"In a mad world, only the mad are sane."

-Akira Kurosawa

Dreams.

They were just dreams. Illusions.

Fear and shadows infiltrated Soren's dreams, haunting him, making him cry out in the middle of the night. He rolled in his sheets, sweat drenching the fabric beneath him, no matter how hard he tried to block the dark memories from his mind. When he closed his eyes, the terrors were still there, just as vivid and gut-wrenching as the day his life changed seven years ago.

Dreams.

They were just dreams. Illusions.

His thoughts were useless words he told himself every night, as if his excuses and explanations could somehow change the reality of his scarred life.

No matter how much he wished that all of the pain, despair, and terror were just figments of his imagination, they were still there each night. His memories wrapped their bony fingers around his throat while he slept, choking him. Sometimes he wished he wouldn't wake up so that he didn't have to face the day and witness the darkness that continued to spread into his life like blood spreads through water.

He'd been just a boy of ten when everything changed. At the time, he had only wanted to impress Grimm, the man who'd taken in his lonely soul in from the streets of Acadia. He remembered the hunger that had ached in his stomach and the times where it just felt like one big hole where his organs should be. Grimm had fed him, trained him, and at long last, he had his chance--his first mission.

His heart soared with the opportunity. He knew he would go to whatever lengths necessary to see Grimm's eyes swell with pride.

On the day of his first mission, Soren rode in a cramped truck with Grimm's closest comrades, Aeron and Raydon, to a large shop on the outskirts of the city. Not one of them had uttered a word about what they were doing and why. If he had known, would he have turned away? Would he have done anything different?

Away from the center of the city, and away from the tall, mirrored buildings that were so tall they seemed to brush the clouds, he was able to see the waves of the Arys sea. The water rang around the city-island of Acadia, its waves crashing down on top of each other.

When the truck pulled into the lot, Soren watched through the smudged, backseat window as people filtered in and out through the doors of the shop. The air in the truck shifted, making his stomach churn as he snuck glances at his company. Aeron and Raydon's eyes looked cold and calculating as if they were counting the people sifting in and out of the doors, almost the way a wild dog would size up another before they began ripping each other apart.

Soren's palms grew sweaty. He wiped them on his pants before anyone could see. Raydon's dark chuckle let him know that he hadn't been as sly as he thought.

"Are you ready?" Grimm asked, glancing at Soren over the passenger seat in front of him. His onyx hair swept across his forehead, his coal eyes stared into his soul it seemed. Soren nodded in reply as he tried to erase the nerves from his body.

But it didn't work.

The four of them exited the truck and headed towards the doors of the shop. Soren's gaze flicked around, feeling like everyone was watching them. It was like their eyes were all over him, burning through his clothes, leaving him naked and vulnerable.

The group stepped through the sliding doors, and the sound of chatter and soft tinkling music drifted to Soren's ears. The white marbled floor was so bright it made him squint his eyes. The smell of cleaning chemicals hit his nose with a burn that made him feel like he needed to sneeze. Being one of the larger good shops in Acadia, there were aisles and aisles, a sea of them, that stood behind the rows of check out lanes. Cashiers in pristine white uniforms manned the registers with smiles too wide to be natural.

Soren's blood boiled as he gazed upon the beaming faces of shoppers who seemed to live perfect lives. They had no idea what it felt like to starve, to feel that kind of ache in their stomachs, to wish that the suffering would just end already.

He blinked, quickly realizing that he was looking at the people in the same way that Aeron and Raydon were in the truck. Soren was puzzled for a moment, wondering if this is how he should feel, if this is what would make Grimm happy.

Grimm stopped walking in front of them and looked over his shoulder. Raising his hand, he pointed to the doors. A soft click and the lock was turned, trapping everyone inside. A handful of people halted outside, confusion glazing their eyes. Some, Soren noticed, even pressed their faces close to the glass, wondering if the shop had closed.

As a few shoppers glanced at the group curiously, everything changed with a force so fierce that it still rocked Soren years and years later afterward. When sinister smiles spread across the lips of Soren's comrades, his blood ran cold in veins.

Grimm lifted his arms in the air and squeezed his fists together, unleashing his powers on the helpless shoppers. No one ran. No one screamed. Every person that Soren could see collapsed on the floor.

He had never seen someone die, but now he couldn't even count the amount of people that laid scattered in front of him. Blood seeped out of their ears, noses, and mouths, staining the white floors. It was as if Grimm had scrambled their human brains to mush inside of their heads.

Soren's vision blurred, the store tilted. A whir rose in crescendo in his ears, yet somehow he still heard the tinkling music that played through the shop's speakers. Color drained from his face, leaving his skin cold and clammy.

What was this?

He couldn't do this. He had to leave.

His breath fell heavy, his heart hammering in his chest. Soren faced the doors once again, wondering if escape was possible, but he almost dropped to his knees when he saw the people outside were lying dead on the pavement.

