──♚── Ciel could only remember pain; agonizing and deep as it shot through his small frame like a lightning bolt. Seconds felt like hours as he was wracked by this intensity, but soon came relief. It was sudden and calming. Pictures flashed through his mind, snapshots of events from his past. As the slideshow continued to play, the pictures faded until they were indistinguishable. Ciel wanted to reach out. He wanted to grasp at those threads of memory and pull them close wrapping himself in them like a blanket, but he couldn’t. No part of him would move, no sound would come from his lips. The last thing he remembered was darkness and the sounds of the Earth humming in his ears. Then, there was nothing.

              There was no existence between those moments and the following events. Ciel had no recollection of anything. To him, it felt like mere seconds before sounds filled his ears once more. The throbbing of his heart and the gushing of blood through his veins… he heard it; he felt it. It was, by no means, a good feeling; quite the opposite really. As life returned to his body, he suddenly felt burning pain through every square inch of his flesh. He wanted to scream, but found that he was neither able to move, nor speak. All the boy could do was wait for the pain to subside. Eventually, it did, and he was thankful. He breathed heavily, feeling his chest rise and flutter like the heart of a scared bird. Carefully, he moved his fingers, gaining mobility in each one seperately at a time. After his fingers, he moved his arms, then his feet, then his legs. Soon, eyes fluttered open and met the dimly lit stone room in which he seemed to be alone.

              Ciel lay there for a moment as his mind tried to process what was happening. He tried to remember where he’d been before this, who he’d been with, and what he’d been doing to no avail. Infact, the only thing he could recall waS his name. He was… Ciel Phantomhive. Unfortunately, that provided no other clues to his life before.

              Gingerly, Ciel slid his fingers over the surface he was laying on. It seemed to be made of stone and it was rather uncomfortable. It was no bed, and it wasn’t a table. He glanced around the room, seeing nothing more than a circle of flickering candles and darkness beyond. His heart started to race. This place was terrifying. He slowly pushed himself to sit up, feeling quite light headed as he did before glancing down at himself. He was wearing only a short, plain white gown of some sort. In certain places along his limbs, he noticed jagged lines with stitches. Had he gotten hurt? The wounds were stitched very nicely and were merely tender to the touch, but not very painful. They must have been treated by someone very skilled.

              Ciel looked around the room once more, carefully swinging his slender legs off one side of the stone altar as he finally opened his mouth to speak. His voice was soft and labored at start, but soon raised to a normal volume as he called out.

              “H…Hello…? Is anyone here? Where am I?”