Chapter 15 - 15. Abyss

Glenn felt his head throbbing, darkness being the only thing that greeted him when he opened his eyes. He tried to put himself in a more comfortable position, but weights on his wrists and ankles stopped him from moving freely. Were those...chains? How did he...that fight? He remembered blacking out thanks to that hooded bastard. Did they capture him and put him in some kind of cell? That's what it looked like.He gritted his teeth, lifting his restraints weakly, managing to sit up against the cold, damp wall of his small cell. He knew it was small because when he tried to stretch his arms he was able to touch both of the walls left and right of him. His chains were attached to some metal rings embedded in the stone wall behind him. He tried to get rid of whatever was in his eyes, a viscous liquid flowing down slowly from his face. He tried to close his fists, the right one working properly, the second one not responding. Glenn frowned, trying to force his left hand to close. Suddenly, an unbearable pain appeared in his palm where Diamanes was nested. That's only then that he remembered that he stopped an arrow with this hand. It seemed that his captors didn't bother healing him or trying to make the wound at least a little better.'Diamanes, what the hell is happening?' He asked mentally, knowing that his unwanted companion probably had some ideas of where he was and what the hell was he doing there. Glenn heard a lot of things: the faint scurrying of rats and the rattling of chains coming from outside his cell. The wind whistled through the stone, bringing a cold sensation in his cell. His heart, beating faster and faster, as well as his ragged breathing. But Diamanes' answer wasn't among those things. Battling the rising anxiety, Glenn focused on slowing his breathing. Panicking wasn't going to help him in this situation. He opened his mouth to call out to Diamanes, his lips dry and crackled, covered in dry blood, but no sound emerged from it. "..." Nothing. No sound came out of his mouth. Thinking it might be just him going crazy, he tried to scream. "...!" Still nothing. Not even a rasp or a squeak. Tears started welling up in Glenn's eyes. Why? Why does this happen to him? He didn't ask to be there or to come into this world, and now he's mute, has his left hand pierced, and is imprisoned in the worst prison cell one can visit. He had just been thrown into this hell with no explanation, no system, no power given by a god, no guide or cheat, NOTHING! Diamanes kept saying that he was special somehow, so why couldn't he find out this specialness of his? WHY? Even though he didn't admit it to himself, the few events that happened had shaken Glenn to his core. He almost died multiple times, and when he thought about his situation now, perhaps it would have been better if he did...Glenn's thoughts stopped when he heard the faint sound of steps, walking on a stone path, getting closer and closer to his cell. He held his breath in, scared. A thunderous clang resonated, breaking the silence and catching Glenn's attention. A faint light appeared as the heavy door swung open, revealing a figure with a candle. The person wore a priest's robe, reminiscent of the tentacled creature from the forest. The figure's footsteps echoed in the confined space, drawing closer to Glenn, who squinted against the candle's harsh glow.The flame hovered dangerously close to his eyes, and he could feel the heat radiating from this small object. A drop of burning wax fell, creating a crackling sound when encountering Glenn's right cheek. The latter wanted to scream in pain, but no matter what he did, he was still as mute as when he woke up. The figure pulled back his hood, revealing a face scarred all over, the cuts drawn in strange symbols. His face was gaunt, and his eyes were dark, with even darker circles. The wide-open eyes gave the man a crazy expression, and he looked all over Glenn. He noticed that the man's actions were focused on studying his eyes, searching for something within them. Taking out a gourd, he opened it and forcefully put its contents in his prisoner's mouth. Even though he didn't want to drink whatever it was, Glenn couldn't resist, his limbs lacking any strength. He did his best to try and spit it up, but the strange liquid, black like the darkness of his cell, was going back by itself in his throat until he swallowed every drop of it, moving like some sort of wicked creature. It tasted like metal but was very viscous, almost like... A jolt of disgust ran through Glenn, and his body instinctively tried to eject the foreign substance, but despite repeated vomiting, the black substance did not reappear. The man struck Glenn's face, careful not to cause severe damage, and left him to suffer in his chains. Knocked out, under the watchful eyes of the wide-eyed man, he felt first a throb in his stomach, then in his head, and finally in his whole body. The pain started to appear following the throbs, making Glenn feel as if something wanted to dig out his skin from the inside. The subsequent throbbing pain gradually pulled him into unconsciousness, the jailer's smirk the last thing he saw.A grumbling sound resounded, waking Glenn up. He thought maybe all that happened was just a nightmare, but he was still in the dark cell. His hungry belly was the one that had woken him up. 'Diamanes… Someone, anything…' His silent prayers for help didn't bring anything, besides more despair and hate. A scream resounded outside of his cell, quickly getting silenced. Perhaps he wasn't the only one who had lost his voice, seeing how it was usually silent. Was it something temporary or permanent? He'll have to get into that. Glenn couldn't believe he had lost his voice forever. This was a world of magic, there probably was a way. Yeah, surely... After spending so much time in the dark, his eyes could barely see anything, but it was better than the last time he woke up when he couldn't see anything at all. He could roughly define the limits of his cell, which resembled a small corridor three meters long and about a meter and a half wide. He barely managed to find this out during his previous torture session, using the small light coming from the candle to observe his surroundings. If there was a solution, he was going to find it. The beginning of the corridor was where the entrance was and where the heavy metal door was located. The other side was where he was chained. He tried to walk up to the door, but the chains were stopping him from doing that, chaining them to the wall. They were barely a meter long, too short for him to attempt anything. A light appeared, probably the same light from the same damned candle. As he guessed, the hooded figure reappeared with the same scarred face. Once again, he shoved his candle in Glenn's