Chapter 231: Beginning of the Second Act

Adryan's mind completely turned to mush as he heard the way the Doctor called him.

'Herald of the Hunt?! What the fuck is he talking about?'

Smiling at the look of terror Adryan had, Doctor let out a laugh and held up his hand. In it was a necklace of a rusty spearhead, his necklace.

"You have a very curious body you know? I wonder if it's a coincidence or 'They' made it that way?" speaking to nothing, Doctor asked before shaking his head gently and tossed the necklace which landed in front of Adryan's knees.

Completely stunned and unable to hide his confusion, the red-haired man wasn't understanding what was going on.

Ignoring the man's reaction, Doctor tilted his head slightly, looking deep into the other's eyes.

Scarlet and Crimson collided.

"Adryan Kenway... That's not your name is it?"

Adryan's mind exploded.

They knew... They fucking knew!

"I'll assume you won't tell me your former name right?"

"..." 

"Mm... Never mind." Rolling his shoulders, Doctor finished eating and wiping the sauce from his mouth, he got up and walked over to stand in front of a frozen Adryan who was staring at the ground without raising his head.

"I'll tell you the same thing I told your predecessor..." 

Kneeling and bringing his lips close to his ear, Doctor whispered.

"You don't belong here, Stranger from Another World."

If Adryan's eyes could open any wider they would fall to the floor.

Doctor's last words had frozen him completely, any reaction he should have had was blocked by his brain which kept repeating what that thing said.

<Stranger from Another World...Stranger World...> 

His head repeated and unable to help it, tears began to cascade from his eyes.

Looking at the man in front of him, Doctor sighed and patting his shoulder, he stood up.

"The anniversary is near. Enjoy these last 2 days of life. But don't worry, you won't spend them alone. Joseph will keep you company."

With that said, the Doctor's body was shrouded in shadows and disappeared from the cell.

Being alone again, Adryan felt the grip the ivies had on him loosen allowing him to move a little.

In a better state of mind, he would have immediately looked for a way to remove the ivies but right now he was not in the right mind.

His forehead hit the ground, a loud cry came out of his mouth.

His vision blurred and his nose began to drip snot, he began to pound his fists against the ground.

"Ha...ahahaha...hahahaha!" 

In between his crying Adryan started laughing like crazy, a ridiculous grin on his face. A huge weight on his shoulders was lifted and he had never felt so happy, so shattered and heartbroken as he did now!

They are real! 

They are not creations or illusions! 

They are real!

His little brother Cruyf! His mom! His Dad! His uncle, his memories! 

They were all real!

"I was so afraid... so afraid that they were just a trick..." Adryan cried with a huge smile as he curled into a ball on the floor.

No matter how many times he repeated himself, a huge part of him had been so terrified that his life as Joa had been the past of this world. That he never really traveled across dimensions and that he was always on his land.

But that part died! 

<Stranger from Another World...>

Remembering the Doctor's words, Adryan cried like a little boy for his mother.

All the pain and fear he felt all this time, which he buried deep inside him and tried to ignore for so long, finally left his body through his tears.

... 

Sometime later...

After venting for a long time, and with red eyes. Adryan had never felt as good as he did now.

'When they say crying is good for the soul I never thought it would be so therapeutic.' The redhead thought with a small smile on his lips.

Knowing that his family was still in his world and not in this hell was something that relaxed him immensely.

Letting out another small sigh, he began to look around for a way to escape. 

Later he could be happy for his family, now he had to focus on saving himself from this prison.

His eyes traveled to the tattoo on his left forearm and he couldn't help but curse loudly internally. 

With the ivy sucking out all his spirituality, he didn't even have enough juice to summon his rat soldier...

Shaking his head slightly, he raised his hand to the collar, he gave it a tentative squeeze.

'The metal is of better quality than the one they put on my ankle. It doesn't appear to be a beyonder artifact so it's just a normal collar...'

He could easily break this collar with one hand.

Just as he tried to squeeze hard, the blackthorns sank into his skin and the strength of his body vanished.

HUFF! HUFF!

Falling to one knee, Adryan gasped in agitated, red-faced breath.

'Looks like breaking the necklace is not an option...' 

From his position, he looked up at the chain on the wall.

Taking a few breaths to recover, the red-eyed man stood up and walked over to the bracket.

