‘Why won't anyone help me?’318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡATQk7qmVr7
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgoiuZRteGz
The thought crashed through Cel's mind as consciousness dragged him back to a world of agony. His body convulsed against cold stone, a broken sob tore from his throat. Everything hurt - his ribs, his face, his back where fingernails had carved away divine flesh like his father was peeling bark from a tree.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHKYpAsO9ox
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXPe0FjSlyF
‘Mom…’318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxzwboe0EIU
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyrWzmWjOOs
She'd just stood there. Watched him bleed. Let it happen.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ87jVeDzXd
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHprwYAqrkJ
"No, no, no..." The words spilled out in a broken whisper as he curled tighter against the floor. His hands shook violently as they pressed against his mouth, trying to hold back the sounds that wanted to escape. Screams. More sobs. Anything to release the pressure building in his chest like a dam about to burst.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ286Hbl2Q7A
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBOvClyJVfF
Iron bars swam in and out of focus through his tears. A cell. They'd thrown him in a cell like some wild beast. The stench of rot and waste made his stomach heave, but there was nothing left to vomit.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCXEGd2qhHB
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmH0QnaET1D
'This isn't real.' The thought came sudden and desperate. 'This is a nightmare. I'll wake up, Father will apologize, Mom will hold me and—'318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKXo5T2lCj8
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeLegKzRwhM
But the pain was too sharp, too constant. The stone too cold against his burning skin.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdZ0MnwAVJ4
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYsZPOKtzRA
'They'll come for me,' he told himself, rocking back and forth on the filthy stone. 'Father was just angry. Mom will convince him. She has to. She's my mother, she loves me, she—'318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTaAQOmuPY2
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3JkXxpgCXI
The memory crashed back unbidden: His mother - who'd held him when he had nightmares, who'd sung lullabies in her ocean-blessed voice - had watched her husband nearly kill their son and done nothing. Darian, who used to sneak him sweets from the kitchen when they were younger, didn’t intervene either. Even little Lyra…318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUwnxeOuvFj
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfbPmTkz97j
‘She cried,’ some desperate part of his mind whispered. ‘At least she cried for me...’318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡejcY8RuLaS
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVPMW4uUXMX
But crying wasn't enough. Tears didn't stop fists. Didn't heal torn flesh. Didn't make him worth saving.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJL4jTop4GI
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ89qmRIIwFW
‘Fifteen years...’318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeYSsBLOa3b
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6NjOB4Em2X
Fifteen years he'd tried to be good enough. Tried to make them proud. Tried to earn even a scrap of his father's approval. And the very moment he thought he'd finally succeeded…318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj9II7n57B0
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUBU7zXmjeG
Cel's fingernails clawed at the stone beneath him, leaving bloody scratches as his body shook with grief. The Moon Goddess had chosen him. He was blessed by divinity itself, and yet his father had beaten him unconscious for it.
'Why?' The question burned in his chest, over and over. 'Why wasn't it enough? Why was I never enough?'318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwPxAinep0R
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYgkdLFaHKw
But even as he asked it, a part of him already knew the answer. Nothing would have ever been enough. Not for his father. Not for any of them. 318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTDmb66r67o
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWOvNKj8K2g
The realization seared through his veins like molten metal. Fresh tears burned tracks down his swollen cheeks as reality crashed over him again and again like waves against a drowning man.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrLPBOiW9iA
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcbUlxKgk6f
A whimper echoed from across the narrow corridor, so quiet he almost missed it through his own ragged breathing. Cel lifted his head, vision blurry with tears and pain. He saw another cell. Inside, a small form huddled against the wall - a child even younger than himself, wrapped in filthy rags.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhn3TRa5Uh4
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnEpz9nitog
The sight hit him like another blow. This boy was suffering too. Abandoned too. And Cel couldn't even help himself, let alone anyone else.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzYIEVHiFp7
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ66y3BSyvCW
"I'm sorry…," he whispered to the motionless child. For being weak. For being useless. For being exactly what his father said he was.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk0QtfLkymp
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3i8pFhHWXv
Footsteps echoed from somewhere above - slow and deliberate, growing closer. Cel's entire body flinched against the stone, panic flooding his veins. His father. It had to be his father, coming to finish what he'd started. To carve away more of the mark, or maybe just end it entirely.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRgpss3WzLL
