This is the time

The people around me, the ten men that are supposed to come with me to the floor further. prepared to lose our lives, even though I cannot lose my own. I am a… Weird being now, it feels very weird to actually exist as I do, making me look at death so frequently. How long has it been since we got here… If this day is just like any other, it would be the 12th, twelve days… How far will I have to go to prove myself in the world that is directly despising me, to the point that even the power of this world itself doesn't want to touch me, nothing wants to touch me at this point… Not even flowers, nothing that lives can be within my breath without something happening, how malicious is this. How many things are against me? They seem so precious, yet, I can't even witness them properly. I can't do anything to them really, they are just there for me to look at from a distance. From somewhere far away, somewhere I don't know myself.

And now as I stand once again, all of us, eight to eight. Looking at each other, completely unknowing of each other's intentions. I just want to leave, want to leave this place, the pain, the memory, everything there is. I just want to turn my back against them and move on. Escape this hell, this, whatever it actually is. Just run away.

"What are you doing here?" The man from last time asked, I knew that our 'captain's answer wouldn't be a one to suit the situation. Therefore I had to do something to go any further, if I really want to escape, I have to take care of some things myself.

"We have something from the general, we are supposed to give it to you personally, therefore we are here," I answered before the man that is supposed to rule over us did. Faster than him, I had to, that's the only way, the only right way.

"Why didn't just one of you come?" The man grew suspicious of it, he didn't know why didn't just one person came. It makes sense for him to ask something like that because of just not understanding the nonsense.

"We also wanted to go down to not get yelled at above, we are a little new here therefore we did it this way. You know how harsh it is above yourself." I have to convince them to come close into the stabbing range in which we will just stab them, one quick stab anywhere, and then quickly follow it withholding them in our hands to not let any scream slip.

"Right… The people on the upstairs are pretty harsh sometimes." It worked, there is no doubt inside his voice, he isn't trying to lie. His hands are normal, his eyes seem a lot more relaxed. He himself seems a lot more stressed out himself. He looked at me once again, a large gaze that just got inside my soul. It was there, he was trying to search, but you cannot search if the man is dead. "So, what do you have for us?" He added while coming a little closer to us, he seemed completely not caring and innocent at that.

"A personal letter, you all are higher than us so we were supposed to give one to each of you." He shrugged and all of them slowly started coming to us, step by step it got slower, they didn't seem to suspect anything. As we got right next to each other, all of us in a synchronized motion, all of us, stabbed them right in the gut. All in the same moment and same movement. The weapons of our choice were a variety of daggers, my one being the only one that actually stood out. So, we made this floor… But there are 19 left to go through, or even more than that. Descending might be a task harder than any other yet for me. Going down… And killing, killing people I don't know, killing those that already sinned because of the existing. Killing, a bad thing, a bad thing to personally experience. If something close to dying is considered death, then I am very well accustomed to it.

"Hayden, why did you do it? I was supposed to do the talking." One of the men with me answered, it was the man that came to our cell before and brought the people for Matthew.

"Intuition, don't worry, it worked. That's more important, probably all the next floors will be like that so we need some good excuse to go there." When the words left my dried out mouth, the face of our 'captain' went sour for a second. But then a nice and warm smile appeared instead.

"Right… Let's get to work." Then we immediately started, we went further and on each floor, it was all the same, the same questions, the same process, until we reached level 50. On that level… I haven't seen it before, but there was actually only one prisoner there. And no guards, just one single person. We came close to his cell. This… It was the man who said to create a barrier before, it's the same guy.

"So, it's my time huh?" His voice, a manly voice made me tremble with genuine dread of the unknown. His voice was so strong that even a man that is not scared of death felt the power behind him. He is incredibly powerful, somewhere far beyond that of normal human comprehension, but his body was very thin, shallow, his bones were on his skin, almost leaving his body. We all took off our hats to keep ourselves hidden, but now, all floors are open.

"We are here to help you get out, we want to break out from here and we can't do it without you," I answered his question and it seems that his face got a lot brighter with just sheer emotion behind it, not just happiness, it was also that of a man who lost his mind.

"Do you see this body? The old, destroyed body? How can I help you then?" He is very persistent, I came close to him with no more fear, I adjusted to his strong voice. It was almost like tremors, how old is he? I opened his handcuffs and the moment I was finished, he grabbed me with his hand, an old and dry one with sand on his arms. "Who are you?" He asked me while looking me directly in the eyes, his, were red, dark red with just a dark middle. Completely taking over my mind, those eyes were the only thing I could think about.

"I am Hayden." I had no fear inside of me, I had no regrets behind my actions, I had no thoughts that harm his mind. I was just a man saving his life and he is a man about to be saved. We need him to leave, we need him to lead.

"I Only feel death from you. Why is that?" He asked me once again, another question, this time the tone of his voice changed immensely. He seemed even more serious, his gaze even more piercing, but there is nothing inside me. Just an empty shell of sorts, what else can he see besides death? Nothing, nothing that is.

"I-I, I did that for survival," I answered him, he doesn't know anything, he just knows the smell.

"You had to kill this many to survive… What did you go through? This is very weird for a young man such as you." He stood up and stopped grabbing my hand, then patted my head gently. "Don't worry, I will help you leave." He exclaimed, I grabbed his hand this time, I had something to say.

"Listen, the general will use some skill while imbuing it with blood, I don't know how it works but he will do it." The exclamation once left my mouth, but all of them into disbelief. Especially the old man whom I am holding now.

"Really? And how do you know that?" He asked once again, suspicious of me, very suspicious.

"I just do! You need to believe me, why would I lie to you in this situation?"

"Well, I can't argue with that now, so he uses dark blood magic… Haven't seen that for a long time, at least I am prepared for it now, thanks, kid. Let's go, we have to finally get out." He grabbed me by hand, we flew in an instant above, while doing so, I saw that person from last time fall. A red plummet just passing by my eyes.

Now already upstairs, behind the gate. Now, this must be it, this must be the way we escape. We can finally leave, I hope at least…

"You shall not chain us here no more!" The old man screamed, and a small smile appeared on his mouth.

"Oh, is that so?" The general answered, now the final clash, the clash of two tigers.