face, but this time, Glenn noticed that the man did that to look at his eyes as if looking for something in them. The flame licked the young man's face, burning his cheek slightly before the jailer took his candle back, not without a bit of disappointment. Finally, the madman forced the black liquid down Glenn's throat once again. He still tried to resist, but his hungry body had even less strength than the first time. The black goo slid down, disgusting him once again. He retched, but only a small amount of green water came out. His stomach was so empty that he couldn't even puke correctly. The man kicked him, muttering something, and left. When the door closed, plunging him into darkness once again, the throbs came back, making him feel as if he was getting pierced in every single part of his body by a thousand burning spears, the blades twisting in his flesh, burning and destroying his body from within.Foaming at the mouth, he slowly fell to the ground, unable to resist the pain, losing consciousness once again. He didn't know which one he preferred, the darkness of his cell or the one he fell in each time he found himself unconscious. Starting from that day, a sickening process took place again and again, never stopping, following a maddening regularity.Glenn was so tired, hungry, thirsty, and mostly in so much pain that he couldn't even think of a way to escape, making plans consuming too much energy from his tired brain. He had practically given up on life at this point. And Diamanes was still silent as if he never existed. The notion of time started to disappear from his mind. There was no bucket or spot to relieve oneself, and Glenn was lacking so much strength that he just did it on himself. Over the days, the filth accumulated, never cleaned by anyone, filling his cell with a smell worsening day by day. He could often feel himself slipping into some fevered dreams, seeing things that didn't exist, illusions of the freedom he so desperately needed. Has it been days? Weeks? Months? Maybe years? He had no idea. All he could tell was that the pain in his left hand subsided each time Scarred-Face, the man who gave him the black goo, came into his cell, probably because he gained some kind of pain tolerance by dint of suffering. Glenn gave him a nickname, as he was the only thing that could make him remember he was alive. Mr. Scarred-Face was filling this role with perfection, abusing him a bit more each time. Researchers on Earth said that humans can adapt and get used to anything, be it pain, drugs, or murder. The first time is always the hardest, but the more a human experiences something detrimental to him, the easier it is the next time it happens. Glenn had read something like that in a book that he had been forced to read, before all this mess, when he was still living on Earth like a normal human: "Man is a creature that can get accustomed to anything, and I think that is the best definition of him." This quote had stuck with him, being the only thing he remembered from the book. Strangely, he couldn't help but think of it today.He always believed the author was right before, never doubting human resilience and adaptation potential. But now that he was in this hell, he couldn't help but change his mind. The pain, the heaviness of his body, be it because of the chains or his hunger, the perpetual tiredness, the forceful ingestion of the disgusting mixture, bathing in his excretions, the constant abuses—he would never be able to get used to it. There was no good in that. What didn't kill you made you stronger?He'd rather be dead.Glenn thought he was starting to become completely crazy. He could hear the drops of water dripping from the roof of his cell and the eerie sound of the wind howling through the thin cracks, but they seemed to have slightly changed, gaining an eerie personality. Everything around him felt alive or dead, in a confusing hallucination. He could swear he started to hear some faint whispers, but he didn't want to listen to them because as soon as he accepted them and acknowledged them, he knew he would pass on the other side. His eyes were drawn to a sudden movement at the other side of his cell. Glenn could almost swear that he saw something move in there. The shadows seemed to move, pulsing with the same rhythm as the voices tempting him in his head. How could anyone get used to that? "Do you want to die, Glenn?""Do you?""We can if you want…" Shut up. "We can give you that death you want so much, Glenn; just say the word..." Shut up. Shut up, shut up! "Just accept me, Glenn, and you'll be able to repay them tenfold…""Just give up... You poor little wimp...""We'll give you strength... Give up…" Blocking his ears with his hands, he cowered in a corner of the cell, shaking, the chains rattling against the ground in a sharp sound. But that's when he heard it. What he was waiting for. The sound of hope, shuts up the whispers, making the illusions disappear. He never thought he would even come to like that voice. "Glenn? You're real fucked-up, man." The young man smiled weakly toward his left hand. He couldn't see him in the darkness, but he was sure that the entity was running his tongue over his teeth with his usual mocking smile. Unconcerned, and filled with endless malice and sarcasm. Glenn sighed, relieved. Perhaps he will find a way now that this devil has shown up. And if he didn't, he'd at least have someone to talk to. 'Where were you?' "Uhhh, I was busy fixing myself since I took an arrow in the mouth. Damn, you smell. Just how much time did you spend here?" 'Too much.' "Well, I believe you; I can taste the filthiness in my sacred mouth. Yuck." 'I need to get out of here.' "Well, just leave, bro? I can give you the means and get rid of the Silence curse on the same occasion if you want." 'Do whatever that means.' Diamanes then told Glenn to put him on his neck. The mouth in his hand made a suction noise, and Glenn felt as if something that was stuck in his throat had disappeared, while something indescribable got transferred through Diamanes. "Ugh… It doesn't taste good as a first meal. I guess it's still better than an arrow in the teeth, heh." "I… Urgh… Thank… You…" Glenn's voice was hoarse; he was not used to talking anymore. It had been so long...He felt like he needed to learn it all over again. Diamanes made a wide grin, showing his white teeth in the darkness, the young man able to see them in the deep obscurity. The sight was strangely comforting, as the only thing happy in this terrible place was him, this damned, unwanted evil demon. "You're welcome, dear contractor. Should we get out of here?" Smiling, Glenn nodded, his eyes resolute. Whatever demon Diamanes was, he would shake his hand as many times as it took if that was what it took to get out of this hell. "Cough…Yes."