The Illusionary Prison; George Machen's Perspective:
George heard different voices as Jael attacked him.
"George!?"
"Buddy?!"
"Was that Jael?"
"Is something happening?"
George heard the voices of his parents, and Jael's parents as well. They clambered from their chairs and approached the door that George hid behind.
"George!! Jael!! Is that you?!"
"DAD!! H-help!" George shouted. "Pl--ease! I'm he-"
Twenty-six-old Jael Bodesh clamped harder around young George's neck, while laughing maniacally.
"Hahaha, George!?! Do you really think that they can hear you!?!" Jael boasted.
After saying this, Jael pushed young George against the door that led into the kitchen, shutting it close. George could hear surprised voices on the other side.
"The door is shut!!"
"I can't open it!!"
"Take a different hallway!! Someone's in the house!!"
"What's happening?"
As if in response, Jael smiled wide, which stretched his face to an inhuman degree.
"No one can save you, George," he whispered. "Watch..."
As Jael said this, George's hallway morphed and distorted. The door that pressed against George's back was changing as well.
The hallway morphed into a cement room that was filled with bunkbeds, and the door that led into this room became a blue screen. George saw all of this before. It was where he cleared the first scenario. His home was morphing into the marine dorm that he used to live in.
"Remember this, George..!!----UGWAAAHH!!"
As the room morphed, the blanket around Jael's neck tightened. The knife that was impaled into his heart was pushed deeper by a mysterious force. Dark blood emerged from Jael's throat, and spurted outward onto the walls. The blanket around his neck cinched tighter, and resembled a noose at a gallows. Jael's eyes became bloodshot, and his head turned purple and red. It was due to suffocation, but it was also due to... rage.
"You... you are gonna die," Jael rasped creepily. "You'll get... what you DESERVE!!---urrkkk!!!"
Jael choked on his own blood, but he still grinned as he looked down at George.
"But... first... you'll see... hell..."
Jael turned George's head towards the inner dorm. George saw people trying to kill each other. It was his bunkmates. They were fighting madly. They used knives, improvised weapons, or their very bodies. They were all evenly matched in terms of combative prowess. They were taught too well.
Jael looked at this scene with a gleeful grin, which showed his bloody teeth.
"Oh, George... You lucky... bastard," he rasped. "You only lived because you...!!"
-Cough!!-
-Cough!!-
"KILLED ME INSTEAD!!!"
Jael began choking George again, but they did it with one hand. They used the other hand to twist George's head towards the blue screen. In reality, no one should be able to see through the blue wards, but George saw through this one.
He saw four people in a kitchen/dining area, and they were entrapped in a ward, similar to George's. Two of the people were his parents, Vivian and Evan Machen. The other two were Cara and Jemar Bodesh. They scrambled around, but stopped when they saw holographic windows appear in front of them.
George couldn't hear their reactions. As the breath escaped his esophagus, as spittle leaked from his mouth, he began to sob and beg.
"Please, Jael...!! NO!!"
(STOP!! PLEASE!! I don't want to see this!!)
"You're gonna beg from me?" Jael hissed. "The one you
Jael's grip on George's neck clenched harder, until George felt the lining of his throat touch each other. George gasped and coughed from the pain, but their airway closed randomly.
"You're --- gonna look like me --- soon!!" Jal said. "DEAD --- like me!!"
Blood began to leak from Jael's eyes and nose, and more of it came from their mouth; it gushed in droves. Jael tried to smile wider, but his body was twitching and spasming in pain. As this happened, George tried to break free, but he couldn't.
He saw his family grab knives and weapons. He saw Jael's parents scramble in shock. In his periphery, he saw his bunkmates fight to the death, but never succeed in murdering one or the other.
"It'ssss... gett -urk!- ing inter... resting!!" Jael rasped. "Sucks... that... you won't be able to..."
Jael released his hands from George's neck, but grabbed their skull soon after. The two thumbs on Jael's hands maneuvered to George's eyes. Jael finished his sentence with a victorious shout.
