Prologue

There are usually two ways of getting information out of someone: pain and pleasure. Or maybe to rephrase: torture and seduction. Very useful if you know exactly what you're doing and don't get swept away with the acts, and very dangerous. Torture can be many things, can be fatal if not done correctly and with precision. Seduction can include torture of a different kind, but involves more pleasure, more intimacy and bodily performance.

I use a third method: suspense. It can be very powerful. I just lock my victims in the cage and watch them look around. We talk. I can even seem like their friend, but the threat of what's to come looms around them. For one week, I do nothing but allow chitchat and small talk. I get ideas of who they are and how to make them talk. Then, when that week is over, I let loose.

There are two types of minds: the weak and the strong. The weak don't always see what's about to happen and give me answers almost immediately. The strong minds take more time and I have to get creative.

I begin torture slowly. Small and relatively harmless. Just bringing out foam bats can make a person talk because they know what I am about to do. I build into the big tools, patient and detached to their tears. These tools could be anything from cutting off a limb to torturing a loved one. It doesn't matter. Eventually, someone tells me something.

My prisoners stay in the cage for the majority of their stay with me. I let them out for short periods of time, however, never unsupervised. Inside the cage, their ankles and wrists are shackled with a cabin latched to the top bars of the cage and in the ground. I let the victims put themselves into and out of these shackles. This is partly to make them understand how easy I can be, and to show them I am in control. I am always in control no matter how defiant a person is. The exception to them releasing the shackles? When I need to be away or when they are unable due to lack of energy or consciousness. When I'm away, the victims are locked into the shackles as well as the cage: just in case they try to escape the cage, the chains will stop them, or the cage will topple over and make it uncomfortable. I will unlock their shackles when I return. They are also, obviously, locked when the torture is being dealt. They must be in case they are being hung above the floor like a hog over a fire. I only want the injuries I purposely give them. No accidents.

I only have one prisoner at a time. It makes it so I don't have to divide my attention between everyone. However, I keep my targets within my sights for as long as I need. It could take weeks. It could take months. I will hold a prisoner for an indefinite amount of time until I get as much as I can from them.

I let prisoners go if they tell me at least one truth. Wait, let me rephrase that: I allow them to go back to their normal lives and watch them for more truths. So, I guess I don't truly let them free, I just give them a reward. Not that I tell my prisoners any of this. That would give them a reason to talk, and unfortunately, I enjoy searching out ways to make them talk.

If a prisoner gives me no truths, I assume I'd kill them. I don't know. I haven't had one victim strong enough to withstand my methods. Only one came close. She lasted a year. She had every torture method known to me. Loved ones died before her. She had an arm removed. She even had friends betray her. But then she caved. I won't say how. I never disclose my final achievement to anyone as I want confidentiality. Our time, our relationship...that is between us.

My Champion, the one mentioned just now, is very strong. I underestimated her in the beginning. I had thought she was a weak-minded person. Then, I learned how strong she was and I was pleased, joyful even. She had made our relationship interesting and unpredictable. She had given a spark of fun to my world.

Inspired by her, I made a game. All of my strong prisoners could come occasionally and fight to see who's the strongest. Many come to watch. Few take the challenge. This is to help me keep in touch with my victims and to see how they they have risen from their time with me. While most live normal lives, I find some use their pain to shape their futures. It is fascinating and exhilarating. All of my past prisoners receive an invitation, and they can accept or decline. Most accept because they're afraid of what I may do if they don't show up. Some accept because it means they can display their strength and aggression to try and intimidate me. Only a handful dare to refuse.

The cage of truth is something I keep the world from knowing. No one knows who I am until they step foot into my domain, into my cage and see my tools. No one has ever escaped my cage, therefore has never escaped me. No one has ever withstood me and my cage. The one who does, the one who can do the impossible; they will have my utmost respect and my life in their hands. The latter is something I do not wish to see the result of.