Alec
Alec found himself in quite the dire circumstance. He was heading North toward the Zhien Kingdom, thinking that his brother would help him and hence make his situation less dire.
Going back to this morning, Alec woke up surrounded by his dead parents with dried blood stained on his clothes. He had a large cut on the left chest area of his shirt. However, there wasn’t even a mark on his chest.
He remembered that that night he heard screams coming from the living room. He then went out to the living room and was suddenly stabbed in the chest right after seeing his dead family.
When he woke up, he was more baffled than anything that he had survived. He knew for sure he had been stabbed right where his heart was, and yet there wasn’t even a mark.
He realized that, as an 8-year-old child, losing his parents wasn’t exactly a good thing, so he went to the house next door and found them dead as well. He went to a few more houses, but only found dead bodies.
He searched the houses, but they were all empty.
The entire town had been massacred and looted.
Alec realized that his situation was even more dire than he thought. He had been the only one left alive–accidentally left alive.
He felt no fear, however; no anger, no despair either. He felt numb. The same way he has felt his whole life.
He began moving north, and quickly found himself in Schlezel. He also quickly found out that that entire city had also been completely and utterly massacred and looted. The bodies seem to have been cleaned up, though.
He felt like the last person left in the world. For all he knew, he could’ve been.
He continued north, and that takes us back to the present.
He walked, only knowing that the trail he was on went north. He had nothing but the stained clothes on his back
His stomach growled and his throat was parched.
I wonder if I was ever in this bad of a situation in my last life.
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Sorry to interrupt, but I think I need to tell you a bit about Alec and his backstory.
Alec recalls a life that he had before the one he is living now.
Though recall may not be the right word, as he doesn’t really remember much.
He has images in his mind of places and memories of how the world works, but many of the images are blurry and his memories of how the world works are incomplete.
He has images of people, but none of their faces are vivid.
Many images and names will randomly come to him, but he often forgets them.
He’ll oftentimes find himself thinking or speaking in a language that he somehow understands but wouldn’t be able to teach it to other people.
Of course, he doesn’t remember how he died, either.
He’ll eventually reclaim his lost memories and will find out why and how he lost them. But it will be some time before that happens.
Oh yeah, and I suppose I should mention this in case you haven't already figured it out, but I am the one and only true God speaking directly to you, dear spectator.
…End…
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Alec quickly drove that thought away. Even the mere thought of having a past life made him instantly feel colder. He also got this other strange feeling that he didn’t know how to describe. One thing was for sure, though: he didn’t like this other feeling.
Despite being exhausted, Alec walked on.
The terrain was mostly flat, perhaps a little hilly. There was only the occasional tree with no towns or cities in sight. The weather was warm and clear. The only noises that reached Alec’s ears were birds’ quiet chirping and the occasional gust of wind.
Alec wasn’t sure what he was going to do. He wanted to find Drei, but he knew that there was a small chance of that. He didn’t despair, though, didn’t cry. Only knew that he had to do something if he wanted to get out of his situation and make his life better.
Eventually a carriage went by.
Alec moved to the side to let it pass.
The man driving the carriage, whom Alec assumed to be a traveling merchant, barely spared Alec a glance before driving past.
Alec didn’t like relying on others. He was even afraid to. He was also afraid of getting close to other people.
This is why he hated being in his parents’ home and having them be responsible for him. Well, he was also not treated very well.
That man will probably be the first to discover the massacre that occurred.
Alec continued on.
Evening was on the horizon when Alec ran into another lifeform.
This time, it wasn’t something quite as friendly.
It was a mountain lion. It had light fur and was quite large. It got pretty close before Alec finally noticed it. This is because his vision is very poor.
There were small pits on either side of the path. Alec jumped down into the one on his left, which was in the opposite direction of where the mountain lion was.
Alec curled up into a little ball and tried to silence his breathing as much as possible, hoping the lion didn’t spot him.
