Chapter 1 - The Binding of Yumiko

It took me more than a few seconds to register that I was awake.

"Wha…?" I slurred blearily. My head felt like the illicit lovechild of a cement mixer and a trash compactor, especially the back. What did I drink last night? Where the hell was I, and what was that smell?

I let out a long groan and opened my eyes to see… nothing. Wait, my eyes have been open this whole time?

Okay, the lights are off. No big deal. I shook my head a bit to clear out the cobwebs. Alright, focus. Where am I?

I'm sitting on - actually in - something. A sofa. No, an armchair. Leather. I didn't own an armchair, so this wasn't my apartment. Neither did Hikari. Or Yui. Actually, come to think of it, I didn't know anyone that had one. Weird. Whatever.

I reached around for my handbag, or at least tried to. I couldn't move my arm.

I felt my eyes widen and my heart rate elevate. I couldn't move the rest of my body either. Sleep paralysis? No, I can move my head just fine. Then I felt them; rough velcro, loose but somehow still constricting, across my arms, legs, waist and chest. I was strapped into the chair.

Confusion slowly gave way to dread as I felt my heart sink. Why was I being restrained? I began to struggle.

"No no no, this isn't happening. This can't be happening." I vocalised as the fear really began to take hold. I could feel that the restraints were far beyond my ability to break, but my frantic attempts to do so where nigh involuntary at this point. Every horror story I'd ever heard, every scary movie I'd ever watched, crashed their way to the forefront of my mind. I was going to be tortured and killed. I'd been kidnapped by human traffickers. I was a human test subject.

Panic had started to set in.

"Hello?!" I cried out, turning my head left and right, "Is there anyone there?! I'm stuck and I can't get loose!" I glanced about in a vain attempt to peer through the blackness. It wrapped around me like a sheet. I couldn't even see my own body. "Please! I- "

"Aaaaany second now" interrupted a voice, seemingly from directly in front of me, less than 10 feet away.

My breath caught in my throat. Someone had been there, the whole time. Watching as I panicked. The person sounded male. Who was he? Was that excitement in his voice?

I redoubled my efforts to free myself. It was most likely the person that strapped me in. A serial killer. It was a serial killer.

Tears began to flow freely now, "P-please. Please don't- d-don't kill me." I sobbed, my voice little more than an incoherent babble, "Oh God I-I don't. Oh God!"

Why me? Why did this have to happen to me? Images to flash unsolicited through my mind; my parents, my apartment, Hikari and Yui. Nobuo. Places I'd rather be. People I'd rather be with. Anywhere but here.

"Waaait for it" the voice continued, apparently indifferent to my distress, "Aaaaand… now!"

A loud thud echoed through the darkness from my right, eliciting a cry of surprise from me. I instinctively turned my head towards the sound, and was greeted by loud, desperate coughs amidst sounds of rustling. Several seconds passed, and the rustling gradually subsided, followed quickly by the coughs. Moments later, the room was silent, save my sobs and shuddering breaths. Who was this new person? Another captive most likely - the rustling was must have been them struggling against their bonds. Fear and indecision paralyzed me. Should I say something? What if I become the first victim?

After what seemed like an eternity, my fellow captive spoke.

"Pitch black huh" they said - a man - in a deep drawl, far too calm given our predicament, "Ugh… I hoped I wouldn't end up here…"

What? Did he know where we were? Did he know who the killer was? Why I was targeted? A million questions raced through my mind, and it was only when the man spoke again that I realised I hadn't actually said anything.

"Uh, is it always like this here?" he asked, coughing lightly once more, "Can you hear me?"

Was he talking to me?

"I- " I began, still not quite in control of myself, "Th-there's- he's- Oh God."

"Hey, are you alright?" he inquired.

To my horror, our captor spoke again, "Oh she's fine. You both are. Relatively. Here, let me get the lights."

A second later, a snap could be heard in the killer's direction. White light penetrated my vision unimpeded as I squinted in discomfort. After taking a moment to blink the spots away, my eyes adjusted I beheld our detainer.

He was tall and seemingly in his late twenties. A dark haired man in a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up and purple - violet rather - slacks. He was leaning back into his leather executive chair, legs crossed and fingers in a steeple in front of his face. Gold-rimmed wire frame glasses sat perched in front of eyes that seemed an impossibly bright yellow. He was smirking.

