Shattered Heart

Wang Meng's Mother's Residence

Wang Meng became agitated knowing that he now had a method in which to save Fatty. From his excitement, he took a deep breath and settled down to come up with his plan of action.

He decided not to set off until it was dark outside because that would give him the greatest chance of sneaking into the prison cell where Fatty was probably being held. Wang Meng was not worried about the guards on duty in the prison because today was Lady Liu's birthday celebration and most if not all the guards will be there.

Because he was not going to go until nightfall, Wang Meng started to pack up his most important belongings into a small rut sack to brink along with him. Most of which only consisted of outfits of clothes, some books he has collected, and the money he and his mother have saved over the years. Wang Meng planned to leave the hell of the Wang Family after bringing Fatty out of the prison cell.

This place had no love for Wang Meng and Wang Meng obviously had no love for it either so he would rather venture out into the unknown world beyond than stay in Wang City.

As Wang Meng was gathering his stuff, a thought had occurred to him. "Fatty is probably going to be starving by the time I get there since those guards probably won't feed him much because he is fat. Not only will I surprise him by bringing him into my Dream World, but I will also surprise him with his favorite dish!"

Wang Meng put his gathered belongings into the courtyard and set off to the kitchen to tell the cooks to pack a roasted duck so he could feed Fatty as soon as he gets him out.

"I can't wait to see his face when I tell him I am going to bring him away from this horrible place!" Wang Meng smiled to himself. "He probably won't even notice I am saying something if I give him the duck first so I'll give it to him after."

. . .

Wang City Prison Cells

Inside the last of a row of prison cells sat a fat figure that seemed to be holding onto his stomach. This figure was Fatty. He sat in the corner of this cold cell looking up at the small barred window slit near the top of the cell. He seemed a little roughed up from being tied, thrown, and grabbed from yesterday's incident, but was alright for the most part.

Although Fatty felt slightly uncomfortable due to the coldness of the stones he was sitting on, he felt the most uncomfortable from the grumbling that was occurring in his stomach.

Grumble. Grumble.

"Aye my poor belly," Fatty said as he rubbed his stomach. "Have these people never heard of having three meals and snacks in between for a healthy diet?! They barely gave me scraps to eat yesterday and today."

After the grumblings from his stomach subsided, Fatty put his hands on his thighs and sighed.

"I hope nothing happened to the Young Master after that show I put on yesterday. Aish. I knew I should have just bought the supplies for dinner from the market and leave. I just thought the Young Master needed some fresh air since he never leaves the residence."

He paused for a moment.

"Hopefully Young Master is okay and brings me some food or else I might have to change my name and have everyone call me Boney."

Hmph!

Suddenly Fatty heard someone scoff at him through the bars of the cell and turned his head towards the direction of the sound.

"How the hell will missing one meal cause a fatty like you to be called Boney?"

Fatty narrowed his eyes as he saw the person made this remark towards him.

"How lucky I am to be in your presence Young Master Wang Wei. Lemme guess, they blessed you by making you deliver my food?" Fatty said sarcastically. Seeing that Wang Wei hands were holding a seal and not food he continued, "Unless you want me to scar your face like I did your sister?"

"Haha, no wonder Wang Meng thinks of you as a friend, you make such good jokes," sneered Wang Wei. "Sorry to disappoint you, lowly servant, but not only did I not bring you your next meal, you probably won't need it where you're going."

Fatty looked at Wang Wei and furrowed his eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"I mean yesterday was probably your last meal you will ever have in your life," Wang Wei laughed. He motioned for the guards standing behind him with the symbol in his hand and gave them an order. "Guards, I want you to beat this fatty until he turns into the pig that he is. The more unrecognizable the better! This fatty has been annoying for too long."

"What are you saying?! I am the second Young Master's servant! You can't just order them to beat me up for no reason!" Anxious, Fatty stood up and step further into the corner of his cell.

"Second Young Master my ass!" snorted Wang Wei. "Little Brother has no such title in this estate! If anything, it would be the Mistake of the Wang Family. If Little Brother really had such status in this family, do you really think you would be sitting here? Do you really think that he and his mother would just be living in that little shack on the outskirts of the family property?"

Wang Wei laughed. "Even at your death bed I see you like to joke!"

Not waiting for Fatty's response, Wang Wei turned around proceeding to leave. "Remember what I said. I want this Fatty to be unrecognizable when I come here tomorrow!"

"Yes sir!" The guards gave Wang Wei a bow as he left. After Wang Wei exited the prison, one of the guards began to unlock Fatty's cell.

"Don't, don't listen to him. He's the one that put me in here! He's, he's lying! He lied to put me in here! Come on, believe me. I shouldn't be here." Fatty started to shake in fear as he saw the guard finally unlock his cell.

The guards ignored Fatty and all proceeded in.

"Please, we're all servants of the Wang Family, believe me. I am a faithful servant of the Wang Family! I am the Second Young Master's servant! He will not forgive you if you touch a single hair on me!"

