I was lying on a white concrete ground. Slowly opening my eyes. Vision was clearing up.
I push myself up clutching onto my knees as my legs tremble.
I scan the area I was in wondering why there was a dark tint around. How do I have my eyes back? My hand instantly went to my face touching it. I fell down again realising my hands are back. How is this even possible? Did I dream? I rapidly start sprinting toward a door.
SMASH!
I smashed onto the ground. Blood pouring down my nose. I get back up. Pressing my fingers upon the dark tinted, hard glass. I clench my fist pouring whatever energy and mana I can put in it. I took a deep breath swallowing all the air within this cage. Twisting my hips, shutting my eyes. If this was a dream maybe Felix didn't betray me. I crouch down throwing my fist over my head straight into the glass.
Suddenly, the door opened with an old man limping out. I flew away the moment he entered not letting my punch connect.
He was walking towards me saying in a concerned tone "Young man. How did you already get hurt? Such a hassle honestly."
He put his palm unto the cage expelling a golden aura similar to mine, however to a much stronger degree. Healing me in an instant. I looked at him confused.
Why did he do that?
Why am I in this cage?
I opened my mouth to say something.
"Hey Cain. Have you gotten the heart out of him? Can you get it out miracle maker?", someone abruptly interrupted.
It was Felix. The moment he entered a sudden change in temperature. The pressure was strong. I went to look at the old man, but I couldn't. Felix just seemed to stand there waiting like a soldier. The old man stopped limping, letting go of his walking stick. Gradually gliding towards Felix. I started coughing blood. My organs were twisting, screaming for help. Felix fell to his knees as soon as the old man got to him. He grabbed hold of Felix's face forcefully pushing it up to meet his face.
An ominous grey breath appeared out of his mouth as he droned "Young man who gave you the authority to use that name. I AM TED! Ok. Can you call me that otherwise I will have to cut your tongue off." Tilting his head he smiled releasing Felix's head and the energy his was discharging.
I got back up looking at Felix and the so called Ted. They were saying something but I couldn't hear anything. I tried forming the words. But all I got were some gibberish.
Ted got close to the wall pressing his hand on it as he ogles at me. He lets his tongue out letting saliva drip down his mouth.
"You're a creep, dude," Felix remarked, his voice filled with disgust. "No clue what master saw in you, but hey, knock yourself out."
I had no idea what he was thinking, but at least this old man was kind enough to heal me. As Felix leaves the room a figure from the shadows appeared. Ted swiftly turned his head scurrying towards the figure whose shadow I could only see.
"Well the Almighty one has commanded that you play with him however you want but you must turn him to us." The voice smooth, almost serene like a hymn sung in an empty temple each note echoing in heavenly manner. Yet beneath the lilt there was something else. I could feel it, but couldn't get my grasp on it, it felt almost like ivy creeping.
Its voice was unwavering and dutiful. But there was a flaw in his undertone, a lingering note held for just a beat too long.
"You know the power of the ha-pri ha-asur, and you understand how strong. So make him ours or make him no one's."
I realized, not just in its words, but in the way it dripped out of his mouth. They weren't just obeying a command; they were also delighted, almost savouring every single syllable..
Ted fell to his knees, smashing his forehead straight down against the ground creating a sickening thud. His voice was filled with joy and respect. "Of course, master. I will do it. He will become one of us, otherwise, he shall die."
A sharp shiver went down my spine. Who is this man? Who's his master? Why, on Gods name, would I join him—no, even serve him?
I fell backward, staring at the ground as the shadow gradually enlarged swallowing the light. Then I felt his presence—no not his. Hers.
It was an angel.
Golden feathers that unfurled like a celestial being. A radiant, gold halo that emitted a light so intense it burned my shadow hovering above her head. Her face shone—concealed by brilliance, but incredibly beautiful. Not quite a man or a woman. A androgynous figure whose presence transcended the gendered limitations.
I fell to my knees. Pressing my forehead leaving a dent on the ground.
She sneered, "Look who we got here—a beggar!"
I tilted my face up, only to see her glaring down—cold, sharp dissecting me with disgust. Did I do something wrong? I had no idea. I was merely following an old scripture found in the dungeon. What was I supposed to do? How was I supposed to know I sinned?
She extended out a hand. "Will you join us, boy?"
I nodded, a firm decisive movement. Then she looked at Ted, giving him a wink.
I followed her gaze towards Ted who held stretched out his arms. The room got darker. My limbs grew heavy. My eyes drooping. Something was happening. As long as I agreed I guess I should be fine.
Then, the world vanished.
I woke up.
My eyes snapped open staring at the window.
What had I become?
I whipped my gaze downwards.
My body—no is this even my body. Why is it soft? Gelatinous. No arms. No legs. A shapeless, pulsing of dense mass. It was unnatural. I tried to move realising I left a trail. A thick, glistening trail.
Horror gripped unto my soul.
I have turned into a amorphous form, a blob almost. My insides were twisting in dread—I saw Ted. His face right up against the window grinning. A menacing smile.
He blew a cold breath onto the glass, leaving a frost. Slowly, he drew a heart in a single stroke, his grin widened, saliva dripped from his lips. Tears streamed from my eyes as I attempted to scream, only to realize—I had no mouth.
"Do you enjoy your new body, oh, Chosen Boy?" Ted giggled like a child, his voiced laced with amusement.
I wanted to kill him as I tensed my muscles—or lack there of I realised there was nothing I could do. Is this what they meant by joining their side? I forced my body forwards surging towards the glass with every I had.
Time had blurred. I don't know how much time has passed.
