A year...a whole year this has been going on.
It hurts, it hurts, it….hurts.
My chest impaled, my head aching.Bruises, cuts, marks everywhere you could imagine.
My blood circulation at its lowest it's ever been.
I just wanted to die.
There I was in what seemed to be an underground torture room of some sort.
Multiple shackles, strangled around my whole arm on both sides.
Same story for my legs and down to my ankles, so tight it could crush a bird within seconds.
Unconsciousness could occur any minute
now.
In front of me was a massive chained door that was stretched across the majority of the wall—not like the room was big anyways.
The walls which seemed to be made out of brick were dirty and evidently moldy.
The moldiness was probably caused by the thick blood that was splattered everywhere from my torment.
Although I could tolerate this pain to some extent, you don't know how much I writhe inside my heart.
Though, do I have the right complain?
After all, I chose this path to begin with.
Just a year ago, I was fighting the B-cardianas—short for Blood-cardianas —alongside my brother, but was overwhelmed and got captured.
My brother tried saving me but he was severely outnumbered.
Cardianas are beings who were once humans that now possess the traits of a cannibalistic man-eater, but they don't thrive on flesh.
We thrive on what one would say is the most essential piece of a creature.
The heart.
Any heart will do, but the heart of a human endows us with not only great taste and pleasure but a great surge of power.
Back in Paris, I was part of an organization Called The "Blood-cardiana execution association."
BEA for short.
They were filled and owned by the A-cardianas who were basically the morally right, save humans type of association that had a priority of executing all the B-cardianas and saving human lives.
I was always one of the weaker ones, the person who would hold people back. So much so they nicknamed me the "The Overexerted kid".
The one who would make gawky mistakes during missions.
All I wanted was to protect the weak, fight alongside my brother and become just as strong as him.
But unfortunately my only purpose as of now is to be a running catalyst for the evil.
How pathetic.
The only thing these bastards want from me are chunks of my Cardia—a second heart all Cardianas possess next to their human heart.
Due to our properties of Cardiac regeneration, they can drain out all the power necessary from me—of course, limited to one per day.
The power they want to acquire from me is Cardia essence, a life force, again, all Cardianas possess.
I'm not too sure why, but my cardia has always been stored with a substantial amount of it.
Hence where the name " The Overexerted kid" came from.
Again and again and again and again.
Agony after agony after agony.
Every day without fail they would torment me.
Every day, I'm on the verge of death, but I'm only kept alive due to the morsel of pig's heart they would force-feed me.
Don't even remember the last time I've spoken a word due to the filthy tight bandage they have wrapped around me.
Only removing it when I want to eat.
Nor do I remember the last time I've gotten out of these jagged, filthy, blood-stained clothes.
The original color, unrecognizable due to how much blood has been smeared on them.
but seriously, what choice do i have with all this?
Truth is, without a doubt I could break out of this place if I wanted to
Well if I had the amount of power I did a couple months ago, but I'm not too sure if I could now…
Next to me on the ground, were what seemed to be 50 people who were diverse in age.
They were covered in marks and bruises, attired in filthy clothes, and had eyes that screamed hopelessness.
I just wish I could help them.
But what could I do.
They were captured and kept in here with me to be used as hostages.
I try break out of here, they all die.
But that isn't enough for the monsters who have entrapped us.
they were their little plaything.
they would starve them and order them to do vile things Which I don't Think I want to think about right now.
All of them, on their faces, I could tell they were all broken.
After a few minutes I slipped into unconsciousness and….
GUEM, WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING.
I was sure to be unconscious but a woman's voice started to talk in my head.
It was gentle, soft, yet intimidating at the same time.
GUEM JUST WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, LOOK AT YOU, LOOK AT WHAT YOU HAVE BECOME.
…..
YOU WITHSTAND SUCH TORTURE AS IF WHAT YOU'RE DOING IS SOME SORT OF HEROISM FOR THESE HUMANS, BUT WHAT YOU'RE REALLY DOING IS BLATANT COWARDICE.
GUEM LISTEN TO ME, TO SAVE THE INNOCENT YOU MUST ELIMINATE THE INNOCENT.
....
DO YOU REALLY THINK THEY'LL BE KEPT ALIVE AT THE END OF ALL THIS, C'MON GUEM, DON'T BE A MORON.
"Stop."
