He sat in the common room, leaning into the sofa, he was content, he had everything he wanted, everything he thought he wanted anyway, he was protege to the most powerful person in existence at the moment, even though his masters essence was all but depleted. Thinking about his master, he furrowed his brows- he could never tell what the man was thinking, he was always off in his own world. In the long years he had been with him, he expressed three things regularly, curiousity, amusement or ire, when it was the latter he gave a look that made you want to sink into the ground and you had better come up with an explanation or you'd be sorry. His master had a temper, one he kept a lid on; but when he uncorked it, you wanted to be miles away and if you were an enemy light-years away. His master was not a kind man, not by a very long shot, of all the things he could say to be; cold, sadistic, uncaring, impatient, villainous, but the one that stood apart was -
"Brother"
He froze, glancing down at his sister that had been asleep in his arms just minutes ago, she still looked eight even after all the years that had gone by, courtesy of his master, the man had sealed her time, leaving her eternally eight, a thing he would be eternally grateful for, she had been sick, cursed by the gods with an incurable disease, one that would gave killed her with time, he tore his mind away from thoughts like that.
"Did you sleep well Lily?" he asked
she nodded smiling then pouted "You look worried"
"I apologize, I was just thinking" he replied soothingly
"About what?" she wandered
"Things you would not understand" he answered
"You worry too much" she glared
"Someone has to" he said coolly
"Must it be you… Why can't uncle Ruben worry?" she asked, gazing into his dull eyes with her lively ones
"Uncle Ruben" he cringed inwardly, she must have misread their relationship
"I'm flattered" a third voice said
His eyes widened as he turned to see his master staring at them
"Master, I a-" he had already started to apologize when Lily interjected
"Uncle Ruben!!" She grinned jumping from the sofa running to the older man and wrapped his legs in a hug
"Raniel is being a worrywat, uncle Ruben" Lily pouted
Once again the boy cringed inwardly, carefully schooling his expression, his eyes met his master's eyes over the sofa and his master smiled. It wasn't an amused smile or even a cold smile, it was unreadable, the master reached down and patted the little girl, ruffling her long white hair. He felt his heart speed up, what was the other doing? Was he taunting him, reminding him he had as much a claim on his sister as he did, he couldn't tell staring into the orange intoxicating eyes
"Don't be such a worrywat Raniel, or you'll end up converting your sister and I" his master chided
Lily turned to him and stuck out a tongue
"Shouldn't you be learning right now?" The older man asked
"I totally forgot! See you later uncle" Lily said wide eyed, once again she wrapped him in a hug and skipped off
Raniel could here his heart beating in his chest, it was so loud that he thought it would burst from his chest
"I apologize for her behavior master" Raniel said sincerely
"It's refreshing to not be so formally addressed" his master had returned and he wondered if the older was referring to him.
Before he could ask though the man had swept away to some other part of the castle, leaving Raniel breaking into cold sweat.
"Hm" he muttered as he grasped at his clothes, hand on his chest.
He would have rather his sister didn't get involved with the other at all but he didn't have any other place to keep her, she was being entrapped in the same way he was, it was clear she idolized her uncle, he on the other hand admired? no worshipped the man, he steadied his breathing, he remembered the day he had met his master, he still was imposing and larger than life as he was then.
It was cold, the sun hung in the sky, the wind howled and whipped around a group of travellers, they were large in number, about two hundred of them, half of their numbers were in cages, being dragged up the mountain by a horse or two, depending on the size of the cage, the people in the cage are malnourished and skinny compared to those that ride beside their cages, prodding then with the wooden ends of Spears and laughing at their misery, in one of the cages was a boy, he was about 14 sun cycles, he woild have been like every other young boy in the cage if not for the wat he carried himself and the tattoo that spread across his chest, he snarled each time someone taunted him, choosing to taking the bait each time instead of hanging his head in degection, he held a little girl in his arms, she looked scared and was muffling a sob, beside him sat another boy his age who tried his best to cheer the little girl up and was failing miserably. The people in the cage glared at them with contempt obly familiar to people who had lost hope
"Shut that girl up" one of the men in the cage said
"Repeat yourself" the boy challenged, his grey eyes looking uncharacteristically feirce
"This is all your fault" the man returned
"Shut up if you don't want to die" the boy snarled
The cage came to a stop with a jolt, sending everybody flying forward and landing ungracefully with their faces on the bottom of the wooden cage
"Get out slaves" a man called, dropping from his horse and throwing open the cage doors
The people exited the cage slowly, mumbling tiredly as they stumbled, they knew what would happen next, a few men went round picking the weakest and oldest to get rid of, they pulled out a few screaming girls, beating anyone who tried to fight back, a soldier approached the boy and glanced at the little girl he heels by the hand
"She looks sick" he stated
"She's fine" the boy hissed
"That'll be for me to decide" the man replied, grabbing the girl by her hair and pulling
The boy started forward only to be pulled back by his friend
"Don't" the other whispers
"What? You want to do something?" The soldier asked as he threw the girl to the floor
"..." The boy bit his tongue so hard he thought it would split in two
"Brat answer me!" The soldier spat, kicking the girl who was already crumbled on the floor
The boy lunged forward with a speed that surprised the soldier and all that stood around, aiming a well targetted punch at the man's throat, he got the hit in and the soldier toppled backwards and ten more rushed forward subdueing the boy and proceeded to beat the shit out of him.
