Chapter 2 - chapter 2

(listen to chopin prelude in E minor (Op.28 nb.4) throughout the chp on repeat)

..

the teen stopped puking and clenched his stomach in pain, he looked towards the dead beast and wondered how lucky he was to take down such a monsterous existence.

but little did he know that the human sized 3 winged eel had barely the strength of an average male human and only excelled at areal fights. but because its wings were already damaged by a previous fight it had, the teen overpowered it.

he had trained with the sword since he could walk, his father was a swordsman who never awoke his soul power but always practiced. so the drive he had was inherited from his, now long dead, father.

the teen cried as he curled in a fetal position

" why is this happening to me.." he kept repeating the same thing everyday, praying and whispering to the gods or a hero to save him.

but this time, it was neither that answered him, but a deep ghoulish voice that raped his mind

" Lothar, do you wish to survive?" it had said to him

the teen was flabbergasted, his heart hammered in his chest, and looked up to catch the owner of the voice

the cave was dimly lit by a few soul stones dispersed here and there so he couldn't see more than a few feets away

" i am not next to you, i am everywhere. do you wish to survive inside my home?" it said again and that's when the teen realized that the voice had no echo. it sounded as if it was coming from his head

" a-are you a g-god? can you please help me! please! i-i am stuck here!" the teen rambled as he stood up and ran to grab his sword. waiting for the god to direct him to the way out

" answer me child" it just said in an authoritary tone

the teen shivered in dread

' if this is how a god sounds, i don't want to imagine how the devil would..'

he remembered the god's question and nodded hurriedly

" yes! please i want to survive!" he yelled

the teen had a sense of foreboding as he listened.

"raise your sword high and march toward the center of the cave.

the only way for you to reach freedom is by massacring the monsters here and then kill me"

the hope that festered in the teen's heart immediately died

" what is the point of trapping me here then?!' he said angirly

" from now on the air that you breathe in will be your only salvage in this place, breathe in deeply child then devour everything in your path. i shall see you when the time comes, if you survive"

and after that the teen stopped hearing the voice inside his head.

he dropped on the ground, as if his body weighed a ton,  crouched in a corner and

breathed in the sticky air.

the teen ripped a piece of the 3 winged eel's meat with his teeth then shewed and shewed as more tears drenched his face.

he cried himself to sleep that night as he knew that he would never see the sun again..

END OF FLASHBACK

and after barely surviving in this hellish cave for 2 years, the voice that was the reason of all his pain decided it will push him deeper into the darkness

the man lost his sight after 2 years of being stuck in this maze of a cave. he still hoped for salvage but light hid itself from him.

despite all of this, he kept paving his way deeper into the cave with only his nose, ears and fists. although he survived, he lost too much. his sanity dwindled on a fine thread, his body was covered in ugly scars of different shapes and sizes and the hope inside his infested heart was being devoured by despair little by little..

but then, once again, when he finally started to get used to surviving in this endless pit of darkness without his eyes the voice of the cave decided it wanted to take away his hearing too.

the man cursed, yelled, cried and laughed but his voice was never heard.

not only have the gods turned away from this cave but he also felt the devil caressing the back of his head, ever so slightly, with sympathy

..

now it has been 8 years since he entered the cave, he was a young boy back then but now he is something between human and beast. his optimisim forever lost..

back to reality, the man relied now only on his nose and sense of touch to navigate himself around and push forward. the foul but familiar smell got stronger until he felt hot breath next to his ear, he immediately bent his uper body backwards until it formed a 90 degree angle with his lower body, dodging the fatal bite of the giant wolf like beast. he then did a backflip to evade its reach.

sniffing the air a few times he assessed the number of enemy, then dashing forwards and jumping a good 4m upwards, landing a solid kick downwards smashing the beast's skull against the stone ground. the man didn't bother to check if the beast was still alive.

in the end, no matter how strong the beasts got each and everyday, they were still made of flesh that can be cut and bones that could be broken and right now the wolf had a completely flat skull..

the man could tell that there were around 19 other beasts of the same kin, so he decided he'd quickly get rid of the 14 others while gently killing the other 5 whom will become his supper for the day.

and just like that, the hunt began for the thousand.. no, millonth time.

..