Now
You rulers… yes, you… the readers… watching our lives and our events as if they were a mere show, a story crafted for your amusement… But let me ask you… Haven't you ever wondered that you are like us? We, whose stories you read, dismissing us as mere fictional characters? Haven't you felt the curiosity to see as we see? To feel as we feel? To taste the stench of death, to sense the trembling of the soul in the face of truth?
You merely watch… delight in our laughter, in our pain, in our deaths, which, in your eyes, carry no meaning… just a game, a senseless amusement… hahahaha… hahahah…
Think… yes… think deeply… every tear, every fear, every heartbeat… I see it… I study it… I analyze it… I read it like an open book… I know what you love, what you hate, what terrifies you… and what drives the depths of your mind to madness…
When you stare into the abyss… heed the warning… not merely to fear… but because, no matter what, you will drown in it… and the abyss… gazes back at you… waiting… smiling… knowing you more than you know yourselves.
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Chapter One: Laughter Amidst the Filth
Cold…
The cold gnawed at his bones as if the street itself sought to devour him.
Amir Ryder sat on the wet ground, his back pressed against a cracked brick wall, eyes half-closed, hands trembling. The night was heavy; the air reeked of urine, rot, and garbage. His stomach growled for two days, yet he could no longer tell hunger from pain.
His trembling hand reached toward a nearby trash bag. He opened it slowly, as if handling a precious treasure. Inside, he found a moldy piece of bread, half blackened by rot—but he smiled.
A jagged, insane smile, like a challenge thrown at the universe itself.
— "Ha… look at me, O God of Mockery, Amir the Great dines like a king… rot included, seasoned just right!"
He bit into the bread. The mold stung his tongue with bitterness, yet he laughed… a hollow laugh that echoed through the empty alley.
"Why me?" he wondered in his mind.
"Was I a joke when I was born? Did fate laugh at me, throwing me here to become the street's plaything?"
No answer came. There was no one to hear him. The streets remained silent. The walls remained mute. The sky paid no mind.
Footsteps approached.
Amir lifted his head with hope… for a moment thinking heaven had sent a miracle. But it was no angel… only the dark silhouettes of two towering gang members.
One grabbed him by the neck, lifting him like a ragdoll.
— "You little mutt, our shipment went missing yesterday… who's responsible?"
Amir's body dangled, yet his laughter returned.
— "Me? Perhaps… or maybe the Devil himself took it. Ask him if you find him."
A slap shattered his front teeth. Blood flowed from his mouth, yet he smiled.
— "Thanks… I needed a new color for my lips."
He was dragged into a damp cellar, hung by chains, beaten until he lost all sensation. Each strike created a strange symphony in his ears, as if bones and flesh were drums in a funeral concert. And with every blow, his mind whispered:
"Life is filth… yet I've learned to savor the stench."
Hours passed. Perhaps days. He did not know. When they finally threw him onto the floor like a sack of meat, he did not move—but he laughed… a faint laugh, slipping from his throat like a deathly song.
That night of escape, rain poured. The downpour washed his wounds but not his soul. Amir slipped out through a broken window, his body trembling, eyes sparking with fire. He crept into the gang's warehouse, hands shaking as he poured fuel. He struck a match… and threw it.
The explosion illuminated the night; the fire devoured everything. Their screams pierced the air, but he danced amidst the flames like a madman.
— "Can you hear it? This… is the music of justice!"
He laughed hysterically, smoke choking his lungs, tears mixing with blood.
But the end did not come so easily… in another alley, larger gang members caught up. His chest was stabbed, and he fell, gasping like a fish flung from water. Blood covered the street.
One of them approached, asking:
— "Why do you laugh… you sick man?"
Amir raised his eyes, filled with madness, smiling as blood boiled in his throat:
— "Because… finally… I will meet my friend. Death… has waited for me long enough."
His laughter rose. The attackers shivered and stepped back.
Then his eyes went dark.
Darkness…
And then a luminous screen appeared in the void:
[Player System Activated… Initializing]