Ted chuckled pressing his hand against the glass, his eyes flaring with wicked delight. "Oh, Bright Star, would I were steadfast as thou art,[1]" he sneered. "But steadfastness did too much, did it, Matthias." His grin widened "You're still in the same spot."
For most of it I thought I wasn't moving at all, but finally after an eternity. I finally reach the glass.
CRACK!
Electricity ripped through me. Pain consumed my entire form. Oh, come on. What is with these people and lightning?
I was trapped.
Every moment was hell, my body or whatever it was dragged across the cold floor. I could feel myself moving, but now twitch in the muscles, no sense of weight, no bones, not even a sense of reality. I had become something else.
Ted watched me as he was sucking on his lips in sadistic delight. He got up from his crossed legged position to then just start tapping against the glass. He was waiting—waiting for me to beg, waiting to understand the depths of hell I was in, waiting for me to reach insanity.
"Your adjusting well" he mused, his voice laced with admiration. "Most would have gone mad. But, your still fighting. He tilted his head curling his lips. "How long do you think you will last?" he babbled.
I lunged at him—or I tried at least. The very moment my amorphous body contacted the glass, electricity ripped inside me. The pain getting worse. I wasn't even getting burned at this point, I was being deconstructed small parts of my fat slowly sweating away. A distorted, gurgling sound escaped from within me. A cry? A scream? I didn't even know anymore.
Ted cackled, playing peekaboo with me. "Ah this never gets old." He turned to Felix who was hysterically laughing, propped up by his knees as he watched with unrestrained joy.
For what felt like an eternity Ted and Felix were laughing and pointing their fingers at me.
They stopped.
His smile disappear only for his grin widen. He lifted his palm. "Matthias you have entertained me long enough with just this. Now here comes the real fun."
The space around me seemed to shrink—not the cage itself, but the space. My body was folding against my will, curling inside. My own body without my control was folding in on itself, getting crushed by an invisible force. I tried tensing my body to resist. But, nothing worked.
I was powerless.
Shadowed figures emerged from the glass, their bodies flickering. Hollow eyes staring at me and their body shifting between form to formless. Whispers slithered into my eyes.
"You are nothing."
"Your life was a mistake."
"God has chosen this path for you and purposefully made you a sacrificial lamb—no a sacrificial pawn."
"Painted as a wolf, but in reality a sheep."
I tried to shut my ears. Tried to hold unto hope, myself, my identity, my faith.
Matthias Aurellian.
"The Discarded Aurellian."
"Actually can you even be called that."
"You ain't even human anymore."
No. I am still human. I am still Matthias. Just a change in appearance doesn't mean anything. A man can shed his skin but not his nature.
Then the shadowy figure grabbed unto my body slowly dragging it up only for me to see what it was dragging. A gooey liquid that stretched and dripped thick, gelatinous slime glistening with a sickly shade of putrid yellow and hints of green as if it has been festering for days, with dark clumps floating within.
"Is this the skin you shed?"
"Can you even call it skin?"
Ted's voice cut through the suffocating abyss. "Oh this part is beautiful" he sighed dreamily. "When they start breaking down, it's absolutely poetic they may as well call me John Beats for I am such a Romanticist, I find the beauty in this horror."
Ted's form, as ever, hovered near the glass, his lips curling with a satisfaction that seemed to be at odds with the gleaming ferocity behind his expression. "Ah, Matthias. Clinging onto your life, aren't you?" His tone was mocking, but filled with a sinister delight.
Felix stood there, his face unreadable until a strangled sound escaped within him. A cough. A gag. he turned away with his hand flying to his mouth. His eyes wide and frantic. He gulped, his face distorted in disgust as he tries to regain composure.
Teds grin stretched enormously wide it seemed supernatural. He leaned closer to the glass, as if he wanted a closer look at my suffering; he needed Felix as well. "What's wrong, Felix? I thought you were my Charles Grown to my John Beats—the perfect duo, poetry in motion. Too sensitive, are we? Come on your the man that always talks about poetry. Oh whatever." His tone was light and playful.
Felix stepped back. His chest heaved, suddenly his face turned ashen.
Vomit spewed out of his mouth splattering across the floor. He barely managed to cover his mouth with his body convulsing in reaction to whatever he had witnessed—or perchance what he had understood. I felt a shift within his. Maybe he had become a human once again until his eyes flickered back to his cold mask.
Ted, however, barely acknowledged the moment. He tilted his head. "You see, Felix," he said, his voice filled with gloom, "this is why we can't have nice things."
Felix didn't answer, but the way his jaw clenched, and tightened his fist. I could tell this was too much for him. Silence seemed to stretch for a while filing the air with tension.
He raised a single finger, dark red energy circling around of his fingertip.
"Goodbye Matthias. Thank you for entertaining me when I was alone I am going to miss you" purred Ted while blowing a kiss.
Energy shot forwards. And I burned.
But it wasn't fire that burned me, or poison. I was being erased.
My memories ripped away. My body—or what's left of it dissolving. My thought scattering unable to hold itself together.
And yet through all the chaos I saw him.
Felix.
He didn't seem to care what was happening to me.
He was cleaning his face smirking.
I reached out hoping there was some sense of humanity—or even our relationship left.
He didn't budge.
He didn't blink.
He didn't even look away.
He simply watched with a smirk. Maybe I was wrong he didn't have humanity at all.
The last thing I heard was Ted's laughter and the las thing I saw was Felix's smirk.
And then—
BOOM!
Nothing.
[1] A line from “Bright Star” by John Keats. The quotation was recontextualised to suit the narrative tone.