Little Grey's eyelids twitched, then snapped open, greeting the real world.
His burning gaze darted around the cramped room, while his lungs greedily dragged in the stale air as if he were a drowning man who had finally broken the surface after a long plunge.
Pain pulsed through every cell of his body, echoing dully inside his head. Yet that sharp agony felt like a blessing from the heavens, because it meant he had survived.
He was alive.
That simple truth struck him like a jolt of lightning, sending waves of adrenaline through his entire being.
The sheer scale of what he had done overwhelmed Grey, making his heart pound twice as fast. He had achieved the impossible, erased the consciousness of the old monster and reclaimed control over his own body.
'That was a Sky-Dweller!' the thought flashed through the boy's mind, 'How did a cripple like me even survive? Maybe the old monster's mind was damaged?'
Though Grey felt a surge of pride, he was still capable of thinking rationally. No matter how arrogant he might be, he had no doubt that if the Sky-Dweller had been at full strength, nothing of him would have remained.
The euphoria gradually began to fade, giving way to cold clarity.
Grey immediately clutched his head, which throbbed unbearably, as if he had been struck with a hammer.
'Where am I? Where is Mom? Where are Grace and Cassie? What happened? We were just playing in the barn... Then Cassia appeared and dragged us into the shadows... Then... then... I can't remember. Is it because the Sky-Dweller damaged my soul?' the more Grey thought, the more confused he became.
Ignoring the dizziness, Grey tried to piece together the scattered fragments of his memories, but they were disjointed and meaningless. Vast Grey mountains, endless explosions, a strange box showing an even stranger city, his mother's gentle smile, and a door with a spear jutting out of it, stained the color of blood.
The images in his head made so little sense that they could hardly be called memories, more like a kaleidoscope of chaotic visions.
No matter how hard Grey tried to put those fragments together, he failed again and again. He simply could not remember what had happened after he gave his sister the picture book.
Suddenly, a quiet voice broke through his thoughts: "Grey, are you awake?"
That thin, uncertain voice stirred up another memory, blurred but vivid. A little girl carefully tending to his wounds.
'What was her name? Liza? Lane? Lola?'
Forcing himself through the throbbing pain in his temples, he finally remembered. "Lily."
"Thank you, Lily," Grey whispered in a hoarse, barely audible voice.
"Tsh, be quiet! I thought you'd lost your mind," the girl snapped, unwilling to listen to his gratitude. "Idiot... You were unconscious for two days. If you hadn't woken up by evening, the overseers would've decided you were dead."
Grey frowned again, trying to make sense of her words. The iron bars helped him draw a few conclusions.
'Right, now I'm just a common slave who'll be sold for nothing. Looks like they whipped me while I was fighting for control with the Sky-Dweller...' his lips twisted, and a chill ran down his spine at the thought of what might have happened if he hadn't woken up in time. Grandfather Robert used to say that in the Magic Empire, the bodies of dead slaves were often fed to ferocious beasts like wyverns.
'I need to be more careful,' Grey concluded.
But then a completely different thought made him jerk his head to the side, ignoring the sharp spike of pain in his temples. His eyes widened in shock and disbelief.
"W-wait, what did you call me?" he asked under his breath, afraid others might hear.
"Um... idiot?" Lily repeated, confused.
"No, no. Before that..."
"Mmm..? Grey? What's wrong?"
'This boy has completely lost it. Maybe I shouldn't have helped him?' Lily wondered, but kept the thought to herself.
Grey was drenched in sweat. 'Damn it. She knows my real name.'
Did that old monster really introduce himself using his true name?
It sounded insane.
Grey was the child of prophecy, a child of darkness, a spawn of the devil. A name that had to be kept in absolute secrecy.
Even though several years had passed since he had been crippled and cast out, he was certain of one thing. Posters with his face were still hanging across human lands, promising an outrageous reward for his head, or even the smallest piece of information.
Grey swallowed, his throat dry.
Either the Sky-Dweller had lost his mind, or... or he had been so desperate for death that he chose to expose himself. But why? The question sent a cold sweat down Grey's back.
He wasn't arrogant or vain. His importance wasn't a product of imagination, but a harsh reality he had faced more than once during his journey, something his mother and the villagers had constantly reminded him of. As unfortunate as it was, his name had become synonymous with fear and calamity among the people of Eridania.
The boy clenched his teeth, suppressing a groan of pain. Now wasn't the time to dwell on it. He needed to quickly figure out how to get out of this situation without revealing his true identity. Because if anyone found out who he really was...
He didn't even want to think about the consequences.
