Chapter 3: A Life Shattered
Two Years Later
The prison walls were cold and unforgiving. They loomed over Shank and Ozi, trapping them in a cage that felt more like a tomb. Each day dragged on, suffocating their spirits a little more. For two years, they had been imprisoned—five long years in total—but the weight of the first two years was a burden that none could fathom, not even the hardest of men.
It wasn't just the physical torment that they endured, though the hunger, the beatings, and the endless hours of labor wore on them. It was the emotional torment—the loss that never seemed to heal.
For Shank, those first two years had been the hardest of his life. His family, once proud and strong, had been murdered in front of his eyes. The Prince's cruelty left a scar that went deeper than any physical wound ever could. But the hardest part of it all—the part that kept him up at night—was Ozi's role in it all.
*It was your fault, Shank's mind would scream at him. *You were the one who killed them. You were the one who got us into this mess.And each time he looked at Ozi, he saw nothing but a reflection of his own guilt.
Ozi, though, was different. He had retreated into himself. The bright and determined young man who once trained with Shank to become soldiers of the kingdom was now a ghost. A shell of what he had been. And Shank? He couldn't bring himself to reach out to Ozi. He couldn't. Every time he did, the anger and the betrayal threatened to tear him apart.
---
My name is Jason Inister, and I come from one of the most respected farming families in this kingdom. We are the ones who feed this land, who work hard under the scorching sun to feed the nobility, the soldiers, the king. But we are nothing. We're invisible to them. Only useful for our labour.*
Jason's story began like any other ordinary tale. He was just a young man, raised to work the land. He married his love, Clair, and together, they had a daughter—a beautiful girl they named Lily. Jason's life was simple, but it was a life he cherished. He worked from dawn until dusk, his hands rough and calloused from years of toil. But there was joy in his heart, for he had a family—his reason for living.
But joy, it seemed, could not last.
It was a day like any other when Lily fell ill.
Jason could feel it in his gut—the moment she first coughed, the sound harsh and ragged. He brushed it off at first, convinced it was just a common cold. But when her condition worsened, his world began to unravel. The doctors couldn't help. None of them knew what was wrong with her. They gave her medicine, but it didn't work. Her condition grew worse, and her skin grew pale, her breath shallow.
"Jason," Clair's voice trembled. "What's happening to her?"
Jason could only shake his head in helplessness. He had been to every doctor in the kingdom, searching for an answer. Every time, they told him the same thing: "There's nothing we can do."
And then one doctor spoke the unthinkable. "If you can't get her the medicine she needs within a month, she will die."
The words hit Jason like a punch to the gut. The man who had been strong for so long, who had worked tirelessly for his family, now felt powerless. His mind raced. There had to be a way. There had to be something he could do.
He couldn't lose her. He wouldn't.
Jason's journey took him across the kingdom, from the bustling markets of the capital to the farthest corners of the land. But no one had the medicine he needed. No one cared for a farmer's plight. The nobles, the wealthy, the powerful—they all turned their backs on him.
He begged. He pleaded. He offered everything he had. But the doors remained closed.
And then, in the dark of a tavern, after a long night of drinking his sorrows away, an old man approached him.
"I can get you the medicine," the old man said, his voice raspy. "But you must go to the noble house on the hill. They have what you need."
Jason's heart leapt at the prospect of finally having a chance. "I'll go," he said, determination burning in his chest.
That night, Jason made his way to the noble's mansion, desperation in his every step. The guards at the gate eyed him suspiciously, but he pushed through, fueled by the one thing he could still hold onto: hope.
But the noble inside was not so kind.
"Medicine?" the noble sneered. "Do you think such things are for farmers like you? You have no business here."
Jason's desperation boiled over. "Please! My daughter—she needs it. She'll die if you don't help me. I'm begging you. I have money—whatever you want!"
The noble laughed, a cold, cruel sound. "You should know your place, peasant."
Jason's hands clenched into fists, his vision blurring with rage. And in that moment, something inside him broke. He didn't think. He just acted.
The noble fell to the floor, blood spreading around him as Jason's hands shook, still gripping the knife he had used to strike him down. The guards rushed in, but it was too late. Jason had the medicine. He ran.
---
When Jason returned to his home, Clair was waiting for him. Her face, once full of hope, was now filled with sorrow. She had been holding their daughter in her arms, and Lily was pale, her little body limp.
Clair's eyes widened in horror as Jason approached, clutching the medicine in his hands.
"What... what happened, Jason? You've been gone for so long. Where were you?"
Jason didn't answer. He rushed to their daughter's side, administering the medicine. He waited, his heart in his throat, but nothing happened. Lily didn't stir. Her breathing didn't improve.
Jason's stomach twisted. He stared at his daughter, the girl he had sworn to protect. And then it hit him—too late. She was gone.
"No... no!" he screamed. He shook her gently, trying to rouse her, but it was useless. The light in her eyes had already gone out.
Clair screamed. "What did you do? Where did you go, Jason? Where were you?" Her fists pounded on his chest, her tears falling like a river. "You promised me. You promised you wouldn't leave us!"
And in that moment, Jason knew the cost of his actions.
The guards came soon after, arresting him for the murder of the noble and for his crimes. He had killed a man, and for that, he would pay. Jason was sentenced to three years in prison, with the promise of execution looming over him.
The darkness of that night, the screams of his wife, the death of his daughter—it all haunted him as he was thrown into the same prison as Shank and Ozi.
Now, in the cold, stone cell, the three of them shared the same air of loss. Shank, Ozi, and Jason—three men bound by pain and sorrow, each with their own story of destruction. And as they met in that prison, fate intertwined their lives in ways none of them could have predicted. Each of them had been broken by the world in different ways!