"First of all, we need to get those pesky bandages off you." With a wave of his hand, my bandages loosened and fell away. I looked down and saw that all my wounds had healed and my aches and stiffness disappeared. I looked up at Nick. "That's right," he said. "I want you at one hundred percent so that when you give yourself to me your agony will be all that much greater because you won't be able to blame your situation on your injuries. Do you doubt my powers?"

"Doubt them? No," I answered, "but I am wondering what the limits of your power are."

"Fool!" he thundered at me, "do you honestly think you can defeat one such as myself? I, who have laid waste to men by the thousands? I am older than you could ever dream of being and have seen sights which would make your eyes explode, and you think to delude yourself that you can find a way to outwit me? I have played this game too many times to count and they all end the same way -- submission. Most souls, I offer the easy death of a quick capitulation, but not you. I want you to feel the agony that you and your friends put me through. I want you to feel the same agony of five millennia in captivity that I felt. You will remain in bondage to me and there is no way out for you." Nick settled back in his chair and a wide grin spread slowly over his face.

I returned his smile and saw a light flicker deep within his eyes. "Just the fact that you were imprisoned for five thousand years tells me that you were defeated once," I told him, sounding cockier than I felt. "That's a long time to be a loser. What makes you think your chances are any better this time around?"

The smile remained on Nick's face, but I could see the anger flaring up in his eyes. With a flick of his hand, I was jerked up off the bed and suspended a few feet from the ground. "I can see you need to learn some manners," he informed me quietly.

Nick made a circle in the air with his index finger and I slowly spun around. He stopped me by raising his hand and stared at me quietly. He held up his thumb and forefinger together and slowly pulled them down in a small arc. Immediately, I felt a stripe of fire burn down my side and watched in horror as a long strip of skin fell onto the floor. A puff of air from behind ignited the nerve endings and I writhed, trying to get away from the pain. Nick slowly made more peeling motions and I felt new strips laid bare to the warm breeze that was blowing over me. Somewhere, off in the distance, I heard someone screaming. The sound got louder and louder and I realized it was me.

I felt the blood running down the fresh wounds, heard the spatter of the drops as they hit the floor. Nick spun me around again, faster this time and the warm breeze turned cool. The momentary relief of the change in temperature was replaced by intense pain as my exposed flesh started to dry and contract. I felt myself falling further into a well of pain as the hurt from my wounds seemed to increase exponentially by the second. Suddenly, the pain was over and I was whole again. Slowly Nick lowered me to the floor. As my feet touched the ground, my legs gave way and I sank back onto the bed.

"Shall we start again?" inquired Nick pleasantly. I raised myself onto an elbow, glared at him and then sank back down, mumbling to myself. "I'm sorry," he said, a faint edge to his tone, "what was that you said?" I looked away and closed my eyes, remembering the pain he had just subjected me to. "Maybe you need another lesson," Nick suggested. Once again, I was forced to my feet.