"Are you the son of Trisha Ravel?" the blonde boy asked, his gaze piercing straight into Sieg's eyes.
"Y-yes… that would be me—" Instinctively, Sieg looked for an escape, but to his dismay, every single window was barricaded… by himself…
This isn't good at all!
"I see. I am Eisen Albrecht, youngest son of Sir Albrecht, and I assume you don't have the mental capacity to understand the trouble you're in, being impoverished and all."
"What?" Sieg took offense at the remark, but he didn't have the courage, not yet, to speak against him.
"Your mother broke her contract," Eisen said, his voice unkind.
"She disobeyed my father and neglected her duties. As stipulated in the contract, any breach requires that all assets, including every salary or payment she received, be returned in full."
"With the amount of money she managed to obtain, I'm sure you, her bright son, must've used it wisely — through investments, education, or something of the sort, right?"
Disobeyed? Neglected her duties? Contract? Wasn't my mother just doing maid duty in someone's mansion?
Sieg's eyes widened in disbelief — it was all too much. How could someone like him, alone and poor, even begin to deal with this?
"Hey — before I tell you the truth… these medical bills, who are they for?"
Eisen gave him an annoyed look. "What? Isn't there a name written on them? Can't you read it yourself, you slum rat?"
This guy is something else… good-looking face but an asshole — some people are just like that huh.
Sieg once again ignored Eisen's disrespectful words and began rereading the medical bills a second time.
Then he saw it: "Patient name: Trisha Ravel."
What would you do if you saw your parent's name — one you haven't saw in years, in such a circumstance?
Sieg's mind went blank, he couldn't believe it, his ears started to ring, yet Eisen wasn't showing any form of mercy — despite knowing the full picture.
"I remember what happened to your mother — she fell down the stairs and is now in a coma. Partly deserved, for going against my father's wishes."
"…Huh?"
"You still have debt owed to us. How do you intend to pay back my father's generosity?" Eisen's cold words continued to spill, but he didn't realize that the boy he was speaking to was losing his sanity.
Stop talking—
"I… I don't have the money. They took it—" Sieg murmured, pointing at the thugs.
But the thugs kept denying it, telling Eisen that Sieg had a habit of lying, but Sieg no longer had the strength to deny them.
"Not surprised — like mother, like son. It's pitiful, really, both rotten and ill-mannered." Eisen's words had a crossed line.
What is your problem.
I will genuinely kill you, talking about my mother like that.
Everyone has their limits, and Sieg had reached his. Without a care for the consequences, he pulled out a rusty knife from under his pillow and, lunged at Eisen.
But two guards immediately grabbed Sieg and roughly pulled him down to the floor.
The thugs were instigating in the background:
"My lord! How dare that brat try to hurt you?!"
"You should punish him! We don't allow that kind of behavior here!"
"His always been problematic."
"WHAT HAPPENED TO MY MOTHER? WHY IS SHE IN A COMA?!" Sieg screamed at the top of his lungs, despite the heavy force pressing against him.
"TALK TO ME YOU BASTARD!"
Eisen stood motionless was it fear he felt? No, it was something else— Irritation.
"The audacity — take him outside to the shore." Eisen commanded.
Sieg was dragged out of his private domicile by the two taller guards. The thugs hurled insults in his direction, yet once again, Sieg's mind filtered out their words.
"You should beg for forgiveness!"
"Everyone this guy just tried stabbing someone!"
An audience of slum dwellers gathered at the commotion. Some were surprised to see a noble-looking man like Eisen here, but others quickly decided they didn't want to get involved.
As Eisen's family — the Albrechts, who legally owned the land and wielded unquestioned authority over the settlement.
Sieg looked into their eyes, pleading for help.
"HELP ME!"
But no one was willing to intervene for a nameless slum boy.
"Ah, this place is putrid — a fitting grave for you," remarked Eisen, his eyes fixed on the horizon of the Blackwater shoreline.
"WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO TO ME?!"
Sieg was held in place, pressed just beside the rising tide of rubbish and soiled water.
"Let's be honest — there's no way you can repay us, is there?"
The thugs stepped back, beginning to feel the same fear of Eisen and his grime intentions.
"I pity your mother. I can't imagine giving birth to such a worthless son, who doesn't even know his place."
Who even are you?! You don't know me!
Eisen drew his own knife, far grander and sharper than Sieg's. "Your organs can cover most of the debt. That's the only thing of value you have."
