I sat in the cell for what felt like hours. I saw the faint light that reached into the room from an out-of-sight window change from darkness to gold to white as the sun rose. Still, Kona did not come. Why? It was her against five men; they don't look particularly strong, and she had her axe. How was it that she lost? How was it that she didn't kill some of them? A fight like that for her should have been winnable.
I thought about reasons why she might have lost. Perhaps she was shot with a crossbow in the leg and couldn't move? No, the crossbow was just fired and takes a moment to reload. Were there more men around the corner that hadn't shown themselves, and she was overwhelmed?
No, knowing her. Me lying on the floor with a bolt in my throat, probably distracted her. Maybe she thought I was dying, and her first instinct wasn't to kill them but to grab me and run. Knowing her, that's most likely what happened. It would be hard to fight while carrying someone.
If she managed to escape, though, would she be too injured to rescue me? Did she have to find a doctor, and is she physically unable to come? The longer I sat here, the more I thought through possibilities in my head. The more I thought, the worse my thoughts became.
What if she couldn't do anything, was hurt, and was waiting for me to save her? She knew I was strong and maybe thought I was taken by surprise. Maybe she's waiting for me to break out and find her to help her. What if she were injured and collapsed in a back alley with nobody around, and she's bleeding out?
I know these thoughts weren't the most likely scenario. But they were a possibility, a possibility I fixated on. After another two hours had passed, the guards swapped out.
"Hé. Vos gardes à l'étage sont-ils déjà morts?" [Hey. Are your guards upstairs dead yet?]
One of the two men sitting outside my cell stood up and sauntered over.
"Quand l'église va-t-elle arriver?" [When will the church arrive?]
"Je croyais qu'on t'avait dit de fermer ta gueule." [Je croyais qu'on t'avait dit de fermer ta gueule.]
"D'accord" [All right]
I decided to try something new. I noticed when I was mad before, my arms changed, like when I killed that man in the alley. That must have happened because I was so mad. After all, I wanted to kill these guys so badly. So if I focused on those worst-case scenarios for Kona, if I thought about them being real, maybe that would be enough to make that happen again.
I tried for ten, twenty minutes, but no luck. I was always quite timid and laid back. Nothing back home ever made me mad to the point I felt a burning in my chest. That only happened because I believed them.
I sat with my eyes closed, trying to control this emotion of rage, to will it into existence. If I failed this, the only option I would have is to provoke them into torturing me. The last time they opened their mouth to talk, I got so pissed off. If I can get them to do that again, then maybe.
"Alors, combien d'innocents avez-vous assassinés ? Vous ne sembliez pas vous soucier de l'incendie de l'auberge ni des personnes qui s'y trouvaient." [So, how many innocent people have you murdered? You didn't seem to care about the fire at the inn or the people inside.]
"Silence, démon."
"Le fait que vous l'ayez brûlé au départ montre simplement que vous êtes tous des putains de lâches." [The fact that you burned it down in the first place just shows that you're all fucking cowards.]
"Des lâches ?! Vous avez tendu une embuscade à Stéphane ! Vous l'avez éventré. Et vous osez nous traiter de lâches." [Cowards?! You ambushed Stéphane! You ripped him open. And you dare call us cowards.]
One of them stood harshly, knocking his chair back as he grabbed the bars to yell at me.
"Tu sais quoi? Ta grande copine. On l'a assommée et attachée à la table. On a réussi à lui enlever tous ses vêtements avant de devoir descendre ici pour te maîtriser." [You know what? Your big friend. We knocked her out and tied her to the table. We managed to take all her clothes off before we had to come down here to subdue you.]
The man yelling gripped the bars with both hands, pressing his face between them. His mouth, spitting out as he ranted. I just sat there, listening.
"Tu sais ce qu'on allait lui faire avant qu'elle ne s'enfuie ? On allait la violer à tour de rôle jusqu'à ce qu'elle devienne notre animal de compagnie. « Oh, monsieur Gavin, je ne peux pas vivre sans votre énorme bite dure dans ma petite chatte serrée. C'est bien mieux que la petite bite de ce démon », disait-elle, puis on l'amenait ici et on te forçait à regarder pendant qu'on la baisait tous !" [You know what we were going to do with her before she ran? We were going to take turns raping her until she became our pet. 'Oh, mister Gavin, I can't live without your massive hard cock in my tight pussy. It's much better than that demon freaks tiny dick' is what she would say, and then we would bring her down here and have you watch as we all fucked her!]
Something snapped. My breathing deepened, and I felt my arms grow larger, my fingers grow longer. I felt a burning in my chest as I stood up. With a yank of my arms, the chains snapped from the brick wall. Gavin gasped and fell back, his confidence replaced with terror.
