CAPITULO I: "Cold Mind - Little Hell"

Part I

Bayón fully regained consciousness, but this time at the bottom of the dark abyss, and in front of him there was nothing, only the dense darkness that seemed to fill his lungs with thick tar, which prevented him from speaking. He tried to scream, but his screams only drowned like someone underwater. Then another voice exclaimed in a sepulchral, serene, but more demanding tone:

—“It is time to pay for your evil… Here only absolute truths exist… And the only truth in you is the blood on your hands.”

Then hands appeared, as that was what Bayón felt, beginning to cling to him and drag him further down with strength and desperation, as if the hands were fighting among themselves to sink him faster.

—Thousands of voices shouted euphorically while some said: “He is ours, at last you are ours, Bayón, every soul claims your suffering and finally you have reached the bottom of the abyss where your punishment awaits…”

Bayón continued to be dragged to the bottom of the abyss, but what was first fear turned into resignation.

Bayón thought: “It is true that their death was my fault, adapting to everything made me get involved in questionable acts…”

“I know I must face the consequences… but… I don’t want to give up!” thought Bayón as he let out a muffled scream. “I accept whatever they have prepared for me… Because I know I never intended to do harm. So I will keep fighting! Even in absolute despair, I will not surrender!”

The souls kept pulling Bayón violently; he tried to cling to the hands to climb and avoid being dragged to the bottom, but he could not hold on to anything—it was as if the hands weren’t really there, only a dense tar surrounding him, as if he were fighting not to drown.

But it was useless. The hands kept dragging him until he reached the absolute bottom of the abyss.

He knew it, because the instant he touched the bottom, he felt as if he were piercing through the ground, and what lay on the other side felt like it was burning in flames.

Bayón tried to scream, but the sound only drowned.

The pain was indescribable, but he kept trying to fight, though he achieved nothing.

So the hands sank him further into that which could not be understood, only that it seemed he was piercing through the floor of the abyss.

And then he heard one last voice as the last part of him passed through, a voice that was very familiar, without any distortion, audible even above all the wails of the souls.

—A voice spoke, similar to his own but from when he was a child: “It is time for you to pay for everything you have taken from me, Bayón… Welcome to the pit of despair.”

Before he could think of anything, the souls finished sinking him.

On the other side, Bayón emerged from what seemed like a portal in the sky, dripping tar.

He came out wrapped in flames, falling at great speed; he was still in bones while his skin reconstructed in the midst of the fire.

The fall made him burn faster, accelerating the regeneration of his body, but this time he could feel it all, how his flesh was regenerating.

The pain was so extreme that he fainted at times, but the fall made him wake up again.

Bayón felt his body rebuild piece by piece; his lungs were rebuilt and he tried to take a deep breath that was consumed by the fire.

And then, he fell right in the middle of a river on the outskirts of a city.

The crash was thunderous, making Bayón lose consciousness.

The scene was witnessed by many people, but before they could see that he fell into the river, the water carried him away.

The river had several veins, and Bayón ended up in one that led to a private residential area, a point where the water was not so deep.

—“Pervert!” exclaimed a woman as she ran away.

He remained motionless for a moment trying to process everything that had happened. This time he could clearly remember it all; he was in a slight state of shock, contrasted by the calm he felt in that place, which helped him regain his composure.

—“This really is a cruel joke, I can barely move, my body is wrecked.”

When turning his head, Bayón noticed that he had ended up near a luxury residence, so with the little strength he had, he stood up. He was naked, and his body was dirty with remnants of tar.

—“Damn it, this again?” he exclaimed in a weary tone as he got up, trying to endure the pain in his body.

“That shit was insane, what the hell was all that?” Bayón thought, holding his head. “Goddamn it all!”

—“Aaaaaaah!” he screamed, putting his hands to his face.

“Damn it, I must not lose my composure… breathe, stay calm… it’s useless to fall into despair, I have to analyze my situation if I want to do something.”

Then he saw some clothes hanging outside the houses he could see. He thought maybe his luck in this world wasn’t so bad after all.

There was only one set for a man, and without thinking twice he took the garments. It was a set of white shirt and pants, which ended up stained with tar, but it was better than being naked. Still barefoot, with his feet dirty with tar, he walked across the beautiful white floor of the mansion’s patio, and as he exited, a light enveloped him like expensive perfume.

