--- [Lily’s perspective]
Sol…
It’s a small village in the outer area, and it’s where I grew up.
It’s not a very wealthy village, but I didn’t care, it was all I had ever known.
Everyone I cared about lived there, and that was all that mattered.
I remember the times when I used to go fishing with my dad.
Whenever I got the biggest fish, I would be so happy.
Mostly because the one who got the biggest fish didn’t have to do dishes…
We didn’t have a proper school in Sol, so my mom would teach me instead.
She taught me everything I know.
I didn’t appreciate her for it as much as I should have back then, but I do now.
I thought her lectures were boring and I wanted to play with my older brothers instead.
Of course now that I’m older, I understand how important they really were.
My brothers are a lot older than me.
One is 10 years older, and the other is 12 years older.
But I didn’t mind.
They always came up with something fun for me to do with them.
Our grandma lived with us too.
Grandpa died when I was just a baby and she was too old to live on her own, so she moved in with us.
Whenever I was hanging out with her, we would always paint together.
No one sold any real paint in Sol, so we would go into the forest and find inedible berries, then use them as paint instead.
She was an exceptionally talented artist.
I wasn’t…
But I had fun, and that was all that mattered.
That was our entire family.
I didn’t have any aunts or uncles, they all died before I was born.
One day when I was outside playing alone, I saw some strangers come to our village.
They were travelling in a caravan that was being pulled by two horses.
They stopped right outside of our house.
I was a little curious, so I stopped playing and decided to spy on them instead.
They knocked on the door and my mom opened.
When she opened the door and saw who it was, she started crying.
The thing I remember most clearly is how confused I was.
Why would she start crying just because someone knocked on the door?
They continued to talk for a little bit, but I was too far away to hear what they were saying.
They pulled some materials out of the caravan and gave them to my mom.
It was just some basic stuff; leather, cloth, rope, and even a little bit of food etc.
She goes back into the house, but she doesn’t close the door.
A minute later, she comes back with my grandma.
My grandma gets into the caravan, and they drive away like nothing ever happened.
They close the door and that was that.
I didn’t know what just happened.
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I was just seven years old at the time, of course I didn’t understand.
I kept thinking about it all day, but I just couldn’t figure it out.
Why did she start crying?
Why did grandma go with them?
Later that night, when we were having dinner, my mom says that she has something important to tell us.
“Lily, as you can see, grandma isn’t eating with us tonight. Unfortunately, while you were out playing, she had a heart attack and passed away.” – Mom
“That’s not true, I saw her drive away with those men with the cute horses.” – Lily
“What?! You saw that…? Lily…” – Mom
That’s when she told me what was really going on.
We were a lot poorer than I thought.
So poor that we could not survive on our own.
My grandma was sold as a slave…
She was the one who chose to go herself.
She basically gave up her life so that we could live.
Apparently, they had been there many times before.
My grandpa didn’t die, he sold himself for the sake of our family, and now my grandma did the same.
My mom told me that she did it because she wanted to see her husband again, but I now know that was total bullshit.
The chances of the slaves being sold to the same place is very slim, and that’s assuming he was even still alive…
Slave owners aren’t exactly known to be the gentlest…
They then went on to explain that grandpa wasn’t the first to go.
My aunts and uncles were.
They lied about them dying too.
My entire family knew what was going on, my brothers included, but they tried so hard to keep it all hidden from me.
They wanted me to have a happy childhood, and when the time came, they would tell me.
Me seeing them that day ruined their entire plan.
Nothing was ever the same after that.
I couldn’t sleep at night; all I did was cry thinking about my grandma.
I missed her so much…
When I did get some sleep, I would always wake right up from nightmares about the rest of my family being sold too.
I was constantly scared.
And rightfully so…
Just one year later, they returned.
My dad was the next one to go.
I tried to stop them from taking him, but my mom held me back as they took him away.
My dad kept shouting that everything would be okay, but I knew he was lying…
They gave us even less stuff now than last time too.
My mom explained to me how horrible they truly were…
They gave us less and less each time, making us dependent on them; all so that they would eventually get us all…
They never intended to fairly compensate us, as if any price would ever be enough…
They knew we were desperate.
We either sold ourselves or starved.
There were no other options…
They kept coming back over and over again.
My mom was taken next, after that it was my eldest brother.
At 10 years old, I only had one brother left.
If he was taken, my entire family would be gone…
This wasn’t living…
This was hell.
My happy childhood was long gone.
Most of the time I would forget that I had ever been happy in the first place.
My brother had it just as bad…
He was experiencing everything I was, except he was also filled with the existential dread knowing that once they came back, he would be next…
His, and he knew that once they came back, he would be next…
After that it would only be a matter of time before they took me too.
He didn’t want to let that happen, so the only thing we could do, was fight…
He came up with a plan.
When they came back, he would ambush them.
We’d take everything they had on them, and escape.
If we could make it to another village, we might be saved.
This wouldn’t be easy though.
There were many things wrong with this plan.
First of all, there were two of them, and only one of him.
They had proper weapons too, he didn’t.
He didn’t allow me to fight with him, so he would have to fight them both off alone.
But that wasn’t all.
Even if he somehow did it, and survived, it would be next to impossible for us both to get to another village on foot with what little supplies we had.
Apparently, the closest village was about a three week walk away.
After taking their supplies, we might have enough food to keep one of us alive for a week or two…
It would be next to impossible for just one of us to get there, let alone both.
But that didn’t stop him.
We continued with the plan.
It was our only choice.
I hid in the bushes and watched over him.
They knocked on the door, and when he opened it, he stabed the first guy in the stomach.
He tried to stab the other guy, but they managed to grab his arm.
Due to malnutrition, he was much stronger than my brother was.
He took the knife out of his hand with ease and threw it away.
He grabbed my brother by the throat and started choking him.
I ran out screaming, telling them to stop.
“Now that the little girl is here, we don’t need you anymore.” – Slave trader One
He continued to choke him, and I ran towards the knife.
I picked it up and I tried to stab him in the leg, but the guy my brother stabbed gets back up and kicks me away.
He walked over to me, and took the knife.
He went back to my brother, who was being choked by his partner.
“This is what you get for stabbing me!” – Slave trader Two
He stabbed my brother in the stomach over and over again…
The guy choking him let go, and my brother fell to the ground.
“NO!!!” – Lily
He wasn’t moving…
The slave trader who got stabbed did some first aid on himself, while the other guy walked over to me.
He grabbed me by the arm and dragged me towards the caravan.
Just when I thought it was all over, both their heads suddenly fell off…
“Shit, am I too late?” – ???
That was the last thing I heard before I passed out.
I woke up the next day in a room I’d never seen before.
“Don’t worry, your brother is fine.” – ???
They then explained everything to me.
He was a hunter from an organization known as ‘The END’.
He carried me and my brother back to their base.
Luckily, they had healers there who could save him.
After that, they started training us to become hunters ourselves; so that we would never have to worry about being sold as slaves ever again.
I’m more than strong enough to not have to worry about that now, but I still need to get stronger.
I need to repay my debt to The END.
No…
That’s not quite it.
I believe in their cause, and I want to make sure they succeed.
They’re going to save the world.
But that can only be done through strength.
I need to get stronger, strong enough to save the world from…!