"Aeron," Grimm called, his voice so cold that it made Soren shiver and want to crawl into a warm bed. Aeron stepped forward and stood by Grimm's side. "Bring me Wielders," Grimm commanded.

Soren's thoughts of leaving vanished. He tried to lift his legs, his feet, anything, but his panicking body would not allow anything except pure panic.

"Yes, sir," Aeron said as his arms swept out to his sides.

Wind blew around them. Soren's hair whipped across his forehead, tickling his ears. His shirt ruffled as the air swirled around him.

It was then that the screams began.

Aeron's wind carried four people to the front of the store. Each person was squirming trying to break free, but it was no use. Their screams that echoed through the air were useless too at this point. Aeron slammed the group to the ground in front of Grimm. They all cowered away, shrinking back as far as possible.

Grimm stepped in front of the first Wielder. The woman was old. Silver hair fell out of the bun on the top of her head and wrinkles etched across her face. Wisdom shone through her eyes even though they were wide with terror.

"Too old," Grimm said, glancing back at Raydon.

Before Soren comprehended what Grimm said, Raydon lifted his hand. A bolt of blue lightning shot out of this palm and straight into the woman's torso. Her body convulsed before falling lifeless to the floor. Smoke rose from her body and the air reeked of burnt skin. Soren thought he might empty his breakfast at his feet.

The three remaining Wielders screamed. Shivering, Soren wrapped his arms around himself as if they might somehow hold him together.

Grimm moved in front of the second Wielder. As he looked down at him, his lip twisted into a sneer of disgust. The man in front of him was curled into a ball and sobbing uncontrollably. A yellow puddle formed on the marbled floor below him.

"Coward," Grimm growled, dismissing him with his hand.

Another bolt of lightning shot out of Raydon's hand. The man's eyes remained open as he fell limp to the floor. His empty gaze remained fixed on Soren, making his skin crawl with guilt even though he wasn't the one that killed him.

Soren had assumed Grimm's stance and his group's purpose before, based on the whispers he'd heard in the hallways of Grimm's home in Orica. He didn't think his reasoning would be true, but there he stood, cold and shaking. He quickly understood why Grimm had murdered the frail humans, and why he had the Wielders presented before him. He was building an army and not everyone would make the cut.

He was scared before, but now he was terrified as he questioned everything. Would he make the cut? If Grimm turned around and saw how pale his face had become, would he order Raydon to kill him off too?

Grimm placed himself in front of the last two Wielders. A woman knelt on her knees. Her long chestnut hair stuck to her tear-streaked face. With her arms bent behind her, she was shielding the smaller frame of a girl. The girl, who Soren was sure was the woman's daughter, looked to be the same age as Soren. She curled herself into her mother, muffling her cries into the woman's back.

Grimm wouldn't kill her. He couldn't. She was just a kid like Soren.

Glancing back at the woman, Soren searched her eyes for fear. Dread was there, but from the way she was protecting the girl, he guessed that she was more worried about her daughter than herself. There was something else in her eyes, but Soren couldn't put his finger on it.

"Look at this one," Grimm said, snapping Soren's gaze back to him. His mentor stepped forward, the toes of his black boots grazing the knees of the woman. Bending forward slightly, he tucked his fingers under her chin and forced her to look up at him. "Such a pretty thing, and fierce too. Do you see the fire in her eyes, Soren?"

He wanted to look away. He ached to look away, but he couldn't. Not with Grimm watching him now.

"Y--yes," he managed to choke out. Raydon and Aeron chuckled from beside him.

"At least she didn't piss herself," Raydon said, making Aeron laugh even harder.

"Shut it," Grimm said, dropping his fingers from the woman's chin. "Soren, come."

Soren went to Grimm with shaking knees. His feet were heavy as cement, willing him to stay where he was.

"I'm going to look into her mind," Grimm said. "See what she's capable of, what she can do, if she has any darkness in her heart that would help our cause."

Soren nodded, his mouth going dry. He watched the silent woman as her breaths deepened. Her eyes closed tight. Soren remembered the first time that Grimm had gone into his mind during one of their training sessions, and it was not pleasant. It was a terrible, creeping feeling, one he still could not erase--like a worm snaking through his brain.

Suddenly, Grimm drew back, fury lighting his face.

"A shield!" he yelled in disbelief. "You're a shield!"

A small, victorious smile curled at the woman's lips. Her powers were not something that others praised such as fire or electricity, but she was still strong--especially if she was keeping Grimm out.

Grimm's face filled with something that Soren had never seen from his before. His mentor's eyes widened. He pulled his lips in like he was trying to keep his emotion in check. The possibility of Grimm being scared ran through Soren's thoughts.

"If you won't let me in, then there's only one option," Grimm whispered so quiet that Soren almost didn't hear him. "Aeron!"

