‘Why won't anyone help me?’278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnQcOy2aIUA
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0goJhS5eSS
The thought crashed through Cel's mind as consciousness dragged him back to a world of agony. His body convulsed against cold stone, a broken sob tore from his throat. Everything hurt - his ribs, his face, his back where fingernails had carved away divine flesh like his father was peeling bark from a tree.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡedyk0ncqmJ
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRsGwytG63h
‘Mom…’278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrJwFb3SIua
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFvEfXz5LSg
She'd just stood there. Watched him bleed. Let it happen.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcuIc3BslpM
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1rC0QHyg3e
"No, no, no..." The words spilled out in a broken whisper as he curled tighter against the floor. His hands shook violently as they pressed against his mouth, trying to hold back the sounds that wanted to escape. Screams. More sobs. Anything to release the pressure building in his chest like a dam about to burst.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM6fEHYDu2S
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡho0P9CAO71
Iron bars swam in and out of focus through his tears. A cell. They'd thrown him in a cell like some wild beast. The stench of rot and waste made his stomach heave, but there was nothing left to vomit.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmkSKtaZM0H
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQWoyUnAGBe
'This isn't real.' The thought came sudden and desperate. 'This is a nightmare. I'll wake up, Father will apologize, Mom will hold me and—'278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKyx3Lk9mKy
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgbsafQPiAZ
But the pain was too sharp, too constant. The stone too cold against his burning skin.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhr1ymka2ox
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ00UdSb3Eoq
'They'll come for me,' he told himself, rocking back and forth on the filthy stone. 'Father was just angry. Mom will convince him. She has to. She's my mother, she loves me, she—'278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL9IXJowpZw
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7vdsnRswpY
The memory crashed back unbidden: His mother - who'd held him when he had nightmares, who'd sung lullabies in her ocean-blessed voice - had watched her husband nearly kill their son and done nothing. Darian, who used to sneak him sweets from the kitchen when they were younger, didn’t intervene either. Even little Lyra…278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVsdSrwI1d3
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8jPfzL7TM5
‘She cried,’ some desperate part of his mind whispered. ‘At least she cried for me...’278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2LBZbf3RIZ
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWDPvdLCxc5
But crying wasn't enough. Tears didn't stop fists. Didn't heal torn flesh. Didn't make him worth saving.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFJ6tJksNHc
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWstvnCZf4P
‘Fifteen years...’278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsK7EQiy3t1
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEroQoh2wCp
Fifteen years he'd tried to be good enough. Tried to make them proud. Tried to earn even a scrap of his father's approval. And the very moment he thought he'd finally succeeded…278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5SV5bV7Kw7
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMkq2oIHBjo
Cel's fingernails clawed at the stone beneath him, leaving bloody scratches as his body shook with grief. The Moon Goddess had chosen him. He was blessed by divinity itself, and yet his father had beaten him unconscious for it.1234 copyright protection274ＰＥＮＡＮＡUsRjHhzPkP 尼

'Why?' The question burned in his chest, over and over. 'Why wasn't it enough? Why was I never enough?'278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZPZuKeDq6n
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRWRyN2ImXL
But even as he asked it, a part of him already knew the answer. Nothing would have ever been enough. Not for his father. Not for any of them. 278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi2AxuoxY1L
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKt79wAAPlD
The realization seared through his veins like molten metal. Fresh tears burned tracks down his swollen cheeks as reality crashed over him again and again like waves against a drowning man.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlfrmK9ritN
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJp2bwAncRO
A whimper echoed from across the narrow corridor, so quiet he almost missed it through his own ragged breathing. Cel lifted his head, vision blurry with tears and pain. He saw another cell. Inside, a small form huddled against the wall - a child even younger than himself, wrapped in filthy rags.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbCKmX6d9gB
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsSp6iAqvq6
The sight hit him like another blow. This boy was suffering too. Abandoned too. And Cel couldn't even help himself, let alone anyone else.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiZixQjQ8pc
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7evWdf6Huc
"I'm sorry…," he whispered to the motionless child. For being weak. For being useless. For being exactly what his father said he was.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1wAeCmBaPh
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS775qp6Ek0
Footsteps echoed from somewhere above - slow and deliberate, growing closer. Cel's entire body flinched against the stone, panic flooding his veins. His father. It had to be his father, coming to finish what he'd started. To carve away more of the mark, or maybe just end it entirely.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpvKdHiEk6t
