"AAAARGGGGHH!!"
My scream tore through the air and echoed in the narrow verantha. The footsteps halted for a moment as the thug advancing towards the desk, stopped abruptly.
I fell on my back as I saw the stain melt into my palm. I screamed and crawled backward as if I was trying to escape from my hand.
Sweat trickled down my face, trying to make me calm with no result. My eyes stayed open to not miss even the slightest detail around me. And I saw the thugs looking at me frightened exactly like I was. But their frightened faces quickly faded as their eyes narrowed at me.
My eyes locked onto them, for a moment I forgot about the stain that hosted itself in my palm. The thug, who was closest to me, looked like a bear– all of them looked like a bear but the thug in front of me was the biggest.
For a second my mind was blank as fear clouded it. Then suddenly I felt a sharp burning in my left palm. My eyes rolled back as a scream came from my throat. I held my hand close to my chest with my right hand, trying to squeeze the pain out.
"Hahaha…look at this rat." The big thug laughed at me. He walked over to me, who was rolling on the floor wailing, " A mad rat it seems." He said, his voice deep and low.
"See what he's hiding in that hand." Another bear-like-thug said.
I couldn't escape or even move as a big hand grabbed me by the scurf of my coat and yanked me off the floor as if I weighed nothing. I kicked the air as I tried to find something to rest my legs upon.
My hand burned, spreading its heat all over my body. I forced myself to take a glance at my left hand to see the flames consuming my flesh– however, I saw nothing except for my arm exactly like it was before. Normal. But the burning sensation was spreading rapidly over my body.
I felt the flames slowly gripping my heart, boiling my blood, burning my eyes, drying my mouth as my body kept pouring sweat onto me.
The thugs glanced at each other before saying, "Think he is a mad man lost his way?"
"There are two guards outside. And they are elite police officers. Ain't no way some 'mad man' would lose his way here" Another one rejected it almost immediately.
The one who was holding me in the air grumbled at his friend's ridicule, " I say we kill him." He said as a maniac grin formed on his bear-face.
"Yeah!" The others shouted, agreeing.
My heart parted into two, one filled with flames as pain made me scream, the other darkened by the fear of death.
'I'm only thirty-five! I am a father of two untouched balls!' I wanted to scream but the only words that came out through my mouth was something that made no sense.
I saw the grin and smirks of the bald-headed monsters as I wailed my hands and legs at the one who was holding me– like a child throwing a tantrum.
"Pathetic." I heard the thug saying it in a deep voice as he spun on his leg backwards, hurling me through the air at the wall.
The wall hit me– face first. I heard my nose cracking as I saw lights flashing in my eyes. Cold and warm blood splashed onto the wall from my forehead. I couldn't breathe anymore the slight air that somehow managed to enter my lungs was burned away by the flames in my blood.
Before I could even open my eyes I was thrown back onto the floor. I stumbled once before falling. My back cracked as I hit the wooden staircase.
I curled up like a child and groaned in pain. Dust fell on my head from the floor above as the stairs creaked in agony, "Bloody hell! What the fuck is happening!?" I heard a man's voice shouting from above me.
For a second I could only hear my own groaning and whining before one of the thugs said, "He was hiding behind the desk. I– we believe he is one of the rats."
"So? Do you have to ruin my sex!? Take him somewhere else! That bitch is full of trouble herself!" the man shouted angrily. I didn't care what he said about the woman but the order he gave to the balds about me!
"Yes, Jugör." The thugs said.
I heard footsteps on the stairs and a door slamming shut.
"Damn that bastard! Just because he is the boss's son he gets all of the bitches!" The thug who slammed me grumbled in a deep voice.
"Nackir, let's not make Jugör mad." Another one said.
The thug didn't answer as he grabbed my leg and dragged me. I used all my strength to cling to the newel of the staircase.
I lost my grip as the other thugs kicked my head. I saw my blood painting the wooden floor as I was dragged away by the thugs.
I forced my eyes to take a glance behind me. I felt my eyes burn every time I saw the light. Gritting my teeth I forced myself to see through the pain.
The thugs were dragging me to a room behind the narrow verentha. It was dimly lit with no furniture except for a chair in the corner.
