10 years after reincarnation | Abandoned Castle outside of Felmourne's Territory

After half a day of traveling, my captors and I finally came to a halt at an abandoned castle. Even the crescent moon directed its light away from the ominous keep, blending it perfectly with the darkening sky. Only flickers of burning torches peaked their dying light outside a few vertical slits like the eyes of a dormant predator, waiting for its next meal.

Men clothed in dark hooded cloaks came to greet the group and exchanged pleasantries. These animals cheerfully chattered about their murdering and looting without a flinch of remorse.

Thankfully, there is one good news. Due to the passing of time, my mind had begun the slow process of organizing my memories into their respective places. Forcing aside my immediate terror, I suspect I would soon be able to understand why there is an invading memory forcing itself into my mind.

Bakin threw me off his horse and down to the solid ground. I struggled against the sudden impact as he grabbed my shirt collar and pulled me up on my feet. While I fought against the tightening shirt around my neck, I came face to face once again with the frightening man.

"You’d better not try to run. I'm sure the elder sister won't mind a missing finger or two," Bakin said, glaring intensely deep into my eyes. Thankfully, because of the fall, the gag fell out of my mouth.

"My father and brother should have realized the situation by now. He will bring hell's hounds against your doorsteps for murdering my mother." Ignoring my inner terror, I fought back against his threats.

"Truly words of a little child. Before they could find you, you will already be dead~" He snapped back towards me with a devious snicker. After untying my restrains, he urged.

"Now walk. We don't have all day, do we?"

I reluctantly followed his orders inside the desolated fortress. In its central courtyard, hooded men and women hand in hand encircled a burning blaze, chanting tunes of an ancient tongue. Is this some kind of cult? Am I going to be sacrificed for their gods or something?

"...vae pray eom ono du daéda abr líf. Du daéda sem aurboda nehfa. Du galba daéda, Protius. Nosu tauthr..."

Protius. The name caused a surge of pain to emerge from my deepest memories.

You are offered a chance for salvation.

A dominating voice rang through my entire being, stopping me from my forward steps. Bakin pushed harshly against my back causing me to stumble forward and snap back to reality. What was that voice? What salvation? The more I learn about the past, the more reluctant I am towards discovering the truth.

Moreover, due to the sharp headache from hearing the name Protius, I have recovered quite a bit of my knowledge on this world's current affairs. Just enough for my ten-year-old noble brat, with no care for learning, to comprehend. It seemed like our country worshipped the primal god of creation, Protius. Although I do not know what connections I have with this entity. My only hope is to wait for my father's rescue.

Before long, we've reached the dreadful dungeon below the castle ground. There, four identical rusting cages stood against the test of time. Three out of four contained various groups of children around my age. Their eyes followed Bakin's every movement as he led me towards one of the metal pens.

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"Here, you get to stay with your fellow nobles."

He shoved me into a cage with two other children and carelessly clamped the door shut before any one of us had the chance to escape. I doubted that we could overcome his strength even if all of us tried though.

"You’d better behave," Bakin muttered and walked back to the upper floor.

Out of curiosity, I examined the two children huddled under a blanket away from my position. They whispered to one another in a foreign language. However, they did not seem to be hostile towards me. I waved my hands towards them in a gesture of peace and greetings, but they gave me no mind.

"Don't bother. Those elves don't interact with us humans. I don't think they even understand us. Those stinking elves think they're better than us."

A boy in another cage uttered his opinion with disdain. His red hair reflected the moonlight like a bright flame amidst the darkness. He must be the leader here. He seems to hate being looked down upon, so I better not reveal my identity. It would only bring unnecessary attention to me.

"Ah is that so? You know quite a lot about these two," I responded.

After another careful inspection of the elves, I found their pointy ears hidden in the shadow of their blanket.

"It's nothing. I just saw their ears when they were brought in two days ago. Hey, aren't you some kind of big shot as well? That smiling bastard said something about you being a noble," The boy ushered back.

It seemed like the attention is on me now. Even the elves took an interest in my identity. They know our language after all. I can't reveal my heritage, or I might lose my source of information.

"Ah please, I am just merely a fourth son of a baron. In this situation, we're the same. I hope to work together with everyone to get out of here."

At my words, the mood turned sour.

"That's impossible!" A girl from a different cage yelled out.

The red-haired boy gave me a defeated look and returned. "You've only just arrived, but most of us have been here for a week. The security is tight, and despite their looks, these metal bars are quite sturdy. Besides all that, from yesterday's incident, I don't think we have much longer to live."

"Yesterday’s incident? Can you please tell me what happened?"

I questioned, but all I got in return were frightened looks of children.

"Just wait and see. You'll understand in a bit," Red-hair uttered in a drained manner.

I wished to press on; however, seeing the broken expressions surrounding me, I dropped the topic.

Silence enveloped us. Everyone is locked in their thoughts, contemplating on what's about to come.

The more feminine of the two elven children stared at me with a bitter gaze. I felt a similar gaze once before. A stare of confusion and anger. A stare that belonged to my young sister. Younger sister? Since when did I have a younger sister?

Heavy footsteps descended the castle's staircase, but I disregarded them. In front of me now are my mother and sister sitting in that cramped old family car.

The other children begged for mercy from the men in black, but I did not pay them any attention. My father twisted his head around in an inhuman fashion from the driving seat. My family's eyes turned pitch black as blood poured down from their nostrils and mouth.

Why did you do it, Danny? Why did you murder all of us? Why did you hate us?

“No, please, I didn’t mean to. I did not kill you.”

I whispered in fear and regret. Some of the children were dragged upstairs by the hooded men, while the rest waited for what came next.

You killed us, Danny. It was all your fault. Your fault! Your Fault! YOUR FAULT!

My family howled those painful words as two headlights clashed against our family car, sending us flying across the empty highway.

The screams of children echoed through the castle's walls, synchronizing with my family's own shrieks inside our vehicle.

"Stop it. STOP IT! PLEASE! STOP IT!" I helplessly yelled towards the ceiling.

thump

All the shrieks and screams ended while I collapsed onto the cold hard ground.

A dominant and familiar presence reached out to my dimming consciousness.

A single entity was holding all my broken pieces together.

We meet again, young one.