‘Why won't anyone help me?’277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOii471VOzK
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPT3cTAgRIw
The thought crashed through Cel's mind as consciousness dragged him back to a world of agony. His body convulsed against cold stone, a broken sob tore from his throat. Everything hurt - his ribs, his face, his back where fingernails had carved away divine flesh like his father was peeling bark from a tree.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqaNK7aBOQu
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoyTu15nYbf
‘Mom…’277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNlA2wWu9lA
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcdzh2VmfhY
She'd just stood there. Watched him bleed. Let it happen.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY3jCeQ240t
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5CJjRrjXpZ
"No, no, no..." The words spilled out in a broken whisper as he curled tighter against the floor. His hands shook violently as they pressed against his mouth, trying to hold back the sounds that wanted to escape. Screams. More sobs. Anything to release the pressure building in his chest like a dam about to burst.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmWjM0yzVte
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEuyar45V2M
Iron bars swam in and out of focus through his tears. A cell. They'd thrown him in a cell like some wild beast. The stench of rot and waste made his stomach heave, but there was nothing left to vomit.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyYfvwgcBDn
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ010HOcQT9x
'This isn't real.' The thought came sudden and desperate. 'This is a nightmare. I'll wake up, Father will apologize, Mom will hold me and—'277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLilz7y1g4c
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA50IWtLgTs
But the pain was too sharp, too constant. The stone too cold against his burning skin.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcLCsHD4ujt
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoKCPvHjNHl
'They'll come for me,' he told himself, rocking back and forth on the filthy stone. 'Father was just angry. Mom will convince him. She has to. She's my mother, she loves me, she—'277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSJ1HN7yHdy
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ38HZChceVs
The memory crashed back unbidden: His mother - who'd held him when he had nightmares, who'd sung lullabies in her ocean-blessed voice - had watched her husband nearly kill their son and done nothing. Darian, who used to sneak him sweets from the kitchen when they were younger, didn’t intervene either. Even little Lyra…277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEXcbys1DH8
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCv0vMxwoBv
‘She cried,’ some desperate part of his mind whispered. ‘At least she cried for me...’277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡemHjzQb9vX
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ85FKylpxiy
But crying wasn't enough. Tears didn't stop fists. Didn't heal torn flesh. Didn't make him worth saving.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtQRa54DGR1
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4XCbNN4Rd8
‘Fifteen years...’277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0esB7qnCoh
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmupM3pv0DW
Fifteen years he'd tried to be good enough. Tried to make them proud. Tried to earn even a scrap of his father's approval. And the very moment he thought he'd finally succeeded…277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEJKZmIwbMq
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtDYKESOdhx
Cel's fingernails clawed at the stone beneath him, leaving bloody scratches as his body shook with grief. The Moon Goddess had chosen him. He was blessed by divinity itself, and yet his father had beaten him unconscious for it.
'Why?' The question burned in his chest, over and over. 'Why wasn't it enough? Why was I never enough?'277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdbMMT0LzFe
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7vDfZ1fcjg
But even as he asked it, a part of him already knew the answer. Nothing would have ever been enough. Not for his father. Not for any of them. 277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW5iErsZZ92
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡODJiKoiTTV
The realization seared through his veins like molten metal. Fresh tears burned tracks down his swollen cheeks as reality crashed over him again and again like waves against a drowning man.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmA0AByGJJS
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDDZH8nv32R
A whimper echoed from across the narrow corridor, so quiet he almost missed it through his own ragged breathing. Cel lifted his head, vision blurry with tears and pain. He saw another cell. Inside, a small form huddled against the wall - a child even younger than himself, wrapped in filthy rags.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvS77Xq3MXG
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXyPwSIWNzv
The sight hit him like another blow. This boy was suffering too. Abandoned too. And Cel couldn't even help himself, let alone anyone else.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjpd5Vx8FGu
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF0Agg1HtcL
"I'm sorry…," he whispered to the motionless child. For being weak. For being useless. For being exactly what his father said he was.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzb1EaD5aba
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNKWdryeRQH
Footsteps echoed from somewhere above - slow and deliberate, growing closer. Cel's entire body flinched against the stone, panic flooding his veins. His father. It had to be his father, coming to finish what he'd started. To carve away more of the mark, or maybe just end it entirely.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKq78FVCZYa
