章 207: Broken Soul
It was dark and cold.
'Where am I?' A man woke up with a splitting headache, feeling like his head was inside a bell, getting repeatedly pounded with a hammer.
Ding~ Ding~ Ding~
Suddenly the man opened his eyes. He was not dreaming, there really was a sound of a bell being rung beside his ear! But then he felt a tug on his legs and the sound hastened and became louder.
Dong! Dong! Dong!
'My…helmet? What is…' He suddenly remembered what happened.
He was sleeping peacefully when he was rudely awoken by the sounds of hellish screams in the village. His wife beside him also woke up and hugged him in terror.
They didn't know what was happening, or better yet, they didn't want to know what was happening. There was one thing that every human not living in a guarded city dreaded the most: Monster attack!
"Warren, I'm scared," the woman whispered while trembling in fear.
He gripped her hands and pulled her close, "It's okay, I'll protect you no matter-"
Crash!
It happened then. The sound of wood being broken traveled to their ears from not far away, and tremors traveled through the house like an earthquake.
Then suddenly, there was a frightened cry. It came from the neighboring room where their little daughter slept.
"Gomora!"
His wife's hysterical scream still echoed in his ear, clear as day.
But sharp pain suddenly woke him out of his nightmare as his back hit something hard and sharp. He felt his body being tossed like a rag doll and he landed heavily on the cold stone floor.
He winced in pain and gritted his teeth, but no sound came from his mouth. His lifeless eyes stared into the abys above him, the stone prison he was thrown into, dark as the night.
"Gomora…" He whispered as the painful memories resurfaced once again before his eyes, and tears flowed down his cheeks.
He tried to protect her! He took his helmet and grabbed the old sword beside the bed and rushed to his daughter's room, but…
There was a flash of light and he suddenly found himself on the floor, his mouth filling with a warm liquid, giving off a metallic taste.
Blood soon dripped to the floor from his bleeding lips.
Shadows were dancing on the wall, made by the flames of houses set ablaze and burning not far away.
A grotesque beast stood over the bed of his precious offspring, growling menacingly amid monstrous laughter. The sharp white fangs stood out brightly in the dark.
'No…'
This was his first and only thought at that time.
'I'm so weak!'
Warren smashed his fist on the stone floor remembering that sight. He tried to fight, but couldn't. He tried to scream, but couldn't! He wanted to curse! He wanted to bite the monster until either of them died, but couldn't!
A heavy weight landed on his back and blood started filling his lungs, making him choke, making him watch in silence while his little girl was violated in front of him!
But she was small, she was weak…
When the beasts were done with her it was already too late, she was gone. His little girl was dead…
Rage welled inside Warren. He gathered all his strength with gritted teeth and pushed off the floor with bloodlust in his eyes! Only… A sudden pain struck his leg, a blade pierced his thigh, and a heavy hand pushed him down again.
Maddening laughter came from all sides, the monsters in the dark enjoying his hopeless struggles like the demonic beasts they were.
'My wife…'
The last thing he remembered was the screams of his wife in the other room. It might have gone on for just a little bit, or an eternity… Warren didn't know. After a sudden strike to his neck, the world turned dark, and he closed his eyes.
He buried his face in his hands in the stone cell, or at least, he tried to. Cold metal was hugging his head, an old helmet, passed down from his father's father.
It barely offered any protection, being rusted over the generations, while giving protection to many men over the years.
He took off the helmet and wiped off the blood coming from his nose and mouth. It was cold. He was shivering. He hugged himself and blindly moved towards a wall, feeling some straw underneath his feet.
His eyes gradually became accustomed to the dark, and that's when he noticed tiny mushrooms growing from the crack in the walls. They were half the size of a thumb and glowing with a dim green fluorescent light.
Bioluminescence! It was the only source of light in this place.
Suddenly he felt movement, there was someone in the cell beside him. Another human… He could see his silhouette and hear his breath. Warren stayed on guard and moved further away, determined to remain awake. He even put his helmet back on.
But… His head felt heavy, and his eyelids too. His body was aching, and there was nothing to do. First went the hand, and an eye right behind… He was soon sleeping soundly, with nothing in mind.
Sounds of screaming woke Warren up sometime later, and he could see his cellmate being dragged out of the hole by a massive humanoid monster.
He didn't know the man, nor was he interested in knowing him. He simply scrambled further away from the door and tried to make himself as small as possible while trembling in fear.
The Orc lifted the torch up high and looked straight at him, shouting a few words that Warren couldn't understand, before slamming the door and leaving.
The screams echoed through the underground cavern, but they were becoming quieter and more distorted as time went on.
A deathly silence returned to the cell. Warren carefully approached the door, if it could even be called that.
The thing was made of a few crudely shaped planks hammered together and tied to the cave wall with a chain. It didn't even have a lock!
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Placing the hand on his chest, Warren felt the intense beating of his heart and swallowed with difficulty. He quietly pushed the door, and although it was heavy, it moved quite easily.
Cold sweat started to pour down his back as his heart beat faster and faster, from both excitement and nervousness. He looked out of his dark cell, the only light coming from those tiny mushrooms.
It was quiet. Eerily quiet.
The loud sound of his beating heart was the only thing keeping him company in the darkness.
'I need to be brave, I need to be brave…' This thought kept repeating itself in his head as he took his first cautious steps in the bone-chilling cave.
'My wife, what happened to my wife?' Tears welled up in his eyes as he stumbled forward.
There was suddenly a ray of light coming from the front and his steps accelerated. 'Light! I need to reach the light! I need to escape from here!'
However, as he turned the corner he came face-to-face with an angry mug of an Orc feasting on fresh meat.
"Ah..." The sound left his mouth as Warren's eyes enlarged into saucers.
And then…
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GoldenShadow
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