They stopped dragging me in the centre of the room allowing me to burn my breath once again as I gasped for it. The big thug stood around me as the others either guarded the door from inside or kept walking in the room.
"Rat, why are you here?" The thug who I assume is Nackir asked.
But I could only offer him a groan for an answer. I curled up again trying my hardest to stay awake, to find a way to escape.
The thug walked towards me and grabbed my left arm which I was squeezing with my right, "Say, what you got in here?" He asked.
I yanked back my arm as I couldn't tolerate the burning sensation and squeezed it again, maybe in hope of getting rid of that stain or maybe even my arm.
The thug grumbled, "I was trying to make this an easy death for you, but it seems you want it the hard way." He said as pulled at my hair.
For the first time I saw the man in front of me, strong ugly and evil. I gritted my teeth as blood dripped from my mouth and nose, " please..." I managed to breathe, biting back the pain.
But my words were reflected on the wall inside the thug as he slammed his hammer like arm into my face. But he didn't stop there. My head rocked as many times as his fist hit me.
I heard the thugs laughing at my sorry state. My breath got burned away even before it reached my lungs. Blood flowed from me as I lay in the pool of my own blood. The blood that's still running in my veins evaporated as my vision gradually turned dark.
Suddenly the burning stopped, the pain from getting hit halted, my vision came back. But I wasn't lying in the blood pool and getting slowly killed by the scarlet-thew thugs. Instead I was standing in the middle of red marigold flowers.
I stood there perfectly calm under the red sky, all alone in the flower field. Then my vision blurred and when I regained my vision again, I was still surrounded by red marigold flowers but I was on a hill, overlooking the beginning of a war.
On my left, stood a woman tall and slender. She wore a white gown with golden laces. In her hand, she held a green bow. A golden headband tied her silver hair behind her. Her skin was fair as milk. What caught my attention was her pointed ears.
Behind her stood an army wearing green and gold armours. Men and women, both having silver hair and pointed ears. They either held a bow or held a sword as they aligned behind their queen disciplined.
Beside them, a few feet away, stood a short and stout man. He held his battle axe high above his head as he sat on top of a boar, holding its reins with his other hand.His fur coat fluttered in the wind revealing his red hair and beard.
And a lot of other dwarfs stood behind him not at all like the ones following the lady, they were standing like barbarians.
And in the sky, I could only see shadows of big birds. They varied in sizes. I concentrated my gaze on the shadows. They weren't exactly like birds but I couldn't keep my gaze upward as if I was chained to the ground.
I saw everything like it was a painting. A painting that's living before my eyes. I turned my gaze from the bizarre army and my gaze searched for the other side of the battlefield.
There was a woman wearing black gown and a huge scythe. Behind her stood her army, wearing black and red armours.
Suddenly my gaze halted at them. I looked at them as they looked at…me. I quickly glanced at the other side and saw the people there were looking at their enemy, but..they were looking at me.
At that moment, I felt somebody gripping my neck as I was caught out of guard. Then the person who was gripping my neck slowly showed themselves – it was a woman hanging upside down as blood dripped from her.
And I heard a voice, "kill." It wasn't a woman's voice but my own. I didn't know what was happening but I wasn't scared. I held her hand with my left arm and said, " ..let go.."
"What, rat?" I heard, but this time it wasn't my voice, it was Nackir's–that thug's.
My grip on her palm tightened as I once again said, "I said let go!"
As soon as those words left my mouth, my left palm ignited flames as it burned the flesh of the woman hanging upside down.
My vision once again was consumed by darkness and when I came back to my senses, I was still lying in the blood pool.
"Aaaaaaaarrrrrggh!!!" I looked up as a scream erupted before me. It was the thug who was grabbing my hair.
But now I was gripping his huge arm. I saw smoke coming underneath my grip and the smell of meat burning filled my nose.
"Hot, hot, hot!" Nackir said as he swung his other arm at my face and knocked me aside. I lost my grip on him as my body rolled to the side.
"What the hell! Nackir, your hand…" a thug said as he rushed to him, " That's a bad burn. Half of his hand is burned!"
"Did the rat do it?" Another one asked, I heard the uncertainty in his voice.
I heard the panting which held back the pain as Nackir asked, "...What..did you do.."