Anyone who fights monsters should be careful not to become a monster himself. And as for the man who scans the bottom of the abyss, the abyss scans him back.
- Friedrich Nietzsche
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23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM2skFY0o8m
POV IAN
An icy chill runs down my spine as the words Aaron sang seven years earlier on his sensational debut echo in my head. The nursery rhyme, once associated with innocent play, now took on a sinister hue, a macabre warning of the evil intent that animated this man, for yes, this song was not his. It was the symbol of the gang that raised me, The Obsidian Circle. Aaron was proclaiming war on us, literally throwing himself into the lion's den, alone, even appropriating our anthem.23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡinhSQW5QB2
- 1.2.3. Walk straight, make the right choice. In the woods, I see you...23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡES0nTYCh4y
I remember the terror I felt when he waltzed in on several of our men, shattering the peace and quiet of our refuge in the absence of our leader. His face was contorted with rage, his eyes red with murderous madness. His body was shaking frantically, adrenalin flowing like water.23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXUChUZckuG
Our men threw themselves at him in ever-increasing numbers, without succeeding in bringing him down, and he stalked us relentlessly across this great space, like a hungry wolf pursuing its prey, his heavy footsteps echoing on the ground like a death knell.23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCOG4wAucwZ
- 4.5.6. Your beautiful, slippery cherry blood, what a delight...23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡacljen15Cq
Hiding helplessly behind a tree, I watched the tug-of-war from afar, my heart beating wildly. The air was electric, charged with palpable tension. Each blow struck, each parry executed, seemed to seal the fate of one, but not the other. His blows were swift, his gestures unpredictable.23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaJnTq8Sxr9
According to the boss, I was an incompetent, a fool. I wasn't as gifted as the others in the fighting arts, to tell the truth, I'd just become a chore stooge and file archivist, so to throw myself at him would be to sign my death warrant, but so would standing by and doing nothing.23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrGCPbi3CPE
I took a step forward before running in his direction. Blood was everywhere on the gray cobblestones, the walls, the leaves of the trees, now tinged with the deep color of his eyes.23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjmNgEwVQWR
Aaron was gradually approaching the front door, ready to destroy us all, even going so far as to stalk us through the great manor. He couldn't have been from any other gang; there's a rule against bloodshed in shelters. For hundreds of years, absolutely no one crazy enough has dared to cross that line.
- 7.8.9. Cut your throat like an ox. A knife against your face...23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYrrJNTbyy5
If he wasn't our enemy, he could have been our leader, that's what I told myself when I saw him come to challenge a gang single-handedly. He was imposing, much more than anyone else here, in a way, he had my respect.23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpBTIdPIlL2
This guy was definitely a nutcase, happily shearing off anyone who challenged him, continuing to sing the rhyme.23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAJopy9NblD
- 10.11.12. Headline news! I know you're jealous of me...23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRv3MqMAIeo
Ready to throw myself at his back, only two meters away, I clenched my fists when I saw his face turn to face me and I thought my last hour had come. Aaron's brute strength contrasted cruelly with my fragility, and I saw no way out of this unequal confrontation. I froze, inert, not knowing what to do, but just as he was about to deliver a single, surely fatal blow, a silhouette emerged from the shadows, defying the imminent threat. Naïn.23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5i2qjQq6Ii
Finally, after an eternity of fighting between the two of them that seemed to last a lifetime, Aaron triumphed against us all. Naïn, defeated and broken, collapsed to the ground, leaving behind only a deafening silence. My breath was short, seized with anguish at the sight of my friend, my comrade, the son of the chief, our greatest asset, bathing in a pool of blood.23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡErUhlLtfS0
Exhaustion was written all over Aaron's face, but his eyes shone with a victorious light. He approached me, staggering, and knelt down, freezing one of his unbruised eyes on mine. His movements were slow and measured, without any threat towards me. I had watched him the whole time, and I knew that if I did nothing to him... If I did not try to stop him from taking revenge, then he would spare my life. I understood today that this was how it was, that he was not trying to kill, but simply to get rid of the people he hated.
