-Break-
So I waited patiently day after day, to try and find an opportunity to speak to Vul, but I never found it. I couldn’t even catch a whiff of his presence.
And as I lie in my tent I whisper to myself, “I guess they just must have tightened security around the area, so maybe he is just being watchful of my safety. That would be like him; Vul and everyone else always going out of their way to assure my safety, I am not a child anymore I can take care of myself.”
Like a scary monster, my roommate sits up, so I say, “What’s got you awake?”
Ignoring me he stands up and says, “I need to shit.”
“Didn’t even know a golem like you could release waste.”
“Golem?”
“Don’t treat me like an idi-.” Confused I say, “Wait, You really don’t know do you?”
“No.”
“Well, you see a golem is a-.”
Getting up my roommate starts to walk away, so I grab him by the shoulder and say, “Hey I am speaking!?”
“You take a while to talk, so I will listen after I take a shit.”
“DON’T PISS ME OFF BRAT, you can take a shit after I am done.”
“But my shi-.”
“Don’t care.”
“But-.”
“KEEP IT IN.”
“Shit.”
“Shut up and just listen! You see a golem i-.”
Stopping in the middle of my sentence I see the boy pulling down his pants, so I yell, “THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!”
“You won’t let me go so I thought I should multitask.”
Pushing him out, I say, “Don’t stink up the tent, just go.”
Outside the tent, he says, “I will be awhile so you can just go to sleep and tell me later.”
“SCRAM, I ain't telling you shit.”
As he walks away, I lie back on the floor and say, “That boy’s existence just pisses me off.”
-Break-
That night I had very pleasant dreams. I dreamt of the friends in my clan, the place we all used the visit, the dances we all did, the beasts we hunted, the games we played, and my family which held me.
The people I loved kept flashing in my mind, granting both a happy, yet sorrowful dream.
-Break-
Opening my eyes, I sit up from the floor and clear my vision, then I look out the entrance of our tent where I see something incredibly strange; it is sunny.
This causes me to jump to my feet, saying “Did we sleep in!?”
Touching my roommate, I say, “We need to get up now or we will be punished!”
Opening his eyes, he looks out the entrance and says, “I see so it is one of those days.”
“What do you mean?”
He looks at me and says, “It is probably better you don’t know.”
“WHAT DOES THAT MEAN.”
Getting up he says, “What I said. Don’t do anything rash today, or you might die.”
The words he said, like everything else he said felt tasteless but felt as truthful as all the others, so I say, “Ok then.”
“Now we go.”
“Where?”
“To pray, and you should leave the leaves we won’t be needing them today.”
Following the words of my roommate, we simply go along with our morning daily schedule.
We leave our room and then head over to the goddess statue to pray. “Forgive us oh great goddess Danu, we are sinners whose bloodlines have stood against your children. Are sins will never be forgiven, but I ask you to accept our apology and the apology of our foolish forebears. By the power we have, we disregard all of our predecessor's legacies and choose to dedicate the rest of our left in repaying you for the foolishness and suffering they have caused your children. Our souls are yours, our lives are yours, and anything that derives from either is yours, so please forgive our intent stupidity and foolishness and let us live as your pets.”
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Still a disgusting prayer no matter how many times, I say it, but it is not like I will have to get used to it.
The moment we finish we are then directed by a beastkin watching over the statue to follow the signs.
“Follow the signs?”
The beastkin says something with a disgusted expression in his language, then says in a language recognizable to me, “Yes follow the signs human.”
-Break-
Walking down the path, I say, “This is taking forever!”
“Where almost there.”
Looking at him I say, “You seem to be taking this walk well.”
“No worse than our normal walk.”
“Like hell it is, we have been walking for three hours, is your sense of time even working.”
“We're here.” My roommate says as he points towards, a large wooden building with its doors open.
Surprised, I say, “What is this?”
But my roommate says, “It is a place with food.”
“Ugh,” I say as the thought of all the tasteless food they have served comes to mind. Walking forward I say, “The food they serve barely gives me enough energy to make this walk, why did I even have to do this today.”
Continuing my walk, I enter through the doorway to the building, and I am greeted with a delicious aroma as I see countless tables of people with food on them.
This sight stops me in my tracks, and moments later I say, “Am I dreaming.”
Suddenly feeling a jolt of pain in my side, I scream then my roommate says, “No you are not.”
“You bastard it was a turn of phase I didn’t want you to actually pinch me.”
“I see.” After saying this my roommate walks forward and sits down on one table, with me following close behind.
As we sit at a table I see my roommate grab one of the many plates of food, and take the food on it and put it in the wooden bowl in front of him, then start eating.
