Once again, the dungeon underground was deathly quiet as if it resided under the ruins of a raided fortress, lost to the march of history as no one bothered to rebuild the place in its former glory. This was not the case, however, right above our heads were people bustling and living their lives, even though the city of Wiskoschia was dreadful, some still found hope amongst all the curses. The hush was caused by my case or rather fate that had befallen upon me as the warden said something that was akin to death of my name. I whispered under my nose, "...Execution?"
The heavy gaze of a predator was still observing me, as if trying to witness my very soul. I wonder if the warden doubted its presence within my being? After hearing my quiet disbelieve, his brows narrowed, and he hissed, "Why are you so surprised about it, Dusk? It's only natural for a scum like you to be executed."
I could barely hear his words under the pressure of the awful ringing that kept attacking my ears. My execution, my death, the demise of Dusk had been decided to be held so soon. Not only that, but I was surrounded by cold stone walls and iron bars, with no tools to speak of. There was no way out of this, thus I had been at a loss for words.
"Would it be possible to reduce the severity of his sentence?" Suddenly my neighbour wondered. I could not see Nila's face, but I clearly witnessed her sky blue hair swaying from sudden movement forward ahead of the iron bars that restricted her freedom of movement.
The warden glanced over at her, then his eyes shifted back to me as he was speaking, "I really do not understand why you would choose someone like him as your travelling partner. You are not without your own sins, Nila, but the doings of this man are far beyond something that could be pardoned after a simple sentence. The world would be better without someone like him around."
"Shut up! You know nothing about me!" I yelled and pounced at the iron bars like a wild animal. Despite my attempt, the warden did not flinch and continued staring me down. How could it be that I was the one not deserving to live? I committed crimes, but who did not? Who was he to decide my fate?
"Know nothing about you?" the warden huffed in amusement, shook his head and took out a cigar from his pouch. After lighting it up and doing a single puff, he continued speaking, "You humiliated the garrison overseer, infiltrated the house of honest migrants who contributed greatly to the Schöltum region. Then you killed them, stole from them and burned their house down! Afterwards, you killed several more members of this community and once you were caught, you ran away. Despite pleas of the same overseer you humiliated, you still refused to cooperate and escaped the law. As much of a great man Heindrich had been, he truly blundered by trusting your ability to change until the end, which resulted in him getting demoted. Not your biggest crime out of the bunch, but I am quite bitter about it."
After his mention of Heindrich, the very first human being I spoke to upon my arrival to this world, I slowly slid down on my knees. His hand, in an attempt to reach me in my fall, was always present in my thoughts. Those were insignificant thoughts, the ones that were looming in my inner brain, the pesky and despicable ones. However, now that I was reminded of that fateful day, I could not help but feel the weight of my bowls that pinned me to the floor.
"I do not know how or why you happened to be in Wülgenville, but I am glad that this mistake will soon be erased." The warden's bones cracked lightly as he squatted down to face me. I did not look at him, but could perfectly feel malice in his eyes. "I will repeat myself again, your execution is scheduled for next week. For the time being, I sincerely hope that you will suffer in your stay here."
The warden jumped up and strolled elsewhere, finally being done with the two of us. I could hear giggles and whistles from other cells along the dungeon, all this time they were quiet, however now their amusement was at the peak. Not due to the words that were told to me by the head of this institution, but rather my pitiful state after I heard all of it. I remained on the floor and hugged my knees, trying to suppress tears that were flowing out. My attempts to compose myself were futile, however, as sobs still escaped my lips in betrayal.
I was a mess, a pitiful sight to behold. Worst of all, I could not quite comprehend the reason for my sudden burst of emotions. I was certainly afraid of my inevitable demise, I was insulted by the words of the warden, but there was something about Heindrich's face that made my very innards and whole body weak. Despite the attempts to erase it from my mind once and for all, I could not forget. I could only think of the hand that was extended to me, along with possibilities that could be opened to me. Alas, my nature remained unchanged, I was still Dusk the snatcher and no one else.
I still could not decide whether the silence in my neighbouring cell was a saving grace or a last straw that made Nila's belief in me wither completely. I would have preferred it to be the former one, but even if it was the latter, I did not mind it at all. Our journey was destined to end, thus I did not care when this fateful day would befall. If she hates me now, then it is only fitting, as I was truly not someone to put one's trust into.
It was hard to tell when the night befell onto the world as there were no windows to the outside underground. But judging by the lights that only withered away the more time had passed, the day was nearing it and as a result I was already motionless on the bed. I had been laying down for the last few hours, contemplating my life choices along with the death that was waiting for me. I took the gemstone out of my pocket a few times, but there was no glow to it. Even my despicable partner abandoned me in vain, which was not surprising, as it was not the first time that had happened.
My matter how hard I forced my throat to speak, I could not find the courage to call out to Nila, but judging by the peaceful huffing coming from behind the wall where she was stationed, the girl was fast asleep. There was nothing much to do besides swirling in the spiral of thought, thus I could understand well her aloof attitude towards the situation. Moreover, she only received a simple prison sentence and quite a short one compared to her lifespan, which she was so proud of. Those 15 years must have felt like nothing to her. It would be truly arrogant to assume that those few days we spent together left some kind of impact on her. Especially since it was me, of all people, a condemned criminal and a murderer. I was not someone to be fond of, thus her lack of interest in my situation made a lot of sense.
My self loathing did not last for too long, suddenly, I heard a quiet clang near the iron bars and a silhouette dashed past my cell. Several more clangs were produced as I came closer to inspect the occurrence. To my surprise, the lock that separated me from freedom was destroyed. I took it down with my trembling hands and pushed the door with a rusty squeak. Immediately, I rushed to check Nila's cell door, and the same had happened to hers as well. With the glimpse of my eye, I caught this silhouette once more in the distance. The stranger was wearing black clothes along with a wide hat, it was too dark to differentiate the face or even the details on the clothes. Regardless of this, I was thankful for this opportunity and quietly sneaked into Nila's cell.
She was indeed deep in her slumber, her whole body was wrapped in the blanket and even bedsheet with only one hand sticking out of this human sized burrito. I came closer and shook her a little, but immediately after my shaking intensified as I whispered in her ear, "Wake up, Nila, wake up!"
She hummed in displeasure, but then showed her eyes under heavy eyelids. We kept eye contact for a few seconds, but then I turned away from her and said, "Someone cut our locks, we should hurry before the guards or other prisoners noticed!"
She nodded with a cold expression, then wiggled a little while being trapped in her sleeping pose. After a while, she turned to me and tilted her head, "Could you, please, unwrap me first?"
"Why are you always like this, goddamn it!?" I hissed angrily, which woke up a few other inmates in this block.