I quickly got off my bed. What had happened? I looked around and saw every single building had been destroyed. How was my bed still fine? It didn''t even have a scratch on it.


    I walked around the rubble, I had to get on all fours just to move at all without tripping over the large rocks and broken things that surrounded me. When I finally got out of the rubble that was the orphanage, I was able to view the rest of the town.


    All of it was gone. Well, not gone, there were rocks and logs and broken things just lying around, but it was all destroyed. All of it. Every single thing.


    How long was I gone? Where was I?


    I still didn''t know what actually happened down there, I couldn''t remember most of it. I sank into the floor and then I came out to this. Was it a dream?


    I woke up in my bed, but why would I not get woken up by the entire town getting destroyed? Was I even asleep?


    I didn''t get it. I didn''t get anything. The entire time that I''ve been here, nothing has happened. My entire life has just been me going from town to town, new school, new arguments, and the same ending. Town to town, and it was all the same.


    What was it about this week? This one week.


    I hadn''t ever truly prayed to Phrosus, was he punishing me? I think I saw him, he didn''t seem mad. Maybe he knew that this would happen, this probably is a punishment.


    He sent me down there to wait while everything up here was destroyed, and then I get to come back to see it all gone. Did he do something before that?


    Was Elle dying in front of me actually a dream? Was I in a dream just now before I came back here?


    It felt too real. All of it felt too real. Before this, my dreams were just eating dinner with my Mom, or running around the continent as fast as I possibly could.


    What changed? What could have changed? Something did, something-


    I turned back around and looked closer at the large pile of rubble where the door to the orphanage would be. I could just barely see it, but I knew what I was looking at.


    I dashed toward the pile and threw rocks off one by one, and I pulled the body out from underneath all of the rubble as hard as I could. As I finally got it free, I fell backward straight onto my head.


    I couldn''t sit up, I was way too dizzy. My head was pounding.


    I saw it. Her body. It was Elle.


    She was lying there, her arms and legs bruised and scraped. There was blood all over her. I rushed over to her, and laid her on her back. I saw her chest move. She was still breathing- she...


    She was still breathing.


    "C-Celio?"


    She was still breathing.


    Well her chest was moving, but I couldn''t hear her breathe. I could only hear myself.


    I held my breath for as long as I possibly could, I nearly fainted.


    She did too.


    Before I could choke her, she disappeared from in front of me. I could hear the whispering again. As it got louder, I could feel my head move forward. Just a little more, just a little, one more-


    I fell forward, but I immediately turned around while lying on the ground to look back up at it. A shadow. Well, it wasn''t a shadow, it was just someone that was made entirely of black. I stared at it, and when it opened its eyes again it smiled at me.


    It changed into a woman. The straight black figure transformed into someone you''d see walking around late at night in Arten looking for cash.


    "You''re quite smart, aren''t you?"


    She knelt down and laid on me. I felt every part of her body touching me, keeping me on the ground. She placed her hands on my ears again.


    "Why don''t you sleep? Smart kids like you, they need a lot of rest. You''ve done a lot, you know. Why don''t you just fall asleep, and I''ll wake you up when it''s time? You deserve rest."


    I resisted the magic it was trying to use on me. I couldn''t go back.


    Memories were rushing through my head.


    Venio-


    I walked into that structure, I didn''t know what it was. I was just dropped off right outside it, and I walked in.


    "Who are you?"


    It was her. The one I thought looked like Elle. They really did look similar.


    The same whispering came through my ears, but it wasn''t coming from the shadow, it was coming from Venio. I was picked up and brought over to him, they forced me to kneel.


    I blinked and suddenly I was being held down by all of them.


    "I want to leave, Venio! I do not wish to serve you any longer!"


    "Is that so? I wonder what your beloved has to say about my rule."


    He snapped his fingers. Two of them went over to hold him. He was skinny, just like Reynold, he probably deserved this anyway.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    The one that looked like Elle walked over to Venio. She didn''t kiss him, no, he pulled her close to him and forced his lips onto hers. The one that looked like Reynold was screaming and crying, but he couldn''t move at all.


    I blinked again. The one that looked like Reynold had bruises all over his face, his knees and elbows were covered in dark red.


    Venio whispered again before speaking.


    "How about you all listen to a tale of mine?"


    Everyone except for the one that looked like Reynold immediately turned their heads toward Venio. Some of them even twisted their heads all the way around. Their eyes, they didn''t have any color. They were black. Purely black.


    He screamed again, but I couldn''t hear him because everyone was shushing him. They were really loud too, and they didn''t stop.


    They picked him up and threw him onto the floor. They started beating the life out of him, but his screams weren''t heard at all. Their shushing was only getting louder, and they still hadn''t even stopped to take a breath.


    His bruises had turned black. His limbs were twisted in weird ways, and he wasn''t even trying to scream anymore. They finally stopped shushing him as they picked him up and threw him off the side. His screams finally picked up again as he fell all the way down. I didn''t hear them stop, they just got quieter and quieter. I didn''t hear his body hit the ground either.


    Everyone walked back over to the large stones they were sitting on, and Venio started to speak again.


    "So once upon a time, I was courting a very famous lady. I was naught but a poor lad, someone who had gotten quite lucky to be invited to the royal ball of Penilago. The queen of the country was there, and her husband had not yet arrived at the main ballroom. When I offered her my hand to dance, she slapped it away, and told me I was a fool."