The wind Wielder stepped forward and lifted his arm, hand splayed. Slowly, he curled in his fingers one by one into a fist. The woman's body caved in as Aeron pulled the breath from her lungs. Before the last bit of air could escape, she spun around, pushing her hands into her daughter's chest. Grimm was too busy watching the woman with hate. He didn't see the warmth filling the girl's eyes before her mother fell limp at her side.

Grimm let out a triumphant laugh before he turned to Soren. Clasping a hand on his shoulder, he pulled Soren to stand directly in front of the girl.

She had draped herself over her mother, her dark hair spread across her dead body like a blanket. Sobs rocked through her, hitting Soren in the chest so hard that he almost stumbled backwards.

"This is your test, Soren," Grimm whispered into his ear. "Use your power and kill her from the inside. Give her memories that will tear her apart--break her. I'll let you be creative."

Grimm stepped back and nudged him forward. "Aeron, Raydon, let's go."

Relief washed over Soren like cool water on a hot day. They were leaving. They weren't going to kill him too.

"What?" Raydon asked, annoyed. "I wanted to see the little shit do it!"

"Leave him be," Grimm warned and turned towards the doors. "Don't bother coming back to the truck if you can't finish the job, Soren."

Soren watched them as they left. Grimm glanced over his shoulder, pinning him with his gaze. He knew that Soren would not come back if he couldn't do it. Not after all he had seen.

Aeron pushed his arms out and sent a gust of wind into the doors, shattering them. Raydon slapped him on the back as they walked through the debris.

"Five minutes, Soren!" Raydon yelled. He didn't even bother to look at him.

Soren looked back at the mother and daughter in front of him. He dropped to his knees in front of the broken girl only wanted to put her broken pieces back together.

"Mama," the girl sobbed. "Come back." Her fists clenched her mother's shirt, her knuckles turning white. "Please." She must have felt a change in the air, because she slowly raised her head to glare at Soren.

Her eyes were bloodshot and her cheeks stained with tears. Her hair stuck to her face just as her mother's had and her chin quivered as she spoke directly at him.

"Why?" she asked. So simple, yet so world-shaking.

Soren stilled for a moment, shuffling through possibilities in his head. He could help the girl and walk away from all of this. But where would that leave him? Homeless and hungry again. He would probably die in an alley alone and starved.

He didn't have an answer for her. He didn't reply. Instead, he did what he knew he had to do if he wanted to survive. Before the girl could run, he grabbed her wrist. When she tried to squirm away, he gripped tighter.

Traveling through the link between them, he went into her mind. He saw himself through her eyes--his unkempt black hair, his silver eyes which looked so hollow from her view. A scar slanted down his cheekbone, stamping his history on his face. He was wasting time.

The memories of her life were vivid in color--the girl and her mother making a mess while baking, the pair going to the beach for the first time, taking trips to the Plaza. There were so many smiles, so much laughter. However, today's memory smothered them all with a blanket of gray. With a sheen of sweat framing his forehead, he worked quick. Quickly, he painted new pictures over her old memories.

She grew up on the streets just like him. She felt the hunger in her belly just as he had. She was alone in the world, alone like him. He left her no memory of her mother to mourn over. He didn't fill her head with shadows and fear like Grimm had wanted. No. He did her a favor.

He snapped back to himself and dropped the girl's wrist. She had stopped crying, her eyes blank as she looked at him. She glanced down at the mother that he had made her forget and crawled backwards away from her. Then looking around at all the other dead bodies, she screamed. It was the most heart-wrenching sound he had ever heard.

Soren left her screaming as he met Grimm, Aeron, and Raydon at the truck just at the five-minute mark. Grimm smiled at him. The pride that Soren had longed for filled Grimm's eyes, but now that look made him sick.

"I knew you had it in you," Grimm said as he pulled him into his side. "I can hear her screams from here."

As they drove away, Soren watched the shop until it turned into a dot in the distance and they were driving over the bridge that connected Acadia to the mainland. He wondered what the girl was doing. Was she still screaming? His eyes filled with tears. He tried to blink them away, but Grimm saw.

"You are allowed one tear," Grimm said in his ear, his voice slithering down Soren's spine. "Now let it all go. Turn off your emotions."

Soren shook his head. He wanted to remember the girl and the pain that stabbed his chest. He deserved it.

"I said, turn it off." Grimm forcefully grabbed the back of his neck.

Cold swept through Soren's skin, down his spine, into his head, through his heart. He tried to fight it, but it filled his veins like a drug, numbing him to the world. The tears in Soren's eyes vanished and the guilt in his heart disappeared, leaving nothing but hatred and darkness. Grimm had wiped it all away from him.

"There," Grimm said with a smile. "That's better."

A/N: Thanks for reading!

Playlist ~ Mad World by Gary Jules

TRAILER BY  ice-breaker

What do you think of Soren? Will he be able to keep his humanity even under Grimm's control?