Adjustment

Opening his eyes groggily, the world faded into view.

Green flooded Solans eyes as he adjusted to the bright world.

At least in contrast to the dark void he had found himself previously.

In fact, it wasn't bright at all. It was almost pitch black.

The only light was the almost ethereal light of the moon on the quiet landscape.

Or it had been quiet before a scream cut through the forest. A gut-wrenching visceral scream.

It was his scream.

Solan's body was burning. An absolute, undying, unending burning. His left half was in more pain than he had ever felt. His entire life's worth of suffering and pain paled in comparison to this moment.

His screams echoed throughout the forest.

Somewhere, seemingly far away, a pattern of footsteps sped towards him.

He didn't have the chance to see who's it was before his consciousness left.

The final thing he had heard were the words

"This boy has been forsaken by the very gods."

…

Eventually Solans consciousness came back to him, this time without the pain he had experienced before.

It took another long while for him to adjust to the bright light in the room; this time it was the light of the sun.

Once he could comfortably open his eyes without squinting, he looked around.

He was somewhere. This wasn't his village, nor was it the forest he had found himself before; the walls were covered in implements; he couldn't even guess their purpose; everything was draped in cloth with expensive-looking furniture around the room.

He felt a softness under him, and looking down, he saw a pristine white bed, far too clean for his liking.

Once he got out of bed, he looked down at himself, realising that he himself had a cloth wrapped around him.

Something else was off.

Before having a chance to properly inspect himself, however, a voice sounded from behind him.

"Ah, good morning there."

Solan spun around, stumbling over his own feet and tripping. "Ah!"

However, just before he hit the ground, a chair slid from across the hallway, breaking his fall.

"How did you?"

Solan looked up towards the voice that had startled him, only to find a regular-looking man smiling back at him. He was wearing mediaeval-style armour, though it was missing any of the actual armour. He was clad in a leather and cloth mix with small pieces of metal sprayed about; most likely, it's what was worn underneath their armour.

'A knight' Solan thought to himself.

Knights were well known throughout the country for the idea of protecting the land from threats of violence and destruction, yet Solan detested them; not once had they visited Celdon and forgotten about him, yet the people in his village still revered them as their protectors.

Suddenly, the images of what had happened to his village returned to him.

"The village, everyone, what happened to them?"

The knight looked at him questioningly.

"What village? Where are you from? How'd you get here?"

'Wait, if he's a knight, I must be somewhere near the capital' Solan thought

"Celdon, I'm from Celdon; what happened to everyone?"

The knight simply stared at him. Solan knew that the knights had never cared about his village, but surely they at least knew its name.

The knight opened his mouth to speak, but before he could say anything, a loud knock boomed behind the door.

"Sorry, kid, I thought they'd give us more time." His tone was flat and painful.

Before Solan had a chance to ask what he meant, the knight suddenly grabbed his shoulder and moved. But he didn't walk; within the moment, the clean and delicate room Solan had seen himself before turned into a cage of dark brick, stone, and bars.

…

Solan felt a swell of feelings. His vision darkened, his ears popped, and his legs gave out.

Then he collapsed in a pool of his own bile and blood, pouring from his mouth and ears.

Slowly, his senses came back to him, the darkness retreated, the ringing stopped, and after a while, he could even sit back up.

Regaining his feeling allowed him to release the chain binding his neck to the far side of the small cage.

In front of the cage were four faces, watching him like a stray animal.

When he finally understood what was happening and managed to meet their gazes, his head was forced back down into his bile as if he had just gotten far, far heavier.

'What is with this force? I can't even lift my head. I can't breathe.

A forced wheeze came from through his lips, his body begging for any chance at a breath.

A voice boomed from across the table.

"Mutt. You will speak only when spoken to. You will not lift your head. You will not so much as breathe without our permission. Do you understand?"

Solan managed to just barely nod his head when the pressure suddenly lifted, letting him rest on his knees, still slumped over.

"Mutt. What's your name?"

"My… My name is Solan."

Suddenly, the pressure pushing down on him increased tenfold. His knees were crushed into the dark stone brick, and his spine was barely holding.

"Do you think this is a joke? Mentioning that name in here."

Solan felt his eyes popping out of his skull.

"N-No, that's my name."

A chair scraped against the floor, followed by loud steps that seemed to echo inside his head.

His eyes stayed glued to the floor, and he felt that lifting them out of turn would be the last thing he ever did.

A woman kneeled by his cage, staring at him with eyes that seemed to pierce into his soul.

"Look at me." Her voice was absolute; there was no questioning or talking; the only option was to comply.

Solan met her eyes, his reflectionless eyes staring into her seemingly never-ending irises.

Then a shriek filled the hall, but this time it wasn't him; the woman who had kneeled in front of him clutched at her eyes.

Her wails filled his ears as he watched her jerk and shiver.

"He... he isn't human; he isn't even a devil!"

She screamed and shouted curses at Solan, words he didn't understand.

Suddenly The woman started to scratch at her eyelids before two knights came from besides his cage and stopped her, taking her away as she mumbled.

"He should be here; he shouldn't be here!"

As Solan watched the woman be led away, his eyes instinctively jumped towards the first voice.

But before his eyes could even turn, his voice resounded in the hall.

"Is that enough evidence for you, council? This child is not only beyond saving, but he also himself rejects our god's blessing!"

A murmur of agreement spread along the table.

"All those in favour of execution, effective immediately."

Solans face paled. His family was gone, his village was gone, he had died once already, and he was being put to death within minutes of having another chance.

"Wait, what am I being persecuted for, you bastards?"

Solan stood up quickly, being pulled back by the chains binding his neck and falling onto his ass.

"What am I guilty of? Surviving? Is that what I'm being punished for?"

Then four sets of eyes snapped onto him; the very pressure of being watched like that was enough to make his knees shake.

"You vile wretch. Your crime was being born in the first place. Your eyes are a clear sign of it; you lack the very thing that connects you to the gods. You lack a soul."

'This again, its just like what the speck said'

As he thought of the speck that had ruined his right side, he felt a numbness spread across his body.

"You… Any of you think you have the right to judge me?"

The numbness turned to tingling.

"You bastards think you have the authority to judge me!?"

The tingling turned to rage.

"YOU THINK YOU CAN DECIDE MY LIFE FOR ME!"

The rage turned to power.