    He paused and grinned wider than his entire face would let him. His smile stretched past his ears, it was horrible to look at. He had this horrible sound that came out of his mouth, like a forced laugh.


    "So I forced her to bear my child right there in the room!"


    They were all laughing, all of them. As if they had just heard the funniest joke. They couldn''t stop. Blood came out of their eyes, and some of them started coughing out blood as well. Their skin cracked. They couldn''t stop.


    She walked into the room and looked at Venio.


    "I see you are still enjoying your stay."


    "Very much so! I can not thank you enough for this opportunity."


    "You''ve been saying that for centuries. I think we feel properly thanked. How is the kid?"


    "Him? He is not swayed by my words. Would you like me to send him further to sleep?"


    "That would be great."


    He snapped his fingers, and all of the now disgusting people in front of me rushed at me. They pinned my head down on the large stone I was just sitting on.


    I need to go back further.


    That''s right. I was sitting there with rubble surrounding me, looking at the blood stains she left.


    Why did he do it? Why did he slap her?


    I''ve been made fun of before, I told him that. I''ve been made fun of everywhere I go. I''ve been beaten up, I''ve been knocked out. What she was doing meant nothing to me. Why did he stand up and slap her across the face when she threw her water on me?


    "You little rat!"


    They dragged us both out near where the garden was. Mister Savard pulled me by my neck. The other students were cheering them on, and the teachers were just standing there watching this happen.


    When we got to the garden, Mister Savard forced my face into the dirt. I heard him screaming at them to let me go, and all of them were laughing.


    "What are you going to do now, Reynold? What will you do with your beloved about to be maimed in front of the entire school?"


    "Stop it! Let him go!"


    I couldn''t see him, but I knew that he was being held back.


    "Mister Savard, do it."


    I was picked back up off the ground by my hair, and he whispered something in my ear.


    "Penilagian scum."


    I heard a loud noise, like someone had stepped in a muddy swamp. They let Reynold go, and he fell face-first into the dirt. He looked at me and I could see his entire face was covered in dirt that was being washed away by his tears.


    I looked back down and I saw an arm drenched in blood that was sticking through my stomach. Mister Savard pulled his hand back out and I fell to the floor. I heard him crying and screaming at the same time while I laid there about to die.


    I couldn''t feel anything, I just started to lose the ability to move. I could barely breathe. I just managed to lift my head up so I could look at him.


    They were taking turns hitting him, and with every punch I could see more blood coming out of his nose and his mouth.


    She pulled out a knife, and just as he was pushed towards her-


    She stabbed him in the throat. I tried to scream. I tried to say anything. I couldn''t move. They were all laughing. All of them. The little children who were still learning to say a single word. The teachers who looked old and grey. They were all laughing at us.


    I can''t take this. I can''t stay here. I''m not going to die. I''m not going to die!


    Every part of my body was filled with anger. Anger at them. Anger at the world. I forced myself to stand up. My legs felt like twigs, my body wanted to slump over and bleed out. I wouldn''t let it. I just needed to kill her. That was all. That was it.


    I ran towards her faster than I ever had, and I grabbed her by the neck. As soon as I got her throat in my hands I ran around the entire town. I forced her into houses, I dragged her on the ground. Everything was exploding around me.


    I heard the shadow''s voice again.


    "This revenge is a necessity. You must right this wrong, but she is not the only one that has ruined you. Why not go for the entire town?"


    Her body had gone limp, but that didn''t matter. I placed her body on the one wall that was left of the school, and I ran all the way over to the next town.


    "Why not cast this entire nation away? Surely they are at fault."


    I had gotten there in an instant, and I left just as quickly. When my fist hit her, her entire body exploded. I didn''t see any bones, I didn''t see any skin, it was just a large cloud of blood. I looked around and I saw that same area of rubble. I looked down at the ground and saw the stains that she left.


    The shadow wasn''t on top of me anymore, it was behind me again with its hands on my head.


    "Anyone would understand you. If every person in this country had to go through what you did, they would do the same. In fact, they would applaud you. They would praise your actions. All you need to do is listen to my words, and want for more."


    This world is unfair. My Mom tried to kill me, and when I knocked the knife out of her hands she just picked it back up and cut her own throat wide open.


    This world has always been unfair. Every orphanage has the meanest people, the ones that hate every child who they have to take care of. The type that punishes children for speaking out of turn even if it''s only one time.


    This world will continue to be unfair. People were always angry at me, and I didn''t know why. I would give them a piece of my food and they would steal all of it. I would ask for their help and they''d threaten me with a knife or sword. The guards would scream at me whenever I walked near them.


    "Yes, of course. This entire world must be burned for you to truly be free. Just take my hand, child. I will help you."


    I was back where I was before. She was still on top of me, but when she looked at my face again, she immediately disappeared. The shadow came back, and it was no longer smiling at me.


    "But you are a part of that world, aren''t you?"


    The shadow didn''t speak at all, and we just sat there staring at each other for a while. When it did speak again, I heard a male voice.


    "When she told me that she found a child who entertained her, I thought it would be easy to find one of my own. It''s a shame that you''re a bore."


    I blinked again, and I immediately sat up. My stomach hurt like I had eaten nothing but horse shit for a month. When one of the people there saw me, they screamed and ran away.


    "He''s awake! The boy is awake!"


    I looked at my lap, there was a tiny piece of parchment that was all folded up. I opened up the paper to find a note from someone who I didn''t know.


    Only an interesting person survives with a hole in their stomach.


    Welcome to the academy.