“Adam”

“Adam”

The faint familiar voice faded in the back of my head as I forced my eyes open despite the nausea

The first thing my gaze met was the place I was in . A dark closed prison room.

Oddly , even with the complete absence of light , my vision wasn’t disturbed at all.

Rusty iron bars connected to the solid stones in the floor and the ceiling. Not far away on the opposite side of my cell , another prisoner laying motionless , or probably dead.

Trying to move my body made me realize the state I was in. Cuffed from my wrists to the wall supporting my back , not that this surprisingly well built body of mine would ve moved even if I was free

i was half naked , save for the brown rugged animal skin that was rapped around my lower part.

I sighed

Except for the pain on the back my head , I was uninjured. Which was the only glimmer of hope right now.

I tried to remember how the hell I ended up here only for a surge of pain to surface on the back of my head , a reminder of the attack that knocked me unconscious , it was strong enough that I still feel pain in this dull body of mine .

Remembering the voice that woke me up

‘ it called me Adam ‘

I wondered , as I focused on the familiar name , it felt like it was a part of me

‘ if that’s my name , then where am I ? who am I ? and what exactly happened to me ? ‘

With no one to answer my questions , I stood there , trying to figure out what should I do to get out of this place .

Being only able to remember how I woke up in that crater left me with a feeling of unease. All the memories and events before that seemed to be totally removed . like a void in my mind.

Frustrated , angry but somehow my heart felt relieved for not being able to remember , something about those memories sent shills down my hole being.

Whatever happened to me , it was probably bad enough for my body to react like this.

I tried to focus on my surroundings , if anything being inside a cold dark cell was much more comfortable than I thought it would be.

Alien Cries and shouts of what I could describe as unhuman creatures resonated from afar . probably they were keeping a lot of captives here , whoever they were and wherever here was.

The darkness in the cell was my only companion ,it gave me a familiar feeling , as I tried to focus on the feeling , it was like the air in my lungs was trying to reach towards it , only to stuck inside my throat and instantly I found why . I noticed the collar around my neck for the first time. it was relatively small metallic collar , but it was doing something more than just choking me as it wasn’t connected to chains like my cuffs.

With nothing to do inside the cell , I ended up doing tests , at least I would get some answers about this foreign body of mine.

I found out that this body of mine had some power source ,as I didn’t feel any thirst or hunger , nor any other physiological needs .at least not yet.

The power source was located at the center of my chest area. Whatever reason this collar was putted on me , it was obscuring any attempt of the energy inside that power source to surge out.

My boredom and unease grew with each passing moment , I was chained in an unknown place with no memories except my name . I hoped that I might be able to remember something as time passed , but it was futile.

I couldn’t spot any light of the outside so I was unable to tell how much time has passed since I woke up,

The only positive thing was that my body started responding much better to me , I could feel every muscle in my body under my complete control , it was an exciting feeling I haven’t experienced before . the power source in my chest seemed to provide everything this body needed.

My thoughts were interrupted by the heavy footsteps that disturbed the silence of the hallway .the sound was followed by a source of orange light , breaking the through the veil of darkness outside my cell . the monster seemed to growl and react as the footsteps drew closer towards my cell before coming to a halt

Two figures stood behind the bars , holding the light torch was the massive build man with dark skin and blue hair. In this place he was hard to not be noticed first . Light animal skin armor cover most of his body while his giant hammer was sprouting behind his head. Deep scars covered his body from face to toe. The look on his eyes turned to angry one when his gaze stopped on me.

“Are you sure about this Mr.Darom “ a deep rough voice spoke ,it was oddly familiar , despite only hearing one word before I blanked out , I recognized that deep rough voice , the same as the one who knocked me unconscious

“ yes , yes commander Rendal , this guy will be very valuable , there aren’t many fools from the federation city to venture alone into our lands , I can already imagine what price he could make in the auction “ the other man replied.

Compared to the clearly warrior , the short guy which called Darom was completely opposite to the first one , he was wearing a well tailed suit. Unlike the warrior next to him , he was fairly fit . With dark skin and olive hair than ended with a long ponytail, the short guy was more of a business man . However , I couldn’t shake the feeling of unease and danger coming from them. Appearances can be deceiving.