DON'T YOU FIND IT ABSURD HOW YOUR BROTHER HASN'T COME TO SAVE YOU YET?
"N-no he just…. He just can't locate my whereabouts."
DON'T BE SO NAIVE.
SURELY HE COULD FIND WHERE YOU ARE AFTER 1 WHOLE YEAR.
HE'S YOUR BROTHER ISN'T HE?
OR IS IT… HE DOESN'T WANT YOU BACK, MAYBE YOU HELD NOT ONLY HIM BUT THE WHOLE BEA DOWN. SO MUCH SO THEY DON'T WANT YOU ANYMORE.
"shut up!"
C'mon GUEM, GET OUT THESE SHACKLES, RIP THESE HUMANS TO SHREDS AND GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE.
"I SAID SHUT THE HELL UP!?!."
SHE JUST KEPT RAMBLING AND RAMBLING AND RAMBLING AND RAMBLING AND RAMBLING AND RAMBLING AND RAMBLING.
'DIDN'T YOU WANT TO PROTECT THE WEAK? NO WONDER WHY YOUR BROTHER ABANDONED YOU
IF THIS IS WHAT YOU CALL HEROISM THEN YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A FOOL.
WORTHLESS!, WORTHLESS!, WORTHLESS!, WORTHLESS!, WORTHLESS!
C'MON GUEM…WAKE UP ?!?!?!?!
I SAID WAKE UP??!?!
My eyes shot open.
I had enough of it all, I really did.
In that every moment I had an aspiration.
With all my might I screamed till my lungs couldn't give up vomiting blood in the process.
My Cardia Essence was of course in use which I didn't already have much of to begin with, but it was just enough to break free from the several shackles on my arms.
Next, with continuous strikes, I broke free from the shackles on my legs and finally the one on my neck.
Additionally tearing the bandage off my mouth too.
I was finally free.
My whole body felt stiff and I started to cramp a little.
I turn to my left and see the anxious group of people in stupefaction.
A young boy uttered the words,
"S-sir are you going to get us out of here?"
But all I could offer back to his words was a wry smile.
I had to do it, I had to eat their hearts.
Before one of the guards came here again.
As I trudged over to them, a woman in her late 20's, with her child in her hands looking uneasy murmured,
"W-what are you doing."
I couldn't, I couldn't tell them.
I have to make this as quiet and as soon as possible.
As I went over to the lady sitting on the hard ground, I knelt down, brushed her coarse black hair from her face with my finger, then cupped her chin in my hand.
with delicacy I lifted it.
Looking into her beautiful blue eyes, gleaming with desperation, with a shaky voice all I could say was,
"I'm sorry."
I wound up my hand, pierced it through her chest, and with reluctance I consumed her pearly red heart with blood gushing everywhere.
But, looking at my blood-coated hands, I stumbled back away from the lady.
Her son started to cry.
"m-mommy, n-no, MOMMY!, MOMMY WAKE UP!"
"N-no I can't!, I can't!, I can't!," I stammered.
I started to panic.
For the first time ever in my life, that was the day I killed a human being.
The room quickly turned into a slaughterhouse like pigs continuously making noises and wails.
I just couldn't do it, I couldn't kill more of these people, the very people I endured my torment for, would it all go to waste if I killed them now?
I have to free them.
Not a second in my heart did I feel satisfaction from the killing of the woman.
Every part of me felt guilt.
HAHAHAHAHAHA LOOK WHAT YOU DID GUEM, YOU MURDERED HER, PERHAPS YOU MIGHT BE THE MONSTER.
the voice started talking again.
I had enough with this bitch.
Wallking over to one of the brick walls, I continuously pounded my head on it over and over and over and over again.
"Get out of my head please, PLEASE?!?!."
I couldn't think straight.
Blood started dripping from my head, but I was unconcerned about the matter.
As long as I couldn't hear her nagging voice.
Then..
The chained door started banging.
BANG BANG BANG BANG
"What the hell is going on in there?"
With my back turned to the door, the guy
busted the door open.
"HEY WILL YOU HUMANS SHU-, wait…."
Turning my head, tears started to trickle down my face.
I haven't a clue, was that woman really inside my head or was she just a reflection of my genuine inner thoughts?
Am I a monster as she claimed?
Maybe I am a monster but…
Could you fault a monster for being altered into one by the other monsters?