Because I Love You✔️

Chapter 4: Living Hell

WARNING: This chapter contains extreme physical abuse and vivid descriptions violence! If you're sensitive to such things, well... skim carefully?

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Chapter Four: Living Hell

Xaphile came to only because a jarring motion roused his consciousness.

Letting out a strangled wheeze, his eyes fluttered open and he groggily blinked at the dirt in front of his nose. He attempted to move his body, but for some reason it wouldn't budge.

He could barely hear past the ringing in his ears... but he thought he heard voices, although what they were saying was impossible to decipher.

Wriggling a little, he managed to turn his head slightly and looked at everything with clouded vision, but from what little he could see, multiple figures were standing above and around him, and as he watched, more of them approached by the second.

He was surrounded by strange-looking men and women, but the weirdest part was that he couldn't move any of his limbs, or talk, or take in enough air to breathe properly, and it was also around then that he realized something had been tied around his hands and ankles.

His vision flickered for a moment, and he almost passed out again... but then, he was doused in cold water and dragged upright by his hair.

"This creature is a monster unworthy of your sympathy!" the one gripping his hair bellowed. "You have all been given permission by Lady Ella herself to do with it whatever you wish for one hour."

Xaphile blearily blinked and dizzily shook his head when a deafening cheer rose up, but even after doing so he hardly understood what was going on, let alone what these people were talking about.

"Where... am I?" he weakly asked, voice coming out in a hoarse croak; the man gripping him stiffened. "What's...?"

"Shut up!" the one holding his hair barked, smacking the back of his head hard enough to make his ears ring again. "Filthy demon... stay silent!"

"Are you saying that we can even hurt it?" a villager called, sounding surprised. "We can do whatever we desire?!"

"Anything you want," the man who'd struck him laughed loudly. "Just try not to kill it! Lady Ella wants to cage this beast and turn it into a live display later."

Total silence followed for a few seconds, but when the man holding his hair let go and brutally kicked him forward, laughing as he face-planted on the ground since thanks to his inability to lift his hands, a loud cheer rose through the crowd.

Panic shot through his heart when the people converged on him.

I can't move, he silently whimpered, staring at the dirt with terror-stricken eyes. They're gonna... what do I do?!

Nothing.

He could do nothing but brace himself, so that's what he did.

Tensing his muscles and hunching his shoulders, he squeezed his eyes shut just as the first villager drew his foot back and kicked him in the side.

The blow nearly crushed his ribs.

Xaphile tried to let out a scream, but the only thing that came out was a pathetic squeak; someone else kicked him on the other side so hard that he actually went rolling across the ground.

He flopped and flailed like a fish out of water once his tumble stopped, fearfully trying to wriggle himself free, but his body had been tied too tightly.