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3WxrD6XWV1
‘Please…,’ he thought desperately, pressing himself against the back wall as light flickered down the corridor. ‘Please, I'll be better. I'll try harder. I'll—’277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiRtpF6ocRs
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0tJEjbKdcg
Even now, even after everything, a part of him still wanted to beg for forgiveness. Still believed he could somehow earn their love back if he just tried hard enough.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUweTMKdvFu
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu9VbaakS69
But the figure that emerged from the shadows wasn't Lord Aldric of House Solmar.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg5oZkNevEf
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr9bA5ir8XL
A stranger in deep purple robes stood before his cell, face hidden behind a smooth black mask that reflected the lantern light like a void. The man said nothing at first, simply watched through empty eye holes as Cel shook, bled and tried not to fall apart completely.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡahbrLgBDBF
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRmzaWkB6YS
Then he spoke with a sickening cheerful voice.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcvODewGUE3
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKOUTkuwktS
"Ah, you're finally awake, little failure."277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ23JjSNr8TP
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsvu22LGP1o
The word hit like a physical blow. Cel's body jerked against the wall, every muscle tensing. 'Failure failure failure' - the word crashed through his skull, tangling with his father's voice, with every whispered insult he'd ever endured..277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpqvqxubTJb
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk9vda9zgL4
"Not so talkative, are we?" The masked figure's head tilted. "Well, that's understandable. Betrayal does tend to leave one speechless."277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcBc7xrb8OR
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4A3WMK7GAs
"My father—" Cel started, voice cracking. Some desperate part of him still clinging to the hope that this was all a misunderstanding. That his family would come. That they'd realize their mistake and—277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrYmjpuLUnN
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu1IgnXSeDS
"Oh, your dear father?" The masked figure paused, savoring the moment. "He's the one who delivered you to us personally. Quite eager to be rid of his shame, from what I understand."277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtm3X9Fs62t
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2egl4G3wgc
"You're lying!" His voice cracked on the shout, nearly breaking. But even as the echo died in the cell, he could feel the truth settling like lead in his chest.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZsiXuPPYQ6
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6i4FIpV98Z
"Ah, you poor thing. But fear not. I'm a kind person. I'll explain your situation. Or... perhaps you'd rather not know? Ignorance is bliss, after all."277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡheLE8YZrsK
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGwJQ6uN5JL
Cel flinched with each sound, pressing himself deeper into the corner. But the need to understand, to make sense of this nightmare, overwhelmed even his terror.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ4njeqFIrB
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ89jGQxQDzL
"Tell me." The words ripped from somewhere desperate inside him.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa79YI3CmUa
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡASsaSSDZ7e
"Really? Well, I hope you're ready for a shock." The masked figure paused, clearly relishing the moment. "You're now in the possession of the Children of the Voidmother, the greatest cult in the world!"277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDxuP0aKlon
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY5upkavKad
'Children of the... what? Voidmother?'277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA3VzLrmGeE
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7c9pAPcJun
The word ‘cult’ cut through his confusion with terrible clarity. His father had sold him to a cult. Not just abandoned him - deliberately handed him over to these robed fanatics.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡITcEQ9wxMr
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn4ebvrj9lU
"And you have the honor of assisting us in our most important experiments."277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7QrcrIJEPB
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwFTs35aiV0
The words slammed into his consciousness. He wasn't a prisoner, he was a specimen - something to be dissected and studied like the child across the hall, another broken test subject in this nightmare. His stomach lurched violently, and he doubled over as bile scorched his throat.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5SuNBn0giB
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaEVv6UhfuY
'No no no, they're going to—'277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQYL6u5cIGL
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYWSYLA8HX4
"No need to be frightened." The voice kept going, cheerful and horrible. "I know you were seen as a disgrace by others, but to us, you're invaluable. Your divine blood is quite rare, you see. Even from such a... disappointment."277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2vztOL1lV2
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMUuBVITUss
'Divine blood? They want my blood because of the mark. Even though father tried to tear it away, the blessing runs deeper than skin.'277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡemmwALyugJ
