“None of your business. All you need to know is that your beautiful wings are not enough for his highness to crack. Be smart and leave now, before I invite him to check out this scenery.”

The brown hair hunter whistled and expanded his wings, soon after all his subordinates flew up with him and disappeared into the blue sky.

Those murderers just disappeared like nothing had happened. All the villagers, Grandpa Jin, and Grandma Sha lost their lives with no mercy. The slaughtering was just so inequitable and cruel that I lost faith in humanity. Yes, they were demons, but the moral values should be very similar to us humans. We all strive for dignity, respect, and justice.

In a world like this where the fittest survived, the lower class demons lived worse than ants or dirt.

Oh, how I wish the Darkomi soldiers would kill all those winged Aniesians!

“Hey! Get up!!” Somebody shouted impatiently.

After seeing I didn’t respond at all, someone grabbed my collar violently and dragged me up from the ground. I didn’t care a bit because I was lost in grief. As I was being lifted and dangled in the air like a ball, I tried looking up to the blue sky, to where Grandpa Jin and Grandma Sha were.

My heart ached like never before, even back when I woke up to this new land, I didn’t feel this kind of despair.

It was like everything had crashed to dust, that all was meaningless now.

I lost my strength to fight back. My mentality was probably close to someone with many years of depression. It was like I had fallen into a deep dark hole, and just kept on falling down and down. The light above my head dimmed as darkness enclosed, and then completely went away.

The light in my life was gone.

This world was so different from anything I had experienced before, and sent me directly into a shock mode. The grief further exacerbated the whole situation, and drained out all the hope inside.

Yes, I did not even move one finger against this gigantic soldier who was dragging me.

Were they good guys since they scared away the winged Aniesians with Prince Blake’s name, or were they another group of hunters waiting to slaughter the rest of us? I did not seem to care about either of those questions.

Let them take me anywhere, cut me open and throw my corpse off a cliff, for I had no holy pearl for them to take advantage of.

This was so unlike me. I might be slow at things, but I always tried my best and that was my only good personality trait, yet, I gave up everything. All I wanted was to join the beloved couple in heaven.

My guilt was killing me: the guilt that I was still alive while they were gone. They were gone all because of me.

Grandpa Jin, I am so sorry, I just can’t do it. You have told me to live on no matter what, but I need to go against your will, for there is nothing to support all the brokenness inside. You must be disappointed, right?

I have tried very hard to find strength, but Grandpa Jin, there is nothing here.

Whoever that was grabbing the back of my collar threw me into a prison carriage with seven more villagers. Everyone’s clothes were stained with blood and charcoal, and their faces were covered with dirt. I couldn’t recognize any familiar faces, nor did I care to recognize them either.

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We were transported as livestock, all crowded in one carriage after another, at least a couple of carriages. The sun was setting, so beautiful just like any other normal day, except today had completely turned my world around.

I heard the clatter of the horses’ hoofs, the soft wind, and the rolling of wooden carriage wheels. The soldiers were riding their horses and leading the carriages toward a specific direction. The direction was the same as the field of Death Berries and where the Spotty Boar was killed, except this time we went further……

Much further……

Toward one of the surrounding mountains……..

The mountains were foggy and so far away that it felt like we would never reach that place. It seems like yesterday when Grandma Sha waved at me at the doorstep until I was completely out of sight, and that Grandpa Jin and I stood here and stared at those far away mountains and envied the rich life on the other side.

I looked back at the village, which was drifting away like fog. There was nothing left except for ashes and smoke, even the fire was dying down. It was a barren village, but it was warm and felt like a home - at least a place of belonging. The “home” was so taken for granted before, when everything was lost then I realized its importance.

Now all gone.

The wheels rumbled on the quiet road, and some of yellow dust drifted into the soft wind.

Where was the dust going?

Where were we going?

I was too tired to care much. I buried my head into my knees and huddled against one of the corners inside the carriage. There was a sob or worried mumble here and there, but no one really got too emotional at this point.

Maybe we were still stunned and couldn’t grasp reality? Who knows.

Night was coming down. It wasn’t that chilly at all, but I felt freezing to the bones like a heavy blizzard.

We traveled for a couple days, not sure exactly how many days because I lost track of time. During the transportation, we rarely got any food and water, just enough so that no one died in the middle of the road.

As I stared at the steamed bun in my hands, tears started to swell up and blur my vision again. No tears rolled down though since I probably had run out of tears. This was white bread, one of the staple foods I always craved for because I was tired of sweet potatoes. Yes, but the pure white bun didn’t look appetizing or appealing at all. My mouth was so sour and there seemed to be something stuck in the throat and made my stomach feel sick.

I wished Grandpa Jin and Grandma Sha could also taste this steamed bun, but they would never have this chance anymore.

Every time I thought of how they died, I was so filled with hatred and anger that I wanted to throw up.

We were in a prison carriage and all squished together, I didn’t want to throw up on another person, therefore I tried hard holding it in.

The carriage wheels kept on rolling. All the soldiers were expressionless and stoic, as if all these captivated people had nothing to do with them. They were all eight feet tall giants and super muscular. Yes, this was the demon world, what else to expect?

“Are you LiNa?”

A girl somehow squeezed her way and sat right next to me.

She had silky hair and big doll-like eyes. Although her face was covered with dirt and charcoal, it wasn’t hard to tell the beauty hidden behind. I was confused, not expecting someone would know my name. In the village, it wasn’t like demons enjoy visiting all the neighbors because they were in general relatively cold-natured. Everyone was basically busy thinking about the next meal, not much social time, therefore I didn’t know everyone and did not expect them to know me either.

I did not respond.

One reason was that I hadn’t eaten for days because I felt sick. The second reason was that I was just so shattered inside.

“My dad works in the market, so I have heard long ago that Mr. Jin had a little guest named LiNa. Sometimes you came with him to sell fruits, my dad actually saw you a couple times. I have not seen you before, but he told me what you look like, so I know.”

How could someone describe another person’s appearance so accurately?

“He said you are a strange looking girl, short and plain, I have never seen a girl worse than you in our village, so you must be LiNa then!” Her voice was sweet and light, but so straightforward that stunned me out of my daze.