The Circles of Dio/Circle 3
 The Circles of Dio | |
| The First Circle | |
| The Second Circle | |
| The Third Circle | |
| The Fourth Circle | |
| The Fifth Circle | |
| The Sixth Circle | |
| The Seventh Circle | |
| The Eighth Circle | |
The Third Circle
Dio labored many turnings for the illiswine Hosurokii the Pig-Faced and his partnership in the frosty grottos of the False Worlds. His duties would have broken the backs of many others, but Dio labored on, suffering torment and exhaustion.
It came to pass that the illithid illiswine Hosurokii ordered Dio before him in his many-veined galleria. He claimed that Dio had committed slights of obstinance and cowardice against his partnership. The claim had no weight of truth, for Hosurokii the Pig-Faced only wished to know if flames raged within Dio’s heart. He wished to know if Dio’s heart was one of a slave or of a rebel.
Dio surrendered to the illiswine punishment rather than reveal his new-found strength. He knew that were he to show the hatred in his heart, it would serve nothing, and it would harm others that felt as he. He chose to endure the punishment and was placed within the Pillars of Göran so he might suffer for a turning.
Lashed upon the Pillars, Dio moved his mind to a place where pain could not reach, leaving his body behind. He lasted a turning, and when he was brought before Hosurokii the Pig-Faced, he gave gratitude for his punishment to the illiswine as was custom. In so doing, he proved himself a slave in the illiswine eyes while his heart remained free.
By enduring and quenching the fires of his hatred, he allowed Hosurokii the Pig-Faced to think him weak. When the time of the Rising came, Hosurokii was the first of the illiswine to know death by Dio’s hand and die a true death.
