Slam!
"Haah…"
My breathing returned with difficulty, and it was intermittent, as if I had been submerged under a pool of water. Suddenly, I received a strong kick.
Boom
It made me recoil backward violently, and I felt as if my head was going to shatter from the intensity of the blow, while I heard an arrogant voice saying:
"Who told you to lose consciousness at such a critical time, you filthy insect? If that happens again, you will be thrown into the worm pit... your body will be slowly devoured."
I looked at him; he had blond hair, yellow eyes, and a strange mark on his forehead. He was wearing dark-colored clothing, with a symbol in the middle.
I frowned as I looked around, I was able to see children around the age of thirteen, or perhaps slightly younger, wearing small pieces of cloth, and chains restraining their wrists, while their bodies were covered with bruises and injuries from all sides.
I felt a deep astonishment at what was happening, so I said unconsciously, and in a loud voice:
"I… am dreaming. This is a dream, isn't it?"
At that moment that arrogant person heard me, so he raised his eyebrow mockingly and said:
"A dream? I will show you how dreams can truly be painful."
He grabbed my neck and lifted me up quickly, it was so sudden that I had no chance to resist.
Boom
He delivered a strong punch to me, until I felt as if my intestines would come out of my body. I staggered in the air from the intensity of the pain, but he did not stop, rather he smiled as he continued his blows.
Boom… Boom
I received several more punches, until blood came out of my mouth, and my vision became blurred, while I was slowly losing consciousness, but fortunately, a new figure appeared in my field of vision. He seemed angry from his expression, as he stared at that arrogant one. At that moment I felt that things were about to end... which indeed happened.
He approached quickly and said:
"What are you doing, Jack? Are you trying to kill the insect? Stop, or you will be punished, when the leader learns what happened!"
At that moment Jack threw me to the ground forcefully, until my head hit the ground and bled. Jack frowned as he headed toward the outside.
I raised my head with difficulty, and placed my hand above my forehead, finding it soaked with blood.
The man said while leaving with Jack.
"You must stay alive until tomorrow or you will lose your mind, or you will become a shell of yourself... before your powers awaken."
I looked at him without expression.
Wasn't I supposed to be sent to the hospital? And why am I even being called an "insect"?
But wait… this place, what the hell is it? Where did I go? Wasn't I supposed to be dead already? Or is all of this just a dream? I no longer understand anything.
"Are you okay, insect?"
A thin-bodied boy said it, with long black hair and blue eyes. He approached me cautiously, and his appearance was somewhat pitiful.
He extended his hand and placed it above my head, but as soon as he did that, I struck his hand away while saying sharply:
"Who are you? And what is this place, what the hell? And why are you calling me an insect?"
Yes, I know that I am bullying a small child, even though I was beaten just a moment ago and did not utter a single word. But who am I fooling? I was not able to do anything against that man. I did not even find a chance to resist.
I raised my head and stared at him directly. The shock was clearly visible on the boy's face, before he said hesitantly:
"Don't you remember me, insect? I am Mud Worm. Aren't we friends? Did you perhaps lose your memory again?"
Worm?
What is that name? Is his name really "Worm" or is he joking?
No… from the expression on his face, it seems he is not joking about that.
But wait… did he say that I lost my memory before?
No, that doesn't matter now. What matters is: what is this place?
"I don't care what worm you are. Tell me where this place is… before I am forced to do so."
Anger flared on Mud Worm's face, and his cheeks puffed up a little, but when he saw the look in my eyes he realized that I was not joking.
"Alright, insect… I will tell you. But there is no need to get too angry. After all… we are in the heart of the devil."
Heart of the devil? Why do I feel like I have heard this word before? Wait… wait, wait, don't tell me that… Damn! I… I have been reincarnated.
And inside that bad novel, damn it! What did I do to deserve this? Wasn't there a better place than this to be reincarnated in? And why was I reincarnated in the first place?
No… no need to panic. What do I remember about the Heart of the Devil… hmm… ah, yes.
It is affiliated with the Organization of Oblivion.
This organization created "Heart of the Devil" so that it could manufacture emotionless fighters, people who forget who they were, and become nothing more than tools to fulfill their orders. Let me make sure… I will ask this worm if he remembers anything before coming here.
I turned toward him.
"Do you have parents? Or a family? What were you doing before you came here?"
He stared at me for a moment, then said innocently mixed with curiosity:
"Family? What is that? Is it the name of a combat move you invented? Let me see it."
I froze in place.
I felt as if the last thread of hope inside me had shattered into fragments. I stood up slowly, while shock controlled my features… then I burst into laughter.
"Hahahahaha…!" I laughed out loud, a laugh closer to madness than to joy.
"What is this nonsense? Even I ended up inside this damn filth… it seems I have truly been cursed."
I looked at the other children with curiosity, but I paid them no attention.
And how could I do that in the first place?
For I… have been reincarnated into a bad novel.
Its story revolved around an endless war between races, humans, vampires, orcs, dwarves, demons, angels, elves, beasts, oblivion, and giants, and dragons.
And there were other races, but they fell at the beginning of the war, turning into slaves of the races that still remained, and others that were neutral at the beginning but in the end joined the war.
And thus, chaos spread throughout the entire universe, and destruction spread everywhere. But… what was the cause of that war?
I did not know.
And every time I asked the author "Fish Head" — he would reply to me with the same mysterious phrase:
"Hunger breeds hatred, and hatred breeds the dream, and the dream is born from shadows, and the shadow walks behind desires… either it survives, or remains in the folds of oblivion."
Damn it, how am I supposed to understand this?
That author must have taken meaningless words and combined them together without thinking.
But that does not matter now. What matters is: how the hell am I going to get out of the Heart of the Devil?
And also… what is this name in the first place?
Someone might think that I am inside the heart of a real devil, but no, that is not the case.
I am actually inside the depths of the earth, inside the planet, isolated in an unknown depth.
And why was it called "Heart of the Devil"?
The author gave it that name because everything that happens in it is harsh and brutal, a place where souls are crushed before bodies.
But I think the author did not find a better name than this, he only writes whatever comes to his mind...
And here I am now stuck inside this pure nonsense. Damn it… what did I do to deserve this?
"Hah"
Suddenly, the flow of my thoughts was cut off when I heard the sound of footsteps coming from the front.
I looked toward the source, and saw a group of people wearing dark clothes, and Jack was at the front.
He said in a sharp voice:
"The daily routine will begin… everyone get ready."
I swallowed my saliva when I heard that word.
Routine.
If I did not know its meaning, I would have thought it was something normal…
but I knew very well.
There was nothing pleasant waiting for me.
Rather, torment alone was what would begin.