I traveled through the empty halls of slain gods.
I saw empires fall and rise from their ashes.
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I stared at the brown ceiling of my bedroom, unblinking and unmoving.
“Regis! the food is ready!” I could hear my mother shout from the kitchen.
I turned in my bed and put the blanket over my head.
After a minute of trying to sleep, the bedroom door snapped open, someone pulled the blanket roughly from me making me yelp.
As I tried to push my face into the pillow to hide myself from the light, my ear got pulled up.
“Regis, you better get up now before I spank you.” I could hear Mother in my ear.
I looked at Mother and saw her black circles around her eyes, “but I-”
“No ‘buts’! The food is ready and you need to go to school! Now get dressed and come to eat, you have one minute.”
The memory of getting spanked a week ago came into my mind. With a grunt I got up, dressed and looked at the small mirror in my room, seeing my brown hair and eyes in my reflection.
When I came to the living room, there were two plates with food waiting on the table.
“Did dad already go to work?” I asked Mom as she returned from the kitchen.
Mom sat on the chair opposite to me and looked at me. “Yes he’ll be back later.”
I took the fork and started to move the food around on the plate. “Will he get home before I go to sleep?”
“Maybe, now stop playing with your food and start eating.”
After eating and grabbing my school equipment, Mother walked with me to the school with fast steps.
“Regis, I think it is time that you go to school alone.” she looked at me before I could open my mouth and retorted, “no ‘buts’, you already have a key, you are ten years old, you are old enough for walking alone to school.”
I looked down at the floor with a frown, not looking at her face, until she pulled my arm.
A steam car passed us on the road, filled with other people, “god damned crazy people, blind maniacs.” Mom ranted quietly.
When we reached the school I could see dozens of other kids entering, some of which were classmates.
Mom bent her knees to my height. “Alright Regis stop frowning, remember to behave, and to listen to what the teachers say.” She kissed me on the forehead and dashed off to work, leaving me in the school entrance.
I sighed as I entered the school, inside the classroom I could already see everybody playing with each other.
“Hey Regis!” one of my friends came to me, he pressed a hand to his mouth, as if to conceal what he was going to say. “Did you hear?”
I took a couple of steps forward, close enough to speak quietly. “Hear what?”
My friend looked around at both sides. Seeing the uninterested kids around he continued, “Ray’s father is joining the church of Ashur.”
“The demon hunters?!” I marveled loudly, My friends face paled and I swiftly looked around seeing everyone around look at us.
My mouth stayed open for a second, “The demon hunters are super cool!” I shouted, the curious faces of everyone turned to small smiles and nods.
When everyone stopped looking, I quietly apologized to my friend, only to catch Ray looking at us. I noticed his slightly red eyes. I started to approach him only for the teacher to come in and tell us to sit in our places.
Fifteen minutes into the lesson about history, I wrote a letter asking about Ray’s father, crumpled it, and threw it at Ray’s feet.
He noticed the small paper ball. After reading, he wrote on it and threw it back.
I placed the letter on my desk, and put my hands around it so that no one would see.
Father said that Dresa has fallen to the demons, my aunt lived there, that's why he wants to join the church.
I paused for a moment looking at the letter, Dresa, I remembered father talking about his brother living there.
“You.” The voice of the teacher boomed through the classroom making me take the letter and stuff it in my pocket, “Regis, when was steam technology invented?”
I looked at the stern teacher, I could feel my face stiffen as a couple of moments passed.
The entire classroom was silent. “I just talked about it.” He put down his chalk on his desk.
I looked at my sides, but no one looked back at me, “um,” I started, “Was it around the creation of the empire?”
The teacher remained silent.
“N-no” I continued “it was, umm, when Ashur and his apostles came to the continent?”
“Is that your answer? or are you asking me?” The teacher taped his foot against the floor.
He looked throughout the classroom, “I specifically told everyone, not to talk while I’m teaching, not to throw paper, not to do anything to disrupt the lesson.” His gaze landed on me, “get up. and get over here.”
