Dungeon Dream

Flashback 2..

After returning from grocery shopping, I immediately noticed the front door of my house standing wide open. I felt that something bad must have happened. I dropped everything and hurried inside, my heart pounding with every step. That's when I saw it a trail of blood, stark and ominous, leading up the staircase.

Panic coursed through me as my mind raced to Angie and Lumi.

(What could have happened?)

Barely able to breathe, I ascended the stairs, each step heavier than the last, my legs shaking beneath me. The air grew cold, thick with an indescribable tension.

When I reached the top and laid eyes on the scene before me, the horror that met me froze me to my very core. My worst fears had come true.

The sight of Angie and Lumi lying lifeless in a pool of their own blood sent a surge of emotions crashing through Dinio—grief, rage, and disbelief all at once. His breath caught in his throat as his gaze shifted to the figure standing over them, a blade dripping with fresh blood still clutched in their hand.

Consumed by rage, Dinio lunged at the figure standing over the lifeless bodies of Angie and Lumi. His furious scream echoed through the desolate air, every fiber of his being driven by grief and vengeance. But before he could land a single blow, the figure moved with inhuman speed, delivering a strike so powerful that Dinio's vision blurred. As Dinio vision blurred slowly he caught a glimpse of the killer face and it was Melina, the world spun around him as darkness claimed his senses, his body collapsing helplessly to the ground.

When Dinio regained consciousness, he found himself bound to a chair in a dimly lit room. The air was stifling, and the faint flicker of a single lantern cast ominous shadows on the walls. A wooden table separated him from three empty chairs- one directly across from him and two flanking it on either side.

Moments later, the heavy door creaked open, and several city guards stepped in. Their expressions were grim, their eyes sharp with suspicion. Without introduction, they began bombarded him with questions about the murders.

Dinio, his body aching and head still spinning, ignored their demands. He leaned forward as much as his restraints would allow, his voice guttural and desperate.

"Where is Lumi? What happened to her? Tell me where she is!"

The guards exchanged cold glances, their patience wearing thin. One of them slammed a fist on the table.

"Quiet! You'll answer our questions!"

But Dinio refused to yield, his grief and fear fueling his defiance.

"I don't care about your questions! Tell me where Lumi is!"

His insubordination was met with brutal force. The guards' frustration boiled over as they began to strike him. Each blow sent fresh waves of pain coursing through his battered body, but Dinio clenched his teeth, refusing to break. Only one thought echoed in his mind (Lumi).

A few days later, the verdict was swift and unforgiving and I was sentenced to 16 years of imprisonment. Shackled and dragged to the cold, desolate confines of a prison cell, I was left alone with my thoughts.

As the days turned to weeks and months in to years, the dullness of the prison swallowed me whole and yet within the darkness of my cell, a single thought burned brighter than anything else and it was of Vengeance.

The image of Angie and Lumi's lifeless bodies haunted me relentlessly, searing itself into my mind. My grief twisted into rage, growing fiercer with each passing moment. Every clink of my chains, every long night spent staring at the cracked ceiling above, only deepened my resolve.

I wore to himself, over and over, that when I finally walked free, I would hunt down the one who had taken them from me. No matter how long it took or the cost I had to pay, they would suffer for what they had done.

And now, here I am, lying broken and pathetic, my body failing with every shallow breath. I guess this is how it ends—for someone too weak to protect the people he loved, too powerless to even seek vengeance for them. Maybe I've always been this useless, clinging to dreams of justice and revenge I was never capable of achieving. Angie, Lumi… I failed you. I failed everything.

As Dinio lay drowning in despair, a deep, chilling voice echoed in his mind smooth yet laced with malevolent power, reverberating through the depths of his soul.

"How pitiful you are," it mused, a mockery and an invitation all at once. "To see you in this wretched state, so broken and helpless—it stirs even my dark heart. But worry not, for I can change your fate. Yield to me, and I shall grant you power beyond your wildest dreams. Power to conquer, to destroy, to slay every last one of your enemies."

The voice paused, its words dripping with a sinister allure.

"Come now, warrior. Surrender yourself, and rise anew".