Nixxon forced his cough down, holding it in; his heart throbbed against his rib cage as he watched Damon climb downstairs; he wasn't even aware of the stairs until the moment Damon pushed open a slim door and disappeared down the stairs.
From his knowledge of underground buildings, he knew this was a dangerous place. Just like their kingdom, this place looked like a place where prisoners were kept and punished.
Was Vernon planning to torture him?
The room remained quiet, a disturbing silence; the wind outside picked up, and even though it was muffled because they were underground, Nixxon could still hear the howling and whistling, adding to the eerie feeling of the whole scene.
Vernon was silently leaning against the metal table, his calculating eyes watching Nixxon as he continued smoking, unbothered by Nixxon's intolerance to his smoking.
Suddenly, the creaking sound of the slim wooden door was heard, drawing everyone's attention to it.
Nixxon confirmed his guess with extra fear; he saw Damon dragging someone by the chain that was locked around his neck; the clinking of the metal chain was a haunting music and a sharp reminder of his unredeemable suffering.
Nixxon could see the visible fear in the prisoner's one good eye as he saw Vernon's figure.
He tried to struggle, but his weak legs couldn't do much. His wrists were also chained together in front of him, and his legs too, but the chains on his legs were long enough to let him move around, and they seemed really heavy.
Despite the man's feeble struggle, Damon dragged him over to Vernon, pushing him down on his knees.
"B-boss... please, spare my life," The man begged in a very cracked and shaky voice.
"P-please, B-boss, I've learned - ah!"
"Be quiet." Damon tugged the prisoner's chain, causing him to choke.
Vernon ignored the prisoner and walked over to Nixxon. "Do you see him?" He pointed to the man on the ground.
Nixxon nodded. "I see," He replied.
"Good. That is going to be your situation if you don't tell me what I need to know by the end of the week. Oh, and as for this..." He pulled out his gun and threw it on Nixxon's lap.
"Get him closer," He ordered.
"Yes, boss." Armani's voice was oddly different; there was no longer the warmth Nixxon had gotten accustomed to; he almost sounded chilly, as if he knew something ugly was about to happen.
Nixxon's decision about not trusting anyone was solidified; everyone here was a two-faced individual. He would never risk his life by trusting anyone, and he'd rather return to the ocean than trust Vernon.
He stared at the gun in his lap as he was pushed closer to the prisoner; he didn't touch it; it felt like the object would taint his soul if he touched it. His mind helplessly tried to escape his body as it sensed that something horrible was about to happen.
"Let's try again." Vernon took his phone out and gave it to Dane, who showed Nixxon a picture of a man in a gulf field; he wouldn't have known that the man was elderly if not for his white hair.
The man looked energetic, and it seemed as if he was having fun in that picture. However, Nixxon didn't recognize him, and he knew that Vernon wasn't going to be happy with his answer.
He slowly shook his head, looking up at Vernon, "Don't know..." He whispered, scared.
Vernon's smile crept him out. "Of course, you don't." He tilted his head to the prisoner, and Dane showed him the same picture.
The prisoner struggled to see what was shown to him as he'd been kept in darkness for a long time, and having lost an eye to torture wasn't helping much, but the moment he recognized the man in the picture, Nuxxon saw how his whole body vibrated, his knees shifting him back.
"I-I recognize him, Boss. It's Raja... t-the m-man I b-betrayed you with," He stammered, still shaking.
Vernon smirked, leaned down, and pressed Nixxon's cheek roughly between his fingers. "Do you hear that? That's a working brain. But don't be scared; he was once like you, claiming he knew nothing, but after some lessons, here he is, fully retentive, just like you would be by the end of the week. Now, tell me, do you remember my face from anywhere? No?" His eyes narrowed in sadistic delight.
Nixxon gulped. "No."
Vernon chuckled, "Of course, I knew you'd say that."
"Ugh!" Nixxon gasped in pain and shock; his lips were bleeding and trembling from Vernon's hard punch.
"Dane, target." Vernon's voice took a dark turn.
Nixxon noticed that Vernon's face was set to something sinister, something he didn't know how to describe.
"Yes, boss," Dane went to Nixxon and picked the gun on his lap. "Your hands." he removed Nixxon's hand from his bleeding lips and pushed the gun into his hands, positioning it so that his index finger held the trigger.
