The Fallen Curse

Shattered Realms, one of the few remaining civilizations and the largest. All the citizens of this great city were watching the great avenue as if they were waiting for a hero.

But, the atmosphere was tense and the murmurs were constant:

"I heard that a nightmare has taken human form"

"They say he was going to kill the knights but an enlightened one stopped him"

"Nonsense, they probably use him to scare people..."

Rumors flooded the city, suddenly heavy footsteps silenced the atmosphere. Dozens of knights carrying a prisoner, who was chained by the legs and hands, his pale and dry skin was full of wounds. The weak and torn fabric of his prisoner's clothes had a hood that covered his eyes.

The knights' steps stopped when they reached a kind of court that stood on a marble stage, the knights took a step back, leaving the prisoner alone in front of the imposing court.

In the courtroom there were five people, each of them displaying luxuries worthy of nobles, a man who was shaping his gray mustache, stood up, picking up a scroll and walked to address the public.

"Today we will carry out a public trial of... this dirty nightmare" said the man showing a face of disgust to the prisoner.

"This man, killed a couple of imperial knights and the village of the prince's fiancée" continued the man.

The citizens looked at each other, some insulting the prisoner's audacity and his evilness, others said that all this was so that the prince's fiancée would not feel bad, whatever, none questioned that the prisoner deserved the death sentence.

"Thanks to the kindness of the emperor, we will give you the opportunity to try to justify your actions" said the man reluctantly.

There was silence for a few seconds.

"The villagers have killed my grandmother, I have only taken revenge" the prisoner answered with a raspy voice.

"You think that is enough justification to kill the villagers!" the man shouted angrily.

"It is" the prisoner answered giving him a cold look.

The man leaned back and clenched his fist, "Don't look at me like that you dirty nightmare..." the man muttered nervously.

"Anyway... what is the reason for the death of the knights then?" he asked, composing himself.

"It just happened... they attacked me and I defended myself" the prisoner answered keeping his head down.

The citizens began to have doubts although slight, the prisoner's justifications were simple but understandable. Despite that, it could not be denied that his actions are enough to be judged.

"After speaking with those closest to the victims, it has been decided that the nightmare will be executed tomorrow at noon." said the man before turning around.

'Since when do family members decide?' the prisoner thought with irony.

"Move, you fucking nightmare" said a young knight as he held the prisoner tightly by the arm.

The knight had a look of superiority and hit the prisoner to feel like one.

"Walk faster... you're lucky it wasn't me who went to that place, you know?" said the knight trying to provoke the prisoner.

The prisoner let out a slight smile.

"You would have died first" said the prisoner looking mockingly at the young knight.

The knight looked fearfully at the prisoner's eyes, they were red as blood, the prisoner continued walking but the young knight remained thoughtful.

"Is it really a nightmare?" whispered the young man with a trembling voice.

After the short exchange of words between the prisoner and the young knight, the rest of the walk to the dungeon was calm and silent.

The dungeon was a dark and cold place, where two things were carried out: the prisoners' waiting for the death sentence or torture.

The prisoner was taken to a chamber where there was only one chair, which he was forced to sit on. For the last seven months, Safwane was tortured day and night without rest.

A hooded man entered the chamber.

"Here it is" said the man as he looked towards the door.

Suddenly, the same young knight from before entered through the door with a smile.

"You will suffer" he said arrogantly.

Safwane sighed. He had been going through the same thing for so many months that he no longer even cared if he was tortured. But he could see the knight bring a metal so hot that it seemed like it was going to melt.

The ropes holding Safwane were strong enough to keep him still, but they were also worn out as it was the same rope that had tied him up again and again during the torture sessions.

Knowing that he was hours away from being executed, that the ropes could come loose and that the young knight could fall to temptation, Safwane decided that this was his last chance.

"Come on... it's my last day of torture and you bring me this one," said Safwane angrily.

The hooded man was used to these mind games, but the knight showed anger.

"If you're going to fall for their dirty tricks, you'd better leave," said the man, holding the young man by the shoulder.

"Calm down, I've got him under control," he replied as he walked towards the prisoner.

The young man, without saying a word, put the burning metal on the prisoner's chest, who was clenching his teeth in pain.

"Tsk... I knew this rat couldn't hurt me," said Safwane, trying to endure the pain.

The young man seemed upset but didn't fall so easily. He continued to press the metal against his chest while spinning it around. Safwane had to endure the immense pain and pretend it didn't hurt him.

"You know... I've had burning metal put on my chest so many times that it doesn't even hurt anymore," said Safwane, looking at the ceiling as he let out a sigh.

"I see, then how about the back, you damn nightmare" the young man replied directing the metal towards Safwane's back.

Safwane let out a smile.