"Hello" he greeted, with all the grandiosity of a primetime game show host, "and welcome - my good man, my fair lady - to Terminus." He finished with slight incline of the head.

I looked to my right in an attempt to identify the other man, only to be met with darkness. Confused, I turned back to the smiling killer. It was a floodlight. I couldn't see anything outside of a 5 foot radius of him.

"Terminus. Fitting, I guess." came the response from my right.

The killer looked in his direction, "Isn't it though? It's not very clever or deep or anything but, well, it rolls off the tongue."

By now, enough time had passed that I had grown a little bit of my spine back.

"Where are we, and who the hell are you?" I spat, voice higher than I would have liked.

His gaze shifted to me and though I was still in complete darkness, he seemed to make eye contact, "Firstly, erm, Terminus" he answered, an eyebrow raised, "Could have sworn I just said that." He rocked his chair few couple of times, "As for who I am, it's certainly not "the killer", thank you very much. I certainly didn't kill you."

I almost recoiled, before calming down. He didn't read my mind; it's only natural that someone in my position would think that. The not-killer took off his glasses.

"You, mademoiselle, may refer to me as…" he trailed off.

The man slowly reached into his shirt pocket, extracting a microfiber cloth which he began to clean his glasses with. Seconds passed as he carefully attended to his task.

Who was he? The revealing of his identity would most likely in turn reveal his purpose with us. Yakuza? A hired killer? Anxiety welled up in my stomach but I managed to shove it down. This was the moment of truth.

Finally, he donned his eyewear once more and reestablished eye contact. I could feel my heart nearly thundering out of my chest. His gaze seemed to burrow deep into my very soul, though I kept mine in place despite it. A few moments passed. He hadn't said anything yet.

I heard a faint dripping sound from the other guy's direction. More time passed as my trepidation slowly gave way to confusion.

"Well?" I blurted out.

The man blinked, "I'm thinking."

What?

"Hah?" I let out, "What the hell does that mean? What's your name?!"

"I said I'm thinking" he replied, "About what I should call myself, that is. I would have thought that was implied." To my shock, he rolled his eyes and looked in the direction of the room's other occupant, "Women, am I right?"

What?

Bewilderment and outrage warred for prominence within me at the man's frivolous demeanor, rendering me temporarily speechless. The other guy hadn't answered, so I assumed he felt similarly. Was this some sort of joke to him or something?

Hang on…

"Is this a fucking prank?!" I yelled, anger winning out eventually. The gears were already turning in my head; this was an act. This joker here was hired to pull of some elaborate performance - to scare or piss me off. That had to be it. The latter seemed to be more likely though - looking at him again, this guy was about as threatening as an upside-down turtle.

"Who put you up to this?" I continued, once more trying to free myself, "It was Haruki right?! This settles it; that old bat is a lunatic. I'm going to kill-"

"No!" he laughed, cutting me off. "It's not- haha…" He was having trouble controlling his mirth. "It's not a prank." He finished off his chuckles and shot me an apologetic look. Readjusting his spectacles, he continued on:

"No, unfortunately for you, this is real. Like, really real." His eyes widened with glee and he wriggled his fingers, "Technically, more real than anything you've ever experienced." He gave a smirk and waved his hand dismissively, "You'll get it in a second."

Ah. I see now. Haruki-oba-san wasn't crazy…

"Anyway" he continued, "I've had my fun. I'll explain everything now." He quickly leapt off his chair, the force sending it rolling backwards into the the darkness.

"I am Kielzad." he announced with an elaborate bow, "And you…"

...the crazy one…

He looked up and pointed in our general direction, "...are both dead."

...was this guy.

A pregnant silence settled into the room. The schizophrenic once more adjusted his glasses and levelled us with an expectant looks.

"That's it?" he complained, standing up straight, "Damn, tough crowd." More silence, "Well don't just sit there, ask questions! Don't you want to know more?"

"Erm" I began, shifting uncomfortably, "Do you own a magic ring-ring glass?" I tried to pantomime a phone call but, again, strapped to a chair, "If you bring me one, I'll grant you 3 wishes. Pinky swear."

The man stared at me, unimpressed, "Okay first of all; rude. I'm not crazy. Second, I know what a phone is. Third, it's a little bit late for that. I mean, you are literally in the judgement seat." He turned to the room's third occupant, "Help me out here? Tell her I'm not crazy."

