Day 2...

As a guard came in and chucked a sack into our cell, I slowly rose up, puffy eyed, aching all over and feeling wholly broken and miserable.

Throughout the night, my sleep had been disturbed by screams of dying, the roar of the sadistic crowds, the clashing of fighting and the wails of the wounded.

And yet now that it had quietened down, I was far too hungry and cold to sleep.

In fact I was absolutely ravenous..

The other three were fast asleep, sleeping like the dead, so I crawled over to the sack and checked what we had been given.

4 turnips, 4 carrots and 4 apples. Nice…

Taking my share and putting three piles of each on top of the sack for the others, I returned to my corner and ate quickly in silence, grimacing at the dirt still lingering on the vegetables.

Guess the trick here is to take a bite out of the turnip and then the carrot and then the apple and ignore the grit and sand crunching in between my molars.

Misery.

After I finished I wrapped myself up in the blanket and felt a little bit better with a slightly fuller stomach and then, and only then, mercifully, did I manage to fall into a deep sleep.

…

..

.

I awoke and immediately felt warm arms wrap around me. But her shoulders were shaking and she was sobbing.

Godu, I’m so sorry. I saw it all. Your mind, your phys-*sob*…oh I am so sorry..you poor creature..

I closed my eyes in mild comfort.

At least here, it feels warm and I know you care..I just..I don’t know if we’re going to get out of here Seren..I don’t know what to do..I really don’t know..

My mind started to go numb as loamy crumbs of hope broke away and dissolved into the sea of despair that was pooling and growing, sucking and consuming any warmth or comfort it could find.

What is wrong with them? What is wrong with humanity? Those bastards. Those heathens. Damn them to beyond the void! DAMN THEM!

I stayed silent, with my eyes closed, nodding.

Godu. I promise, we’ll get out okay. It’s not going to be tomorrow, it won’t be next week, it may not even be next month. But.. I’ll find a way. We - will find a way. I swear to you this.

Thank you, Seren. I really mean that.

Do not fret my love. So, I’ve got a few ideas already..But the complexities lie in how those brutes can-

Seren, um.. Can..can you just, hold me..here, just for a while? I don’t want to think about everything for a bit…

Please?

Oh..Yes. Of course Godu. Oh of course we can...come. Remember no matter what happens in this forsaken time, you are not alone. I’m right here with you and I will always come for you no matter where you are.

She pulled me closer onto her lap and stroked my head as she recited some of the experiences she had back when she was in her floaty cloud form and also how strong and healthy Marri and Lone looked as she spied on them but she had to keep her distance since she didn’t want to be mistaken for a threat.

That made me chuckle silently as the thought of Marri attacking a cloud of shimmery EXP.

Her words flowed into my head, filling the broken fractures and cracks in my mind, pushing out the trauma, the pain and the suffering that I had been slowly accumulating since arriving in this nightmare.

It became a strange paradox where the better I felt, the worse the pain felt. My lips trembled and she squeezed my shoulder as I simply just couldn’t hold it all together any longer.

And I wailed. I howled in pain, in grief, in fear.

I cried out for the time that I’d lost with Lone, the moments I’d never get back seeing him grow. He would be just about 6 months old now and I would have missed him eating his first solid foods, his first time grabbing a toy and passing it hand to hand and possibly even his first crawl and first words..I wept with guilt and shame that I’d left Marri to raise him by herself. What was I thinking? She now had to look after a newborn whilst not truly knowing if her partner would ever return, or when?

Even if the message Seren left was infallible, after weeks or months, Marri would definitely start to grieve if she hadn’t done so already when I didn’t show up. She was tougher than the best of us but this world was a living nightmare and I just waltzed out like an idiot..how could I be so stupid and selfish!

I hated myself for putting her through all this. I hated myself for my stupid decisions and arrogance, thinking it would be fine to just waltz on up to the cube and THEN GET FUCKING KIDNAPPED AND-

Godu! Please! It is not your fault. You have to try and stay-

I bolted off and up to my feet and threw my arms up.

“BUT IT IS MY FAULT SEREN! I WAS THE ONE FUCKING RUNNING AROUND PLAYING THIS STUPID GAME OF ‘LETS GO SAVE THESE PEOPLE’ Or, or! ‘Oh no! There’s a fucking DEMON fighting with a group of military! I know! Let’s FUCKING JUMP INTO ITS MOUTH!!!” I bellowed at her, shaking and she just fearfully looked back, tears in her hurt filled eyes.