Shit. I guess I should’ve expected something like this. I guess I’m lucky this is the first dangerous animal I’ve run into.
Alec sat there for a few moments before the lion pounced on him out of nowhere. Alec didn’t even hear the lion coming.
The mountain lion bit his arm off and ate it. Alec felt his body grow cold and soon everything went black
…
Alec opened his eyes and sat up with a start. He felt his face, his arms, then his legs as if to check that they really existed.
He was breathing heavily.
His shirt was in tatters and stained with blood, but there was not a scratch on his body.
How…?
He couldn’t even form proper thoughts. It didn’t make any sense. He vividly remembered getting his arm ripped off and his body growing cold.
There was also another thing: he was no longer hungry or thirsty. He was actually full of energy and felt like he could run for 10 miles straight.
Alec stood up and looked up at the sky. The sun was rising on the horizon.
Alec thought for a moment.
He knew there was no way he was going to be able to figure out this phenomenon with his current knowledge, but he came to the conclusion, or perhaps theorized is the right word, that he is unable to die.
He wasn’t about to purposely die, though. If there was one thing that he feared, it was death.
He moved forward with newfound energy.
He eventually came across a fairly large town, not unlike the one where he once lived, after only about an hour of walking.
With it being a town, it wasn’t very dense.
It was still the early hours of the morning, but there were many women getting water from the wells and many men tilling soil and tending to animals.
As Alec continued to walk, he realized he was drawing stares from people. At first he thought it was because he was an outsider, but then he looked down and realized it was because he looked like he was just in a fight with a wild animal. Oh wait…
You’d expect someone who lived a very secluded life to have their eyes light up to see how life functioned in a town, and though he made many observations, Alec was indifferent.
Alec got deeper into the town and stopped when he saw a building that was unlike any other. It was very large, very tall, and shaped in a way that made it look unlike a home. It was decorated with ornaments and was definitely the most luxurious looking building in the town.
There was also a Φ symbol at the very top of the building.
Alec walked further and found another building that was a bit different. It looked like a house but it was much larger and stuck out among all the other homes.
Then there was this large open area that, in Alec’s mind, seemed to serve no purpose.
Suddenly Alec stubbed his toe on the cobblestone road. Alec’s face contorted a bit, but he thought little of it. Having no shoes was certainly inconvenient.
Alec realized his throat was parched. Anyone’s would be after walking for an hour. He decided to wait in the long well line.
Each well had its own bucket that anyone could use, so there was little problem getting water. The real problem, which Alec thought of when he noticed his throat was parched, was food.
Alec knew that he’d probably feel pretty hungry soon, he was a growing boy after all (he was also a human being), yet he had no food or money or any possession to potentially barter with.
Alec understood that he would likely have to steal food.
For the record, he didn’t feel anything about having to steal from people. All he knew was that it was going to be necessary if he wanted to survive. He didn’t really care if he had to kill someone to get food, either. He felt indifferent about committing these crimes.
So, Alec waited in line. He got a few looks of course, but instead decided to focus on the two ladies having a conversation in front of him. He figured he might be able to glean some information from them.
They talked about random things; things that had no use nor meaning to Alec. But there was one thing that one of the ladies said that Alec found interesting.
“I’m going to need to purchase some new cloth at the market tomorrow. My son is growing too big for his current clothes.”
The market. Sounds like I could steal something there.
Alec wasn’t really sure where the market would take place, but he was sure he’d be able to figure it out.
The ladies also talked about something called the Enclosure Movement and the Three Field System. They didn’t go into detail about what exactly that meant, but it apparently caused more people to move into cities.
They seemed pretty upset about that.
A bit after that, Alec stepped on a part of the road that was slightly elevated from the rest of the street. He lost his footing and fell, making a fool of himself.
He was nearly blind, so he was of course clumsy.
People stared at him and a couple had to hold back chuckles. The women in front of him stopped conversing.
Alec simply got back up and continued waiting in line like nothing happened. He didn’t feel embarrassed, just indifferent.
