The room was almost pitch black, aside from the dancing orange flame atop a desk not far away from him. The candle cast its luminescence onto the walls, which were made from solid white marble, as opposed to the walls in the rest of the house, which were made from wood.

  The boy stepped further into the room. At this point, he could tell that whatever was the source of the grotesque odour may very well be next to him, only he couldn't see because of the darkness. The boy tiptoed to the other end of the room and grabbed the candle, and in one swift motion, spun around, spreading the light to his surroundings. As soon as he did, his pupils trembled like an earthquake, and he almost dropped the candle.

  The boy gaped in horror at a skull with empty eye sockets, blindly staring at him. As the pale orange light washed over the shadowy room, the boy could see dozens of body parts encapsulated within green-tinted cylinders. Hands, muscle tendons, eyeballs, and even hearts floated inside cylinders as gas bubbled up to keep them in optimum condition.

  "What... is this?" He muttered as he felt strength leaving his body. Suddenly, a force struck the back of the boy's neck. He spat out saliva and fell towards the ground, but just as he passed out, he looked at the perpetrator, praying that it wouldn't be who he thought it was.

  But fate was too cruel.

  As the fire of consciousness rapidly faded away, he made out the silhouette of the figure standing above him. His final gaze was one of sadness more than fear.

  When the candle hit the floor, it burnt away at its wax, casting a larger fire enough to illuminate the entire room - including Rosaria's twisted grin.

  ***

  The boy's eyes fluttered open, and slowly by slowly the orange hue of candle flames filled his sight. Pain in both of his wrists immediately made him focus, and he struggled with whatever it was that was restraining him. He slowly took his eyes up and to his dismay, both of his arms were bound to a horizontal wooden pole. He slowly began recollecting the events that took place before he ended up in this situation.

  "Looks like you've woken up already!" A feminine voice called to him.

  The boy lethargically took his gaze forward, and sure enough, Rosaria stepped out of the darkness wearing a white lab coat, which was smeared with red. "Who would've thought faking a smile and spending a few krecos on treats would be all it took to lure in a prey. You really are quite sturdy though... fufufu, you'll sell well for sure!"

  The boy's pupils quivered under his messy bangs. The woman who had treated him with the love and kindness he had longed for since birth, the woman who he had warmed up to after the darkest time in his life, the woman who had spoiled him with food and delicacies... was gone.

  Or rather, she had never existed to begin with.

  'Why is life... so cruel...' the boy muttered out the only thought going through his mind. His pupils somehow looked completely devoid of any soul.

  Strangely enough, the boy didn't have much of a reaction. He simply felt... nothing; his heart and mind were akin to an empty void, as if he had endured even the darkest of destinies.

  "Fufufufu!" The boy vaguely saw flashes of Rosaria's warm smile in contrast to her hysterical laughter, "Sorry, kid, but I'm going to have to dissect you and sell you off in the Avyssos. Since you're young, your organs will be worth much more than those oldies."

  The boy stared at her with an expression as cold as stone. Looking at his face, Rosaria cringed in disgust, "Don't look at me like that! Who fed you, clothed you, and looked after you these past few days, huh?"

  "If you're going to act like this... " She walked closer to him. As her body became more and more visible through the candlelight, so did the glint of a silver knife. She reached out and pressed the tip against the boy's stomach, "Fufufu, maybe I should start with your stomach for all the food I gave you?"

  The boy remained still without making a single noise as the woman had her way with him.

  "Or perhaps... " Rosaria dragged the knife to the top of his eyes and drew an arc over it, reaping blood. "Should I take out those eyes which have experienced the nature of the outside world that I was kind enough to show you?"

  Blood seeped down his right eye and down his dark eye bags.

  With a lopsided grin, Rosaria took the blade and drew across the top of this other eye too. With his eyes completely soaked, and the sclera stained red with blood dripping down his face, the boy was a truly harrowing sight to see.

