Time and punishment (solo)

Waking up in pain wasn't something Arawn hadn't experienced, but waking up wearing strange clothes was a new one. The strange white garb felt rough against his skin it was like wearing a burlap sack. The fabric had made him feel itchy; which made him scratch thus waking him. He knew he had fallen asleep wearing his lab coat, but nothing like this. His mouth felt like it was full of cotton-balls, and his body felt sore and stiff. It felt like he was sleeping on rocks. As he slowly sat up he saw that he was indeed laying on rocks and dusty earth. The sand felt real against his skin, this was no dream. The thought of being in his room had quickly vanished. The real question was where was he? Dizziness overtook him as he attempted now to stand. It would seem he had pushed his luck with just sitting up. Flopping back down he tried to observe his surroundings. Why was he feeling so weak and light headed? Was it something he ate? As he looked around he was further mystified by the strange sights. I looked like he was in an impossibly large cavern. While he couldn't see the roof he could see the ground from his current vantage point. It was like a giant had come and scooped out rock and this was the result. But such a thing was impossible, it had to be man made. If not the stairs that started from the bottom of the area were proof of some intelligent design. The were stairs leading upward at the far end of the huge area, but what shocked him more was the appearance of several others in the cavern. Even from the distance he could see they were all similarly garbed. Who were all these people? His current location was a ledge on the rim of the deep gully several upon several feet up. The dizziness returned, but this time for another reason. There were many ledges like it all the way down to the bottom. Not as finely crafted as the staircase, but looked like steps made for the aforementioned giant to descend upon. How had I get up here? He definitely wasn't one to climb high places. Not to mention perch himself so recklessly close to the edge. After several deep breaths he attempted to stand. With grunt like an old man he manged to get to his feet without staggering. Still he had to lean against the wall for support. Even breathing was difficult what had happened to him.

The other ledges were sparsely filled with strange robed people. There one such person right below him.
"Excuse me." Arawn said his voice quite raspy. "Where am I?" he asked. The man in question had didn't turn to acknowledge him. He was facing the bottom with his back to him. The only thing to be seen was his short black hair. "Excuse me, sir!?" Arawn said abit louder. Now he got a reaction, the man's head came around. His face wasn't too friendly looking, a series of scars covered his face. The red haired man flinched involuntarily.
The man stared at Arawn for several seconds having seen him shudder. "What ya want?" his voice was deeper than expected with a definite air of hostility.
"Um.......can you tell me where am I?" Arawn finally asked softly. The man's eyes narrowed as game Arawn a dirty look and clicked his tongue.
"Jus my luck; a fucking noob." he muttered as he turned back around and drooped his shoulders.
"Excuse_"Arawn began, but the man turned around and leaped up the ledge next to him. Needless to say the motion shocked the redhead. Standing in front of him the man was just about even in height and only slightly wider. Before another word could be uttered the man's fist came swinging at up from the right. Surprise lost to instinct as Arawn ducked the blow and countered with a fist to the man's gut. Even as the strike connected something felt off. The answer came a moment later as the man's other fist came slamming into his face. The second blow sent him staggering back, not too difficult considering his current instability. Damn he's tough. Came his thoughts as he tried to regain his footing as the man rushed him. Too late to dodge he raised his arm as the fist came thundering in. Like before the strike knocked him back. There was no denying the difference in strength, but still it seemed like he was too powerful. Is he using his reiryoku? he wondered, but Arawn couldn't feel any spiritual pressure from the burly man at all. It was possible he was repressing it while fighting, but that didn't seem likely. It was then it hit Arawn, he couldn't feel his own spiritual power. Reiryoku was a part of a shinigami it was like blood, to lose it was almost like death. There was no way for his reiryoku to suddenly disappear. The sudden realization distracted him from the matter at hand as the man began to release a rapid succession of blows. It took everything to guard, but he could feel his body buckle with eat hit. The man wasn't a novice fighter he had used simple strikes at first, now aimed strikes to the body not just the head. He suddenly side-stepped and smashed Arawn in the side. The redheaded man grunted and dropped his guard only slightly. That was all the man needed to land a fist across his jaw. Stunned the guard dropped completely and Arawn was given several blows to the face. Two, one came from the left the other from the right. As he tried to raise his arms to protect his face again a third punch came to his stomach. Air was expelled from him with the hit causing his arm to falter. Again the bigger man's fist slammed into his face, and then another. Once the man stopped punching Arawn fell to the ground in a heap.

It had been awhile since he'd taken such a beating. The strengths of the blows wasn't just pure muscle. The man's hands were hard like forged steel, and each strike like a cannon ball. Already he could feel his face swelling from the hits to his face and the taste of blood filling his mouth. The dirt was covering his face was cool and soothing. What little strength he had was failing him, with shaking arms he pushed himself off the ground. The man could have finished him, but stood there waiting for him to rise. How noble Arawn mentally spat. Seems he's giving me a chance to get up so he can knock me back down. Unfortunately, he didn't feel like having another go at the man. His mind reeled as he tried to figure a way out of the situation. The ledge they stood on was barely 6ft wide and completely flat. There was no where to hide. If he did get up the chances of him climbing up the ledge was low, but going down would be much faster. There were several feet up if he jumped things might not end well. He forced himself to his knees and gasped for air. He over exaggerated this to make it seem like he was more winded that he actually was. This wasn't much of an act as he felt tired and weak already from just a few punches. Why was his reiatsu gone? He quickly reminded himself this wasn't the time for such things. He needed to get away from this madman. If he could jump down he might get some help from the men below. He didn't think why none of them had come to help him, there were more pressing matters.