Eventually it was Alec’s turn to use the well, and since he didn’t know how to use a well, he fumbled a bit. Alec is a smart kid, though, so he figured it out after a few seconds.
When the bucket came back up full of water, Alec leaned forward and drank from the bucket. He kept drinking until he was no longer thirsty. He then dumped the rest of the water on himself in an effort to clean himself a little bit.
After he did that he turned around to walk away, but noticed looks of annoyance, and even anger, from the women behind him. He just walked away, though, without a care in the world.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Alec walked around for a bit longer, but eventually just settled down on the side of the road.
He began to think.
He knew he had to steal some food, but no one wandering around town had food on them. He knew he could break into a stranger’s house, but he didn’t exactly like his chances of a fight between himself and a fully grown man if things didn’t go according to plan. For this reason, he decided to not eat anything for the day and wait for the market the next day. Stealing is risky no matter what, Alec understood that, but he figured that attempting to steal during the market was his best bet.
So, Alec sort of just waited around for the rest of the day. He watched children play across the streets. The game most of them seemed to be playing was a game called “tag”. Alec never heard of it, but it seemed to have something to do with people chasing each other.
Evening hit and the streets were near empty yet again. A random image of his past life came to him. It was a lightning strike that happened only about a hundred yards in front of him.
The image faded from Alec’s mind after a few minutes.
Alec had a hard time falling asleep. The floor he slept on wouldn’t be considered comfortable by most, but compared to the cobblestone street he was laying on at this moment, the floor was extremely comfortable.
His bout with the cougar the day before filled him with fear. In his mind, it didn’t matter if he was revived everytime he died, he still must avoid death at all cost. He couldn’t explain why.
It should be obvious now why sleep came difficult for him.
Sleep did eventually overtake him, though.
He had the same dream on this night as he has had every night since his rebirth.
He was floating in an abyss; literally floating. Everything was black. It’s not like it was dark, though. If he held his hand in front of him, he could see it clearly. As in perfectly clear.
He woke up with the bright sun shining in his eyes and his stomach rumbling. There was a spider crawling on his arm. Alec pulled it off his arm and set it down.
Alec sat up. He realized that it was midday. He had slept in much later than he planned.
There were many people out and about and they all seemed to be heading in one direction. It seemed everyone wanted to get in on the market.
Alec yawned and stood up. He began to head in the same direction as everyone else.
As Alec walked, he thought of his baby sister, Karine. He recalled not seeing her dead body after he woke up in the house. He figured that she must have been taken. Perhaps the purpose of the massacre had a greater meaning.
He assumed she was still alive if that was the case. They wouldn’t allow her to die after bothering to take her, if that’s really what happened.
Alec, being absorbed into his thoughts, and thus not paying attention, tripped on the road. There was a slight incline in the road, which caused Alec to trip.
Some people had the decency to stifle the laughter, while some didn’t.
Eventually, he came to the place where everyone was gathered. It was that open space that seemingly served no purpose.
There were many people bartering at stalls that were set up all around.
Many people partook in the commerce but many just stood around chatting with one another. It seemed this was also a place for social interaction.
Alec thought that this was perfect for gathering information.
Now, the information that he was seeking was simply information about the world and how it worked. Thanks to his past life, he knew bits and pieces, but it was largely incomplete. For example, he didn’t know anything about these markets.
He figured that if he wanted to survive and continue moving forward, he would have to learn more about the way in which the world functioned.
And learn he did.
He learned that the large, grand building with the Φ symbol on the top was actually a cathedral, which was a place of religious worship.
He learned that the larger house that stood out among the houses was the lord’s home. The lord governed this town and made all the decisions on tax and punishments for crimes.
He also learned that the marketplace was where the lord made announcements to the townsfolk.
The talk of the town, however, seemed to be the massacre of the city of Schlezel down south. It seemed that news had spread. Apparently no one knew who did it or why. The people were a bit fearful, thinking that, depending on the killers’ intentions, the people behind the massacre could come here next.