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9AUNmqwNaR
‘Please…,’ he thought desperately, pressing himself against the back wall as light flickered down the corridor. ‘Please, I'll be better. I'll try harder. I'll—’318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrjxyJ77OFB
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh4Gb9PnhFZ
Even now, even after everything, a part of him still wanted to beg for forgiveness. Still believed he could somehow earn their love back if he just tried hard enough.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ90rduFlPSB
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPgQyLvbe8d
But the figure that emerged from the shadows wasn't Lord Aldric of House Solmar.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgvUEYVoLPb
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU4sp0TdtEm
A stranger in deep purple robes stood before his cell, face hidden behind a smooth black mask that reflected the lantern light like a void. The man said nothing at first, simply watched through empty eye holes as Cel shook, bled and tried not to fall apart completely.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvEiGCYC8CN
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEEjd9yBhDD
Then he spoke with a sickening cheerful voice.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9gZKsQ1srh
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0fS00SLLCX
"Ah, you're finally awake, little failure."318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAKLVMfn0V4
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuXkNRVwaoP
The word hit like a physical blow. Cel's body jerked against the wall, every muscle tensing. 'Failure failure failure' - the word crashed through his skull, tangling with his father's voice, with every whispered insult he'd ever endured..318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKWUsq3IWkW
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdNPOBIKWKv
"Not so talkative, are we?" The masked figure's head tilted. "Well, that's understandable. Betrayal does tend to leave one speechless."318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKet0Y3Fbdn
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtgdnj3tSJv
"My father—" Cel started, voice cracking. Some desperate part of him still clinging to the hope that this was all a misunderstanding. That his family would come. That they'd realize their mistake and—318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTSnFwn2qGy
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbAASDDR5bi
"Oh, your dear father?" The masked figure paused, savoring the moment. "He's the one who delivered you to us personally. Quite eager to be rid of his shame, from what I understand."318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8MoFbVy60v
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEhQ3fvs7QB
"You're lying!" His voice cracked on the shout, nearly breaking. But even as the echo died in the cell, he could feel the truth settling like lead in his chest.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ40Q0aeCOQS
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3sMjoahwNN
"Ah, you poor thing. But fear not. I'm a kind person. I'll explain your situation. Or... perhaps you'd rather not know? Ignorance is bliss, after all."318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcZnLucaM9l
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxj0g35OsRx
Cel flinched with each sound, pressing himself deeper into the corner. But the need to understand, to make sense of this nightmare, overwhelmed even his terror.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡejW1E8iyDk
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYUipbv1ebZ
"Tell me." The words ripped from somewhere desperate inside him.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUz7ywAt44z
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx2pKcyhvYz
"Really? Well, I hope you're ready for a shock." The masked figure paused, clearly relishing the moment. "You're now in the possession of the Children of the Voidmother, the greatest cult in the world!"318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ7kFU4kaH3
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ8nmR53xBy
'Children of the... what? Voidmother?'318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk15RjR2UaV
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWyT7ISBfcP
The word ‘cult’ cut through his confusion with terrible clarity. His father had sold him to a cult. Not just abandoned him - deliberately handed him over to these robed fanatics.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsdG1UZ1nHF
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm9a2HiehvJ
"And you have the honor of assisting us in our most important experiments."318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8mjQ3YaVT4
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVoeOB8F5zY
The words slammed into his consciousness. He wasn't a prisoner, he was a specimen - something to be dissected and studied like the child across the hall, another broken test subject in this nightmare. His stomach lurched violently, and he doubled over as bile scorched his throat.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLhSPyguh6g
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKDly4wrByr
'No no no, they're going to—'318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI4V3zpu4bg
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡioVTlNzFfi
"No need to be frightened." The voice kept going, cheerful and horrible. "I know you were seen as a disgrace by others, but to us, you're invaluable. Your divine blood is quite rare, you see. Even from such a... disappointment."318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ5reZDa8th
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzfYVEnjETY
'Divine blood? They want my blood because of the mark. Even though father tried to tear it away, the blessing runs deeper than skin.'318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbHLwuZH5J0