A moment passed. I turned to look into the darkness as the hidden man started to speak, "I'm not certain as to the state of your sanity - you aren't really making a good case for yourself though... " he cleared his throat, "Though I can say that yes, personally speaking, I am more than likely, pretty much almost certainly, dead. The chances of my surviving… what just happened, are astronomically low." He paused for a second, then continued, "having said that, I suppose if I somehow did survive, this could be some sort of coma-induced lucid dream, which would mean that neither of you actually exist. Do with that what you will."

The calm, composed speech in contrast to Kielzad's (stupid, obviously fake name by the way) flippant parlance lent credibility to his words (besides that last part, obviously), and fear touched my heart despite myself once again, "That doesn't prove anything" I retorted hastily. I began to wrack my brain for what I was doing before I woke up here, "How do I know you're not just his accomplice or… or, some sort of…"

"Why is this even a thing?" Kielzad butted in impatiently, "It actually should have been pretty obvious from the beginning. What was the last thing you remember?"

I thought back to last night. I was at home. TV in the living room was on and I was partaking in a bit of drink. I heard the front door open and Hikari announcing her entrance - we were going to have a talk about recent… events. The room was pretty stuffy so I went to open the screen door on the balcony. My apartment was on the 24th floor. I had been drinking. I heard a click. My memory ended here.

Realization - along with nausea - crashed through me like a wrecking ball. My eyes unfocused as my mind ran a mile a minute. This couldn't be happening. It couldn't be.

"Bingo" the bespectacled man said, nodding his head, "Again, it sucks but, well, it is what it is. I'll tell you what though, I saw..."

Kielzad's voice droned on the background; I wasn't listening. I was dead? Already? Everything I had ever done. My life, my career, my relationships. Every hardship I had ever gone through - was it really all for nothing? How could I be dead?

"So. what happens now?" the other captive - well, I guess soul or ghost would be more appropriate - asked. The question jumped out at me and I refocused back on Kielzad.

"What happens indeed", he answered, running his hand through his hair. Somehow, his chair rolled itself out back out of the dark and he plopped back on it, "Well, I'm going to give you both a choice-"

"Speaking of which" the other man interrupted, ""both?" Care to introduce us?"

Kielzad looked in his direction, then smacked his own forehead, "Oh right! Can't believe I forgot that!" He laughed a little too loudly and then continued, "It's actually a funny story, I don't usually do this, but it was just such a crazy coincidence that I thought, "why not"?"

He crossed his legs again and clapped, "You both died at literally the same time."

"Lots of people die every day" the other guy replied, "is it really that special?"

Kielzad gestured waved his right hand, "No, but the thing is, you're actually pretty well acquainted already, and your death's had nothing to do with each other's" He shrugged, "I dunno; I thought it was weird and just decided to bring you both up at the same time." He wiggled in his seat, "Shake things up, you know?"

"I know you?" I asked into the blackness. A small part of my mind was amazed that I was able to even engage, given that I had just found out that my life had ended. Guess the enormity of the situation hadn't really sunk in yet.

"Supposedly" the lazy sounding voice replied in a way that, now that I think about it, was kind of familiar. In a gross sort of way. The guy continued, "Though you're right Kielzad, that is unique, seeing as I could count the kind of people I've been acquainted with in the last couple of years on one hand. You sound a little too feminine to be my old 50-something, chainsmoking boss. So I'm guessing high school?"

The low, offputting voice. The apparent lack of any sort of a social life. High school? Wait… didn't that sound just like…

"Hikio?" I attempted, "That you?"

"Tch!" he retorted, irate, "It's Hikigaya. Even in death, I swear…"

A significant wave of relief washed over me at finding something - someone - familiar, but was swiftly undercut by the realisation that it didn't make a lick of difference. I was still dead.

"Having said that, I'm afraid I can't reciprocate" he continued, "You may know who I am, but I don't know who you are.", he paused as if considering something, "Though for some unknown reason, I can't seem to shake the image of hair bleach and Hayama photographs."

"Hah?!" I shouted reflexively at the obvious jab. That was such a long time ago! "What did you just say?!"

"Eurgh" he gurgled. I could almost see him shrink back - he always did come across as a pushover. I heard him cough twice, "It was a joke Miura." Another pause, "Good to see you, I guess."