"Good, you learn fast." Vernon walked around and stood beside Nixxon, placing his hand over Nixxon's shaky one that was holding the gun. His index fingers laced over Nixxon's gently so he didn't press on the trigger yet. He noticed how cold Nixxon's hand was and smiled to himself; he loved basking in people's fear.
Armani stood behind Nixxon, his hand gripping the back of the wheelchair. His face was neutral, but his mind was disturbed; he knew what Vernon was about to do, and he didn't think it was the best idea to trigger someone with amnesia in that manner. But he dared not say a word.
"Focus, Mr. Amnesia; I'm about to trigger your instincts," Vernon whispered beside Nixxon's ear.
Nixxon sniffed, and hot tears fell from his eyes. He wanted to remove his hand, but Vernon grabbed it tighter around the gun, "Shh, be still. You're about to do something that'll remind you of what you're used to." Vernon's face was close to Nixxon's, his hand raising Nixxon's toward the prisoner.
Damon dragged the prisoner in front of Nixxon, holding his head up by the chain.
"No! Please, boss, take pity on me! Give me another chance! Please!" The prisoner struggled as he faced Nixxon's gun.
"Concentrate. Focus. This is who you are." He pressed down on Nixxon's index finger, firing off the gun and startling Nixxon.
"Good boy," Vernon whispered and straightened up, throwing the gun back to Dane.
Nixxon was frozen; his hands were visibly shaking, his lungs closing in on him; he didn't know if it was from Vernon's cigarette smoke or from the pungent smell of blood that was flowing out from the now-dead prisoner's eye.
Vernon had made Nixxon shoot the prisoner in his good eye, killing him on the spot.
'I killed a human...' Nixxon was mortified as he realized that this was his first murder.
Even as a Merman, he'd never taken a life; it was against his morals and culture. Mermen do not take a life unless during battles when they are fighting enemies. That was why he hated Pelagius for taking his mother's life, and now, he had found someone he hated just the same as he hated Pelagius: Vernon.
'Why did Vernon have to make me kill that man? He could have killed him himself, why soil someone else's hands?!' Nixxon's thoughts clawed sharply inside his mind.
"Stop," Vernon said to Dane, who went to carry the dead prisoner out.
Dane immediately stepped away from the dead body, bowing his head.
"He stays here with him..." Vernon's dark eyes found Nixxon's. "I hope you've understood how the weapon works; next, it'll be you pointing it to your head if you continue with your facade." He gave Nixxon a bone-chilling smile and turned away from him, heading to the exit.
"Lock the doors," Vernon commanded.
Nixxon didn't understand what was happening until he felt Armani slowly step away from him; he snapped his head behind him and panicked when he saw him walking into the moving box.
"No, come...take me, please," Nixxon was literally crying, but no one spared him a glance.
He was startled when Damon walked over to the dead prisoner and stepped on the chains, rattling them against the solid floor.
They were leaving him in a room with a dead man.
"Please? Armani? Please." He tried to turn around but ended up falling to the floor, the wheelchair falling over his back.
Nixxon gasped in fear, crawling away from the dead man.
"I dare you," Were Vernon's cold words to Armani, who moved to leave the elevator and help Nixxon.
Armani remained put, watching Nixxon as he struggled to escape the gore and blood; he felt pity for him; he was going to be traumatized for life after this experience.
As the elevator slid closed, Vernon had an unreadable expression on his face, The whole place was filled with his overbearing aura, silently intimidating everyone.
"No! Take me! Please!" Nixxon cried as the elevator made its way up.
Everyone in the elevator heard it, but no one dared move and help him.
"No..." Nixxon crawled further towards the wall, sitting down on the floor; his whole body shook from fear and disgust as he watched the dead man.
The urge to barf was strong as the unpleasant smell of blood filled the room, he didn't know if it was because he was a Mermen but he believed that his sense of smell was quite sharper than the humans because he could smell other substances from the blood, they smelled dangerous, like something that would have eventually killed the man if Vernon hadn't made him shoot him.
Nixxon was traumatized; he was locked in a room with a dead man; he knew what would happen next; the body would start rotting and smelling; he didn't like the smell or images; he wanted to leave.
His tears were unending, and so was his hatred for the human called Vernon.