Those were all the useful things that Alec learned. Everything else that people spoke about were meaningless things like how there was a good harvest this year.
Alec was in the middle of gathering information when he realized something. People seemed to be avoiding him like he was some sort of disease. It was almost like there was a bubble with a four foot radius around him. He figured that if someone looked down from above, they’d see a large circle where there was only one person in its center.
Alec wasn’t sure why people were especially wary of him. He understood that his clothes were torn to shreds, but other than that there wasn’t anything else that stood out about him. There was no reason for people to avoid him like this.
Alec figured that this might make it more difficult to steal something.
Alec’s stomach growled as if to remind him that he needed to eat. This seemingly pushed him forward.
He looked around and saw a food stall where a man was busy speaking to a buyer and thus distracted.
He snuck behind a stall that was selling fruits. The man had crates of many unsold fruits.
Alec opened one of the crates. The aroma of fruits hit his nose like a slap in the face. He began drooling at the mouth. There were bananas, oranges, and apples. He grabbed some food and began to eat. It was the first time he had had any food in days.
Alec was on his fifth piece of fruit when he was all of the sudden struck in the head. He had been too distracted, too mesmerized by the food, that he forgot to be wary of the man selling the goods.
Alec face planted on the cobblestone after he was hit. He was then grabbed by the shirt, picked up, and turned around to face the man. Alec could feel blood seeping out of his head.
“You rat,” the man growled. “You think I don’t have experience dealing with orphans like you. You’re gonna pay for this.” The man looked very angry. His face was all red and his eyes were bloodshot. He really didn’t seem to appreciate Alec stealing his goods.
Alec began to squirm in an attempt to wiggle out of his grip. When this failed, he punched the man in the nose. He had actually meant to punch him in the jaw, but it worked.
Despite the punch being delivered by a mere 8 year old boy, it still hurt the man.
The man dropped him and Alec turned around to begin to run. At this point there were many people looking in their direction to see what was going on. Alec knew that he had to get out of this town.
Alec began to run, but quickly ran into the edge of the stall, which hurt him pretty bad. He then stumbled a bit, but was able to recover his footing and began to run toward the northern exit of the town.
A couple seconds after running into the stall, Alec looked behind him and saw the man chasing after him. He was unsurprised, though; a punch from an 8 year old child, even to the nose, couldn’t have packed enough punch to hurt the man that badly, let alone knock him out.
Alec continued to run toward the northern exit of the town. His eyes were darting all over the place, as to not run into anything else. Despite his efforts, Alec would still occasionally hit rocks or slopes with his bare feet, causing him to stumble.
Alec’s life up to a couple days ago had been rather secluded and therefore participated in little to no physical activity throughout the course of his life. Thus, he had little stamina and wasn’t all that fast of a runner. Because of this, Alec was soon caught by the man.
Alec felt arms come up from under his armpits and felt himself being lifted up in the air. Alec attempted to squirm out, but just like before, this failed. He couldn’t punch the man either, since his arms were locked. The man’s arms were very large and very strong and held onto Alec so hard that it kind of hurt him.
“Gotcha,” came a gruff voice from right behind him.
This isn’t good.
Alec stopped squirming, realizing that it was a waste of energy. A moment after, everything went black.
…
Alec woke up laying on an uncomfortable concrete floor. His throat was parched and hunger gripped him. His head was also hurting a bit. In front of him he saw iron bars visible only because of the faint light coming through a small window past bars. The window also had iron bars, likely to prevent anyone from escaping through it.
Alec pressed his hands against the ground to push himself up. When he did that, he heard a rattling noise like metal clanking together. He looked behind him and saw a large chain that connected to a very large boulder, which was walled into the concrete wall. On the other end of the chain, was his arm wrapped around it. The metal chain wasn’t overly tight, but there was no way Alec was slipping his hand through it.
