Chapter 24: Dying in Anguish & Dark Gate
When Glim looked into Vlad's dark-green eyes, he started screaming as if someone stabbed him into his heart or eyes.
Vlad looked at him coldly and shook his head in disapproval, he said.
"Tch, tch. Before I start with you, let me ask you, do you really think that I will give you such a quick death after you conspired against me? Such wishful thinking." saying that he grabbed his throat and started dragging him to a quiet corner. In the new place, he wouldn't be bothered by the fleeing miners.
When feeling his breath stop, Glim started shaking, hoping that he would get out of the choke, he managed to shake a bit of Vlad's grip, but it didn't lose enough for him to do something unexpected. Getting some open breath, panicking, he said.
"What are you doing? Stop, just end me!"
"Not so fast. Patience. I will let you get a taste of how to have your bones broken as Kipset and Inorra had." said Vlad looking directly at Glim's pale face with his cold green eyes that could even pierce deep into his soul, thinking of how to end him.
"Please don't, don't do this! Forgive me. I was blinded by revenge and greed for the reward they promised me. Forgive me. There's no need to dirty yourself with me!" pleaded Glim while asking for forgiveness.
"Ahh, so many people want forgiveness for their mistakes in life. Some manage to get it. Others don't. Guess in what category you are."
After he said that, with the sword of one dead guard, he made a small cut on his shoulder that followed down. Like this with his movement, Glim's skin was split into two sections, showing off his flesh and blood.
Glim screamed in pain so high that the slaves fleeing and even Nius, who was moving towards Vlad, started hearing him. He looked in shock at his split skin and the gushing blood that was coming from his wound.
"Shhhhh. There's no use in screaming. You'll just annoy me more."
Ending saying that, he switched Glim's arms and started to do the same nasty cut he gave in the first cut. Glim's screams intensified with each cut Vlad was doing. Later after letting him bleed a little bit, he switched the targets again.
This time he went for his back after he pinned him on the ground while holding him with his leg, almost pushing him to make a human form.
He started cutting on his back with a sinister gaze. Each incision made on Glim's back was done similar to a surgeon, his movements done without even a tremble.
In no time, Glim's back was full of cuts, but not any type of cuts. All of them were deep that was drawing on his muscles.
"Should I do a blood eagle on you? No, that one takes too much time, and you aren't worthy of that. Implement? Where do I get my hands of a stake in here."
Ending saying that, he stabbed him a bit more on his back before turning him on his knees. Blood was flowing from his arms and chest, making a blood pond around himself. Glim couldn't even scream, his voice turning hoarse from so much pain.
"Ohh, I like this face of yours. But you know what hurts the most right now, your mind. Your body physically is numb, and it's my job to keep your senses alive."
Seconds before saying that, he started cutting his fingers clean, blood began to spill from his hands. Glim screamed again in pain. His screams started to have cracks in them.
While Vlad was having his alone time with Glim, the miners and slaves were flooding the exit even more crazed. Hearing the screams of pain coming from Glim made them believe that something evil slumped inside the mine.
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Old Nius and Inorra were getting closer to where Vlad was, and when they heard Glim's screams of pain, the first to comment was the old man carrying Kipset.
"It seems your mate finally got the culprit by the head. Say little Inorra, do you by chance have a fear of blood? If that's the case, you should close your eyes and grab my hand. If not, just get ready to watch a spectacle."
Inorra understood what the old man was referring to. Gulping his saliva and shaking a bit in fear, he nodded his head, trying to sound tough.
"Why should I pass this opportunity? After all, that bastard did to Kipset and me, it's more fitting that I see his ending. If that bastard is not killed by Zag when we reach him, I will gladly end him myself."
"Ohh, those are strong words, boy. Are you sure you're prepared to take your first life? As far I can see that mate of yours doesn't have such problems, compared to you a simple boy, you can say that he's more special, a freak. A natural-born killer."
"But don't tell him that I told you that, otherwise he would humiliate me again when we play chess."
"Yes, gramps, don't worry."
"Ahem, Inorra, you should learn from this incident to not let your guard down so much. People are cruel in this world we live in. We people with consciousness are outnumbered by those bastards that roam around the seas." advised old Nius moving forward with Kipset over his shoulder.
