STRINGS

Cliff and Hanger p1

"Quite surprising, isn't it?" he chuckled.

Why does he look so fine watching this cliff and the sea of the dead down this cliff, with this too tall and too freaking gigantic man slaughtering all the humans down there? But are those actually humans? They—they have horns and tails like the guy in one of my dreams.

But their appearance isn't quite right. Yes, the guy in my dreams has these horns as sharp as a knife, a tail that is similar to a dragon in myths, and the difference is that he has wings like a dragon.

"Hey Naloiu, hey, come here, hey!"

"The hell are you doing? Do you want us to be dead?"

"Marietta, calm down, stop freaking out. He won't hurt you; he's kind, okay? Haha."

(You still have the nerve to laugh, you idiot?)

"What do you mean by tha—wahhhhh, he—he's coming, a-and he's running towards us, wahhh, we need to run!!"

I pulled his hand, his dress, as well as his hair, but he didn't even move a single step away from where I was a little while ago. I already gave all my strength to drag him out of this place, but he just stood there like his feet were glued by something.

"If you don't want to leave, then bye. I'll leave you here, and don't even think about blaming me when he gets you, okay!"

"If I were you, my dear Marietta, I would never, ever make a sound, even make a move, nor scream when he's near us, okay? You'll regret your decision if you move out of that space, but don't worry, I already cast a spell around your space, so if he even tried eating you alive, he won't succeed, I promise."

The hell is he talking about? He seems really aware that I'll do some stupid things that can make this gigantic man swallow me alive. And he's even smiling like he's watching a comedy reality show live, and I think one thing is missing right now—the strings he was holding a while ago before we came to this place.

I haven't seen a place like this before, but I think I saw one in that particularly childish yet chilling illustrated book I borrowed before in the kids' section of the rundown library I walked past when I was a teenager.

That book looks like it was massacred by someone because it looks too old, and it seems covered by blood. It also looks too torn and full of dust, and even its book title was erased, and I guess also half of its pages were burned, not accidentally, but intentionally.

The cliff, the river, the mountains, and the only one castle standing at the center of an endless grassland. It looks exactly like this scenery in front of me, but this place looks so different from the description in the book showed me when I first read it.

This place looks like it was bathed in blood; even the greenest land the illustrated book showed was stained by blood, from black to red and green. The fresh air the book tells about was not as fresh as I smell today. The smell of blood and rotten flesh of humans and beasts makes my nose itch every
time the wind blows.

I don't know if I'm imagining things, but the guy in front of us just showed his life before he became like his form right now. He was a fine young prince of this land, a prince with blue hair, golden brown eyes, with a cute and handsome face that didn't suit his personality.

He was ruthless, feared by his people, or let's say his subjects, and whenever they disobeyed and broke the rules, one would be punished, and he never spared anyone, even those who begged for his forgiveness and for their lives.

Until one day, his Highness the king fell ill and then died. He inherited the throne, and no one ever imagined that their peaceful life would come to an end when the new king was crowned. He slaughtered everything that didn't agree with what he wanted; even his own family feared him.

They never imagined that their beloved young prince would be this cruel and inhuman. They left one by one until one day all he had was his cold throne that he thought kept him superior to everyone around him.

(It's hard to speak English, it's annoying.~~Author)

However, who would have thought that he'd be this lonely? He never imagined that when all his subjects were gone, he'd feel this loneliness slowly wrapping its arms around him. He sometimes wished that he never acted like a madman before, but it's already too late for his regrets. And he decided to end his life; however, a faceless man in a black robe appeared.

He made a deal with him; he said that he could take him back in time, but in exchange, he'd need to sell his soul to him. He wanted to refuse, but the man didn't give him a chance to voice his decision. He pulled his soul out of his body, and all he knew was that he was no longer alive because he saw his body slowly losing its life.

That's all I saw in the vision he showed me. This huge man also showed me all the suffering he had suffered at the hands of the man. Until the man got bored of him, and that's when he turned him into this huge 10ft tall man right now.

He wandered around this realm until this man—I mean, yeah, he's a man (or is he just a man? Ah, let's just set that aside for now)—saw him, and they also made a deal.

However, before they came up with that idea, they fought first, maybe because this man already lost hope in life and trust in everyone he saw, and whenever he saw a man in any type of robe, his instincts tell him that he needs to run or fight for his life. Well, even though he was a cruel king before, he's also a human who's afraid to be betrayed.
I was snapped back to reality when this man hit my forehead like he's hitting a freaking kid on their butt.

Does my forehead look like a freaking butt to him? He's unbelievable. When I raised my hand to pull his hand off my forehead, a sudden blow of warm air touched the left part of my body (I was actually facing this man on my right, and the huge man was standing beside me at that time).

I slowly turned my head, and what surprised me was his deep golden-blown eyes, and I don't know what to do, but all I know is that I was captivated by his eyes, like they're telling me that it is safe on his side.

(Really? Are you freaking kidding me right now? How could I trust those eyes when I already knew why he turned into his form right now? Really!!!)

"Marietta, he's Naloui, the ruler of this land." He looks so serious; it actually didn't suit his looks and personality.

"Can you shut that noisy head of yours? Your thoughts are leaking."

The heck? So I should be the one adjusting? Hello, I don't even know how to block my thoughts from leaking.

"Just think like there's a metal or wall inside your head and seal all your thoughts inside that wall, okay!!"

(I know you're not that stupid to not follow what I just told you, right?)

(Stop invading my thoughts, wahhhhhh!!!)

(Why are you screaming? Did you just know that it can cause someone's head to bleed, you lowly huma—)
(What did you just say, you spider man? I am not a lowly human, wahhhhhh!!)

(Stop screaming!!!)

Grruhhhhwwwllll

Gruhhhhhhwwlllll

"The—the heck wa—was that?"