Wide, technological, and clean streets shone with neon lights, holographic screens, and on them a live fight could be seen.

When Bayón turned, he didn’t notice on the screen that they had slit the opponent’s throat; he was distracted by the sight of flying vehicles in the sky.

—“Well, I must admit this place has me impressed, it gives me a futuristic vibe, pretty clean and orderly… the bad thing is I stand out like a fly on a white plate.”

—“The good thing is I found clothes, I can’t imagine if I were walking naked through the city, though I’m still analyzing the situation.”

—“It’s obvious this isn’t my world…”

—“Everywhere, besides the elegant people, there are those who don’t look human—I think they’re called demi-humans.”

This world was very rich in mixture: everywhere, besides humans, there were people with cat ears and tails, dog ears and tails, of various animal species. Some were very beautiful, with long ears like elves, but they were more covered in jewels and gold than the rest. He saw people he categorized as lizard-people, and even came to see a kind of half-demon riding in a limousine.

—“Well, it makes sense that this is the ‘future.’”

—“I wonder how much time must have passed for all races to coexist together… well, if these are all the races.”

—“That confirms this isn’t Earth’s future, I hope… otherwise, how strange…”

—“Shit, I really made a mess in my world. Those 12 bitches dragged me into their disaster,” Bayón said, disappointed. —“Well, it’s also that I’m worth nothing, I got attached to those crazy bitches… I wonder if they’ll get a punishment like mine.”

—“But why me first?! Give me some credit for trying to stop them…”

He sighed with a hint of melancholy. —“I didn’t expect them to be so insane as to really try to take over the world. I was only tagging along to get supplies and survive the hell of war… When did it all become so twisted?”

This world was the complete opposite of what he was used to; the whole place screamed wealth. But he found no clue as to why he had been summoned here, or why in this specific world, since it seemed the complete opposite of what anyone would expect when hearing ‘pit of despair.’ This place looked paradisiacal.

—“Personally, I expected something terrifying given how I appeared in this world. Just remembering it makes my skin crawl.”

Since Bayón had already spent enough time here, he assumed no other truck would run him over to transport him to another world. He began to relax and kept walking through the city until he reached a park.

And then he saw it: a fountain of water suspended in reverse gravity, emitting a serene song.

The melody it emitted was beautiful, as if it harmonized the place. The water was crystal clear and bright.

This place transmitted so much calm that it managed to soothe his overwhelmed heart for a moment.

Part II

So Bayón decided to stop for a moment to freshen up and wash himself a bit, but he hesitated for a second before drinking the water, since, if he looked at it closely, the fountain had a strange phallic shape.

—What the hell?… this sure is weird, but I’m so thirsty, how long will it be before I drink water again?

After drinking from the fountain —Phewww! I’m back to life, I was really thirsty.

Suddenly a sweet smell reached him and caught his attention, it was the sweet aroma of street food, and that’s when he noticed there was an open stall among all the others that were closed.

Bayón approached the food stall: they were selling what seemed to be some meatballs, but they had a kind of golden spice on top.

The food looked very appetizing and, unable to resist, he came closer to ask.

—Good afternoon, ma’am, how much per piece?

An old woman was attending the stall and saw Bayón, who was clearly disheveled and full of tar stains on his white clothes.

—Well, young man, you sure must have had a good drunken night.

—You look very disheveled, come, sit down, I’ll serve you.

—No, ma’am, don’t worry, I was just asking.

—It’s just that I don’t have any money, and it smelled really good, I just wanted to know so I could come back later.

—Don’t lie to me, young man, it’s obvious that you’re hungry, and I said sit down and I’ll serve you, not that I’ll charge you.

—I don’t want to bother you, really?…

—Yes, young man, and stop asking questions, besides it’s already late, I only have what’s left unsold and I need to get some sleep.

“Late?, but it barely looks like midday,” thought Bayón as he took a seat, but he didn’t give it too much thought.

The woman placed a tray with some meatball skewers, but they were kind of strange, they were blue in color.

—Look, boy, eat, you’re too skinny, stop drinking so much. —When my son was your age, around 25, he died because of alcohol.

—Let’s drink in his memory, may he find kind souls on his way to the afterlife —said the woman as she served Bayón a cup of alcohol in a small dish.

“Young man? …” He thought as he looked at his reflection in the cup of alcohol. “I hadn’t seen my reflection since I got here, but yes, I look younger.” “I remember I was about to turn 40, I guess I really look about 25 or so.”