As they walked, the horse's screams got more intense. They started to see the blood flowing down and moving like snakes down the depths. For Inorra, who never saw such a bloody scene, he began to feel weird, but his weirdness intensified when reaching where Vlad was dealing with Glim.
He was met by a disfigured guy, missing his hands and legs. His rest of the arms had their skin split in two sections, he couldn't see his backside, but the blood around him was visible that Vlad was merciless.
The front of his body had diverse cuts from deep to small. Each of those cuts seemed not to touch his vital organs. He was still alive, but he had the face of someone with brain damage. His facial expression was blank. He couldn't even scream or say something, a sign that even his tongue cut.
Inorra turned to look at Vlad, who had his entire body covered in blood, from his medium size hair to the last piece of his clothes. His face also got covered in blood, making his cold and sinister eyes even scarier together with his bloodied face.
The most shocking feature Vlad had at that moment reflected a murderous intent was his slightly pleased smile.
Inorra trembled a bit next to Nius, but the old man touched his shoulder a bit. He started thinking about Vlad's change.
'Gosh, is this really brother Zagreus? I've never seen him like this. Didn't he get too serious with this incident? I can't even recognize if the one in front is Glim or someone else. Argh, I feel like puking from all this blood smell.'
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When sensing old Nius and Inorra looking at him, especially Inorra, Vlad said in a calm tone.
"Old man, you got quite fast here. Sigh, I was about to finish off this snake, but now you have to see this side of mine. It's quite annoying because I don't have any explanation for this. That's just who I'm, a messed up person."
"No worries, lad, I know exactly who you are. You have done what you should have done. Also, don't worry about me viewing you differently after this. So, just finish off this annoying rat and get over it. He already tasted enough pain that he could even imagine."
Nodding his head at what old Nius said, he turned to look at Inorra while cleaning his blood-covered face and shifting the way his eyes stared, looking now with serene eyes at him.
"You shouldn't be afraid of me. This is just the punishment I see fit for this bastard who caused you all this pain when you clearly were innocent people in my problems.
Unfortunately, you're here to see this scum suffer. I would instead not let you know this side of mines. I hope you don't get crazy ideas about me. I'm still the same guy that you met 2 years ago, not some kind of monster or devil as what you will hear in later days from ignorant fools."
Seeing the kind way that Vlad looked towards him made Inorra start to get out his first thoughts that he had when seeing him bloodied and the dismembered Glim and said to him.
"I know that you will be the same person, the poor boy that had to ask for food from others to survive. Nothing will change my view on you, Zag."
Saying that towards Vlad, he turned towards Kipset, who was unconscious on old Nius' shoulder.
"Do you hear that, brother Kipset! The bastard who caused you to suffer and almost our death, now in anguish soon to journey his resting place."
Kipset, who was still profoundly sleeping on old Nius's shoulder, only murmured something as if to approved what Kipset just said.
Hearing what Inorra said, Vlad shook his head and said back. "There's no need to get your conscious dirtied yet, you still have some more years of innocence that you have to enjoy, even if they are spent in this cursed environment. "
After he ended saying that, Vlad turned back to Glim, who could only look blankly at him. He was not able to think of anything else. His brain only sent him pain, endless pain signals. Looking at Glim coldly, he mumbled something under his breath and swiftly took down the boy's head with his bloodied sword.
The head of this pummeled young man dropped on the rocky floor of the gallery, and after that, Vlad said to Nius while continuing to wipe the blood on him.
"Old man, you should move forward and exit the mine. I'll stay a bit more down here to let all those people trying to escape move away without getting in my mess.
Old Nius was still shocked by how Vlad disposed of Glim, thinking something different regardless of what he just heard.
'How can it be possible for a boy who clearly didn't have any sword training to slash a head so cleanly and not even be disturbed by the concept of ending one's life.
'This boy is really a natural-born killer? Or has a darker past that morphed him in this state of walking the path of insanity. '
'Sigh, poor kid, I really wonder how much pain did you had to experience to turn this way.'
"Okay, lad, but you better be careful. Don't try to fight or resist Belpel since you can't fight him yet. You're still a long way to go before beating him."
"Indeed, I also heard from the guards I killed that Mayer awaits for me. Belpel is the mastermind of this entire charade. Haha, they even assembled in front of the gallery entrance 50-60 guards to deal with a still wet brat." laughed Vlad by himself, thinking that this situation he was in really looked like a fantasy.
