10 Fingers

"Ugh"

I awoke with a jump after feeling a stinging pain in my cheek. I tried to stand up but my hands and feet were strapped to a large piece of wood. I was on my back, with my arms strapped above my head and my legs strapped down shoulder width apart. In front of me was the mage whom I first met on that fateful day years ago, when I first entered this world. He was the one who had tortured me upon the first minute of my entrance into this world. I struggled against my restraints and tried to speak only to realize that I had been gagged.

"Kekeke, I see that a slap was good enough to wake you up, kid. What a twist of fate this is for us to encounter each other once more, especially in a situation like this. I had heard there was a child with black hair and orange eyes hunting mana beasts but who would have thought it would be you, Juno. That starving child from back then truly has grown up finely. Sadly, there will be no more growth for you, since you'll be dying here today after I have some fun for old times sake."

I struggled even more against my restraints, I could not let this happen. I remember the pain I felt on my first day in this world and I don't know if I could deal with it again. I hardened a fierce glare in the direction of my captor but it only served to make a smirk appear on his face. He looked down at me and began chanting.

"Flames of old and embers bright,

Craft for me a fiery might.

Gather heat and swirling spark,

Form a fireball, through shadows, embark.

Ignite the skies with your glowing hue,

Ablaze with power, fierce and true.

From flickering ember to sphere of fire,

Grant me strength, my desires inspire.

Fireball"

In front of my eyes I saw a ball of fire materialize from nothing, it was a deep orange flame. It was a flame that spelt my death. I struggled and attempted to get away from the fireball. I felt that the wood began to creak under the astounding strength of my body. In the end, the weak point of the structure was the straps that held me down. I felt the straps snap and dove to the side, the fireball grazing my shoulder. I grit my teeth and didn't let out a scream as I felt the skin covering my left shoulder melt.

Fuck.

How the hell was I going to win against a conjurer? I wouldn't even have the slightest chance of survival if that spell hit me straight on.

Pain.

More pain than I had ever felt appeared on my torso as I saw a blinding flash of light. Had I been hit by the fireball? What the hell. How was it so fast?

"Kid, you've really gone and pissed me off. I was just going to burn you a little bit and then kill you, but you've really made me want to mess you up. Ha, you don't even know why you're here do you kid? Well, how about I tell you, you stuck your peasant nose where it didn't belong yet again. Before, you would steal what wasn't yours, and now you're cutting into our profits by selling mana cores. That's our job, kid. We adventurers have a monopoly that we're not going to give up to a filthy peasant that is no better than the mana beast."

I see.

That was it, they didn't like that I was stealing their business so they decided to get rid of me. These crazy bastards sure were living up to the word crazy, I was only bringing in black stage cores yet they still had such a reaction.

"Ooo, what do I see here? You've lost a finger on your left hand? Well, it would be sad for that finger to feel lonely, how about we bring the rest of those fingers to the afterlife with the first one."

My eyes widened but my body couldn't muster the strength to resist, that fireball had done a number on me. He walked up to me and said "Looks like the thumb was bitten off based on the scarring. I suppose the other fingers need a similar fate, well, let's make it happen, Juno."

He walked up to me, grabbed my left arm with an iron grip, and then moved it to my mouth. He pulled out a knife from his belt and calmly put it up to my throat. He cut the gag off from my mouth and said "Hmmm, I suppose you can start with the index finger then, kid. Bite it off from the base of the finger or I'll kill you."

He shoves my own index finger into my mouth and holds it there while waiting. What the hell? Was this my only option? Was my only option to eat my own finger in order to survive?

"Hurry the hell up, kid, we don't have all day. Make sure to swallow it."

I bit down on my own finger at the joint that connected it to my hand, yet I couldn't bite it off. I had the physical strength to, yet I simply couldn't. My body wouldn't let me, no, my unconscious mind wouldn't let me.

"I'll kill you on zero if you don't bite it off. Ten, mine, eight, seven, six, five, four,"

Fuck, fuck, fuck. I need to do it. I'll bite it off on one, I'll bite it off on one, I'll bite it off on one, I'll bite it off on one, I'll bite it off on one, I'll bite it off on one. I'LL BITE IT OFF ON ONE!

"three, two, one."

I bit.

I felt the crunch from the bone breaking in my mouth at the same time as I felt the pain from my finger being bit off. I couldn't scream because my mouth was full, I couldn't do anything.

I was weak.

"Chew, peasant."

I bit down, once, then twice, then twenty times before my finger had turned into a mush inside my own mouth.

"That's enough, swallow."

Fighting against all instincts in my body, I swallowed my own finger. Before I could even cope with what I had done, I felt my mouth being opened and my middle finger being put in.

Again and again and again.

I ate my own fingers off of my own hand until all that was left of my left hand was the bloody palm.

Just let me die.

I couldn't live like this anymore, he would make me do the other hand next, I knew it. I'd rather die than have to go through another hand. I was okay with it, I had worked hard, but I suppose that this life wasn't meant to be.

It was alright, I had lived a good life.

"Heh, that's the look I was waiting for, those determined eyes are finally hollow. I've finally broken you and all it took was a few fingers, should've done this year's ago. Well, I'll give you what you want, you'll be given the grace of a fiery death, peasant."

I looked at the fireball that he had conjured, and accepted my death.

Goodbye, world.