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkR5aSKcxbY
‘Please…,’ he thought desperately, pressing himself against the back wall as light flickered down the corridor. ‘Please, I'll be better. I'll try harder. I'll—’278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7UKCuOpUBF
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjzi3BiNApB
Even now, even after everything, a part of him still wanted to beg for forgiveness. Still believed he could somehow earn their love back if he just tried hard enough.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnHDe5puXDY
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAtJhtJlIGy
But the figure that emerged from the shadows wasn't Lord Aldric of House Solmar.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJty22Oml1F
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYAzHiIuuEq
A stranger in deep purple robes stood before his cell, face hidden behind a smooth black mask that reflected the lantern light like a void. The man said nothing at first, simply watched through empty eye holes as Cel shook, bled and tried not to fall apart completely.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2ZFy4XIOnR
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6djKski9Gt
Then he spoke with a sickening cheerful voice.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRWU1mgCbBr
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnSDfResu2L
"Ah, you're finally awake, little failure."278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhkWGgnfBoB
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLS5jL5mNZV
The word hit like a physical blow. Cel's body jerked against the wall, every muscle tensing. 'Failure failure failure' - the word crashed through his skull, tangling with his father's voice, with every whispered insult he'd ever endured..278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIXghiqLAso
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxtGmdrFGiJ
"Not so talkative, are we?" The masked figure's head tilted. "Well, that's understandable. Betrayal does tend to leave one speechless."278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD4zg4Iss2d
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC3yIj1J6RX
"My father—" Cel started, voice cracking. Some desperate part of him still clinging to the hope that this was all a misunderstanding. That his family would come. That they'd realize their mistake and—278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsCW102hGgI
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIO6TDWR5IJ
"Oh, your dear father?" The masked figure paused, savoring the moment. "He's the one who delivered you to us personally. Quite eager to be rid of his shame, from what I understand."278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpGZcoVTuXG
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQdTu8X3xTl
"You're lying!" His voice cracked on the shout, nearly breaking. But even as the echo died in the cell, he could feel the truth settling like lead in his chest.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSN74jozBQU
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ35bmBsc2uT
"Ah, you poor thing. But fear not. I'm a kind person. I'll explain your situation. Or... perhaps you'd rather not know? Ignorance is bliss, after all."278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP3LtawOQef
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK4fFio7KnN
Cel flinched with each sound, pressing himself deeper into the corner. But the need to understand, to make sense of this nightmare, overwhelmed even his terror.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxdIdUH54wl
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3uiGvci6cA
"Tell me." The words ripped from somewhere desperate inside him.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8sU8AdoOEr
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK4M6jQA7l5
"Really? Well, I hope you're ready for a shock." The masked figure paused, clearly relishing the moment. "You're now in the possession of the Children of the Voidmother, the greatest cult in the world!"278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMcAUmvkmpX
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRvTs0orSvP
'Children of the... what? Voidmother?'278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMCyBK5qDmD
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡctiipiT5PP
The word ‘cult’ cut through his confusion with terrible clarity. His father had sold him to a cult. Not just abandoned him - deliberately handed him over to these robed fanatics.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs3phNOJn6x
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlZOCnyf0jk
"And you have the honor of assisting us in our most important experiments."278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2ZV9yfeYnQ
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHmDaTCsbtS
The words slammed into his consciousness. He wasn't a prisoner, he was a specimen - something to be dissected and studied like the child across the hall, another broken test subject in this nightmare. His stomach lurched violently, and he doubled over as bile scorched his throat.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRMrOKOzdlg
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy60N4EpUsv
'No no no, they're going to—'278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2jouzkNffQ
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWrA1756M2z
"No need to be frightened." The voice kept going, cheerful and horrible. "I know you were seen as a disgrace by others, but to us, you're invaluable. Your divine blood is quite rare, you see. Even from such a... disappointment."278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ81Y2xpjhiX
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZmFaS1yjmc
'Divine blood? They want my blood because of the mark. Even though father tried to tear it away, the blessing runs deeper than skin.'278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKOAlsShNzm
