When Neroe awoke, he roared wildly while shaking the metal door. No one responded, but he didn't stop. They had kidnapped his sister, the last person in his family!
With tears of anger and grief in his eyes, he ran to Eliza's metal bed. He pulled the small rusty knife from under the mattress and ran back to the door. Desperately, he poked at the lock with the knife, but of course, nothing happened.
Only after hours that felt like days to the boy in this abandoned dark cell did something happen.
Heavy footsteps could be heard from outside as the boots of the approaching figure stomped toward the door.
Nero, who was sitting at the door with his knees pulled up to his chest, was brutally torn from his half-sleep when the door was pushed open. He was thrown to the side, but he quickly got back up, because the limp Eliza was thrown onto the floor of the cell. It wasn't Leonard, but a grim-looking person. After putting Eliza down, he turned around without saying another word and disappeared, but not before locking the door with a loud click.
Nero wasn't interested in that, but immediately jumped to his sister. A strange scent reached his nose when he hugged his sister. It smelled like... perfume. His sister was clean, completely clean, as if she had just been washed. She was dressed in a strange white robe, but Nero could still clearly see bruises and injuries on her skin. She was clearly wearing makeup, but tears had smudged it. Her whole body was shaking. Nero shook her arm to wake her up.
"Eliza? What happened?"
Slowly, his sister opened her black eyes, but she seemed absent. Slowly, her eyes cleared. Nero watched as her pupils contracted, then she let out a bloodcurdling scream. She brutally punched Nero in the face and crawled away from him.
Nero, who was completely unprepared, fell on his backside. He touched his cheek, which was slightly heated. Tears welled up in his eyes, but despite the pain, Nero crawled toward his sister again. "What's wrong, Eliza?" he asked, sobbing, as he tried again to hug his panicked sister.
This time, she actually let him, as she slowly calmed down. Nero stroked his sister's head, sobbing softly.
When Eliza heard Nero sobbing, she flinched. She turned to Nero and returned his embrace.
"I'm so, so sorry, Nero, I didn't mean to..." she apologized, sobbing.
Nero finally began to cry, "Where were you?"
"That doesn't matter now, the important thing is that I'm back with you."
Nero cried while his sister began to hum for him. It was the same song she always played for him on the piano. Slowly but surely, Nero calmed down, but he didn't leave his sister's embrace. Instead, he sank deep into it, but he could still hear the tremor in her voice.
He didn't know what had happened to her, but he didn't want to ask any more questions. He was just too happy that she was finally back with him.
Unfortunately, that wouldn't be the last time they took Eliza away.
The next day passed just as the weeks before had. Eliza was still trembling, but she seemed to have mostly overcome the shock of the previous night.
But when she later started tampering with the lock again, the two children heard heavy footsteps approaching from outside. Eliza quickly hid the rusty dagger under her mattress.
She sat up. With a loud clack, the heavy lock was opened. The same guard from yesterday entered the cell. Eliza immediately started screaming as the guard approached her.
"NO... NO, PLEASE... PLEASE DON'T!" she screamed desperately, but the guard ignored the young girl's cries. He grabbed her by the shoulder, lifted her up, and walked her to the door. Nero ran toward the muscular man, who simply kicked him aside. He closed the door behind him, the key turning with a click in the lock.
Once again, Nero spent the night screaming and trying to get the door open, but this time it seemed to take even longer before Eliza was brought back. Once again, she had been washed, dressed, and perfumed.
This time, however, she was in an even worse state than the night before, crying all night long. It was not until the next morning that she slowly calmed down and fell asleep. Nero lay next to her and stroked her throughout the day while she slept, but in the evening, the guards came back and took her away.
This repeated itself day after day from then on. At first, his sister tried to put on a brave face, but eventually she just cried constantly or slept. Until even the tears dried up and she completely stopped responding. She no longer moved, she no longer ate, she no longer drank, she no longer even responded to Nero, who tried incredibly hard to take care of his sister. He brought her to bed, lay down next to her, and stroked her. He fed her and gave her something to drink, but her condition continued to worsen.
She had always been thin before, just like Nero, but now she was just skin and bones. She was light enough that even Nero could carry her.
Nero became increasingly angry. He brutally attacked the guard every time, but the guard simply knocked him down. Nero already had two broken ribs, a few missing teeth, bruises, broken skin, and much more, but he didn't stop. No matter where they took his sister, it was killing her. He couldn't let that happen, but he was too small and too weak.
But after an extremely brutal night, when his sister came home with cuts, Nero couldn't take it anymore. He took his father's rusty knife in his hand and waited. When the guard came at night, he hid it behind his back.
He didn't move when the man came in, lifted his sister's limp body with one hand, and slung it over his shoulder. He didn't even glance at Nero, but simply walked past him. That was exactly what Nero had been waiting for. He jumped on the guard's back and stabbed him with his knife, but it bounced off something metallic. Chain mail!
The guard grabbed Nero and threw him into a corner of the room. Nero felt one of his ribs give way with a sickening crack. He remained lying on the floor as the simple-minded guard grunted and stepped out of the room. He closed the door behind him, and Nero heard his footsteps receding.
Nero slowly sat up. He groaned as pain shot through him, but he stood up anyway. He still had the knife firmly in his hand, but he had already forgotten about it because Nero's attention was focused on the heavy metal door.
He slowly walked toward it. He hadn't heard the click of the heavy lock. Had he simply overlooked it? But it was usually so loud that he should have heard it despite the pain.
He stretched out his arm. Carefully, he grasped the heavy door handle. With one of the most beautiful sounds Nero had ever heard, the door opened with a soft squeak. He waited a whole minute to see if anyone had heard him before looking outside.
Everything was pitch black; not a single torch was burning. Nero stepped through the door and out into the hallway. He stretched out his hand to orient himself along the wall.
Slowly and very carefully, he followed the wall, knowing that it led to the long spiral staircase that went upstairs. After what seemed like an eternity, he finally reached the first step. Carefully and cautiously, he climbed the stairs, the rusty knife still in his hand.
With the fear of running into a guard behind every turn, he climbed the stairs. The desire to free his sister burned within him like a beacon, seeming to give him infinite strength, endurance, and courage.
No torch lit the way, but he still listened for every sound. Whenever he heard even the slightest noise, he froze and listened, but each time it was nothing. So he made progress, but only very slowly. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, he reached the top of the stairs. There was a long, empty corridor here, but this time it was actually lit by torches. Fortunately, there was not a single guard here either. Apparently, none of them believed that any of the children would try to escape.
Nero walked cautiously down the corridor. There were doors everywhere, and he had no idea which one they had taken Eliza to. He opened a door very carefully, but everything behind it was dark. A second door was locked, as were a third and fourth. Only the fifth door he reached was open and lit. Nero slowly stepped into a new, illuminated long corridor. Nero cursed inwardly, but before he could try the first door, he heard a noise. It was the unpleasant squeaking of a bed.
Slowly and carefully, he crept towards the door behind which he heard the noise. As he got closer, he even heard the grunts and moans of a grown man.
Nero almost just walked away, but then he halted. He thought there was just a guard sleeping behind it or something, but something inside him kept him at that door. Something told him that his sister was behind that door. An incredibly strange feeling spread over Nero, like a long cloak enveloping him.