But perhaps the most disturbing thing was that no one complained about any of it. As if it were natural. To live every single one of their lives for nothing but work. Their fathers and mothers, and even their generation before that, had done the sa. Lived their lives in the sa manner.
Old hands were calloused.
Young hands were blackened.
Won had their backs bent.
Face dismbered,
Children watched their mothers and sisters raped, violated by the wicked guards and governors of the place.
But the soulless people of this place had gotten so used to it all that, despite all of it.
When the night fell, they could sleep with their tired and battered bodies.
They slept with a smile on their faces.
But there was one boy who was curious, passionate, who longed for more. Like any children, perhaps, to escape the coiled black mountain-like borders of this place.
Many children would be killed by the rciless guards. For not knowing their place and crossing the borders that were forbidden to the slaves.
But what made this boy special was that, unlike everyone else, he did not lose his spirit. The fla within his little chest did not die down.
He learned, he waited, he thought.
Outside, he behaved like everyone else, but inside, there was sothing... sothing that kept him going, as if he were a prisoner in this place. A prison he never got used to. Preparing to escape, not alone. But with everyone else as well.
Like a ssiah, his unyielding thoughts, the desire to escape, and the unreachable sights of the outside world that he heard of from that one outsider. Was imprinted on his soul, never to go away.
By the age of 18, the boy had affected almost everyone within that area, more than 5000 of the slaves. All had been planning a rebellion. To finally escape this cursed fate. There were barely a few hundred guards with weapons compared to their enormous number.
And the guards were spread over a large area. Making it much easier to take them all down if all the slaves could work together. There was HOPE!!
Under the leadership of that boy, every single slave fought for their freedom. Many died, under the weapons of the guards, but ultimately the slaves won. The boy had won; he had beco their savior.
But alas! dreams and desires were only that; no matter how great a determination one had, it did not matter if the heavens did not align with one’s wishes. They were destined to fail. After all, no matter how many of them there were, they were nothing but mundane humans.
To their misfortune, a powerful Seeker of the Vex family was in the area. He floated high in the sky, like a deity looking down on ants from the heavens. The powerful figure was simply amused, watching the primitive monkeys jump up and down, so happy that their tears of joy ford a river.
The Seeker, at first, observed for a while more and had an interesting idea in his mind. He effortlessly slaughtered half of the slaves as he stated, "Do not bla , you dogs. If there is soone you should bla, it should be this boy right here."
"He sowed the seeds of false hope in your hearts. As a result, half of you died, but that is only because of my benevolence. If there were anyone else here in my stead, you all would have died," sighed the Seeker, who seed like an untouchable supre being in the eyes of those slaves. Even the combined assault of 5000 people was treated like air by this mighty figure.
The seeker did nothing to the boy who instigated this entire event; he simply pinned the bla on the one who was supposed to be their savior.
Faced with the death of half of them. The slaves had no choice but to direct their anger and hatred towards this boy. In their rage, they collectively decided to cut off his hands. To let him live like a cripple.
On that day, the spirit of adventure and freedom lying within that boy had died. He could have escaped alone in the chaos of it if he wanted to. But he wanted to free all of his people. Yet, they were the ones who turned their backs on him, just because of a few words from their enemy.
They cut off his hands as well. From then on, he lived like a pathetic dog. Constantly whipped by newer guards who were always the most ruthless to him. He was ostracized and hated by his own people. He had to keep working even without his hands. Picking up the mining axe with his teeth.
He wanted to die. But in this hell, he could not. Sothing kept him going, was it resolve, was it hatred for his own people? Was it the defiant desire to stomp on the deific existence that alone halted the charge of 5000 of his people?
What was it? He did not know. Wangnan did not know. For the first half of his life, he chased liberation. The liberation of his people. But now he only sought the liberation of himself. But that liberation never ca.
But the small seed of negative emotions within him only grew day by day, because of the endless torture from all sides.
He had no one to rely on, no one to talk to, no one to support him, not even his own two hands. His hatred and despair grew to such heights that it was impossible to imagine. Sothing within Wangnan held on. But nothing happened in his entire life.
By the age of 50, he was barely any skin and bones. He looked like an ugly monster with countless torn skin, his teeth and face were all disfigured. His eyes were soulless. He was nothing but a living corpse. His body was rotting as he was alive.
There was the deepest stench of despair coming from Wangnan’s soul at this mont. His own people laughed at his miserable state almost every single day.
But a sudden change occurred in the hellish life of Wangnan. A mysterious figure stood in front of him. Wearing a terrifying skull mask. His eyes were red, rciless, and inhumane. Filled with forbidden power.
This mysterious, evil figure sat down right beside the 50-year-old, half-dead Wangnan.
He started speaking after a long stretch of silence, "Look at all these people, Wangnan. The people you once fought for, to escape this hell together, those you called brothers and sisters. Now they laugh at you. They mock you. Every day, each ti the guards torture you. They revel in your pain."
"All because they were too scared. Too scared to hold themselves accountable to the truth. In human nature, it is always easy to bla soone else, the situation, the environnt, or bad luck. It makes things easier. So that you can avoid responsibility," he explained calmly.
The masked man chuckled, "But you already know all of that, don’t you? But there is sothing you don’t know. That you are the sa as them... Your current situation is your own fault, Wangnan, no one else’s."
For the first ti, a profound tremor ran through Wangnan’s unresponsive eyes. He turned his head barely and looked at Axel, his eyes blazing in countless emotions, but perhaps the strongest emotion was Despair. Boundless, abyss-like despair...
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