Chapter 50: Impetus
Balon laid down on the ledge in a sideways position. The view from up here didn’t come close to how high the cage in the sky was. Perhaps he was maybe…a hundred and fifty feet up in the air? Half of what he was used to for a time. Yet, where this position lost in altitude, it made up for in entertaining occurrences.
This makeshift colosseum was a connecting hub of sorts. The pure size of it all made many of the slaves gather here to sleep or idle. Yet, its main feature was that many of the tunnels and caves opened into this gigantic circular dome, and many had to pass through this large open area to get where they needed to.
Lots of amusing occurrences happened here. The slaves seemed to have eventful lives even if eight to sixteen hours of the day they were forced into hard labor. Some of the interesting events Balon had seen ranged from couples fighting each other to actual large scale gang fights.
Since the bored youth was spending so much time here, he quickly got to know some of the slaves too. Well, he knew their faces because he had seen them everyday while they had no idea they were being watched. Balon witnessed many unfaithful men and women having secret flings with different lovers. At the same time, he witnessed the tribes and warring states frequently get into scuffles that ended in broken bones or even death. Truly, even the lives of ants were lives.
Watching from above day in and day out also alerted Balon to the suspicious movement and gathering of the slaves. The observing youth was pretty sure that those slaves going deeper into the caves were organizing to incite a rebellion and kill their slave masters. One such particular man and his group named Jole made it particularly clear that he was trying to unite the factions and start a war against their wardens.
That wasn’t his business though, whether they succeed or not wasn’t his problem. A tiny part of him even wished for those pathetically weak beings to rise up and seize their freedom. The process of conquering your circumstances, the beauty of the struggle from weak becoming strong, all of that was admirable and intensely glorious to Balon.
Yet while he enjoyed most of the amusing occurrences and the spirit of rebellion against fate, there was one event that happened every two or three times a week that ruined his mood.
‘Ah, there is.’
From one of the tunnels, a skinny boy with blonde hair walked out. Immediately as he was seen a group of individuals started to harass him, before in the end he was beaten to a pulp by one of the younger individuals about the same age. The blonde boy then limply walked to the other end of the tunnel that was his prior destination but pathetically fell flat in the process as the group of individuals laughed at him.
Whether it was two or three men, a gang of youths, a group of children, or a single woman, the blonde haired boy never fought back. Either he would run away or simply take the beatings as is.
It was quite a wonder what patterns of behavior people mirrored and reflected. No one harassed the youth for a time until one group did…and even though they magically disappeared, that single event set a precedent going forward. This was a person who wouldn’t do anything to you no matter what you did to them. You could mistreat them in any way possible and they would never fight back. The slaves had a hard life as it is, yet now that they found a punching bag for their frustrations they would not ease up on their harassment.
The behavior and conduct was disgusting and lowly, yet that was life. And that was simply how some people chose to behave themselves.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
For someone such as Balon who believed in struggling towards greatness and fighting against circumstance though, it was an infuriating sight to see. Every week he’s seen this blonde boy beaten black and blue yet never once has he fought back. Balon wanted to descend upon the boy himself and ask him why he did not choose to fight, not even once. Even if you lost, at least you would show them that you weren’t easy to pick on. Yet…you were! You don’t even try to struggle! What’s wrong with you!?
Every time he saw the boy he would pull at his hair and his fists would clench at his pathetic demeanor. Balon watched each beating that happened every week. It was a combination of fascination with a phenomenon he could not understand, and a symptom of insanity that he hoped one of these days, the boy would fight back even though he’s shown time and time again he never would.
Balon seriously entertained the thought of dropping down on the fools like a meteor, and beating both the bullies and Cole into a pulp.
‘Huh? What’s this?’
A little girl from one of the connecting tunnels saw the blonde boy and rushed forwards to his broken body.
Balon was surprised because for weeks he saw no one come to his aid. Most either jeered at the boy or were indifferent to his cruel treatment. Those that pitied him were few, and even if they did they would do nothing to help him.
The beefy youth watched from above as the girl ran to his side and clutched at his bruised body. Tears seemed to be flowing out from her eyes and she was heaving as if it was hard to breathe. The girl desperately hugged his body as if she was afraid she would lose him, she held him preciously yet stubbornly and tightly. This…was not the treatment of a stranger and Balon knew it.
‘A lover?’
‘Has she not seen him all these weeks? Where was she when he was being beaten? It seems they’ve been separated for a while.’
The group of individuals saw this scene and they walked towards her and the blonde boy. Cole, who was previously broken and laying on the ground, suddenly found the strength within himself to move. He grabbed Yela’s hand and ran into one of the tunnels, the group of individuals, chased after them.
In the maze-like tunnels of this underground cavern, a boy and girl held hand in hand as they eloped from the people that troubled them. Yela, from her mom, and Cole from his bullies. It was scary how one dimensional people could be. They chased after the couple for no more than the cruel joy it would bring them. Though what they’d do when they caught them…it was better off not saying.
Heavy breathing and uneven rapid steps echoed down the stone tunnel. Cole was already injured from the beating and he was quickly losing his breath. The group was rapidly approaching and the two could hear their jeering from just a few feet behind them. In front of Yela and Cole was a sharp, narrow turn that could only fit a single small child. Luckily they were both skinny enough to fit through it if they squeezed in one by one.
The problem was that they had to literally squeeze into the opening, they could not simply run through it. In the same way your body was wider when you were facing forwards, they had to approach the turn by shifting their body to the side and slowly pass through it by placing one foot onto the other horizontally.
Cole thought of this, and of course he did what he thought was right. He turned around and jumped at the group of people. The boy never hit them, no he just threw his whole body at them in an effort to hinder the group from reaching Yela.
The blonde boy thought the girl would pass through the tunnel and find a way out somehow, but it seems he didn’t take the time to truly get to know the girl. Instead she grabbed a stone from the dirty stone floor, and threw it at the group.
Two teenage males rushed towards her but unlike Cole she was determined to fight. The girl grabbed another rock from the stone floor and swung it at one of her assailants.
THUD!
It hit him right in the head and while he wasn’t knocked unconscious from the blow, he fell over from the pure impact that shook his brain. However, the other male quickly grabbed her hand and prevented her from swinging it any further. Cole saw the scene as he was being punched and kicked on the ground. Seeing Yela staying to fight rather than run away moved him, yet it also wrenched his heart when he saw her within someone else’s hold. Other than sorrow, the boy did not know the emotion he was feeling was jealousy.
Yela saw Cole being thrashed and battered once again. Tears came out but she decided it was not enough to just cry, she opened her jaws and bit at the arm that was holding her back. Once free she swung the stone madly at her assailant’s head and he too went down. Seeing this, many from the group separated from beating Cole and started to surround Yela. The girl wildly yet desperately swung the stone to keep them away, yet in the end she was swarmed and a blow hit her face, knocking her towards the ground.
The group did ease their actions however, once she was on the ground a rain of blows hit her too. Punches and kicks striked the girl on her face, her stomach and her back. Bruises and fractured bones quickly riddled the poor girl.
The blonde boy saw this scene. Anger and wrath were not emotions he knew of but for the first time in a long time that he felt them, the emotions consumed him like a raging sea of fire. Righteous fury enveloped his being and he did something he thought he would never have, the blonde boy tightened his fist, and swung it hard at the nearest assailant...