NOVEL NEXT Chapter: 13 Rage
“.....Oh, the laughter that rings through the air, As they sing with joy without a care,
For in each other's company they find,
The warmth of friendship, the ties that bind.
Yet amidst the mirth, a longing stirs,
For the unknown, for what lies beyond the furze,
They yearn for adventure, for distant lands,
Where destiny beckons with outstretched hands.
So they ride on through day and night,
Chasing dreams bathed in golden light,
With hearts ablaze and spirits high,
They seek the elusive, the unreachable sky.”
A pleasant voice was heard inside the room.
“Why do you always sing this lullaby the most times to me, mom?”
Leo asks Liya while he is covered with a blanket on the bed while Liya is seated at a table beside the bed calmly tapping Leo's head in order to make him sleep.
“Well, you see my cutie pie, this lullaby is actually a song which I heard from my mother during my childhood days, and this song gave me my first dream and has always inspired me to get through hard times.”
Liya answers Leo's question while still patting his head.
“.... what was your dream, mom? Was it fulfilled?”
Leo asks Liya curiously while he slowly starts to get sleepy.
“As I listened to this song, my first and only childhood wish took shape: to embark on grand adventures and explore the mysteries of this still unfamiliar world, meeting diverse people along the way.
But as I grew I came to know about the dangers in this world and I gave up upon my dreams.
But you don't have to worry, my child, I have gained a more precious dream in my small world…..which is to see you grow and live long enough to see my grandchildren.”
Liya answers Leo while slightly teasing Leo at the end and giving him a mischievous smile.
“Argh! Enough jokes for today, mom! Ok, tell me about your family and village,”
Leo huffed at his mother and asked another question while his eyes were dropping more by every second.
“Okay, okay, no more jokes for today. Let me tell you an interesting fact about my family's lineage.”
“What is it, mom?”
“Well, you see, the girls born in my family's lineage always inherit dark black hair like me, but is not the cases with boys,
but we don't know why and also my village is located in t……”
As Leo was listening to Liya, he drifted into dreamland.
.
GASP
“Where am I?”
A figure in a hospital patient's gown gasps loudly while fully covered in bandages from head to toes and the only exception were the figure's hands, which were still free.
He moves his gaze to see his surroundings.
Which was a treatment room outfitted with medical equipment, examination tables, and supplies necessary for assessing injuries, administering treatments, and monitoring patients' vital signs.
“Oh, you are awake! Wait for a moment. I will instantly call the head doctor, okay?”
A lady in a nurse outfit comes from the front door and asks Leo for his confirmation, to which Leo just nods without being able to comprehend his current situation.
“At least tell me where I am?” Leo wanted to ask the nurse, but he was just too tired to try to stop her.
As the lady goes to call the head doctor, Leo looks around the room vigilantly and moves out of his bed towards the bathroom, in search of windows in case for emergency escape.
As he opened the bathroom door, Leo's gaze moved towards a figure in front of him who was covered fully in bandages from head to toes except his hands.
Leo starts to walk toward the figure and after he came in front of the figure just in an arm's length distance,
Leo's quivering fingers, which looked milky white, extended towards his face, where he felt bandages coiling around, unable to process his thoughts.
Leo began to unravel his bandages, starting from his head down to his toes. Afterward, he gazed once more at his reflection in the full-length mirror.
The figure in front of him had an ugly face and a bald head which is marred by grotesque red spots that got on his skin like a pox,
And unlike his appearance, his hands were smooth and milky white, contrasting with his horrific appearance.
Yes, it was Leo's own reflection on the mirror which was showing a disfigured figure, but at that moment Leo felt……. Nothing.
In that moment, Leo comprehended the repercussions of the experimentation,
yet he found himself unfazed by his altered appearance—it held little significance to him.
Though he acknowledged the challenges ahead, he resolved to endure them.
Leo recognized his current predicament as a result of his own weakness—he had been captured, tortured, and subjected to experimentation like a lab rat.
What could he have done as a child with a three-year body? Nothing….. but his instincts were telling that it was his own fault as it was already engraved on his soul.
However, what truly repulsed him was the collateral damage caused by his shortcomings.
