I no longer know whether the sun has set or not…
In this place, time is your enemy. The walls never change. Even the sound of dripping water no longer offers comfort—it feels like the ticking of my coffin.
All I know is pain… then more of it… then a pause… then the sound of footsteps.
I can no longer scream. My throat is torn from so much yelling. My fingernails—ripped out. My skin—flayed like a dead sheep.
And sometimes, one of the guards would smile as he whipped me, as if indulging in his favorite game.
But I didn't die.
And that is the real problem.
Each time, I wished my heart would stop. But it didn't. As if something—or someone—insisted I stay alive.
Time doesn't pass… it devours you.
Days passed… Weeks? I don't know.
I used to count the droplets falling from the ceiling, but after a hundred, I forgot the numbers.
All I had left was my mutilated body… and my splintering mind.
Memories turned to fog. Sometimes I remembered sunlight.
Sometimes my mother's voice.
But they faded… like beautiful nightmares.
There was nothing keeping my sanity intact except pain—and sometimes, the silence of the jailers.
And because pain became routine… the silence was more lethal.
They delighted in humiliating me—not out of hatred, but pleasure. Lust.
Like someone playing with a broken toy before throwing it away.
One of them was named Havro—a massive man with a curled mustache and a laugh that didn't belong to any human.
> "You know… If you weren't a killer, I might've saved you. Made you my personal slave."
I smiled, despite the pain.
Not because I was strong…
But because I had no other reaction left.
---
Haunting Faces
One night, as I spiraled into unconsciousness, I saw… a face.
My mother's face.
She sat beside me, holding my hand, her smile trembling as she whispered:
> "Don't be afraid… everything will be okay. Just hold on to life."
But the memory didn't last.
Suddenly, the scene changed. My mother vanished.
In her place stood a man in a black cloak, before a palace with burning windows.
And I saw myself—my frail, broken self—bowing before him, trembling, as a vile voice whispered in my mind:
> "Kill the prince… or everything will burn."
Then… pain.
Real pain.
Alive and sharp—nothing like the echoes of dreams.
---
Words Like Blades
The next day, something was different.
The guard didn't strike me immediately.
He looked at me like I was less than an insect, then spat near my head.
> "Damn… the king says you brought the prince's curse."
> "You're just trash from the underworld… yet history will remember you as the king's son's killer."
I smiled.
Not with mockery—just cracked lips pulling across my face for no reason at all.
I didn't know anything. I didn't understand what was happening.
But something inside me… began to awaken.
---
Dark Paths
That night, the vision returned.
But this time, it was different.
I was walking down a dark road… endless.
Suddenly, I heard the prince screaming, then saw his face, filled with pleading:
> "Please… don't do this… don't kill me…"
Me?
Was it me holding the knife?
No… my hand was moving on its own.
And behind me, I heard a raspy, guttural sound—laughing—then shouting:
> "Don't worry, it wasn't you. It was me."
I woke up gasping.
The room reeked of blood, urine, and sweat.
But inside me… something had begun to stir.
---
A Voice From Within
The next day, when they came to beat me… I didn't scream.
The jailer stared at me… then frowned.
> "Damn… he's losing his mind. Can't let him die… not yet."
Then I began to hear it clearly.
The voice.
At first, it was a whisper.
Then louder. More distinct.
It wasn't a human voice.
> "You're pathetic… broken… weak… and yet, you survived."
> "Ever wondered why?"
> "Do you even know who I am?"
I thought it was a hallucination.
But with every day of torture… every moment of bloodshed… the voice grew louder.
Stronger.
More real.
Then, one night, it told me something strange:
> "This body wasn't yours…
But now it's mine.
And you… are just a guest."
I shivered.
Not from cold…
But from what those words meant.
---
Fragments of Memory
Then… the real memories started to seep through.
Yes—I used to live a normal life.
I craved excitement.
I wanted to escape the boredom.
I remember reading about fantasy worlds.
Then… I woke up here.
Something pulled me into this world.
And I don't know how.
But at that moment, I understood something:
> I'm not from this world.
> But now I'm trapped in it…
And worse—trapped in a body I don't fully control.
---
A Cry From Within
On the last day of the first week, something changed.
As I crawled across the cold stone floor, trying to pull myself away from the corner where the guard usually beat me… I heard a new voice.
Different from the rest.
Not a whisper—a scream.
But not from outside… from inside.
> "Open your eyes, idiot. Something is watching you."
Then… darkness.
Suddenly, a black screen appeared before me—blacker than anything I'd ever seen.
And in its center… an eye.
A strange eye.
Not human.
Not animal.
It stared at me—but didn't see me.
It devoured me.
My body trembled.
I wanted to scream, but my mouth didn't move.
Then strange words appeared—languages I didn't understand, but my heart understood them:
> "The world has gazed upon you.
You are an intruder."
> "Accept the curse…
Or be erased."
> "You have one year…
To choose your Trait."
Then it vanished.
And it left me shaking…
Not from pain—
But from the truth:
> I wasn't sent to this world…
The world chose me.
And it wants me punished.