The van was shaking as we drove along the highway. Most of us were still breathing heavily. I had retreated to a corner of the van while the others were talking. Acil had already lit his first cigarette, making the entire van stink. Hannah was clinging to his arm as usual.

"Still can't believe that we got both," Martin said.

"Yeah, but now our reputation is going to go down the hill over there so we'll have to find new buyers for this shit," Acil said.

He then turned to me, first blowing a big load of smoke my way and then he began talking.

"And you, you did good alerting us," he said. "Maybe we should reward you for a change, what do you think?"

His question sounded as sincere as any I had ever been asked by him. I knew that answering was bad but I also knew that not answering was even worse, so no matter what I did, I would get tortured in the end, it was only a question of his made-up stupid reason. I nodded, hoping that it was the right choice.

"Hmm, maybe a kiss from Hannah here?" he asked, pushing Hannah closer to me.

She let one hand slide down my forehead, over my nose, my mouth, down my throat and all the way from my meagre chest to my naval button.

"Do you really want that?" Hannah asked, raising one eyebrow.

"It was just a suggestion. What do you guys think we should give him as a reward?" Acil asked the others.

"Hmm, how about you buy some new tools for your aunt to use on him?" Martin suggested.

"You really think there are any she doesn't already have? Have you seen her room? That's like a paradise for certain people. No, we need something more... more special," Acil said.

"Maybe give him a few shocks or something?" another, the one who kept watch,

"Oh BOO!" the driver yelled loudly as he turned the wheel and we drove onto another street or something.

"Yeah, come up with something more creative!" Martin said loudly.

"Sorry, sorry..." the guy said.

Acil turned to me, piercing me with his green eyes. There was a smug look on his face.

"What do you think?" he asked.

"W-What d-do you me-mean?" I asked, my voice shaking just as much as my entire body.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"Oh, don't act shy," Acil said as both he and Hannah moved closer as if they had the same idea at the same moment or something. "What do you want your reward to be?" Acil asked with a smug grin on his face.

I swallowed.

"I-I don't n-need a... r-reward," I responded.

"What?" Acil asked, sounding as if he couldn't believe what I had just said, although I could clearly hear that he was still smug.

"I... I don't need a reward," I said, almost whimpering.

"What?!" Acil asked me even louder.

Hannah had put on a fake shocked face. I swallowed again.

"Are you telling me that you're refusing my reward?" Acil asked, the smug grin reappearing on his face. "That's rich coming from you, I think such insolent behaviour needs to be punished you little shit!"

I swallowed again while Acil smiled at me angrily.

"Let's see, what shall we do, what shall we do? Oh, I know!" Acil said his smile brightening.

"Uhh, what did you come up with?" Hannah asked excitedly.

"That will have to wait, our little Ethan has to wait for that. Let's just say that it will be... very special... very special indeed."

I had to swallow again and began quietly crying in my corner as the others turned away from me. The van drove on towards our home if that's even something it could be called and I grit my teeth. No matter what I did, all I was getting was more and more torture... and no matter what I had said to him I would have gotten this punishment. If I had told him to torture me he would have, if I had requested Hannah to do something he would have called me a pervert and tortured me... no matter what, he just liked tormenting me.

_________________________

The carriage shook as it drove over a stone and I woke up, drenched in sweat, some tears had gathered in my eyes and twitching. Immediately I was hit by the feeling that Rudolpho gave off. I jumped up, threw open the carriage door and threw up everything in my stomach.

"Altair, are you okay?" he asked, sounding genuinely concerned as he patted my back.

"Of course I am," I answered as I closed the door and wiped my mouth. "Just need some water, just need some water."

I grabbed the jug of water nearby and emptied it in a few seconds. For the past few days, we had been on the carriage. M had returned and was currently flying above the carriages, not showing himself as I had told him to do since I thought that it would be smarter to keep a being like M, aka a talking raven that managed to hold back Ilaria for a pretty long time, a secret.

Ira had advised me to take Rudolpho up on his offer to join the church, something about the best place to be when seeking revenge being among those you want to take revenge on or something like that so I accepted and would soon officially be part of the church of the seven.

Just thinking about that almost made me puke but what was done was done and I was going to go through with it. And today was supposed to be the day we would reach the fort of Krilm or something like that.

'Kalrim' Ira said.

'Right, Fort Kalrim... who even cares,' I responded.

'If I'm right then you should care,' Ira said.

'And why is that?' I asked.

'Cause Kalrim was the name of a creature that terrified even me,' Ira said.

'So like a giant spider?' I asked jokingly.

'More like a giant tiger with horns, wings, and dragon tail that is responsible for most of our moons not actually existing anymore,' Ira explained.

'Most moons? There were more than twelve?" I asked.

'Yeah, there used to be like thirty or something like that...' Ira explained.

'This world is weird and makes no sense,' I said.

'Well, magic is a thing so don't talk to me about things not making sense. If they will it everything makes sense,' Ira said, already sounding like she had no intention of telling me who they were.

I just kept silent and looked out of the window where I saw what I assumed to be Fort Kalrim... and it was magnificent.