“The time has come, should we let them go now?” A deep voice came from what seemed to be a man, concealed in complete darkness, broke the sickening silence of the pitch dark dome-like chamber.

A man, sat on a throne-like seat with legs crossed and arms indifferently clasped on his stomach, answered in a low groan.

“Yes... Let’s see if they can meet my expectations.”

The man flicked his fingers, “Bring the dolls here.”

Obeyed the given command, the other man flashed an unnerving smile before making his way to a hall full with dilapidated-looking cells. They looked pretty much like those usually found in modern prisons, except they looked somewhat wrecked and shattered.

Most of the cells were dimly lit in eerie red lights, while some were shrouded in complete darkness. Neglected the possibility that there might be people inside. With no beds or even urinals, these cells looked more like a cage for animals instead of humans.

The man walked through the hall filled with cries and moans. A hall filled with pain. He glanced in fad at a cell beside him and caught a pair of eyes, full of hatred, glared at him. The man chuckled and pompously spat at him. He then went further to the innermost part of the hall with a proud smirk on his face.

Few minutes passed and the man finally stopped in front of a cell sealed with solid-looking glass. The cell was dark, with dim red light flickered, barely illuminated the room. Foul stench of blood greeted his nose as soon as he stepped his feet closer to the cell. The man looked around in the dark and found the so-called doll sprawled motionlessly on the floor.

“Your time has come, you worthless bag of filth.” The man opened the cell’s door and he could see the doll’s eyes suddenly perked up in surprise.

...What?

It had been a very long time since the doll treaded his foot outside the cell’s door. Long enough that he started to believe that he had never been outside to begin with. But now he got this man stood in front of him, casually opened his cell door and told him to go outside.

Is this some kind of joke...?

The man snorted. He approached the doll in a threatening manner and freed both of his hands and legs cuffs before roughly grabbed him by the hair. “Be a good boy…” He grinned evilly and shoved him out of the cell, “…And go to the main chamber.” His pitch-black eyes stared grimly, voice menacingly raised, “NOW.”

Upon hearing his captor’s intimidating words, the doll started to walk. No. More like he was crawling. His thin body was covered with too many scars, bruises and other severe wounds that he couldn’t even afford to walk anymore.

The moment the doll finally reached the main chamber, he quickly realized that he was not alone. Aside of the seven vicious-looking men on the left, all dressed in flashy black attires; there were five of his so-called kind lined up in front of them.  All on their knees, with empty eyes glued to the floor.

...It’s them.

His body started to tremble, his breaths itched, and his eyes were filled with anxiousness. He recognized the other five dolls in front of him. Their cages were adjacent to his. They may have never talked to each other, but they were all of aware of each other’s existences. They were the ones who kept him sane. The ones who helped him retain his humane side.

They made him realize that he was not alone in such a place of living hell like this.

“Ya! Go!”

Suddenly, he felt like someone shoved his back. The fragile doll ended up falling on his stomach and groaned in pain as he felt his old wounds reopened. Warm red liquid slowly dripped out, seeped into his tattered shirt.

“Well well well~ look who we have here...” The man who looked like the leader of the seven stood up from his chair, whistled in excitement with a mocking expression on his face.

The six feeble-looking dolls jerked their heads up in fear as the man slowly approached them. It’s him, the one who imprisoned them. The one who snatched their freedom away from them. The one who narrowed their world to the size of a dog cage. The Evil King.

The King rested his elbows on his lap, fingers intertwined together, “One, two, three, four, five…” His eyes locked at the motionless figure slumped in the back, “…Six."

“Perfect.” He flashed a cunning grin.

The six dolls rigidly stayed still. They never thought that they would actually come to face the King like this.

The King stood up. He put his hands in his pockets and walked, circling the confused dolls.

“Hmm…” He quietly stared at each of them in observing manner.

He halted his step right in front of the bloodied doll on the ground and smirked,

“You guys are my favorite dolls, you know? And I put high expectations on the six of you.” He mumbled.

Expectations?

None of the dolls dared to make a sound. They all had their eyes stared anxiously at the ground.

The King idly squatted. Before him was the wounded doll with a gapped wound on his stomach, trembling in agony.

He suddenly grazed his sharp nail on the doll’s arm. Added a new cut to the pale-skinned arm full with open wounds and bruises. He watched in silence as the doll shivered in terror.

“Nice wound… I like it~” He maliciously his lips and dug his nail even deeper, piercing the doll’s frail skin.

“…S-stop… plea…se.” The doll feebly begged.

He pulled out his nail and glanced at the blood dripped from the tip of his finger. He flashed a maniacal smile before the blood dry.

The other five dolls looked at the so-called King in disgust. They wanted to stop him, but they could barely do anything. Not in their current state.