The chain was so short, however, that when Alec stood up he had to bend down a little bit. Because of this, he decided to just sit down.
Alec was surrounded by three concrete walls with iron bars in front of him. Past the bars, there seemed to be a hallway to the left and right, but it was difficult to tell from where Alec was sitting. Looking around, there was clearly no escape. Alec figured that the only thing he could do at this point was wait.
Though the window provided light, there was little of it. This coupled with the dead silence made Alec feel like he was back at his parents dwelling again. All those days living as a recluse, and spending most of his time in his dark room came back to him.
This must be one of those jail cells.
Alec had of course never seen a cell before in his life. He knew they were where people awaited punishment for a crime that he or she committed.
Time passed. Alec simply sat there in his cell looking at nothing and thinking of nothing. His only indicator of time was the faint sunlight coming out of the window outside the cell. That’s how he knew that a few hours passed before he heard a heavy door open and footsteps walking toward his cell, meaning it was now late afternoon.
Alec didn’t move when he heard the door open. He simply looked up and waited for the person to come to his cell.
“I see you’re awake,” the man said. He was holding a lantern, which lit up the room quite a bit. He could tell that the man’s clothes were fancier than anyone else he has seen thus far. He could also tell that the man’s face was expressionless.
The man took a pair of keys out of his pocket, which made a jingle noise, and unlocked the cell.
Alec didn’t move; he continued to sit there silently looking up at the man.
The man then took out some rope and approached Alec. He tied the rope around Alec’s wrists in front of him, just above where the chain was wrapped around. Then, the man took out his set of keys again, unlocked the chain around Alec’s wrist, grabbed the back of his collar, and began leading him out of the cell.
Alec didn’t resist.
They turned right after they exited the cell and began walking down a hallway and towards a stairway. Alec could see many other cells as they walked. All of which were empty.
“You are to be publicly whipped at the town square 25 times across the back for committing theft,” said the man as he was walking Alec out of the jail. He spoke matter-of-factly and his tone reflected no real emotion. “You are also to work for the merchant whom you stole from for a week. However, the merchant seemingly has taken pity on you and you will not be required to do that.”
Alec stayed silent and continued walking with the man. No thoughts emerged in his head; no emotions either.
They continued to walk up the stairs and at the end there were double doors that were made of metal.
The man reached into his pocket with the hand that was not holding onto Alec and took out his keys to unlock the door. When he opened it, to Alec’s surprise, it led straight outside. He had never heard of or seen a cellar that was to be exited and entered straight from outside.
The man led Alec through the town all while keeping his hand on the collar of Alec’s shirt.
They eventually reached the market; the place where Alec stole from the merchant. The man led Alec in the center of the marketplace wherein laid a very tall metal pole sticking up from the ground. They got closer to it until eventually the man stopped right in front of it. Alec realized that this must be what they call town square.
There was a small crowd of people and they were speaking in whispers. The subject of their hushed conversation was undoubtedly Alec. Alec paid them no mind, however.
The man then suddenly took a knife out of his pocket with his free hand and cut the rope that tied Alec’s hands together.
“Arms up,” the man said.
Alec did as told and the man took his shirt off of him. Alec felt a cold breeze go across his upper body.
“On your knees and grab the pole.”
Again, Alec did what he was told silently. The reason why Alec had been so obedient this whole time is because he didn’t think he would gain anything by resisting or attempting to escape. Best to simply accept his punishment.
When Alec grabbed the pole he realized that there was some sort of sticky substance that was draped all over the pole. When he tried to pull his hands off to test it out, he found that he couldn’t.
Upon closer inspection, Alec saw a thick, white liquid all over the pole. It must’ve been some sort of sticky substance to prevent someone from running away whilst they were being whipped.
Alec looked back at the man, and to Alec’s confusion, had his back turned to him and was walking away.
Where is he going?
That question was soon answered, however, when the man returned with a whip in his hand.
The man stopped right behind Alec, and Alec turned his head back toward the pole, awaiting the whipping.