He brought his hands closer to me, wrapping them around my neck, with a weak gesture. I continued to stare at him, without saying anything. He lowered his eyes to my pants from which a pen and a notebook had just fallen, and as if he had no more energy to persist, he then placed them on my shoulders. Then, Aaron said to me: 23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf77H6b7Xqj
- You're a smart boy. You have a chance to escape, right now. You're the archivist, aren't you?
- Yes, I answered him, holding his gaze, from which drops of blood fell from his eyelashes and his open brow left a pool of blood on his pale face.
- Where's your boss? It wasn't a question, but an order, just the tone of his hoarse and low voice made my big eyes shine.
- I-I don't know, I stammered.
It was the truth, I didn't know it. Knowing that I wasn't lying, he stood up, and the wind waltzed his warrior scent, enveloping me in a scent of blood, steel, rage, and resentment. He stroked my hair, while one of his hands still held his knife, and whispered: 23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL4eREYRRvJ
- I'm going to get rid of him and then, you'll be at peace, too.
His red eyes and his inflamed face were still staring at me, as I ran towards Naïn, strewn on the ground near the porch, to realize the gravity of his injuries. My tears did not flow, no, we had been trained to no longer feel anything, to become living weapons. However, my throat was tight, to the point of having trouble breathing, I shook him to wake him up, without success...
Aaron grabbed a small piece of paper from his pants pocket and let it fall to the ground in my direction.
- If you really want to run away.
It only took me a few seconds to understand that it was a promise, that he was the only one who could protect us, Naïn and me. He was the only one who could defend the city. He had agreed to be a monster, to become a hero, my hero. 23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ64dts6UOg9
My gaze, fixed on his back, entering the shelter, his head held high, his shoulders raised and leaving behind each of his steps, the trace of blood under his soles. He was twirling his knife between his fingers, whistling and humming.
— 13.14.15. Embracing your embrace. Your temple glued to the gun...
And as he walked through the front door, I retrieved the small card with The Red Alliance - Aaron Morrigan written on it, along with his phone number, and stuffed it into the pocket of my shorts.23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4z8FalB3RL
— 16.17.18. Your cry finally reduced. Everything stops at midnight...
Crouching on the gray cobblestone floor, I scanned the horizon toward the front door, waiting for my salvation to appear, my only chance to escape this hell.
Naïn lay at my feet, his body broken by the fighting, stretched out on his back, vulnerable. I examined his body delicately, examining the wounds that lacerated his skin. His breathing was short, irregular, like a ship in distress. His cheeks, a cadaverous pallor, did not bode well. His jet-black eyes, closed under their heavy lids, gave him a peaceful, almost serene expression. His black hair, usually so well-groomed, was disheveled by the violence of the battle. His fingers, clenched with pain, dug into the dead leaves that littered the ground, as if to seek a final comfort.
A noise behind me made me jump. I turned around and saw the leader of the mercenaries drop his bags of provisions, horrified by the sight of Naïn, his son, and his men on the ground. His two bodyguards, also stunned, stopped, their gaze fixed on the bodies lying there. 23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Pyc5Eurcv
With a sudden gesture, the leader signaled me to move aside. The leader advanced towards his son slowly, without showing an ounce of sadness. He grabbed him by the hair, making Naïn moan slightly. The leader raised his hand to slap him, to punish him for letting the enemy in.
- Stop! I screamed, desperate.
I was no longer the same, no longer the one who trembled in front of everyone else, nor the one who threw himself into the water to avoid trouble, but one of the bodyguards rushed at me and lifted me by the collar before swinging me further away, like a puppet.
I knelt down, my head spinning, my vision blurry. The throbbing pain in my shoulder reminded me of the brutality of his gesture, but awakened in me the irrepressible urge to run away. 23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡonbTh4zxw9
From what little I could visualize, the chief was shaking his son like a doll, shouting insults at him, disappointed to see that his son was nothing but a nobody, that he would never equal him.