He was a bit surprised to see that the bracket was merely a hook of sorts, all he had to do to remove the chain was lift it up

His eyes narrowed in suspicion and Adryan raised his arm very slowly towards the hook. His eyes focused not on the hook itself but on the thorns that pierced his arm.

He didn't even come within 4 meters of touching the hook and the blackthorns sank into his flesh and his strength left him again.

Huff! Huff!

'It couldn't be that easy.' Adryan grunted with one knee on the ground and out of breath.

His test of whether the thorns would activate instantly or slowly yielded a result that left a bad taste in his mouth.

Recovering, Adryan looked at the chain connecting his collar to the hook. 

Squinting his eyes, he tried to twist his body so that the rebound of the chain would cause the chain to release from the hook but as soon as he twisted his body his strength left him and his face hit the ground.

'If I try to run towards the chain and jump towards it, what will the ivies do? Even if my strength abandons me in the air I should still be able to reach the hook...'

Catching his breath, Adryan tried to do exactly that but as soon as he accelerated his strength abandoned him again and his face hit the ground hard.

Huff! Huff! Grrr...

Grunting, he started to get up while trying to think of what to do next.

Yawnnnnnn

A deep, loud Yawn rang in his head and Adryan's scarlet eyes lit up.

'Oh Flora! If I could I would kiss you!'

"What a good dream... How long I was asleep...!" The newly awakened Flora Jacob spoke in a tired voice before abruptly stopping.

Adryan knew why and couldn't help but blush a little. 

Completely naked, with ivy wrapping around his body, a metal collar chained to the wall, and inside a cage...

He could already get an idea of what was going through the woman's mind.

Just as he was about to say something to defend himself a possibility crossed his mind that made him swallow his words and control his expression.

In all the time he had been here, he had not seen any guards. Would the Doctor leave someone like him alone and without someone to watch him?

The obvious answer was no. And judging by what he had been doing, Adryan had a pretty good suspicion that the 'guard' was on him.

The way the ivies on his body were acting showed some awareness. And remembering what the Doctor had said earlier about them being glutonous, it was very likely that the ivies were watching him and stopping any escape attempts.

Of course, there was also the possibility that the Doctor himself was controlling the ivies from a distance and was watching him all this time.

'Good thing I didn't say anything during my crying...' Adryan thought relieved that during his mental discharge, he had been much more focused on crying than talking.

"... Ammm... I'm... interrupting something?" Flora asked somewhat embarrassed and a little hurt.

'Flora believe me. You have no idea how much I wish you would interrupt this.' Adryan thought as he focused on acting as if he hadn't heard Flora and sat down on the cold stone floor.

He doubted they knew Flora was here, no one but him knew of the existence of the demigod within him.

When he managed to remove these ivies, he would need every ace up his sleeve to escape from here, and considering that all his artifacts were gone, that he didn't have his clothes, and that he was naked...

Any help was more than welcome.

He hoped the strangeness of ignoring her was enough to communicate that things were wrong.

After a long 20 seconds, a heavy sigh sounded inside him.

"We're in the shit right?" 

Adryan kept his face flat showing no reaction.

"..."

"..."

After a long agonizing 15 minutes, Flora exploded.

"If I could I would smash your face in! How the fuck do you get yourself into such crazy situations?! Are you a disaster magnet or what?! You better have a plan to escape because I swear if I die because of you you won't have to worry about a demon torturing you in hell because I'll be the one to personally put a stake in your ass!!!"

'Yeah, I missed you too Flora.' Adryan thought resisting the urge to roll his eyes.

Tap Tap Tap Tap

Before the redhead could continue to ignore Flora, quiet footsteps sounded in the dimly lit hallway.

"..." Flora stopped her exploding and her attention focused on where the footsteps were coming from.

A few moments later, standing in front of the cell entrance, Devil Joseph smiled coldly at the redhead.

In his right hand was a rather large metal briefcase.

"Sorry for the wait Mr. Kenway. I had to make sure I had everything ready for these 2 days we will be spending together."

A horrible feeling formed in Adryan's stomach as he watched Joseph enter.

-------

Okay little note here.

I have to admit I cried a little while writing this chapter a while back and now that I'm writing it here I'm crying again.

Fuck I feel horrible but oh well.

Sorry Adryan I think this is as far as I got with you...for now.

Don't worry, you'll understand what I mean soon enough.