Chapter 119: Luring [Edited]
While Adyr worked with the focus of a seasoned artist, the Boy watched him with a twisted kind of curiosity.
When the mutant first arrived, he shivered and thought his end would be the same as those left hanging on meat hooks. The air still carried the sharp scent of blood, and the low groan of metal echoed faintly from above. When the one-armed, one-legged older brother threw himself forward to protect him, the Boy felt a moment of hope, but what could someone like that really do? In the end, without accomplishing anything, he began to die in the mutant’s hands.
But everything started after that.
Before his young mind could fully grasp what was happening, everything unfolded all at once. The mutant that had made everyone tremble in fear was now dying in the hands of another older brother.
Neris had long ago pulled him close, pressing him against her chest to shield his view from scenes like this, but the Boy had found a crack, and through it, his eyes stayed fully focused, burning every detail into memory.
The monster, the very same mutant that had taken his mother’s life, was now lying on the same table, subjected to the same treatment. The sight gave him a sense of satisfaction he couldn’t describe, something he had never felt before.
Every disgusting sound from Adyr’s blade rang in his ears like a melody. The wet friction of torn skin, the dull thud of muscle being separated, the rhythmic scrape of steel over flesh, it all came together in a grotesque harmony.
And finally, when Adyr lifted the corpse, prepared it, and positioned it like a mannequin, like a statue, making it stand upright as if it had never died, that became the final spark in the Boy’s eyes.
For the first time in his life, he realized he was seeing something beautiful.
The man in front of him hadn’t just taken the mutant’s life, he had given it a new one. As if death alone wasn’t enough punishment for its sins, he had brought it back to suffer endlessly.
A thought suddenly fell into the Boy’s mind. Something his mother had once spoken of. But before he could dwell on it, the older brother turned toward them, raising a finger to his lips in a silent gesture.