Frontier Online

Rebellion Part 23

Ryan drifted in an abyss, his rage futile. The Titan strained his senses to find something, but he couldn't even feel his body.  A moment ago, he was on top of the Hobgoblin Warlord.

Did I die? Ryan wondered what caused the sudden shift to nothing, his emotions churning inside him. 

Once I load into my Lobby, I'll figure out-

While Ryan strained his senses, puzzling at his circumstance, a new sensation filled his mind. Pain. All over the Titan's body, which returned to him in the same moment, agony echoed through him. 

Ryan was stunned. Unlike the dulled pain in Frontier Online, this misery assaulted the giant's nerves full-force. The diver felt something hard under him. His body twisted into a painful position that forced his twisted back further out of shape.

Torment cried out to him from every part of his body. A headache pulsed in time with the giant's pulse, pounding and overwhelming Ryan's other senses.

"Useless!"

Confused, Ryan's heart began to race. Slowly, a repetitive clamor rang in the Titan's ears. Inside the racket, he heard a voice filled with malice. Once Ryan mastered himself enough, he forced his eyes open through sheer willpower. 

"Piece of shit!"

His eyelids resisted, but Ryan stubbornly forced them open, his heart beating even faster. Flakes of material came away when he opened his eyes, but the giant was too distracted to wonder at them. He stared numbly for a moment before his heart thundered painfully through Ryan's head.

"W-what...!" Ryan tried to shout, interrupted by his own coughing fit. The Titan's throat spasmed, aggravating the cough and the pain wash over him again.

A short distance from Ryan, a tall figure dressed sharply in a clean suit held the giant's cane like a bat while he beat Ryan's capsule to pieces. The man raised Ryan's cane repeatedly, crushing the head of the cane into the mangled, sparking remains of the gaming capsule. 

The Titan reached up to hold his throat, recovering enough to shout, "J-JOHN, STOP!" 

John whirled around, the cane raised over his head. A single step was all it took to bridge the gap, and John viciously kicked Ryan in the ribs. The Titan lay on the floor in his underwear, twisted and already covered in blood.

In no position to defend himself, Ryan tried to put his arm between his ribs and John's foot. The air rushed from his lungs as the other man's kick blew past Ryan's weak guard and buried itself in his stomach.

"That isn't my name! Never call me that!" John reared back to kick Ryan again.

"You!" He brought the cane down on Ryan's head, rattling the Titan's brain hard enough to feel nauseated. 

"Useless! Fucking! Cripple!" Attacks continued to pour down on Ryan in between John's words.

Ryan ached inside and out, the torment piercing into the core of his soul, past its jaded shell. 

Why?

More attacks fell on his body, but Ryan was beyond the pain. 

Why?! Why can't I have this one thing?

The giant struggled, squirming to get his knees under him. Blood gushed from the fresh blows to his head, partially blinding him and dyeing his vision red. Rivulets of crimson ran down Ryan's body as John continued to lose his mind.

Ryan's torturer stepped back, screaming, " You exist to support the family! I am your only family, you little shit!" John kicked Ryan in the ribs again, nearly driving the air from the Titan's lungs.