Ren wakes up. This time, he isn't strapped to the bed he had been lying in before. Instead, he's sitting on a simple, hard metal chair. Even so, his arms and legs are bound tightly to it.
It doesn't take long for him to realize that there's no way he can break free.
His attention immediately shifts back to the figure in front of him.
Standing there, just like in the other room, is the monster in the open lab coat.
"There you are again," it mutters monotonously.
Only now does Ren feel the sharp pain and throbbing at the spot where the metal plate had been attached earlier. It's firmly fixed to the right side of his neck and extends upward past his cheek. It looks as if it has fused with his skin.
"What did you do to me?"
With every word, he feels the weight on his right cheek tug along with the movement of his lips.
"You're asking the wrong questions, boy…"
it replies, turning toward a metal table behind it. The table looks like something doctors would use in an operating room. A white sheet is stretched across it, and countless tools lie on top.
However, these tools are different from those used in a real operating room.
Instead of surgical instruments, there are pliers, screwdrivers, saws, and many other things.
"You should be asking yourself what else I'm planning to do to you."
The monster reaches toward the table and grabs a pair of pliers. Slowly, it approaches Ren, who still can't move even an inch.
But when it looks into Ren's eyes, it stops for a moment. Once again, it sees the hateful gaze of a man who hasn't given up yet. The determined stare of someone who has his goal firmly in sight.
"Who are you?" Ren asks, frowning.
The monster grins slightly, then finally steps closer and grabs Ren's right hand.
"You won't remember anyway…"
it murmurs, placing the pliers against the fingernail of Ren's right thumb.
"Still, it'll be all the more entertaining for me while you still can."
With a sickening sound, it yanks once and rips the fingernail out of his flesh.
"Oxaril… remember my name well, boy."
Grinning, Oxaril tears out every fingernail on Ren's right hand. Then he moves on to the left. After placing all ten nails into a tin tray filled with blood and bits of flesh, he finally sets the pliers back on the table.
They look nothing like they did before. Their metallic shine is barely visible anymore, completely coated in blood.
"Well? Have you had enough yet?"
Ren doesn't answer. In fact, he does nothing at all… He doesn't scream in pain, nor does he shed a single tear. He just stares at Oxaril with a face twisted in agony.
"Boring."
The monster clicks its purple tongue and reaches for another tool on the table. Once again, it picks up a pair of pliers—this one much larger, with sharper edges than the last.
"Let's see if you'll still stay quiet after this."
Quickly, it grabs Ren's hand again and clamps the pliers around his index finger.
Ren tries to fight back, but it's useless—his hands are still bound to the metal chair. Without another word, Oxaril squeezes the pliers shut, cleanly severing the finger.
"AAAHHHHH!"
Even Ren can't hold it in anymore and screams in pain. With a wet, dull sound, the finger hits the cold floor.
"FUCK!! What do you want from me?!"
Blood pours from the wound, staining the floor beneath them a dark red.
"Finally."
Grinning, the monster looks down at him from above and stretches its mouth into a wide smile, mocking the small human right in front of it. Completely helpless. Without any hope of rescue.
"Music to my ears."
Laughing, he swiftly switches to the middle finger without hesitation.
Once again, a horrifying sound echoes through the room—enough to send chills down anyone's spine. Ren screams again, slowly falling into panic. His heartbeat accelerates, his breathing growing faster and heavier.
His body is still far from being in peak condition. Ren is losing too much blood, and dizziness begins to set in. Weak and with watery eyes, he looks up one last time.
"I'll kill you."
No more words are needed. His gaze says everything. It's so terrifying that even Oxaril pauses for a brief moment.
But the grin quickly returns to his face, and he moves on to the next finger—the ring finger.
Ren endures the pain until all the fingers on his right hand, including the thumb, are gone. They lie scattered on the floor at their feet, like scraps of food for rats.
Slowly, it becomes too much. The blood loss is now unmistakable, draining all color from his face. His vision blurs, and once again he loses consciousness—just like so many times before.
Somewhere deep down, he already knows this won't be the last time.
Slowly, Ren comes to again. Once more, he's in a dark room with only a single source of light: a monitor displaying his heartbeat along with various strange symbols.
He feels that unpleasant pain in his right arm again as the strange liquid is injected into him once more.
It quickly becomes clear that he's back on the same table as before.
But far more important are the memories of what just happened, flooding his mind.
His fingers… they're gone.
Strangely enough, he doesn't feel any pain in his hand or fingers. Everything feels normal, as if nothing had ever happened.
It's too dark to see anything, and his head is still strapped to the table, so he couldn't even look down far enough to check.
Ren tries to move his hand—and he does feel something. That alone is enough to tell him that he hasn't lost the sense of touch in his right hand, or in his fingers.
"Must've just been a painful dream."
He exhales heavily and tries to feel for the rope tied around his wrist with his fingers. But he can't reach it. That's strange—before, he'd been able to grab it easily.
Confused, Ren fiddles with his hand and fingers. He tries to scratch his palm and cross his fingers, but nothing works.
"What did that bastard do to me?"
"Hhmhm… you should really watch your language, boy."
Looking forward, he sees Oxaril's green glowing eyes in the darkness. Right after that, the monster switches on the light, illuminating the room.
"What did you do to me, you asshole?!"
Ren screams, completely beside himself with rage. He thrashes around so violently that the entire table shakes. The restraints around his limbs and head nearly come loose.
Oxaril sighs quietly. His eyes, shadowed by his forehead, look down at Ren with exhaustion.
Slowly, he approaches him and presses a small button on the metal plate attached to Ren's neck.
Instantly, searing pain shoots through his entire nervous system. Even more terrifying, though, is the fact that he can no longer move a single muscle. Even his tongue slowly slips backward toward his throat, sending him into panic.
From the outside, it looks as if he's about to fall asleep, since he can't make a sound.
Quickly, Oxaril grabs his lower jaw and forces it open. With precision, he drives a shining nail—taken from a pocket in his lab coat—straight through Ren's tongue and into the bone of his jaw.
Still, not a single sound.
It seems the plate is capable of paralyzing his entire nervous system, along with every muscle in his body. Only Ren's eyes show any sign of life. They widen, his pupils shrinking as if focusing on a single point.
"I don't feel like knocking you unconscious every time, so you'll have to make do with this,"
he complains, placing the motionless Ren into a wheelchair. The boy has no choice but to endure it like a doll.
Oxaril then wheels him out of the room and into another one. Ren quickly realizes—it's the same room from his nightmare.
"Or was it…?"
Ren thinks, straining to look down at his body and his right hand. Only his eyeballs move, since he can't move his head.
"So it wasn't a dream…"
He quickly realizes that all his memories were, in fact, real. He does have fingers again—but they're as small as those of a toddler.
No—more like those of a new born.