Bayón spent a while eating and drinking with the shopkeeper who told him stories about her beloved son, and he took the chance to get a little information about the world without seeming weird.

“It had been years since I could relax like this, my sense of alert was always at its maximum.”

“Who would’ve thought I’d have to go to another world to have a bit of calm, war was all I could do, must have been a disaster after my death,” Bayón thought as he drank.

“I hope those bitches are doing well” — “To their health…”

— Mmmmm, honestly this meat is really delicious, it melts in the mouth, what kind of meat is this? —said Bayón stuffing his mouth with a big bite.

— Triton —said the woman smiling as she put another skewer on the fire.

— Tritons? The fish-men?… —he asked while chewing and savoring the meat.

— Yes, you won’t find fresher triton than the one I get you here.

—… Well, honestly, it’s really good… can I steal another cup, please.

“How curious, from the taste I thought the meat would be from some kind of blue octopus, but it does taste good,” Bayón thought, taking a big bite of the skewer.

— Well, boy, I’d like to chat with you more, but I have to close. —said the woman, giving Bayón one last skewer.

— Don’t you worry —said Bayón, downing his cup in one gulp to hand back the small plate.

— Stop by here whenever you like —said the woman smiling at him while closing her stall.

— I really appreciate your kindness, I promise to return the favor.

Bayón walked away from the stall grateful for the food he had received, and sat on a bench near the fountain to finish his skewer and enjoy a little longer the song it emitted.

— Well, that went quite well, that lady was very kind, but she made it clear that not everyone around here is like her, she was kind because I reminded her of her son.

— Well, it was a risky gamble, I didn’t know if she would speak my language, although what intrigued me the most was what she mentioned about the inverted schedules.

The woman, without knowing, had told him between drinks that in this world people sleep during the day and work at night, although the city center always had life no matter the hour, and here physical money isn’t used, everything is paid with digital credits, that was the only information he had been able to get from the lady because she wouldn’t stop talking about her beloved son.

— I think I’ll continue my way to the city center, I need to investigate this world a bit more, and besides, in theory, am I a vagabond? Aren’t I?… well, I’ll worry about that later.

Bayón continued on his way until he reached the city center and upon arriving he noticed everything was different here, there were many more people of all races and they walked calmly, sculpted faces, flawless skin, gym-crafted bodies, dressed in leather, metal, and transparent fabrics, women with designer armor, magnetic gazes, men who looked manufactured, all smiling as if they had no urgency, but with soulless eyes.

— What kind of fucking luxury is this…? —Exclaimed Bayón as he looked at a woman beautiful like a model.

The woman was leading along a disheveled man, clearly wounded and exhausted, carrying her shopping bags.

With another glance around he saw a child hit a man on the head who had a kind of tattoo that glowed, knocking him to the ground while he writhed, but no one picked him up, the mother just looked on with indifference and nobody questioned it, passersby simply… omitted it, or pretended very well to, as if nobody in the world cared.

— Well, that really is cold, seems like that kind of behavior is normal around here —Bayón kept moving slowly, not knowing where to go, but more and more intrigued.

“Everything was beautiful, too much… and that… stinks, like they’re trying to hide something bad.”

Bayón stopped in front of the window of a store similar to an Apple Store: inside floating drones served foam cups with alcohol particles, a perfect family laughed in sync, with choreographed movements, advertising screens offered them to change body, face, voice, but the eyes… the eyes of everyone looked dead, they were there, but not living there.

— His heart beat like an alarm, as if he was being hunted.

Because he began to notice how most of the people started looking at him out of the corner of their eyes as they passed with their “servants.”

It was then that he understood.

He looked like one of those “servants” because of the kind of dirty clothing he wore… here he couldn’t go unnoticed with all those elegant people around.

But it was already too late —without prior warning, without a single alarm, an electric hum filled the air and a black flying car descended, with symbols of an armed angel on both doors, with sirens and lights resembling those of the police, it looked like some kind of patrol, and it took out a scanner that pointed directly at Bayón, enveloping him in a light.

— The patrol turned on its speaker and a guard spoke in a serious voice. — Stop, citizen, for identification.

— Biological identification failed! — Biometric identification failed!

— Anomaly detected! — Microchip identification failed.

— Information nonexistent!