I-I’m..

I looked down, feeling utterly ashamed and even more like a piece of shit..

“I’m…sorry Seren..you didn’t deserve that..please, forgi-”

She jumped into me and squeezed me in a massive hug.

Don’t.

I know. I know how it hurts. I feel it too. I feel it all…when you hate yourself, it’s like you are hating me. Because I am you, Godu. I’m as much a part of you, as you are, a part of me.

And I know it doesn’t make sense right now but it will one day, I promise.

She looked up at me and smiled with tears made of gold and eyes burning with fire.

It was a malicious smile full of war, the promise of destruction and the dark chill of insidious, murderous intent.

Just like I promise, one day, somehow, we’ll rip them all apart. Even if you truly do hate yourself, I’m with you. Even if you truly have given up. I’ll give up with you.

An unfamiliar feeling built up in my chest and something inside of me shifted in shape, it grew, it became reinforced. It became different.

But we both know that none of that won’t happen, not until we tear the limbs off of all those monsters in the crowd and those heathens that built this sick, diseased place.

It all makes sense now. If my original purpose in life was taken by them..then I’d just need to create a new one instead.

A grin slowly spread across my face. One full of hate and delight.

If they send you monsters, we will show them nightmares. If they inflict pain, we will bestow agony unto them. If they try to break you, we will retaliate with obliteration and destruction.

Let’s bide our time and prepare for their reckoning.

We won’t let them win…will we?

No.

We won’t.

…

..

.

When I awoke, my attitude and mental state had completely changed. I kept mainly to myself, since my appetite for socialising was at an all time low, but everything was distant, faded and unrealistic. As if everything was just a very detailed painting.

But that didn't stop Gilo and Fedro from pestering me with questions.

“What skills you got mang?”

“How strong are you sir!”

“Can I touch your arms, oo they are so big!”

I answered some in mumbles and short words leaving them openly dissatisfied, but again, I just didn't care anymore.

We ate our meals and when it came time to fight, we were led up and out through the same route as yesterday and exited out into the arena as expected.

We went up against a giant snake eel, one that I recognised from the tunnels, and so when I quickly mumbled to Tommy that they are attracted to light, he instructed Fedro on what to do as we slowly chipped away at its health.

“Fling your balls past it idiot! Just shoot fireworks! Keep it distracted like our mate here says!”

I didn't take any unnecessary risks, and just listened to Tommy's instructions and we ended up bringing the beast down in perhaps one of the most unspectacular displays of the day.

Day 3…

The start of the day passed quickly, with nothing to do except stare at the strange bin fires and listen to Gilo and Pedro chat complete rubbish. A few times they almost made me smile with their stupid jokes, but the situation was still looking hopeless, and anytime I felt myself edging towards strong feelings, my mind would flush them out and return to the blank and numb state, resetting back to to just waiting for the time we'd get called up to the arena.

When the time came, we were led as usual to the sadistic crowd crowing and laughing over the blood stench-filled arena. But this time we were given spears and there was a woman with her shirt ripped open, tied to one pillar and gagged.

I stared blankly, unable to process what the fuck they were going to expect us to do here.

A muffled cry brought our attention to a man tied up in a similar fashion on the one opposite her. He was completely naked and in the twisted flickering fire lights, I could see there was a rope or wire tying his genitals up to his jaw, forcing him to hunch over slightly.

The announcer, the bitch, cackled with glee as she spoke, receiving the usual roars and claps. And I listened in muted horror to the translation, as we were told that these two were caught trying to escape together, and now as punishment, we had to save at least one of them from the monster that was about to be unleashed.

Fucking scum.

There was no further delay and, right on cue the large gate was opened.

The monster looked like a giant goblin, with pale grey skin and a blubbery pot belly. It had a pointy nose with small black beady eyes and a mouth filled with shark teeth.

It was twice the size of us and it was completely naked showing huge diseased genitals which complemented its horrific grotesque existence.

It immediately made a beeline for the woman, causing the crowd to go wild, but when we stepped in front of it, it slowed and briefly pondered, seemingly having the capacity for some semblance of thought, and then SHRUGGED and darted towards the man.

I looked away as it proceeded to.. perform acts so foul that it managed to shake every fibre of my being, even in my numb and unhinged state.