"Please stop!" A girl cried and rushed forward
"Bitch, get back!" A soldier yelled, giving her a slap that sent her spiraling
"Please leave them alone, do whatever you want to me instead" the girl pleaded grabbing a soldiers boot
"Hmm, we could make you do what we want anyway" the man said
"Please sir!" The girl pleaded
The soldier narrowed his eyes drinking the sight before him, an ample young lady with a wonderful figure, her ragged short gown was already exposing her white skin, he turned and walked over to his companions who were having more than a good time hurting the boy that was curled up underneath their feet.
"Leave the child alone, we'll have to sacrifice him to the old God eventually" the man said
"Damn brat" one of the soldiers spat
"Boy. You are a slave, you only exist to please your masters, to please the gods, your village was chosen to be sacrificed to the gods, aren't you grateful?" The solier asked leaning down to see the boys bloody face
"Eat shit" the boy gasped
"You're lucky someone has agreed to take on your punishment today" the soldier grinned viciously
"Wha-" he started then paused when he heard the ripping of clothes
He turned inmediately to find his little sister still lying beside him, then who? The soldier raised his face up to turn it to see a group of soldiers ripping off a girl's clothes
"No. No. Please no." He muttered as he tried to crawl
"Not so tough now are you? Who's she, some lover?" The soldier grinned
"I'll kill you if you touch her!" The boy yelled from the floor
"Watch boy" the soldier sneered as he joined the others.
It was a sordid sight, the worst part of it was how the girl took it all, doing all that was asked for her, from kneeling in front of them and swallowing their thick seed to moaning when they asked
"Annie..." The boy whispered his vision blurring and finally thankfully he blacked out.
When he awoke, he was back in the moving cage, his head was resting in Fair laps, he shot up to narrow his eyes then softened his sight after he saw the girl smiling softly at him
"You scared me" she said
"Annie..." He hugged her and felt tears pouring from his eyes
"It's okay" she soothed
"No. It's not. It was my fault they hurt you... I let them hurt you" he whispered as she ran a hand through his cropped hair
"There was nothing you could do" she shushed him
"I- why did you do that?!" He hissed
"It was my choice. I couldn't live without you" she said calmly " they would have killed you"
"It would have been better" he gulped
"And then what happens to Lily?" The girl asked
"I'm sorry" the boy whispered again
"It's okay" she smiled
He noticed from the corner of his eye, his sister was sleeping by his friend
"She's okay" the other mouthed and Reniel nodded mouthing back "thank you"
They travelled for days, stopping each day to reduce the number of people they carried up the mountain to reduce the strain on the horses, and taking out more girls to be entertained with, once or twice Annie was chosen by a soldier and Reniel would get beaten trying to prevent her from leaving, the screaming and pleading ignored entirely by the soldiers, who think to responding with
"Livestock are bred to be used"
The journey up the mountain was hard for the slaves, for while the soldiers were covered with coats and armor, the captives were left in half torn clothes battling the cold, Reniel had given his long coat to his sister and was huddled closer to his group for warmth but started to notice Annie's skin was becoming paler, and cold, he tried to ask for a cloak from the soldiers but received Snickers and hisses, he opted for the next option, taking it from one of the other slaves
"You. Give me your coat" he had asked a man with a thick furskin coat for it
"Why should I?" The man had returned
"What do you want for it?" The boy asked
"Nothing you can give me but if you offer me her for a day I might reconsider" the man grinned toothily at Annie
Reniel had turned to return to his sitting position when he realized she might not make it into the night, he took a necklace from his pocket and turned back to the man who had already turned from the boy to talk with someone else, as quick as a flash, the necklace was around the man's neck, strangling him before the boy could have a concious revelation
"Get off me boy! " the man had screamed, trying to roll but the cramped space had made it impossible and Reniel had put his legs through the holes in the cage, using them as a sort of grip support
It lasted less than a minute, the soldiers had not interfered instead placing bets and cheering, neither had any of the slaves either
"Here" Reniel had covered his long friend with the thick coat
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"Where did you get it?" The girl asked blinking up at him with bright blue eyes
"It's not important, rest" he said and settled down beside her
He didn't understand the point of answering such a question, surely in the close confinements of the cage, she must have heard the scuffle
"Thank you" she had muttered before dozing off
The higher they climbed, tell more agitated the slaves became, fighting in their cages and earning hoots and names from the soldiers, they no longer needed to reduce their numbers as the slaves did it themselves and they just appeared to throw our the body of the dead that was usually stripped of all it's clothing and looking as white as snow.
