Distanced from each other by a range of about two meters. An uncountable amount of humans filled the vast field. All of them were placed in their own domain alone without anyone besides them. But for some unknown reason, they scream like being tortured non-stop. Aziel can hear it from every direction even though he can't see if there’s anyone behind him.

“Retribution number 25! Commence!” The voice before starting to talk again.

“Aiii!” followed by a throaty voice that he can hear from someone who is standing right behind him. Aziel eyes are forced to watch the family in front of him.

“Wushhh….BANG!!!” a sound of something being swung toward Aziel back followed by a smashing sound by the impact from it filled Aziel hearing.

“ARGHHHH!" Now, he found the answer to the loud screaming coming from another human. As he feels the cause by himself. Hard texture like a rock violently whipped toward his unfit young body. A certain someone behind his back mercilessly hitting his back but he can't see it.

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

What makes things worse is that it never ends. As it continued, Aziel's scream became louder and louder. Unable to move, his eyes opened so wide that he couldn't even blink. Tears of pain already dampen the soil below him.

I can't move...

The only control he had on his body was his mouth. Though the only thing he can blurt out right now is not even a word that someone can understand. He desperately wants to pass out to forget the pain but helplessly can't. The pain he feels still runs through his mind without exception. He lost count of how much he was already being whipped.

The family right in front of him seems to tremble by what they are seeing. Looking like a human who takes refuge from Aziel. Using Aziel as a human shield from the attackers. That's the only thought Aziel had in his mind. He can't think rationally. His mind went completely blank. But the thought about the family used him to protect themselves playing in his mind over and over again.

"Am I protecting them?!"

"They are using me?!"

"Why am I doing this for them?!"

"Why didn't they help me?!"

"Why? Why? WHY!?"

"ARGHH!! YOU PIECE OF SHIT!! STOP USING ME!"

A scream of pain turns into a howl of anger. A piece of despised being dispersed toward the shadow in a human shape. Hatred toward them increased every time he felt the pain as he made up in his mind that they are the main cause of his suffering. The only things he can see and blame for everything.

"ARGHHHHH!!!"

----

"...ziel! Aziel! Aziel!" A sound that feels far away becomes closer and closer.

"Argh!" Aziel finally awakens in shock after someone repeatedly calls him to get up.

Sitting beside him while crossing his arm is Navir.

"Finally awake hah? What a pain in the mass to wake you.." Navir said.

"Huh? Wh-what happened? W-why am I here?" Aziel gets up from the bed and wonders about his surroundings. He remembers just now he was at the vast field where he was getting tortured. Now he is lying on the bed in the brown worn tent.

It's not even appropriate to call it a bed, it's just mouldy mattresses that are laid out on the ground.

"You know what? I'm too lazy to explain it to you... Now get up already cause I wanna sleep there hahhhmm…" Navir said while yawning at the end.

Now, Navir took the mattress from Aziel and fell asleep immediately. Aziel just gives it without arguing.

Aziel standing in the middle of the empty tent that only had the mattress in it. He checked the condition of his body.

My back...doesn't feel the pain anymore… Is that just a dream after all? But the sensation, it's too real to be a dream… I remember everything like it truly happened...

"Hey, hey, look who's looking good today," Keira comes from outside.

"Huh?"

"Don't 'huh' me! Help me with this firewood already," Keira pointed outside.

Aziel doesn't reply but he walks toward the outside of the tent. The light from the sun brightened the misty atmosphere. The exact same atmosphere he feels as he awakened before they entered the gate. As he exited the tent, he found a bunch of firewood with no fire and just stared at it pensively while standing like a tree.

"Hey, the fire is not gonna be turned on by staring at it…" Keira said.

"Oh...okay," for some reason, Aziel doesn't feel like starting a commotion with anybody. The agonizing event he just experienced traumatized his mental badly. He prefers to stay silent all the time and just follow everyone's orders.

…

The sunshine finally closes the curtains. The dark sight of the unknown place known as the Abyss finally arrives in Aziel's view. Aziel and Navir sitting around the well-established warm campfire that they made before the absence of light. Yet Aziel's mind is still absent from his reality. Gazing toward the burning fire hoping to find the losing piece to a puzzle of everything he experienced in the past two days. There are so many questions playing inside his head but he doesn't know to whom he should direct it. Even he knows the answer won't come unless someone answers it.

"Ohh! Look at the roasted chicken!"

A voice coming from another tent near them. A group of humans started to prepare to fill their stomachs while Navir looked at them with eyes full of jealousy.

"Ahhh...I thought we could have dinner today…" Keira sighed.

Aziel couldn't care less of what Keira said. He is not even paying any attention to Keira.

"Glen still hasn't gotten back either…" Keira continues.

That's when Aziel's mind starts thinking about something other than himself. He just realized Glen is not there with their group. The brain of the group is missing. That just answers the question of why he feels lost to who he wants to share his problem with. In his eyes, only Glen is reliable enough than others to answer his question.

"Hey! Are you okay? It looks like you are always spacing out from the moment you wake up. What's wrong with you?" Keira suddenly asked in a worried tone.

That's the frequent question he always gets since he woke up for the first time here. Yet he doesn't know how to answer it.

Should I tell the truth? That I don't remember anything or I never come to this place or this is a sort of reality that happened because of the spell that that man who I forgot his name used? Which one is it? Will they understand the things that even I can't understand? How should I explain the unknown?

"Hey… don't you have a mouth anymore?" Suddenly, Keira confronts Aziel with a vile look in his eyes.

"I can split that mouth from your head anytime if you don't want to use it anymore…" Keira said with a devilish voice with annoyance written on his face holding a knife which he directed toward Aziel's mouth.