  Despite this, the boy's eyes didn't so much as quiver

  Noticing his lack of reaction, Rosaria sighed loudly and retracted the blade, "Haaaaah! You're boring! It really is no fun if you're not bawling your eyes out, begging for your life! Not to worry, though! Fufufu. I'll take my sweet time with you."

  "Gawr..." A soft moan echoed through the room. The boy's eyebrows widened as this moan was the same sound he had heard throughout the day. He looked to the side and, to his alarm, he saw a white dog- no, wolf cub, which was bound to the wall with chains. It had a limb missing, along with a claw-shaped scar at the top of one of its eyes, and blood trailed down the white marble wall. Its blue eyes were barely open as it groaned in pain. It looked like it was starved and had not eaten in days.

  "You really do seem like him?" Rosaria smiled with glee.

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  A faint sense of dread and rage welled up in his heart as he saw the wolf cub in this state. He struggled against his restraints, but to no avail. Having noticed this, Rosaria's smile turned into a burst of laughter, "Fufufufu! Look at you! I was right when I said you two would be best friends. It's fine though, in the name of our Lord and Saviour Haimos, big sis will cut both of you up and sell every last piece together!"

  The boy's eyes glinted murderously, and his heart seared with flames. Having incited a reaction from the boy, excitement arose within her so much that she didn't notice the boy's dominant wrist twisting rapidly within the ropes. The friction burnt away at the boy's skin, and soon enough, it clung onto his flesh. Nevertheless, his expression didn't waver.

  Rosaria headed towards the corner of the room, "Yes! That's the spirit, kid. Just stay right here. Fufufu, big sis is going to get her equipment so we can get your surgery started straight away."

  He slowly closed his eyes as soon as the woman disappeared from his sight. The next time he opened them, his stoic expression was replaced with one of melancholy and despondency.

  "I thought she was...kind." The boy muttered ever so quietly, his pupils hollow, "I thought the little warmth she gave me was real. Why- why is everything like this? Why are people like this? They're just greedy and selfish; fake and evil."

  The boy's voice quivered and cracked as he spoke slowly.

  At this point, the white burns around his wrists slowly started producing blood, dyeing the underside of the rope red, which acted as a lubricant, thus making his turns more vigorous and efficient. His pupils trembled in pain, but the boy simply gritted his teeth and gave it no attention.

  "Does kindness and warmth... really exist?" He questioned as if completely oblivious to the excruciating pain he was feeling in his wrist.

  Rosaria's footsteps echoed in his direction once again, and he slowly reduced the momentum.

  "In the name of our Lord and Saviour Haimos, I'll chop you up until you start crying and thrashing for mercy, just like the hundreds of other kids I've lured!" Rosaria smirked evilly as she placed the toolkit on a small stool next to the boy. She slowly took out a scalpel and examined it closely, "You didn't have many friends in that disgusting slum you lived in, right? Not to worry! You will make a lot of friends in the afterlife, fufufu!"

  Rosaria turned to look at the boy, and her laugh slowly faded away. The boy remained apathetic to her insults and merely stared at her like she was a crazy woman shouting nonsense. Rosaria's face slowly contorted, and she roared at the top of her lungs, "WHY THE HELL AREN'T YOU BEGGING FOR MERCY?!"

  She then kicked the wall with all of her strength before grabbing the boy by the hair and forcing him to make eye contact with her. She stared deeply into his dark purple eyes, before she chuckled once again, and held the scalpel right in front of his eyes, "Fufufu... It’s fine, we'll get there! I'll start with these pretty eyes of yours! I'm sure they'll be worth a good hundred krecos at the very least!"

  The boy's bloodstained pupils remained in place as if he no longer cared about what was going to happen to him. Rosaria smirked, "I'll show you pain, you arrogant brat!"

  As the scalpel inched closer to his eyes, the boy's pupils widened all of a sudden. This change startled Rosaria, but it was too late. In that instant, the boy bit down on his tongue, and as his teeth sank into his own flesh, blood erupted from them and sprayed down on the woman's eyes.