I shook my head in disbelief, "It's good to see me? Here?!"

"Fair point" came the begrudging reply, followed by a long, annoying sigh "For what it's worth… sorry. That you died, I mean."

He's sorry? What the hell was wrong with this guy? Before I could give him a piece of my mind, the sound of Kielzad's fingers snapping redirected our attention to him. He cleared his throat, . I wasn't having it.

"Hey!" I yelled, "Can you turn on the damn lights please? The jig is already up."

The bespectacled man stared almost impassively, the silence once more too long to be conversational, before looking up at the floodlight and replying, "They're already on."

Deep breaths. Count backwards from 10. Deep breaths. Gnashing is bad for your teeth.

Kielzad recoiled with his hands up in surrender, "Fine! Just having a little fun." He coughed into his hands twice, before clapping them loudly. This time, I preemptively shut my eyes so as not to be blinded. A second passed, and I slowly began to squint about my surroundings, though it apparently wasn't necessary; the light was not very bright.

The first thing I noticed was that there was no floor. Or, at least, the floor was transparent; where it should have been, I could see a giant image of… something vaguely resembling an image of a galaxy, but very different. Taking a closer look, it was more of a... video, or window as I noticed movement.

I also noticed that there were no walls or ceiling either - it all seemed to stretch into ethereal multicolored, aurora borealis-esque nothingness. Either this was the world's most sophisticated planetarium or…

"I really am dead" I whispered. While the initial shock had worn off, if only marginally, seeing such clear confirmation was still quite jarring.

"Looks like it", came the reply from Hikio, who I now turned to look at.

He looked… different from what I remembered, though I can't say my I ever spent a lot of time looking at him. His hair was longer - though less of a different hairstyle, more of a I-couldn't-be-bothered-to-cut-it situation. His face had narrowed a bit more and he was a tad taller I think. Other than that, he seemed pretty much the same. For some reason, he was completely drenched in sweat. The transparent liquid soaked through his navy blue t-shirt and black gym shorts in a way that made him look like he had just ran a 5 mile marathon. In the desert. Gross. He scratched his head a few times before-

Wait.

"Why am I the only one strapped to my chair?!" I yelled, turning back to Kielzad.

He scratched his chin, "I don't know, will you leave your seat if I let you?"

The hell? I bucked in the chair, "I- what kind of question- maybe? I don't know, let me go!"

"Well, if you would calm down I could be persuaded to-"

"Fuck you!" I screamed back, renewing my struggles, "I'm dead aren't I? Why should I give a damn what you want?! Let me out of here!"

Kielzad leaned back in his chair, his glasses reflecting the light so his eyes weren't visible, "Why should you huh." He said in a… weird tone, "Well, how about this? What do you think happens after you die? Or, rather, who do you think decides what happens after you die?"

That stopped me in my tracks and my mind did a 180. Was I just screaming at-

"So, you're God then?" Hikio asked. I looked at him - his face was still that impassive almost-glare he'd always had.

Kielzad stretched and popped his neck, "Not quite. Here's the deal; I'm rather a… subordinate of His."

"So, an angel then." Hikio surmised.

"In a manner of speaking I suppose." Kielzad replied, before swivelling in his chair, facing away from us, "When a human dies, their spirit, their consciousness leaves their bodies and goes before God to be judged, wherin they will either be granted eternal bliss in Heaven…"

"Or go to the other place" I finished with a grimace. I forced down the growing ball of dread in my gut.

"Right" Kielzad continued, "The other place. The very very very bad place. That place."

"Huh" Hikio said, "So Christianity had it right?"

Kielzad gave a small flourish from behind his chair, "Again, not quite, or at least, not on the whole. Especially not in the last millenium. The broad strokes are pretty much correct though. Anyway, I digress; the point is, you die, you meet God, you get judged."

"Except you're not God" I interjected.

Kielzad turned back around and smiled at us, "Yup. I am not. See, sometimes, as the spirits travel from the… mortal plane, I guess, over to be judged, I kind of take note of some of the humans I like or find interesting and, y'know" he made a grabbing motion with his hand, "borrow them for a bit."

"You what?" I yelled reflexively. I bucked in my chair again and scowled at him. He plucked my soul like some sort of… what kind of person does that?! Having said that though...