Tommy was clenching his jaw, watching, and the other two seemed to not care as much, chuckling with grim faces as they cracked disgusting jokes.

Another one came out shortly after, forcing us to fight it. We couldn't split up else we'd be overwhelmed, there was just no chance, Tommy made it clear that management knew what they were doing here.

The man was screaming for his mum and dad, begging and pleading the whole time we were fighting and the crowd started to imitate him, laughing and cheering.

We ended up killing both of the giant affronts of nature, but the man was a mess by the time we could get to his one and Tommy put him out of his misery.

That night was the closest I'd ever been to taking my own life.

Day 4..

My personality and sanity had decayed even further by this point. I only got up to eat before going back to my corner and trying to sleep. Muttering to myself and internally screaming and raging at the flashbacks of violence and trauma that tried to overwhelm me.

The others did the same, even Gilo and Fedro, as simple and stupid as they were, barely spoke the whole day.

For the evening fight, it was against a two serpent headed horse. It had managed to poison me heavily after I mistimed a shoulder rush, leaving me out of energy which one of the serpents took advantage of, biting me and filling me with paralysing venom. I was mere moments away from having my head bitten off until Tommy, Gilo and Fedro all pulled off a clumsy yet successful rescue - what was all that about only looking out for yourself eh? - With Tommy going in with a rock shield, Gilo tangling up with his threads and Fedro fire punching the snake head away and dragging me out.

Gilo’s poison ended up winning the fight and the near death experience had shaken me up a bit, enough so that we even had a small chuckle afterwards about the fact that the paralysing venom affects all body parts and I had ended up with a temporary 'pitched tent' as a result.

Highs and fucking lows right?..

Day 5..

As soon as my mood improved, even just a sliver, something of course had to come and balance it out.

The guards hadn't given us food all day and here they were sending us up to the arena.

We were all malnourished as it was, the usual efficiencies of having higher mag levels were no longer active. So we were immensely starved and extremely irritable when 5 Skinraws came out of the monster den, their skinless, screaming human torso riders glued to the back of skinless jackals.

Enraged, we made short work of them as it was well known their torsos were weak points. But it was a bit dicey at the start, when all 5 charged Fedro, who was the least adept at melee combat.

Infuriatingly, there was no food after either. We all barely slept due to hunger and exceptionally cold weather that came that night. And we even ended up huddling back to back to try and conserve as much warmth as possible after Pedro attempted to use his flames to warm us but since he couldn't generate them for long, it was incredibly inefficient.

Day 6..

We finally got food and after eating we slept the entire day; only waking when the guards came clanging for other meals and then finally to collect us for more fighting.

My nerves were completely shot now and desensitised.

So much so that I felt not a single shred of apprehension or fear. There was only a need to eat, sleep and survive, everything else was just unnecessary.

But I had started to grasp at thoughts and ideas about paying more attention or cataloguing my surroundings..although for now that was wasted energy.

Maybe tomorrow.

The fighting for this night was against 6 ant headed humanoids that moved on all fours like gorillas, except they were scrawny with carapace segments on their torso and limbs.

My first mistake was to underestimate their strength based on their appearance.

Just like the ants of the old world, these ones were absurdly strong.

They heavily wounded Tommy, and we only managed to save his leg from being torn off by me using my ace card and emergency Slipfolding him out, whilst simultaneously and accidentally taking out all of them by another mistake I made.

Which turned out to be a rather fluke but incredibly potent mistake to make.

I had originally wanted to grab him and move away, but instead I had picked him up and slipfolded to the wrong spot, and instead of 10 metres away, it was just a few centimetres to the side as the ant fuckers dove in. The result had been that all six of them had been cleaved and then somewhat exploded as the transported matter and tissue forced its way into the destination space.

After the fight we dragged him back and surprisingly, management sent a small cup of healing water, which repaired his shredded leg.

Day 7..

Tommys leg was healed by the time our fight for the night arrived but as we walked out into the arena, my stomach lurched and I stared at our opponent who was already waiting for us.

It was a Striga. A female. The same colour hair as Siya. Her wings had both been torn off, and she was looking around ravenously like an animal, a cuff around her neck.

I nearly lost it there and then, but my mind held on as the announcer started the fight and the Striga powerfully strode towards us and jumped up several metres trying to slam down onto one of us with a clawed foot strike.

