About eight years ago, a young Olivia was walking alone with her brother, on their way coming from their parent's farm. They were instructed to return with food for the night. And as they were walking, Conrad noticed that she was barefooted.He clicked his tongue. “What is wrong with you?”, asked Conrad. “What happened to your sandals?”Olivia looked at her two feet and seemed genuinely surprised that she wasn't wearing anything, while her brother stood amazed by her ignorance. “You must have left it at the farm”, Conrad said. “Damn it!”Conrad notoced that she was getting tired, as the weight of the heavy sack of grain on her back was becoming unbearable. Her brother sighed, looking around several times before making a decision. “This looks like a safe place”, Conrad said. “You will have to watch over the food for a short while as I get back to the farm, alright?”“Let me come with you”, she said.“No, you are too
Cyrus and the other two walked around for a while before stumbling upon the nearest inn, and thankfully, according to the pedestrians walking by, it also had an Inn. So the three of them walked into the building, believing they had found the right place. But when they did so, it wasn't as they had expected. When they got inside, they could hear gasps and murmurs coming from around them. Cyrus wondered what that was all about, looking around. Richard arched a brow as he looked around as well. The reaction from the oddly high number of women sitting around seemed to indicate that they weren't in the right place. “This is more like a brothel if you ask me”, Richard said as he noticed the women staring at them in an erotic way. “They don't think we just came here to get a bath and rest for the rest of the day, do they?”, asked Felix. “It seems they had something else in mind when they saw us walk in.”“Sure seems so”, Cyrus said as he too
After Cyrus and the others had finished cleaning themselves, they went to their room. They were pleased with what they saw, but at the same time, felt worried when the reality behind the room's arrangement had began to sink in.Everything in the room was designed for two persons, and they were getting uncomfortable with where they were. Now Cyrus had fully realised the kind of inn he and the others were in, and he regretted choosing this one. Perhaps they should have been more patient with finding an Inn instead of entering the first one they stumbled upon. The bed was large enough for the three of them, yet it looked fashioned for two people, and it felt weird to get on it. By impulse, Cyrus wanted to leave now to see Natalie at the Barracks, but knew that they would still in shock by now. He was right when he said they would have to go in the evening, or even later. So for the next few hours the trio had to manage the room. Felix and Richard
Earlier that day, during sunrise was when the Prefect's home was being ravaged by the rebels, and eventually, taken over by the veterans. It was a long morning, and most of the rebels were put down by the veterans, with only a few of them managing to get away.Gregory was there when the soldiers had impaled the man he looked up to with a spear, and he was lost for words when he saw Harold get down to his knees. Against his code, against his path, against his calm judgement, he ran off.It was as if his legs had begun moving before his brain could tell them not to, as he found himself sprinting off to the far distance without looking back. And after just a few seconds of sprinting, he couldn't help doing what he always did whenever he was tensed up about anything.He began to laugh.His laugh was so loud that the soldiers who were chasing did not know what to make of him, and before they could catch him he had already ran off. His laugh m
The kick from behind was so powerful that Gregory fell face down to the ground, with his forehead clashing with the hard floor. Gregory raised his head up, feeling like he knew whose voice it was. And to his anger, it was the last person he wanted to see. The one whom Harold had formally declared an enemy of the rebellion, a traitor to the cause, and the mole in favour of the Empire. It was Emil standing behind him, dressed in black. Gregory looked at him with great disdain as blood poured flowed from his now-bleeding forehead down his face. “You traitor!”, Gregory said as he pulled out his short sword and lunged at him, wanting to plunge his sword into the traitor's gut. But Emil, being the more experienced fighter, easily moved out of the way and grabbed Gregory's arm before kicking off one of this legs. This caused Gregory to fall to the ground, and Emil got above him, resting his knee above the the young boy's back while twisting his arm from behind. Emil
By taking directions, Cyrus, Felix and Richard took the formal path leading to the Barracks. The trio walked forward, putting aside all fear and strengthening their resolve as they ignored all the warning signs that indicated for normal civilians to keep off. This was a zone where civilians who weren't on official business were warned to back off. And what made this worse for Cyrus and the others was that they weren't even civilians to begin with. They were strangers from another town, and on top of that, they were trespassing. The path was now getting dark, and the only thing illuminating it were the flaming torches they encountered as they approached the gates. But they couldn't see it since even the torches, which were put at regular intervals down the walkway, weren't bright enough to illuminate what was ahead. “Who goes there?”, came a voice from before them. “State your business!” “We are here to see the p
Richard picked up Felix's weapons as he helped his friend get back on his feet. They walked behind Cyrus, who was walking behind the tall soldier. Behind Richard and the struggling Felix were several solders walking behind them. Richard could tell that a fraction of them were somewhat disappointed that they couldn't beat them up as they wanted. Or maybe he was wrong. “Depending on how this turns out, you will either understand why this is, or hate me for the few hours you have left to live”, the soldier said to Cyrus. “Either way, the name is Walsh. Captain Walsh.” “Good to know”, Cyrus said. They walked past the gates of the Barracks and went deep inside. There Cyrus and the other two could see soldiers going about their daily lives in the dormitories. Compared to the average dormitories back at Griffindale, most of the soldiers were old. Cyrus could easily make out the grey hairs on some of them as they sharpe
While the Prefect was still speaking, there came a knock on the door. And the prefect allowed the person to come in when he identified himself as Walsh. The captain stepped inside and bowed towards the prefect, and to the other's surprise, bowed before Richard and Cyrus. “I apologise for what I did to your friend”, he said. “It was uncalled for.” Neither of them said anything until they realised the captain wasn't going to raise his head up until they did so. “It's alright”, Cyrus said. “A lot had happened recently and you were just doing your job. I can't blame you.” Then Walsh got back on his feet to face the prefect. “To prevent something like this from happening again, by your orders, I have sent out my men to purge out everything that is left of the rebellion, and just this night, they have uncovered a few of them.” “Then why are you telling me about them?”, asked Kendrick. “Punish them as the policies demand