"Kid, are you sure that you will not get killed by that Mayer?" asked Nius, quite troubled when thinking about the number of guards outside.
"I'm pretty sure about this. That pig ordered the guards to rough me up a bit, but he will not trouble himself killing me, at least not now. Hah, he thinks that by torturing me, I will taste his so-called Hell. Such a foolish person. To think he even got this far in life."
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When Nius heard Vlad said that, he thought to himself while stocking his long white beard.
'Kid, from your perspective, what all those guys are doing to you, is simply useless, not affecting your mental state whatsoever, but if it was someone else, let's say Inorra or Kipset, they would collapse under the pressure. '
'I fear that if I don't help you start managing your anger issues, it would at one point get harmful for you.'
After thinking that, he got his focus back and responded to Vlad by saying.
"Lad, you know better what you're doing. Let's go, little Inorra, or else we will get in trouble, and I don't want any trouble with those crazy people outside. We better still find running miners to blend in. See you later, Zagreus. If you're tortured, please just pretend to faint. There's no need to get yourself punished too much."
Finally, Vlad smiled at the old man and signaled him to get moving with his hand. When the two disappeared from his view, he walked next to a wall and casually dropped on his butt.
Supporting his back with the mine wall, Vlad started admiring his work. He started reciting an ancient greek poem that was precisely in the Greek language.
["Shine for as long as you live,
Don't be sad about anything,
For life is short
And time will demand its due."]
Sighing, he spotted the trail of blood coming down to where he was, and the blood pool created while punishing Glim started to flow down on different broken holes that he didn't know how long they were.
The blood flowing down to unknown depths and earth cracks, slowly he started wondering how deep this mine was in reality or why the mine floor he worked got flooded so often.
Supporting his back using the wall, he started leaning back his head to look at the roof of the mine. Not long after that, he closed his eyes and tried to take a break, sleeping for a bit to calm his endless thoughts and curiosities.
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It didn't take long for him to sleep. As his mind stopped extending his resource usage, this stoppage allowed him to let his deep thoughts ingrained in his mind show up.
His world darkened in no time, and slowly, he felt the same scenario that happened 2 years ago when he had that marking dream, a very dimly light pathway, where only he was there.
However, this time he could see something new. This pathway seemed to be a path that led to a room, while on the other two sides was a frigid-inducing void.
'This place. I'm here once again, but this time it seems that it a bit settled down. Should I go along this pathway and see what awaits me? But where's that voice?'
"Is someone here?"
'I asked once again, yet there was no response coming back. All I could do is in this situation was to test the waters and move forward."
"It's just a dream. Nothing would happen here. Just a dream."
He began walking forward, unhindered by anything, until he could see a large blackish door that released a dark smoke-like substance.
Finally, when he got there, the winds began blowing harder, making him move back some steps and even unbalance him to go toward the frigid void as if someone arrived there and watched him.
"What the heck is this? From where did such wind came out of nowhere?"
-- "APPROACH. YOU HAVE TO APPROACH THE GATE! THERE'S NOTHING TO FEAR GOING THERE. IT'S A SAFE PLACE FOR YOU." --
"Who are you? Show yourself."
'That's all I could ask in this kind of weird situation I was when hearing this voice that doesn't belong to a man nor woman.'
-- "NOT YET. NOT YET. YOU ARE NOT READY YET. PUSH THE DOOR." --
"Damn you, are you sure it is safe to open that thing? My god, I'm probably talking to myself right now. I'm really turning crazy."
Commented Vlad when looking left and right, yet seeing nothing. All that he could feel was the chilling winds that appeared around him as if approaching him or distancing.
-- "FEAR NOT, YOU ARE STILL SANE. APPROACH THE GATE. YOUR TIME IS TICKING BEFORE YOU WILL LEAVE MY INFLUENCE." --
"FINE, I will see for myself what this gate is all about."
As Vlad said that, he walked back to the gate that gave him this frigid sensation around him, yet without any solutions to get out from this dream, he placed his hands on the dark-smoke releasing door, and suddenly he felt a jolt run inside of him before a deep pain struck him
"ARGHH. WHY DOES IT HURT ME LIKE THIS WHEN IT IS JUST A DREAM, RESPOND!"
But following his roar, his vision darkened again, and like the last time, he felt that he was dropping into an abyss before opening his eyes quickly. However, before waking up, he could hear the genderless tone saying a more calmly and collected tone.