Looking at the food he has taken I am in utter awe of what I am seeing, I didn’t know food could look like this. This isn’t let the vegetables we pulled from the ground or the meat we hunted from the animals, this is something else entirely. It is like they mixed different foods and vegetables to create something extra delicious.
Seeing this my mouth waters uncontrollably, then I say, “We are allowed to eat this?”
“Yes,” My roommate says in response.
Feeling a thrill run through my body I stretch out my arm and prepare to grab some food from the plates lining our long tables to be put in the wooden bowl in front of me, but then I notice that some people aren’t eating.
Looking around more I notice that people with similar clothes to my roommate; the ones who have been here for some time are not eating actually some of them look like they are about to puke.
Sometimes the berries my clan used to pick were poisonous so we usually watched what the animals would eat and followed them by example. If people here aren’t eating this delicious food something must be wrong with it.
Returning my arm towards myself, my roommate says, “You should eat.”
Controlling my hunger I say, “I don’t need to, this all feels too suspicious.”
After taking a second to look around my roommate faces me and says, “There is no benefit to yourself for not eating the food, and I believe you will struggle to get through the day without the energy.”
When he finishes he takes a big bite out of the food in front of him, and in that moment seeing that juicy food causes me to lose it. I grab some and place it on my plate and moments later I feel the juices flow in my mouth.
Unable to express himself with words the boy who has just taken a bite out of food he has never tasted before, simply cries tears of joy, and continues to devour inch after inch of food.
But that sight isn't strange in the area at the moment, because all around him are people beaten and bruised eating as if this is the first time their tongues have known flavour. The happiness emanating from each and every one of them is akin to the first time a parent lays eyes on their child.
However, within this group, there are people who are devoid of smiles, those who ignore the food in front of them and try not to vomit at the sight of it. Sweet trickles down these men's faces as they wait for the moment of reckoning to arrive.
But as a man walks through the door, the men who weren’t eating break out in a cold sweat, and the men who were faced him.
Looking directly at the door I see a man who is rather dressed up. He has clothes that I have never seen before, they look kinda stuffy nothing a warrior would wear.
But regardless of that as he holes his cane in front of himself, I wouldn’t say he is a weakling.
One of the beastkin walks forward, then says, “Foolish humans, stop immediately and listen to the words my great lord has to say to you.”
But despite the words said lots of people continued to eat the wonderful food in front of themselves completely lost in the fervour, and in that moment all the beastkin around got close to us and started emitting a murderous presence.
This is bad I knew all of this was a trap!
The beastkin started to attack, not only the men who ignored their words but even us who were listening attentively. They smack the food out of our hands and push us to the ground as they strike us.
What the hell is even going on? We are listening yet they continue to hit us.
As the beastkin physically assaults each of the men and boys in the area, the beastkin who just entered mutters, “Three, two, one,” Then slams his cane on the ground three times.
All the beastkin around me stop in their tracks and the man says, “Now, now, everyone calm down, no need to get violent.”
Walking up to me, he picks me up from the ground and says, “Young man are you ok?”
Getting a good look at him, I would say he is some sort of snake beastkin but one of the more human-looking ones.
Wiping some of the spilt food off my shoulder, I say, “Do I look ok?”
A beastkin beside me starts to growl with anger, but then the snake waves him down.
“I am sorry for what happened I know the men here can be a bit ruff, but I hope you will accept my apology.”
Whilst he says this, he bows in front of me, and in my vision, I see the other beastkin, become very visibly aggravated.
“Ok, all is forgiven.” Best to say this because I don’t seem to have very many options right now.
Turning from me, he says, “My name is Marqis Bricriu, and I am the one who is in charge of the transportation to and from our plantations, and I have just come here to say, thank you to each and every one of you.”
The words said by Bricriu elicit a surprised reaction from people around, but only those who are new to the plantation, the rest just quiet down and smile.
“The work that has been collectively done here has been utterly amazing and I thank you for such work. You have all provided us with what we need to survive and now I share that with you.”
Picking up food that was thrown and smeared onto the ground, he puts it in my roommate's hand and says, “So please eat to your heart’s content, and make sure you eat it all because this in itself is a give from Danu herself, and our goddess is quite vengeful to those who spit in her face.”
As he walks away all the men and boys in the room go back to their tables and pick up the food that has been scattered.
He might have phased it like a blessing, but he just told us all that if we don’t eat we will be receiving a punishment.
Taking a smug piece of porridge from the table I put it in my mouth and eat. Aww, even in this state it is still something that I can’t help myself but devour.