“Ahh… my head,” I mutter as I open my eyes to an assault of day light. When I come to my senses a bit more, I look up and see that I’ve been strung up. My arms are broken and tied up as they hang limply above my head on a branch of a tree, all blood seeming to have drained from them while I was out cold. My feet had been nailed to the ground and were soaked in my blood, and my body had been slumped into a chair of sorts to keep me from suffocating myself.
“This boy was found in a sacred place attempting to rob a home last night!” says a voice, and it was only then that I realized that I was surrounded by the entire village, “This outsider spawn, whore’s shit, so profane that he must never enter let alone speak to our goddess’ people dared to walk our consecrated land! He couldn’t walk in the light though, but in Martog’s darkness, which only demonstrates his heinous heritage.”
I look at the producer of said voice, to see the absolutely massive frame of the village chief, Gehenna. Standing nearly eleven heads tall, with a musculature that almost made him seem to be as wide as he is tall barked at a crowd of similarly but not nearly as well-endowed men. Women stood in front of their husbands; no children were here at this gathering besides those reasonably close to the age of Amolacrimae. For the first time I had the chance to see the girls of the village close to my age, amidst the boys who so often hunt me for their amusement.
“As he was unsuccessful, in his robbery and through the mercy of our high matriarch his punishment is to be strung up for one conscious day, but thankfully the goddess provided us justice as his sentence was doubled thanks to his unconsciousness,” laughs Gehenna as he continues his tirade.
“I didn’t rob anyone,” I say trying to get a grasp of the situation, “just ask Uzuri.”
A fist connects with my stomach and all the air escapes from my lungs in what feels like a single breath. I struggle to regain control of my lungs, especially with my damaged arms tied the way they are. I painfully strain against the nails in my feet as my body convulses for life giving air.
“If you dare speak again, your punishment will be so much worse,” says Gehenna shaking his recently used fist in front of my eyes.
I look around desperately, nothing makes sense. Why am I being punished for a crime I didn’t commit? I understand the alley accusation, but robbery? Where is Uzuri? A cold feeling spreads throughout my body, as I know I failed, and it appears that whoever Uzuri’s father is the village stands beside him.
“I was trying to free a girl abused for far too long by her father! Those two over there beat her unconscious as I was trying to help her escape! If anyone should be punished for sacrilege and crimes against the goddess, it should be those two and Uzuri’s father!” I yell spitting at Gehenna and locking my eyes on the two guards from the night previous, “A girl is in danger under all your noses and her suffering will only continue if you do not act now! Don’t let this just happen, if any of you know of her, please help me free her!”
I look around, and those my age merely laugh, but the eyes of the adults in the crowd dare not make eye contact with me. They know! They know she exists and suffers! But they are doing nothing! They returned her to her abuser!
“Damn you all to Martog’s maw!” I scream not worrying about my own self-preservation anymore, “You know she suffers; you know that you all are just as guilty of sacrilege as I am! However, my sacrilege was to save a girl who suffers at the hands of her father, a sin so great that he should be here not me! If harming a girl brings death upon your head, you are all worthy of death!”
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A meaty smack silences my desperate outburst, followed by another and another. The pummeling continues, as Gehenna’s fists make contact with different parts of my body. Blood now spilling from my nose, my eyes barely able to open, my jaw broken, ribs shattered, I cough up blood on Gehenna as he ceases his onslaught.
I look at the villagers once more and I see them avoiding my gaze. I see them look away and permit the suffering of one of their own. I can no longer speak but I curse them in my mind.
“Today, isn’t the day for you to die, as the trials of Martog will have you the day your generation’s Amolacrimae arrives,” says Gehenna breathing heavily cracking his knuckles after briefly cleaning my blood from them in the dirt, “let this be a lesson to anyone who dares to rob another in our village.”
I watched as the villagers dispersed, and kept my eyes trained on the guards that attacked Uzuri. They wouldn’t meet my gaze. They couldn’t bring themselves to even look at me.
“Who knew that outsider was also a thief,” murmurs a group of girls about my age passing me, “if he wasn’t detestable before, he definitely is now. Good thing his Amolacrimae is an Amolacrimae of sin. Even if it wasn’t… who would choose an outsider as a husband, much less a thief. Justice will be served when his blood is spilt to atone the sins of his mother and now his own as well.”
Only the male youths remained, as they waited for Gehenna to leave. There is nowhere for me to run or hide. I am being served to them and they are ready to feast. They seem to be circling like carrion consuming beasts as their turn is soon at hand.
Gehenna bends over as soon as the majority of villagers have left and whispers, “If you ever try to dabble in things you do not fully understand again, I will personally see to it that you live past your Amolacrimae. However, I will make sure you will be begging for death, and the only way you’ll get your wish is slowly starving after I’m not around to force breath into you.”
He signals to the boys and leaves me to their whims. They descend upon me like a pack of hunting dogs on a stag. Though, there is still pain, after Gehenna’s onslaught I feel primarily numbness now as fists, sticks, and kicks renew what Gehenna started. My consciousness fading quickly, I know I’m probably dead if I have to endure anything more. I can only heal so fast.
“You dare sully yourself with this filth!” says the voice of the only boy I brought myself to know by name.
Gareth now holding one of my assailants in the air by his arm continues, “Only I the strongest of all of us can bare the horrors of Martog! Only I can touch this outsider, as I am strong enough to bare the sin of his defiling touch!”
The once excited boys now cower as the enormous form of Gareth seems to bare down on them. He releases the terrified boy from his grasp, and he tumbles to the ground with an audible thud. What was once a pack of excited dogs are now scared puppies being chased off by an apex predator defending its kill.
“You may remind this lich kit of his fate. You may tell him the truth of his existence, but you may not touch him. I cannot let my friends be dirtied by Martog, now can I,” says Gareth lifting the terrified boy from the ground and brushing him off.
Gareth’s posse placated by his logic and having been reminded of their place and mine now seem to desire a safe distance from me. The boy Gareth ripped off of me desperately scrubs his fist in the dirt as if to rid himself of my contamination, and many of the other boys who dared to touch me follow his example. Their prior bravery merely the excitement brought on by Gehenna’s beating and apparent permission.
“But you did go and sully yourselves. Didn’t you, and as such there is but one immediate recourse that must be made! Go and repent you sinners! Go and beg the matriarchs’ forgiveness for sullying your bodies with an outsider’s corruption!” yells Gareth, pointing to the village entrance. The heads of his gang hang low, and they surprisingly follow his orders without question. With their tails between their legs, they run to seek the matriarchs.
“Now as for you, the supposed robber,” says Gareth approaching me much like Gehenna before him. He cracks his neck and positions his face uncomfortably close to my face. He stood there for a good time just observing me, as if studying me. Eventually it appears that his curiosity had become sated, and I hear one last meaty thwack. My world once again fading to darkness.