Day 25

Today Is the day I escape from this prison cell. No, This life altogether and thanks to 13, I now have the key to my freedom metaphorically and literally. On 13’s, clothing was the key he used to get in and out of my cell. It was well worn with symbols etched into it. I don’t know much about magic, but my guess is it has something to do with the barrier that hurts me every time I approach the bars. For my escape to be successful, I needed to wait until it got quiet outside my cell. This usually means that everyone had gone to sleep, making an escape easier. I’m not 13; I’m not as stealthy as he is, so that I will take any advantage I can get.

I stood up and picked up the key, and walked towards the bars. Ever since I ate 13, my body has pretty much recovered. My ribcage no longer showed, and my muscles had returned to me; in fact, it feels like I have more muscle than I ever had before. My senses had improved as well. I could hear a bit better, and everything looks a bit sharper as well, and unfortunately, smell has improved a bit as well, and let’s say I’m not the best smelling thing in the world. The changes to my body were small but very noticeable. I wonder If eating one person gave me this much of a power boost, then I wonder how much stronger I will get if I eat more. I licked my lips at the thought of eating a heart again.

I was now standing in front of the prison bars with the key in my hand. I tentatively lifted my hand towards the prison bars and touched them. No shock came from the bars confirming what I thought. I walked away from the bars, went to my “bed”, and lay and waited. Soon ill be out of here.

****

Finally, it has quietened down outside. I can now commence my escape. I walked to my cell door and reached around the bars with the key. With a bit of fiddling, I unlocked my cell door and took my first steps towards freedom. I walked towards the door when I heard the key being put into the door. I hid at the side of the door. A part of me had a feeling I knew who the person at the door was, and the thought of what was going to happen next excited me. The door opened a familiar bald-headed guard walking through the door.

“That fat conductor is going to kill me for not checking on this sla.”

As soon as he walked through the door, I tackled him, catching him off guard and knocking him to the ground. We landed on a pile on the floor with me on top of him. Before he could react, I sank my sharpened maw into his neck, aiming right for his jugular. My mouth filled with blood which I made sure to drink. It had an iron taste with a hint of…. Lemons? I couldn’t tell, but it was pretty sour. I felt the guard repeatedly hit my back, but each blow he landed got weaker and weaker, but before he died, I pulled my mouth away from his neck so he could see me. I wanted him to know who did this. His eyes widened as he saw me.

“monster,” he said whilst gargling blood.

I looked at him and gave him my widest smile revealing all my sharp teeth.

“you don’t need to tell me what I am,” I said coldly

“it’s a shame, really. I wanted to save you for last and make your death more painful and slow, just like it was for 13, but we all have to learn to live with disappointment,” I said to him

“fu..ck y..o” he uttered before he passed out from blood loss.

I lifted my hand and shoved it through his chest and wrapped my hand around his heart, and yanked it out. I held his partially beating heart in front of me and took a bite out of it .like his blood; It had a slight lemon taste.

 I moved to his head and smacked it into the ground, exposing his brain. I bent over and started eating the pink matter inside. As I did this, images flashed into my mind and memories not mine but his. His name was Allard Trent. He used to be in the military but got kicked because he was too violent in his memories. I saw him beating a new recruit, black and blue, for not addressing him properly. Despite that, he was quite a capable soldier skilled at hand to hand combat and small weapons such as daggers. He is working here because this was the only place that would hire a person with his background.

The memories faded away, and I came back to my senses. I got up from his body and moved away, giving myself room to move. I took a fighting stance that came naturally to me now and began throwing punches, kicks, and grapples. After 5 minutes, I stopped having confirmed what I thought.

 ‘if I eat the brain, I gain the experiences of the person I ate. If that’s true, then why didn’t I get anything from 13’ I thought to myself. I shook my head and told myself I would investigate why later. I searched the Allards clothes and took what was useful, a pouch with some coins in it and the baton, and walked out of my cell.

As I walked out of my cell, I heard the voice of Alexis.

“freeeeee….meeeeee”, she said in a faint ghostly tone.

I felt something tug on my conscience telling me to go deeper into the mine. I had a feeling this was tied to Alexis; however, a part of me wanted to leave now and put this place behind me. I mulled over what to do for a good amount of time and decided to go deeper into the mine to find Alexis. I owe her that much I wouldn’t have the power I do know if it wasn’t for her.

I walked deeper into the mine, following the tugging feeling in my mind the stronger it felt; that’s how I knew I was heading in the right direction. I don’t know how long I was walking for, but I knew I had reached my destination when the feeling became overwhelming.

“FREE MEEE” Alexis voice was very audible to me now instead of being a whisper.

In front of me were a massive set of wooden double doors. I pushed through them and what was on the other side was unbelievable. It was a large empty cavern; nothing unusual there except the lighting. It was made of orbs of white light suspended in mid-air. But what really caught my attention was the exact same pyramid from my dreams in the middle, only this time it was at least quadrupled in size.

“FREE MEEE, 44”, Alexis said to me.

Returning to my senses, I walked towards the pyramid. I felt some invisible force constantly pushing me backwards  I don’t know what was causing it, but I was very sure it was coming from the pyramid, but I was determined to reach my goal, each step taking more strength than the last until I reached the base of the pyramid.

“TOUCH IT” Alexis yelled, and without a moment’s hesitation, I slammed my hand on the side.

I found myself in the same void as I usually do, but there was no pyramid, just Alexis and me floating in the void.

“well done”, Alexis said in a calm voice.

“Thanks. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without you, though,” I replied sheepishly.

A bright light flashed behind me whilst at the same time a door appeared next to Alexis.

“that light is your way out,” Alexis said and pointed at the light

A part of me inside sunk. I have a feeling I know what’s going to happen next.

“Judging from your face, you already know that I’m going to have to leave you.” She said with a sombre expression . “you have freed me from that prison, and for that, I am grateful. Here I give you this as a gift.” She took out her hand, and a ball of red energy flew into my stomach, creating an excruciating pain all across my body but as quick as it came, it faded.

“there, I have given you what was mine just like I promised,” Alexis said and turned to open her door.

But before she was able to enter her door, I lunged at her and grabbed her hand. She turned to me with a shocked expression on her face.

“What are yo”

“NO,” I said to her sternly.

I took her hand and began moving towards my exit as fast as I could, with Alexis in tow.

“I WILL NOT SIT AND WATCH AS I LOSE ANOTHER FRIEND”, I yelled a her

The void started to vibrate violently, and the light that was my exit started to dissipate.

I swam faster to the light, using my newfound strength to move at speeds I wasn’t capable of.

“JUST LEAVE ME” she yelled back at me. I ignored her. We were close now. The light was almost gone.  I pulled Alexis up into an embrace, and with one final push, we both dove through the light.