Chained Hearts: From Slavery to Sovereignty
Chapter 102: Did you save me?

Chapter 102: Chapter 102: Did you save me?

Just how much longer? I’ve been walking this path for so many days, yet I still can’t find the exit from this endless darkness. Where am I? How did I end up in this place?

"Huh! Water... I need water..." His knees buckled, and he fell to the ground, the thirst gnawing at his throat.

Suddenly, a sharp, pulsing pain in his head grew more intense with each passing second, and he gripped his skull, wondering if it would burst from the pressure.

He squeezed his eyes shut, praying the pain would fade, begging for relief. But no—the agony only worsened, shooting through his head like a blinding, splitting force.

"Ahhh... gasp... gasp..." Cassian jerked awake with a scream, his body heaving as if his lungs had just rediscovered air. "Huh! I’m alive..." he murmured, his hand instinctively reaching for his face—a sign he was truly here, truly awake.

Relief? What was he relieved from? He couldn’t remember. Only his chest felt so heavy, like a weight he couldn’t shake. What was that dreadful place? Why did it feel so real?

And why had he woken up in a panic, as though caught in the midst of something horrible again? "Huh! Why? What’s happening to me?" His mind swirled with confusion as his gaze lifted to the unfamiliar ceiling.

Above. Wait, what? How was he no longer in the endless void? How did he get here? Slowly, his senses began to return. He was covered in a soft blanket, and as he looked around, he realized the truth.

This wasn’t an ordinary room. It was a room far from plain—filled with luxuries he hadn’t seen in ages. As the warmth from the crackling fire surrounded him, he thought, "Kidnapped! But... why?

Why would anyone want to kidnap me? I’m no child. And even if they were, why leave me in a strange yet rich and comfortable room?"

Had it been another dream or a mirage? After so much time spent in that dark void, his mind felt clouded.

What had he even been thinking? Why would anyone kidnap him? Had he really lost his mind in that dark void? "Ahh!" Cassian ran his fingers through his hair in frustration.

What nonsense had he been spouting? What really happened to him? "I think I’ve gone insane," he thought.

Touching his head, he remembered the searing pain and marveled that it had faded away entirely—vanished. Where had it gone?

"Calm down, Cassian... calm down!" he murmured to himself, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. He decided to silence the chaotic, self-destructive thoughts and rid his mind of the dark influences.

He knew these were all side effects of that void—a place that drove people mad, even forcing them into suicidal despair. After all, anyone could lose themselves in that endless void without sunlight or water.

That void made people question their very existence, forcing them to wonder: What is the use of this life? Is it not better to simply end it and drift forever in that emptiness?

Slowly, Cassian began to understand, and he opened his eyes with a start, his back drenched in shock.

He realized he was still haunted by the void, slowly losing his mind—but why was he in that void? The answer remained elusive.

Strangely, he recalled the details of the void from the first time he encountered it. "How do I even know what that void is capable of?" he wondered.

Suddenly, he heard someone speaking in his mind, guiding him on how to escape that world—explaining what the void was capable of and what it could do to anyone.

The voice insisted that a person’s will was the only thing that could help them survive there. If their will was weak, they would never be able to break free; they would be trapped forever.

The voice was so gentle that it made his heart pound anew, as if awakening a long-forgotten memory he had deeply hidden within.

But no matter what he did, the voice continued: "The void is here to test you... test your ability, and see whether you are worthy of its challenges."

"Ahh! No, stop! I don’t want to listen!" Cassian shrieked as the pounding in his head only intensified.

Frustration overwhelmed him, and he almost slapped himself just to escape this madness.

Suddenly, his eyes fell on a mirror quietly placed on the table. It reflected his pitiful face back at him.

Cassian traced his features with his fingers and tried to smooth the unruly hair falling carelessly over his angular face, shielding his pale blue eyes.

Now, his eyes looked even gloomier than before. His clothes were in disarray, as if he had personally fought someone, and it appeared that someone had tossed him onto the bed afterward.

"Damn! Why do these thoughts feel so humiliating?" he muttered.

Cassian clenched his teeth in anger and glared at his reflection in the mirror.

Thud... thud...

Cassian heard sudden footsteps approaching his room, his vigilance flaring to life as he suddenly leapt from his bed and clenched a vase in his hand, ready to strike anyone who dared to harm him.

Cassian waited patiently behind the door, his heartbeat accelerating with every sound of footsteps approaching.

"Are you awake, young man?" Cassian heard the gentle voice of an old man, filled with concern for him.

He felt no hostility from him, so he hurriedly lowered his arm and hid it behind him, still clutching the vase tightly.

"Huh! What are you standing here for, young man?" the old man said with a soft smile and some worry in his eyes.

"Come here! Now it’s time to change your bandage." The old man walked towards the bed. Now Cassian realized the old man was holding a small bowl that wafted a medicinal smell.

This only worsened his guilt as he looked at the genuine, kind expression of the old man. He hurriedly placed the vase on the side table so the old man would not notice his intentions at all.

Or maybe Cassian really did not know where to put his hands.

"Did you save me?"