17 Torment

"What just happen?" Exia said drowsily as he began to open his eyes slowly. The last thing he remembers was two guys are rushing at him at a rapid pace. Afterward, his memory goes blur.

Regaining his sight back, a dark room with only two torches hanging on the stone-wall comes into his view. Between the two torches was a wooden door with some of its parts painted in somewhat vague red-color. Scrutinizing the door, Exia's eyes widened at the realization the red-color wasn't from dye but probably dried blood.

"Am I getting kidnapped?" Exia tried to move his limbs but ended up creased his foreheads in the next seconds because he realized all his limbs were shackled with chains connected with the chair he sat upon.

"Shit! I couldn't move at all." Exia struggled by continuously wriggling his body, but even after his limbs aching, he perceived his position didn't change slightly from its original. In the end, he had to end his actions after concluding his attempt was futile.

"I guess this is the only way, huh?" Exia muttered before inhaling a deep breath. He did it a few times before he opened his mouth wholly and yelled as loud as he can, "HELP ME!! HELP!! SOMEONE KIDNAPPED ME HERE!"

As he is continuously shouting, the door suddenly blasted out open, and a man with a black robe entered, "Shut your mouth, or I'm gonna do something bad to you."

Exia paused for a second before thinking to himself, 'Since I got no family to report my missing, there's no point of staying quietly in a situation like this.'

With that thought, Exia ignored the man's warning and proceeded to shout once again.

"What a troublesome kid," The man said in displeasure before chanting, "Torment!"

Exia, who was in the middle of shouting, suddenly sensed his surrounding changed. In a blink of an eye, he found himself lying starkly naked atop of rough stone surface with all his limbs also chained. Just as he wondered what just happened, a man with a pyramid steelhead began to enter his sight wielding a broadsword.

Watching the man slowly walks to his side, the sound of the chain getting dragged, and a rough breath gradually breached into Exia's ears. His heart starts beating fast, while a bad premonition began to rose from his heart. As he opened his mouth to start a chat with an intention to drag the time, he realized no voice comes out from his mouth.

With his lips blocked, Exia could only stare blankly at the man's arrival. He then saw the man ahead of him lifting his broadsword easily as if nothing and proceed to insert his broadsword onto Exia's stomach directly. With his expression twisted in pain, the stone surface beneath him slowly become a pool of his blood.

Exia never imagined in his entire life that he would be stabbed mercilessly like this. All the pain he suffered previously was nothing compared to this. The pain almost made him goes mad. Well, if this keeps happening, there's no guarantee he'll come out as the sane person.

Strangely, Exia didn't feel he would faint soon. It as if he was forced to stay awake while the pain remains intact, torturing him with endless agony. Rendering immobile, Exia looked at the pyramid guy with eyes full of being wronged. He didn't do a bad deed, yet the world seems to keep repulsing against his existence, such as had to live under Mister Braun's strict supervision, begging for money to sustain his life, and now getting kidnapped without knowing their motives.

'If your only goal brought me to this world to just suffer, just let me die already!' Exia roared in his mind.

Just then, from the corner of his eyes, he catches a glimpse of another pyramid-head emerged from the darkness. Closing his eyes in despair, Exia mused inwardly, 'My journey hasn't even started, yet it already end.'

Feeling someone's presence beside him, Exia gnawed his teeth silently to bear with the incoming pain. However, after a few seconds passed, the pain he was expecting didn't crop up. Rather than the pain of getting pierced, he received a familiar pain. It was none other than a pain he had gone through to replenish his stamina. The pain he had gone through countless times when he touched the scarlet-orb. Opening one of his eyes in hesitation, Exia saw the guy's broadsword tip was already positioned atop his stomach. But it looks like it wouldn't advance any time soon. The time seems paused at the moment. Their breaths, his own breath, the surrounding air seems to meet stalemate.

*Crack*

*Crack*

A crack starts to form in the view ahead of him. In the beginning, the crack only materializes in the pyramid-head guys' area. Nonetheless, in the next seconds, the crack starts to spread like a web swiftly and eventually occupies the entire Exia's vision.

*Clank*

The scenery in front of him crumbled down promptly as soon as the cracks shatter like fragile glass. Then, Exia's vision immediately filled up with scarlet-red color.

...

"He should be in the second phase now. I wonder what state he would be after leaving the torment's world." The man in a black robe mumbled while staring at Exia who currently had his eyes vacant and looked like a puppet instead of a human.

When the man retracted his gaze and looked away, he didn't notice that a fraction of scarlet was flashed across Exia's eyes.

"Hah!" Exia immediately let out a gasp after returning to the real world.

Hearing Exia's gasp, the man turned around in shock, "You! How did you dispel my spell?"

Before Exia could respond, the wooden door banged and another man wore a black robe was thrown over across the room.

His robe was in mess and no longer blocked his appearance. It was a man with a skinny cheek and a pair of deep eyes. His lip is currently bleeding, indicating he was hurt by something earlier.

The other guy, who still had his robe intact asked in stupefaction, "Who did this to you?"

"It's me, hehe. You're looking for me, right? Why don't we discuss our business properly now?" Bernard's voice sounded from the outside. As he registered Bernard's voice within his mind, Exia exclaimed in happiness, "Sir Bernard!"