Alhen didn’t know how much time had passed.

  Every couple of hours, Kalle would come into the room, torture him, and give him some kind of liquid that healed all of his injuries.

  He would then leave, and the cycle would repeat itself.

  The torture was light at first, but the increasing intensity has been slowly driving him insane.

  Kalle was a man who enjoyed thoroughly attacking every angle to get a reaction out of you, whether with words or actions.

  And that’s something Alhen came to know very well during his stay there.

  “Gahh!” Alhen screamed once again.

  He found himself tied to the chair, with his head and legs strapped so he couldn’t move them.

  His arm was tied to the armrest with a thick rope, palm facing downward.

  Kalle inserted a small metal needle under Alhen’s fingernails.

  His fingernails were being ripped out one by one.

  The pain became excruciating as the needle made contact with the soft tissue from underneath.

  He didn’t stop at the fingernails; he pushed past until the skin from the fingers opened and flicked upwards to remove the nail.

  “Ughh!” No matter how much time had passed, he still couldn’t get used to the pain.

  “Bad kids need to be punished. That is something that my mentor used to tell me whenever I did something bad.” Kalle took a second to laugh in delight.

  “Whenever it was time to be tortured, I was scared.” Kalle took a second to observe Alhen with a calculating gaze.

  Alhen’s cheeks were stained with tears that reached his lips.

  He could taste the subtle salt when they entered his mouth.

  In his mind, all he could do to keep sane was repeat the word.

  “Fuck fuck fuck!”

  This was worse than the torture he went through at the church.

  He barely paid attention to Kalle’s speech, but he continued.

  “At first, the feeling of terror persisted in my body, but then I realized that it was not bad at all; it was not a punishment,” he paused, looking at Alhen straight in the eye with widely opened eyes.

  “Alhen, let me tell you, I began to love it,” Kalle said with a smile that seemed to reach his ears.

  Kalle held Alhen’s shoulder, looking at him straight in the eye, “I loved it.”

  Alhen could only see a crazy man mumbling nonsense.

  “When I had this epiphany, the world, which was once devoid of color, finally started to unravel before me. I saw everything in a new light, I saw…” Kalle stopped, looking melancholic.

  Alhen’s mind started clearing, although he didn’t have the energy or the will to keep coherent thoughts running in it.

  “Alhen, let me tell you something that you would be wise not to forget. The world will find a way to take everything away from you, and it will do so when you are at your peak.”

  “When that happens… I want you to remember me and my story,” Kalle said.

  His breaths were pronounced and heavy, with his chest rising and falling rapidly.

  Kalle took a brief pause as he’d taken all of Alhen’s fingernails.

  “Let me tell you, I once had a black cat, his name was Li. It was gifted to me since I was born, and I loved that animal with my heart,” Kalle began.

  Alhen looked at him, a flicker of recognition passing through his eyes.

  ‘This, it’s almost the same beginning as Henry’s story,’ he thought.

  “He used to follow me everywhere, and I fed him with care. When Lord Aklas Blessed me, I knew that I had to make a worthy sacrifice for the ritual, and he was the perfect subject…” Kalle paused.

  He looked at the ceiling and remembered the moment.

  “Unfortunately, I could not do it. I was afraid, weak… pathetic. I am incomplete, Alhen, Lord Aklas found me unworthy, and took my sanity away."

  “Every cycle, I have these nightmares…” Kalle held his head, looking as if in pain.

  “The only way I can make it all go away… the only way I can stop this pain inside of me, is by killing, torturing, causing pain, even to myself, do you understand?”

  Alhen didn’t utter a word, choosing to remain silent and hear his rant.

  “I was so angry, so mad, my blood boiled. Lord Aklas, I love him, but he does not love me back. Tell me, Alhen, what would you have done if you were in my position? Ahhh!!” Kalle screamed.

  Alhen opened his eyes widely, not expecting his outburst.

  “I had to kill it, that damn cat! Because of him, I am like this. I am weak, no matter what I do, Lord Aklas will never love me,” Kalle rushed and held Alhen’s shoulders with strength, looking at him in the eyes.

  “The king, that man belittles me, thinks I am a disappointment, but I will show him… I will show him what I am capable of,” Kalle said before letting go of his shoulders.

  Kalle smiled before saying, “I am not a fighter, Alhen, but I have talent. And I will show the whole world true bliss.”

  Alhen didn’t dare to speak up; the man was unstable.

  “Very well, the warmup is over; it is time for the real deal,” Kalle said.

  Alhen’s heart dropped as he heard his words.

  He could only hope that this nightmare would end soon.

  “Are you ready, Alhen? Well, it does not matter what you say; it is time to give you an eye checkup.”

  Alhen’s gaze stood on Kalle’s grin; he looked perverted.

  Alhen could tell that he enjoyed the torture way too much.

  From Kalle’s perspective, the eyes of Alhen reflected primal fear, making him feel butterflies in his stomach.

  Kalle got extremely close to Alhen, looking deeply into his eyes.

  Alhen felt as if he didn’t see him as a person, but as an object that gave him a twisted kind of pleasure.

