Calls from all around filled the air. The neighbourhood was being split into smaller groups, surrounded by Gou Jia’s twisted animals and the crimson-robed people, or cultivators, as they called themselves.

Abby watched as families were separated and cowered with a single animalistic growl from the viny, animal demons. She prayed her fate wasn’t the same, but it seemed her turn would be soon.

As Abby watched the area, she noticed Gou Jia hurry off somewhere with Megan Anderson, the school nurse, leaving his two brothers behind to supervise the overall splitting operation. Whispers among the crimson-robed members let Abby know that the three were biological brothers.

The Eldest Bloodthorne Brother, Gou Da, didn’t talk much, but when he did, it was with an authority that nobody questioned. She noticed the religious way he looked at the neighbourhood people as he touched his tattoos like a preacher handled a holy scripture. Abby was reminded of a shepherd as he guided people.

Even the youngest of the brothers, Gou Hui, would sometimes shout out, leading to a confused response that the crimson-robed cultivators had no choice but to follow. He would watch with laced amusement at the chaos he had incited for a few moments, then watch as his eldest brother ruined his fun with corrective orders.

“What is he doing?” Abby whispered to herself. She could see Gou Hui staring straight at them, spinning his knife in thought. Then, Abby felt a shiver ripple across her skin. She watched as Gou Hui leapt off one of Gou Jia’s beasts and walked up to her and Louie.

“Mortal. Drop the girl.” Gou Hui commanded with a smirk.

Abby felt the grip on her legs tighten a bit, and in a panic, she whispered in Louie’s ears.

“Endure,” Abby spoke the same words that her mother had calmed them both down with, and it had an effect as Louie loosened his grip. She slid off Louie’s back and watched with hidden disgust as Gou Hui licked his lips.

“Kneel to your new sect leader.” Gou Hui looked with pleasure as Louie gritted his teeth in unwillingness. Then, his face slowly calmed as Louie took a single knee to the ground and lowered his head.

Then, Gou Hui's face turned evil.

Abby gasped as Gou Hui’s leg blurred, kicking out Louie’s kneeling leg from under him and then kicking his head toward the ground.

“You call that a kneel? I’ve seen pigs kneel better than that!” Gou Hui laughed to himself.

“Louie!”

Abby went in to rush towards Louie, but her mother’s grasping hand pulled on her from behind. When she looked back with anger, her mother’s wrathful eyes instantly overpowered her. With an oddly calm voice, Mrs. Collins whispered to Abby.

“Louie is strong. If they wanted to kill us, they would have already done so. He has to endure this. We have to endure this.”

Abby stared at her mother with scrunched eyebrows before looking back at Louie, who received another kick from Gou Hui.

“Kowtow to me! At least you can do that, can’t you?” Gou Hui screamed with pleasure laced in his hysteric tone.

Abby watched as Louie’s eyes briefly closed in containment, then he got down on his hands and knees. With a single resounding thud, Louie’s forehead hit the ground. But when he rose and opened his eyes, he didn’t hesitate to make eye contact with Gou Hui.

“Insolence! Watch where you rest your eyes.”

Slap!

Gou Hui’s slap made Louie’s head jolt to the side, but after a short silence, Louie slowly turned his head back to face Gou Hui. The look in his eyes never changed, and Abby knew the look well.

The last time had ended with a hospital visit, and it wasn’t Louie that ended up in the hospital bed.

“Why you—” Gou Hui was truly angered, and when he reared his hand back for a second time, a layer of crimson tint adorned his skin. The force of the blow could sever heads and claw flesh down to the bone if blocked by mortals.

“See how you like this—”

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Gou Hui’s arm bent to unleash his strike, but his hand didn’t move an inch. When he looked back, he saw Gou Da holding his arm and Gou Jia with a solemn expression on his face. With a complete switch, Gou Hui laughed off his surprise.

“Oh, brothers, I didn’t see you there! I was—”

“Enough. Follow me.” Gou Jia spoke in a way that couldn’t be refused.

Abby watched as Gou Hui pouted a bit, then angrily looked back at Louie. Louie returned the stare.

“Endure,” Abby whispered to herself.

When Abby looked back to the Gou brothers, she noticed Gou Jia staring at her with a trace of confusion on his face. The confusion didn’t last as he disappeared into the crowd of crimson-robed cultivators, unable to be seen.

Abby rushed over to Louie and was about to console him when he spoke up.

“Abby, do you remember the quote about bad deeds growing into something more?”

Abby’s brows locked together, and she thought momentarily before remembering something familiar from church long ago.

