An entire night had passed over Renji's cell. When he opened his eyes, the pale morning light slipped through the narrow bars, replacing yesterday's moon. He could still feel the cold chains on his skin, but the pain was no longer sharp, only dulled, as if his wounds had been covered by a thick layer of exhaustion. His breathing was heavy, each inhale burned his lungs, yet inside there was more than weakness. He felt a foreign pulse, a force that kept his heart moving even when his body wanted to give in.
He lifted his gaze to the ceiling. The stone seemed to dissolve, shadows flowing like black liquid down the walls. In the darkness still hanging from the night, a figure slowly emerged, drawing closer to him. It was not the guard. The steps made no sound, but the air grew heavier with each moment.
Renji bit his lip and tried to recall the oath he had sworn before fainting. He no longer wanted Ubik. He had sworn that. Yet something deep within him pulsed in another direction, as if his very blood betrayed him.
— "Who are you?" he whispered, barely audible.
The figure did not answer right away. It stopped before him, and the morning light filtering through the bars revealed a face hidden behind a metal mask. The eyes were concealed, but the voice that rang out was clear and sharp.
— "You are not dead yet. That means you still have a role to play."
Renji flinched. It was not Ubik. Not the guard. Someone else.
He bit his lip harder, tasting blood. The question burst out before he could stop it.
— "Why won't you let me die?"
The figure moved closer and, with a sudden motion, lifted his chin.
— "Because death would be a gift. And you do not deserve gifts, Renji. You must learn what it means to remain alive, even when every moment demands that you surrender."
Renji's eyes widened. The voice carried something familiar, but he could not tell from where. In his chest, the foreign pulse grew stronger, like the beat of drums dictating his breath.
At that moment, he realized the beginning of madness had not been inside the cell. The beginning had been when he first accepted Ubik's voice. And now, even in front of another apparition, he felt that invisible bonds would never let him go free.
Renji clenched his teeth and let his head rest on the cold wall.
— "Then tell me what you want from me. If I cannot escape, I want to know why I still breathe."
The figure stayed silent for a few moments, as if weighing whether Renji deserved an answer. The mask hide his expression, but the gaze behind the metal pierced sharper than any knife.
— "You breathe because someone decided to let you live," the voice finally said. "Not the guard, not the voice in your head. Someone else, or something else."
Renji felt his stomach tighten. He realized this was not a mere chance visit.
— "Who?" he asked, barely managing to keep his voice steady.
— "It does not matter who. What matters is that you live. And you live because you will be used."
The words echoed like a sentence. Renji gripped the chains, blood dripping from his palms, but refused to lower his gaze.
— "I am no one's tool."
The mask leaned even closer, until Renji's forehead almost touched the cold metal.
— "That is what you say now. But you survived a night where you should have died. You endured pain no normal man would have endured. Do you think that was your will?"
Renji felt his breath quicken. He knew the answer the mask expected, but he could not say it aloud.
— "If it wasn't my will, then what was it?"
— "It is proof that the voice has not left you. Even if you reject it, you feed from it."
Renji shut his eyes for a moment. The words struck where he was most vulnerable. Deep inside, he knew Ubik still pulsed, still breathed through him.
— "And what do you want?" he asked hoarsely.
The figure stepped back, but his voice remained as cold as before.
— "I want you to choose. If you stay in chains, you will die slowly. If you accept me, you can break the walls of this prison."
The chains creaked again, as if the echo of the words had stirred them. Renji felt his mind being pushed to an edge where he could not tell if he would find freedom or final ruin.
And then the mask added:
— "You have until sunset to decide. After that, nothing will save you."
Renji stared blankly, his heart beating unevenly, with the thought that the day just beginning would decide what he was to become.
The iron door of the cell opened suddenly with a sharp creak. The masked figure stepped back and vanished into the shadows as if it had never been there. Renji blinked rapidly, unsure whether it had been real or just a prolonged hallucination born of pain.
Two guards entered the cell. It was not the same one who had tortured him the night before, but their faces carried the same simmering hatred. One was tall, holding a wooden club, the other shorter, with sharp features and a dagger at his belt.
— "Look at that, he's still breathing," the tall one muttered. "Didn't Vark say he wouldn't last till morning?"
The other grinned, showing yellow teeth.
— "Kaizen will kill us if this criminal isn't breathing when he gets here, thank God."
Renji slowly raised his gaze toward them. The chains cut into his flesh, his throat was dry. He tried to speak, but only a groan escaped. The short guard slapped him across the face with the back of his hand.
— "We don't need you to talk," he spat with disdain. "Just to endure as long as we want."
They both grabbed the chains and yanked them, forcing his shoulders into painful positions. Renji bit his lip to keep from screaming, his bones cracking under the strain.
The tall guard pulled a piece of glowing hot iron from a sack, his hand trembling with eagerness.
— "Vark left us the fun for today. I say we start where he left off."
Renji's heart pounded against his ribs. Behind his eyes boiled images from the previous night: Ubik's voice, the masked figure, the whispering shadows.
The guard brought the heated iron close to his chest. The stench of red-hot metal filled the air.
In that moment, Renji wondered if the sunset the masked figure spoke of had already begun. If the choice had to be made now, with iron against his skin.
— "Hold him tight," the short one laughed. "Today we carve marks into his body so everyone knows who he is."
Renji clenched his fists, blood dripping from his palms. Either he would endure as before, or he would break something inside himself, even if it meant letting Ubik out once more.
The tall guard raised the hot iron toward Renji's chest, but just then a sharp roar echoed from afar. A quick whistling sound cut through the air and struck the outer prison wall with a dull thud. Then a small explosion shook the stone, dust rising.
