The bloody images have stopped. I am finally alone with my thoughts again. I can see myself now. This body of mine. Floating in this...vacuum of nothingness. Wherever this place is. A boy barely in his teens. Looking peacefully asleep. With sharp features and a face too young and innocent others can take advantage of. Is this really who I am?

No.

Weak.

Pathetic.

Unworthy.

Huh? Why did I think of myself that way? I really do need my memories back. I need to know who...I was before.The nightmares seem so real. Are those my lost memories? They better fucking not be! The person that I was in that nightmare think he deserved all those pains that were afflicted to him…

Absolutely fucking metal.

…

Haha yeah right what an idiot. Who in their right minds would subject themselves to those tortures? Self righteous fool. If those memories were of myself then rest in peace past me. This older brother is now in charge baby...or younger brother whatever. The regrets and betrayal I felt and experienced at the end of that person’s life were circumstantial evidence enough for me to see. Definitely not worth whatever sacrifices that you had made huh? Perhaps it was a blessing that my memories are gone. No more bullshit obligations that would eventually get me to be fucking roasted like that. Hah!

Although I need to know what happened so that the past won’t repeat itself...

“...”

Wait. What is that noise?

“...”

“...WAKE….YOU….DAMNED….MAGGOT WHORES...USELESS PIECES…”

A sharp crackling noise pulsates throughout my body as I am electrocuted awake. The smell of death and human wastes engulf my senses. Where the fuck am I? I can barely see anything in this badly lit cave...

No.

A cage.

Hold on to that thought because a massive two meters silhouette humanoid monster stands before me. Even in the dimmed blackness I can make out the four large contours of its horns and the lashing armored features of its tail.

I know what it is. Something deep within me recognizes its savage muscled form right away.

A Kroctar.

Just a name to identify the monster. No relevant information that followed...Tsk.

…

In a flash, the monstrous reptile ignites his Lightning infused elemental rod and used it to zap away at my front chest. The pain is such that I catch myself screaming on top of my lungs until eventually they give out and I am left gasping for dead. What a wake up call.

“I SAID WAK’. THE. FUCK. UP. YOU FILTHY SHITS!” barked the Kroctar while grabbing my wrist chain that was tied to another prisoner and lifting me up. “WELL WELL WELL, IT LOOKS LIKE YAR ROOMMATE HERE HAD DECIDED TO FEED DA MAGGOTS BEFORE YOU!” growled the creature as it starts to poke the body beside me. I am centimeters away from its massive jaw and rickshaw like sharp teeths.

“DA LONE SURVIVOR OUT OF DA NEW BATCH OF ARRIVALS HUH? I CAN’T WAIT TO SEE HOW LONG YOU’LL LAST,” spits the Kroctar as it rotates my hanging body around like a butcher inspecting his favorite slab of chopped sirloins.

A quick glance confirms the corpse that was chained next to me and another one that sprawls nearby. Probably few days old. My stomach threatens to churn up whatever leftover biles it contained. How long have I been held here?

“YOU WILL MAKE A FINE FLESH OFFERING TO DA MONSTERS OF BASTION ARENA TOMORROW MORNING” snarled the monster, “FEED WELL SO YOU CAN PUT ON A GOOD SHOW LITTLE HUMAN!” And just like that the creature unlocks my wrist chains and tosses me head first onto the ground. It exits and locked the massive prison door to my cage while stomping away with the cadaver dragged behind into a large courtyard.

Without thinking I lunge forward and devour whatever grainy rock soup that is placed in front of me. The amount is sufficient enough to both quench my thirst and hunger for now. They could’ve been raw flesh covered in shit and I would still eat them.

A disturbing revelation...

“Mind sharin’ with me some of that food boy? There’s more than enough to go around eh?” A gruff voice comes from across the cell and makes me spit all my food in surprise. Holy mother of all that is juicy! I guess one of the corpses is alive after all.

Tense seconds tickle away and I can not help but stare at this fellow prisoner. “Ha YoU LoOk likE yOu’re Going tO diE aNy secondS noW old MaN So iT wOulD Be a WaSte oN You.” Uhhh whoops. I accidentally said my thoughts out loud in that raspy voice... Damn me and my stupid mouth and now look, the poor guy is glaring murderously at me. I should apologize quick before he will curse me in the afterlife.

Dressed in tattered rags and bloodied from head to toe while sporting multiple deep gashes, it is not an understatement to say that this guy is on the last stretch to reaching his nirvana. With a bearded face and hairy crooked nose that only his mother can love, he looks to be more beast than man.

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHA..hahaha...haha...ha!” Going from murderous glaring undead to laughing maniac and back to graveyard hobo in a span of a few seconds, the soon to be lifeless corpse does a ninety degrees kick up from his sprawling position and somersaults toward me baring two long sharp fangs at frightening speed.

Instinctively something archaic sparks within me and I know what I needed to do. Call it the survival mechanics of a surprised prey reacting to its predator.

I close my eyes and pray for a quick and painless death.