Chapter 5: Got The Life

The frigid cold air bit at Lloyds skin as he dashed through the outskirts of Eastwatch. His breath ragged and rough as he panted through his final few kilometres of his run.

"Finally I'm almost finished for the day." He panted

The rhythmic noise of his steps soothed his soul, but is quickly drawn out by the sheer exhaustion that is hitting his body. In truth he felt like he'd collapse at any given moment

And that's when he heard it, a faint distance scream which was quick to disappear

He paused and gazed over to a distant thicket of trees which bordered the path he ran.

A horse and carriage was waiting inside Lloyd sneaked over and hid behind a berry bush.

He saw two men lift up a knocked out child who was placed on the front carriage.

His stomach tightened. "Kidnappers," he muttered. He trudged over and hid in the foliage.

'Shit, what do I do? I can't call Selene, I left my arc link back at home, but I can't exactly run back. They'll probably be gone by then,' he strained to think, searching for an answer before coming to a somewhat rash conclusion.

He dashed over, sneaky but fast and lightly jumped onto the back of the carriage. Inside was filled with cargo and boxes which gave off a sickeningly sweet smell. Lloyd manoeuvred over and hid behind some of the boxes while covering himself in a large cloth rag

'Guess being small can come in handy.'

The ride seemed endless, the rhythmic bounce of the wheels over rough terrain lulling him into a daze. When the carriage finally stopped, he forced himself to stay still, listening as footsteps entered the carriage and gradually left. Peering through a crack in the wood, he watched the figures disappear behind a crude hidden wooden hatch in the ground.

'Where are they taking that kid?' From what he saw and heard, there were two men involved in the kidnapping scheme.

He slipped out and approached the entrance, lifting the hatch just enough to see below. A dimly lit tunnel stretched downward, the flickering torches casting grotesque shadows on the walls.

'Should I enter? Is this the right thing to do?' Considering his options, he realized he was in the middle of nowhere, with no idea how to get back. As soon as he jumped onto the carriage, he had already left himself with no choice.

'Will I have to kill those two men? Can I?' Taking a deep breath, he descended.

The moment he stepped inside, the stench of filth and decay hit him like a punch to the gut. 

He descended lower before being met with a long corridor.

Rows of iron-barred cells lined the sides of the underground chamber. Inside each was a child, gaunt and hollow-eyed. Some were too weak to react, others too terrified to speak. The sight of them made his stomach churn. Scars, scratches, and bruises covered their bodies. Some had already perished, their bodies decaying slowly in the cold, damp air.

He slowly approached the cell, his eyes in disbelief. There weren't just one or two children—there were tens, possibly hundreds.

Each cell was packed with children. Their hollow eyes met his, some too weak to react, others too terrified to even speak. The sight made him feel sick and ill, but more than anything… It ignited anger.

'Those two bastards, I'll fucking kill them.'

Continuing his walk, there were multiple corridors passing through the one he was currently walking in. He took multiple turns before finally seeing more cells lining the sides.

Then he saw them—demons. Shackled, but very much present. Their eerie, glowing eyes followed his every move. Some were nothing more than hunched, misshapen creatures, but others were disturbingly human-like, their grins twisted in amusement.

A lump formed in his throat. This wasn't just some criminal operation—it was something far worse. He was sure it couldn't just be those two men involved in this.

He needed to get out now, find Selene, and get reinforcements. But as he turned to leave, a voice barked behind him.

"Hey!"

His stomach dropped. He bolted, his heart hammering in his chest. Heavy footsteps pounded behind him. He twisted through the maze of tunnels, but his body was already screaming from exhaustion.

'That darn training plan,' he cursed in his head.

A sharp pain exploded at the back of his head. "Akhh!" The world spun. He hit the ground hard, his vision blurring. The last thing he saw was a pair of boots stepping toward him before darkness swallowed him whole.

Lloyd woke up to hunger gnawing at his stomach, his throat dry and raw. His hands were bound, arms stretched painfully high above his head. His body ached from the cold stone beneath him.

'What… happened?' His mind felt foggy and disconnected.

'Where am I?'

His head hurt with a slow thumping pain. He felt groggy and numb.

"W-Water, I need water," he attempted to crawl forward but to no avail. His hands were tied above his head with long chains. His wrists were sore and red from the tightened cuffs.

He was in a small one-man cell, assuming it was in the underground chamber he had stupidly decided to explore, believing he could stop the kidnappers. Who knew this was such a large criminal operation?

'Fuck.'

Days passed in a miserable haze, his mind slipping between hunger-fueled hallucinations and bitter reality. The guards only came to toss scraps of stale bread and murky water at him.

Because of his hands being tied, he disgracefully licked the cold grimy floor in order to drink the water, but he had to. He had to survive.

Then, one day, they finally came for him.

Weathered down and beaten, he stared at the ground. He heard the distant footsteps of someone approaching his cell. 'Finally, more water.' To his surprise, he looked up to see a man unlocking the cell, swinging the door wide open. He unlocked Lloyd's chains from the wall and threw a bag over his head.

"You bastard, let me go. I'll kill you," Lloyd voiced with all his strength, but all that left him was a faint whisper, barely audible.

"Tch, you disgusting creature," the man retaliated, shoving him forward out of the cage.

Lloyd was so hungry and thirsty that he didn't have the strength left to be angry.

The man led him through the corridor, holding the chains that tied his hands together. He heard the muffled cries of other prisoners as they were loaded onto another carriage.

Hours passed. Maybe half a day. His body felt stiff, but still determined to get through this ordeal. Once the carriage stopped, he was roughly pulled out and tossed between various locations, dragged through unfamiliar places as his mind struggled to make sense of it all.