"Stop it idiot!" the hooded man shouted.

When the young knight was going to place the burning metal on the prisoner's back, he did his best to get up and place the ropes that tied his hands, burning them slightly but enough for Safwane to break them with his strength.

In the process Safwane turned around and snatched the sword from the young knight, in a quick movement he went towards the hooded man and cut off his head.

"I would really like to torture you, but I don't have time, besides, thanks to your stupidity I am here so think of this as a reward" said Safwane with a cold look at the young knight.

Without wasting any time, he quickly went towards the knight, who tried to block with the metal, but Safwane grabbed the burning metal with his bare hands and pushed it away, leaving the young man unguarded, ending his life.

'Now how do I get out' thought Safwane.

He couldn't put on the knight's clothes since his red eyes would make them notice, on the other hand the hooded man's clothing was also useless since he cut off his hood.

Being a secluded room it would take some time for other knights to arrive, but precisely because it is a secluded room it has no connection to the ground apart from the door.

Without trying to waste any more time, Safwane decided that the hooded man's clothing was the only option there was, so he exchanged clothes with him.

Even though the hood was not next to the other clothes, Safwane put it on, resting it on the clothing.

'If I keep my eyes down, it might work,' thought Safwane as he left the room.

The walk was short as it was the only room in the place and as he walked through the door, screams filled his mind, this was the torture place for the other prisoners, Safwane quickened his pace so as not to run into any "companions."

This time before leaving the place there were two knights guarding the door. Luckily, they simply nodded and opened the door for him.

Now there was only the corridor of prisoners who were not being tortured, behind the next door there were several soldiers who would ask for his identity, so it was time to use his last trick.

Safwane began to open the prisoners' doors with the keys he snatched from the hooded man.

"Escape, there is no guard today, they are celebrating," said Safwane as he opened the door for the last prisoner.

The prisoners looked at each other in disbelief as a slight smile came out of his mouth.

"Quickly, before other torturers arrive" said Safwane in a worried manner.

The prisoners began to run towards the exit, freedom was only a few meters away from them. But after they all rushed out, they only found a dozen knights standing guard.

"They're escaping, catch them!" shouted one of the knights.

After being easily arrested because the prisoners didn't even try to escape, they were taken back to their cells.

"How did you manage to escape?" asked an elderly knight seriously.

"A torturer opened the door for us and told us to escape..." answered a weak-looking prisoner.

The knight was surprised and ordered the knights to check all the torturers. On the other hand, Safwane had already left the place, now he was wandering around the city.

Even though he was free, he was still in the city and soon they would realize that he had escaped. In order to escape the city he had to wait for dusk, at that time the enlightened ones of Shattered Realms enter the city after having killed nightmares.

There were still a couple of hours left, so he had to find a place to hide and what better place than the suburbs.

After walking for a long period of time, he finally arrived at the marginal part of the city.

The place was full of dust, the houses looked like they were in decay and the asphalt was cracked everywhere, there were also quite a few hungry children lying on the ground and the smell of alcohol was the most noticeable thing.

Safwane entered a broken down bar, where there were a few men drinking in the place. The young man decided to look for some alcoholic guy who was in a bad mood so he could change clothes, since if he went dressed as a torturer he would be noticed.

"Hey, do you want to change clothes?" Safwane asked a man.

The man looked like he had been crying and also reeked of alcohol, he slightly raised his head to look at the young man: "Do you think I have time for that?"

Safwane certainly did not want to abuse people, but in order for him to get out of the city he needed to use these tricks.

"You see, I've noticed that you're sad, so I wanted to give you my exclusive outfit which is worth too much money, but if you don't want it..." Safwane replied as he turned around.

"Wait" said the man grabbing him by the arm "Let's exchange it" he added wiping away his tears.

Safwane began to take off his clothes, showing a trained body with burns and some scars.

The man looked at him stupefied: "Right here?" the man asked nervously, to which the young man nodded.

The man took off his clothes and showed a huge belly which he seemed to be ashamed of. Safwane, without paying much attention to it, simply put on the other man's clothes and left the place.

He began to wander around the suburbs to kill time, but the hungry or sick children showed him that there are many more people going through the same thing like him.

"Life is really complicated..." Safwane muttered as he looked at the grey sky.

After waiting for two hours, it began to get dark and people were gathering on the great avenue.

For them, the enlightened ones are heroes who are saving them from the despair and terror that is experienced in the outskirts, without them Shattered Realms would not exist.

The doors began to open and ten people began to enter, Safwane did not care about the enlightened ones, he was just waiting for the moment when the door was about to close and quickly leave through it.

The plan was going perfectly, the enlightened ones greeted the citizens and the door was being closed and when Safwane was about to leave.

"The prisoner Safwane is here, find him!"