The man raised his hands up in placation, "Just for a bit, at least, if that's what they want."

"What we want?" Hikio asked, "What are our options then?"

"Glad you asked!" replied Kielzad, as he slowly moved his chair further away from me, "Because you see, I'm here to give you both an offer." he raised his right hand up, "On the one hand, you can leave, go back to God, and get judged. Your lives and actions will be examined, and based on a variety of metrics that you have very limited knowledge on, your eternal, everlasting and super permanent fate will be decided."

He then slowly, dramatically raised his left hand, "Or, you stay here and get judged by me instead."

"And why the heck would we want to do that?" I spat, though I really hoped he had a better alternative. The more I thought about it, the more scared shitless I was of facing God's judgement. I wasn't exactly confident in the life I had lived.

"Because, milady" he answered, "I offer a more… dynamic result than that of our holy Master. Where He calculates your… Karma, for lack of a better term, and then metes out reward or punishment based on whether you have more or less than a static figure, I take your Karma and then put you in a world that scales to your actual number. So, you're not going to get something nearly as good as Heaven, but uh, yeah, you're not going to go the Hell either."

A wave of relief nearly drowned me as we took what he had said in. It was the better option, hands down.

"Why though?" Hikio asked.

What? What was he doing?! You don't look a gift horse in the mouth!

"A couple of reasons actually," Kielzad answered, "First, I just think it's, well, a bit more…"

'Humane?' I thought. I mean, it was kind of easy to dismiss in life, but sitting here, waiting to be judged, who the fuck deserves eternal damnation? Like, seriously?

"Fair?" Hikio suggested.

Kielzad waved it off, "Nah, nothing's actually fair, not in the slightest. Palatable, I think, would be the word."

"Frankly, I'm surprised God let you do this. Doesn't it kind of undermine His, err, method?" I said.

Kielzad chuckled, "I'm not entirely sure He knows. I know I didn't tell Him."

"Wait a second, hold on." I tilted my head, "I don't really like, know too much about Christianity or anything but isn't He supposed to be all powerful or something?"

"Maybe? I don't know."

I scowled again, "Hah?! What do you mean you don't know?!"

The angel shrugged, "To be honest, nobody really goes against what he says or even asks. The last guy who did was Lucifer and his posse and, well, you know what happened to them."

I glanced at Hikio.

"Lucifer's the devil." he explained. Oh.

"Right, the poor, oddly ambitious bastard. Anyway, He gives us - oh, 'us' being his err, angels, as you would call them by the way - a good amount of freedom and doesn't really talk to us that often. Haven't really seen him in like, a millennium or so. We're all pretty satisfied mostly."

He clapped his hands, "Moving on, time for you to make your choice."

"I choose you" I answered immediately. He pantomimed throwing a ball in my direction and I stared at him quizzically. He stared back expectantly and I looked again to Hikio but found him shaking his head in... exasperation? The hell was this?

Kielzad cleared his throat, "Really tough crowd. Anyway, how about you my good man?"

"Same." Hikio replied, sighing briefly "Not exactly a saint either."

"Great. Let's get this show on the road." The angel snapped his fingers and a… tablet materialized in his hands, "Linux" he nodded smugly before starting to read whatever was on it, "Alrighty then, let's take a look. We'll start with you Hachiman."

"Why him?" I asked a little indignantly. Now that I had a better option than the fires of Hell, the anxiety of waiting had started to set in. I like to get things over with as soon as I can if possible.

"Rela~x" he soothed, "it'll only be a minute. Rest assured, you'll get what's coming to you."

My heart skipped a beat. What? What did that mean?

"Hikigaya Hachiman" he began, "Age 21. For all your apparent lack of sainthood, this is actually pretty good! Lots of instances of self-sacrifice, personal responsibility, relative fairness. Surprising amount of forgiveness. Donated a kidney and your lungs?" Kielzad whistled, "Hell, I'd probably have taken my chances with God if I were you."

"Wonderful" Hikio deadpanned.

"Alright, here's what your Karma can get you" he started to tap on the tablet, "I'm thinking… tropical paradise, magic abilities, fast rate of technological advancement, no diseases, and hey, let's throw in a harem of hot maids in there!"

Ugh. Pig.

Still though, that was actually pretty great. It wasn't even my turn yet and I was already getting a little excited.

