In the next moment, Maya's eyes went wide open as tools started coming out of the shadow. Drills, Saws and other things. For a moment, she wasn't even afraid anymore, she was just scared and jealous. This Beast had overpowered her Beast. It was high level Clearly because she could not see its level, but at the same time, there must be more to it too. She knew that and now she was sure what it was. This Beast had special skills.
Zimo noticed something else amid the stuff. It was a bottle of water. Zimo smiled. She knew he had been sweating and exerting himself all this time. She was probably telling him to take care of himself. Zimo smiled. "Thank you, Kivu. I'll finish this quickly so that we can get outta here."
Zimo's hand hovered over the instruments of torment, each one gleaming with a sinister promise. He picked up a cutter, turning it over in his hand, watching the light dance along its sharp edge.
"You were the first to show me the true meaning of pain," he said, his voice low and measured. "But now, I will show you what it means to be the one bearing it."
He paused, his hand trembling slightly. A part of him, the last shred of humanity, was reluctant. He didn't want to become the monster she had made him. Well, it wasn't just Maya. It was this world that was overcome with darkness.
Everything was leading him to this conclusion, and something told him that he was going to have a ton more experiences like this before he was done with his life. But there was another part of him, the darkness inside him, and it grew stronger with every passing moment, whispering sweet nothings of vengeance into his ear.
"Meashe(Please)," Maya whimpered through the cloth that was gagging her mouth, her voice trembling. "Angworry(I'm s-sorry)." At that moment she was releasing fluids, whether it was voluntary or involuntary, watching her do that, Zimo smirked in interest.
Zimo's eyes narrowed, his grip tightening on the cutter. "Sorry?" he spat. "Sorry doesn't cut it, not after what you did to me. You had your cat rip my limbs off my body. You had the people I would greet and work with every day watch as you did that, humiliating me in front of them all. You had me become bait for Deadspawns too at the end of the day, aiming to not kill me as a human but as one of them. How can you ask for forgiveness after all that? No..."
He leaned in, his face just inches from hers. "You're going to wish you had never laid a hand on me," he murmured, the reluctance in his voice giving way to a cold, malevolent determination. Zimo ran the cutter over her, making her whimper, and then his eyes narrowed in on a location.
*Shing!*
"Ngghh!!!"
The first cut was shallow, a mere whisper of pain across Maya's abdomen. She screamed into the gag, her body writhing against the restraints. Zimo felt a thrill, a perverse satisfaction as he watched the crimson line bloom on her pale flesh.
The darkness grew louder, urging him on, feeding on his anger. That was not enough was it? He needed to do more. He needed to destroy her body and mind the same way she had done to him!
"You liked it when it was me, didn't you?" he asked, his tone mocking coming out with a voice that was both scratched and interesting. "But now, it's your turn."
Maya's eyes pleaded with him as she shook her head, her desperation palpable. This time ZImo gazed at her with an almost scientific gaze. Maya's eyes dimmed at that moment. Zimo had seen her hurt, and yet he had done nothing and seemed intent on hurting her more. How fucked up...
But still, unknowingly to her, Zimo felt a flicker of doubt trying to break through the haze of his hatred. But when he saw those eyes and that desperate expression he couldn't help but overlay it with the expression he saw before, the one of her watching with a smile as Phoebe ripped his limbs off.
And then it all went away, the doubt, everything went away. And all that was left was the darkness that was infiltrating his mind and soul. The whispers grew stronger, pushing him deeper into the abyss.
He had to do more. More. Cutting wasn't enough. She had ripped his heart out. He should at least do that. She had watched as her beast ripped his limbs off. She had to get her body ripped apart slowly and passionately.
He picked up a set of pliers, his eyes lingering on her fingers. "Let's start with these," he said with a sadistic smile that chilled Maya to the bones.
*Klitch!*
"MMFFFHH!!"
The sound of the first joint popping was like a gunshot in the confined space, followed by Maya's muffled shrieks. Zimo's eyes glazed over, the room spinning around him as he lost himself in the ritual of his retribution. He was no longer the victim; he was the tormentor.
*Klitch!*
*Klitch!*
*Klitch!*
By the time he was done with her fingers, she was a mess, writhing in pain and crying as she lay there, naked cold and humiliated. Zimo couldn't help but smile. "You're going to pay for every second of pain you gave me," he growled, moving to her toes. "You're going to feel every ounce of agony I felt."