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXQWNhubuMz
His father hadn't just abandoned him in rage - this had been planned. Calculated. His divine blessing wasn't a shame to be hidden, it was a commodity to be sold.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ8AnlJ4PY0
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1YU5GqDHeM
"That's enough for now." The masked figure straightened, reaching into his robes. "Here's your meal, little failure."318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTUOr8gmxJp
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ38xf1vov4T
Something wet and putrid struck the cell floor with a sickening splat. The stench hit immediately - rot and decay so thick Cel could taste it. His stomach heaved, but there was nothing left to bring up except acid that burned his throat.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6w2AoF7b9h
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm74Qc5TbAe
As the lantern light retreated up the corridor, Cel forced himself to look at what had been thrown to him. In the dying glow, he could make out a chunk of meat so far gone it was more mold than flesh, crawling with things that moved in the darkness.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtfP4VMeoSP
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrbcqIPkB7n
The footsteps faded to nothing, leaving him alone with the stench and the soft whimpering from across the corridor.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe6P6G7rAaa
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV145ArJjCF
From this day on, the cell became everything. Stone walls, iron bars, the constant drip of water somewhere in the darkness. Cel's wounds festered without treatment, angry red lines spreading from where his father's fingernails had carved away divine flesh. 318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWyG0DaXpAd
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOPJxgZEB4F
What remained was worse than the wound - a grotesque crater of scar tissue where the Moon Goddess's blessing had once shone.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ77C6DPfjeo
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBkG4HGHhtE
Hunger clawed at his belly like a living thing. For three days, he stared at the rotting meat, his mind fracturing between desperate hope and dawning horror. 'They'll come,' he told himself even as the stench made him gag. 'Mom will realize what happened and she'll come for me and—'318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMKBKeonCWK
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbi7rCEtz02
On the fourth day, his hands shook so badly he could barely lift his head. The hunger was eating him from the inside, his body beginning to consume itself. Still, a part of him waited. Listened for familiar footsteps. For his mother's voice calling his name.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡntvzoMaKMP
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZHggcAvmyh
On the fifth day, he crawled to the putrid scrap and took his first bite.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf3I5j3GYZT
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKFmJUqKor4
His body convulsed, rejecting the poison. Bile and blood splattered the cell floor as he retched until nothing remained in his stomach but agony. But even as he vomited, tears streaming down his face, he understood what this meant.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ05M6A1du7b
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyVd8syFeyN
'No one is coming.'318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx5tfyfGGPM
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO8kDAjA810
The next meal, he managed two bites before the sickness took him. Then three. Then four.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1uDDXh2TDz
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY5YAN3dKiH
Slowly, horribly, his body learned to accept what wasn't food. His sense of taste died first - a mercy perhaps. Then his stomach stopped fighting so hard. Within weeks, he could choke down entire portions without vomiting, though every meal felt like swallowing death itself.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjMaMsFTrIj
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYExqcKfk1d
They came for him on the seventh day - multiple figures in deep purple robes moving with practiced efficiency. One held his arms while another pressed a curved blade against the veins in his wrist, drawing blood in steady, measured cuts.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLp2A2eJl6G
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn5fHgq9iIX
"Please," Cel whispered as the blade bit deep. "I won't tell anyone. I'll do whatever you want. Just... please don't hurt me."318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvSEZ4SOcX8
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgCVy2hZMiP
No one answered. They finished their work in silence and left him collapsed on the stone floor, watching his own blood disappear into the darkness.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLmYsHrmnU5
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp70taOfA0r
Days bled into weeks. The routine ground him down like a millstone - rotten food, blood letting, endless hours staring at damp walls while his mind slowly fractured. His only companion was the boy across the corridor, a child even smaller than himself with hollow eyes and arms covered in fresh cuts that never quite healed.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYD3vatqDbd
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3yaV25wspQ
"Ren," the boy whispered one night when the purple robes were gone. His voice was barely audible, but in the perfect silence of their prison, it carried like a shout.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4fl2mgWHHC
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTQI6UHVqmr
"Celvian," he whispered back, the first time he'd spoken his own name in weeks.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjfpS9IcNZ1