“ he seemed to be dangerous ,I couldn’t even sense him before he showed up and froze half a dozen of my men to death in the battlefield , I don’t think many buyers would want something like that around “ the guy named Rendal replied

“ you don’t have to worry about that commander , you made a wise choice to bring him here , I will take care of the rest. I promise you ll get a hefty amount from the next auction that will keep you from that bloody battlefield with those mongrels for a long time “

“if that what you says , Mr.Darom I ll trust your judgment “ he nodded

“ now , lets get to business “ Darom shifted his gaze towards me , the smug smile on his face was telling me enough of whatever he had in his mind as the other guy opened the cell door and they made their way inside.

Darom bowed a little to meet my face before he spoke

“ first of all , lets start with introductions ,not all of us use their hammers as greetings “ he said that as he gave Rendal a side glance “ my name is Daromian , but most people call me Mr.Darom. I manage this little facility we are currently in , quite a comfortable place don’t you think ? So , care to tell us who you are pretty boy ? which oh mighty empires of the great continents you came from ?”

What a cringy way to speak , I thought . His last words poke my curiosity ,empires of the great continents ? do they know something about me .Not knowing what I should reply to him I chose to keep silence

My choice turned out to be not very wise. Rednal’s jaw tightened , oddly I was able to see his blow coming before he throw it unlike last time , I moved my face not to dodge , but to take it with a little less impact

Cough

“When Mr.Damor asks ¸you reply , white pig” Rendal roared. I could see that he wanted to hit me more , probably he was frustrated about whatever happened to his men

Spitting out the blood on his face seemed to even enraged him. But at least it gave me some satisfaction

The guy roared when he saw me smirking at him . he drew his hammer out this time but the man in suite seemed to be more patient as he held his hand out to stop Rendal

“Harming merchandise is against the agreement my friend Rendal “ he spoke with a cold tone giving him no more than a sideglance , the next moment the temperature in the cell seemed to fall and I could see how Rendal hands were shaking.Whatever the guy in suite was doing , it must have scared him

“ leave us , Rendal. I ll compensate you for the loss of your men”

“but I want to kn…” before Rendal finish his reply ,Damor spoke in a louder voice that sent shills even in my spine

“LEAVE “

That was all before Rendal shrugged then he brought his hammer to his back and left the cell slamming the door.

The awkward silence returned to the cell , and so the normal temperature. As I tried to understand what just happened and what the hell I was feeling but before I know Darom brought his attention back to me

“now ,where were we ? oh yes , you see, I v been in this business for a long time, I made tougher people than you sing like mockingjays in no time. that will be your fate soon if you didn’t start telling me what I want to know “ his smug became more sinister with that distorted smile.

“So , care to enlighten me a little , I’d like to know few things about you and about the other adventurers you came with , surely a noble looking guy like you isn’t that stupid to wonder all alone in our lands are you ? “ he asked half joking

“ and here i thought you ll be the one telling me where the fuck is this place because I don’t know what the fuck you are talking about “ I roared ,the power source inside me seemed to react slightly to me only to be restrained by the collar.what the hell he was talking about ‘ adventurers ? noble looking ? I didn’t even had the chance to check how my face look like , or even the color of my hair

Darom took my reply with a smirk , the next moment my jaw almost dropped as i didnt believe what my eyes where witnessing , Darom brough his hand into the air and a black dagger manifested in it out of no where.my eyes widened , my mind was in conflict as I tried to accept what I was witnessing , a knowledge I had or used to was contradicting with the reality in front of me . the blade glowed and the next moment it was on fire.

Darom was keeping an eye all this time ,he furrowed his eye brows before asking " you should see the look on your face , its priceless " he laughed

I watched as Darom brought his burning dagger towards my chest , his eyes fixated on me , enjoying every moment of my misery. I only sensed the heat approaching for a moment before it was replaced with a scorching pain

My skin was sizzling .it was filling the cell with the smell of burning flesh

I fought the urge to scream ,not wanting to give Darom the entertainement he wants .I tried to keep my mind away from the pain. I wasn’t that successful as my torturer who was watching me with interest started moving his dagger.

“ urgh” I groaned , hoping that it might lessen the pain , which didn’t despite Darom already removing his dagger from my wounded chest , now he was hovering his hand over the deep bleeding cut.

“ it always amaze me how we , the awakened posses tough bodies ,we can run faster than normal people ,we can resist much more pain and our bodies heals overtime as long as you absorb enough ethos. but , there is always a breaking point , where the body and mind of the awakened collapse. I ll really enjoy making you reach that point , its not that often we get our hands on people from the north like you “

I couldn’t make out of half what he was talking about , the awakened , that word was oddly familiar , ethos . is that what they call the power source inside me .

“ I don’t know anything..” I grunted

“ oh sure you are “ his demonic laugh echoed into the cell .