Five years back.

I could remember it like it was just last week.

I was beaten up by my father, bruised all over. My mother? She was out hunting and working for the family. My father was a no-good drunk deadbeat.

— “Dad… Please stop…”

*Pow!* *Shove!*

— “It’s because of you! We never wanted you in the first place! Your mother and I were happy without you, you f*ckin brat! But now?! She only cares about you now! Everything that she is doing is for your sake, damn it!”

My own father was looking at me like I’m his competition for the love of my mother… Back then, I couldn’t understand why he was acting this way. I love both of my parents, but one of them doesn't reciprocate my love.

— “Dad, I can’t… I can’t breathe… Mom…!”

—- “Stop calling out for her! It’s not going to change anything!”

I couldn’t breathe. I felt like the pressure of the ocean was crashing down on me and beating the air out of me. What could I even do? I wasn’t as strong as I am right now back then.

And all that I could remember after being beaten up is a carriage. I was in a carriage along with other children my age. And they were the same as me—animal ears and tail, children of Beastkin descent.

— “...”

— “...”

— “...”

— “...”

They’re all quiet. The carriage frequently rocked and shook. It’s a rocky road. And from that, I now realized that this road was never used and so it was never flattened by carriages…

…It only meant that the destination of this road was a secret from the people. But I never knew that five years ago. What I do remember is a boy with orange hair and tanned skin was looking at me with a smile.

Back then, I thought he was weird because he also had bruises on his face and body. He was probably also forced in this carriage for god knows what reason. So why was he smiling? I don’t know, even now.

We all got off the carriage as the sun was close to lowering out of view, down and to the left of the mountains.

The carriage stopped in front of a metal-bolted gate. It’s dark and monotone. Back then, I never saw a structure fully made out of metal. It disoriented me. The building was ominous, as if emitting a dark aura. And a fear set in my mind…

…This is my life now. And I cried because of it. I couldn’t see my dad anymore–but more importantly, I couldn’t see my mom anymore.

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*Shove!*

— “Watch it, you crybaby!”

A boy in front of me shouted. He was larger than the rest of us and when I looked up, I saw rope coming from my neck and to his. I looked down and saw a rope tied to my hand. We’re all bundled together by ropes.

— “I-I’m sorry… I-It’s just that m-my mom–”

— “Wah wah! You crybaby! Your mother doesn’t care about you anymore! We’re all stuck in this place for the rest of our lives!–”

— “Hey, hey! Cut it out, you two!”

One of the guards yelled before whistling and stepping right in front of us both…

— “You two are going to be stuck with each other! Suck it up and keep walking because you’re holding back everyone behind you!”

*Whack!*

— “Ow…”

…And slapping me in the face with a leather strap. I remember it leaving a red mark on my cheek. But it did make me stop crying. Though, it made me sadder because the guard didn’t do the same with the bigger kid.

I didn’t understand why that was the case. Why didn’t the guard also hit him? He started it. It’s not fair. It wasn’t fair. It was never fair to begin with, now that I’ve looked back at it.

Regardless, after that, we continued walking inside of the gate. Step by step, we walked forward. The first thing we saw after passing through the huge metal gate was a lifeless courtyard. It’s just… Dust. There’s not a single blade of grass in the ground.

The only color apart from the light-brown color of the dust were white lines. Though, there were craters on the ground along with black soot around it.

My hands and neck were starting to hurt from the guards tugging on the rope to make us continue walking. It hurts that I remember fearing having to wear anything around my neck. To put it simply, I used to be scared of wearing a necklace. Even now I’m still somewhat cautious of wearing anything around my neck.

***

Everything in this place was massive—the courtyard was the size of an enterprise building sideways, the buildings inside of the walls were big, and most of all, the people running this place were also large in size as if they never ran a mile before.

When we were walking through the courtyard, nobles, dukes, and duchesses were watching us from the sidelines, eying us down like they were hawks that had found their prey.

Among the people we walked passed, all of them were dressed sharply, typical nobles. Although, there were people wearing cloaks with insignias embroidered on the chest and on the back of the cloak.

Nevertheless, we walked forward with my wrist and neck hurting and starting to develop irritations and blistering. I couldn’t speak out my pain so I bit my tongue even though my eyes were starting to well.

I felt like I was being suffocated by the ropes even though they couldn’t suffocate me…

…It was because I was scared sh*tless. And that fear made me think I was being choked.

*Creak…!* *Slam…!*

And before I could dwell into my fears, another metal door opened for us and what was inside was a large room with a platform at the end of the large room.

We were all separated into blocks of lines and arranged from shortest to tallest. Fortunately, I was shorter than the average boy my age back then when I was still nine-years-old. I got to be in the front of the line.

And unfortunately, I had to see the man who was supposed to speak. He was talking with a group of sharply dressed nobles before walking to the stage and to the edge of it.

All of us kept quiet in fear of getting hit. Not a single sound in that large room was muttered except for breathings. The silence was killing me inside, not to mention my urge to cry.

Suddenly the man on the stage spoke:

— “Hello there, children. My name is Douglas Harp. I am sure you all are scared right now–but fear not! This is all for your own good. Although for now, it is best to give you children an ultimatum…”

Back then, I didn’t know what that word meant but I felt like it was something important. I felt like he was going to break the truth to us all.

— “...your fathers and mothers….”

He continued on. My heart was racing. What could it possibly be? What is it about? I wasn’t sure at the time.

He was dragging this on purposely. It was to make us trust his words and make us all listen. After all, who would you even listen to right now? It was all silence except for the man speaking on the stage. And we were all in the worst mental state—we were all shook, mentally. And I would believe that the parents of the other children with me had sold them without any clear reason…

…Like my father did.

— “...have abandoned you. And we are taking you all under our care as an act of charity.”

It broke my heart. I would believe that my father would do it but my mother? No. I couldn't believe it. She cared for me and even on the toughest days, she always smiled. And even when coming back with scratches from her hunting sessions, she would still smile while her hunt was carried on her shoulder.

Although, the other children with me weren't in the same notion as I was. They were all saddened. All of them were looking down, some of which were crying with some of some of the care takers in the sidelines coming to their aid and supporting them. But even then, I believed that behind those “caring” eyes was lies. It was all a trick to get us all to put our guards down.