  Kalle then stopped smiling, looking at Alhen with narrowed eyes.

  “I did not think about it before, but breaking you seems to be easier than expected.”

  “Was I wrong about you? Is the son of the Kovesh not that big of a deal?” He began frowning and looking at Alhen intently as if trying to discern the truth.

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  Alhen avoided his gaze, deciding to look to the wall beside him instead.

  “Hey, answer me? Why are you breaking so easily? Why are you not looking at me? Why are you so weak?” Kalle asked, his expression showing genuine confusion.

  Alhen, at the mention of Kalle’s words, gritted his teeth in anger and stared at him in the eyes.

  He knew that he wasn’t the strongest person out there.

  He knew that he was weak and often afraid, but hearing it coming out of someone else’s mouth infuriated him.

  Kalle looked at those eyes filled with hate, and something clicked inside his brain.

  “Wait a second, could it be that you are actually strong, but I am stronger?” He asked himself.

  A small smile started resurfacing again.

  “I get it now, it is not that you are weak, it is just that my methods have improved. To think that I could make the Kovesh’s son squirm in pain like a worm, how marvelous!” Kalle exclaimed, hugging his body.

  “Hahaha!” Kalle began laughing heartily.

  “Don’t think that you are special. How come you believe that you have broken me when you have yet to make me lose my fire? If I were broken, then I wouldn’t do this,” Alhen said before spitting on Kalle’s shoe.

  Kalle’s expression immediately dropped after that, looking way angrier than before.

  “You just had to ruin the moment, did you not? Very well, I will show you what happens to feisty children.”

  With the needle in hand, Kalle neared it to Alhen’s widened eyes.

  He closed them out of instinct and fear, but couldn’t stop what came next.

  “Why are you fighting? Why do you not accept this blessing with open arms? Pain is not your enemy; it is but your ally,” Kalle said softly.

  This was the same thing that Father Vincent had said to him, which made him grit his teeth and struggle even harder.

  “You will thank me soon enough when you understand what I am talking about.”

  Alhen could barely open his mouth, and his body was paralyzed from fear.

  Kalle opened his left eye with his fingers with some effort and inserted the needle underneath the eye socket despite all of Alhen’s struggles.

  “Gurrgh!” Alhen gave out a gut-wrenching scream.

  Blood came out, forming a small stream that gradually grew into a large one.

  Alhen cried tears of blood, feeling his eye being ripped out of its socket, and began to release all of its liquid.

  With a strong tug, his eye landed on the floor, making a wet sound.

  “Huff, Huff, Huff,” Alhen breathed with difficulty.

  As soon as his eye was taken out, that’s when he truly realized that no one was going to save him.

  He was alone, alone with something horrible, a monster wearing human skin.

  Kalle smiled widely before kneeling and picking up the eye that had fallen on the floor.

  He held it in front of Alhen and turned it in all directions, inspecting it almost with the same curiosity as a newborn.

  “The eye of the son of the Kovesh, right in the palm of my hands. I wonder how they will call me once they hear of my feats? Kalle the great? Kalle the torturer? Kalle the conqueror?” Kalle said to himself as he smiled.

  Alhen looked at him with his only eye, feeling the need to kill him right at that instant.

  “Y-You will be called Kalle the fool. You will be known as the guy who messed with the Kovesh’s son and died because of it, n-nothing more, nothing less,” Alhen said, his voice trembling.

  Kalle laughed at him, dismissing his words with ease and not bothering to hide his disdain.

  At this point, a considerable amount of time had passed, and still no one had shown up.

  Alhen had already abandoned the idea of someone coming to save him.

  The only thought in his mind was that of ‘I need to get out of here. I need to get out of here!’ He was desperate.

  He tried thinking of something to do, something to distract Kalle and give him room to breathe and figure out another way to escape his situation.

  He looked at the wooden cart behind Kalle, which held multiple tools that could be used as weapons or aid him in coming up with something creative.

  ‘If only I could get one of those,’ Alhen thought.

  “What are you looking at?” Kalle asked.

  “Do not tell me that you have already lost your mind; that would be pathetic.”

  Alhen turned to look at him, not allowing any expression to show on his face.

  “If that truly were to happen, I would have no use for you. I will have to kill you,” Kalle added.

  Alhen opened his mouth before closing it again, seemingly hesitating to say something.

  Kalle raised an eyebrow at this, and soon after, Alhen spoke.

  “Can I have some food? If I don’t, I will just give up,” Alhen threatened, looking serious with what he had said.

  He waited for an answer, hoping that Kalle was too much of a lunatic to care about his struggles and carry out his request.

  His stomach growled the next second, as if agreeing with his words.

  Kalle stopped to think, looking at the ceiling as he did so.

  Alhen could only wonder what went through his mind.

  He didn’t have much hope, but he wished that Kalle could at least grant him this simple request.

  Kalle, who looked to be pondering his decision just a few seconds ago, now smiled widely.

  “After thinking about it, I have decided to grant your request. I will be back with the finest quality food. Also, I have to put your eye on my display as my most precious possession and feat to date,” Kalle said.

  Before he left the room, however, he stopped, placing a cloth over Alhen’s missing eye before standing in the doorway.

