“You worthless piece of trash! How DARE you help them?!” Dragus held his brow. “I created you to bring me ENTERTAINMENT! You don’t get to decide if the creatures I bring inside live or die, I do!”

The dungeon hummed.

“What, you think that just because they’re suffering that they deserve help? They’re my TOYS! They don't get help unless I feel like giving it!”

A picture of a small kobold family flashed up on the screen Dragus used to watch Twilight and her friends.

Small gouts of flame escaped from Dragus’ nostrils. “My family? Do you really think you can get me to calm down by showing me the people I SLAUGHTERED to gain this position? I’m warning you, dungeon. Step out of line again and I’ll find some OTHER spirit to do your job.”

Sighing, Dragus turned his attention to a presence he felt in the room with him.

“What? You think of me cruel?” Dragus grinned. “That’s the point. I don’t care anything that doesn’t benefit me in some way.”

The figure stayed silent, looking down at its bare body.

“No snide remarks today? Did you finally give up on praying for escape and realize that no gods are going to answer them, aside from me of course. And just in case you thought I’d let you go, I’d never let a toy go unused.”

Dragus snapped his fingers and summoned a brazier of lit coals and an iron rod. Slowly he picked up the iron rod, making sure to beat the semi-molten end on the edge of the bowl, causing sparks to shower into the figure’s face. It grimaced from the heat.

Dragus smiled at the terror on the figure’s face. “My pet, I think I have a little game for us to play. If you can manage to stay awake after our fun, I’ll cut you a deal. For as long as these ponies are on the next floor, I’ll leave you be. I doubt you’ll last, seeing as you’ve already given up. But, who knows?”

Raising his free claw, the kobold signaled for the chains holding his victims arms raised, leaving it dangling.

Dragus rubbed his chin. “Y’know, I’ve been considering putting you on one of the floors for this round of contestants. I’d hang you from a wall and wait for them to try and ‘rescue’ you, only to pull away your taste of freedom. It would be entertaining, to say the least.”

The figure raised its head slightly to look it its captor’s eyes, a fire of determination re-lit upon hearing of possibly escaping.

“Then again, I think it’d be much more interesting to…” Dragus trailed off, mumbling to himself. “Oh yes, that’s good. Consider this a chance to earn your freedom. And, if you do as I say, you’ll be free.”

The figure finally opened its mouth and coughed, his shredded vocal chords aching. “W-what do I have to do?”

This shocked Dragus. He hadn’t expected his prey to take him seriously. It amused him that it would even think he’d actually let his property go. “Oh, it speaks! I thought our activities had damaged your brain. And to answer, nothing too hard. I just want you to eventually kill some of the ponies I’ve forced into my dungeon. Sometime near the end, preferably. Betrayal is SOO savory and salty. Do that, and I’ll return you to a point in time hundreds of years before I even destroyed your planet.”

“And that’s it? You’ll let me go?”

The god snarled. “Did I not just say that? Gods, you of all people should know not to question me. And here I was debating on letting you rest for a day or two.”

The figure put his head back down to hang.

“That’s what I thought.”

Dragus stuck the now partially cooled iron back into the coal, taking it back out after it had become red hot. He walked up to his prisoner and brought the iron close to his cheek, pausing to cause tension. Then, he stabbed it into his eye, squealing with delight at his symphony of screams. The figure howled, feeling his eye melting onto the metal rod. His thrashing proved fruitless..

Dragus finally removed the hot iron. He licked the burnt remains of the eye off of the hot iron.

“Oooh, extra crispy. I forgot how tasty your people are. I should take more prisoners and just use them as cattle,” Dragus giggled, then scoffed. “Or not. I’m sure you would just end up missing your dear master here and we can’t have that!”

Once more, Dragus plunged the hot iron into the mysterious creature, this time in their left thigh. Their screams rang out into the void like an army of raging thunderstorms, an anguished inner self begging for the release of death the entire time. This only caused the kobold god to chuckle and eventually break out into mad-induced laughter.

Dragus slapped his forehead. “Oh silly me! I almost forgot to put your usual enchantment onto you! Can’t have you dying on me.” He waved his hand to emit a small purple-green wave of energy. “Now, back to the fun!”

After an hour of repeated stabbings and melted skin, the almost tattered corpse slumped down and breathed heavily. The diminutive kobold raised his weapon high to strike his punching bag one more, only to stopping to inhale and recover a bit more strength for the final hit. He released the blow with enough speed that it crushed in a good portion of the creature’s ribcage.

As promised, Dragus snapped a claw, forcing the chains to snap at the figure’s wrists. He sighed contently and dropped the iron into its container, dismissing it and floating up into the void.

“Eh, I’m bored again.” Dragus looked up. “Hey Dungeon, teleport my pet to the healing pools, then bring me something new to eat. I’m getting tired of the live rodents and am craving something strange.”

The dungeon complied and opened up a portal below the almost dead being, sealing it back up once it was onto the other side. As for the food, the dungeon responded by summoning up a large portion of unusually charred meat inside of a black shell, Dragus opening his eyes in surprise, smelling the air.

“I don’t know what this is, but it smells fantastic. I’ll take twelve platters.”

Author's Note

Wonder who/what the mysterious figure could be?

All I'm gonna say is that I got some plans for them~