Gilo threw out a thin razor thread and snagged her face, cutting a deep gash into her face, almost taking her head, but she quickly reacted and severed the line with a skilful movement of her sharp clawed hands.

The movements.

She jumped up and ran up a pillar before pushing off and dive bombing Tommy, pinning him down, snarling and attempting to bite his face. Fedro was closest so he tried to pull her off but was sucker punched and completely knocked out by a lightning fast elbow.

The skills.

Gilo tried to garotte her with his threads, but she ended up pulling the threads, slicing up her hands, then headbutting Gilo, also knocking him out cold.

They are all identical to Siya..

I had just been standing there, frozen, as from this angle it almost looked like Siya..

"GODU PLEASE! DON'T LET ME DIE!" Tommys pleading had snapped me out of it and, with a roar, I sprinted up and grabbed a wing stump and surge dragged her away, stunning her before throwing her onto her front and then, with the grim knowledge obtained from Siya that getting hit in the wing joints was like getting sledgehammered in the testicles, I repeatedly punched the bloody stumps, causing her to scream in a pitch and tone I'd heard only once before - when Siya had been brutalised by the corrupted.

Another part of me shrivelled up and died right then. As I briefly thought about if Siya would ever forgive me for such violence against her kind as I roared and pummelled away.

She probably wouldn't.

I hammered down and used a surge strike as soon as my energy stores regenerated enough to allow me.

Would Marri still come near me if she saw all this?

I let out a hissing enraged growl and in one fluid motion I leapt back from the trilling, whimpering Striga and Slipfolded, taking half of her with me.

Day 8..

*Tap* *Tap* *Shake*

“OI Mate! Time to get up now lad. Guards are coming with an early dinner and then we’re going up to the dirt.” Tommy's voice pierced into my mind and as I peeled open my eyelids I saw his face grinning over me.

“I bet you're thinking, ‘how lucky am I to wake up to such a beautiful face every morning right? Come on, we need to eat fast and start doing some warmups. Always fucking warmup before a fight, remember that mate.” He grabbed my arm and pulled me up, I just nodded silently and rubbed my face.

The part of me that would have told me ‘it’s impolite to not respond’ was gone. Leaving me with an uncaring attitude and zero motivation to talk.

“So, the mothslayer is finally awake ay? Rest well eh? Damn, I won’t lie that I’m real excited to see what else you can do with those strong arms. But just kidding of course mang. Just kidding...aheh-heh-ahem..” Fedro trailed off as I stared blankly at him, not smiling, not frowning, just a lifeless expression.

“You alright there mate? You seem a little more, ‘brick wall’ than usual?” Tommy waved in front of my face trying to get a reaction but I just looked at him, blinking slowly.

*CLANG CLANG*

One of the guards smacked the bars and threw a sack of food in, but Tommy was still looking at me with a frown.

“Hmm shit. This don’t look fucking great does it.” He muttered and jutted his jaw thoughtfully. “Can you still fight mate?” I was staring at the food sack for a few moments before I nodded, once.

Gilo picked up the sack and started handing food out.

“Well, good. I guess that’s all that matters right?..Christ, fuck this place..Honestly, you’d think people would have betta fings’ to do than spectate all this horseshit.” He groaned a sigh and grabbed the food and passed it to me.

I took the food and proceeded to munch my way through it with little hesitation. Mechanically and silently.

Eat. Fight. Sleep…and watch.

As I ate, the others went into the usual conversations about different kinds of fights they’d seen and the tactics that others used to survive. They also happened to talk about how many days it had been since they all had arrived for the first time, information I stored in case I needed it later.

Tommy had been here first, 50 days ago with Gilo and Fedro being captured a couple of weeks ago, near the same time.

Tommy did most of the talking, explaining how he classed monsters in three categories: Lightweight, Midweight and Heavyweight. Light, Mid, Heavy. For light they were usually fast and numerous, so control was key. Slow them down or find a way to make them predictable. Mids usually were quite difficult because usually they were intelligent humanoids, so it was a matter of who was more skilled or more crafty, traps and tricks were key to winning.

Heavies were the biggest and the tactic was simply to run and do everything to slow them down. Heavies were usually not the smartest so if you had really good defensive skills you could hold them in place and ‘spank them’.

*CLANG CLANG*

The gate opened with a rattle, but I kept my thousand yard gaze low, looking at the torsos and hands.

But noticing a pair of black gauntlets on one of the guards.

Mine.

