Damp walls, humid atmosphere, and the almost-palatable taste of the rancid odor accumulated through years and years of blood, sweat, and grime assailed Lieren's senses the moment he got up from his ramshackle cot, awoken by the loud clanging that his new, extremely repugnant residence's iron bars had.
"Ugh, it's too early for this."
Groaning, he sat on the ramshackle cottage, blinking in and out of unconsciousness while scratching his belly.
…And so did his roommate.
Suppressing a yawn, he regarded the chained-up bare skeleton with its hands cuffed and draped on the grim walls of the dungeon he had considered his home for a while now.
"What do you think we're having for dinner, bud? I just hope it's something, I don't know, nutritious? Something on the lines of that, I guess."
Though he knew it was a long way off, he still expected every single morning meal to be at least a little better than the last, even if only by the smallest margin.
Stretching his arms and legs to shake off yesterday's pain, Lieren finally got up from his cot and took a deep breath, only to immediately regret it a second later.
"…Oh, right. I almost forgot."
And that's when it hit him.
Reaching for the inner bars, he made sure that his hands were just a few centimeters from touching it, and closed his eyes.
'Just like I practiced.'
Right here, right now; he's finally going to do it. After days of imprisonment in this accursed place, he was going to do what he wanted the most…
Revenge.
Hearing the familiar footsteps of his captor, Lieren hurried with the modifications… and backed away when the man was mere seconds away from catching him.
The element of surprise was key here.
If he wanted things to go well, he would need it very much.
Not bothering to wipe the sweat off his face, Lieren relaxed his body and looked down, making himself look as pathetic as possible. Which wasn't hard, considering his physique.
Is what one would suspect. But actually, it was the opposite.
And then, he arrived.
The air was drowning in the chaos the man exuded just by simply breathing.
With his green top hat with a yellow lace, the ace of hearts slipped in between it snugly, and his iconic — but mostly dreadful — lime coat, the man was almost comparable to the illustrious noblemen that Lieren had been unfortunate enough to meet… if you ignored all the wear and tear he boastfully paraded around; then yeah, the man looked pretty darn noble.
He flashed a toothy grin as he spoke, his eyes completely empty:
"I see. Brad's finally broken you, eh? Good, good. That makes things a whole of a lot easier."
The Mad Hatter stepped forward, his toothy grin visible even with the surrounding darkness. With a confident smile, he reached for the bars… and immediately reeled back.
Lieren laughed mockingly.
"Hah! Serves you right. Take that, you idiot!"
Now, it was his turn to give a toothy grin.
The Mad Hatter rubbed his hand. Smoke was coming off of it.
A vein popped in the round man's forehead as he glared at the young boy, his eyes ablaze with mad, impulsive anger and fury. For some reason, that sight of him ignoring the pain and focusing instead on the person who afflicted it fitted him very much.
'What a weird guy.'
With a click of tongue, Hatter turned and walked away. He made sure to give the boy a little retribution on the way.
"Oh, hey there. Have you come for little old me? You really shouldn't have. I don't want you getting tired, after all."
Feeling himself shrink in fear as the familiar large man, more than double his own paltry height opened the cell doors with lifeless eyes and bloodied knuckles, carrying a cart of horrific instruments with him.
Lieren sighed and looked down at his many, many wounds. Some have healed, most are fresh. In fact, from the outside, it looked like the boy had been ran over by a herd of Lying Bulls.
To be perfectly honest, he stopped caring about it after the first week and just focused on what he had to do: his mission and current goal.
As the gigantic man sauntered over with a new tool that Lieren had not seen before, he felt his heart sink and shrivel up, drying him of any semblance of emotion and sensation, keeping only his one goal in mind to keep him sane… well, what was left of it, anyways.
Voluntarily closing his eyes, he screamed for his life as the searing heat of the tall man's harrowing instrument burnt his skin and flesh.
Only one thought was in his mind:
'I need to save her.'
◇◆◇◆◇
Lieren tucked the letter away in his pocket and looked up at the winding set of stairs of the grand halls of the Exosusia Famiglia Main House, courtesy of the young scion herself and her two-faced servant.
The entire place seemed to shine like gems, with the white-tile floor polished so clearly that he could see his reflection in every single one of them. He was currently at the first floor, tucked away in a corner where he sat and read the letter over and over, cementing this feeling of dread and helplessness that came was written in ink.
"Oh, hey. It's you."
The clacking of heels entered his ears as the ice-cold woman, Mysta, sauntered over with refined steps. She looked more in-charge than anybody the young boy had ever met, like she held the palm in her hand.
She put her hands her hand in front her and ever so slightly.
"The young miss will see you now. Please, follow me."
Lieren stood up and followed her through the majestic hallways of the great mansion.
The halls were decorated with various paintings, depicting both the past and the future, fiction and reality, origins and mythology. The finely-crafted images were very intricate and well-designed, but lacked any sort of pattern at all. The set of paintings seemed to be displayed in a random sequence, with no real pattern or coherence to them whatsoever.
Still, though, they were very nice to look at.
Stopping suddenly in front of a large, grand red gate at the end of the winding hall, Mysta turned on her heel and stood beside it, clutching her hands in front of her.
"The young miss is waiting inside."
Not saying another word, she looked forward and held that gaze, staying true to it.
A few moments passed before Lieren realized what to do.
He unconsciously blurted out:
"…Oh, I have to open it? You should have told me."
Her eyes glanced over to him, glared distastefully, and looked back. It all happened in a matter of seconds.
Sighing, Lieren turned back to the grand gate at the ends of the hall. To him, it looked excessive and over the top, but later realized the purpose behind it.
The sturdy and enchanted gates were meant to keep something in, not keep something out.
Reaching for the doors, he enhanced his body and pushed forward, opening the grand red gates finally.
He was ready to face his fate.