Chapter 4 - The Tartarus Protocol

"Name."

At the center of the New Order's camp, a thundering voice questioned Reve as he was strapped to a chair.

"Reve." He weakly replied.

He was captured by the soldiers after Val and her group left him. Since he couldn't move, he didn't give the soldiers any trouble. They captured him and brought him here where he was being tortured for answers continuously.

"Name."

Following the question, the soldier facing him pressed a button on the device in his hand, and the iron chair became imbued with torrents of electricity.

Reve bit his lips and rasped, "I told you, Reve."

"Name."

Once again, the soldier asked the same question.

"Arggh–Reve."

The electric shock was at a high voltage. It caused him to convulse with drops of saliva falling from his mouth.

The soldier nodded and jotted something on the book on the table beside him.

Once he was done, he flipped a page and continued his barrage of seemingly senseless questions. One question that caught Reve's attention was the mention of an unmentioned item. He knew it was most likely the box Blimey offered to Val.

'Those bastards!' Reve gritted through his teeth.

Part of the blame was on him. He had become complacent in this world and ultimately slipped up, causing Ren's death. If he was more perceptive, he would have picked up on the multiple strange signs like Lane's actual occupation and Kallum's actual status.

It was only now that he realized the identity of Val's group, which he originally assumed was just a bunch of thieves.

They were a cult.

Val had fooled him with her welcoming demeanour, making him not consider the possibility when he first met them.

Actually, cults like that weren't uncommon. The world was riddled with monsters, foreign aberrants, gods masquerading as devils, and devils themselves. In this world where people desired supernatural powers, most of the unfortunate ones would sign contracts with devils in exchange for various nefarious activities.

Reve pondered in his chair as he reflected on the past. 'Kallum offered his eyes to his devil. I just know Val did something worse. And Blimey gave something tied to him, like his life force, which explains his ghastly appearance.'

He stopped his incessant thoughts when the soldier returned for further questioning. The tortuous process continued till it became night.

The soldier's superior entered the tent and checked the progress. He said something to the soldier, but Reve was too sore to hear what the man said. His sight was muddled and the only thing he felt right now was a tingling pain.

The superior abruptly exited the tent, leaving Reve alone with the soldier.

The soldier's eyes burned with a cold hatred as he rose to his feet. With a sudden, brutal shove, he forced Reve's head to face him directly.

He spitefully said, "Reve, experienced Acolyte, and a filthy mutant at that. You belong to an amateur cult and were betrayed by your so-called friends during one of your thefts. You have made heinous mistakes, Reve. And now you will pay the price."

"You attempted to steal from us and murdered many of my comrades to get to where you are now. You have no heart. You are evil incarnate. Filth like you are the reason we fight to maintain the stability that we have built with our blood for decades. You will never have peace, Reve."

The soldier gave his sentence and signalled to his subordinates to clip Reve's limbs with metal cuffs. They dragged him to a nearby military dungeon filled with cells containing various prisoners.

As they approached a cell shrouded in darkness, the soldiers stopped and unlocked the door. With one final shove, they threw Reve inside, leaving him to contemplate his fate in the grim silence

Reve closed his eyes and took in the murky air. He rolled on the cold ground and winced as he rolled over a tiny pebble.

Looking down on his cuffs, Reve thought, 'Can I break it?'

He tried spreading his arms apart, but there was just not enough strength to break the cuffs. He decided to try later when he was invigorated.

His first priority was to focus on healing. After that, he could try escaping this hellhole because the soldier's words still stuck with him. He might get transferred to one of their prisons very soon.

"It's going to be hard, you know. You are not getting out of here with just big boy muscles." A voice from the same cell said to him.

Reve turned around and stared in the direction of the voice. It was close to him, belonging to a young man that looked around his age with a grin on his face.

The man laid on the cold ground with a carefree attitude. He glanced at Reve and smirked.

Reve asked, "What is going to be hard?"

"Breaking out, isn't that what you are thinking? We are in the heart of the troops. This place is practically infected with lots of soldiers. So you see, you can't escape by merely breaking your cuffs. It's like trying to convince a dog that a bone is not worth chewing."

The young man squeezed his face. "They never listen, do they? I once had a dog–"

"Who are you?" Reve raised his eyebrow.

"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Calen. Been here for days. I'm like your… senior. Hmm.. I like the sound of that." The man smiled as he thought to himself.

Reve did not reply and kept quiet. The man's jovial nature didn't fool him, especially after Val's betrayal. But his words made sense.

It would be hard to escape this place. There were guaranteed to be people stronger than him guarding the camp, possibly tens of initiates like Val; men that were rumoured to have been groomed by New Order from a young age. There was a reason why New Order's army had a terrifying reputation.

Calen smirked, "Now, you are thinking, 'Why is this place infested?' Luckily for you, I know just the answer to that."

"I wasn't thinking that." Reve replied

"Oh…well, you see, a while back, there was a breakout at Morach. And as it turns out, Morach is just around the corner. Our archipelago is the only place the inmates can hide. So, the troops are here to fish them out. Think about it, the most dangerous criminals in the world are now hiding among us. I reckon there will not be peace for months."

Reve had heard about Morach. It belonged to the Tarturus Protocol and housed the most dangerous criminals on Earth. Most of the inmates could not be killed normally or through normal means, which was why they were locked up. There were even rumours that some of the inmates were devils and outsiders.

Everything made perfect sense now. The troops were here to apprehend the criminals!

Calen smirked as he observed the various expressions on Reve's face, "How bout it? I enlightened you, didn't I?"

Reve glanced at him and nodded. It seemed he won't be busy anytime soon.