"You should hang yourself."
Inside a house cluttered with splintered wood, shattered walls, and faint lighting, a teenager rested on the ground with his back against the wall.
His head was downcast as he sluggishly peered into the ground between his legs.
The moon was positioned in the centre of the sky, aligning perfectly with the boy. Because of that, some light shone into the houses below.
"Seriously, you should hang yourself. You are worthless, lonely and only an obstruction to people you visit."
The boy was unresponsive to these cutthroat words yet a singular teardrop escaped his eyes and slid down his cheek.
At that moment, a bald and merciless man sat atop a throne of refuse and scattered corpses. He was gazing into the boy's eyes, attempting to elicit a reaction from him.
"Heed to my words boy," the man said as he ascended from his throne and walked towards the boy.
"Hanging is a pleasureful method of killing yourself, and as worthless as your life is, you deserve it for inheriting the blood of the Yore, so please accept my mercy or I will kill you in a more unmerciful fashion."
The man stepped closer, inches away from the boy as the boy finally gained clarity, looking towards the man with intensity.
The boy enstranged the man with a piercing glare and asked, "Kill me?"
The man, taken aback by the boy's reaction, felt bewildered by his limited understanding of Leonish and the aggressive intensity he displayed.
"You aren't sharp boy? Did you heed my words at all? I said go KILL YOUR SELF!" The man said, trying to grasp the reasoning beyond the boy's attitude and actions.
The boy looked back at the ground. Unbothered he stared at the ground, brainstorming some possible outcomes of this interaction.
'That guy isn't nice, he doesn't follow mother's phi-' BOOM!
The boy's thoughts were shattered as the man slammed into the wall beside him, creating a gaping hole in its structure. Furious at the boy's indifference in the face of life and death, the man struck the wall with force.
"You are a demon without fear, someone who cannot thrive in this world," the man said, his tone a mixture of anger and fear. "A demon devoid of its coloring is still a demon. So why don't you just die."
Right after speaking, the man lunged toward the boy, wielding a bone like a longsword. With lethal force, he swung it in a heavy arc, the air whistling as it sliced downward like a guillotine.
The boy barely had a moment to react. Instinct took over as he dodged, but the bone ripped across his skin, leaving a sharp cut where he cut him. He staggered back, blood trickling down his arm, his thoughts still scattered from the sudden attack.
The boy's breath quickened, his heart beating out of his chest. The man, unrelenting, wasted no time and swung the bone again with brute strength, aiming to crush the boy into oblivion. The boy, still reeling from the first blow, narrowly sidestepped the second strike.
The bone soon smashed into the ground with a deafening crack, sending shards of debris into the air. The man was impressed at the reaction speed and instincts of the boy and questioned, "How are you able to sidestep my attacks so easily? I thought you were a mere boy without strength, speed nor purpose but now I am shocked at how wrong I am."
A smirk escaped the boy's face, pleased by the unexpected praise. He wasn't ever slow. His time spent at the borders of Leona and Jersia wasn't for nothing.Ā
Adrenaline surged through the boy's veins. His body moved on instinct, his mind catching up as he scrambled for an opening. He knew he couldn't survive on defense alone. His eyes darted around the crumbling space, desperate for anything to use as a weapon.
The man sneered, sensing the boy's desperation. With a savage roar, he charged again, this time thrusting the bone forward like a spear. The boy ducked low, feeling the rush of air as the bone whooshed past his head. In a flash, he grabbed a loose piece of debrisāa jagged shard of stoneāand swung it upward in a desperate counterattack.
The stone met flesh with a sickening thud!Ā The man staggered back, surprised by the blow, but his rage only intensified. He bared his teeth, eyes blazing with fury, and raised the bone high for another vicious strike.
The boy knew this next attack could be his last.