A flash of rage surfaced as I realised, but it was extinguished quickly, it would be wasted energy and effort now.

Mine. One day.

We were led the same way and I quietly scanned around, observing a few doors but noticing the walls, made of huge bricks of whole stone, had something bizarre that looked like living liquid plasticine flowing around the cracks and gaps, leaving behind a trail of 3D printed material as it went.

*THUD*

The ground shook and the growing din of the crowd erupted into raucous laughter and more jeering. I couldn’t help but bare my teeth at the noise, pure infantile hatred filled my core and I fantasised about finding a way to free myself and throwing every single one of them into the dirt and proceeding to tear them apart in a glorious scene of blood limbs and liquified organs.

One day..I promise you, one day..but not now. Save energy. Fight. Eat. Sleep….watch.

An announcement was made and the klaxon blared. The door folded in on itself, causing me to squint as sunlight flooded in, the first I'd seen in days, and, walking towards us, I saw 2 other fighters returning, holding onto each other. A man and a woman both heavily wounded yet smiling bitterly and, as they passed, they nodded at Tommy, whispering something that I couldn’t quite catch.

Tommy cursed under his breath and carried on walking, the man and woman staring at me intentionally as I walked past.

Smiling..Whispering..The door folds in on itself..Two of them..Not four..

My instincts absorbed information like a sponge, the data didn’t really have any meaning on its own but I knew if I kept going, information would surely take shape from all the fragments.

The gates shut behind us and the arena floor had blood and bits of flesh scattered around in no particular pattern.

No bodies..Offal..Blood stains..Dirt and sand..Human remains.

The wall that lined the edge of the arena was obviously much higher than initially constructed. It had been modified using the same 3D printed material I’d seen in other places and light and imagery were blurred between us and the stands, like a film of rippled water, but logically thinking, the excremental scum audience must be able to see us but we cannot see them. And the same was true for a different looking area that sat above the gates were the creatures were released, the whole row looked appeared to be where royalty would sit and was probably where the head shit fuckers that orchestrated this whole vile event, were sitting right now.

The announcer said a few choice words and the crowd gasped and “oooo’d” before the announcer followed up causing them to erupt into laughter and cheers.

“Godu mate..you won’t like this but you need to stand here..” He walked towards the other side along with Fedro and Gilo before calling out as he looked me dead in the eyes.

“Sorry bud, but when the signal goes...fight us, or..die. It’s up to you mate. I’m..sorry gent. I guess this is goodbye. Been a pleasure.”

I stared blankly at him. Deep in my mind, cold, sickly emotions were crying out in protest but something was holding them back on a leash, reining them in, roaring at them to stay quiet and get back in their kennels.

Looking around the stands one last time, I returned my stare to Tommy and just nodded, numb and indifferent to the situation.

He pursed his lips and nodded back, before saying something brief to Gilo and Fedro who put on grim smiles and acknowledged.

The crowd simmered down to a silence as the announcer's irritating female voice counted down in English.

*THREE*..*TWO*..*ONE*..*ONE MORE-WAAAIT!*..

…

*GO DIE!*

The stupid bitch announcer caused Fedro to stumble in obvious anxiety, erupting a laugh from the sick crowd, but once she started the match, all three of them ran to a different pillar and began their assault on me.

Tommy punched into the ground and pulled up rock shards, firing them my way. Fedro regurgitated plasma flames into tennis balls and hurtled them towards me as well, whilst Gilo started to climb the pillar like an insect, his feet and hands sticking to the vertical surface like velcro.

The projectiles and balls of plasma travelled quite fast and I glumly watched them roaring through the air towards me, encased in a neon red hue.

My mind was calm and sullen but I instinctively knew the trajectories, my limited abilities and senses feeding me information on how to evade them. ‘Simply twist, lean and take a step to the right.’

The projectiles scraped past me but caused no damage, and I started to walk towards them, conserving my energy, as a pseudo simulation played out in my head of how the next few moments were going to play out. I would need to rush forward the moment Gile performed his attack, most likely some kind net throwing or a dive with some kind of poisoning attack; If it was the dive, I’d only need to deploy config:exo and take the first hit before grabbing his arm and firing a single shard disc, most likely severing the hand.

