Chapter 1: Live in a loop.
*CREAK*
"Why? Why?!" A woman's voice yelled as she entered the dark room and slammed the door behind her. "Why do you always do this to me..." The woman continued with her trembled voice with sadness.
She grabbed something on the wall that sounded bouncy, she walked toward someone who was chained to the wall. She swung that thing in her hand and made a very loud whiplash, she then silently stood there in the dark.
"Did his grace scold you again, my lady?" A soothing and yet weak man's voice asked.
"Shut up!" The woman yelled and whipped him on the left shoulder down to his chest. "It's all your fault for being useless and for being a commoner!" The woman continued as she kept whipping him all over his face and body.
It was nothing but the sound of whiplashes that echoed in the small room, the man didn't even groan nor scream in pain, he accepted it like it was his duty to satisfy her anger. It kept going like that for 10 minutes until she dropped the whip and sniffled.
"Did you hurt your hands again, my lady?" The man asked.
The woman didn't reply and kept sniffling.
"Allow me to treat your wound, my lady..." The man said as he pulled both of his hands from the shackles and broke the chains on the wall.
The man walked to the side and lit the candle, but the woman immediately screamed in fear. The man turned around and slightly smiled at the brown-haired woman who covered her eyes and looked away.
"My apology, my lady... I know that you hate seeing blood, but I have to look at the wound on your hands so I can treat them." The red-haired man said with a naked torso full of scars and covered with blood and sweat.
A man who wasn't even 16 years old could calmly accept his fate as a slave and acted like an adult while the woman on the other hand acted like how a 15 years old woman who saw a scar and blood. Still, she was abusive and didn't hesitate to hurt people because that was how her father treated people who were inferior to him.
The man treated the wound carefully while the woman kept looking away because she couldn't bear to see blood.
"How could you still be able to talk and act calmly with those wounds on your body?" The woman asked shyly.
The man smiled as he wrapped her hands with a bandage. "If my lady is the one who hurt me, I can bear it no matter what you do to me," The man replied as he kept smiling.
"You're weird..." The woman said as she stole a glance at him.
The man just smiled.
"It's done, my lady..." The man stood up and walked away from her.
"Hmm..." The woman hummed.
"I think it's already past your bedtime, my lady. You should get some rest," The man said as he put on his shirt and quietly groaned since the wounds sting quite bad.
The woman looked at the filthy and worn-out shirt that he wore with dried blood stained all over it. She then stood up and left the room without saying a single word. The man glanced at the opened door and immediately closed it after he could no longer hear the woman's footsteps.
The man laid down on the rusty old wooden bed and stared at the ceiling, his eyes were so heavy that he fell asleep immediately.
"Run!" An old woman yelled at him as he watched his whole village burned down by the knights.
He who was 5 years old that couldn't even run properly ran as fast as he could but he got hit by a horse from behind, he was rolled to the ground and hit the tree. A man stood in front of him and immediately grabbed him by the hair then dragged him all the way to the other side of the road while he was unconscious.
*SPLASH*
"Wake up, kid..." A man said.
He gasped as he opened his eyes, he tried to move but realized both his hands and legs were tied to a chair.
"Wh-where am I?!" He asked as he tried to free himself.
A man with a knight uniform approached him and slapped his face gently. "Welcome to the property of the Archduke Valtris, kid. I hope you will enjoy your stay while it last," The knight said as he chuckled and left him in a dark room.
While he tried to remove his hand from the rope, a shadow blocked the light from outside the room. Ares looked up and saw an old man with a beard glaring down at him, the old man kept glaring at him while Ares sat there with fear written all over his face.
"This kid, are you sure about him?" The old man asked.
"Yes, your grace. Based on the vision that I had, he's the one that you're looking for, your grace. But..." A man appeared behind the old man with a coat that covered his whole body and a hood that covered his face. He replied as he looked at him.
"Such a shame..." The old man said. "Rather than throwing him out, let him be her plaything. I'm sick of wasting my time with that monster." The old man continued as he left the room.
The guy with a cloak looked at the old man. "You should give him a name, your grace."
The old man stopped and turned around, he looked at him and nodded. "From now on, your name will be Ares Trasven!" The old man said and Ares suddenly couldn't breathe as if something was choking him.
I will train you to be a proper slave, Ares..." The guy with a cloak said.
That old man's name was Khazad Valtris, the Archduke of the Eurel Empire, the infamous tyrant who united the kingdoms by force and he was the reason that the Eurel Empire was born.
(12 years later.)
"You're so useless!" A young woman with light green eyes glared and screamed at Ares and threw a glass of wine at his face. "All you commoners are the same!" She continued as she walked past him.
