Chereads / THE BERSERKER CHRONICLES / Chapter 4 - Gruel Palace

Chapter 4 - Gruel Palace

Daniel walked through the corridors of the palace, looking at the walls. They were old and had a strange, Gothic style. The walls were painted with colours that swirled together - white, black, and others.

It was like the stony walls were alive.

The colours blended in a strange and eerie way, forming a surreal painting that seemed to shift and writhe like a living thing.

The whites and blacks swirled together like ink and water, creating strange, tendril-like patterns that seemed to reach out from the wall.

The other colours added a macabre splash of vibrancy, like blood-red splatters or eerie green highlights. The overall effect was like nothing Daniel had ever seen before - a dreamlike, nightmarish image that seemed to pulse with a strange, weird and frightening energy.

Daniel's eyes looked at the walls, his mind struggling to comprehend the bizarre artwork.

"The colour palette here is bad," he muttered to himself"

"What sort of building is this? Who could have designed such a strange and foreboding place?"he thought.

As he walked further, the atmosphere seemed to thicken, like a fog that clung to his skin. "Well, is this the afterlife?" Daniel asked aloud.

He half expected a ghostly figure to materialize before him, or a voice from beyond the grave to answer his question.

But there was only silence.

As he moved forward, a radiant golden light caught his attention, drawing him in. He stepped closer, his eyes fixed on the splendour ahead. It was a large throne with someone sitting on it.

Then Daniel's eyes widened as he took in the throne's grandeur.

The throne was covered in gold that glowed with an eerie light, with intricate carvings that seemed to cover every inch of its surface.

The carvings were incredibly detailed, with each one more complex than the last.

"Wow, so detailed. If I hadn't committed suicide. I would have loved to bargain for this….", he thought.

But it was the figure sitting upon the throne that truly caught Daniel's attention.

The person's features were strangely familiar, bearing a striking resemblance to the boy he had seen lying on the ground earlier.

The same piercing eyes, the same sharp jawline, the same white-black hair. Yet, there was something different about this person, something that seemed almost...scary.

Daniel felt a shiver run down his spine as he realized that this person was watching him, sizing him up with an unblinking stare.

"Hello …..", he said, trying to be nice.

"Are you done looking?", the young man asked, a bit annoyed.

"Excuse me, please I kind of like ….." Daniel explained. "I came here, I was wondering if there is any way that I can move out through the back door"

"What?", the young man said. "Are you for real? Where are your manners?"

"Hey! I'm in the wrong place, to be frank with you. I don't know how I got here except that I think this is the Afterlife", Daniel continued. "I want to leave so badly…"

"Seriously, take this as a personal tip from me. The colour palette of this place is very, very bad. I suggest you go see another designer…"

"Or you repaint the hall….", Daniel said, dropping his last statement.

There was silence.

It seemed Daniel was rude but he was right. The colours there were bad.

"Now, I called you to my palace and instead of you bowing at my feet. You tell me you are at the wrong place.."

"And then scrutinize my house like some piece of shit", the young man said, his voice echoing throughout the hall.

"Are you serious? For real nigga", Daniel said, obviously annoyed by the man's words. "Take it or leave it…."

Then Daniel turned his back, and suddenly, a powerful punch struck him, shaking the building. Debris flew everywhere, and Daniel's eyes blurred. "What the hell was that?" he exclaimed, stunned. "Did he just punch me? I've never been touched my whole life!"

Daniel's anger surged as he struggled to stand up, his legs wobbling. He saw blood on his hand and gazed at his left arm, damaged to the point of exposing bone.

"Am I bleeding?", Daniel was really angry at this point. Yes, he committed suicide because he hated those people, they undermined him but this guy….

"You punched me, you arrogant, egotistical bastard!" he spat. "If I were back home, I would have killed you! Your parents must have failed to teach you manners!"

"Hmm, that's deep", the young man said snorting.

The young man snorted, "Wow, I didn't know you had such an uncouth mouth, Daniel."

Daniel's eyes widened in shock. "How do you know my name?"

Before he could react, Daniel felt himself lifted off the ground, his body flying through the air. He crashed to the floor with a loud explosion

BOOOM!!!!!!!!!!