— "What the hell was that?!" the short one shouted, startled.
A second projectile flew and hit the corner tower. The stone shook, sparks rising in the air. The guards exchanged panicked looks.
— "We're under attack!" the tall one yelled, throwing the hot iron to the floor.
They rushed to the door, forgetting Renji, who hung from the chains barely conscious. The cell fell quiet for the first time after a night of torment. All that could be heard was Renji's ragged breathing and the hurried footsteps of the guards running down the corridors.
Outside, the roars returned. Flaming arrows struck the walls, and small explosions followed in quick succession. The diversion was working, and the entire prison was on alert.
Moments later, a familiar figure appeared at the narrow window. Tiberku, hooded, clung to the ledge, breathing heavily from the run. When his eyes landed on Renji, they widened in shock.
— "Renji… my God…"
Renji could barely lift his face. Blood streamed down his cheeks, his chest covered in burns, his arms torn by chains. His eyes carried more delirium than life.
Tiberku gripped the cold bars tightly.
— "I swear… tonight I'll get you out of here. No matter the cost. If I have to kill every bastard in this place, I'll do it."
Renji tried to respond, but only a groan escaped his throat. Tiberku leaned closer, forcing his voice to remain firm.
— "Hold on until tonight. No longer. I give you my word these chains won't bind you anymore."
Renji's eyes closed slowly, but a faint smile curved on his lips. In the midst of the pain, Tiberku's words were the first spark of hope he had felt since the torment began.
Tiberku let go of the bars, casting one last glance over his shoulder, then disappeared, leaving Renji with the thought that the coming night might be his last chance at freedom.
Renji shuddered, his breath escaping in wheezes. He tried to close his eyes, but fear would not let him. He knew the guards could return at any moment with their heated rods and blades hungry for his flesh. The thought of another day like yesterday made him tremble.
In the dark corner of the cell, that figure still lingered. It did not move, only stared at him, a black stain on the wall. He did not know if it was real or only his fractured mind.
"Wait until tonight." That was what Tiberku had said. A promise. A spark of hope. But night was far away, and each moment was a sword hanging above his neck. If the guards returned before sunset, he would not live to see anything.
"Or accept me." The voice rang clear, like a knife slicing the silence. It was no longer only in his head, it was in the walls, in the chains, in every fiber binding him. "I can break the chains now. I can end it all. But you must give me all that you are."
Renji began to laugh softly, a broken, suffocated laugh.
— "To wait for a man who could die at any moment… or to fall into the arms of someone from a necklace who only feeds on my pain…"
He stopped abruptly and bit the inside of his cheek, tasting the metallic flavor of blood.
"If Tiberku lies? If he's delayed? If he dies before reaching me? Then I'm alone again, and the guards tear me apart. If I choose Ubik, I escape, but I'm lost."
Renji dug his nails into his skin until blood ran down his arms. His mind felt torn in two.
— "Waiting is death… acceptance is a curse… which is worse?"
The shadow in the corner seemed to draw closer, the voice whispering softly yet firmly:
"There is no night for you without me."
Renji shut his eyes, but Tiberku's face appeared in his mind, sweaty, exhausted, yet determined. "I'll get you out, no matter the cost." He felt like crying, but no tears would come.
His heart raced wildly. He realized waiting and choosing were no longer opposites. Both were condemnations. Only that one smelled of a man, and the other of despair.
And caught between the two, Renji felt his mind falling deeper, as if madness was the only path left.
The chains rattled faintly as the iron door opened. Light footsteps entered the cell, different from the heavy stomp of the guards. Renji lifted his gaze and saw a woman with a small tray, holding dry bread and a cup of water. The torchlight from the corridor lit her pale face, her eyes trembling.
— "My God…" she whispered, covering her mouth with her hand. "How could they…"
She approached slowly, trembling, and placed the tray on the floor. She looked at Renji, tears filling her eyes.
— "You shouldn't still be alive. No man could withstand what they've done to you."
Renji blinked heavily. His cracked lips moved without sound. Moved by pity, the woman lifted the cup and brought it to his mouth. With trembling hands she helped him drink, and for the first time in a long while he felt something cold soothe his burned throat.
— "I'm so sorry," she whispered. "You… you don't deserve to be butchered like this. But I cannot do more…"
Renji looked at her with dim eyes, but something bubbled inside him. He sensed she was not like the others.
She clasped her hands to her chest, then said:
— "You must know… Kaizen will arrive after midnight. Himself. I overheard the soldiers talking. They want to bring you before him, so he can finish you with his own hand."
Renji felt his stomach knot. A cold shiver ran down his spine.
— "I'm sorry," the woman continued with a broken voice. "Even if you killed… even if you killed those two girls… no one should be treated like this."
Her words struck his mind like a hammer. Renji jerked his head up, the chains clanging.
— "What did you say?!"
The woman stepped back, frightened.
— "Everyone says… that you murdered two innocent girls… and that it was only the beginning…"
Renji felt blood rush to his head. His eyes burned with fury, his voice erupting like a torn scream:
— "LIES!"
The chains rattled violently, nearly tearing his skin.
— "You know nothing! You understand nothing! They lie! I didn't kill! I… I didn't…"
His voice broke into a mixture of fury and despair.
The woman looked at him with tears, unsure whether to flee or stay. The tray fell, bread rolling in the dust, water spilling and mixing with Renji's blood.
Renji screamed again, louder, like a wounded animal.
— "You don't know the truth! NO ONE knows!"
His cry crashed against the stone walls and vanished into the cold corridors, an echo of his madness, while the woman trembled, caught between pity and fear.