Eventually, Lloyds cuffs and mask were taken off and he was thrown into a tight small wooden cage. Lloyd could hear and see the weeps and cry's of captees begging for salvation along with the smell of blood and grime. He thrashed and threw his body about to break the walls. However they were too strong, left with no hope he gave up and left The rest to fate.

Around 30 minutes passed before more guards came and covered Lloyds head once again as he was dragged out the wooden box and thrown into a brand new metal one, I could hear the murmurs of people talking. 

When the sack was finally yanked off, he found himself in a large, torch-lit chamber, a cage separating him from a sea of people. Wealth dripped from their clothes, their jewelry gleaming even in the dim light.

A wave of revulsion hit him. He wasn't just a prisoner. He was cargo.

A man who wore a suit and a clown mask stood upon the stage with him and began to announce to the crowd of people.

"Bid number 67! A small, pale boy found from the outskirts of Eastwatch. Small, but holds a lot of vigor and is sure to be useful in manual labor! Or other labor… if that's your preference!"

The bidding began. He couldn't believe it. The way they placed their offers, chatting idly as if they were livestock. His blood boiled.

He pressed his hands against the bars, mustering up all the strength he could, his voice cutting through the chatter. "I'll kill every last one of you. Don't forget my face, you sick bastards." He raged with unbelievable hate and fury.

Laughter rippled through the crowd. His price increased. Fine. Let them waste their money. He would end them all the same.

Then, he was sold. 

'These damn creatures, treating me like a slave'

Sack Thrown back on his head along with cuffs and dragged back into the wooden box he first resided in. As time passed 

A man approached, his smile sharp as a blade. He gave Lloyd one glance before signaling his guards. Opening the cage, he was taken away, beaten unconscious before he could even resist.

When Lloyd woke up, he was tied with rope to a chair in a dimly lit underground room. His wrists were practically broken from the constant restraints. After a few minutes, a door opened, and the man who purchased him walked inside, along behind him were two guards carrying a table with multiple unique items on top.

The rich man stood before him, his eyes gleaming with cruel amusement. 

"You know," he mused, "I quite enjoy breaking people. Especially ones with a lot of fight in them like you. Let's see how long you last."

"Fuck you," Lloyd spat.

The man simply smiled upon hearing this.

"Ahh, just place it there. I'll be a few hours," he said, signaling to his men to place his equipment down. No, that wasn't just equipment—those were torture devices.

'Shit, this is bad, what is happening?'

The man began to put on thick black gloves and then proceeded to grab a syringe from the table which held a purple liquid inside.

He walked over to Lloyd, questioning, "Do you know what this is, boy?"

Lloyd simply replied with a middle finger, unable to muster any words.

The man heartily laughed. "It's liquid malachite. Do you know what happens if it enters a regular human's body?"

Lloyd swallowed hard. Just from touching a piece of malachite, he had fallen unconscious from the pain.

"W-What are you trying to say?" His voice came out weak and breathless.

His captor's face twisted into a disturbing grin. He aimed the syringe and plunged it directly into Lloyd's left eye.

White-hot pain exploded through his skull. His vision shattered into a kaleidoscope of blinding colors, an inferno of agony searing deep into his brain. A bloodcurdling scream ripped from his throat as if his very soul was being wrenched apart.

"You—you bastard?" he choked out, his breath hitching between ragged sobs.

It felt as if someone had thrust a knife directly up his skull. A painful sensation coursed through his head and through his body. It felt as though a jagged beetle was wriggling around in his veins and arteries.

"First, you'll feel like there's a centipede crawling under your skin. After a few minutes, it'll feel like lava is flowing in your veins. This pain will last until you fall unconscious and die. Ahhh, but of course, I won't be allowing that to happen," he stated, flicking at the edge of a new syringe, the insides colored a deep, dark red.

A sickening heat flooded Lloyd's veins, writhing and twisting through his arteries. Every heartbeat sent fresh agony lancing through him, as if molten magma was burning apart his skin from the inside. His muscles seized, convulsing violently, his body rejecting whatever unholy force had been injected into him. 

"And not to forget the other eye!" the man exclaimed.

He stepped over, tears flooding Lloyd's blurry right eye as he stared daggers at the last thing it ever saw—an unnervingly wide smile on the man's face.

"I won't forget this pain or your face," Lloyd feebly mustered, before the man shoved a cloth inside his mouth and drove the silver needle into his last eye.

The pressure in his skull built to an unbearable peak. It felt as though molten iron was being poured directly into his brain, searing every nerve, etching its torment into his very being. but the pain only grew, only consumed.

Everything went black. He thrashed about, twisting and groaning, as the man continued to inflict pain, tearing off his nails before cutting off his fingers and toes, sticking iron rods in his skin, and ripping the hair off his scalp, screaming for hours and days. Lloyd lost count. He begged for death over and over. When would it end? His body failed him, his screams echoing off the walls, turning him into a bloody pile of mess.

Eventually, the pain became nothing. Just a distant foreign feeling, like it was happening to someone else. He didn't even know what pain was anymore; yet it was all he knew.

Until… he died.

Surrounded in pitch blackness and nothingness, a distant ethereal voice called out to him, a ray of light.

"Lloyd, Lloyd Eosian. Awaken, you are not allowed to die yet."

"Where am I?" he replied, a strange peace coming from the ethereal being's words.

"You are dead. However, I will grant you power. The ultimate power. You will be the strongest, but weaker than any living being. You, my successor, the most stubborn and hateful in living history."

"Who are you?" he asked.

"I am you."

He gasped awake, lungs burning, the cold night air shocking him back to reality. His hands shot out, gripping the wooden surface beneath him. The carriage.

He was back in the carriage.

The same one he had snuck onto before.

His heart pounded in his chest. What… What the hell just happened?

End of Chapter 5: Got The Life