The Zodiac Empire

Chapter 20 - Thalmar

A pre-teen boy lay face-first on the floor, panting. He wore nothing but his underwear, his back covered in red bruises. A masked man loomed over him, frowning with a cane in his hand.

"Get up. You're not finished."

"I can't..." the boy tried his hardest, but his body would not pull him up. He kept his head hung low, hiding the tears that gushed out of his eyes, but he couldn't suppress his sobs.

"Are you crying? What did I tell you about that?!" the masked man's hand moved faster than the naked eye could follow, striking the boy's bare back with the cane. "Men...do...not...cry!" each word was followed up with another two strikes, resonating throughout the room like a thunder clap.

"Gyah!" the boy howled in pain, trashing around like a tortured animal.

"Now, let's try this again," the masked man kneeled in front of the boy, yanking his head up with a fist full of hair. "Shall we do this the easy way, or the hard way?"

"E-Easy..." the boy choked on the word, unable to utter anything else but sobs.

"Still crying? Looks like it'll be the hard way," he lifted the boy up by his leg, holding him upside down. Without warning, the boy found himself bombarded by a flurry of punches. The sound of the man's fists dismantling the boy's bones and organs echoed as he landed over a hundred blows in mere seconds.

"Hmph." His eyes still burning with disgust and fury, he dropped the boy's near lifeless body to the floor. He then turned to the whimpering teenage girl in the corner of the room. "You know what to do."

"F-Father, I-I can't..." she cried.

Not giving her the option to refuse, he struck her thigh with the cane, making her wail in pain. "Heal him!" he barked at her.

"Y-Yes father..." she scampered to the boy's side and placed her hands on his chest. Her hands glowed with a white aura, slowly recovering the boy's wounds.

As soon as she finished, the masked man pushed his daughter aside and grabbed the boy by his ankle, holding him upside down again. He didn't waste a second; the boy didn't even get the chance to control his breathing before his body was roiled with another bone shattering punch. Each strike was followed up by another one in succession, but at a pace slow enough for the naked eye to follow this time.

He threw the boy's limp body against the wall and picked his cane up. He rose it for another strike, but it froze over in a block of ice. He staggered back, left so shocked that he just barely ducked under the barrage of razor sharp blades of ice that shot out of the boy's hands.

Quickly snapping out of his daze, he grabbed the boy by his throat.

"C-Can't breathe..." the boy's eyes looked like they might pop out of the sockets as the air was chocked out of him.

"Naitey, we're here."

Naito jolted up at a touch on his shoulder. He instinctively swung his arm, and felt his arm hit someone's face.

"Ow!"

"H-Huh?" Naito saw that they were still in Zento's car, and he had just mistakenly hit Alsen. He had fallen asleep less than an hour through the ride, figuring that it would be safe to sleep since they weren't stationary.

His fast-beating heart slowed down. Just a dream. It was just a dream, yet it was so real, and so clearly imprinted in his memory. Naito could never forget that day. He had foolishly kicked a hole in the wall in a fit of rage, which Sartur quickly found out about. Cosena had taken the blame for him and was dragged away by Sartur, punished in ways unknown to Naito and Alsen, yet Naito was still severely punished. That was the first and only time he had ever dared to attempt fighting back against Sartur. It was one thing to beat him, but hurting Alsen was out of the question.