-- "This is the process of awakening, my master. It will keep hurting like you want to die until you awaken the power dormant inside of you." --
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"AHHHHHH, What was that! Was that yet another of those weird dreams? I'm really going insane?" asked Vlad while calming himself down from his initial scream.
He could feel that his entire body was sweating and that his temperature also lowered down a bit for unknown reasons to him.
Taking time to recover from that nightmare, he finally decided to walk out to see what Mayer was up to this time.
Preparing his sword in hand to be more menacing looking when walking out, he failed to notice a breath of miners rushing out from the mines.
He was the only one inside.
In this way, Vlad could walk out without fearing anything or coerced by anyone, knowing that the torture he would receive was just a sham to please Mayer Loftso.
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For the people outside of the mine, it was quite a show to watch. From the moment the quake inside the mine happened and the fleeing miners started to pop out, every guard on the spot overlooking the exit only held sneering faces. Especially the man in front of the guards was the one who prepared for this for a while.
Around 15 minutes since the quake, time passed, and the guard in front asked the guards behind him.
"Has anyone seen a boy with small squinted eyes with tanned skin, average in size, and black hair exiting?"
"No sir, no one so far." replied a guard next to him in a rapid manner.
After some minutes, finally, all the miners managed to exit the mine. Surprisingly the last batch of people to exit contained an old man carrying a boy on his shoulder followed by a tanned boy walking with his left arm limping around.
"Sir, I think everyone in the gallery got out. Should we wait a little bit more until we enter inside?" asked another guard next to Belpel.
'That rat probably failed and got himself killed. Well, whatever. As long I get that Zagreus guy and present him to Mayer, it doesn't matter if the rat died. He served his purpose.'
"I'll wait one more hour if no one gets out, storm the mine and bring that boy by force if he doesn't want to get out nicely."
After waiting an hour, finally, someone came out of the mine. It was a young man with black hair, holding a sword strolling out. If one looked closely, one could notice his calm face and his green eyes that gave the boy a mysterious demeanor.
He had his hands covered in cloths, his clothes had marks of blood all over them, but at least his face now was clean compared to how he was when finishing Glim.
The boy stopped for a bit, looking at the guards and especially at the middle-aged guard in the front, who seemed quite average.
Not long after stopping, he resumed walking toward the guards while holding his sword in his right hand, from slow steps to increasing his speed as if he wanted to slash them.
The guards panicked a bit, and Belpel took out a spear from his back while looking straight at the boy rushing at him and his men.
"Hear me out, Zagreus! Cease your madness and drop your sword, or else you'll be killed at once."
The boy didn't respond back and only rushed toward Belpel with a calm face and cold dark-green eyes while holding his sword ready for a sword thrust.
When meters away, close enough to hear someone's breathing while Vlad was preparing for a sword thrust, he stopped instantly and dropped his sword from his hold. Furthermore, when doing so, he looked at Belpel in the face and smirked at him, saying.
"Why so serious head guard Belpel? Aren't we aquaintances? Do you think I'm so suicidal and try to kill you? No. Right, before we move to meet Mayer, don't look for that tanned-skinned boy Glim or your guards that you've sent to apprehend me."
"Whatever, it is their fault in the first place for being useless and getting themselves killed by a little shit."
Replied Belpel, where he looked at Vlad with angry eyes, ready to unleash on him for killing his men, but he masked that anger with indifference.
He was signaling the guard behind him to grab Vlad that was standing in front of him. Quickly without asking any questions, they captured the boy, and with ropes, they bound him so he couldn't fight back.
Belpel nodded his head. Still angry at what Vlad told him regarding his guards, he ordered his man to move toward the torture chamber close to the administrative block.
When moving Vlad, the miners who escaped from the mine and watched Zagreus fight the guards shouted for the others to notice while panicking.
"The demon walked up, run guys. He's going to kill and eat us all."
Vlad was pissed by what he heard, reminding him how people treated him in his first life. Still, with a hint of sarcasm, he turned his head toward the miner, panicking.
"Piss off slave, do you think I will even bother with you and kill you for no reason?"
The guards reacted by pushing him to walk, where Vlad's only reaction was to laugh out loud at the entire situation, feeling that those miners were a lost cause.
......
A/N: Was that a fitting end for a snake?
Also, what is going on inside Vlad's head? Is he okay?
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