"Hmph, did you not hear what Young Master Wang Wei just said to you or are you really just a dumb pig? The Second Young Master has no status in the family. And even if he did, Young Master Wang Wei has given the order to deal with you with the Family Head's symbol." The guard was not fazed by what Fatty said at all.

Another guard came closer and cracked his knuckles. "In your next life, pray you serve a master with actual status."

Punch. Crack.

Before he could react, Fatty was punched right in the nose by the guard and fell to hard stone floor.

Thud.

Before Fatty could even get up, another guard put his foot on his head.

"Let's hurry and finish this up before the Head Guard notices we are not at are posts!" said the guard whose foot was locking Fatty's head on the floor.

"AAAHHHH"

From outside the cell, the sound of the guards beating up Fatty continued as well as his screams.

Crack, thud. Crack, thud. Crack, thud.

Silence.

. . .

Nighttime in Wang City

As soon as the darkness of night fell upon Wang City, Wang Meng set out from his residence cloaked in dark clothing towards the city's prison. As he approached, he made sure that there weren't any guards in the vicinity as he slipped into the area where the cells were at.

This was the first time Wang Meng has been in the prison so he was not the most familiar in where Fatty's cell exactly was. The only light was coming from dimly lit candles that mostly only illuminated the hall so Wang Meng began to whisper for Fatty.

"Fatty . . . Fatty . . . Fatty." Wang Meng quietly whispered into each cell as he passed them. This particular prison was meant for those that had opposed the Wang Family so there should be no one inside any of the cells except for Fatty.

As Wang Meng started to feel that something was wrong, he saw that the very last cell inside the prison's hallway was half opened. When he proceeded forward to get a closer look, he saw a large, dark silhouette that resembled Fatty.

"Fatty!" Excited that he finally found Fatty, Wang Meng quickly entered the cell.

Splash.

Wang Meng stopped as he heard his foot step into some liquid. He quickly grabbed one the candles hanging in the hallway so he could see Fatty's cell clearer.

When he brought the candle into the cell, Wang Meng eyes widened in surprise and he dropped the candle.

Ssss. The candle was put out as it landed into the puddle formed by Fatty's blood.

"FATTY!" horrified by what he was seeing, Wang Meng quickly grabbed another candle and tried to wake Fatty up.

"Fatty wake up! Fatty wake up! What did they do to you?! Wake Up!" No matter how Wang Meng seem to push on Fatty, he didn't make a sound.

Tears began to well in his eyes. "Who did this to you?!" Wang Meng continued to try to coax consciousness into Fatty.

From the dim candle light, it can be seen that Fatty's large body was significantly swollen all over. His face was beaten blue, his nose broken. One of his arms and both of his legs were bending in the wrong direction and his clothes were soaked in blood and urine. His hair was caked in dirt and dried blood, his eyes swollen shut.

"This was not how this was supposed to be!" Wang Meng cried.

As Wang Meng started to cry, he suddenly heard a soft groan come from Fatty.

"Fatty! Are you okay? Hold on, don't worry, I'll bring us away from here!"

Before he could say anymore, he saw that Fatty, using his only good arm, point towards his stomach.

"You're hungry? Hm, only you could think of eating while being in this condition." Seeing that Fatty wanted to eat, Wang Meng felt a little more hopeful that Fatty was alright.

He placed a duck leg into Fatty's hand and began to untie the robes that were attached to Fatty legs. But just as he began to untie the knot he heard Fatty's arm drop and saw the duck leg roll from his hand.

"Fatty?" Fatty became silent, his body no longer rising from breathing. "Fatty?!" He began to frantically shake Fatty. He felt Fatty's body become increasing colder than it was before.

"Fatty, wake up! Fatty please! Look, I brought you the food you wanted! I even brought your favorite! Please, just says something! Fatty!"

Seeing that Fatty was no longer responsive, Wang Meng could no longer keep his voice down. "Fatty don't leave me! This is not what was supposed to happen. You were supposed to be surprised that I came to save you and that I even remembered to bring you your favorite food! I was supposed to show you my Dream World!" Warm tears streamed down Wang Meng's eyes as he shouted.

"Come, look for yourself!" Wang Meng's marble glowed a silver hue bring both Fatty and Wang Meng into his Dream World.

Seeing that Fatty was still unresponsive, Wang Meng felt his heart shatter into a million pieces. He didn't want to believe that his best friend was now dead. Wang Meng exited his Dream World and ran out of the prison and into the streets of Wang City.

He ran until he was out of breath and let out a loud cry.

"Everything is so terrible, this city, the people, the Wang Family, I hate it. I hate it. I hate it."

Wang Meng coughed up a mouthful of blood onto the front of his shirt and collapsed onto the ground from his mental exhaustion.

A drop of the blood of Wang Meng's blood landed on his marble and it began to glow. But instead of glowing its normal silver hue, it shined with a harsh black glow. As the marble's glow became more intense, a dark creature seemed to be coming out of it.