The day they arrived at the northern peak temple, the soldiers made a head count of eh slaves left and ordered they be prepared for the sacrifice, they were forced out of their clothes in the harsh cold and doused with some sort of insence before returning their belongings, late that night they were pulled out of the cages once again this time to the eeiry sound of chanting as a priest danced around a bonfire and offered rams and sheep's in offering to the gods.
"The men and women first" the priest commanded
The soldiers did as he asked without complaining, the children watched as one by one throats were split and their parents lifeless body collapsed onto the floor, the children were ushered back into cages in fives, lucking they hadn't chosen a particular numbering pattern and just tossed them in as they stood close to the other.
The next night once again the ritual repeated and the children were forced to their knees
"This is sick!" Reniel had called out to the priest
"It is what the gods will child" the priest had replied smiling sadly
"You can stop this!" The boy returned growing even more desperate by the second
"No one can go against the gods" the preist sighed
"Preist give the order" the commander of the soldiers huffed impatient
"Very well, get on with it" he nodded
"Damn it" Reniel thought as he dashed for his sister
He grabbed her and started to run
"There's no where to go boy!" A soldier called snarkily
They surrounded them quickly and pulled him back to the sacrificial temple
"Who is this girl?" The preist asked as he narrowed his eyes at Lily
"The boy's sister" a soldier answered
"Take her away" the preist instructed
"What?" The soldiers shared glances confused
"She is touched by an evil one, quickly take her away before she taints the place" the preist hissed
"Damn it" the soldiers grabbed the boy and his sister and dragged them kicking away from the sacrificial grounds and tossed them in the snow
"Brats! You almost ruined our sacrifices! You should be glad the gods chose you!" A soldier spat as he kicked Lily
"Ants!" Another soldier did the same to Reniel
Reniel rolled in the snow, he threw himself over his sister to prevent her from taking any hits
"Trying to be brave huh?! You're livestock for gods sake" A soldier said drawing his sword
'Am I going to die here? I don't want to die, this is unfair and Lily too, I can't die here! I can't let her die here' Reniel thought as he shut his eyes tight. But what to do?
The blow never came, instead he noticed a shadow that covered him, he glanced up into orange curious eyes, they skimmed over him with a cold icy glaze and then they turned in the direction of the temple and the person was gone.
He huffed and checked his sister for any wounds, she had passed out, he glanced around him, were there were once soldiers there was ash, everything reduced to ash
"Lily" he shook his sister carefully
There was no response, he sucked in breath, he checked for a pulse but it was weak, he needed to get her out of the cold, he carried her on his back and started towards the temple, there was nowhere else he could go and he could the distraction the person he had seen would provide to sneak past everyone, maybe get a horse, extra layers of clothing and find Annie and his friend and hightail it out of there.
When he arrived at the temple, everything was quiet, which he found was eeiry, considering how noisy the place had been just a moment ago, he head a crunch and pulled back his leg impulsively to find a black substance underfoot
'was that charcoal?" He thought as he avoided it the second time and crossed the yard, he set his sister down gently
"I'll be back, I'll get us out here, I promise" he whispered and took off running
"Annie! Varen!" He called out as he ran, finding the floor covered in ash, after a minute he gave up choosing instead to find thick peices of clothing, he had gathered a few cloaks and stareted back, he returned to his sister's side to find she was no longer breathing, he froze
'it's a bad joke' he thought as he tried to feel for a pulse, a heartbeat, anything at all, he found nothing.
"She's dead" he whispered to himself, he couldn't see clearly, his eyes blurring once again, he cried by her side for minutes, screaming and cursing the gods
"It's all their fault" he muttered to himself as he stood, backing away, her eyes stared ahead as if mocking him as if saying "you promised we'd leave"
He couldn't bring himself to shut them and turned running blindly, he tripped over a body and cursed, turning to stare at his friends e/c orbs
"No. Not you too" he cried as he cradled his friend's head, his throat was slit, eyes wide open, he knew just who was responsible for this too
"Reniel!!!" He heard someone yells and turned, his wiped his tears to clear his eyes to see Annie running to his side
"You're... You're alive" he said disbeiliving
"I ran after you did" she nodded and then her sights fell on their friend's corpse, she chocked and vomited, collapsing to her knees
"He's gone" he said hushed
"Where's lily?" Annie asked hoping for good news
"She's... Gone" once again he whispered, feeling tears returning to his eyes
"I'm sorry" Annie sniffled and encompassed him in a hug
He sniffled as let his personal space be invaded, she was okay.