- Let him go! A high-pitched voice ordered behind me.
I turned around and saw Maya, her eyes ablaze with fury, pointing a pistol at the chief. Her weapon was shaking slightly, but her determination was unwavering. The hesitant bodyguard had never seen Maya so determined, so dangerous. She was the chief's little protégé and Naïn's crush, one of the few women in this shelter, but also the most reckless one.
- Please don't hurt him anymore! Leave him alone. I-I couldn't protect him, or everyone else, it's my fault. It's all my fault! I shouted to the boss.
Suddenly, short of breath, I felt tears welling up in me, my whole body trembling, while the nursery rhyme was heard, accompanied by the squeaking of a sharp knife blade, leaning against the wall. 23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeMXzRSCciS
— 19.20.21. Your ground becomes mine. I score the point...
Aaron stood in front of us, his deep red jacket covering a shirt top of the same color due to the blood impregnated in the fibers of the fabric. His red hair stuck to his forehead, beads of sweat traced their way as best they could in this sea of red. His serene air was no longer what it had been earlier.
As he laid eyes on the chief, his jaw clenched. His cherry red eyes changed to a much more saturated shade, a flamboyant crimson... And it intimidated me.
Maya changed her target and now pointed the gun at the stranger. Her face contorted with anger, too much to let him escape from here alive. The leader asked Maya to lower her weapon, but she refused, and as the bodyguards rushed at her, she quickly dodged, charging straight at the red-clad man and firing three shots. 23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKUGN6PpPTx
Maya was the best fighter of all the women in the shelter, and even better than most of our men. Aaron, despite his fatigue and injuries, was extremely lucky to only receive one of the bullets on the outside of his arm. A new battle began: bare-handed, he answered her blows with force, not even bothering to look at her, his gaze fixed on the leader, a smirk on his face.
Naïn's blood flowed onto the ground, tracing the contours of the gravel a sticky red. Some of his hair had stuck to his forehead between the sweat and the hemoglobin. His fingers were turning white, the pain intensifying, getting closer and closer to agony.
— 22.23.24. Your grayish face. No use struggling...
He grabbed her and retrieved the gun, with which he fired two bullets, one for each bodyguard who lay sprawled on the ground, a bullet in the middle of their skulls.
Maya began to scream and bit Aaron's arm savagely. At least, before she received the same treatment as the guards...
— 25.26.27. Of your silhouette. I will keep only your skeleton...
She collapsed in front of Naïn, her blood mixing with that of the man she loved. Naïn, his eyes now wide open by the detonations of the gunshots. Paralyzed by terror, he could only sob, his intense tears contrasting with his usually tiny eyes. His mouth wide open let out a silent scream, stifled by the fear and horror of the scene unfolding before him.
Aaron, with a determined step, approached the leader, his objective clear and precise. His cold, merciless gaze left no doubt as to his intentions.
— Kid. Go get the records.
His words echoed in my head, breaking me from the inside.
— I should have killed you a long time ago, the leader spat at me, his contempt and hatred evident in every syllable. You're nothing but a miserable traitor, Ian.
— Now! Aaron thundered, breaking the oppressive silence that reigned.Despite the terror that gripped me, I gathered my wavering courage and made a promise to myself that I would never let myself be manipulated, never again intimidated, ever.
— Only if you promise to save my friend.
I clenched my fists, my nails digging into my palms. I had to find a way to save him, to get him out of this hell. But how?
The promise I had torn from Aaron offered me a slim chance, a fragile hope in a world filled with darkness, which I decided to cling to. I stood up and ran inside.
Bodies were scattered on the floor, some dead, others still alive, moaning in pain. Our shelter had been painted into a battlefield, some walls had collapsed, furniture overturned, sending dust flying.I climbed the stairs, feeling nauseous when I heard the chief sing the end of the nursery rhyme, for the last time, not giving Aaron the privilege.
— 28.29.30. Encrusted with a surprising mark. Of a slow and permanent pain..23Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo0wdrjWb8R