I did as he said, and got to the front of the class.
The teacher took out a long ruler from his bag, making my heart drop. “Now before I hit you on your hands, I want you to read the letter to the entire classroom.” he looked at everyone again “let it be a lesson, no matter what it is you are talking about, none of you will disrupt my lessons again.”
I caught Ray looking at me with his curled fists on the desk, he shook his head slightly.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
I looked up to the teacher, “teacher I won’t do it again I swear!”
His face turned dark. “Take out the letter and read it now, or else, I will have a talk with your mother and father, Regis.” he said slowly.
My heart started beating, I could feel my armpits sweat, I slowly took the letter out of my pocket. From a side glance, I could see Ray’s chest heave up and down.
As I held the letter in my hands, I stared at the teacher who stared back, and then at the latter, I started to pull the letter from both sides tearing a small piece of it.
But before I could tear more, the teacher grabbed both of my hands and started smacking them with his ruler.
I cried in pain as I felt a straight line of shocking pain on my hands, again and again, with blurry vision I saw my hands quickly get red.
The teacher stopped hitting me, he looked at me with a red face.
“After you read the letter, you are going straight to the principal's office! your parents are going to hear of your rude behavior young man!” His voice filled up the room.
My heart was beating so fast, I could barely focus on what the teacher said, but as he threatened me again with his ruler I quickly took the letter with red trembling hands.
Even though my vision was blurry from the tears, I slowly read the letter while stuttering, and by the end of it the entire classroom was quiet.
The teacher dropped his ruler and grabbed the letter from my hands, he read it again and looked at the whole class, his stare passing every student, only for his gaze to fall on the heaving Ray.
“Is this true?” He asked, his face no longer red.
“Is this true?!” he shouted at Ray when he didn’t answer. In return Ray gave a simple nod and started sobbing.
“Stay in class and don’t move until I return.” The teacher dashed out of the class.
Meanwhile I stopped crying and cradled my red hands and stood in the front of the class, everyone was staring at Ray or at me.
“Isn’t Dresa, like one of the bigger cities in the empire?” one of the kids asked the class.
“My, My grandma and grandpa live there.” one said in a quivering voice.
“I’m never going to see my daddy again.” Ray sobbed from the side of the class, grabbing everyone's attention, “I don’t want him to go, I don’t want daddy to get eaten, I want daddy.” Ray’s chest heaved as tears ran down his cheeks.
Besides Ray’s sobbing, the entire class went silent.
As the pain on my hand softened a bit, I stopped cradling my hands and wiped the snot from my nose with the back of my hand.
with the rest of the class I simply stared at Ray.
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When the teacher returned to class Ray stopped crying and everyone was sitting, he didn’t even send a single glance at me or Ray, as he started to write on the chalkboard a couple of simple lines, describing our homework.
After writing the homework, he turned his gaze back to us. “Make sure to do all the homework, you won’t have anymore classes today, you are all free to go home.” he said stoically and left.
A couple of moments passed before the kids started to get up and go home, Ray being the only exception, as he simply stared out the window.
I walked to him and apologized to which he simply took his stuff and rushed off without saying a word.
After I reached Home alone, I opened the door with the house key that I had with me, only to see dad sitting against one of the wooden walls of the house.
He was sobbing quietly, muttering something incomprehensible.
“Dad?” I called out to him and he raised his head.
As he saw me, he shook his head, wiped his eyes and stood up “Regis? You should be in school right now, why are you already home?” He asked with a raspy voice.
“The teacher said we could go home.” I answered simply, I looked at his face and saw his red eyes and runny nose.
I hugged his waist and looked up to him, “Dad are you ok?”
He didn’t answer, instead, he just looked down at me only to turn his head to the side and wipe his eyes again.
After a moment of silence, I grabbed his shirt tighter. “Dad?”