— Code!: Nomad!, requesting reinforcements…

The speaker switched to the voice of an even more serious guard. — Identify yourself immediately or you will be considered hostile and fire will be opened. —A guard spoke in an authoritative tone.

“Well, this is getting ugly… I think the best thing will be to face this situation like a real man would, and… Ruuuun!”

— Damn dogs, go fuck yourselves if you think I’ll let myself be caught!

While Bayón ran with everything he had, a burst of bullets accompanied him.

He ran between buildings to obstruct the patrol’s path, but it was no longer alone.

As he turned a corner, believing he had shaken it off, two more patrols appeared.

“Ok, this is already absurd… so many police for a ‘Nomad’ code?” —thought Bayón as he tried to turn back, but froze when he saw a fourth patrol descending.

— I knew I could get into some kind of trouble, but come on… at least I wanted to understand this world a bit more.

— Damn it… I didn’t even find a pretty girl like in those animes I used to watch when I was young.

Bayón tried to take a step back, but a guard from the patrol fired first a burst of bullets.

He tried to dodge them looking for cover, but then a bullet hit him in the shoulder and he fell face down.

A final bullet lodged in the ground in front of him, inches from his face.

— Shit! —muttered Bayón, grabbing his shoulder.

— What the fuck are these shiny bullets made of! This crap feels cold and burns like ice.

From the patrols descended figures wrapped in black uniforms, relentless, with tactical belts, showing they were ready for any situation.

They had golden shoulder pads and on the arm could be distinguished the embroidered crest of an armed angel, symbol of an imperial authority that allowed no opposition.

Their closed helmets, with a polarized security visor that reflected back the lights of the patrols, a single golden stripe ran across the helmet from top to bottom, as if to unify their identity.

The moment they touched the ground, they raised their black rifles, aligning the sights forward, the metallic echo of the bolts resounded coldly, they advanced with calculated steps, aiming directly at Bayón, they stopped nearby and only one kept moving forward.

— Stop, bastard! —shouted a guard, throwing a seal to the ground.

Bayón barely caught the flash, but a magic circle had activated beneath him, paralyzing him with an electric shock.

The guard approached with handcuffs in hand — You’ll have to be faster than that, damn slave, raise your hands or I’ll shoot.

— Slave? What the hell are you talking about, man? —growled Bayón as he fell to his knees.

— I was just walking around the city without hurting anyone, I didn’t commit any kind of crime.

— Stop playing dumb, you’re only wasting our time and you don’t want to see what happens if you start making us lose patience, so talk if you don’t want me to remove the security rune from the electric seal —said the guard as he stopped inches from him.

The seal contained Bayón, but it hadn’t neutralized him.

— I already told you I don’t know what you’re talking about!

When the guard tried to lift him, he grabbed him by the uniform and yanked him hard.

His face smashed against Bayón’s skull; the impact was sharp.

Without wasting time, he snatched the weapon and used the unconscious body as a shield. — Another guard shouted: — Rune release!…

The air wrapped itself in an electric sensation, by instinct he jumped quickly backward as the ground cracked, a massive discharge burst from the seal, engulfing the fallen guard in electricity, blasting debris, limbs, and blood in all directions, the explosion reached Bayón, throwing him against a planter.

— These dogs don’t mess around, that was way too close… —he muttered with his face slightly burned and his vision blurred.

Quickly, he managed to cover himself in one of the nearby planters dodging bullets — Shit…

The guard’s pieces had been scattered all over the place.

— What a horrible spectacle…

Another guard shouted — Open fire!… and the guards peeking out from the patrols began to shoot.

Bayón, with the weapon still trembling in his hand, fired.

A precise shot to the head of a driver guard caused the flying patrol to lose control and plow into several guards.

Chaos escalated in seconds.

One of the guards, clearly a rookie, launched some kind of glow that came from his hands and cut the patrol in two.

The explosion was immediate, Bayón couldn’t describe that glow as anything other than magic.

The alarms confirmed it: this was no longer an arrest, it was an execution.

— Fire to kill, he’s armed and dangerous —resonated the guard’s voice through the loudspeakers.

The exchange of bullets began, Bayón had some military experience, which had sharpened his aim, taking down one or another guard in the shootout.

His only option was to be highly precise, he only had small windows to move out, shoot, remember the enemy’s positions, and repeat, he couldn’t keep up that cycle forever because there were too many, and soon he found himself cornered.