He sat there breathing his head hung looking at the ground. The man was still standing there looking at him. Good. Arawn focused all his will to his legs. Although he had no spiritual power, his will power and adrenaline would have to do instead. With a surge of strength he hopped off his knees and to his feet. He stood there and held up his hand as if ready to battle again. In the next instant he dropped his arms and turned to jump off the ledge. It only took a slight push to send him sailing off the edge, but he suddenly was jerked back as something pulled his collar. He didn't have to turn his neck to know that the man had managed to catch him. The man's speed was obvious greater than his in his current weakened state.
"Nice try, but you're not getting out this that quickly." he man said behind him. "For a second I thought ya had some skill, but you're just another grub." Arawn's feet dangled over the edge being held up by the man's arm. With fumbling fingers Arawn pulled the belt that kept the shirt on him and fell downward to the next ledge. It was only a short fall, but his wobbling legs weren't able to withstand the impact. He fell to the ledge below and rolled one more down. The impact with the ground wasn't painful, but it wasn't pleasant. After rolling down he landed on his stomach and lay there groaning. What little adrenaline he has was already fading. As he lay there gasping for breath he could hear the man jump down after him. "Clever, but you're_" his words stopped short as he looked at Arawn's back.

Spoiler:

The black symbol was in the middle of his back, his spine bisecting the circle it made. The man gave a low whistle upon seeing the mark. Although they didn't show it there were others watching the man's exchange with Arawn quite vividly and now they wondered why the man paused in his beating. He had released Arawn's shirt he now bent over to retrieve it and dropped it over the exposed mark.
"Maybe you're more than whatcha seem, you did something to deserve that mark." he muttered. Arawn could barely hear the man, too tired to move he passed out.

It was an several hours later that Arawn rose from the floor. Perhaps it was the lack of energy made him sleep even deeper than normal. He would like to say he felt better after the short nap, but the sudden pains form the battle with the aggressive man. With a groan he pushed himself up. The sand was sticking to his body some of it crusted about his mouth due to his drooling. Arawn quickly wiped the mud away and spat out what sand had managed to find it's way inside. Silently he hoped that everything was a dream, but the pain was too real. It was obvious such wishful thinking wasn't going to help him in this situation. As he started to look around he froze; the man that had knocked him out was sitting on edge above staring at him. There was a rather bored look on his face. Their eyes met and Arawn could feel the intensity of this gaze upon him. Had he been watching over him the whole time? As he moved his body more the top fell off his back slightly.
"Put that shirt back on." the man said in a gruff voice, his eyes not leaving Arawn's for a second. Rising to his knees he grabbed the fabric and slowly the red haired man complied and put the shirt on properly. It felt cold so he had no reason not to obey that order.

Arawn entertained the idea of running, but the man's gaze kept him locked in place. The man seemed calm now, but it was obvious from the last exchange that he was stronger and faster than him. Running might not be successful even if he felt slightly better after the rest. The mystery of why his spiritual energy was gone was pushed to the back of his mind as the man began to talk.
"What ya in here for?" he asked folding his hand across his lap as his legs dangled on the edge. His fingers gently tapped his thigh as he waited for a reply. The silence was long. One wouldn't think ill of Arawn for his reluctance to respond. I was a troubling situation. He wasn't sure if his answer might cause another confrontation or not. It was possible not answering him would make him mad as well. "I asked what you're doing here!?" he said abit louder. Arawn flinched weakened he felt very vulnerable.
"I don't know! I don't even know where 'here' is!" he stammered quickly in reply "I just woke up here, that's all I know." The man didn't say anything as he heard those words. He scratched his head and spat.
"What was the last thing you remember?" he asked next. Apparently the man believed him, but wanted something more from him.
"I finished work then I went to bed." he said flatly, now that he thought about it was an odd question, but when it thought about it being here was rather odd too. He closed his eyes and tried to recall what if anything that could have happened. It was an average day for him, nothing special at all.
"Work? What is it you do, kid?" he grumbled now getting annoyed. It was nice that he wasn't hitting him anymore, but the grimace on his face said he would like nothing better than to pummel him again. The man was eying him up and down now.
"I work in the 12th Division; the Research and development bureau." As he words left his lips the man's face scrunched up as if he'd just eaten a lemon, skin and all.

"You don't move like a lab rat." he scoffed "Looks like you know how to fight." he hopped down from the edge and stood before Arawn taking the measure of the kneeling man. "Not sure why you're here. But you're marked, if you're that dangerous they'd would put you in a cell instead. Funny ain't it? Weak as you are a newborn kitten could've given you trouble. Almost they tossed you in here to die." The man now leaned against the short wall as Arawn absorbed the man's words. Tentatively he raised his hand like a shy boy on the first day of school. The man's eyebrow raised and he glared down at him with same intensity from before. "Yes?"
"Where exactly is here? Where am I?" The man responded by laughing heartily. Tears started to well in the man's eyes as he doubled over. Arawn again thought of escaping as he figured the man had snapped somehow. Before he could inch away the man managed to suppress his laughter down to a small chuckle.