"Grey, what's wrong? Are you still out of your mind? Damn it, if you keep acting crazy, I'll really start thinking I should've just left you to die!" Lily cut through his thoughts, her voice sharp with irritation.
"No, no, I'm fine. I'm fine now," the boy answered hastily, his mind racing. "It's just... I think I remembered my real name... I... actually... um... my name is Alex. Alex Grey... Greyrot. Grey is just a nickname people gave me."
"And that's supposed to matter to me?" Lily asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, you know... I just don't want you to get the wrong idea... Grey isn't exactly a noble nickname, if you think about it," he tried to explain, feeling a prickling at the back of his neck.
"Ahaha, are you serious?" Lily couldn't hold back a mocking laugh. "Are you comparing yourself to the child of prophecy? Don't you think you're... well... a bit too weak for that? Get real, no one cares about your name, Alex, or whatever it is. What you should care about is your condition. Neither I nor Shirley are going to keep doing all your work. We took care of you these past few days, and now you owe us. Got it?"
After listening to her reasoning, Grey let out a quiet sigh of relief. He didn't want to push the topic any further, afraid of drawing unnecessary suspicion.
Suddenly, he found comfort in a bitter truth. Slaves weren't seen as people. No one truly cared about him. His value was the only thing that mattered to his owners. Strangely enough, that thought brought a measure of calm to his frayed nerves.
Then it hit him that he had badly let down the two girls in the cell, the only ones who had taken care of him while he fought the old monster deep within his subconscious. From the outside, he must have looked completely insane.
"I'm sorry, Lily, I'm sorry. I won't trouble you anymore," he said hoarsely. "What kind of work do we have to do? I'll try to make up for lost time."
The little succubus gave him a distrustful look, but answered anyway. "Our daily duties are working in the laundry, cleaning the overseers' rooms, sorting wheat grains, making clay jugs, and attending lessons on discipline and obedience. And trust me, the last one is the worst."
Grey nodded, trying to remember every word. "I'll do everything I can to be useful."
"You'd better," Lily said sharply, her eyes narrowing. "And don't start thinking of me as your friend. I only helped you because I didn't want a corpse lying in our cell. Nothing personal."
Grey nodded again, understanding that the prickly little succubus was running out of patience.
Having said her piece, Lily turned away, making it clear their conversation was over.
The boy closed his eyes, trying to gather his strength.
He had come to terms with being a slave surprisingly quickly, yet something else troubled him far more. What had happened in the village? Where were his mother, his sister, and Cassia now? Why had he been teleported so far away from them? And why did the mere thought of them make his chest feel so heavy?
It was the first time he had ever been so far from home, and the thought frightened him more than he could admit, even to himself. Should he hope that his mother would come to save him, like she always did?
The image of a beautiful woman, strong and resolute, hiding her pain behind a smile, flickered through his mind, leaving a bitter aftertaste.
Grey clenched his fists, feeling a lump rise in his throat.
Would he always be the cause of her suffering? How many times had she sacrificed everything for him, her cursed son? The thought that he had failed her again made his heart tighten with pain and shame.
No, he decided firmly.
This time, he had to find a way out on his own. It wasn't for nothing that he had been trained in the village for years. He hadn't defeated the Sky-Dweller for nothing, even if he didn't fully understand how he had managed it.
He would no longer be a useless cripple who could only burden those close to him. It was time to prove that all the effort poured into his training had not been in vain.
But how was he supposed to get out? Try to escape? That sounded insane. He didn't even know where he was. Prove his worth? But what could he possibly offer his new "masters" to make them let him go? Buy his freedom with the gold coin hidden in his bottomless pocket? Too risky. They would just beat him again and interrogate him even more brutally.
Grey's thoughts scattered in every direction.
Where was he, anyway? Some kind of slave colony? A training camp? Or something even more sinister? His imagination painted grim pictures that sent a chill down his spine.
He needed to learn more. Gather information, win over the people here, use strength and cunning to survive, just as his blind grandfather had taught him. The old man's words echoed in his mind: "Knowledge is power, boy. But true wisdom is knowing how to use that power."
"I won't fail you," Grey whispered into the darkness. "I'll get out of here, find everyone, and learn the truth. No matter the cost."
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I'm not entirely satisfied with this chapter—it turned out a bit messy and chaotic. On one hand, that was intentional, as I wanted to convey the kind of chaos Grey is experiencing. On the other hand, as a writer, I can see that the result might feel a bit rough around the edges.
Still, I'd really appreciate your support—please keep liking and leaving reviews. I promise the story will start picking up pace from here on.