Hikio, in his first actual display of emotion thus far, sat up straight in his seat and gawked, "...Seriously?"

"You've earned it buddy." Kielzad assured him, "You'll barely be able to feel pain, and if you somehow manage to get yourself killed, you'll just respawn somewhere safe. Bah, I don't need to explain much, you'll figure it out."

"Oh. Wow that's…" Hikio attempted, seemingly at a loss for words, "Thanks, I guess."

"No need to thank me. Again, it's all you. To be honest, it's not even that great; on a scale of 1-10, it's about a six, six point five. Now then." The angel turned to me and my heart rate began to skyrocket; this was it, "Onto you, Yumiko."

I quietly waited with baited breath for the response. Kielzad scrolled through the document on his tablet letting out nondescript 'hmm's' at intervals. My heart was thundered within my chest; I wish he would just get it over with.

He frowned and the feeling of dread came back full force. That wasn't a good sign.

"Not gonna lie, this is isn't great" the man intoned. My heart to fall like a stone.

No.

"Ruined your boss's marriage, slept with your best friends fiance-"

No, that wasn't-

"-irectly responsible for your coworker's suicide, rampant acts of bullying all throughout your schoo-"

"N-no wait you- you don't understan-"

A gag materialized in front of me and buried itself into my mouth. "Zip it", Kielzad continued, something dark entering his voice, "Where was I? Right, tricked three women into getting fired from their jobs, one of whom's ailing mother died due to that by the way-"

I didn't want to hear this. Why couldn't he understand? Those weren't my fault! I screamed into the gag.

"Alright, you know what?", the angel snapped, "I'll just summarise: you've done more harm than good, to put it lightly. Most people don't like you, and unfortunately for you, I'm one of them. So, without further ado, here's where you'll be spending the rest of eternity."

Nononononononononono this was NOT happening. I felt my body break into a cold sweat as I thrashed against my restraints. This couldn't be happening. It wasn't fair! I yelled into the gag again.

"Hmm, desert planet. Barely any water, cannibals and marauders, lots and lots of rape and murder. Think Mad Max but with no cars. Doubled pain threshold. No natural resources so no real civilisation any time soon. Terminal diseases literally everywhere." The man casually adjusted his spectacles, "All in all, preeeeetty shitty. Oh! You can't go insane either, almost forgot about that."

My eyes widened in despair. I tried to wriggle my hands to take of my gag; if I could just explain-

"That is really annoying" Kielzad stretched a hand out in front of him, and the air shimmered as some sort of translucent barrier formed in a cube around me. All at once, sound outside the barrier ceased and I could only hear my own shuddering breaths and hammering heartbeat.

He had cut me off.

'This is it" I thought hollowly. Despite myself, the tears started to flow; I couldn't help it. This isn't what I wanted. It wasn't fair. Sure, I made some bad decisions, but this? Forever? I was only 21! As I started to count of the thousands, millions and billions of years I would have to spend in that place, tears started to flow even more. I looked up and about frantically. I had to beg. I had to convince him that there had to be another way. Anything but this!

I looked outside the barrier and found Kielzad and Hikio engaged in conversation, I couldn't tell what the exact nature of it due to that goddamn poker face he always had. I wiped my eyes on my shoulder to clear my vision. Upon closer inspection - Hikio's slightly more animated hand movements, mostly - could it be… argument? In spite of the situation, I couldn't help the small burgeoning hope than sprang up in my chest. Was he making a case for me?

They talked for a couple more minutes, after I had long since given up on reading their lips. Suddenly, Hikio gestured to me, and they both turned to my direction. I jolted upright and gave both of them the most pleading look I could muster, not even having to slightly feign my desperation. They turned back and resumed talking.

More time passed, and Hikio seemed to get more and more downcast and even agitated, which didn't bode well for me. At some point he even put his head in hands and just stayed like that for half a minute. Eventually, I began to give up hope and even resigned myself to my fate. Or at least, I tried to. Every time I closed my eyes or looked off into the distance, all I could see was the zeroes pilling up. Quintillions of years, never ending suffering. Might as well have taken my chances with hell, much good this bastard did me. I started to cry once more.