"Reniel" she said
"Yeah?"
"Promise me something" Annie said
"What is it?"
"You have to go on" she sniffled
"What are you saying?" Reniel pulled back confused
"I... Can't go on anymore" she said
"What are you talking about?" Reniel blinked back the rising tears
"I'm dying" she said
"No" he said shaking his head
"Look at me, Reniel. Promise me, you'll go on. Promise you won't get swallowed by revenge" she said softly as she let her hand rest on his cheeks
The boy blinked finally noticing the blood that coated her palms
"What Happened?" He asked shakily
"Reniel... I love you, you Know" she smiled
"I..." The boy managed before sobs overtook him again
"It's okay" Annie said
"It's not! You're dying! You're all leaving me!" Reniel sobbed
"I'm sorry. We couldn't grow old together" Annie sighed and leaned against him
"Please don't leave me" Reniel sobbed
"..." The boy glanced down at the only other person he had had left, she was gone now, it was their fault
"Are you pleased!!!!!?" He yelled at the starlit night sky
He let his greif overcome him, he left the temple the next morning having passed out the night before, he felt wieghed down, he had thought of burying the bodies but then there was really no place to dig up so he had set the whole thing ablaze, he staggered as he walked, he heard horns and dropped to his knees, he glanced at the distance, over the icy plains he could see soldiers, countless soldiers, heading towards him through the snow
'this is how I die? Not bad' he thought as he panted from exhaustion
"You shouldn't sit in the snow"
He turned slowly, glancing back again into bright orange eyes
"What do you want?" he sighed
"An army's coming" the person replied
"And?" He returned, he really was too tired to be civil
"..." Once again the orange eyes skimmed over him this time amused
The boy sighed and turned away, he was shocked when the person dropped down beside him, sitting cross legged
"What are you doing?" He would have asked but his voice was already failing him so he stared incredulously
"Is it customary to sit in the snow here?" The person asked curious
"No" he answered but offered nothing else
"Where is your sister? I assume she is, because of the uncanny resemblance" the person said staring at approaching army
"She's dead" Reniel shrugged
"Oh" the person said
Reniel glanced at the stranger when no sorry came and sighed. well it was fair considering he himself wasn't being civil.
"You should leave" Reniel said without glancing at the other "they'll kill you"
"Why should I be worried about the dust I trample beneath my feet?" The person asked and Reniel wondered what the hell they we're talking about
He felt his eyelids closing, but he forced then open, first he would like to sneer in the face of the incoming army, at least he could say he had before his death, was there even an afterlife? His lips curled in anger, the stupid imbecidic annoying demanding horrible things they worshipped as gods.
A few riders broke off from the mainforce and approached, stopping a few feet from the two that sat in the snow
"Why have you decided to stand in our way?!" A soldier barked from his horse
'were they referring to him?' Raniel thought as he glanced up at the soldier but the man's attention rested beside the boy.
He finally turned to fully survey the man beside him, at first he had thought the man was a crazy loon but the way he dressed told Raniel all he needed to know, he looked eccentric and extremely entitled. Was he a nobleman? But what would he be doing all the way out here? And with no protection? He glanced at the man's yellow garb and blonde hair that fell over his shoulders
"Insolence" the man spoke and glanced up
Immediately the horses started to panic, turning and bucking, they threw their riders from their backs and took off in the other direction
'wth' Reniel thought
"All flesh is dust and to dust shall it eventually return" the man said and as if in que the soldiers started to disintegrate, forming a pile of dust on the snow, where they had previously stood before, all of them in an instant gone
The army had come to a standstill, everybody staring with shock before a command snapped them out of their reveree
"Archers!" There was a bellow and the archers took to the front, looking their arrows and taking aim and whoosh they fell to the ground, all of them that held up a bow, his gaze swept across the army and as it did they turned to sand, in less than a second more than ten thousand or more had been gone
"Y-y-y...Who are you?" Reniel had settlrd on
"Follow me and I will give you what it since you desire" the man said
"You cannot bring back the dead" he had told the man
"Who says that I cannot?" The man had returned amused
"Y-you can?" Reniel had asked shocked
"If it is what you wish, although I would have thought you would have wanted the strength to get your revenge" the man raised an eyebrow
"I..." Reniel had paused, he was conflicted
The man extended his hand with an amused smile "Take my hand" he commanded
Reniel did as he was told and felt his strength returning to him, he stood to his feet without trouble, his wounds closed and he felt warm, warm enough to keep away the cold.
"To answer the question you asked, you can call me Ruben"