No... I can't hear anything... Just a... beeping sound...
The sound pierced his ears as his numb body began to awaken.
- Tch...
He blinked with difficulty, trying to open his eyes. Trying to understand where he was.
"Where...?"
When he finally managed to open his eyes, his vision was blurry.
The images and shapes he saw made no sense.
A couple more blinks, and he found himself lying on the ground, wet from the incessant rain, his head throbbing with pain.
/Shit... what's going on?/
He tried to move, but the pain spread like fire throughout his body. Every muscle screamed. His mind, confused, couldn't organize his thoughts.
/Tch... where am I?/
He could only feel the raindrops hitting him... He looked around, forcing his eyes to see through the rain.
He was in what looked like an abandoned village: ruined houses, deserted streets, and puddles reflecting the gray clouds of the rainy landscape.
/Tch... not again.../ He thought as he made a futile attempt to get up.
Even so, he noticed it.
In front of him, on the ground, were some broken ropes... and a dagger.
The blade of the dagger was translucent, shiny, as if it breathed light.
It emitted a faint but hypnotic glow.
/It's... it's a dagger... made with Flade Crystals\
(Crystals imbued with the energy of the sun)
He crawled a few inches, driven by a mixture of pain and curiosity, and saw beside him... under the eaves of a ruined house, there were some boys with their hands tied.
They were dirty, soaked by the rain, their desperate eyes fixed on him.
And although they didn't make a sound... it seemed as if they were talking to him...
"Damn..." he thought as he made another futile attempt to get up.
Beyond, through the curtain of rain, he could make out moving figures.
Guards. They wore armor marked with the emblems of the Kingdom of Helis.
(A kingdom that worships the god Flade, bearer of the eternal flame. Its philosophy: to end the evil in the world.)
But there seemed to be no justice in their actions.
The guards laughed as they beat a boy with their bare hands.
They pushed him, knocked him down, lifted him up only to beat him again.
/Shit... again... why again? Why can't I do anything? I can't move.../
At that moment, his senses began to activate and he began to hear the cries of the tied-up boys...
"DANGLEO!! ARE YOU OKAY!?" shouted the tallest one.
"DAN, PLEASE HELP US!" sobbed the smallest one. "Please..."
Although confused, Dangleo was filled with rage.
With adrenaline coursing through his body, he tried to get up again.
"Ugh... Ah..."
With all the pain accumulated, he placed his hands on the ground, trying to push himself up.
Gasping for breath, he managed to stand up with difficulty.
The pain in his body was intense, but his rage kept him moving.
The tied-up boys looked at him with a mixture of hope and fear.
"Da... Dangleo... Are you okay?" said one, uneasy. "Don't push yourself, Dan."
They spoke to him, but Logan didn't respond.
He didn't recognize them either.
Although... there was something in their voices, something that hurt.
Then one of the guards stopped.
He looked at Dangleo with a mocking smile.
"Well, well... You're tough... No wonder you're the leader of these rats," he said, approaching him defiantly.
Logan looked at him with fury, even though he didn't understand anything.
/Leader?... Why is he saying that...?/
Even so, something inside him knew he had to protect them.
"Ra... iuhg... rats? If we're rats, you're parasites with armor," he said, trying to remain steadfast despite the pain.
The guard stopped dead in his tracks.
His smile twisted into a sneer as he pulled out a dagger identical to the one Dangleo had at his feet.
"What did you say... trash?" said the guard.
The boys shuddered.
"Dan... Dangleo, what are you doing?" said the youngest of the boys, fear and despair in his eyes.
Dangleo barely turned his face toward him.
That crying...
That fear...
It burned inside him.
The guard burst out laughing.
"What are you looking at? Do you want me to tie you up again so you can join them?" said the guard as he slowly approached Logan.
Logan wiped his face with his hand as he continued to hear the commotion of the guards playing with the boy. As he wiped his face, he shouted at the guards.