They knew that to the King, their pain was his happiness. The more they were in pain, the more the pleasure. That was how things worked here.

The King finally stood up as he glared at the six dolls kneeled in front of him. He had his eyebrows raised, as if he was thinking of something.

He suddenly had his lips twitched upwards.

“I will let all of you go. Go, find your Saviour.”

“WHAT..?!” The dolls screeched in unison. They looked puzzled, unable to believe what the King just said. Just when they thought that this was where they would meet their definite end, their captor suddenly told them that they could finally say goodbye to this filthy hell hole.

But wait… Saviour?

“Looks like they’ve been kept here for too long that they’ve become senile.” Said the man with the hoarse and heavy voice. Followed with a chuckle from the shortest next to him.

“But hey, if I were ‘em, I’d be surprised too ya’ know.” The one with the fairest look mumbled with arms idly folded across his chest. He looked less hostile compared to his comrades, but there was something unnerving with the way he stared.

“I’m more surprised that you still talk in that rubbish accent.” The one with frizzy blond hair casually taunted. His indifferent expression remained unchanged, even when the fair-looking one started to curse at him.

“Whoa, that’s pretty rich coming from someone who wears insoles to make himself look deceivingly taller.” Said the man who gathered the dolls from their cells.

The six of them continued insulting each other until the chamber was filled with sinister laughters. They didn’t even seem to care about those poor souls cowered in front of them.

But the laughter didn’t last very long.

“Enough!” The King raised his voice. Just a single yell and the whole chamber became even more silent and tensed than before.

The King pulled out something that looked like a picture from his pocket and impatiently tossed it to the ground. It slowly landed in front of the doll with the most ragged clothes.

The doll picked the picture with his trembling hands, only to see a smiling face of an unknown girl in the picture.

...Who is this girl?

As if he could read the doll’s mind, the King answered, “She’s your Saviour.”

The other dolls quickly flocked to catch a glimpse of the picture. They later looked at the King in disbelief, wondering if this was all nothing but a cheap joke.

“Find her.” The King continued, “Make her fall in love with you and she will free all of you from the curse with her hidden power.”

“Which is…” He made sounds of kisses with his mouth, “True love.”

“Ooo~ so hot~” The man with heavy voice grimaced in mockery.

“Just keep in mind that if one of you succeeds, I will let all of you free. Forever.” The King flashed a wide grin, followed with a deafening laughter from his underlings behind him.

Just when the King and his maddening disciples were having fun ridiculing the subsequent fates of the hapless dolls, one of them daringly brought himself to utter a question.

“B-but… Won’t she be freaked out? I mean, seeing us in such state like this…”

The King chuckled, “Don’t worry. I’ll be generous enough to make all of you as healthy as ever. After all, you’re technically immortal as long as you’re my dolls.”

The dolls glanced at each other in confusion.

“But…” The King continued.

“The six of you will still have the trigger planted inside your mind. And whenever the trigger is on, I’ll be the one taking control of your body. No... The evil inside you will.”

With a dreadful grin adorned on his face, the King cupped the doll’s face next to him. Playfully rocked it left and right.

“Remember.” He continued, “Your sin is the trigger.”

Their eyes perked up wide. Faint gulps were heard as drops of sweat fell nervously from their temples. The dolls could feel their stomach churned as they realized what the King was talking about.

“Now go. Good luck with your Saviour.”

You slowly stepped out from your house and breathe in the fresh morning air. A wide smile was formed on your lips as you trotted to the bus station. As usual, the bus arrived after a short five minutes of waiting, and you walked in without hesitation while bowing a simple greeting to the driver.

It took around 15 minutes for the bus to reach your school. You turned your cell phone on and flashed a quick glance at the time shown on the screen.

7:46 AM. Good, I’m not late.

You hummed happily as you hopped out from the bus. You could see some of the students stampeded towards the school gate, afraid of being late when they were actually not.

Geez, chill out, guys! No need to be so in hurry! You secretly laughed at them in your head.

You waltzed into your classroom and motioned to the desk at the very back, right next to the window. You sat on your seat and started to get the books out from your bag. Math, Physics, Classic Literatures… You silently hummed as you tried to make sure that you brought the right materials for today’s lessons.

Come to think of it, you were neither the rebellious nor the queenka type, but you sure were pretty compared to other girls in general. You hated troubles, but you would stand up and fight if needed. You got friends, not that many but enough to keep yourself from feeling lonely. And you were somewhat a perfectionist, although not to the extent of being a total nerd. To put it simply, you were just an ordinary girl.

You were staring at the sky outside the window when you felt a soft pat on your shoulder. You turned your head and saw some of your friends, greeting you with a smile on their faces. You smiled back as you mumbled in silent.

Today is going to be a good day too, right?

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