6 Isolation

When Karma awoke, he was greeted by an excruciating pain surging throughout his body. It was as though he was being stabbed multiple times with no foreseeable end. In time, he was sweating heavily, and it became difficult to move at all. He soon fell to the ground unable to endure the pain. Gritting his teeth, he held onto what seemed to be cell bars and lasted an hour before he lost conscientious once again.

Another couple of hours passed and eventually, Karma regained his conscience. After finally catching his breath, he realized that the pain had stopped. Although he still had a minor headache, it was incomparable to the earlier ordeal.

Now that the pain was essentially gone, Karma decided to assess his situation. As his eyes wandered around, he came to an understanding of where he was.

It was a cell room. His new prison.

The cell was lit by a single light on the verge of dying. The light was extremely dim and constantly flickered. Every now and then, the lights would turn off completely. Until eventually, around 30 minutes after, they would light up again. There seemed to be no windows anywhere and it was basically impossible for him to look outside his room due to lack of light. However, at the very least, there seemed to be lights further down the corridor indicating that there were others here.

As an attempt to gather more information, he yelled, "Is anyone out there!? Please, if there is anyone, say something… Where am I? What is this place? Why was I placed here!?"

However, no one responded. The only voice that could be heard was his own.

Karma tried once again, repeating the same phrase but to no avail.

In desperation, Karma jerked the cell bars. Although it seemed like a hopeless attempt, the bars themselves were extremely worn out. In fact, it seemed like everything around him was worn whether it be the ceiling or the walls themselves.

If Karma had any magical power at all, he could have easily broken out. Even low-tiers could use basic magic. In this situation, if he was able to use armament magic also known as reinforcement, he would gain the strength to bend or even break the bars. Alas, it was simply impossible.

"Dammit!" Karma yelled in frustration.

With nothing around him being of use and the lack of information, Karma's only option was to wait for something to happen. Every now and then, he would yell out asking for answers but no responses ever came. As time went on, Karma slowly became more and more restless.

With no one to talk to, Karma became isolated. Isolation, an experience in which one is completely alone, or cast apart from others. Such an experience was horrifying.

Why?

Well, why is solitary confinement seen as inhumane?

Simply put, it's because humans are by nature social creatures. They rely on interacting with one another to get by. Now imagine, being alone, with absolutely nothing to do other than sitting around in a cell for days. Such an experience drives people insane. Hallucinations, anxiety, dizziness, sensory deprivation.

In Karma's case, he viewed this cell as his own little world. A colorless world with nothing but him. It was driving him insane.

Within time, three days passed. For Karma, however, he didn't see it as three days. He saw it as 259,200 seconds. On top of this, with no food or water, he was starving and his throat felt dryer and dryer by the second. To conserve energy, he later on the ground motionless and attempted to sleep to pass time.

The next day, a hooded man entered the dungeon. On one hand, he held a plate of rice and chicken. On the other, he held a single glass of water. Through a small opening in the cell, used to provide meals and drinks, the man gave the food to Karma and promptly left.

As any child would, Karma ate the food without hesitation. At the time, being isolated for four days alongside the fact that he was deprived of food or water made Karma's judgment clouded. As he could not think properly, he ended up finishing everything within minutes after receiving the meal.

What came after was instant regret.

Who knows how long it would take for his next meal to come?

Who knows how long Karma could last?

Would he have to endure another four days for his next meal?

Such thoughts lingered in Karma's mind. But the one that he asked most often was, "Why?"

"Why do I have to suffer? Why does it matter if I'm crippled? I… I don't want to do this anymore. I hate it. I hate living like this. Was I born simply to be ruled by others? Why is it that no matter what I do… whether I fight back, or whether I comply… why am I always punished?"

Without even noticing, Karma was crying uncontrollably. In the end, whether he was crippled or not, he was a child. A child who suffered all his life.

But the world did not care for the tears of a single boy.

Within an hour after eating, the pain returned once again. But this time, it was far stronger than the last. Unable to endure it at all, Karma crumbled and blacked out only moments after.