad.", a throaty croak, faintly effeminate, rattled through William's head. "It would have been easier for you if you hadn't, little one." This time the voice rolled into a sickly laugh. The cackling was cut short as it broke into a hacking cough, wet and diseased. A fleck of phlegm splashed against William's cheek, burning as it slowly slid down his face. Vision swam as his head was jerked roughly forward and he found himself staring at the warped rafters of the room's worm riddled ceiling.

The smell of carrion assaulted William as the shape leaned in closer and two pinpoints of glowing hellfire burned into his eyes. "You will serve me well, as will your foolish friends... I expect them here shortly." The voice was a gentle hiss as the crone leaned in and ran her boil covered tongue over his cheek to lap up her venomous spittle. In a tone that could only be described as motherly, she continued, "Now... all better, isn't it?"

Her taloned hands worked with unexpected dexterity as William felt the soft touch of silk begin to work its way up his face. He still felt those glowing eyes boring into him as the burial wrappings covered his vision and the world went black a second time...