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxsOzdfGwrq
They never said much - words felt dangerous here, as if speaking too loudly might draw attention they couldn't afford. But knowing someone else breathed in this place, someone else suffered, made the darkness a fraction less absolute.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgo9RCZeYZM
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWEctW7oK1q
Until the morning Ren didn't return from his experiment.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC1dyOHDCeL
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmwEdaf743S
Cel pressed his face against the bars, straining to see into the empty cell across the way. "Ren?" His voice echoed off stone walls. "Ren!"318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnOhBfJnst2
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzjUt91E5o6
Silence.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyJMC68XNHt
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7rFXSIKn3s
The boy's thin blanket still lay crumpled where he'd left it. A crust of bread sat untouched near the cell door. But Ren was gone, as if he'd never existed at all.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGh4eH8c9Je
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT9qVOKuIoQ
That night, alone in the complete darkness, something fundamental cracked inside Cel's chest. Not broke - that had happened long ago. This was the sound of the last piece of his old self finally giving way. The last ember of hope that someone, somewhere, still cared whether he lived or died.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK2pu7Z46OX
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr5waPqGTqq
The rage that followed wasn't clean or pure. It was jagged and desperate, born from weeks of betrayal, abandonment, and helpless fury. It started as a whisper in the back of his mind during the endless hours between experiments.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRTsyK2AQpL
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOhfBCIy61i
'I hate them.'318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBZXi8MztcI
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDVVP0vKHaB
Their faces burned behind his eyelids: his father's disgust, his mother's frozen stillness, Darian’s regretful look, little Lyra’s sobbing. Each memory carved itself deeper into his mind, playing over and over until they became scars on his thoughts.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAsbYrKNYPS
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ95z1vCeiyu
Sleep brought no escape either - only nightmares that played on endless repeat. Sometimes he relived that morning in the dining hall, his father's fists connecting with his flesh while his mother stood frozen, his brother watching and his sister sobbing. Other nights, he was back on the stone table as masked figures opened his veins, their blades cutting deeper and deeper until he woke screaming.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgTzjsvoAyE
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkaJoW7MYNO
But the worst dreams were the ones where his family came to rescue him, where his mother held him and whispered apologies, where his father said he was proud - only for Cel to wake in the stinking darkness and remember that no one was coming. Each false hope burned away another piece of the love he'd once felt, leaving only raw hatred in its place.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhL4RelObLM
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFgrbfxJ0qD
With each blade that opened his skin, with every drop of blood they stole, with every piece of rotting meat he forced down his throat, the hatred grew. It filled the hollow spaces where love and hope had once lived, burning steady and sure. Without it, he would have simply ceased to exist, becoming nothing at all.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwMHxweRPCh
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi1Wy1uiDZW
The hatred became his anchor. His reason to endure another day, another experiment, another nightmare. It whispered promises in the darkness: that he would survive this, that he would become strong, that someday they would all pay for what they'd done to him.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQoUMeXm6ES
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhgYQFX2mn2
It was the only thing keeping him sane.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYeqFmgE0Me
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwg16sY9XUt
One day - he'd lost count of how many - the masked figures came as always. But as Cel crawled toward the putrid scrap of meat, something felt different. Underneath the familiar stench of rot was something else - a faint, sweet smell that didn't belong.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpEG65rCHmO
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdThRl7E0Ry
His stomach cramped with hunger, overriding any caution. He took his first bite, the familiar nothingness filling his mouth.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBj3YjEqTFu
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNNpdEotGxm
By the time he finished, his vision began to blur. A spreading warmth flowed through his veins like liquid fire. The stone walls rippled and flowed, reality becoming fluid around him.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYIWm8vtlgA
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjwoM8lhj1q
'What did they—'318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOmFszatY8M
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1HMUXnf3B4
The thought dissolved as darkness swallowed everything - the bars, the stone, the empty cell where Ren used to be.318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjKwOYvW9uM
318Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFmH7oKM0n8
When consciousness returned, he was no longer in his cell. He found himself in an unfamiliar landscape - a place filled with ash.
and then Add to home screen.