  Kalle wiped the smile off his face as he looked back.

  “Do not even think for a second to mess with me. If you do anything, I will know, and I will punish you,” he said.

  With those words, he left the room, practically skipping, and Alhen got a bad feeling in his chest.

  ‘There’s no doubt, this guy is planning on torturing me with the food. I have to find out how to escape fast!’

  As soon as the door closed, Alhen got to work.

  Every time, after torturing him, Kalle always left the room with his tools, not leaving anything behind.

  This time it was different.

  If he could secure something sharp to kill Kalle in one fell swoop, that would surely increase his chances of survival.

  ‘Last time, I shot at his stomach; this time, I have to hit somewhere delicate, somewhere that will kill him in less than a second.’

  ‘Thankfully, my blessing will allow me to do just that; now all I need is the perfect tool to carry it out,’ Alhen thought.

  His whole body shook, especially his left arm, which seemed to have lost most of its energy.

  The cold air seeped into his exposed flesh, making it tremble.

  The distance from himself and the tools was not great, but one wrong move and he would be left stuck, angering Kalle for trying to disobey him.

  Alhen leaned back just enough before pushing forward and trying to jump, moving the chair slightly forward.

  ‘This can work!’ He exclaimed in his mind, not minding the pain coming from the exposed flesh where his fingernails should be.

  ‘Alright, if it takes Kalle the same time for him to grab a vial and bring it to me, that would be a solid five minutes.’

  ‘Now he is putting my eye on display or something like that, and also preparing some food. I have to hurry up and be done within ten minutes just to be safe.’

  Alhen kept on moving, counting the seconds in his head.

  The chair made a loud creaking sound every time he moved, making him curse in his thoughts.

  ‘Thankfully, the door is closed and will muffle the sound a bit, but I have to hurry up; if he’s close, or someone else is close, they will hear it either way,’ he thought.

  Alhen pushed forward with barely audible grunts of pain and struggle.

  After a couple of minutes, his efforts bore fruit, having finally closed the distance.

  The problem now was that his hand barely had freedom of movement.

  He searched for a tool he could grab; the table had three trays in vertical rows, all of them filled with possible weapons.

  ‘I have to pick one that he won’t notice when he arrives, one that is discreet and hidden from plain sight.’

  His gaze swept through many objects until his eyes landed on some scissors with a dangerously sharp edge.

  It barely poked out of the middle tray with the many other tools and matched the conditions he had set up.

  Coupled with that, it didn’t seem hard to grab.

  His hands were tied to the armrest of the chair and poked out enough that he could take hold of objects.

  Alhen had to get closer to be able to grab the scissors, however, and he did just that.

  It took some time to do so, and he subtracted more minutes from his timer, being careful not to fall or knock the tray onto the ground.

  When Alhen was close enough, he stretched his fingers forward, reaching out slowly.

  He gritted his teeth with effort and pain, feeling his damaged muscles sting from the stretch.

  Alhen felt his finger making contact with the hard metal, and carefully wrapped his middle finger around the handle.

  Making sure not to drop it, he pulled it out of the tray and hung it loosely on his finger.

  Curling his middle finger, he used his thumb to get it to his hand, but it slipped at the last second before he could grasp it.

  “Crap!” Alhen let out a small yelp.

  With quick movements, the scissor spun, and Alhen barely caught it by the blade.

  He held back a hiss as he cut his fingers, and he felt that if he squeezed tighter, they would eventually come off.

  Blood fell to the floor as he tried regripping the damn scissors in his hand, eventually being able to do so, but his fingers suffered heavily.

  His arm started trembling even more, but he didn’t mind it; at least he had achieved what he wanted.

  ‘Alright, good, thankfully my fingers are not bound, that would be tragic,’ he thought.

  Alhen made a gargantuan effort to move his arm so his palm faced up, making sure to be careful and not drop the scissors.

  The rope binding his hand was tight, but not so tight that it prevented him from flipping his arm.

  He carefully rested the dull edge under his wrist and began cutting the rope with the sharp edge, moving his wrist up and down with precision.

  Alhen was slow and methodical with his actions.

  A single wrong move and the scissors could slip out of his grip or cut something he shouldn’t, ultimately dying of blood loss.

  The rope was thick, but the scissors were sharper than a knife, cutting through it without problem.

  It took some time because of his limited range of motion, but he eventually managed to become unbound.

  ‘Good!’ he raised his arm in a celebratory gesture, ignoring the pain coming from his fingers.

  ‘Kalle probably underestimated me because I’m practically a kid,’ Alhen thought.

  ‘If I can take him by surprise, I could kill him… No, what am I saying, I have to escape, there’s no way for me to take him on in my current state.’

  Now being free, the desire to kill Kalle dropped considerably as he started thinking more rationally.

  He then proceeded to cut the bindings on his legs and stood, with them feeling like jelly.

  ‘Alright, I have to get out of here.’

  “Tap, Tap!” Before he could step outside, however, he heard footsteps approaching his location.

  ‘Shit!’ he thought, looking at the mess in the room and wondering how he would escape this situation with the amount of time he was offered.