NOCTEM

Fragments

"The commands of your master are unquestionable, remember this well, you lots are nothing but tools— hounds, created to carry out his orders. A hound does not question nor voice their emotions, a hound only obeys, nothing more, nothing less."

The voice echoed though the dense forest, gravelly and cold. Cutting the silence like a jagged blade.

He paused, taking in the view as he supervised about four hundred children.

"You shall abide by two rules to survive here... Firstly, your emotions... You should never voice out your disdain nor your fear, or any other emotions at that, for those who allow their emotions to overwhelm them are bound to die first. Seal your emotions, be ruthless , be unfeeling , that's the only way to survive in the confines of Syx."

He looked at the children who amongst them the oldest was no more than ten, some were trying their best not to cry, whilst some were confused as to why they were in an unknown forest being drilled a certain set of rules by a ruthless looking man.

Among the children, a few in numbers which could only be counted in one hand had blank looks on their faces, these kids had already decided to kill; their expressions confirmed it.

He let his eyes linger on them for a few moments and was met with a gaze of their own. His lips twisted into an eerie smile as he continued.

"Second, if the situation calls for it or is inescapable, then get rid of all the witnesses around, kill and erase all lifeforms from that location and leave no trace back to the organization else you'll be disposed of... Do you understand?"

Without waiting for their response, he pressed the red button of a remote which was firmly held within his right hand.

The chopper above the forest released it's cargo, revealing numerous daggers which plummeted down like a rain of steel, glinting within the faint sunlight.

It landed directly on the crowd of children gathered, injuring a few in the process.

The eyes of the ruthless man gleamed with excitement when some of the children had managed to evade the blades that were falling towards them, while the kids who had blank looks on their faces had managed to grab some daggers while avoiding being hurt in the process.

His lips twisted into a crazed grin as he spoke once again.

"Now.. you all are over four hundred, but Syx is only willing to accept a hundred, perhaps lesser than that.

You all have thirty minutes to reduce the numbers to a hundred or less. Failure to complete this within the required time will result in the death of everyone gathered here. "

Before he could mention another word a pained cry was heard as one of the participants, a kid with an icy gaze killed the person who was close to him.

Picking up another dagger he began his onslaught of attacks slashing and stabbing with an absurd amount of precision.

More pained cries resounded as he moved around the wide area like a tornado of death, annihilating everything in his path.

Seeing this, a few children began running to avoid him but that didn't save them, after all he wasn't the only maniac among them.

One by one they slowly fell to his blade till their numbers had been reduced to a count of nothing more than forty two participants.

Some of the other kids were killing quite a lot and by the time it was the twenty ninth minute, the numbers had been reduced to a number of twenty one.

"Die!!!" One of the kids yelled, running towards the white haired boy who had brutally massacred more than half the children gathered there, alone.

The white haired kid said nothing while waiting patiently like a venomous snake, for his attacker to get close enough.

His onyx eyes reflected a boundless abyss of darkness, bearing no emotions as he patiently watched his attacker rushing forward with a clumsy but fast pace.

His attacker brought the knife down to his head but the kid was faster, he slit the throat of his attacker effortlessly just in time for the commander's voice to sound across the wide area now littered with corpses and blood.

The commander was about to say something when the scenery changed from a ground littered with blood and corpses to a beautiful flower garden adorned with flowers and bright green grasses with an unusual allure that one couldn't help but linger and admire its beauty.

A young boy with silver hair and black strands running on the edge of his hair smiled at a beautiful woman who stared back at him with a brilliant smile of her own.

She had jet black hair cascading down all the way to her waist and crimson coloured eyes which had a mesmerizing glow to it that seemed to captivate others the more they stared at it.

Her pale alabaster skin further enhanced her beauty, adding more charm to her already enchanting features and curvy body.

She was without doubt a beauty most men would kill for.

She smiled lovingly as she patted her effeminate son on his head, while pointing to various flowers, the kid listened and concentrated with great care whilst his mother shared her knowledge on flowers.

From time to time his eyes would gleam with so much excitement on his innocent face the more he learnt new things from his mother's vast collection of knowledge.. or at least that's what it seemed to him.

The kid couldn't hide his excitement so he called out to his mother.

"Mother.. mother, when I grow up, I'm going to be someone who can teach others about flowers just like you." He beamed.

His mom chuckled.

"Is that so? my little cub? Little Azrael wants to be like mommy?."

The boy nodded his head in excitement.

"Yes- yes, I want to be just like you and..."

Before he could finish, a large hand grabbed him from behind raising him up in the air, making the little child squeal and giggle.

"Eehehe... Daddyyy, what are you doing." He asked as his father nibbled at his face.

The silver haired man with a clean shaved face and bright green eyes sighed deeply before giving his son a radiant smile, his handsome face bearing a noticeable resemblance to the child he was holding.

"What's daddy doing? Does my little alpha wanna know so bad? Daddy is a little sad to know that his cub doesn't want to grow strong like him, rather he wants to look after flowers just like his mother."

His father made a sad face, even going as far as pouting for a more dramatic effect, The kid quickly shook his head, stuttering slightly as he spoke.

"O-Of course not I'll be strong too, I'll beat up all the bad guys who would dare cause any trouble for us in the future."

His father chuckled.

"Oho.. that's my boy."

He lingered for a moment, gazing at his wife before he calmly requested for his child to give them a bit of privacy.

'Back then, back then I should have suspected.. from the way they acted I should have known something was wrong.'

Nox thought with a heavy heart as he watched through his memories as a child.

Although he was confused about the first one he had seen, the world and settings didn't quite match anything he knew, neither was he aware of who the white haired kid was, but for some strange reasons he felt like he was somehow connected to him.

The effeminate boy was feeling quite different from his usual self as he floated in a void filled with his memories, he had a throbbing headache just by looking at some broken fragments of memories in the far end of the vast void.

Not paying attention to the unknown and unusual feeling, he floated around the void going through a list of his memories which were eerily similar to broken fragments of glass in the vast darkness.

Nox suddenly felt weak, he was having a difficult time moving.. and that was when he noticed that his body was fading away within the unending space of darkness where his memories laid bare.

He didn't struggle, neither did he get anxious or scared, for he knew that the void was nothing more than an illusion or dream-like scene he was seeing because of his unconscious state, but was it really?.

Somewhere in his mind a seed of doubt bloomed as he couldn't help but wonder if there was something more to it.

Quickly dismissing the thoughts which he deemed unnecessary at the moment he felt the last of his consciousness slipping away from the void.

Back in the waking world where his body laid, his eyes slowly shot open and his gaze was met with an unfamiliar ceiling.

Before he had passed out he remembered he was passing through the cursed forest, and the last thing he saw was the dark silhouette of a person, a man specifically.. so finding himself in an unknown cabin was quite a shock for him.

But before his confusion could settle in, a baritone voice sounded from somewhere within the old cabin.

" You're awake."