Adrian woke up around noon. A very familiar ceiling greeted him when he opened his eyes. He was sleeping on the bed in his room.
"Was everything a dream?" he wondered. However, the pain and bruise on his wrist caused by the handcuffs stung him back to reality.
Adrian then followed his daily morning routine out of habit. He walked from his room to the bathroom and saw his own reflection on the mirror. There, he saw a black haired boy with Amber colored eyes and fair skin who looked pretty dirty from the prison stay. Adrian noticed the bath water was ready, so he took a bath. After cleaning up, he got dressed in a short sleeved brown t-shirt and long black jeans and walked to the dining room.
His father, Bob, and his sister, Winnie, were eating lunch. Bob and Winnie had black hair, Amber eyes, and light brown skin. Bob had short hair and Winnie’s hair was at shoulder length. Bob was wearing a black t shirt and blue jeans. Winnie was wearing brown t-shirt and black jeans. "Good morning," the two of them said to Adrian as they ate. "Good morning," Adrian replied avoiding eye contact with his father and only looked at Winnie briefly. As her older brother, Adrian could tell Winnie was in a clingy mood as she was sitting right next to her father on Adrian's seat. "Can't help it, after what happened yesterday," Adrian thought as he walked to Winnie's seat. Adrian's heart ached at the sight of Bob’s bandaged hands, but he quickly dismissed the thought and acted like nothing happened.
His mother, Tiffany, was washing dishes. She had long blonde hair, Emerald eyes and fair skin. She dressed in white t-shirt and blue jeans. "Adrian, your sandwich is on the table." Tiffany said with her usual tone as if it was just another day.
Adrian sat down on Winnie's seat and started eating in silence. He pondered over yesterday's events and tried to make sense of the situation.
Adrian had been helping his father in the farm while attending elementary school; and he had experiences in selling crops and dealing with adults. He knew that if his father hadn’t forcefully bring him home, he mostly likely would have died a painful death burning at the stake.
"But! there was still a chance that it was only a test; and even if I were to die, I would have gone to Heaven!" No matter what the reason was, he still felt angry to his dad for forcefully dragging him out of prison without reasoning with him.
Adrian kept asking himself, "What if it was really a test given by the Goddess? Did we fail?"
He was confused, but there was one thing he was certain of: he did not want to live with a demon. Anyone, who did not believe in the Goddess Liliana, was a demon. By this definition, his father was now a demon.
"It was dad who forced me out of the prison. I am not sinned." Adrian thought as he took a bite into the sandwich.
"It's good!" The taste of the sandwich distracted Adrian from yesterday's events. The crunchy toasted white bread had butter spread across all of it. Adrian always hated it when part of the bread was not buttered. Between the two slices of bread, there were two pieces of luncheon meat, a slice of cheese and a scrambled egg. Tiffany had also sprinkled salted egg yolk powder into it. This sandwich was Adrian's favorite food.
Tiffany and Bob looked at how Adrian ate and smiled. They were glad Adrian was enjoying his food despite what happened.
As Adrian finished up the sandwich, Tiffany spoke with a Mom's commanding voice, "Finish the vegetables too." Adrian did not like veggies in his sandwich, so Tiffany always served them separately.
It was as if everything returned to normal. However, that feeling was fleeting.
Someone knocked on the door.
"It's me, N."
It was the demon’s voice.
Bob stood up. Winnie tried to follow her father, but Bob gently said, "Wait here Winnie, stay with your brother." Winnie's lips puckered up as she stood back down.
Bob opened the door and walked outside to talk to N. The demon was hooded and masked, but Adrian noticed his Emerald colored eyes and black hair. He could also see some horses and wagons outside his home. Adrian’s family lived in a farmhouse. It was right before the harvest season and Adrian could also see the Pumpkins and Apples outside.
Bob soon came back to his wife and said, "Tiffany, these wagons will take the three of you to your new home. I am going to start loading the wagons now."
With the door opened when he came back, the family could see 3 1-horse wagons that were about 15 feet long. Animals could use Mana so they were very strong and fast.
"What about you? You said you’d come with us, right?" said Tiffany.
"I will, but after we arrive, I will need to go away for work. But, I would still come home at least once a month." Bob said while taking a peek at Adrian and Winnie.
