My eyes burned when they opened.
My head throbbed.
Thinking hurt.
A dim light leaked through a crack in the wall.
Metal bars.
Everything blurred.
The gray room pressed down on me.
My reflection on the floor showed a filthy face.
Sweat. Dirt. Blood.
My arms and legs—motionless.
Nanoshackles embedded in my wrists and ankles kept me still.
The seconds dragged, slow, as if the darkness were chewing through time.
Every beat of my heart hurt.
The silence was worse than the blows.
I licked my swollen lips.
Tasted the metallic tang of blood.
"You awake, chica?"
A deep voice, thick with accent.
"Been two days.
They beat you so hard I thought you were muerta."
Denden spat on the floor.
"Son unos malparidos.
Bastards."
My head hung heavy.
"Say something."
"I—I…"
My throat burned with dryness.
I tried to swallow.
Couldn't.
He watched me, intrigued.
"You look horrible.
But… something caught my attention.
You held out every single time."
Nanometal restraints bound his arms and legs to the chair.
Dried blood.
Fresh blood.
On his body. On his pants.
A deep cut in his brow and lip.
His face swollen.
And Denden still smiled.
"N-no…"
Tears welled up.
"Why…"
His expression darkened.
"I've seen a chica act like that before.
Every time they beat her, tortured her, hurt her—she stared them down full of determination.
A verdadera fortaleza."
He held my gaze.
"If you know Kiara, then you must've known Maia."
Maia?
The name silenced the fog in my mind.
Denden smiled wider.
"I remember when she first arrived in Nobody's Land…"
He started talking fast.
His voice echoed through the room.
My head hurt more, but I wanted him to keep going.
Having someone there made it feel less unbearable.
Especially someone who radiated so much heat.
And he was talking about her—
an answer to what my soul kept asking for, even in silence.
A tear slipped down, heavy with pain.
"She always stayed quiet.
Wouldn't even answer the higher-ranking mercenaries."
He leaned back, relaxed.
"No sé why they sent her to the chamber the first time.
Maia reacted to the torture in silence.
Never screamed.
Never showed pain."
Denden frowned.
"Until that happened…"
He rolled his shoulders and stretched his neck.
"Mucho mejor. Anyway…
Every mercenary who tortured the chica ended up dead."
My stomach twisted.
"The strangest part was how they died.
Every death was ruled natural."
He let out a manic laugh.
My eyelids grew heavier.
My head spun, yet I still wanted to hear more.
I opened my mouth.
"Y-you—"
The door slammed open.
Two soldiers entered in gray-green uniforms.
Kemetia command, Alexandria division.
One carried a revolver.
The other held an iron baton.
Denden grinned wide.
"Well, well…
The gonorreas malparidos finally showed up."
His laughter bounced off the walls.
"Let's have some fun, pendeja."
The female soldier drove the baton into his ribs.
Denden bent forward and spat blood.
Then lifted his head.
His eyes shone.
Excitement. Madness.
"Better than that only if you kill me, bitch.
¡COMA MIERDA!"
Denden laughed louder.
Truly laughed.
I shut my eyes.
The blows echoed.
Metal against flesh.
The turmoil in my stomach forced me to vomit on myself.
Cold sweat ran down my body.
My heart hammered out of control.
When I tried to move, a searing pain struck my abdomen.
An electric shock shot up my spine.
My body convulsed.
I doubled over, gasping.
The guard hit my throat.
My head snapped back.
My vision darkened.
Blood burst from my mouth.
I coughed violently.
"WHO ARE YOU?!"
The female soldier yanked Denden by the hair.
He spat in her face.
She answered with a punch.
To the stomach. To the face.
But he was unbreakable.
The other soldier came for me.
Grabbed my hair.
Pulled hard.
Strands tore from my scalp.
"WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?!"
His spit sprayed across my skin.
I could barely think.
Much less speak.
My head weighed a ton.
The pain throbbed.
BANG!
A shot rang out.
My body recoiled.
Hot tears slid down.
My eyelids trembled.
I kept them shut.
I was afraid to see Denden dead.
He died.
No—
"BASTARD! SEWER TRASH!
USTED NO SABE CON QUIÉN SE ACABA DE METER!"
I raised my head.
Blood was pouring from his leg.
Relief.
He was alive.
I breathed in, shaking.
"Answer, bastard!
Who the fuck are you?!"
The soldier clenched his jaw.
Pressed the barrel of the revolver against Denden's forehead.
"Why were you carrying that shipment?"
The mercenary smiled.
"You confused, montón de mierda?
All you'll get out of me is my brains."
He laughed.
I almost laughed with him.
The butt of the gun smashed into his head.
The two soldiers left.
The silence suffocated.
Denden turned his head toward me.
"Stay sharp, chica.
They'll be back."
I let my head fall backward.
My body felt heavy.
The pain drained me.
Dried blood on my face.
Metal taste on my lips.
The darkness pulled at me.
Honestly—
I was exhausted.
Ready to give up.
That was it.
The end.
I knew getting out of there was unreal.
The warmth was leaving my body.
My breathing turned shallow.
But then—
Denden laughed out loud, as if death itself were a joke.
"Stay awake, muchacha."
His voice drifted.
"Stay with me.
We're getting out of this."
I didn't answer.
"I've been in places way worse.
Listen to my voice."
His voice smiled.
"I was once trapped in the worst prison of all.
With chica Maia."
My eyes opened a little.
"I'll tell you, alright?"
He kept talking, cheerful.
Maia's image rose in my mind.
It would be so easy to join her.
My eyes kept closing on their own.
I forced myself to resist sleep.
Something pulled me back.
A survival instinct kept sparking.
My vision flickered between reality and something else.
A silhouette.
White hair.
Honey eyes.
I see you, Maia…
Are you here?
Talk to me.
The darkness retreated.
I tried to focus on Denden.
Hearing about her would give me strength.
He smiled—
as if he had noticed.