Blinking his eyes open, Jude felt invigorated and all the hunger he felt previously had dissipated. He had never felt so fresh and good.
Just then, his eyes caught glimpse of the shadow on the ground. It was very tall and slender like a stick. Compared to his thin body, he didn't expect to turn out like this.
As he stared at the silhouette on the ground, bamboozled, someone whispered in his ears, "Find the Vault of Villains!"
"Vault of Villains, what's that?" he wondered.
"You'll get a call once you're villain enough," it replied and then remained silent.
"Villain enough?" Young Jude thought. All sorts of questions roamed in his mind. Though he grew numb to all the emotions from the world, deep down, he was still weak.
Later that evening, Jude sauntered towards a certain food stall. He asked for a job and luckily, he got one since the stall was short of manpower.
At first, he was hesitant to give him one because of his fragile physique but with Jude's continuous pursuit, he gave him one.
Sweeping the backyard daily and ten multicoins[I] was all he'll get in turn. Within the food stall area, he found an unused small room which he used as his sanctuary after his shift.
At night, Jude would go by sea to practice his newly acquired energy. His life went on like this until one day, he heard a voice calling his name.
Eyes gazing at the dark sea with his ears ajar, listening to the sound of water, washing away the sand in rhythm.
"Jude Logan!" he heard the voice calling.
He thought he was hallucinating but the voice proved him to be wrong when it added, "Your time on earth is up!"
An eccentric mist suddenly surrounded by cold wind brushed past his body rapidly and so hard that he felt his skin pores being torn apart. To him, it felt as though spikes of ice penetrated his skin.
"What's happening? I'm I going to die?" he sniffed, a warm red liquid oozing down his body to the ground.
A couple of seconds later, he vanished and appeared in cold dark space. He felt himself flying in the air. He no longer felt pain and somehow he felt his mind empty.
All in all, he felt like an empty vessel but seeing his chest heave up and down, he realised he was still alive.
Barely had he sighed for the second time when a voice echoed, " You've successfully entered the Vault Of Villains. Your training element will be sand."
"Finally!" Jude exclaimed with delight though he didn't show it. Just then he recalled his training element, sand.
How I'm I going to use sand? He thought inwardly. The voice from earlier then chimed in as he felt himself lose gravity and fall into an endless pit.
"I see you still not villain enough. But you'll be one once you exit that pit. By the way, welcome to the pit of pain. This is our hell, the hell that makes you...a villain," the voice spoke softly.
Through calmness, one could detect the underlying danger within. Jude sank further into the pit which was now dark.
He thought he wasn't afraid of the dark but he could hear whispers as he fell taunting him. He closed his eyes as he awaited for his head to finally hit the ground but none of it came.
"You humans are such strange creatures. You fear pain yet you want to be stronger, face your pain, feel it and see how long you can go," mimed the voice.
The young Jude opened his eyes after hearing the words. 'It's true,' he thought. He was a true human, afraid of pain but does pain make one a true villain? he wondered, feeling himself falling down the endless void.
"Yes, that I can say, pain does make a true villain. You just have to stray away from humanity, it shouldn't have existed in the first place," said the voice in a soft tone.
With that Jude felt another strong wave push him from behind and then in the next moment, he felt himself being twirled and pushed further and deeper into the dark void.
Suddenly, he heard familiar voices scold him, "You're just trash!"
"You only consume but can't produce anything valuable!" scoffed the other voice.
"You're always sick, I think you're cursed! You're useless!" another voice chimed in his mind.
All these abusive words hit him hard. But what was his fault? Being born a sickler? It was quite amusing when the young Jude saw the other little kids being pampered when sick by their parents.
On the other hand, his birth parents, what did they do? He thought his only hope would have been his mother but she turned a blind eye to him.
Their eyes closed tightly, and an image of the woman whom he'd loved more than his life flashed before him. For a moment he felt like its a live movie.
He could hear her harsh words, "How did I give birth to a useless boy!"
Tears formed beneath his eyes and he couldn't help but release them. When did he last shed a tear, he didn't know.
As his tear glands caught the best of him, a voice murmured,
"Do you see how cruel humankind is? Succumb to darkness, no more mercy, feel no pain."
"You can only escape pain when you feel nothing. Be the moving void and accomplish goals," explained the voice.
Jude could only listen as he felt the taunting voice begin to fade. Indeed, he was fed up with the pain he'd experienced.
"Face your pain, human. Until you can no longer feel it," echoed a couple of different voices in his mind.
On the other hand, the harsh words from his mother still echoed in his mind. At the same time, the echoes of the dark voices taunted him continuously.
"Hesitation is a symptom of failure. A true villain never wavers!" declared the voices.