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLQRKPWZrc0
His father hadn't just abandoned him in rage - this had been planned. Calculated. His divine blessing wasn't a shame to be hidden, it was a commodity to be sold.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhL24mObirJ
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKivxCOOk3o
"That's enough for now." The masked figure straightened, reaching into his robes. "Here's your meal, little failure."278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFgZb4qfE9q
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDQB2eKoQZH
Something wet and putrid struck the cell floor with a sickening splat. The stench hit immediately - rot and decay so thick Cel could taste it. His stomach heaved, but there was nothing left to bring up except acid that burned his throat.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGBk9uLlQm5
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHQzLT74FGb
As the lantern light retreated up the corridor, Cel forced himself to look at what had been thrown to him. In the dying glow, he could make out a chunk of meat so far gone it was more mold than flesh, crawling with things that moved in the darkness.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCsu83qNra4
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcUhoFxDjCs
The footsteps faded to nothing, leaving him alone with the stench and the soft whimpering from across the corridor.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyyz86gMant
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTXSJ07RjIr
From this day on, the cell became everything. Stone walls, iron bars, the constant drip of water somewhere in the darkness. Cel's wounds festered without treatment, angry red lines spreading from where his father's fingernails had carved away divine flesh. 278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBERGfsoo6P
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ7sd6QXCtk
What remained was worse than the wound - a grotesque crater of scar tissue where the Moon Goddess's blessing had once shone.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHBiEWdgCWv
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpoxiPzK6zg
Hunger clawed at his belly like a living thing. For three days, he stared at the rotting meat, his mind fracturing between desperate hope and dawning horror. 'They'll come,' he told himself even as the stench made him gag. 'Mom will realize what happened and she'll come for me and—'278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAt8ZE3GlI8
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Id5kQpyte
On the fourth day, his hands shook so badly he could barely lift his head. The hunger was eating him from the inside, his body beginning to consume itself. Still, a part of him waited. Listened for familiar footsteps. For his mother's voice calling his name.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1p0O9Tzrzg
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4WcXuasbEO
On the fifth day, he crawled to the putrid scrap and took his first bite.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTrkEPGvkve
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuPeZoJjs0j
His body convulsed, rejecting the poison. Bile and blood splattered the cell floor as he retched until nothing remained in his stomach but agony. But even as he vomited, tears streaming down his face, he understood what this meant.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxscJy0Veuk
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡegLyALwbVu
'No one is coming.'278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJSPoTGP6MV
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡofi0qVKtEZ
The next meal, he managed two bites before the sickness took him. Then three. Then four.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDSQvtEt7bf
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI8jU3kbBaI
Slowly, horribly, his body learned to accept what wasn't food. His sense of taste died first - a mercy perhaps. Then his stomach stopped fighting so hard. Within weeks, he could choke down entire portions without vomiting, though every meal felt like swallowing death itself.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4zBEJlQhzb
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhqEUrYbcGP
They came for him  on the seventh day - multiple figures in deep purple robes moving with practiced efficiency. One held his arms while another pressed a curved blade against the veins in his wrist, drawing blood in steady, measured cuts.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEMsb4rvxYT
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSgsyh8QdI1
"Please," Cel whispered as the blade bit deep. "I won't tell anyone. I'll do whatever you want. Just... please don't hurt me."278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOjvCWsrhrl
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJhaHyhbpTU
No one answered. They finished their work in silence and left him collapsed on the stone floor, watching his own blood disappear into the darkness.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHu2BgVbinB
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbSbrBENtoj
Days bled into weeks. The routine ground him down like a millstone - rotten food, blood letting, endless hours staring at damp walls while his mind slowly fractured. His only companion was the boy across the corridor, a child even smaller than himself with hollow eyes and arms covered in fresh cuts that never quite healed.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfHT4XZLcnn
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtn805j0TcF
"Ren," the boy whispered one night when the purple robes were gone. His voice was barely audible, but in the perfect silence of their prison, it carried like a shout.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqKCE3ABZtT
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlKYQbir7pB
"Celvian," he whispered back, the first time he'd spoken his own name in weeks.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5tpDu1oIHD