"I don’t want you to go." Winnie started tearing up as she walked toward her father and hugged him. Bob and Tiffany let their children play near them whenever they were working in the farm. Other than going to school, Adrian and Winnie had never left their parents. The thought of her dad leaving for an entire month was unimaginable to Winnie.
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"I am sorry, but I have to go away for work. I will buy you some souvenir when I get back, ok?"
"Pinky promise?"
"Promised." Bob said as he made a pinky promise with Winnie, but Adrian could tell that Winnie was not contented.
Even though Winnie was sad, part of Adrian actually felt relieved. Living with a demon was extremely dangerous. Nowadays, witch hunts were always going on and you never knew when you’d get caught. As a matter of fact, his family was just arrested yesterday.
After quickly finishing the detestable vegetables with minimal chewing, Adrian went back to his room and started packing. In the case of big harvests, crops and produces were usually sold at a market one day away from the farm. It typically took several days to sell everything. Therefore, Adrian had plenty of experiences packing up for a journey. As he packed, he found some wooden toys that his father had made for him. He felt a heavy punch in his chest after deciding not to pick them up. He ignored the toys and packed up his clothes and other essentials. After a while, as if he was turning a blind eye, he quickly stuffed the toys into his luggage and hid them beneath his clothes.
After packing up everything, Adrian took his luggage to one of the wagons. Since Tiffany and Winnie were still packing, he started helping N and Bob loading the frozen food.
As they were loading the wagons, Adrian got curious. "Hey, demon, why are we at home? Wouldn’t the Holy Knights come looking for us once they realize we're missing? What did you do?"
"I gave the Holy Knights some false information about the demon cult and they headed east. I am pretty sure they will kill someone innocent again. Additionally, I brought some corpses from a nearby village to be used in the execution instead of you four. They were attacked by bandits a few days ago." N pointed at Adrian as he spoke. "So, everyone thought you were dead. Of course, I paid the guards a hefty sum." The demon said as he gestured a money sign with his right hand. "Oh, and I hope you know how much work it was to find those corpses and carry them there."
"The guards are followers of the Goddess, they would never accept bribes!" Adrian argued.
"Where do you think I got the keys from? And how do you think I managed to visit you in your prison cell in the first place?" N smiled and asked Adrian back.
"Didn’t you kill everyone standing in your way?" Adrian replied.
"Wow, that’s insane, so violent. What do you think I am? A demon?"
"Yes, you are."
"Oh, I am." N acted like he was surprised.
"Stop messing around! I am being serious here!" Adrian got angry as he put down a bag of frozen food inside a wagon. "Everyone knows that demons lie, kill, steal, and commit all sorts of crimes."
"Haha, I know. About the bribes." N suddenly stopped smiling and spoke seriously, "you will learn how the world works as you grow up Adrian. Everyone has a price."
Adrian looked at his dad, who looked back at him and nodded.
Adrian thought, "These two are demons, so they can be bought. No matter how much someone pays me, I will never betray the Goddess."
"You also mentioned that the Holy Knights will kill someone innocent because of your fake tips. Don’t forget that their blood is on your hands." Adrian said with contempt.
"They are going to kill someone regardless of my tips. It is their job and they have a quota to fill." N said, looking at Adrian as if trying to impart some wisdom. He knew that Adrian wouldn't accept the words right away but still decided to say it for the boy's future. Calmly and attempting not to provoke Adrian, N continued. "I know it is sad and it doesn’t make sense. As I said, you will learn how the world works. There are only so many people I can save. You should consider yourself lucky."
"So, you’re saying the knights are randomly killing people everywhere, and the demon is trying to save them? You’re making me laugh." Adrian laughed sarcastically.
N lifted another bag of frozen food and did not reply.
After a while, Adrian said, grudgingly acknowledging N's efforts "Well, but I must admit, you did put in a lot of work last night." N bowed as Adrian was speaking. "What about the place we’re heading to? Where is it?"
"You are moving into the capital. We will be heading north. You will begin your new life there." N answered.
Adrian said no more and continued to load the wagons. The promise of a new life sounded exciting to Adrian, but at the same time he felt sad leaving behind the house he grew up in.
In the afternoon, N and Bob left for some "business to take care of." Adrian continued to pack up and load the wagons with his mother and sister. Bob and N came back for dinner. After dinner, they all took a bath and went to bed. Even though it was their last night in this house, their exhaustion drew the family into a deep slumber.