Will every day, every moment, just be like this?
My body is bound to a filthy mattress. The thick iron chains are impossible to break. The smell of fresh blood stings my nose.
I'm in a prison now — a very strange place.
I don't know how all this began. I can't even remember what day it is. But before all of this happened…
My mind drifted for a moment, trying to recall how it all started.
I was on my way home from a job interview, celebrating the fact that I had finally landed a job. A few steps further, I noticed a cat — drowning in the sea. I couldn't understand how it had ended up there. Or perhaps… someone had thrown it in.
Before that, I didn't really care what would happen. Everything had already been written by fate. I started walking away, glancing back at the cat that looked like it was suffering. My thoughts seemed to snap — I couldn't bear it. I jumped into the sea…
And yes — I had forgotten that I couldn't swim.
Suddenly, I woke up in this strange place. Had I just arrived in hell, for failing to save that cat?
A few days passed. Or maybe longer. Time no longer held meaning here — days slipped by without notice. Hunger and thirst, somehow, had not yet killed me.
Am I really alone in this place…?
Tired. Is this a trial that God has given to His servant? Or is this punishment? I can no longer tell the difference.
It would be better to just hope that all of this ends soon.
I began to close my eyes. My eyelids no longer looked alive. My once-red eyes began to dim.
Drip… drip… drip…
The sound of water falling from the prison ceiling, hitting the cold stone floor below.
Then — footsteps. Slowly approaching.
Faint at first, coming from the corridor outside the cell. Two male voices. Whispering, but clear enough to be heard by ears already used to silence.
"Who is that?" the old man in the black robe asked.
It was a young boy I had stumbled upon a few weeks ago — one who had suddenly fallen from the sky. Has the gods finally noticed me? With all the human sacrifices long dead, have they sent me a fresh one as a gift?
"Haha, look at him — so thin! You really intend to torture him to death? No food, no water? You truly have no heart."
He stared at me with bloodthirsty intent.
"Oh-ho, once he dies, we shall begin the necromancy ritual to bring him back. Hahaha!"
They burst into laughter as they walked further down a corridor I did not know. I caught a glimpse of their faces — utterly disgusting. Hideous.
This is not hell. This is another world — a world of magic. So this is my fate… to be nothing more than an experiment?
I refuse to accept such an absurd fate!