Levi woke up gasping.
The air was thick—wrong. It stuck to his skin like something alive, seeping into his lungs, making it hard to breathe. The smell was even worse. It reeked of rot, like meat left out in the sun for too long.
Darkness surrounded him. Not the kind you find at night, but something deeper, like being buried underground with no way out.
He tried to move. Metal bit into his back. His hands barely shifted before—clink.
Chains.
His pulse pounded in his ears. He yanked his arms, then his legs. Cold iron held tight around his wrists and ankles.
Where am I?
Then—he heard it.
A sound so deep it made his bones shake. A low, rumbling growl.
No. Not one. Many.
Something was breathing in the dark. Watching. Waiting.
Levi forced himself to stay still, barely daring to breathe. His body screamed at him to run—but there was nowhere to go.
Then—metal scraped. Chains rattled.
Light spilled in, cutting through the dark like a knife.
Levi blinked rapidly as his eyes adjusted. Then, he saw it.
And his blood turned to ice.
The room was a charnel house, a grotesque gallery of twisted, nightmarish creatures. Some were humanoid, while others defied description, their bodies distorted by some unseen force. At the far end of the room, Levi spotted a group of disheveled individuals who might have been human. They seemed catatonic, their eyes vacant and unresponsive.
A figure stepped forward, silent as death.
It was wrapped in black robes, embroidered with deep red lines that moved, pulsing like veins under the skin. But its face—
There wasn't one.
Just smooth, pale nothing. No eyes. No mouth. Just a blank mask, staring straight into the room,taking its time to appreciate everything insight.
Beside it, something huge shifted.
A giant.
It towered over everything, built of thick muscle and it's skin as black as obsidian. The only piece of clothing it had on was a blood soaked loincloth.
The faceless figure handed it a pouch. The giant took it with slow, careful hands.
Then it spoke.
"Nei maa Ka fu no tosim."
Levi flinched.
The voice was too deep. Too heavy. It felt like the walls themselves were shaking.
The faceless one answered smoothly, its voice calm, almost bored.
"Look, you only brought me food for the venatores, and you expect to be paid more than this? How scandalous.'
The giant man begrudgingly took the money pouch then turned to his group of giants and shouted "babisi kimina tus teda "
Levi's mind reeled in horror as the implications sank in. On another day Levi might have been wondering where the voice came from as tha man who spoke them had no mouth but the content of the words where what held prevailance in this situation.Food for the venatores? What kind of twisted place was this? The faceless man's words seemed to echo in his mind, the cold, mirthless and unfeeling words that seemed to come from all directions, surrounding him with an unspeakable terror.
A group of large giants marched in one by one and started dragging the humans out pulling their chains then they dragged out the monsters pushing their cages.one by one until the room from earlier was completely empty.
The faceless man spoke with "with this our business is concluded " then he turned and looked at the humans "I do hope that you are as tasty to the beasts as much as you cost me, you bunch of useless scum" then he turned and vanished into the large imposing arena that stood before everyone's eyes.