"...SEE IT!!!"
Jael's thumbs began pressing against George's closed eyelids. His fingernails were firm and blunt, but Jael pressed harder in response, and dug into George's eyes. Jael was trying to gouge out George's eyeballs with his fingers.
"Gaaawauuhhh!!!"
George tried to pry Jael's hands away from his eyes, but this George was younger. This George Machen was only a thirteen-year-old middle schooler, whose only form of extraneous exercise was giving little-Jess piggyback rides. Thirteen-year-old George's only combat experience was defending his friends from bullies, and breaking up petty fights.
This George Machen was pathetic against this Jael Bodesh.
George's soft, plump hands were one of a child's, and they couldn't compete against Jael's, which were rough from callouses. Jael's muscles were honed from years of preparation and training, which gave them great strength. This physical power allowed Jael Bodesh to kill George Machen with their bare hands.
"Enjoying the scene... George?" Jael said as they snickered. "Oops...."
George felt the thumbs press harder. George felt his eyeballs move in their sockets and resist the pressure. George stopped struggling afterwards.
(Maybe... I don't deserve to see... I don't want to look at anything...)
Sadly, George could hear everything. He heard scenario windows open and close, and he heard marine trainees scream in excess fear and rage as the timer ticked down. George could hear Jael snickering madly as they gasped for breath. The first scenario was coming to a close. Everyone would die soon.
George couldn't see anymore, but his mind went into overdrive, and began to hear things more acutely. Their hearing became enhanced, and they began to hear commotion from the other side of the ward. George heard his father and Jemar Bodesh grunt in shock, while his mother and Cara Bodesh screamed from fear.
(There... killing each other... I hear it....)
George wished that this could all end. His thoughts devolved into illiterate begging, which never escaped into his mortal body as the form of pleas.
(Please!!)
(Let it end...)
(kill me...)
(or something... anything...)
George's mind became foggy. He was only conscious because of the intense pain that he felt in his eyes. His body spasmed from the agony, but he tried to ignore it as much as possible. He wanted to ignore everything around him, but it only made him more aware.
As the noises intensified in the area of the dorm, George was able to turn his right ear to the ward, and hear through it. He heard hard thunks, and shocked screams.
(Are they...?)
George began to despair. He didn't know if he should be miserable, or be happy that he wouldn't be alone when he died. What would he do? Confess to his parents that he was from the future? Or apologize to Cara and Jemar for what he had done? Jael's fingernails began to cut George's skin, but he didn't feel it as much.
(Is everything... slowing down again?)
He began to hear thumping in his ears. He didn't know if it was his rushing blood, or something else. George was about to disregard it, but he began to hear something different.
"STOP!! Everyone, please!!"
It wasn't on George's side of the ward zone. It was on the other side, which was his home's kitchen.
"You don't have to kill each other to earn coins!!"
George heard four other people gasp and yelp in fearful surprise.
"They broke through the blue walls?!?!"
"I don't-"
"Ohmygod..."
"Who are yo-?"
"I'm here to save Private George Machen, Marine trainee!!" someone declared loudly. "My name is Sergeant Major Ethan Nakamura!!"
"Wait!! How did you get in?!?"
"Take these insects!!" Sergeant Major Nakamura yelled.
"Wasps?!"
"Kill them to clear the scenario!!"
After George heard that, he felt the oppressive forces around him lessen. He heard Jael mutter under their breath in a clearer voice than before.
"No. How did they.... They broke in? But how...?"
Jael said this as they stared at the blue ward. They released George, who tumbled to the ground. George reflexively opened his eyes. George could barely see through his tears, but when he turned his head towards the blocked doorway of the dorm, he saw something approach the ward zone from the other side.
It was a dark apparition that had weird, oblong arms. One of them was black like the rest of it's body, while the other one was a grey-white. It's arms were in an inverted grip - as if it was the opposite of a preying mantis - but the apparition swung them in a way that reversed the arm's appearance.
