“Come in.” Tsugi entered Ser Gorou’s study and placed the bounty on his desk. “How’d it go?” Ser Gorou crossed his arms and walked over to sit on the front of his desk, glaring down at Tsugi.

“Boring.” Tsugi lied and threw a severed hand onto the desk. He chopped it off a thief who had attempted to mug him in the alley.

“And what makes you think that I would want the hand of a thief?” His tone was threatening.

“What thief?” Tsugi tried hard to sound as convincing as he could.

Ser Gorou waved a finger in the air and shook his head. “Wrong answer.” He glared at Tsugi murderously. “Try…again.”

Tsugi felt his lip curl into a smile. He enjoyed the feeling of pissing off Ser Gorou. “What th…?”

A hand quickly encircled Tsugi’s neck into a very tight grip. “You’ve lost your mind, child.” He spoke through his gritted teeth. “Have you forgotten what I can do to you? Apparently, you haven’t learned your lesson.” He grinned mischievously.

“Do…your…best.” Tsugi sneered.

Ser Gorou’s bloodlust sent all the wild animals running for cover within a forty kilometer radius. All the animals in the village reacted and panicked as if they too wanted to flee. All except Ruzo who frantically wanted to go toward it instead, like he knew what was going to happen. Then a sinister smile appeared across Ser Gorou’s face, as if he was all only too happy to oblige.

For days, Tsugi was bound and whipped again and again. Hallucination after hallucination of storms and torture riddled his mind. Haunting corpses of Yamo, Volgan and Fay filled his nightmares. In them, he murders them with his own hands repeatedly, gutting them again and again.

Soon it wasn’t just them on the table, it became Dina, Mister Jember, Vinni and everyone in town. One by one Ser Gorou brought the hallucination onto Tsugi, making him torture them over and over. The only ones he didn’t see on the table were Xeni, Mare, Yahni, Rygo and Ryna.

‘Perhaps, he doesn’t know about them.’

It kept going for so long, Tsugi couldn’t tell what was real and what wasn’t anymore. Torturous thunderstorms, one after another drained the life out of him. Tsugi finally caved and he broke down again, but it didn’t end there. They continued long enough to where Tsugi lost all hope, until the smell of chamomile and sage relieved his aching heart. He was back to reality once again.

“Good-bye Tsugi.” Ryna’s voice echoed in his ear like she came to him in a dream.

“Good-bye.” Rygo said wistfully.

“Where are you guys going?” Tsugi grumbles tirelessly.

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“Don’t worry about us. Rygo and I have been dead for a long time.” Her voice whispered like a passing wind. “The truth is, father killed us a long time ago. Mother ran here to escape him, but she kept trying to harm herself, so we stayed to protect her.”

“Thank you for being my friend.” Rygo’s voice entered Tsugi’s reverie. “Thank you for giving mother a purpose in life. It’s okay now. She will soon join us and we will be together forever.”

“Young Master Tsugi.” Mare’s reverberating voice whispered urgently. “He’s going to kill her. You must hurry. Run!” Her loud whisper in his ear woke him up. He was in Yahni’s house, but there wasn’t anyone there. This constant aching pain in his heart told him something was wrong. He wiped at a trickling tear on his cheek as he remembered Ryna and Rygo’s words. Had they really been spirits this whole time?

A wind came from nowhere and blew away a giant cloth in the corner, revealing two shrines. Each with a picture of the two children and their smiling faces.

The voices came back, like they enjoyed haunting him.

-“I told you, you would get everyone killed.”

-“Yeah, just like how you killed us.”

Tsugi covered his ears, but it only made their voices louder. “No!” Tsugi cried. “NOOOO!” Tears streamed down his face.

Almost like a strong electric pull of an alarm, something drew Tsugi’s attention and alerted him to rush out of his reverie.

-“Run!” The voice in his head yelled at him.

His body reacted immediately. He pushed the door open and ran toward the castle. Something was telling him that was where he needed to go. He ran as fast as his little legs could take him. Tears flew off the brims of his eyes and trickled onto the ground behind him. Upon clearing the edge of the forest, his eyes widened at the sight before him.

Yahni had her hands and feet bound, kneeling on the ground in front of Ser Gorou, his sword unsheathed in his hand. He shot a look at Tsugi and smirked, swinging his sword through the air. Tsugi’s feet didn’t stop moving, he kept charging and running with all his might.

The blade rained down, cleanly separating Yahni’s neck from her body. Tsugi was too far, he could do nothing but watch as her wistful eyes rolled through the air as her head hit the ground and rolled away, her hair swirling, wrapping around it. As if in spite, Ser Gorou flung the sword and strewn Yahni’s blood across Tsugi’s face when he approached.

Ser Gorou placed a firm grasp onto Tsugi’s neck and lifted him high into the air. Ser Gorou looked up at him and smirked menacingly. “Thanks to you, I’ve finally found the wench that’s been saving you and putting thoughts into your head, turning all my hard work into shit. Keep disobeying me, and we will see how many graves you have to dig before you learn your lesson.”

“You’re the one that will go without a grave.” Tsugi hissed.

“They’ve must’ve really done something to you, to make you stupid enough to think you can turn against me.” He growled, and his chest rumbled murderously. Ser Gorou pulled Tsugi close, so they were only centimeters from each other's face before he whispered dangerously, “I guess I really must torture and murder everyone in front of your eyes. You never learn your lesson, do you?”

Tsugi was beginning to lose consciousness. This time, it felt like Ser Gorou might actually kill him. Time slowed immensely and Tsugi felt a pull from within himself. Anger followed by the will to live flowed through his veins. Black smoke formed around his hands and he closed his fist around something before his vision was filled with darkness.

Tsugi is panting as he stands onto his feet. Ser Gorou is on all fours clutching at his chest as blood seeped through and poured onto the ground, drenching the dead hill with red. Tsugi looks at his hands and he sees the daggers that Mare had once given him for his birthday. His hands were covered in blood and his eyes widened with shock. The daggers dissipate, leaving him staring at his empty, bloody hands.

Ser Gorou collapses onto the ground with a thud. There were no more gasps for breath, no sound of a heartbeat, no noise from the village, nor the sound of life coming from the animals and trees.

‘What happened? Did I do this? Did I kill him?’

Grinning, Tsugi rushes down the hill, leaving his father on the cold dead ground. He grabbed the bare necessities and rushed by the barn without peering in. “Ruzo!” The pup came rushing out and gleefully pranced after Tsugi.

‘I did it. I killed him. I’m free.’

Tsugi’s heart had set sail to Thandeur. He was going to return to his real family…no matter the cost. Though would his life of freedom truly turn out the way he wanted? Or is there more in store for him when his secret comes out?