Lord Of Beasts

After outright refusing the white supremacists so many times, they already felt disrespected. Ethan had only made things worse with his insults, but he hated people like them the most.

How could he not?

He had been raised by black folk and grown up surrounded by people from every race, religion, and background imaginable.

None of that had ever mattered to him.

Some people were decent, while others were pieces of shit.

It had nothing to do with skin colour.

These narrow-minded fools clearly disagreed, though they weren’t the only race-based faction inside Monster Manor. All the groups had found an excuse to divide themselves, clinging to whatever identity gave them strength in a place designed to strip it away.

Ethan wanted no part of it.

But that didn’t mean they would leave him be either; if anything, it only made him more of a target.

"If you won’t join us..."

The leader of the gang slowly pulled a sharpened shard of plastic from his waistband. The four men behind him mirrored the action, crude prison-made shanks glinting beneath the morning sun.

"...then die!"

Ethan simply stared at the five men.

’I’m probably not winning this one.’

There was no delusion.

Four of them outweighed him by half his body weight, and all five of them were armed.

His odds were terrible.

But that wasn’t really the point.

In Monster Manor, surviving wasn’t always about winning.

Sometimes putting up a good fight was enough to make everyone else think twice before trying again.

’And I’m definitely going to leave them with something to remember.’

A grin slowly spread across his face.

It wasn’t a normal smile, but one that was wild and unhinged. The same bloodthirsty grin Kaela wore before diving headfirst into battle and that the Blood Demon wore before tearing enemies apart.

He had expected this and still didn’t run from it.

The leader charged first, confident in the numbers behind him, exactly what Ethan had wanted.

He slipped to the side at the last possible moment, the shank grazing him.

Then his hands shot forward, driving his thumbs deep into the man’s eye sockets without hesitation.

"AAAGHHHH!"

The scream echoed across the prison yard.

Ethan didn’t stop there.

He pushed harder.

His thumbs sank deeper until he felt something wet give beneath the pressure. For one horrifying moment, he thought the eyeball was actually going to burst like a bubble.

The gang leader dropped his weapon, clawing frantically at Ethan’s arm.

That was all the opening the others needed.

A sharpened shank plunged into Ethan’s side.

Pain exploded through his ribs.

Another inmate crashed into him with a full-force shoulder charge, sending him skidding across the concrete before he could finish the job. Blood poured from the leader’s ruined eyes as he staggered backwards, screaming uncontrollably.

’Even if he can still see after this, he definitely won’t forget me.’

And they were going to have it out for him regardless, so Ethan didn’t care.

The remaining four attacked together.

One stabbed toward Ethan’s chest, to which he twisted just enough for the blade to tear through muscle instead.

Another swung wildly.

Ethan caught the man’s wrist before smashing his forehead directly into his nose.

Crunch!

Blood erupted everywhere.

A third inmate rushed him from behind.

Ethan stamped sideways, driving his heel directly into the man’s kneecap.

The joint bent grotesquely, and the inmate collapsed with a howl.

Someone then wrapped thick arms around Ethan’s torso.

He immediately threw his head backwards.

Crack!

His skull collided with the man’s face, flattening his nose completely.

Blood sprayed across Ethan’s shoulder.

But with each exchange, he wasn’t coming out unscathed, especially with their makeshift blades. One buried itself deeper into his side while another slashed across his shoulder.

He ignored both.

His elbow slammed into someone’s throat.

The man collapsed, choking violently, as another blade carved across Ethan’s ribs.

Pain exploded through his body, but he kept moving.

The moment he stopped and gave up was the moment he accepted death, and as much as he hated this place, he wasn’t ready to call it quits just yet.

There were no rules, honour, or such a thing as dirty fighting.

This was about surviving while disadvantaged, and that was what Ethan had always been best at.

His fingers clawed toward another man’s eyes, who had seen what had happened to their leader and leaned back. Ethan had expected that reaction and instead slammed his knee into their groin.

The man folded over and let out a yelp from the depths of his soul.

His fist then hammered repeatedly on another inmate’s face, with each strike spraying blood across the concrete.

But as good a fight as he had put up, there were too many of them.

More of the gang’s members had rushed over to help to take down the single young blue-eyed man. They had heard he was violent and scrappy, but they never expected it to this extent.

Taking on five men was no small feat.

Though it wasn’t unscathed, and as more of them jumped into the fray, it was over for Ethan.

A blade pierced his thigh.

Another sank into his back.

A third buried itself beneath his ribs.

His movements slowed, and his vision swam, and yet he kept getting back to his feet.

Everyone on the yard was watching what was taking place, and they were both impressed and horrified by what they were seeing. Ethan was definitely skilled at fighting, but more than that, he wasn’t afraid of getting hurt and didn’t hesitate when he attacked.

That’s what made him so dangerous.

They paused momentarily, amazed at how he was even standing after all the beating and wounds he had sustained. Bood trickled from the corner of Ethan’s mouth, yet he was amused.

He laughed loudly.

"I’ll..."

He spat crimson onto the ground.

"...kill every last one of you."

It definitely didn’t feel like an empty threat after what they had just witnessed, but it only worsened the beating he sustained. Ethan curled on the ground, his body shutting down as multiple giant men stomped him out.

That’s when the guards finally decided to intervene.

They moved slowly, almost lazily, with one even yawning.

"Think that’s enough, boys."

"Don’t kill him."

"The paperwork’s annoying."

When they didn’t listen, batons were swung and firearms flashed, forcing the attackers to back away.

’You couldn’t have done that sooner,’ Ethan glared through blurred vision.

It was almost as though they had waited for it to go this far, for entertainment or because the gang had paid them. Or maybe it was because they had it out for Ethan, who was a troublesome inmate.

Whatever it was, the blue-eyed man wasn’t going to forget, immense hatred swelling in his chest. It was even more frustrating that they were now pretending to restore order, with two of them grabbing Ethan.

’I swear I’ll...’

His consciousness faded.

’I’ll kill every last one of those fuckers.’

For a fleeting second, his gaze found the giant bald inmate who had tried to warn him.

The tattooed man looked away, ashamed.

Ethan didn’t blame him.

Not yet.

He knew the man had joined the gang simply to survive and had done what he thought he could. Originally, he’d only approached Ethan to recruit him, and somewhere along the way, they had become somewhat amicable.

Still, as darkness swallowed Ethan’s vision, his thoughts became increasingly distorted.

’Maybe I should kill him too.’

’Can’t trust anyone.’

’Nobody.’

Darkness claimed him, both figuratively and literally...

-

The next couple of weeks disappeared inside the infirmary.

Every time Ethan woke, he fought and resisted the nurses and doctors who were forcing drugs and sedatives into his body. He even bit one of them, so they ended up restraining him, strapping both his wrists and ankles to the bed.

He was like a mental patient, but in this prison, the warden didn’t care what happened as long as they avoided the death of prisoners. If anything, lawlessness was encouraged, and it made the time in this place even more torturous for Ethan.

The prison had stripped away whatever humanity remained, leaving behind something feral, violent, and that believed survival meant taking on the world alone.

But none of it was real, or at least not currently.

Yet inside Ethan’s mind, every second felt genuine.

He felt it all: every stab, every bruise, every second alone in that cell, trying not to go crazy.

The Golden Flutterer’s hypnosis had not created a simple illusion.

It had reached far deeper into his buried memories, his subconscious, and his very soul, until Ethan no longer questioned what he was experiencing. To him, he was truly in prison and couldn’t even recall anything before leaving that hellhole.

And elsewhere within the endless golden light, every other member of the clearing squad was trapped inside their own personal nightmare...