A moment later, Alec heard a crack noise and a painful burning sensation on his back. Alec groaned and grimaced a little, but that was it.
“One!” shouted the man.
A beat later, Alec felt the whip whipping his back again and heard a sharp crack. Alec didn’t show any reaction this time.
“Two!”
The man continued to whip him and shout which number he was on. When he got to 25, he stopped. Alec showed no reaction to being whipped after the first one.
“The glue will dissolve in a few hours. You will simply sit there until that happens.” Then the man walked away. Everyone else watching went about their day.
The burning sensation on his back remained. He could feel the blood dripping down his back. Drei simply sat there barely moving. He said nothing and thought nothing. He simply thought Well, that’s over with.
The sun had long gone down by the time the glue dissolved. After it did, Alec painfully got up and walked to the side of some random street, lied down, and fell asleep. His back was hunched over and his steps were labored.
Alec eventually fell asleep. He of course had the same dream as the night before.
When Alec woke up he immediately began heading toward the northern exit of the town. He figured that it was best for him to leave. The stares he got as he walked confirmed those thoughts. His back was still sore and his steps still labored, but it wasn’t as bad as the day before.
He eventually made it out of the town, heading north again with nothing but the clothes on his back. However, this time he had a slight limp in his step.
Interlude 2
My name is Randall. I’m your typical traveling merchant, traveling all over the world to purchase products and sell them for a higher price in a different part of the world. Though, I’d like to say that I have a bit more of a moral compass than most merchants.
I was in a town called Gordge, which was one of the nearest settlements to the southeast most corner of the continent, in the Kingdom of Paelo. The town was having its weekly market, as does every town like this, and I of course was selling and trading goods. Nothing was unusual, I’d done this thousands of times throughout the course of my life.
However, I saw this kid that really stuck out to me. I figured he was an orphan. He had rags for clothes and he had no shoes. He was extremely dirty, and he seemed very skinny, clearly having been an orphan for quite some time, or at least starved for quite some time.
That wasn’t the unusual thing, no, it was the expression on his face and the air about him and his demeanor. His expression was one of absolute indifference, like he’d been broken. His eyes were empty, though constantly looking around as if to make sure he wasn’t going to miss something. The air about him screamed to not go near him and to definitely not talk to him. It wasn’t intimidating, it wasn’t exactly scary, it just gave me the chills.
It seemed like everyone had the same thoughts as I did, as the kid was drawing stares and whenever people walked around him they always made sure to keep their distance.
Like any orphan, I had decided to keep an eye on him. He may very well try to steal something.
Soon after I had that thought though, I was distracted by a customer. We were going back and forth haggling until eventually we reached an agreement.
Right after that, I heard some ruffling around and chewing behind me. I turned around to see that same orphan eating the food that I was planning on selling. I immediately went up to him and grabbed him. He punched me in the nose in response, which, coming from a kid who looked no more than 10, didn’t pack that much of a punch, but was still enough to hurt and cause my nose to bleed. I said something nasty to him that I shouldn’t have said.
The orphan ran off and I chased him down. He was very slow, likely because he was famished. I made sure to lift him up under his arms so he couldn’t do anything. I then knocked him out.
I brought him to the lord’s home and I was invited inside to discuss the crime and punishment with a bureaucrat. Most of the town witnessed it, so there was no debate of whether he actually committed the crime or not. The bureaucrat told me that his punishment would be to get whipped 25 times and to work for me for a week.
I told the bureaucrat that the 25 whippings would suffice, and that he didn’t need to work for me. I felt bad for the kid. He didn’t seem to be in a very good place.
I met a stranger who offered to let me stay in his home for the night and I laid in the bed alone reflecting on the day that had just passed and thinking about that boy. I was alone because my daughter was much too young to travel on these trips with me and my wife was taking care of her.
I regretted the nasty things that I said to the kid. I wished him the best for the rest of his life.
I went to sleep ready to move onto the next city tomorrow.