Dad blinked and looked at me again, “I’m alright, mom is at work right now right? I need to go and tell her to get home alright? I need you to behave and stay at home until we return.”
In a matter of seconds he went to the sink to wash his face, took a jacket and got to the door of the house.
“Remember, behave, don’t do anything until we return.” Dad said before opening the door and walking out, leaving me all alone.
After what seemed to be hours, I walked to the small balcony out of boredom, I saw people casually stroll and buy things from stores.
That is until I saw a running man get grabbed by someone, right beneath the balcony.
“Yol! What is up with you running like a madman?!” A store owner asked the running man.
“Uncle! Dresa has Fallen!” The man shouted, making everyone in the street snap their heads towards him.
“Me and Jessica are packing everything and moving to Itesa before the horde will reach here!”
People had surrounded him by the point he got the shopkeepers hand off him, asking him what he meant about Dresa, but he quickly dug through the crowd and bolted away.
At the small crowd that gathered I could see mom and Dad pierce their way into the building, and after they got up the stairs they slammed the door open.
“Regis!” Mom bellowed out as she saw me, making me flinch. she knelt to my height and held my cheeks “Regis listen, we are going to pack our stuff alright? right now.” She grabbed my hand and brought me to my room instructing me on what I should do.
“Mom, what's happening?” I asked her as she frantically moved in sync with Dad while putting stuff in briefcases.
“Just do as I say Regis!” She shouted without even looking at me.
I could feel my heart beat rise as yells and screams from outside started to rise, without thinking I started to messily put clothes inside an open briefcase on my bed.
“No no no, just, just go and wait in the living room Regis!” Mom yanked back my arm so hard that I almost fell. I dashed to the living room and sat on the floor, looking around the house while dad and mom scurried from side to side, listening to my heart beat.
As I slowly started to feel pain in my arm, a booming voice came from outside the balcony. “Everybody stay calm! The church has everything under control! There is no need to worry, Valinia is under our protection!
The shouts weakened, Dad told Mom to keep on organizing as he went to the balcony.
Out of curiosity I too went to the balcony and saw a man in a white robe on a small box guarded by a couple of armed men, surrounded by a small crowd.
As people ran, he kept on trying to calm everybody.
“Did Dresa really fall!?” a random man suddenly interrupted the robed man.
“The holy church has everything under control! there are no reports of demon hordes coming th-”
“Did Dresa fall or not?!” the man shouted again, interrupting the robed man’s speech.
A moment of silence passed, everybody in the street stopped and looked, everyone was at the tip of their toes.
The robed man opened his mouth. “At the morning, we got reports that Dresa was up in a flame.” The crowd stood silent at his words. “But the garrisons at the cities are full and well stoked, and Valinia is highly protected by the church!”
Some people stayed in the crowd while others ran away, faces full of sweat.
“Everything is ready!” Mom shouted.
She came to the balcony, looked at dad and then down at the street, where the crowd got a little bigger around the robed man.
Mom looked at dad, sweat ran down her forehead. “What’s the plan?”
Dad held the railing so hard that I could see his hands turn white. ”we stay.” He looked down towards the growing circle.
A couple of moments passed as the three of us simply stared out of the small balcony, dad slowly started to get back into the home only to stumble as he reached the table in the living room.
I looked at him as Mom rushed to his side and put a hand on his back, asking what’s wrong.
With tears dripping from his eyes he looked up to her. “They are all dead Claire.” he sobbed, “Don, Rick, Zevenia, all gone.” He held Mom with a hug for a second until she returned the hug.
She held him silently without saying a word, face pressed against his neck.
While Mom and Dad hugged each other, I simply stood and stared at them, my heartbeat started to slow, all the while I started to think about the stories I heard from my friends and the stories Mom had told me when I was younger.
About how demons take bad children into darkness in the middle of the night. About demons eating humans.
“The demons won’t eat us right?” I asked them, but they simply continued to hold each other.
Ignoring me.