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡESSZhxzytd
They never said much - words felt dangerous here, as if speaking too loudly might draw attention they couldn't afford. But knowing someone else breathed in this place, someone else suffered, made the darkness a fraction less absolute.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡduqFBcPpYz
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN26pBxbBPP
Until the morning Ren didn't return from his experiment.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2qFs4Zvy5P
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRjRrk01u2s
Cel pressed his face against the bars, straining to see into the empty cell across the way. "Ren?" His voice echoed off stone walls. "Ren!"278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsXuVm4pWXU
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZq5zckfxF4
Silence.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzZyfmfFkHh
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDiwpOzOPqU
The boy's thin blanket still lay crumpled where he'd left it. A crust of bread sat untouched near the cell door. But Ren was gone, as if he'd never existed at all.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhbxQLmAed9
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSJ88eDSudA
That night, alone in the complete darkness, something fundamental cracked inside Cel's chest. Not broke - that had happened long ago. This was the sound of the last piece of his old self finally giving way. The last ember of hope that someone, somewhere, still cared whether he lived or died.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg3I6pCnWje
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz0NE8iQ8uF
The rage that followed wasn't clean or pure. It was jagged and desperate, born from weeks of betrayal, abandonment, and helpless fury. It started as a whisper in the back of his mind during the endless hours between experiments.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs120tnurgW
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNsIzSLkP1O
'I hate them.'278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoxIow7MCnL
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjc8Jx33kBv
Their faces burned behind his eyelids: his father's disgust, his mother's frozen stillness, Darian’s regretful look, little Lyra’s sobbing. Each memory carved itself deeper into his mind, playing over and over until they became scars on his thoughts.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQHUHDHJhzA
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHsoL3iQaDV
Sleep brought no escape either - only nightmares that played on endless repeat. Sometimes he relived that morning in the dining hall, his father's fists connecting with his flesh while his mother stood frozen, his brother watching and his sister sobbing. Other nights, he was back on the stone table as masked figures opened his veins, their blades cutting deeper and deeper until he woke screaming.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCvQMdf9ZCZ
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRJ0ulbhuip
But the worst dreams were the ones where his family came to rescue him, where his mother held him and whispered apologies, where his father said he was proud - only for Cel to wake in the stinking darkness and remember that no one was coming. Each false hope burned away another piece of the love he'd once felt, leaving only raw hatred in its place.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj1GfYBY3QX
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa4DRr150X3
With each blade that opened his skin, with every drop of blood they stole, with every piece of rotting meat he forced down his throat, the hatred grew. It filled the hollow spaces where love and hope had once lived, burning steady and sure. Without it, he would have simply ceased to exist, becoming nothing at all.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQZjB5zNLvQ
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY1SK4e5GCb
The hatred became his anchor. His reason to endure another day, another experiment, another nightmare. It whispered promises in the darkness: that he would survive this, that he would become strong, that someday they would all pay for what they'd done to him.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMn4pVS9pwE
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKk6UnCnpiT
It was the only thing keeping him sane.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfzCiw5PKIX
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEbzVXH54iG
One day - he'd lost count of how many - the masked figures came as always. But as Cel crawled toward the putrid scrap of meat, something felt different. Underneath the familiar stench of rot was something else - a faint, sweet smell that didn't belong.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwzttPxeEkL
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl7zmtZNqC6
His stomach cramped with hunger, overriding any caution. He took his first bite, the familiar nothingness filling his mouth.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnRR60g2qJw
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL1vkbq8tTK
By the time he finished, his vision began to blur. A spreading warmth flowed through his veins like liquid fire. The stone walls rippled and flowed, reality becoming fluid around him.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8shCZ2yqlg
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrZYrLdI7ty
'What did they—'278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡipD4syYde3
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡahHi4mUmy7
The thought dissolved as darkness swallowed everything - the bars, the stone, the empty cell where Ren used to be.278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf23Vktbk4m
278Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH69ksdHKrd
When consciousness returned, he was no longer in his cell. He found himself in an unfamiliar landscape - a place filled with ash.1234 copyright protection274ＰＥＮＡＮＡdNpiRlLJYW 尼

216.73.216.134