'Did I go through something similar?'
Maybe he too did have a family, and people he cared about in the past before he was taken.
But that was only the story of how they infiltrated and abducted them. Now, it was time to hear what they actually did to the people they kidnapped.
Hugo went on, his voice low and steady,
"We were stripped of names, and instead given numbers.. designations. They forced us to awaken— every single day we were made to kill whatever creatures they brought in."
He swallowed.
"Sometimes they'd make us fight alone.. other times they threw us into groups, but that only meant our enemy would be far more dreadful."
He laughed once, short, tasteless and bitter.
"Even if we survived, and managed to awaken like they wanted, that didn't garuntee us our survival. Sometimes they'd just slaughter entire groups of us out of the blue.. and anyone that was left was taken even further down. Into the darkness."
His gaze hardned. Jaw tightening as memories he tried to forget continued to claw away deep inside of him.
"The things they did.. they were unspeakable."
He could recall it oh so clearly.
Every tiny blade that pierced his skin, every needle injecting something forgein into his system, every organ being removed and replaced with something unidentifiable.
He was conscious throughout it all. His broken and dying body was repaired through miscellaneous means, stitched back together just enough to endure, before being put through that ordeal once more.
"Again, and again, and again."
Until pain became the only constant, and mercy a long forgetten concept.
"They didn't limit themselves to just flaying our flesh and bones.. they went even deeper, further down. They toyed with our very souls. Tormenting isn't even enough to describe the pain that it caused."
Scowling, he turned his head and directly looked back at him.
"But looking at you now.. I guess you've forgotten all about that too, right?"
Azdin made no comment. His words would only cheapen what had been undone.
"I only met you 2 years after that faithful day. Around the time when I awakened. Your designation was Number. 0, while my own was 589."
His lips pressed into a thin line.
"It wasn't hard to understand what that meant. You were the first one to be ever brought down there."
Just then, an even hotter spark of interest flickered across Azdins face. Brief, sharp, and gone just as quickly as it appeared.
"Don't get your hopes up."
He said flatly.
"Aside from that, I didn't know much about you. Other than you being a complete, blood thirsty lunatic."
He let the insult hang for a moment, as he watched Azdins face crunch up into one of guilt.
"Anyhow, with the combined efforts of you, me, Tyr and a couple others, we staged a revolt and were able to escape."
His voice faltered for just a moment.
"Not all of us got lucky and actually made it outside though.. We stole a small rowboat and tried to sail as far away as we could before they could find us. Thanks to this realms strange rules, once we got far enough, they instantly lost track of us."
His shoulders sagged, as the darkness in his eyes deepened.
"That didn't get us out of danger."
"We didn't bring enough food.. Tyr was injured and terribly sick. We couldn't find land. No help. Nothing."
And then, his hands began to tremble.
"If only we'd known."
He muttered,
"If only I'd planned things out better. If only I knew, that out of all the divine realms that they could've dragged us off to, Storm Gods was the one that we'd end up in..."
He clenched his fists.
"We agreed," he said, voice cracking despite his effort.
"That we should end her pain. That we might last a little longer with one less mouth to feed."
He looked away, shame and fury twisting together.
"You."
He said sharply, turning back.
"You killed so many of the people who got in our way. Even others trapped, just like us. And yet, when it came to Tyr.. you couldn't even lift up the sword you pulled from the corpse of a guard you pulverised."
The words couldn't come out, as small tears soon followed.
Although he did not speak, Azdin could guess as to what happened next.
'There were blood stains on the sword.. even though none of us were injured."
The one who killed Tyr was..
Hugo's voice rose, raw and bitter.
"You have it easy.. all that pain, and you just forgot?? What kind of a cruel joke is that!? Did you even feel anything apart from that sick, twisted enjoyment when you massacred them?! Why were you allowed to forget everything, while I'm still l!..."
Hugo took a short glance at the now washed and clean sword, and then the rest of the Azure Cub meat that was left to dry.
"Although,"
He added coldy.
"You may have forgotten, but that part hasn't changed about you at all."
He expected to see a look of amusement, but when he looked at Azdin now. There wasn't any emotion like that—no. There was only shame.
'He really isn't the same..'
He looked up, his anger finally breaking free.
"I'm sorry, I'm just angry.. it's been a long day."
The looking up at the high moon now, he had failed to realize he had been talking for way too long. It was late, and he was exhausted.
"You can put out the fire now. I'm going to sleep."
Turning around, he lay himself in the grainy sand with nothing but the cold air acting as thin blanket.
Using his own arm as a pillow, the melody of the sea waves slowly lulled him to sleep.
**
The next day the two boys woke up bright and early, although Azdin did seem a bit more exhausted then he let show.
'He was up all night.'
This was the second day that they were stranded in this place.
They managed to get by yesterday, but living like that simply wasn't optimal if they wanted to leave eventually.
To do this, an organised list of 'Prioritise' was created.
Hugo spoke,
"We'll continue to stay on this island. Sailing back out is not only dangerous, but we don't even have enough of a food supply, so it'll just be easier to just sit and wait for help. I'll prepare a smoke signal until then."
Of course, the one making this list was also Hugo. Azdin possessed zero knowledge and experience in wilderness survival skills, while Hugo had already proved himself to be quite competent.
Even before he lost his memories, it sounded like Hugo was the one who orchestrated their escape, so he was more than deserving enough to take the lead.
'All I need to do is listen and try my best.'
The first thing on this list of must haves, was shelter. Sleeping under the bare sky with their thin clothing was not just uncomfortable, but also dangerous.
Although there only seemed to be a small population of noble creatures living on this island, there was no telling when one of them would get a little curious at the two new humans who appeared. Especially now that they could mess up the mini ecosystem that went undisturbed.
The next issue was fresh, clean water. All the creatures here must've been getting it somewhere, so there had to be an accessible fresh water source unexplored.
And lastly, was the issue of procuring more food to survive on. Of course they had the Azure Cub meat, but that would only last them oh so long.
This issue was the easiest to solve atleast.
"If we watch which kind of fruits the creatures here eat, and which ones they avoid, we can figure out which ones are safe."
These fruits were also very high in water content, so they could get by for a long time, but not forever.
"We can also use this method to find wherever that fresh water source is. You'll be in charge of that. I'll work on building a shelter, it shouldn't be too difficult."