Survival logs - Daniel/Neil

Day 7:

It’s not a dream. I have been living here for a week now and it’s all too real. I have been living with an Ifrit named Arteyel. I expected that demons would be preposterous but to think they would tie a collar around my neck? I’m just an infant, fut the wuck? Also, there is something written on the front of the collar and I guess it’s my new name. I think its “Neil”, judging from what Arteyel has been calling me. I wonder when I’ll get to leave this place.

Day 31:

It’s not a dream, it’s a nightmare. Two heavy weights have been tied to my arms and I am treated like a dog whenever we are around Furath. I am expected to prostrate before him as Arteyel holds my leash close. Arteyel is not that bad when we are alone, though. He has a lot of good in him. I hope I get to go home soon.

Day 153:

It’s weird. It has been 5 whole months and I can walk now. What is even weirder that two weights had been tied to both my legs as soon as Furaith got wind of my growth. Judging from the fact that no one is surprised by how fast I grew, I think it’s common for djinns. I can also speak now, but I am keeping this a secret even from Arteyel, since God knows what Furaith will do about it.

Day 180:

You won’t believe what happened today. I succeeded in walking even with the weights and being happy, I screamed out: “I did it.” But Art saw me and he told Furaith about it. I don’t know what Furaith told him to do but he looked really worried when he came back. But he didn’t do anything bad to me. In fact, he started teaching me how to read.

Day 365:

It has been a whole year. I can now run at full speed even with the weights. My nails have started to grow fast, but Art quickly cuts them off, saying I shouldn’t give Furaith an excuse to have them plucked out. Art said that he had never seen a better minded child in his life. He also said that he would start teaching me the blade arts tomorrow. It would help me when I start to grow my nails out, he said.

Day 395:

The last whole month, I have only been doing physical exercises. Art told me that I needed a better body than a child’s to fully learn his arts. I hope he’ll start teaching me for real soon.

Day 730:

It has now been a full year of me doing physical training with Arteyel. Today was the final day of just physical exercise. But when the day ended, it dawned on me that from tomorrow, I would have to do both the physical and blade training added with the reading and learning class. Ugh! I want to go home.

Day 737:

Today, a servant of Furaith came in on us while Art was teaching me how to write. He quickly hid the book and dip pen. The servant eyed him suspiciously but left shortly after. At night, when Art came back, he had claw marks all over, or maybe those were nail marks.

Day 793:

In the start, Art had just been teaching me the basics, but since that incident three months ago, he has been going all in for my training schedules. He’s even letting me grow out nails and practice keeping them hidden at the same time. It takes a lot of effort and energy but once you get the hang of it, you can do it unconsciously too, like breathing. I will use all of this to get strong. Even if I can’t go back, I can at least play my part in this one.

From what I’ve gathered, this Shah Furaith is bringing me up so that I can be a loyal dog for him -capable of nothing but being a brute- when the time comes, but oh dear! With what he has done to my parents and Art, I can’t promise him anything other than a slow and painful death.