Chains pierced deep into his flesh. The cold metal had long since torn through skin, leaving raw wounds and dried blood trailing down his body.
Three months have gone by since he first got arrested, and they haven't come to bail him out; no one from the Sweepers has come to help him. It's now started to make him believe that perhaps the Sweepers betrayed him or simply won't come to bail him out.
Despite all the uncertainty, however, Assad does not seem to be bothered. It's almost like he has come to terms with the fact that he is going to spend the rest of his life in prison. His breathing also appears to be very erratic.
During periods when he is able to catch his breath, his mind drifts back to the time he had been talking with the original Assad.
He has now accepted that he is what he is, a serial murderer on earth, and that was the mark that would allow him to be completely reborn as a Sionel; he has accepted who he is.
The original has a smile that now reaches to both sides of his mouth.
"Now, let the demon rise."
Footsteps resounded in the hallway of the prison, like knives carving through silence. The air within the cell was heavier than ever before.
Assad recognized that someone was approaching his cell from the sounds of footsteps, but why? The footsteps stopped directly in front of his cell, and he raised his head, allowing his hair to fall over his eyes; the shadow from the hair would keep anyone from being able to see his face.
The two visitors were Yushin and Mae Yongsun.
Yushin looked at Assad with a slight frown.
"Captain,he is awake."
Mae Yongsun did not answer right away, but focused intently on the individual who had been sleeping; his expression changed dramatically.
After unlocking the cell door, Mae Yongsun stepped inside, with Yushin right behind him, and walked directly towards Assad without speaking.
Assad looked back at Mae Yongsun with his dull eyes, just like Yongsun was doing to him.
"Who the hell are…"
Mae Yongsun interrupted Assad's question by punching him in the face which forced Assad to turn but the chains attached to him stopped him, and he fell down onto his knees.
Yushin was shocked!
"Captain, what are you doing?!"
Mae Yongsun then grabbed Assad by the hair, and forced part of his hair out of his face and into his line of sight.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to kill him, If that's what you were thinking."
Once Mae Yongsun was right in front of Assad's face crouched down to his level, he blew air into Assad's face causing him to shut his eyes, blinding him.
"Now, criminal.It has been three months since you were locked up and it appears that you haven't been treated very well. I can't do anything for you because you are from the only place that men in this Empire do not want to see/ go to. Ain't that right Mr. Sixty-Fourth?"
Assad was looking at Mae Yongsun intensely, and had a pained expression on his face but didn't answer.
"You really don't have to stare at me like that."
Mae Yongsun let go of Assad, stood up, and started walking out of the cell. He stopped and turned back to Assad and spoke quietly to him..
"Don't worry; this torture won't last much longer. You can think of it as a reward, but it comes at the cost of your life."
Mae Yongsun exited the cell and handed the cell key to Yushin. Yushin nodded and followed Mae Yongsun out then locked the door behind him.
As he began running after Mae Yongsun, he heard a soft chuckle and was taken back wondering where it came from. He heard another chuckle, this time the chuckle was from Assad. Yushin turned around and looked at Assad in disbelief.
Yushin found himself taken back by the completely out of nowhere question.
"Hey, what is your name?"
"Why should I tell a criminal like you, an outsider, my name?"
Assad slightly smiled.
"Hey, we are all humans, so just like in the old saying, 'We live to share;' so please share your name with me, I won't judge."
Yushin hesitated before speaking whether he should say his name or not but the next thing coming out of Assad was the final straw... a bomb dropped.
"Or is it that beastkin cannot share their name with any creatures that are not their appointed king or master?"
"How the hell do you know that?"
Assad had a smirk on his face once again.
"Answer simple, I took a wild guess, how is your life as a human, it should be great, I hope"
"Will you just shut the hell up and tell me how you know this?!?!"
As Yushin was ready to hurt Assad because of his non-response and laughing at Yushin, Assad finally stopped laughing and looked Yushin dead in the eye.
"Alright Yushin, the drug that you use to become human, production of that drug has been because of a major incident, but oh look would you look at that... somehow you have some of this drug in your stock... care to explain this?"
Yushin was silent; he was overwhelmed with thoughts and reactions rushing through his mind like a river. He didn't know what to do! A random criminal just happened to know everything about him just like that without doing an actual investigation. Maybe Assad even had prior knowledge of the name of the drug and exactly what it was for.
However, he had just found out from Assad what that purpose was.
"I don't know how you know the name of the drug, but I have to admit everything you just told me was unbelievably accurate."
"Well, that's good, and please stop referring to it as a "drug." The correct name for it...the name you should use...is J.A.B.E.," a.k.a. "Jabe.""
Yushin's face showed his shock. All this time, Assad knew? How did he know? Had he previously encountered the same type of drug?