  "ARRRGH!" Rosaria roared in frustration as her vision turned red, desperately trying to wipe the blood off. However, the boy swiftly lifted both of his legs and kicked outwards. Though his body was very frail, the power from both of his legs detonated on Rosaria's abdomen, which sent her tumbling back, "Arrrrgghhh! You bastard! I'm gonna kill you, you bastard!"

  The boy robotically undid his restraint on his dominant wrist, where there was now a ring of dripping blood and burnt skin. Then, slowly, he picked up the scalpel that Rosaria had dropped.

  Rosaria managed to wipe away the blood which clogged her vision, but her sight was still blurry. "Fufufu arrgh! I'll do unspeakable acts to you, you-"

  Before she could finish her sentence, excruciating pain zapped through her entire being, and she let out a blood-curdling scream. Blood sprayed like a fountain from one of her beautiful eyes, which the boy had a sharp scalpel thrust in.

  "ARRRRRRGHHHH!" The woman continued to scream as tears flooded down her other eye. The boy narrowed his eyes at her coldly, before twisting the scalpel, initiating a sickening squelch as the blade ripped apart her flesh. "AAAAAAAGH UUUUGHHH! IT HURTSSSSSSS!"

  The boy then pulled out the scalpel, and a geyser of blood came gushing out.

  "HUUWAAAAAAAAAGH!!" The gory sight of her bodily fluids flowing out, induced by the soul-wrenching pain she felt, caused her to scream so loud that one would be able to hear it a few hundred metres away.

  The reason she had her house built in the middle of a remote woods was that this location was generally hard to find, so there wouldn’t be anyone there to get in her way if the cries of her victims escaped, unlike if she had lived in the villages. However, at this moment, it was working against her.

  Rosaria's shrieks pierced the night, but no one would be able to hear her cries. Her face was death pale, and she looked in horror at the boy, "NOO! NOOOO! GET AWAY FROM ME YOU DEMON!"

  "Does it hurt?" He asked coldly, his face lacking a shred of sympathy. He then held up the knife and took a single step towards Rosaria, who, in return, inched several paces backwards. The na?ve, broken boy she had lured in with smiles and sweets took his advances towards her like a grim reaper.

  "Do you feel pain?" The boy continued walking forward, blood dripping down the knife. Somewhere beneath his erratic breathing, a faint whisper curled into his ears.

  *‘… Kill her.’*

  It was cold, raspy and familiar. The same voice he had heard when he killed his parents a few days ago.

  The woman whimpered as she edged backwards more and more; however, she soon hit the wall - a dead end. Her expression became ghastly as the boy finally stood in front of her again.

  "You were just laughing a minute ago, and now you're on the ground begging for your life like a worm."

  She forced a kind smile through her pain, but it came somewhat twisted and extremely desperate, "P-put the knife down! It was just a prank! Your big sis didn't really want to do any of-!"

  The boy's eyes contracted all of a sudden, and the knife swiftly, like a vulture, pierced right into the woman's chest. Rosaria, who was completely taken by surprise, robotically took her head down, and she didn't utter a single noise. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head, and her corpse hit the floor.

  Unbeknownst to the boy, before she died, her body glowed, and a small fragment of a certain intangible entity drifted off her body.

  He didn't look at her lifeless body for a second and headed to the back of the room. His expression was extremely fatigued, and he seemed completely dead inside.

  The boy took a mallet from Rosaria's collection of torture devices, whereupon he smashed the chains which restrained the little wolf cub. It instantly squealed at the boy, its expression just as tired out as his, but the boy didn't spare it a second glance and walked out of the house.

  The glow of the red moon, deepened and warped by a lunar eclipse, reflected off the trails of blood a lone boy left in his wake as he limped forward in silence, not knowing where he was heading. His eyes were shut due to the blood that seeped from the top of his brows. He continued walking for hours upon hours in the cold winter night until, at some point, he collapsed.