*Klack!*
"MFHUHHU!!"
Maya's cries grew weaker as the seconds turned to minutes. Zimo's once trembling hand grew steadier, more precise in his cruel artistry his eyes having lost the earlier feeling to them. He was just going through the motions as if experimenting, trying to see which action would yield him the most pain in this woman... He had gone from using the tool to just using his arm, applying the most minute pinpoint pressure to break her bones, and it was working wonders.
"GUHU!" Maya groaned in pain. Zimo heard it and smirked. He didn't even care if this was right or wrong. The lines between right and wrong had been blurring all that time until all that remained was the rhythmic metronome of suffering.
"I-it's en-enough," she managed to gasp out, her voice hoarse and broken. Zimo had used tools to break every part of her while keeping her somewhat intact. She had passed out so many times already. He was almost starting to feel bad for this woman who used to be a human but now lay there like some piece of broken meat.
Zimo paused, his chest heaving as he licked his lip. There was nothing good about this. Nothing bad either. The more he worked, the more he was able to understand just how everything was like. There was nothing about this. It was the fact that it was way too funny to see something like that. He looked down at her, her body he may have seen as beautiful before was nothing like before now. It was pretty disgusting and he knew it too.
But the whispers were too loud, too persuasive. He couldn't stop now. He had to end it, had to silence the screams that had haunted him for all this time. The memories, the dreams, all of it had to stop. And he would be the one to put a stop to it all.
With a final, savage snarl, Zimo picked up a knife, its blade thick and serrated. He raised it high above Maya, her eyes locked onto his with a silent, tired plea for mercy.
"It's enough..." Maya with her last bit of strength. Zimo gazed at her. She must be trying to rely on a healing potion. Smart.
"It's never enough," he murmured, plunging the blade deep into her chest. And then when he pulled it out, seeing her eyes wide, he smirked oddly and then stabbed her again, and again, and again and again. As he did that a darkness gathered around him, chilling him to the bones not because the chill was uncomfortable but because this chill felt really exciting.
Little did Zimo know that a green eye had appeared in his shadow at that moment curved upwards in glee. Zimo was busy at that moment, stabbing into her with all his heart, and driving holes into her body, making sure to leave her with a million holes so that she was nothing but a piece of meat with a ton of holes in it.
Now that he saw that skin that was turning purple and pale, he couldn't help but recall those last moments, the images making his heart race. Zimo went around the table, to look into her eyes which had tears running down them, and an expression of regret in them.
Her eyes, once wide started going dull, as the life drained from her body. Right after that, nothing happened. The room grew quiet, the only sound the heavy thud of the knife as it hit the floor beside her.
Zimo stepped back, breathing hard, staring at the lifeless form before him. The whispers of darkness receded, leaving only the deafening silence of his actions. He remembered every time she was with him.
The first time they had met in the interview rooms was also when she smiled at him wishing her luck. That smile of hers was the most beautiful smile he had seen in a long time. He would never see it ever again.
He remembered when they met again on the first day, with Zimo going out of his way to tell her to hang out sometime only for her to smirk and say yes. They ended up hanging out and realising that they had a lot in common and somewhat even found each other attractive.
He remembered the coffees they had after work where they would share insights… That was also the time she finally saw her start complaining about the company, about how weird everyone was being, selling favours. Zimo had told her back then not to be like them. To always be authentic, otherwise, she might just sell her soul to the system. That was unworthy of her. She deserved better than that.
And then... he began getting mistreated… and it turned out it had something to do with her... and then she had started getting him mistreated even in the group he was in.
All of it flashed past his mind, and then it all left at that moment as if it was getting sucked out, leaving him with nothing but a void, that he was using to look at the lifeless piece of flesh with many holes on it.
ZImo stared at it for a long time, and then realising that he was not feeling a lurch in his stomach, he realised it. He was different now.
He had become the monster he'd always feared, all because of her. But now, she was gone, and so too was the part of him that had once felt anything but the burning embrace of hatred and despair.
As he looked down at the blood-soaked table, Zimo realized that he had killed more than just Maya that night. He had killed the last vestige of his humanity.
"Grrr!!" A growl came from the shadows, and when Zimo heard it, he smirked.
"Yeah, yeah... I dont even know why you're just eating them. They probably dont taste that good with all the bullshit in their bodies and bellies."