Alexandria Valtris, the only child of Khazad Valtris, was neglected and hated by her own father. She wasn't loved by anyone because her mother died after giving birth to her, Khazad Valtris saw her as a monster who killed his loved one.
Ares had to deal with her every day for the past 12 years. He was tortured and humiliated by her whenever she liked, he was nothing but an object to satisfy all her needs. The only thing in his head was how to kill that woman and how to run away from his misery but because of the name that Khazad Valtris gave him, he couldn't go anywhere because of the invisible magic collar that bound him forever until he die.
On Alexandria's 21st birthday, everyone came to celebrate her birthday and Ares was there as well, away from the crowd as he glared at Alexandria with hatred.
"Why are you here on your own?" A knight in his uniform asked Ares. "Huh? Did she beat you up before she showed herself at the party?" The knight scoffed as he looked at the bruises on Ares's face. "Well, she's a monster so I'm not surprised..." The knight mumbled under his breath.
The knight who talked to Ares was Hidar Nezit, the knight commander of the Valtris family. Nobody liked her, even the knights of Valtris didn't want to escort her if it wasn't because she was still a Valtris. All the nobles despised her and acted as if they loved her because of her father since they wanted to be on the good side with Khazad Valtris or their family will be killed in a mysterious way.
"Here have a wine, you're going to enjoy the show soon enough," Hidar said as he offered a glass of wine in his hand.
Ares looked at him and grabbed the glass from his hand, then suddenly he heard a very painful scream coming from the dance floor. He saw Alexandria fall to the ground with blood coming out of her nose and mouth. Ares was thrilled when he saw Alexandria on the floor dying with nobody wanting to help her. Ares smiled as he took a sip of the wine and listened to Alexandria's scream and finally she stopped moving with her eyes wide open.
"His grace poisoned his own daughter, isn't that surprising?" Hidar asked.
"No, I'm glad that he did..." Ares said as he kept drinking the wine.
"Well, sooner or later they would find the person who poisoned her, and that's why his grace asked me personally to find a scapegoat," Hidar said as he crossed his arms.
Ares was frozen and stopped drinking the wine, he slowly turned his head to look at Hidar. Hidar was smirking at him and started chuckling mischievously. "Goodbye, Ares, you're no longer needed here..." Hidar said as he stabbed Ares right into his heart.
Ares fell to the ground and he could hear Hidar screaming and saying that the culprit behind Alexandria's death was Ares's doing. His eyes were heavy and could no longer resist the tiredness and the sleepiness, he then closed his eyes for eternity, or so he thought.
"Run!" An old woman yelled at Ares as he watched his whole village burned down by the knights.
Ares stood there and stared at the same scenery that happened in his past, but it felt so real that he couldn't believe it.
"Run!" The old woman yelled at him again.
Ares started to run but immediately got struck by a horse and was thrown away to the road.
"What... is happening..." Ares said to himself as he tried to stand up.
"Wow, you're still alive? That's a relief..." A knight said and immediately smacked Ares's head with the handle of the sword.
---
"You're now Ares Trasven..." Khazad said as he glared down at Ares.
---
"You useless commoner!" Alexandria said as she splashed the wine on Ares's face.
---
"Don't let him run! He's the one who poisoned Lady Alexandria! Catch him!" Hidar screamed as he chased Ares.
Ares ran as fast as he could but he took an arrow on the head and immediately fell down and died at the front gate of the castle.
Ares groaned as he held his head after he got shot by an arrow on his head.
"Ares Trasven..." A loud voice called his name.
Ares's eyes were wide open. "Who's there?!" Ares stood up as he realized he was in a dark space with no end to it.
"Ares Trasven, you have to save her or you will always be in a loop for eternity..." The voice said.
"Save who?!" Ares asked as he looked up and around.
"Alexandria Valtris... save her..." The voice answered.
"Why?" Ares asked.
"All the pain that you have been through, all the memories that you had will always be with you, forever..." The voice said and ignored Ares's question and it slowly faded away.
Ares still had no idea what was going on but then he could hear the sound of people screaming and the crackling sound of fire around him. He looked around suddenly the darkness was being sucked toward Ares and he was suddenly back to where his village was being burned by the knights.
"Run!" The old woman yelled at Ares.
Ares was dumbfounded and suddenly a horse struck him from the side.
Ares gasped as he sat up and looked at his surroundings, he was in his room and he looked at his shirt that was covered with his blood from earlier. He stood up as he caught his breath and poured himself a cup of dirty water.
"I know... I'm trying..." Ares said as he looked at the melted candle in front of him.
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