"Hah…"
My breathing returned with difficulty, and it was broken, as if I had been drowning under a pool of water. After a few moments, I was able to breathe comfortably.
I raised my head, frowning as I looked around. I was able to see children around the age of thirteen, or maybe a little younger, wearing small pieces of cloth, with chains binding their wrists, while their bodies were covered in bruises and injuries from every direction.
Wait… this place, what the hell is it? Where did I go? Wasn't I supposed to have already died? Or is all of this just a dream? I felt deep shock at what was happening, so I said unconsciously, in a loud voice:
"I… am dreaming. This is a dream, right?"
"Are you okay, Insect?"
said a thin boy with long black hair and blue eyes. He approached me cautiously, and his appearance was somewhat pitiful.
He extended his hand and placed it on my head, but the moment he did that, I slapped his hand away and said sharply:
"Who are you? And what is this place, what the hell? And why are you calling me Insect?"
Shock was clear on the boy's face before he said hesitantly:
"Don't you remember me, Insect? I'm Mud Worm. Aren't we friends? Did you maybe lose your memory again?"
Worm?
What kind of name is that? Is his name really "Worm," or is he joking?
No… from his expression, it seems he's not joking about that.
But wait… did he say I lost my memory before?
No, that doesn't matter now. What matters is: what is this place?
"I don't care what kind of worm you are. Just tell me where I am… before I force you to."
Anger flared on Mud Worm's face, and his cheeks puffed slightly, but when he saw the look in my eyes, he realized I wasn't joking.
"Alright, Insect… I'll tell you. But no need to get so angry. Because we are, after all… in the Devil's Heart."
Devil's Heart? Why do I feel like I've heard that before? Wait… wait, wait, don't say that…
Damn it! I… I have reincarnated. Is this one of those bad plot clichés or what?
And in that terrible novel, what the hell! What did I do to deserve this? Wasn't there a better place than this to reincarnate into? And why did I even reincarnate in the first place?
No… no need to panic. What do I remember about the Devil's Heart… hmm… ah, yes.
It is subordinate to the Organization of Oblivion.
This organization created the "Devil's Heart" so that they could manufacture emotionless fighters, people who forget who they were and become mere tools to carry out their orders. Let me make sure… I'll ask this worm if he remembers anything before coming here.
I turned to him.
"Do you have parents? Or a family? Can you remember what you were doing before you were brought here?"
He stared at me for a moment, then said with innocence mixed with curiosity:
"Family? What is that? Is it the name of a combat move you invented? Let me see it."
I froze in place.
I felt as if the last thread of hope inside me had shattered into pieces. I slowly stood up, while shock dominated my features… then I burst out laughing.
"Hahahahaha…!" I laughed loudly, a laugh closer to madness than to joy.
"What is this nonsense? Even I ended up inside this damned filth… it seems I've truly been cursed."
I looked at the other children with curiosity, but I didn't pay them any attention.
And how could I even do that?
Because I… had reincarnated into a terrible novel, doomed to perish.
Its story revolved around an endless war between races: humans, vampires, orcs, dwarves, demons, angels, elves, beasts, Oblivion, giants, and dragons.
And there were other races, but they fell at the beginning of the war, becoming slaves to the races that still remained, while others were neutral at first, but in the end joined the war.
And so, chaos spread across the entire universe, and destruction spread everywhere. But… what was the cause of that war?
I didn't know.
And every time I asked the author, "Fish Head" — he would answer me with the same mysterious phrase:
"Hunger gives birth to hatred, hatred gives birth to dreams, dreams are born from shadows, and shadows follow desires… either they survive, or remain in oblivion."
What the hell am I supposed to understand from that?
That author must have taken meaningless words and put them together without thinking.
But that doesn't matter now. What matters is: how the hell am I going to get out of the Devil's Heart?
And also… what kind of name is that anyway?
Someone might think I'm inside the heart of an actual devil, but no, that's not the case.
I am actually deep underground, inside the planet, isolated in an unknown depth.
And why was it called the "Devil's Heart"?
The author gave it that name because everything that happens inside it is cruel and savage, a place where souls are crushed before bodies.
But I think the author just couldn't find a better name, he only writes whatever comes to his mind…
And now I am stuck inside this pure nonsense. What the hell did I do to deserve this?
"Hah…"
Suddenly, the flow of my thoughts was cut off when I heard the sound of footsteps coming from the front.
I looked toward the source and saw a group of people wearing dark clothes and black masks, while leading them was the person wearing the white mask at the front.
The group stopped a short distance away from us, then a heavy silence spread, a suffocating silence, to the point that I could hear the breathing of the children around me—uneven and filled with fear.
After a moment, the white-masked man raised his head slightly, as if examining us one by one, then said in a sharp, cold voice, devoid of any emotion:
"The daily routine will begin… everyone prepare. Also, I have news for you, the awakening ritual will be tomorrow."
His words echoed through the place, heavy like a death sentence.
I swallowed my saliva with difficulty when I heard that word.
Routine.
If I didn't know its meaning, I would have thought it was something normal, just simple training or a daily activity not worth worrying about.
But I knew very well.
I knew exactly what that word meant in this place. There was nothing gentle waiting for me. Only suffering was about to begin.