A Certain Nestor

"Tell me, why didn't you take the potion?"

Abel felt a chill run down his spine.

"What potion?" he said.

"Don't try to act dumb with me, I would have killed you already, but since you've been taking care of my darlings, I decided to let it slide."

"Your darlings?"

"My piggy's, obviously."

He looked at the muscular man who claimed to care for the abandoned pigs.

"If you cared for them so much then why leave them in such a state." Abel Sneered, he couldn't understand these damned kidnappers, it seemed they weren't right in the head. They were more twisted than he had imagined.

Muscles quickly changed the topic.

"Cough."

"You've been here for a while, and you haven't done anything suspicious, you didn't even try to run away."

'That's because I knew I would die'

"What's your objective?"

"Except for your ambiguous hair colour, nothing else about you is noteworthy." Muscles was indeed curious.

Their were 23 kids in total who hadn't drank the potions. One of them had tried to escape, but was unintentionally speared by Fat. At the very least their bravery was commendable. They had decided to clean them up later, but seeing as they hadn't made a move yet, they were still deciding on how to handle the problem.

In the end they decided to have fun with it for their amusement.

They had made a bet.

How many of these kids would fall victims and drink the potions?

Muscles had made a bet, to get 5 kids to drink the potion, Abel included. That was why they hadn't killed him yet, along with the rest of the kids.

 Today Muscles had even gotten one of the 5 kids to drink the potion.

'One down Four to go.' Muscles snickered,  'at this rate I'm sure to win.'

That was his thought until he saw Abel being nearly beaten to death. He had imagined that Abel would be in a weak state of mind and would do anything to get back on his assailants, he had found the perfect prey.

'Hhuhuhhuhhu'

Abel decided to come clean, it wouldn't favour him to drag things out.

"I didn't drink it because I wanted to live."

"Bwahahahahaha." Muscles laughed, but he gave off a dangerous vibe. What do you mean kid? Are you saying that the rest off the kids are dead now?"

Abel was on Edge. He couldn't figure out what Muscles would do or how he should answer.

"Would you drink something if you thought it was suspicious? I doubt it."

"Right, that much caution is needed to live, but did you think we were idiots giving it to you, it's either you drink it or you die, choose?"

"I choose to die."

"What?"

"I choose to die." Muscles was visibly shocked. "He doesn't even put up a fight."

Sigh.

"What did you say?"

"I'd rather die."

"Tsk, you're such a hand full, just drink the potion and live, it would be a waste to kill you, since Sachi likes you."

"Who's Sachi?"

"The Sow."

"To the piglets?"

"Yeah."

"Oh…"

"So just drink it."

"No, I refuse."

Muscles pressed hard on his temple,

"You're quite something you know. might I ask why?"

"Saying it like that, how could I refuse to answer?"

"I don't know what effect it has, and why everyone has to take it, but I wish to avoid whatever it is."

Muscles broke into a long chuckled, cleared his throat and continued.

"It's completely harmless," he said, wiping the tear off his eyes. 'What's a kid like this gone through to be so damn suspicious.' The more they talked the more Muscles liked Abel.

"I don't believe you?"

"Come on, you're overreacting, it just helps you improve a bit over time."

'As your prey'

"Why do you think the other kids are learning so quickly?"

Abel stared at him blankly.

"The potion helps assimilate the energy in the surrounding, and within you, giving for a better control of one's state and being."

"If you take it, you'll be able to improve faster."

'There must be a catch.' Abel wasn't stupid.

'For that much power there must be an equal trade off, an unknown consequence that they were hiding.' He wasn't buying it.

"Is that all?"

"Huh?"

"Is that all it does? Anything else?" Abel asked.

"Well yes, that's all it does." Muscles was feeling a bit awkward. 'What is this situation?'

"Good, since it's not something adverse, you won't be needing to force me to take it."

"Well,"

"What now?

"You would be delaying our plans by failing to take it, leading to your extermination, are you OK with that?" Muscles lied.

It seemed like Abel had already talked his way out of this one, he had no intention of drinking the potion, and he couldn't do anything about it since, he couldn't kill him.

If he tried to torture Abel into taking the potion, he would be disqualified from the bet since it would be considered cheating. It wouldn't be on Abel's will, but through his interference. He could already see Fats face laughing from his misfortune.

"It doesn't matter, one person isn't worth all the fuss. I'll catch up, you don't have to worry about me."

"Hmm. If you say so, in return continue to take care of my pigs."

"The moment you hurt them, I'll have your head."

"What if they were hurt by someone else?"

"I'll have both your heads."

"That doesn't sound right, I had nothing to do with that."

"You should figure it out."

"Then how about placing them in an enclosed space."

"They need to be free."

Able floundered around on the floor. "I'd rather die, than agree to that."

"Seriously, aren't you in such a hurry to die? Might as well grant you your wish."

His black hair was suddenly tinted purple, and the surrounding energy swirled.

The surroundings quaked like brittle glass. Abel ceased to breathe from the sheer horror he felt. He tried one last jab.