The young man taunted, "Say that again!" and began bashing Daniel's head against the wall, repeating, "You called me a bastard!"

The young man sneered, "Look at you, helpless before me."

But then his expression changed, and he muttered, "Why am I wasting my time with you? This is getting boring..." He turned to leave, but Daniel, despite his battered state, managed to stand up and limp towards him.

With a fierce gaze, Daniel spat in the young man's face and slapped him. But, unbeknownst to Daniel, he was only attacking a mirage, a spiritual projection of the young man's consciousness.

The young man's eyes gleamed with amusement.

"You have a preposterous mind, Daniel.,"

" But to teach you respect, I must teach you manners."

He snapped his fingers, and Daniel's voice was silenced.

The young man's eyes blazed with intensity. "You will learn to respect me."

"This would be your very first lesson….'

And with another snap of his fingers, Daniel's stomach exploded, his intestines and organs spilling out.

Daniel's scream echoed through the air as he clutched his ravaged stomach.

The pain was like a living thing, a creature that had taken up residence inside him, writhing and twisting through his veins. It was as if his body was a machine, and the young man's attack had overloaded the circuitry, causing a catastrophic failure. The voltage of pain surged through him, threatening to consume him whole.

ARRRGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

The young man spoke calmly, looking at the poor guy. "They cry like that when in extreme pain." But Daniel's screams cut him off.

"Okay, okay..." the young man tried to silence him, but Daniel's screams only grew louder.

"Alright, stop it!" the young man finally snapped, but he still heard Daniel's whimpers

The young man's patience wore thin, and he shouted, "I said stop it!" His words held a strange authority, and Daniel's screams were abruptly silenced, his voice frozen in his throat.

Though the pain still ravaged his body, Daniel was unable to make a sound, because his voice was trapped.

"Look at you, summoned by my whim, yet you dare to critique my grand design. You view it through the eyes of a stranger, oblivious to the true nature of this realm."

"Despite my... persuasions," he gestured to Daniel's battered form, "you still fancy yourself capable of ordering me. You cling to the illusion of control as if you could rival my power."

He chuckled, "A creation, presuming to advise the Creator. How... quaint. How... amusing."

"I am the master of this domain, and you are but a fleeting thought, a momentary indulgence."

The young man could still see Daniel crying since he had tears..

"Oh, I forgot about that?", he said, with a huge smile on his face.

Then Daniel felt cool, it was if he had taken pain relief or anaesthesia.

"You see fool, but I don't know who you are…."

"You are nothing …..", he said, spitting out some blood but his body was all healed up.

"This guy…..", the young man said.. "He has pride…."

"Looks like I have to enjoy a delicacy for a while", the young man's mouth became wide with a huge smile.

Daniel stood up, since his legs were wobbling.

As he declared, "Since you have pride, I must teach you a final lesson."

"You would…."

But Daniel's words were cut off, then the young man grabbed him. With a clap of his hands, the palace began to writhe and contort, the place filling with a dazzling light that swirled around Daniel in a vortex. It was spinning around him.

As the light enveloped him, Daniel's heart was beating loudly.

"Where the hell is this bastard taking me to?", he thought.

Suddenly, a brilliant flash illuminated everything, and when the light faded, Daniel found himself in a black and yellow superhero costume with striped lining and he had gloves on his hand.

Some parts of his clothes were torn….

"What the hell?", he said.

Daniel's vision was blurry, and he could taste blood dripping from his nose.

As he looked around, he realised he was in a familiar yet strange environment - destroyed buildings, cars all battered, in New York City. But something was off. This wasn't his world.

He was in a world he had only seen in cartoons, and he was the protagonist destined to suffer a brutal beating.

He turned looking around … and he saw people crying, blood and people's bodies all littered around.

"This is... impossible!" Daniel stammered, his eyes wide with disbelief.

"He can teleport through dimensions. Even this is impossible …."

"Only a god could bring me here... I'm in Omniman's world!" He stumbled.

This realisation sent a chill down his spine.

"Is the fucker a god???", he mumbled.