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ78ovU37tDY
His father hadn't just abandoned him in rage - this had been planned. Calculated. His divine blessing wasn't a shame to be hidden, it was a commodity to be sold.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0HUIoInRlL
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQBS6GImYOE
"That's enough for now." The masked figure straightened, reaching into his robes. "Here's your meal, little failure."277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOVMhsRREXa
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsl0Ze4aFcb
Something wet and putrid struck the cell floor with a sickening splat. The stench hit immediately - rot and decay so thick Cel could taste it. His stomach heaved, but there was nothing left to bring up except acid that burned his throat.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Kgjw7l5TC
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvAwzTcfrdp
As the lantern light retreated up the corridor, Cel forced himself to look at what had been thrown to him. In the dying glow, he could make out a chunk of meat so far gone it was more mold than flesh, crawling with things that moved in the darkness.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDkiGzPgAiD
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUriyCh48zT
The footsteps faded to nothing, leaving him alone with the stench and the soft whimpering from across the corridor.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbp6NbzL3or
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZHbapCPhqD
From this day on, the cell became everything. Stone walls, iron bars, the constant drip of water somewhere in the darkness. Cel's wounds festered without treatment, angry red lines spreading from where his father's fingernails had carved away divine flesh. 277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY20jhkTqVZ
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdZvMkaaMQu
What remained was worse than the wound - a grotesque crater of scar tissue where the Moon Goddess's blessing had once shone.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtP2dn2MTvE
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHxKtpenCr3
Hunger clawed at his belly like a living thing. For three days, he stared at the rotting meat, his mind fracturing between desperate hope and dawning horror. 'They'll come,' he told himself even as the stench made him gag. 'Mom will realize what happened and she'll come for me and—'277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXs0zWav4rN
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8tJWPNCYqC
On the fourth day, his hands shook so badly he could barely lift his head. The hunger was eating him from the inside, his body beginning to consume itself. Still, a part of him waited. Listened for familiar footsteps. For his mother's voice calling his name.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIWnp8Q5X00
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhnLmVNS7vD
On the fifth day, he crawled to the putrid scrap and took his first bite.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ6qtAOqEuk
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDVMNVemEct
His body convulsed, rejecting the poison. Bile and blood splattered the cell floor as he retched until nothing remained in his stomach but agony. But even as he vomited, tears streaming down his face, he understood what this meant.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX7w6JnLKFl
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFeiOM6XS7g
'No one is coming.'277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo6R2zN3wMP
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡblWpl63I5V
The next meal, he managed two bites before the sickness took him. Then three. Then four.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLL16vQIY3o
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiJWAYQtLwm
Slowly, horribly, his body learned to accept what wasn't food. His sense of taste died first - a mercy perhaps. Then his stomach stopped fighting so hard. Within weeks, he could choke down entire portions without vomiting, though every meal felt like swallowing death itself.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVnAnqqdcmF
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡubL1YpeXpk
They came for him on the seventh day - multiple figures in deep purple robes moving with practiced efficiency. One held his arms while another pressed a curved blade against the veins in his wrist, drawing blood in steady, measured cuts.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf8kAx0eJC0
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡECUXNBEzDo
"Please," Cel whispered as the blade bit deep. "I won't tell anyone. I'll do whatever you want. Just... please don't hurt me."277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnuXY1ynxNi
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8VfVrgT1Sn
No one answered. They finished their work in silence and left him collapsed on the stone floor, watching his own blood disappear into the darkness.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSc7icaOpFH
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡywPwmodmKd
Days bled into weeks. The routine ground him down like a millstone - rotten food, blood letting, endless hours staring at damp walls while his mind slowly fractured. His only companion was the boy across the corridor, a child even smaller than himself with hollow eyes and arms covered in fresh cuts that never quite healed.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWpxPgbpJjn
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoRAYEIHEVN
"Ren," the boy whispered one night when the purple robes were gone. His voice was barely audible, but in the perfect silence of their prison, it carried like a shout.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKdkahP71cz
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAPVEjTEMqx
"Celvian," he whispered back, the first time he'd spoken his own name in weeks.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrWG0s936Zy
