The dark tunnel Arthur walked into immediately engulfed him, leaving him in a claustrophobic path with no exit aside from the one he came from. The atmosphere inside was humid, cold, and extremely eerie.
He could hear his steps echo around him every second, sounding almost distorted and distant. However, Arthur didn’t bother with that as he kept his focus on his path, making sure nobody was going to ambush him from ahead or behind.
At the same time, he kept his eyes on the group chat, waiting for Danny and Emmy to respond. The two hadn’t responded yet and that was starting to make Arthur worry. The others had also noticed that the two had went radio silent for no reason at all.
What made it even more confusing was the fact that their status bars didn’t seem to be decreasing, indicating that they were not fighting or engaging an enemy. So, what could be the reason they weren’t responding?
‘The two are very strong and smart, they will handle whatever they are dealing with.’ He thought to himself.
With that, he continued walking through the dark tunnel for a minute or so, growing even more flabbergasted at how long it was. He was certain he had already moved out of the building and had gone somewhere underground.
‘For how long does this tunnel stretch? What am I entering?’ Arthur started slowly feeling a very cold sensation in his heart. He knew that what he was about to see was perhaps worse than he could’ve ever imagined and he prayed silently his suspicion was wrong for once.
However, upon looking up, Arthur finally saw the end of the tunnel. A closed, metal door with a very small window at the top, barely enough for one to see through. That was when he stopped and looked behind him before he expanded his senses to feel what was beyond this door.
‘Hm, I can see two people standing near the door. Two guards.’ He thought to himself as he slowly opened his eyes, unsheathed his sword, and got ready for battle. He knew that there were perhaps far more guards inside than outside.
‘Most of them aren’t that strong so it shouldn’t be a problem to take on many of them. If anything, that’s better. I haven’t fought humans that much.’ He thought to himself as he slowly approached the door and put his hand on it.
However, almost immediately, Arthur’s eyes widened as he felt a strong electricity current run through his hand, making his muscles spasm. Quickly, he jumped back a few meters.
‘… Fuck! That door is trapped too?’ He thought to himself as he looked at him shaking his arm. He could feel strong numbness fill the entire left side of his body. However, he shook it all off as he glared at the door.
‘Fine. If that’s what you want. I can play that game.’ He spat out a mouthful of saliva before he took a few steps back. Then, he rushed forward at full speed. When he got close, he stomped down as he delivered all the momentum into his right leg and slammed it against the door.
*BOOOOOOM*
The door shook violently and was immediately blasted back with immense force. Then, Arthur rushed inside without any hesitation, jumping in as if he was about to play. The two guards had already sensed his presence and got into position.
However, upon seeing the door get blasted, they were shocked beyond words.
Landing inside, Arthur dashed to the side and stabbed with his sword, aiming for the man’s neck. He didn’t let them have a moment to even regain their composure.
“AGH!”
The man tried to step back instinctively, only for the sword to end up getting lodged into his chest.
“YOU BASTARD!!” The other man tried to ambush the boy, only to feel something penetrate his neck from behind as blood exploded everywhere. Before he could even understand what killed him, he fell to the ground, dead.
“Never turn your back away. An arrow might rip your throat apart.” Arthur winked as he pulled his sword out of the other man and looked around him.
[Ding!]
[You have killed 2 level 12…]
‘Only level 12? They’re so weak. It’s not even worth it absorbing their blood.’ Arthur clicked his tongue as he kicked one of them out of the way. In reality, Arthur felt so disgusted with these scumbags that he didn’t even want anything to do with their blood even if they were strong.
‘They can keep that disgusting blood to themselves.’ He thought to himself as he looked around him.
“Now… What the hell is this place…?” He muttered as he stared around him. The place he found himself in was quite large, almost way larger than he expected. The room stretched for at least 100 meters or so with walls made out of thick stone.
On the other side of the room was a large door that led somewhere unknown. However, what caught Arthur’s attention was the numerous iron doors on his left and right. The way they looked, rusty and old, and they way they were organized immediately struck Arthur as something very familiar.
‘Prison cells…’ His eyes squinted.
Dozens and dozens of these cells were built in this place and Arthur didn’t know how to react to that. ‘So it wasn’t only Sora after all… These bastards… What kind of shady business are they conducting?’
The realization that this Red Pearl butcher shop was simply a facade for the horrible things these people were conducting in the shadows made Arthur almost want to puke. Then, he slowly started walking, approaching one of the random cells and staring inside.
The place was very dim so he had to activate Wretched Crawler’s Eye to see. It didn’t take Arthur long for him to regret that very simple decision he took as what he saw inside that cell shook him to his core.
Inside, Arthur saw dozens of people, lying on the ground on top of each other in a cramped, dark space. None of them were moving as if they were dead with bloody injuries all over their bodies. Flies flew over their heads, eating at their wounds very slowly and agonizingly.
“…” Arthur froze in his place as he watched the scene, unable to formulate any words at all. He smelt the horrid stench of blood and rotten flesh.
“S-Save… Us…”
At that moment, one of the people inside sensed his presence and slowly looked up at him. The moment Arthur’s eyes locked on the man’s eyes, he could only shudder to the core. That stare, in the darkness, was simply pure horror.
It was the stare of a dead person, someone who had seen things worse than hell. There was no light in those eyes, only death and agony.
Slowly, Arthur stepped back from the cell as he looked to the side, his heart racing a little. Then, he quickly rushed to the second cell, and there, much to his dismay, there were even more people stacked up like piles of trash inside the small, dark cells. None of them looked in good shape or even remotely decent shape. Their injuries appeared in various forms, all from different methods of torture.
‘What the hell is this… What the hell is this?!’
Arthur didn’t know how long these people were inside these cells, in complete darkness, treated like lesser beings, lesser than even animals.
This was not a prison, this was a torture chamber. Moving to the third, then fourth, cells, Arthur tried to focus on searching for his friends amongst the countless prisoners.
“Sora! Finlay! Serko! Where are you? Can you hear me?!”
Upon yelling their names, Arthur’s voice seemingly woke up the dead prisoners. Then, slowly, he started hearing knocks on the iron gates as the groans and cries of these agonized souls filled the entire prison.
“Water…”
“Please…”
“Light… I’m dying…”
The sounds completely tore Arthur’s heart apart as he stood in the middle of this room, staring around him at the scene.
“Save us…”
“Open the door… I will not…”
“Kill me… It hurts… Mom…”
“…”
With a horrified look on his face, Arthur stood there, trying to take in this sight. These people, begging him for help, water, and freedom. Even though they had been here for god knows how long, they still hadn’t lost hope yet.
It didn’t make sense… It made no sense to Arthur at all. How can a human do something like this to a fellow human or any other sane creature for that matter?
‘Why…?’
Was it really the difference that made this acceptable? Was it ego? Jealousy? Perhaps a mix of everything?
But, in a moment, Arthur shook those thoughts away. The reason never mattered in the first place. It didn’t matter if it was for any of these reasons, the fact someone can do such things to others… It baffled him.
That was the very first instance where Arthur saw how truly ugly this side of humanity was. An ugly side he heard about a few times before, only for it to manifest in its ugliest forms right in front of his eyes.
The utopian image of the capital finally burst into pieces.
A//N: Don’t forget to give the book some golden tickets for good luck! :3