9 The world of pain

"My lord… When I was walking to Daniel's room to clean it. While I was making my way there I saw Matthew leaving the exact room where the lady's body was found…" The maiden started explaining the situation with hesitation. I think she wasn't sure about saying that out loud.

"So you say that Matthew is guilty?" Father's blood was boiling again, he couldn't keep his strength under control. He was about to crush the throne made of wood as it was screeching.

"Yes, my lord." That bitch!. I did everything I could to make everyone busy! Who would expect she finished her job that fast. Fuck! Fuck! Fuck I'm done for… What do I do? I need to lie… I need to make a good lie! I don't deserve… This treatment. He thought while closing his fist harder till the blood again was spilled.

"Matthew, what do you have to say?" I might as well just say that I was being beaten and sexually harassed...

"My mother abused me… Offended me and even beat me! The same goes for Daniel. They both hate me and want me dead! They humiliated me at every step I made!" I Shouted out everything I had in my gut just to try and convince my father...

"That explains nothing! You didn't have to kill your own mother! You monster… Shaming a woman you killed What kind of man are you?! Listen. If you will get a high evaluation of dark you can live with that pain in the kingdom. But if you will be weak… You will be exiled! To the Hole. And you will die there. Rot to death for the killing of your own kin." Father was fuming at this point. I know there is nothing else I can do and my situation was set...

Then I was raised for another 2 years like a pig ready for slaughter. They would shame me… Hate me… Do everything to break me...

The two years I lived in my mental asylum. Without anyone close to me... No one even said a single word for those years. I was so lonely... And when the time came… You know what happened since I'm here.

He explained his story and that showed me something... This world is all about power. If you have no power you have no authority and chance of survival. Even if a man is truthful, it's complete and utter madness. I don't want a world like this…

"What's the point of living in this?" I didn't put much attention to this thought but at the back of my head, It was still really... Important.

I can somewhat relate to him… This feeling of being powerless, like sinking deep down into an ocean of pain... Something even heavier than water trying to pull you down.

The second person in our room is Estel. He is the oldest one here and he is an elf. Also, he is one of the few men on the upper floors that were able to survive so long. He is 18 and he is already 2 years in here and he knows well that the chances of him living for another year are very slim.

"On the upper floors, a single prisoner can stay for three years. No more, after that period of time, the person will be executed." Estel explained with a tired voice.

"it's either execution by dark, swords, or other execution tools or herbs and the last one by battle but the fight will be completely one sided as you would expect. There are multiple powerhouses here with one being exceptionally powerful, the general." Matthew added to Estel's explanation. "Death in glory my ass..."

"So when it comes to my story… My mother was really really sick and the only way to cure her was to get a level 10 sorcerer who is specified in healing. Hiring someone like that for a kid like me was… Impossible. So I took a big debt from a drug lord of the city. It was a lifetime deal for healing my mother." Estel looked really sad while saying those words out loud.

"He would make me his postal worker and drug dealer. Since I was around 14 at that time I was able to use my power for this kind of task. As long as I can work for the rest of my life for him, my mother would be cured right after. I then started working for him, but my mother wasn't a dumb person so she questioned me what I've done to make so much money. I always answered that I worked almost all the time and had luck since the mage gave me a discount for a task he gave me once. She believed me for the time being and we were both happy…"

After that drug lord increased the amount of work I had to do. Day after day I was almost absent in the house, this went on for 2 years... When I reached the age of 16 and on my birthday I came back home I realized that my mother was alone the entire day. In silence and dark… When I saw her I thought she was a shell of a human. Left empty. Only when she saw me could I see her back, father was already dead for 4 years now but… She slowly started losing me. And was close to falling into a deep depression.

By then I slowly started realizing that this way of life is not a life worth living. I had to change it, I started thinking about how to leave the city and run away to another country or major city. I started planning my escape from the city. The first thing I had to do was to make a way to keep his men from looking at the gates of the city. He has people all around the city in every corner of it, there will be at least one of them so I had to keep them away. I will have to ask some beggars for help. Besides that, I had to take my mother with me so it won't be easy with her on the board."

"What did you want to use for escaping?" I asked him since I really got invested in what his life before looked like.

"I thought about a carriage, but don't interrupt! I told my mother that we are going to pay for a carriage to take us out of the city so that we can start again from zero and live without her sickness. She seemed so happy when I said that… As the day of leaving was slowly approaching I got a message from one of the drug lord sidekicks that if I try to leave the consequences will be inevitable.

I started sweating very intensely when I read that. It was as if my whole plan was ruined beyond repair, I put very deep thought into the letter. I had no idea what to do, but I knew that if not tomorrow there won't be any other time when I can at least try. After today they will keep even more people to watch me. I had to try it! If not, I will endure any pain as long as my mother is alive!

I went to sleep thinking as if it was a completely normal day with no problems. I dreamed of a sky in the night with clouds swallowing the moon and stars. As I woke up I had so much energy I didn't even think much, I just went for it. Now I regret that I was so dumb back then… We were so careless, we just went on and on talking about how we will change our lives and how beautiful it will be. All of this stress is over. But as we were approaching our carriage…"