Someone on the other side of George's ward began to mutter out, but the voice was suppressed when George-
-!!THWACK!!-
-!!THWACK!!-
-!!THWACK!!-
Heard violent strikes against the screen door. George stared raptly in that direction, as if in a trance. His hazy mind was broken, though, when he heard guttural screams from behind.
"NO, NO, NO!!!"
The knife in Jael's heart began to slip out, while the blanket around their neck loosened. Instead of being happy, though, Jael entered a belligerent rage.
"STOP HIM!!!"
Everyone that was alive stopped moving after Jael shouted. The countdown for the first scenario halted, and the checkout stopped. In response, Jael shouted a command, with a loud, spiteful voice.
"BLOCK THAT DOOR!!!"
All the marine trainees ran towards the door, using their very bodies to press against it.
(What do I do...?) George thought. (Do I hide and-)
"MACHEN!!"
Jael came back. He tried to grab George again, but George was lost in the crowd of marines. None of the marine trainees tried to kill him. It seems they were too focused on something else.
"The ward!!!" Jael shouted. "Protect the ward zone!!"
All of the marines pressed harder against the door, or backed away to provide space. Meanwhile, George weaved between their bodies to avoid the imposing Jael. As that happened, the ferocity and speed of the thwacks intensified.
-!!!!THWACK!!!!- -!!THWACK!!- -!!THWACK!!- -!!THWACK!!- -!!THWACK!!- -!!THWACK!!- -!!THWACK!!- -!!THWACK!!- -!!THWACK!!- -!!THWACK!!- -!!THWACK!!- -!!THWACK!!-
The apparition kept on striking until-
-!!SHATTER!!-
With the sound of breaking glass, the ward zone finally broke. It was only a small hole, but the stress from the strikes were taking their toll. The apparition stopped striking for a moment, as if pondering. Soon after, it changed it's tactic.
Instead of striking, it began thrusting it's arms towards the ward wall. Holes began appearing as the arms stabbed through, until the blue barrier shattered completely.
The marine trainees backed away. The dark apparition stepped in slowly, with a trail of dark smoke swirling behind them. When George stared intently, they saw that the dark presence was actually a teenager that was wearing dark clothing.
They were short, around 160 centimeters, but they seemed taller than they were. They wore a heavy rain jacket that had a dark-grey color, with pants that were even darker. The only source of contrast were their shoes, which had white trim.
Their appearance seemed heavy and burdened, but when they walked into the room, they made no echoes, or any form of noise. The hood of their jacket was wide, and perfectly concealed their head. Their face was also obscured by the black-cloth mask that adorned their face. The weird arms that George saw were actually two weapons in each hand; one was a bone sword, while the other one was a pointy wooden stick blackened by flames.
This person looked like a grim reaper - an embodiment of death. Their very steps produced no sound, and their dark fashion portrayed their inner soul.
This person began speaking in a clear voice, which sounded young and innocent: another contrast from their foreboding energy and appearance.
"Where is George Machen?" they said.
All the marines were silent. They stood completely still, as if they were puppets. The only one who was moving was Jael Bodesh. They walked towards the black-clad teenager. Jael's body twitched in rage. With an abrasive shout, they broke the blooming silence, and instigated another dogfight. Jael Bodesh did with two simple words.
"KILL HIM!!"
All the trainees began charging towards the teenager. It was a battle now.... A battle between 14 fledging marines, and one young boy. Sadly, this child wasn't ordinary. This child was an absolute demon, who would rip and tear until his goals were met.
They would kill the men, the women, the teenagers, the old, the nobles, the peasants.... They would kill them all.... All for the conclusion that they sought.
This is who Ethan Nakamura is. They were the King of Chaos and Revenge, and they weren't afraid to announce it...
"Watashi wa Isan Nakamura..."
They said their name, and raised their weapons while taking a stance.
"Watashi wa Konton to Fukushu no odesu..."
They declared their title to all of the marines...
"Soshite, watashi wa anata zen'in o koroshimasu"
And they made their final threat.