All of a sudden, a bright light began to emanate from Kielzad's direction. I could feel a strange tugging sensation all over my body and I realised that I was being… removed. Taken away. I was off to spend eternity in…

Like a wounded lion, I got my second wind and fought harder against the straps than ever before. I strained in Kielzad's direction and screamed incoherently for another chance. If I could just do this over! If I could just at least talk this out and explain myself!

Then everything faded to white.

I don't know how much time had passed but I woke up with a start and immediately registered two things. First and most prevalent; my arms were on fire. Metaphorically. Second was the biting chill. It swept across my exposed thighs and my teeth began to chatter. I struggled to get my bearings. Should probably open my eyes first though. It didn't take long for them to adjust, as the room was nearly as dark as my closed eyelids, stone walls buried in shadows cast from a single candle on a table in front of me. Victorian, I think. Or Gothic, I couldn't really tell the difference. I took a look around the room in an attempt to identify where I was...

...and as soon as I did, all semblance of grogginess left me and a fear the likes of which I had never experienced gripped me to the depths of my soul, recent events notwithstanding. The real reason it was so dark was because the entire room, from floor to walls were covered with black stains in patterns that only blood could make. Large contraptions of wood and iron adorned the space, leaving no doubt in my mind as to the room's purpose.

It was a torture chamber.

I tried to move but found myself once again restrained, this time by chains and manacles embedded in the wall behind me. I tried to stand up only to realise that my legs were already off the floor. All I could do was dangle from my wrists, which explained the searing pain in my arms.

I was held captive. In a torture chamber.

This was my new reality.

I almost lost the ability to think. Raw panic injected itself into me but before I could act on it, the sound of footsteps echoed from beyond the thick wooden door. Someone was coming. I wrenched my mind back towards proper functionality and did the only thing I could do; fall limp and pretend to still be unconscious.

The footsteps grew closer and the door opened with a loud creak. More footsteps. Seemed to be about 2 or more people, they entered the room. They were talking in hushed tones in a language that sounded familiar yet I didn't have the soundness of mind to identify. Both female. More speaking and shuffling of the feet.

This went on for about half a minute, before the sound of groaning emerged from my right, halting their conversation. Were there other captives? I hadn't had time to check. A few seconds passed before the newcomer began to speak in clear Japanese-

"What the-"

Whatever he was going to say was cut off by his own blood curdling scream. The sound of his chains rattling madly made a distressingly loud cacophony in the windowless room. I could only hang there, paralyzed with fear, as the apparent torture continued. I almost flinched when I felt a drop of what I could only assume was the poor man's blood land on my cheek. About thirty seconds later, whatever they were doing to him ceased and the women left the room. The man beside me breathed raggedly, throwing out the occasional expletive. I had a suspicion I knew who it was, but it made no sense. Why would he...?

I slowly turned to my right wincing at the gruesome sight of-

-Hikio in a navy blue t-shirt and black gym shorts.

What? Where was all the blood? Besides even more sweat (which I realised must have been what touched me), he looked virtually untouched.

"Hikio?" I inquired tentatively, "Are you... alright?"

He continued to pant heavily before looking blearily at me, "M-miur-aAAAAAGGH!"

He once again screamed and began to thrash wildly, seemingly unprovoked. I turned away from him and looked back down on the ground and around the room. I tried to ignore the sound.

I felt numb.

Well, here we are, the first actual chapter. Thanks a lot for the reviews for the prologue, it really did help motivate me to write this, and I really like reading your feedback. It's like... food, but moooore, straw-esque. Something that you'd need a straw to drink. Slushies? More visceral. Like, if I was a zombie, and I drank liquefied brains from a slushie cup. That's what your reviews are like. Yum.

And that motivation was needed, as you can see from the time it took to get this out. Not that I didn't want to write this, I did, but well. You know how it is. At any rate, I promise you guys that it will NEVER take me this long to bring out a chapter again. Hell, I'm planning to release one of about this length every week, if possible. Hopefully, by stating it here for everyone to see I will feel pressured to make that a reality.

I don't really plan on using these authors notes to write anything concerning the story's contents itself, probably, so you can feel free to read it and not get spoiled (that may sound a bit strange, but it's the reason I usually skip authors notes personally).

Anyways, this story is going to be long as BALLS, and I WILL finish it, so strap in boys and girls. It's gonna be a grand o'le shitshow.

I really need a beta. I've edit after posting it like 3 times already haha.

Syclone out.