"LEAVE THAT BOY ALONE!!"
The guard gripped the hilt of his dagger and said.
"Who do you think you are to give us orders, scum?" he roared, his eyes burning with rage.
But before he could advance any further, a voice interrupted him.
"HEY KAEL, STOP PLAYING AROUND!" shouted one of the guards in the background. "It's getting late, and I don't want to run into those damn Arkhais..."
Another guard joined in, sounding annoyed.
"YES KAEL! I don't want to run into those damn demons whose only purpose is to ruin our nights..."
The guard facing Logan, Kael, looked at the guards, then at the boy they had beaten, lying on the floor, trembling. They had finished playing with him.
He slowly turned back to Logan with a twisted smile.
"It's time to exterminate the rats," he said.
The handcuffed boys began to get restless... Fear ran through their bodies like electricity.
One struggled with his rope, another sobbed without being able to utter a word.
Their eyes were fixed on Logan.
They were waiting for something... Anything.
"Tch..." escaped from Dangleo's lips as if the world weighed heavily on his throat.
He bent down with difficulty and picked up the dagger from the ground.
The blade glinted faintly.
Dangleo held it firmly, even though his hands were shaking.
Still, he looked at Kael with determination.
Kael watched him with a crooked smile.
"I'll give you credit for having guts, kid..." But that's no use in a real fight." Without looking away, Kael raised his hand.
A signal.
The other guards reacted instantly.
They drew their weapons.
And they began to advance...
Not toward Dangleo.
But toward the handcuffed boys.
The boys' cries mingled with the sound of the rain.
Their voices were desperate, raw, human.
The rope that bound them only cut into them as they struggled to free themselves.
Blood ran down their wrists, mixing with the mud.
But their eyes... the eyes of some of them were still alive.
They hadn't given up yet... they looked around, searching for a way to free themselves... to save themselves.
Kael watched them as if they were insects.
His smile was sharp, and as he watched them, he said.
"What? You no longer trust your leader... ? What a pity... You should have thought about that before you started stealing.
Dangleo clenched his teeth.
His body trembled, not only from the pain, but also from rage.
The dagger in his hand seemed to weigh a ton.
But he didn't let go.
"Iugh... LEAVE THEM ALONE... I AM THE LEADER, IT'S MY FAULT... WITHOUT ME THEY..."
"SHUT UP!!!!" shouted a raspy voice, broken with pain.
The guards stopped dead in their tracks.
So did Dangleo.
The scream had cut through the air like lightning.
Everyone looked for the source.
And there he was.
The boy who had been beaten, covered in blood and mud,
struggling to his feet among the guards.
His body was shaking, his breathing was erratic, but his eyes were burning.
"You're lying... I... Iugh... I AM THE LEADER!" said the boy as he quickly took a dagger from a guard standing next to him and stabbed him in the leg.
The guard screamed, falling to the ground.
The others backed away, surprised by the sudden act of violence.
The boy staggered, gasping for breath.
But he didn't fall, not this time.
"DAMN YOU!" The wounded guard tried to grab the boy, but the boy stabbed him in the neck with the dagger before he could do anything...
Blood spurted out instantly. The guard froze with his eyes wide open, then fell without making another sound.
The guards were alarmed, and like a pack of wolves, they lunged at the boy with their swords.
Dangleo didn't move. He couldn't...
His body was frozen. His mind was blank.
Only the sound of his heart, beating like an uncontrolled drum.
"DAANGLEOO!!! LOOK AT ME!!! I KNOW THAT ONE DAY I WILL BE..." The boy shouted, but before he could finish his sentence, a sword pierced him.
The sound was wet, dull, brutal.
Dangleo felt as if the world had stopped, as if the air had been sucked out.
As if his heart had been ripped out along with that last hope.
The boy fell to his knees... His blood mixed with the mud...
His eyes searched for Dangleo one last time.
"DANGLEO...!!!! RUN...!!!!" It was his last cry before he collapsed completely.