With him wounded, Tommy would probably charge and either use some unknown skill to conjure a weapon, his ‘ace up the sleeve’, or, he’d try and fight in a melee using complicated attacks that involved the rock shards; If it was the unknown skill, then the best course of action would be to keep config:exo and observe before deciding next. If he came for a melee then after he throws the first hit and notices the shield armour, disengage the config:exo ability and incapacitate with a Null Surge strike.

Fedro would either run, or keep throwing fireballs, not much to do there except knock him out and then kill him.

As soon as I stalked within 11 metres of Gilos pillar, I saw him shift his stance as he crawled vertically, hands gripping tighter, feet aligning forward.

Config:Exo.

He blurred through the air towards me, with not a single word or pause of hesitation; murderous intent embed him in a blood red hue.

My config:Exo shields spread out onto my forearms, torso and legs as the short stocky man slammed into me and bit into my ribs. Correction, he tried to bite, but gasped as I twisted sharply, spinning on the spot and grabbing his wrist as I spun. The centrifugal force pulled him away as I held on and I fired a single disc from my own into his forearm cleanly severing tissue and bone, sending him flying and skidding on the floor. From his severed hand, a shimmering Majik pooled out and flowed around my skin before absorbing itself into my body; Gilo was growling in pain heavily bleeding.

The crowd erupted at the violence, cheering it on, demanding death.

Surprisingly, Fedro roared and pushed Tommy out the way, intensifying the amount of fireballs thrown my way as he ran to save Gilo. I twisted and side stepped and after a few strides, I phase dashed towards him, causing any fireballs that hit during the skill to ricochet harmlessly off me thanks to the invulnerability perk of the skill. The move cut my resources in half, but he also showed fatigue turning sluggish and white as a sheet. But he didn't retreat, he held a fireball in his hand and reared back and tried to slam it into the side of my head.

His melee capabilities were primitive and slow. I leaned back effortlessly and counter surge-punched him in the jaw, dropping him to the floor like a sack of bricks.

A slight pressure alerted me of incoming, so I swayed out of the way narrowly dodging two rock shards and Tommy was already closing the distance toward me much faster than I was expecting.

In fact, he threw his first punch and I barely could keep up with it and instead of dodging it, I was forced to block it with my forearm.

He grunted and a burst of rock propelled his foot up at an incredible speed, aiming for my torso, yet I managed to lift my knee and deflect it at the last moment, with the force lifting me off the ground a few inches..

Things had been rather different to what I had expected but it was an acceptable deviation.

He took advantage of his momentum and tried to ram me off my feet with an elbow but I jumped and kicked back, away from him, catching a glimpse behind him that Gilo was crawling over to Fedro.

When I landed he was reaching down into the ground and pulling up rocks that solidified covering his fists and forearms like armour.

The extra weight didn't seem to slow him down as he swung incredibly quick haymakers, which had so much force behind them they pushed me side to side as I blocked but couldn't absorb the full impact.

Tommy kept driving me back and I couldn't find a single opening to retaliate in-between his hard hitting swings; it was a good thing I hadn't disengaged the config:Exo shields, else my arms or organs would have been turned into mush filled sacks.

In my peripheral vision, I could see Gilo shaking Fedro, trying to get him awake, and a voice in my head told me if they got back up now it would all be over for me. I could eliminate one or two but the third would mortally wound me before I could regenerate.

So after another few metres of being pushed back, I waited to block the next big swing and immediately disengaged my shields, and hopped back, avoiding the follow up swing and to give myself the precious second I needed to get just enough energy to execute my last move.

In the span of a single moment, Tommy's swing was dodged, and I shot forward and slammed a surge fist into his chest, stunning him, then grabbing under his arm, I dragged him like a rag doll forwards toward Gilo and Fedro.

We reached them in a half dozen strides. I glanced at Gilo's face and for the first time since I met him, I saw unbridled fear.

Tommy was heaved overhead bodily onto him, and all three became a pile of arms and legs.

I'd already placed an anchor a few metres away and I was already standing at the right distance to deal lethal damage.

"NO WAI-" Gilo yelped out but it fell on deaf ears connected to a hollow mind.

I Slipfolded. And another piece of my humanity broke apart and faded into the void, screaming and crying. How much remained? Fuck knows.

Paradise.

Was all I could think, as I stared down blankly at the blood, the bone, the offal and the half missing face of Tommy’s mutilated face and skull, his remaining eye wide and glazed over, staring up at me.

The crowd went berserk as the horn blared out, signalling another end to another day.

Another glorious day in paradise.

…

..

.