What did they mean that I kidnapped Fiviana? I was in my room all day, how could I be the kidnapper?
"Marlowlia! Explain that I'm here to help!"
Marlowlia opened her mouth and tried to squeeze out words, but they didn't come out. She turns her head around in guilt.
A man walked up behind Marlowlia and patted her on the shoulder.
He had short black hair, and his suit was meticulously crafted and tailored. His steps were with confidence. Bending over, he told me that I was being arrested for kidnapping his daughter.
Fiviana went missing a few minutes ago and I'm the main suspect.
"I did not kidnap her!"
He grabbed ahold of my jacket and twisted it.
"Why would you wear a jacket inside the house? If not to leave? It is already night, you have no purpose leaving."
He ordered them to take me to the basement interrogation room.
I think they would just let me go as soon as I explained myself and cleared up the misunderstanding.
I thought Marlowlia would back me up a little bit more, but she cowered and had this guilty look on her face. Her body was small as if she didn't want to be seen.
"Hey watch it!"
The guards injured my arm while holding me. Their swords pierced my arm and caused it to bleed a little.
As we continued through the mansion, we got to the basement door. The dark underground is lit up by sconces on the wall. The atmosphere wasn't as cold as the underground city of Nautilus but roughly close.
The walls were slated cobblestone and so were the steps. Marlowlia's family had a whole house down here. There were a bunch of rooms and cells, we continued further down the dimly lit basement until we reached a room. They threw me on a chair and locked my limbs in place with metal straps.
"Wait here until Mr. Fivindius comes."
They exit the room and stand outside the room, guarding it.
It is just a big misunderstanding and I just had to wait a bit for it to clear up. The gaps in between the steel framing let me see a bit of what happened in the basement.
Small steps could be heard as a silhouette approached the basement door. Marlowlia sneaked down the basement to check up on me.
"Can I just please talk with him for a little?"
"Milady, we have been ordered not to let anyone pass here!"
The guards block the view and don't let Marlowlia through. Another pair of steps came from the stairs.
"Let me through, it is time for me to interrogate him," someone said confidently."
"Yes sir!"
They moved out of the way and I could see through the small gaps again. The man stepped forward against the door and scrutinized the room. Then he gazed upon me.
It is a pitiful sight, I am strapped against a metal chair, being looked at like a zoo animal.
The dimly lit room I was brought into made it difficult to completely see his eyes. Marlowlia's dad commanded the guards to unlock the door.
The heavy metal door slowly squeaked open, it left a big dirty trail on the solid ground. He corrected his suit and readjusted the tie before stepping into the room.
His steps were calculated and precise, making sure not to step on any rocks that would damage his shoes. He maintained constant attention on me like he was trying to ingrain his image in my head.
I just wanted to explain that it wasn't me who kidnapped his daughter. That they had the wrong guy.
"I have no purpose in kidnapping Fiviana, why would I even do that?"
"Silence, I know what you did. You filthy mongrel, all you wanderers are the same."
Marlowlia still stood by the stairs waiting, clutching her hands with her head held low. She had given up trying to convince her father it wasn't me.
Her father slammed his hands onto the table and demanded to know where Fiviana was.
The only answer I could give him was that I didn't know.
"MY DAUGHTER, WHERE IS SHE?"
A right hook came flying and connected with my jaw. The pain spread out my body as I landed on the ground falling with the chair. Concussed I tried to explain it wasn't me. My words came out slurred and my jaw was probably dislocated. He asked me for the last time where his daughter was.
"I don't kn.."
He jumped onto my body that was tied to the chair and started pounding on my face.
"WHERE…. IS... SHEEE!!"
I couldn't protect myself, I couldn't move. I'm bound. I'm trapped, someone trapped me, someone incarcerated my freedom.
Freedom?
My lips and teeth were cracked and my nose had been broken. My face had swollen up, I didn't feel any pain.
Not moving forward, stuck, imprisoned, stuck.
Stuck. Stuck. Stuck.
My thoughts had scattered and I heard the voices of my late brothers.
"Vivshi, calm down," Lan called out.
"Don't fuck him up too badly," Ken said arrogantly.
Marlowlia's father stopped his onslaught of fists. His hands were bloodied and bruised, he stopped to look down at what he had just done. He took out a handkerchief and wiped the majority of the blood off.
I felt his heavy breathing on my face as he stood up.
"I'm having you arrested for trespassing and kidnapping. The royal guys will come to pick you up soon."
He left the room, still frustrated inside for not being able to make me confess. He yelled at the guards to immediately close the room, so he does not see such a disgraceful and disgusting sight.
Marlowlia asked multiple times what her father just did and he just walked past her with a dissatisfied expression.
Marlowlia runs up to the guards and pleads for them to open the door for her to see me which they immediately reject.
My mind, hazy, delirious, empty, void of any emotion, when will this end?!?
Stuck. Stuck. Stuck.
I will sacrifice everything for freedom. The outside became hazy and Marlowlia's voice grew more distant and sounds became static.
I could just hear buzzing, like a warm summer day with the hum of insects. But then it turned into a cold winter day with a destroyed bee nest. The humming stopped.
My body grew cold. My eyes were swollen and bulging, I couldn't see anything. The only color I can see is red, for when I open my eyes, and black.
"I want to be free…"
The flower of liberation appears and quickly spreads its roots all over my face. It started pulsing and oozing black ink.
Why am I being imprisoned? I'm innocent, I didn't do anything wrong, he branded me something I wasn't. I'm not free, I'm not me, not yet.
I didn't care about Marlowlia, Marlowlia's family, or anyone anymore. My thoughts were focused on one thing; I'm not free, and someone caused it.
I had to eliminate the origin of that curse. Eliminate, kill, destroy.
The flower pulsated once again and burst open the metal lock around my neck. It spread its roots deeper into my body.
It pulsated again and destroyed the arm lock and proceeded to break open the leg lock. My body now covered in black roots the metal locks smelted and turned into dark mist.
My wounds had recovered, I could see now, but I saw only one thing. Everything else is shrouded in darkness. Like a warm animal in the dark. Everything else is the unknown while the target is bright red.
I take steps forward against the red-marked object.
The one ton steel door melted into black ooze, and the guards outside smelled something off and turned around just to see the door was gone.
The ground was completely black with a water-like substance that seemed extremely sticky.
"STOP RIGHT THERE, YOU AREN'T PERMITTED TO LEAVE!"
I slowly and sluggishly pull out the knife I got from the shop in Mondlicht. This would be the first time using this knife. It wants blood, I will give all the blood it needs.
I cut my hand open and blood gushed out of the wound. I covered the blade in blood and the blade turned into a sanguine blood color. Holding it by the handle made spikes protrude into my hand, skewering my hand in hundreds of spikes. Even more, blood came flowing out of the tiny holes that made even more spikes come out. I didn't feel any pain, the feeling of wanting to be free overrode every other thought and feeling.
The guards grabbed their spears and tried to impale me, as the weapons reached my heart, they melted into black ink. Taken back by this shocking revelation made them take another step back.
They weren't my target, they didn't steal my freedom. I continued walking and they tried to stop me with their swords, when the blade was supposed to cleave off my head, it turned into a thick viscous liquid.
I didn't need to deal with these people, I continued walking but the ground had turned into that very same viscous liquid and the guards got stuck in it. There was no point in sparing other people's freedom if my freedom wasn't there.
I could walk on it as if it were a normal solid floor. Everywhere I walked, the ground turned into black water.
The target is behind this door, with the knife in my hand, I slice open the whole wall, diagonally and vertically before kicking it.
Three rooms come crashing down and inside the room is the target. Marlowlia's father.