"Hey! The hell is all this damn ruckus, you damn brats!"
One of the ship guards appeared, his face twisted in irritation and it wasn't just because of the storm raging outside. He looked down, saw Abel clutching the body, and was disgusted by it.
"Come on… Come on! Wake up!" Abel cried, his voice fully desperate.
"Hey, you little shit!"
Abel slowly turned his head and met the guard's cold gaze, his expression darkening even moreat Abel's defiance.
"H-hey… you gotta help him. He needs help, please…" Abel begged, but deep down he knew it wasn't going to change anything.
The guard clicked his tongue in annoyance before driving his boot into Abel's gut. "Shut up! You damn rat!"
The kick sent Abel flying and crashing to the floor with a heavy thud. His pain startled the other kids making them all flinch in fear.
He was already in a lot of pain and this only added to the pain to his weakened body.
He coughed violently, nearly vomiting from the sudden blow.
The guard knelt beside the dead body and clicked his tongue again. "Humph… looks like we've got another corpse on our hands. What a pain in the ass."
He straightened up and then shouted, "Hey! Somebody get the boss in here — we've got another one!"
While Abel lay on the floor, clutching his stomach, the guard returned with their boss — the tall man dressed entirely in black. The man knelt to inspect the boy's body, and then stood with an air of indifference.
"Right… get the rest of them some blankets and extra chains and restraints," he ordered flatly, before turning away. "And toss the body into the water."
Both guards replied in unison. "Yes sir!"
After they hoisted the boy's dead body and carried it toward the exit.
And once again all Abel could do was helplessly watch as someone he knew was once again taken from him. He reached out his shaking hand and whispered, "No… please, don't take him her… leave don't leave me… mom"
After everything slowly went dark.
***
Outside the storm went on howling with no mercy. Showing no sign of ending anytime soon.
Inside the ship, the kids were all given some blankets to warm themselves up from the cold.
It may have seemed like an act of mercy, but it was nothing more than a mockery to their long-awaited sentence.
A bad joke, after everything that had just happened Abel.
Who just sat in silence doing nothing and saying nothing. It was better for him to spare what little energy he had left.
Still…
This whole damn fucking nightmare… was just getting started.
After an eternity later, the ship hit land.
Every child inside the boat was dragged out, then lined up and chained to one another.
And then forced to begin marching.
Dark clouds covered the sky and lightning tore open the heavens. The cold rain lashed against their bare skin.
Abel's breath trembled as he and the other children were all shackled wrist-to-wrist stumbled barefoot through the thick wet mud, the path ahead of him led to a grim fortress looming at the edge of the shoreline.
Their long journey across the sea was relentlessly brutal and the land they now stepped on felt no different.
"Move, you damn rats!" one of the ship guards barked, yanking the chain forward. Abel winced in pain as the metal cuffs bit into his wrists, his skin raw from days of constant grinding.
'Damn you… you damn bastard!' he thought as he gave the man a burning glare. And the guy sure didn't like that.
"What the hell are you looking at? You wanna die, you damn filthy rat?!" he yelled.
Abel just stared at him and said nothing, though in his mind he just wanted to spit out, "At your ugly mug, you damn piece of shit."
Then suddenly one of the children fell to the ground, yanking the chain taut. And the guards snarled, "Hey! Get up, you useless piece of shit!" forcing the child up from the muddy ground.
Abel gritted his teeth because — they were acting as if the children were in any position to resist after the inhumane hospitality they had been shown.
Eventually, they were all led to the front of a massive fortress where a bearded man, probably in his sixties stood waiting — composed, dressed in a luxurious suit untouched by the rain, which… was probably because there was a kid standing beside him holding an umbrella.
The man looked down on them with the eyes of someone inspecting the new batch of livestock.
He smiled while stroking his beard.
"Welcome," he announced, his voice unnaturally calm despite all the chaos of the storm. "My name is Lucien Royal, founder and head of the great Royal Enterprise,"
"You are all now under the care and guidance of the Royal Enterprise. And in due time, your well-being will be assured that, and you will all earn your rightful place here. And with the obedience you all show… you shall be rewarded."
The way he was putting it to some… didn't actually sound all that bad — all they had to do was just obey and they could live comfortably.
But to Abel that was nothing more than a big fat lie.
"Bullshit…!" Abel muttered.
The kid beside him flinched, looking at Abel nervously and he hesitated. Lucien narrowed his eyes and asked the kid that was beside Abel, "You. What did he say?"
The boy swallowed hard not knowing whether he should answer or just keep his trembling mouth shut. But before he could, Abel slowly stepped forward, bruised and soaked by the cold pouring water.
"I said… you're nothing but a damn liar," He spat. "You don't care about our 'well-being.' You don't even see us as people. We're just nothing but disposable tools to you — just a bunch of commodities for you to break, sell, and discard whenever you find the mood."
Lucien's smile didn't waver. "Ohhh! I see we have a sharp tongue amongst us, foolish… however interesting."
He snapped his fingers.
Then pain ripped through Abel's whole body, a sudden strike across his back and then another.
None of the other kids looked out of fear.
And the one lashing out didn't hold back either; each blow carved raw agony into Abel's skin.
He fell to his knees.
The blood from his wounds faded in the rain.
He didn't scream; he just grit his teeth and withstanded it.
He refused to submit to their cruelty. He turned his head to get a damn good look at the bastard who struck him.
He saw the tall figure in a black overcoat and hat coiling a whip he had just used with a dead-eyed expression.
Lucien then gestured to the man. "Now, I almost forgot to properly introduce the Enterprise's most valuable enforcer. Please, welcome… Varrick." He continued, and the guy named Varrick removed his hat and bowed. "He is responsible for the discipline here, and he will also see to your… training. And as you can see…"
He approached Abel, who was still kneeling on the ground, and looked down on him before speaking coldly: "Any and every infraction any of you commit will result in severe punishment. Is that clear?"
Abel looked up and glared defiantly at him, and Lucien casually offered Abel a clean handkerchief. "Stand up, boy. And clean yourself, your face is a mess."
Abel slowly stood up, and with rain and blood in his eyes… he spat blood on the cloth.
Lucien paused. Then chuckled darkly. "You'll certainly be fun to tame."
He then turned and walked away.
Although Abel wanted to lunge at him, he was giving a blinding blow to the head that sent him crashing into the muddy earth with a heavy thud!
His vision immediately began darkening.
Slipping into unconsciousness, the last thing Abel saw was Lucien entering his fortress while his lap dog Varrick stood over him.
The bastard who gave the final order to kill his mother.
The world then drowned in darkness and in this endless void, the crushing pain and the deep seething unforgivable rage coalesced into one silent internal scream.
A feral fury was born from the invisible chains wrapped around Abel's enslaved soul.
I WANT MORE POWER!
The abyss around him trembled.
[Trampling on the altar of despair the enslaved soul has shattered the chains that bind faith itself.]
[Thus, this soul has been fully granted recognition as a: USER.]
[Do you accept the power being given to you?]
[Yes] [No]
...
Abel didn't need to think. He only needed revenge.
"I accept."
A blinding light pierced the void.
[The System has now been awakened.]