I reached up and gripped around the collar around my neck, digging my fingers beneath the metal and my flesh. I pulled it as hard as I could, snapping the bolts that held the metal clamp shut. My arms were pitch black in colour, like a void, a pure absence of light. I stepped forward.
The other man panicked. Grabbed the crossbow that was leaning against the wall and fired a shot at me. Just as he lifted the crossbow to aim, I turned my body to the side as the bolt pierced my shoulder. I felt nothing.
I pulled the bolt from my flesh and tossed it to the ground, gripping two of the iron bars of the cell and pulling them apart. The two just stood there, looking at me as the bars slowly bent with a loud creak. Watching their death approaching. Was this how Wrath felt?
I squeezed through the narrow iron bars I had bent a bit wider, and squatted down over Gavin. He was still lying on the floor, looking at me with wide eyes and an agape mouth. I looked down at my hand, my pointed fingers that looked more like a claw. I pointed towards Gavin, my finger etching closer and closer to him until my pointed finger made contact with his forehead. My hand didn't stop; I kept slowly moving my hand forward as my finger effortlessly pushed into his skull. Blood gushed from the edges around my finger as I pushed it deeper into his head until the light from his eyes faded. Only then did I retract my finger, leaving a deep hole.
The other man screamed and ran. Though the only exit was past me. He ran and stepped over Gavin's body. I reached out with my clawed fingers extended, and as he stepped through, they sliced through his leg like butter. Removing his foot and three perfectly sliced chunks of flesh and bone. He collapsed to the floor, screaming and clutching at his leg.
I reached over and grabbed his shirt as I stood up, lifting him with me. He gripped my wrist with both of his hands as he stared into my eyes, begging and pleading with me voicelessly. Then, behind him in the door, another appeared. Seeing what had happened, he drew his blade. I pulled my arm back and flung forward the man in my grip had hard as I could towards the new enemy. The body collided with such force in an instant, the two once alive men were now nothing more than a red paste on the wall and a mangled mess of clothes on the floor.
Walking up the stairs, there was only one path. More stairs lead up. Assuming I was in a basement, this would be the ground floor. As I emerged from underground, one of the two remaining men was standing at the door, frantically messing with the locks, trying to get out. The other was on the opposite side of the small one-room building, huddling in the corner.
I walked behind the one who was trying to unlock the door. I scrunched my fingers together to make my clawed hand like a spearhead and drove it into his spine. With my hand pressed into his back, I turned around. Forcing the last survivor to look at his face as he died. I flayed my hand wide as blood gushed from the large hole in his back, and his body fell to the floor.
As I approached the last one, still huddling in the corner, I walked past a dinner table in the middle of the room. I stopped and looked at it, running my hand across the surface.
"C'est ici que tu l'as attachée?" [Is this where you tied her up?]
"Oui"
"Est-il vrai que vous lui avez retiré ses vêtements?" [Is it true that you removed her clothes?]
"Oui" The man said, starting to cry.
"Où l'as-tu mis?" [Where did you put it?]
The man wiped tears from his face and pointed under the table. Squatting down, I saw her armour was there, but not her underwear.
"C'est vous qui les avez retirés?" [Did you remove them?]
Through choked crying, he muttered "Oui"
I picked him up by the throat and walked him towards the table as he choked and kicked. I tossed him onto the table so he was lying on his back. I walked towards the side and placed my finger between his legs.
"Let's see how you like it."
I moved my finger upward, the tip of my finger scratching the wooden table. My bladed finger cut between his crotch as he let out a howl of agony. With my other hand, I held him in place as my finger ran up his abdomen, and by the time I reached his chest, his screaming stopped. With a swift motion, I finished the line as the man was severed in half down the middle. Blood started to pour off the table like water.
I reached under the table and grabbed Kona's armour, holding it to my chest. I closed my eyes as I held her clothes closed, breathing slowly and heavily to try to calm myself. To quell the burning fire in my chest.
Suddenly, the door burst open with a kick. Looking up, Kona was standing in the doorway, axe in hand, wearing nothing but her underwear. She looked ready to kill, but her face quickly gave way to shock. With the sight in front of her, I didn't know what she was more shocked about.
I walked around the table and held out her armour.
"I got so mad they said what they did… or were going to do to you… I… just kind of lost it."
I walked forward and held her clothes out to her. She looked down at my arm as they returned to normal. She reached out and grabbed the clothes, then looked me in the eyes. The shocked expression was still on her face with a tinge of confusion.
"What?"
"Your eyes."
"My eyes?
"Your eyes are red."