Ron and Liya had paid a heavy price because of him…..
Whether they would have died later was another matter, but during the assault, he was the sole reason for Ron’s and Liya's demise.
Ron's focus had wavered because Leo was dashing towards them, and Leo had also diverted Liya's attention toward him in that situation.
Because of him, Ron wasn't able to concentrate while dodging the bullets as Leo saw Ron's gaze was at him after saving Liya.
If Leo had died, he would feel regretful because it was he who was dying but
…..his parents had to die because of him.
Because of him, they had to die….
‘..............’
Leo just stared at his reflection in the mirror for a few minutes…..
Unable to calm his rage, he smashed the mirror without caring about his arms.
*Bam*
*shatter*
.
[Head Doctor's office]
“Mam the patient which was brought into the medical facility two days ago has awakened.”
The nurse said to the head doctor of the Revolutionary Army's medical facility,
The head doctor exuded an air of authority and competence, her sharp features accentuated by a piercing gaze,she was draped in a pristine white medical coat and her sleek, ebony hair was swept back in a neat bun.
The nurse still doesn't know why the head doctor had personally treated that child.
“Let's go, and did you check the patient's vitals before, as I have instructed earlier?”
The Head doctor abruptly halted her work and inquired of the nurse as she hastened towards the patient's designated room.
The child, admitted two days prior, presented with alarming symptoms, appearing malnourished and emaciated.
To the head doctor's horror, the child's condition was exacerbated by the utilisation of Revolutionary Army medical equipment, indicating their involvement.
The fact that the child remained alive despite being injected with danger beast's blood was a baffling enigma to her.
With limited options available, the head doctor administered nutrients to the child and applied external dressings using medicinal herbs.
Approaching the patient's bed, the head doctor was taken aback to find it empty. Turning to the nurse, she urgently inquired about the child's whereabouts.
To which the nurse only replied that she had told the boy to stay at the bed and she didn't know where the patient went.
As the head doctor made her way to seek assistance from the soldiers in locating the missing child, she paused upon hearing the sounds of cracking and impact emanating from the bathroom nearby.
Swiftly opening the door, she was met with a horrifying sight: the child she had been searching for relentlessly pummeling the mirror with his bare hands.
Despite the mirror shattering and embedding shards into his knuckles, the child seemed oblivious to any pain, continuing to strike the reflective surface with hard strikes that looked agonising just by a look.
As she went near the child, she hears the child muttering while continuing to punch the shattered mirror,
“If I wasn't so useless, Liya and Roy would have still been alive!”
BAM
“It should have been me who should have died, not them!!”
BAM
“I will hunt and kill the bastards mercilessly and make them cry tears of blood who were responsible for Liya and Ron's death!!”
BAM
“I will take away everything they hold dear and make them suffer the same hell!!”
BAM
The head doctor deftly retrieved a syringe from the pocket of her medical coat and administered it to the child,
seizing the opportune moment while he was consumed by his rage against the glass shards.
After a full five minutes elapsed, the child succumbed to unconsciousness, much to the head doctor's surprise.
The syringe she had employed was typically potent enough to incapacitate even Captain-ranked combatants within a mere 15 seconds.
Despite the child's frail and emaciated state, he had demonstrated an astonishing resilience, resisting the effects of the syringe for a prolonged five minutes.
"Nurse, prepare for dressing," the head doctor directed urgently. "The child has been repeatedly striking the glass for minutes, likely resulting in deep injuries to his knuckles……..”
As the head doctor instructed the nurse, her words faltered as she observed the astonishing sight unfolding before her—the child's knuckles were regenerating at an unprecedented rate, expelling the mirror fragments embedded within them.
Sizzle
After a minute elapsed, the sizzling sound ceased, and the child's knuckles had fully healed, returning to their previous smooth and milky-white state.
A fleeting moment of disbelief flickered across her eyelids before she gathered the child into her arms and swiftly made her way to the medical room, soldiers in tow.
"Seems I'll need to report this to the Revolutionary Army higher-ups," she mused inwardly, her gaze shifting to the child,
and then she clutched her fingers into a fist, which were trembling due to fear of a mere child's bloodlust.
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