"Hah... where am I?"
I awakened to a crushing, absolute darkness. The gloom was so thick it felt unnatural, like a viscous liquid clinging to my skin, drowning my senses. A hollow sensation gnawed at my vitals; I felt drained, as if my youth and very life-force had been plundered.
A feral urge to kill surged within me, a violent tide attempting to seize my consciousness and pull me into the abyss of madness. I felt as though worms were crawling beneath my flesh, while unknown things writhed and coiled over my body.
In this wretched state, with insanity pounding at the gates of my mind, I glimpsed a strange, faint green light in the distance—a cluster of shimmering sparks. As I focused on it, the light began to spread, expanding with every passing heartbeat.
Simultaneously, a sudden clarity washed over me; my criminal impulses receded, and the heavy darkness and the writhing worms vanished like a mirage. Faint whispers and a rhythmic hissing filled the air.
As the green light drew closer, a black cloud erupted from the heart of the void and collided with it. The impact forced both forces to recoil. Within moments, the space between them was filled with gibbering whispers and madness. They were like two primaeval beasts snarling at one another, neither willing to yield.
Then, the black tide coalesced into a monstrous form—a grotesque beast resembling a bull, with a single crimson eye embedded deep in its forehead. Its mouth was a jagged chicken's beak lined with horrific teeth, flanked by slimy, twitching tentacles. Two sharp, blood-red horns crowned its head, and a scarlet vapour exhaled from its maw.
Opposing it, the green light transformed into a creature even more terrifying: a fusion of a serpent's body and the countless legs of a centipede, interspersed with distorted human features. Without a moment's hesitation, the two monsters lunged at each other with savage fury.
They fought for an eternity in that timeless void. As I watched their brutal struggle, the truth of my situation dawned on me: I was the prey they were fighting over.
An instinct whispered to me to remain calm, to wait, and to exploit this chaos when the moment was ripe. As the battle raged, the tide began to turn. Wounds accumulated on both, but the green serpent-creature seemed to be faltering.
I hesitated to intervene. When the shadow-bull's grip on me loosened to focus on its foe, my soul felt light and relieved, as if a monumental burden had been lifted. My strength began to seep back into my limbs.
As the bull sustained more injuries, the oppressive darkness began to lift. A pale light bled into the atmosphere, resembling the break of dawn or perhaps the dying embers of a sunset. In that dim radiance, a realisation struck me: this place belonged to me. I felt a faint, budding control over the environment.
I began to plot my escape from the status of a mere victim. When the bull gained the upper hand, I acted. I followed that newfound sensation and attempted to reclaim my domain. Instantly, the bull's tyrannical power withered, and the radiance intensified.
But before I could celebrate, a violent resistance surged from the darkness, pushing the light back. The green serpent seized the opening, launching a treacherous counterattack. The bull roared in fury, its strikes becoming wild and frantic. It was then that I confirmed my theory: these were mindless beasts driven by pure instinct.
I began to manipulate the situation, slowly illuminating the area with a soft light—just enough to regain control without triggering the bull's primal alarm. Time blurred as my mastery grew until the space shone like a cloudy day. I now had the power to exert pressure on either beast.
I watched their irrational, violent dance. For the first time, the serpent gained the advantage. But I would not allow a victor; I knew that if one perished, the survivor would surely turn its hunger toward me.
I eased the pressure on the bull, allowing its momentum to rise once more, launching a devastating assault on the serpent. I would bleed them both dry. When one wavered, I bolstered them; when the other dominated, I suppressed them. I was the architect of their exhaustion.
Once they were both spent, and I felt certain I could end them, I stepped forward to deliver the final blow.
"Beware... if you kill them, I shall kill you the moment you awaken."
A voice boomed inside my head. Instinctively, I recoiled, spinning around to find the source. There was no one. As my panic subsided, a chilling thought occurred to me. I shouted into the void: "Who are you? Why must they live?"
"Have you already forgotten the voice of your instructor?" the voice returned. My theory was confirmed. I finally understood why the green monster felt so familiar.
"You are our experiment now," the instructor continued. "If you kill them, you sabotage the Academy's work."
The pieces of the puzzle finally locked into place. I understood why the recruits were chosen for their hardened, ruthless psyches. I understood why that man had forced me to sign the contract.
.
That day in the back alleys, I thought I had survived through my desperate pleas. I was wrong. That boy would never have killed me. Why else would someone of his power ever set foot in the filth of the back alleys?