Arc 1 - Odiar Prologue

Giovanni opened his eyes to see his tiny room bathed in the morning light. Another miracle, he thought as he clasped his hands in a short prayer. Every day was a blessing, and as the teachings deeply rooted in his heart taught him, he must, without fail, start his day with a prayer.

However, he couldn't guarantee if this one was joy or sorrow.

"To whom were your prayers addressed, Giovanni?"

The heavy metal door groaned as its rusted, unoiled hinges struggled to swing open. In came a man dressed in a cassock; his wrinkled face contorted in an awkward mixture of pity and disdain.

Once the door closed, he repeated the question. "To what god are you uttering that prayer, Giovanni?"

Giovanni didn't respond. Instead, he dropped his arms as the huge chains binding his wrists became too unbearable for his emaciated arms to lift. The comically thick links of steel clinked as if voicing the response of its captive. It's none of your business… who else could there be… it didn't matter.

"You, who faithfully performed your duties as the lord in heaven commanded, to what god were you praying?" The priest raised his voice, the disappointment ringing clearly in the quiet dungeon. It's like practice for a mass or an exorcism, but without an audience to listen or a demon to purge, his well-modulated tone was wasted.

A blackbird perched on the small opening to the outside, blocking the light streaming upon the two men. The bird moved to one side. Giving Giovanni some sort of spotlight.

As if prompted by the warmth of the morning sun, Giovanni raised his head, his hollow gaze hidden beneath his stiff, unkempt hair. With a parched throat, he eked out a clear yet raspy response. "I pray to the god who saves."

The priest furrowed his eyebrows. "Even if that savior is the devil?" The aged man hunkered down until he was at Giovanni's eye level. "There's a clear distinction between the line of piety and blasphemy, Giovanni. You… your eyes, they are not the eyes of one who pleads to God. They are the eyes of a irredeemable sinner."

"…"

"The lord knows your faith, Giovanni. I don't want to lose you. No. Nobody wanted to see you end like this. Not as a prisoner, and certainly not… decapitated."

"For the wages of sin… is death…"

"And the gift of the God in heaven is eternal life. Well said, Giovanni. However," The priest peered closer into his face. "Everything is but a filthy rag. Repent, my friend. Repent so that I gaze upon you beneath the execution plaza with full ease on the knowledge that you are going to paradise."

A snicker.

The unexpected response made the priest instantly put some distance between them.

The prisoner's shoulders trembled. Clink. Clink. Clink. At first, he seemed to be coughing. Giovanni held his sides, then lost balance from the assault of an unseen pain. The priest took pity over the suffering of the prisoner and reached out his hand. However, before he could touch Giovanni's disheveled hair, the man suddenly cried.

His chains rattled like a flock of turkeys chiming in as he erupted into hysterical laughter. Giovanni's laugh boomed throughout the whole dungeon like a man who's finally lost the last string of humanity in his soul.He squirmed and squirmed, as if he had just heard the funniest joke ever in his entire life. He pointed a bony finger at the terrified priest. "I... I will never repent. I, Giovanni, will NEVER REPENT!" Dry coughs followed as his weakened body was overexerted trying to heed his will.

The priest straightened his back. The man before him wasn't the same. This one was lower than a worm. "You chose the wrong path, former friend.""So did the thousand I cut. All in the name of god and justice, I cut them. Each and every one. They didn't have a choice, Cardinal."

The priest, rather, the cardinal, took an unconscious step back as Giovanni spoke the title he had recently received. However, the prisoner wasn't finished.

His deathly dark eyes pierced through the cardinal's soul. A glare as if to tell he knew something, a trump card to force the man to condemn him. "Pray we don't see each other, Cardinal. Because once we do…" He bared his teeth in a wicked smile. "I WILL CUT YOU DOWN WITHOUT MERCY!"

The cardinal fled in horror as the prisoner broke into another fit of hysteric madness. Yes. It had to be this way. He didn't need salvation. He didn't want repentance. Above all else, what he needed now was one thing.

Death.

Swift, sweet death.

Every day, he prayed to god he'd be executed already. Unfortunately, the clergy didn't understand. In the confines of their tiny, holy brains, they thought it was for the best to let him live or be acquitted. They had the means to do either, yet it was Giovanni who made it harder for them. Biting, punching, kicking, clawing, anything he did was all for the sake of staying in prison in hopes of finally claiming his just desserts.

For Giovanni, the executioner, all he wanted was for his end to be the very same method he did to live. That's it.

The clergy didn't understand. These people, these mouthpieces of God, couldn't understand the sorrow that plagued him. More than the floggings, the beatings, the starvation, the thirst, something worse ached his heart. It nibbled at his soul, his faith, his self.

That's why when several men visited him after a few hours, Giovanni couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

As it was written: one death, then the judgement thereafter.

Finally, he glanced at the blinding light of the window. I'll see you soon… Vanessa…

The bird, witness to the executioner's last moments in jail, flew off.