“You mean ‘you reap what you sow’?”

Louie’s face softened as he looked back at her. “Yeah, that’s the one. Grandma Sylvie used to say it when she gardened. She taught me a lot.”

Suddenly, Louie’s face hardened again.

“I’m a very good gardener. I make sure to reap everything that’s sown.”

*****

From the cliffside, the distance didn’t look that far. But now that I was walking it, the distance felt hundreds of miles long as a pain ached in my sideswiped leg.

I mentally cursed out Gou Hui as I walked. He was the kind of guy to kick me while I was already down, and I would never forget actions like that.

Thankfully, Abby said she would walk the rest of the way, and Mrs. Collins was fit enough to hike with Arden on her back.

I guess mom palates really builds up strength.

“What are you snickering about?” Abby asked, but I just waved it away.

“No talking until we’ve reached the sect.”

I glared at the bloodthorne cultivator leading our group, but Abby forcefully turned my head away. She gave me a semi-stern look, which made me reluctantly nod along.

I would endure.

It didn’t take long before we crested over the hill, and I heard the others in our group gasp with the same emotions I did when I saw it.

The cliffside was too far to see clearly, but now that I was here, it seemed as appalling as I had imagined. The brush, grass, and natural animals faded away as we walked, and everything turned into a scene out of a dystopian novel.

The ground released a spray of orange dust that attacked our eyes and reminded me of Mars’ desolate landscape. The trees were twisted from dehydrated growth, turning them into alien pitchforks. Besides that, there was nearly nothing. Only burning torches led us toward the mountain that was the Bloodthorne Sect itself.

In one of Grandma Sylvie's typical cultivation stories, mountains were majestic, high-rising mounds that held forests or plentiful fields down below for people to hunt or farm in. Even the eccentric sects would have mountains naturally built for whatever they relied on.

This mountain was different from those.

Its form was an earthen purple colour that reminded me of lilac flowers, but built on top of that were countless houses and holes that ate way at the towering giant. It seemed oddly desecrated to my eyes.

But the houses and holes weren’t what drew in the sharp intakes of breaths from the neighbourhood people. It was a sight more mind-boggling than that that made them question what their life had become.

The mountain was floating.

At least, that’s what it looked like. Thicker, darker violet mist spewed out from underneath the mountain, making it seem like something was sublimating. The mist looked dangerous, and I figured it wasn’t something I would survive from.

“Hurry up!”

I felt a hand hit the back of my head, urging me to go faster, and I had to repeat the word ‘endure’ to keep myself from whipping my arm back around. The bloodthorne cultivators were getting on my nerves, but I could hold on longer.

It didn’t take much longer to reach the mountain's base, where more of the bloodthorne cultivators were waiting, surrounding their own groups of people I had never seen before. Based on their appearance, they looked just like us, Earthers.

Were there others from the Earth that had been forced to concede like us?

I looked around and found one particular group covered with thorns and bruises. They walked with a limp that implied they initially chose to fight back but were quickly conformed into a similar situation as us.

As the distance from the bottom of the mountain lessened, more bloodthorne cultivators appeared around us. Soon, I could see the groups ahead of us shuffling into lines.

“Line up! Get ready for testing!” A bloodthorne cultivator with wavy lines of thorns along the edge of his robes shouted out. Likely, this was some sort of elite among the bloodthorne disciples based on the embroidered design on his robes. He held a spherical tool that resembled a crystal ball from fortune teller machines.

The groups quickly formed into lines, and I held on with a death grip to Mrs. Collins and Abby. There was no way I was letting them separate us.

As we slowly walked up, I could see how they tested ahead.

A person, willing or not, would touch the crystal ball. No reaction led to a string of curses as the person was separated from the line and shoved off towards a separate area holding a bridge leading downwards into the ominous violet mist.

“Congratulations, brother!” I heard an elite bloodthorne disciple yell as the crystal ball in his hand let out tiny green sparks. The treatment was starkly different as the man continued in the line, earning looks from the other bloodthorne cultivators. The lucky man’s line led to another bridge, but this time it rose toward the base of the floating mountain.

“Next!” An elite bloodthorne disciple waved his hand, gesturing for Mrs. Collins to come over.

“Hold on! I’ll be testing these ones.”

My body tensed naturally at the high-pitched fuckery spewing from the mouth of someone I would soon vow to kill. When I looked over, the bastard smiled with amusement steeped in his eyes, and a heinous device was trapped in his hands like us.

“Slug that mortal off your back and get over here. Now.” Gou Hui’s voice rang out.