"Huh?! Stop it!" The guards tied Sieg's mouth shut with a towel. The boy squirmed as his live butchering was about to be watched by numerous slum dwellers — yet once again, no one was willing to save him, not even with the boy who was a doorstep away from becoming a victim of organ harvesting.
The thugs watched closer — even cheering Eisen for his grotesque act of violence.
"MHHM! MHHHM!"
As Eisen stepped closer, Sieg tried with all his might to fight back, flailing like a trapped fish, kicking wildly. But one guard delivered a sharp gut punch, forcing him to the ground.
"MHHHM!"
Why is this happening to me?!
Without a choice, he was forced to beg the very ones he had ignored for most of his life — the gods themselves.
Goddess of the Moonless Night! God of Machinery and Stone! Forsaken God of the Southeast! Great Ruler of the Decaying Sun! Great Sage of Jade and Prosperity! ANYONE, PLEASE SAVE ME!
Sieg was desperate for a savior — but he had never been a worshipper, knowing no proper chants or prayers for any deity.
I'LL OFFER YOU EVERYTHING! MY SERVITUDE — I'LL BE YOUR ETERNAL SLAVE!
None answered.
Not even the All-Forgiving Mother of Life and Decay, the goddess of Strovian answered him.
And if no deity was willing to answer his call, then who would?
I'm going to die…
Ahh… I'm losing my sanity…
But Eisen's knife was already aimed at Sieg's exposed stomach but before he could ever begin his harvesting — the deranged old man from earlier was already right next to them.
When did he?!
"The collapsing eclipse is coming! We are all gonna feel the king's arrival! And he demands new children! New sons and daughters! All hail to the lord of the night! The dark star and aether! Devourer of the worlds!"
The old man kept repeating and repeating until Eisen had enough, "CAN ANYONE SILENCE THAT NOISE? WHO'S GRANDFATHER IS THIS?"
One of the guards continued to pin down Sieg and the other one stood up and handled the old man, he was rough with the senile fool but the old man pointed his finger at the horizon of the Blackwater shoreline.
"The Collapsal king — is staring back at us—" he murmured and the waves of the shoreline were singing with the song of the harrowing father.
"Are the people here this retarded? What the hell does this old ma—" Before Eisen could finish his words, something covered the sun and light as they knew it began to wane.
The sky above the shoreline darkened unnaturally, the sun slowly swallowed by a creeping shadow.
Waves of murky water lapped at the mud, reflecting the dim, eerie light.
Then it became impossible to ignore — the eclipse wasn't ordinary.
A dark circle hovered beyond the horizon, its edges rimmed with a sickly crimson glow. And at its center… an eye opened, immense, ungodly and unblinking, staring directly at their wicked souls.
Which god… answered me…
Its gaze felt ominous, penetrating the minds of everyone on the shoreline. Even the dirty wind seemed to halt in utter reverence, and the tide of rubbish stilled as if the world itself were holding its breath — for the coming of a new rebirth.
"WHY! WHY IS IT HAPPENING NOW?!" Eisen screamed at the top of his lungs — the thugs ran away in terror and most of the slum dwellers we're both mesmerized and horrified.
Sanity's Eclipse— Sieg muttered under his breath.
…How do I know its name—
Slowly, on Sieg's and Eisen's right back hand, an intricate masterpiece emerged. The sensation brought only agony to their skin, both groaning in pain — it was the mark of the Ascendant.
What is this?!!
For a moment, both Sieg and Eisen merely looked at one another — they both knew what it entailed.
After all, this was a sudden collapsing cycle.
"You two have been chosen as one of the new children of the Collapsal King!"
"Two souls aligned under the collapsing star… dual heirs of ruin… on the path to walk with both the righteous and unforgiving!" The old man was ecstatic at the sight, rejoicing in his prophecy while on his knees.
Before the two boys realized it — with one blink from the eclipse — Sieg and Eisen felt it: the agonizing sensation sweeping through both of them. Not even those with the strongest hearts could stop themselves from screaming in despair.
They were being twisted and compressed into a singular point, as if undergoing spaghettification. They didn't even have time to cry out — their mouths were already distorted by an unknown force.
The guards could do nothing to save their boss.
Before long, the two of them had transformed into ominously glowing black orbs. Both teenagers reduced to one floating sphere — and within it, they fought for their lives.
— [Astral Imprisonment]
Chapter End.