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYLVthx2QYL
They never said much - words felt dangerous here, as if speaking too loudly might draw attention they couldn't afford. But knowing someone else breathed in this place, someone else suffered, made the darkness a fraction less absolute.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6F1FClgqMy
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3aqflDyRKJ
Until the morning Ren didn't return from his experiment.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqcuNh4sH4a
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6d5Drsbxum
Cel pressed his face against the bars, straining to see into the empty cell across the way. "Ren?" His voice echoed off stone walls. "Ren!"277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFwyZfjpWCQ
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFRDxhZUL4F
Silence.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡivJVxnDWh1
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡowBipm2M3B
The boy's thin blanket still lay crumpled where he'd left it. A crust of bread sat untouched near the cell door. But Ren was gone, as if he'd never existed at all.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbzUqdJ5M8G
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSTRopySIJa
That night, alone in the complete darkness, something fundamental cracked inside Cel's chest. Not broke - that had happened long ago. This was the sound of the last piece of his old self finally giving way. The last ember of hope that someone, somewhere, still cared whether he lived or died.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmiQzowxBFF
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpY6kNjN9rB
The rage that followed wasn't clean or pure. It was jagged and desperate, born from weeks of betrayal, abandonment, and helpless fury. It started as a whisper in the back of his mind during the endless hours between experiments.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT2AuCcyiOZ
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaI6Rpy9wZM
'I hate them.'277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq0ceRc2sWh
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhE1EphLQo7
Their faces burned behind his eyelids: his father's disgust, his mother's frozen stillness, Darian’s regretful look, little Lyra’s sobbing. Each memory carved itself deeper into his mind, playing over and over until they became scars on his thoughts.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLVlzoHi4yA
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4WnN6OThPF
Sleep brought no escape either - only nightmares that played on endless repeat. Sometimes he relived that morning in the dining hall, his father's fists connecting with his flesh while his mother stood frozen, his brother watching and his sister sobbing. Other nights, he was back on the stone table as masked figures opened his veins, their blades cutting deeper and deeper until he woke screaming.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtY4YoNmAzM
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0nPXuDlRSX
But the worst dreams were the ones where his family came to rescue him, where his mother held him and whispered apologies, where his father said he was proud - only for Cel to wake in the stinking darkness and remember that no one was coming. Each false hope burned away another piece of the love he'd once felt, leaving only raw hatred in its place.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHsizr22kSr
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZg6RPmF9DS
With each blade that opened his skin, with every drop of blood they stole, with every piece of rotting meat he forced down his throat, the hatred grew. It filled the hollow spaces where love and hope had once lived, burning steady and sure. Without it, he would have simply ceased to exist, becoming nothing at all.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuyZLZoGrfz
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRIeeIDm5Zb
The hatred became his anchor. His reason to endure another day, another experiment, another nightmare. It whispered promises in the darkness: that he would survive this, that he would become strong, that someday they would all pay for what they'd done to him.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF52MbvsuR0
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMarz5S8rSB
It was the only thing keeping him sane.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlBO6ChRJFi
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPjuLfZ1WFq
One day - he'd lost count of how many - the masked figures came as always. But as Cel crawled toward the putrid scrap of meat, something felt different. Underneath the familiar stench of rot was something else - a faint, sweet smell that didn't belong.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjLLIHTlTcs
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcIr03Huegb
His stomach cramped with hunger, overriding any caution. He took his first bite, the familiar nothingness filling his mouth.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu8RwNSTmpb
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwrlEEEBIpW
By the time he finished, his vision began to blur. A spreading warmth flowed through his veins like liquid fire. The stone walls rippled and flowed, reality becoming fluid around him.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUDV3QXPTuj
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlGDAw7CBvu
'What did they—'277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPSq6AZLfbE
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1zwj0Xj9wv
The thought dissolved as darkness swallowed everything - the bars, the stone, the empty cell where Ren used to be.277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtTUYqv1omG
277Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ96BuMGCgYK
When consciousness returned, he was no longer in his cell. He found himself in an unfamiliar landscape - a place filled with ash.
and then Add to home screen.