Staring into the ceiling Hildebrant felt reborn.

His muscles no longer ached, and his eyes no longer tried to close on their own. The body he once had was now gone, replaced and reshaped after sunlight shredded his skin and awakened something that slept in the center of his very being.

It was a painful process but feeling raging flames in his chest he could not help but accept the truth.

There was however still one question to answer.

What now?

Should he stand up and find a way to escape?

Should he stay on the floor in his flesh and blood until night came and then sleep?

Where I am?

He asked himself and turned his head to the side.

Rows of cells he before overlooked entered his vision and a weird whisper he didn’t hear before entered his mind, flowing in and out of his ears. They wanted to communicate with it but he was distracted by cages that hung from the ceiling and the weird melody that entered his ear.

It was an unknown melody; a fantastical and unhuman song composed the way it made his entire spine shiver with dread and excitement.

He could no longer wait to meet a person who sang it in person and with excitement he pushed himself up while his bones cracked and muscles strenched. Pain flooded him as his newly formed flesh and bones tore and cracked but as if not registering the flood of intense feelings he slowly with graceful steps moved before steel bars.

His hands grasped the cold steel, caressing it with his finger and then grabbing it with all his might he instinctively commanded his flames to move and pour themselves into his hand and from them into the steel.

They listened to him and like water they poured into his hands and through them into the bars, turning his hand into a bloody mess and then bars into red molted metal. He did not stop until the pain finally reached his brain and then with a jolt of realization, he stopped his flames and while grinding his teeth with tears pushing themselves into his eyes he looked down at his hands.

They were completely red, missing skin, and letting crimson smoke touch his nose that sent an iron smell down to his lungs.

Why did he do it?

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He asked himself and then looked at cages and people in them and when one of the humans raised its gaze Hildebrant could not help but tremble after noticing its eyes were completely black.

There was nothing in them no life or sentience, but the human did not stop looking and after a while of whining in his cells other monsters and prisoners also raised their gazes to him and observed him with indifendent expressions.

Hildebrant gazed back at them with gritted teeth while listening to an otherworldly song that began to calm his mind and then without caring for his injuries he stepped out of the cell through the melted bars and grinned but as his hand touched melted steel searing pain woke his mind up and he froze in place.

Other creatures still observed him with hollow gazes, not moving even an inch from their positions but Hildebrant now felt like a small rat being stared at by hundreds of cats. Fear slowly began to grip his heart and made him clench the melted bar he was holding.

Felling pain coursing through his body he focused on it and then began to pour some of his flames into his hand, not much just enough for his skin to burn but to his surprise while one still bled and released some heat, the other one began to tingle and skin slowly began to grow from his elbow.

To test something, he then closed his eyes and slowly began to pour less and less flames into his hand until it also began to heal and regrow. The pain was still there, and the discomfort of having flesh burned was also there, but at least the skin he lost was now slowly cowering his bloody flesh.

Not fast and it was accompanied by another wave of pain but at least he did not lose it for good.

Finally opening his eyes, he was greeted by hundreds of black gazes staring right at his soul.

Uncomfortable as he felt he still braved himself and after letting go of the bar he stepped into a lonely prison that now looked even darker than at night.

Anywhere he moved gazes of all creatures followed him, their neck twisting in his way and their bodies turning around as he made his way through the room feeling like an animal in a zoo. His hand no one time twitched as he listened to the unnaturally perfect song but the longer, he listened the less beautiful it was.

At one moment it became so disgusting his ears began to bleed without his knowledge and was prepared to burn his own body when he froze and slowly turned his head to a lonely cage that lay on the floor and girl in it.

Pale as snow, with white long hair and no older than his niece she sat on the floor with her bear in her hands, grasping it with all her might. She was a beautiful child with spotless skin and otherworldly beauty but what Hildebrant observed were her eyes that were clean blue without any spect of black.

Noticing his gaze, she turned her head to him and stared at him the same way he did.

For a moment Hildebrant forgot about Adel and his family as he stared into these deep blue eyes but then he woke up and under a hundred black gazes he approached the cage girl was in and put his hands on its bars.

His red flesh touched the steel, but his face did not change until white flames came out and slowly turned the bars into molded iron.

Grimacing he then retracted his freshly baked hands and with it also his flames that now cycled both of his hands in small amounts just enough to keep the pain that kept him waking up flooding his body.

"Beautiful."

He exclaimed while observing the girl, but all the girl did was tilt her head and then hug her bear tighter.

"Let's go, we should escape while we can. "

Saying it with a kind smile he stretched his hand but instead of standing up girl furrowed her brows and then shook her head.