"I just hope your dead pigs will thank you when you don't even know to take care of them."

"It's not that I don't know how to, I just don't have the time. Tsk. I guess your glib tongue has saved you today." Muscles sheathed his sword.

"I'm just speaking the truth."

"I'll put in a word for you to the others."

Muscles looked at him with a deep meaningful look. "Don't get killed."

"I won't."

"I'll also overlook the pigs getting hurt because of you."

'The hell.' Abel gaffed.

"It's much too unreasonable with your busy schedule. You won't always be there to take care of them."

"Thank you." Abel bowed deeply.

"I didn't do much, if you aren't able to keep up by the end of the month you'll be Fats food anyway."

"Hahahahahaha."

'Eh. He can still laugh like that, even after I mentioned fat. Or is he laughing because I mentioned Fat.'

'Sigh. This kid isn't right in the head. Well, no one here was right in the head.'

'You can't be sane to remain in the death lands.'

"If you need anything, you can ask Short. I'll inform him about the arrangements."

'It's best to keep the kid close, after this I'll take my time and slowly make him drink the potion. I'll focus on the rest first.'

"Get some rest. I'll be going first." Muscles left the path and walked in to the Food hall, probably to have a chat with Short.

"Gosh."

Abel collapsed on the floor short of breath

"That was close. I almost died."

'What an interesting kid.'

Abel fed the Sow hay and filled the troughs with water before heading to the food hall.

♣︎♣︎♣︎

"Ah! You come in, you the nice boy who take care of Muscles piggy."

"Yes Nestor."

"No need Ahh, call me Sir."

"Yes, Sir."

"Wonderful, we get along well."

"Take the apple peels and some bit of salt go give the piggy."

"Don't feed it my hay and soy husk, eh."

"Yes Sir."

To be honest, Abel enjoyed talking to Short. He had a bit of an accent and everyone loved it.

Abel walked out of the kitchen and into the grassy field behind it, apart from the well-preserved corpses and bare bones, he found a bag of apple peelings at the corner, and a bottle of salt.

This would be enough for a while.  

Abel lifted the bag to his head and held the bottle in his hands. He planned to mix the diet of hay and shavings for the next few days.

'If they had apple shavings then they might as well just give them apples.'

Sigh.

'I guess such extravagance wasn't meant for pigs in the Nest.'

"Sss… kid hey kid," he heard a whisper.

It turned out, the skeleton beside the bag was talking to him.

Abel looked around in surprise, 'I must be seeing things after having a near death encounter with Muscles.

"Right."

'I'm also dehydrated, I should ask for a bit of water from Short, he might give me some if I explain the situation.'

"Hey kid, don't ignore me. I'm talking to you."

Able looked around one more time just to make sure no one else was there.

"Me." he said pointing at himself.

"Yeah you. Get me out of here. I'll reward you handsomely."

"I used to be mighty you know. Plus you don't look like you actually drank that damn potion. Let me come with you, and I'll tell you all about it. Don't you want to know?"

"How did you get here?"

"What?"

"How did you end up in Short's kitchen, as a skeleton?"

'Damn it, it's not some stupid brat.'

"He ganged up on me, and played a small trick, that's it."

"It seems you're not ready to talk."

Short was the most fair of the three, his integrity shown in his evil deeds, he was the one who kept the other two in line as much as he could. They might have been all dead if not for him, regardless of their purpose, their was no way he would gang up on anybody.

"Wait, I'm serious about everything I said, if you take me out of here, you'll be powerful..."

"How powerful?"

"As much as I was at the peak of my prime, no, even stronger."

"When you lost to Short?"

"Ugh." "I didn't necessarily lose"

"Then why are you in his kitchen?"

"As a skeleton?"

'Why was this kid so sly with his words?'

"I'll still pass then, it's not good enough, say something more tangible, less uncertain."

"Kid, why don't you give me your hand first, so that I can show you?"

"Do you think I'm stupid? You said it yourself didn't you. Tell you what, why don't you tell me about the potion first, and I'll think about it."

"The potion makes you traceable to them."

"It also makes you attached to the dead lands, making it impossible for you to leave."

"You and your friend took the potion right? I can help." Even as the skeleton blabbered on, he didn't miss the chance to try to dig into Abel's weakness.

"So that's what this is about."

'They just wanted to bind us, so that we could never escape, but was there a need to go that far?' As long as they were in the dead lands they couldn't escape.

"Now give me your hand and set me free." the skeleton stretched out its hands.

"Sorry, but I don't make deals with creepy skeletons."

"You twerp."

The skeleton was about to unleash its might when, it got sucker punched in the face by Short.

"How dare you mess around in my backyard, know your place, or I will send you to Budja, hiyaaa."

"I'm sorry, it's not me," the skeleton pleaded weakly, he wasn't ready for another bout of Short's harassment after having barely managed to put himself back together.

"It's him, he got me angry. He asked about ..." the skeleton was about to sell out Abel.

"Shut your mouth. Eh, Dirty bastard"

"AAAA!"

Abel quietly walked away from the Food hall.