Chapter 2
Upon returning to Rennel’s house, Chaos found the girl still awake. Although slightly surprised, Chaos finds it a relief that it no longer need to trouble itself in order to wake up the girl.
“I need to tell you something.” Chaos started.
Rennel looked at the mysterious creature, Chaos and smiled. “What is it?” The girl asked.
Despite looking cheerful, Chaos found that the girl’s smile was rather despondent. The mysterious creature frowns a little and stared at the girl with its golden eyes.
“I see that you’re not ignorant as you look.” Chaos said after letting out a silent sigh.
Judging from the girl’s expression, Chaos concludes that the girl was long aware of her situation.
“When did you find out?” Chaos asked.
Rennel contemplated for a bit before speaking. “About three years ago. I found out the truth after my best friend, Pina suddenly went missing one day.” The girl answered truthfully.
“When I asked her mother what happened to her, her mother told me that she ran away.” Rennel continued. “I didn’t believe what she said. I know Pina, she wouldn’t ran away without telling me anything. At the very least she would have said goodbye…”
Chaos did not interrupt the girl and quietly listened to the side. From the girl’s mouth, Chaos found out that after the girl, Pina disappeared; food was suddenly distributed to all the villagers which helped the villager to safely tide the winter that year.
Actually, it wasn’t the first time that food was distributed to the villagers during the winter seasons. It happened every year. But before the food was distributed, a child or two would suddenly go missing. And the reason that the parents of the missing children give was similar to what Pina’s mother gave: The children ran away.
Although slightly suspicious, Pina and Rennel didn’t think much about it at that time. Their village was very poor. Just having something to eat for the day was difficult enough. Coupled with the hard work in the fields, it was not too surprising that some of the children would run away.
“I secretly investigated what happened, and found out the real reason when one of the adults has a slip of tongue.”
Rennel stopped talking when she reached that point of the story. She was clenching her fist so hard, her knuckles turned white. Chaos could sense the raging emotion within the girl’s heart. How hard it must have been to keep everything inside her?
It took Rennel quite a while before she successfully gets hold of her emotion. “Before any of the children would go missing, a mysterious man wearing a black cloak would always visit the village and stay at the village chief’s house. He would stay for a single night and leave the next day. After he left, one or two children would also disappear from the village.”
Rennel’s eyes were already red at this point but still she continues pouring her heart out. “The mysterious cloaked man also visited the village the day Pina went missing…”
Chaos sighed gently after Rennel stopped talking. She probably won’t be saying anything else. And frankly, there’s really no need. The fate of the girl named Pina and the children before her that went missing was pretty obvious: All of them were sold as slaves.
Looking at Rennel, many of things that confuse Chaos before about the girl’s behavior was finally cleared up. Her sickly appearance, her ability to lie and make up stories on the spot, and her quiet and obedient personality at home; all of it was just a façade that the girl uses to protect herself.
She believed that if her appearance was sickly, the villagers would think twice before sacrificing her. Her lies and obedient personality was used to create a fog of obscurity. The higher the tree the more wind it would catch. Same goes for Rennel’s case. The less she stands out, the smaller the chance of being chosen. And the fact that she was the only young person remaining in the village was proof that her plan works.
Unfortunately, what was fated to happen will surely happen. Since Rennel was the only young person that remained in the village, she could no longer escape her fate. Like the others before her, she too, would be sold into slavery, and be the tool that’ll give the village another year.
“What a shitty village. No wonder, its luck ran out. Almost all of its inhabitants are idiots.” Chaos did not minced words and mercilessly criticized the villagers. Just like what the old woman said, when the villagers started selling their children, they forfeited the village’s future.
“You should run away.” Chaos suddenly said.
“Huh?” Surprised by what the mysterious creature said, Rennel wasn’t able to react and could only stare into Chaos’ golden eyes.
“What’s with that dumbfounded look? If you stay here, you’re going to be sold to the slave trader. Surely you don’t plan to just give up after coming this far, do you?
Chaos’ words made Rennel’s heart tremble. Just as Chaos said, she didn’t want to be sold as slave. Although she was thankful that her aunt took her in when her father was killed by a wild beast, it didn’t mean that she’s okay with the fact that she’s going to be sold to so that the village could survive for another year.
Seeing the girl grew quiet after being told to run away, Chaos didn’t push her further. Whether she run away or accept her fate depend solely on her. If she decides to fight her destiny and leave, Chaos would help her. But if she chooses to stay and succumb to her fate, then Chaos would leave her that night and no longer concern itself with the girl’s well-being.
Rennel stayed silent, and was slightly hesitant. Despite how the villager treated her, she did grow up in the village and has some feelings for it. If didn’t leave, she would be sold, and village could survive for another year. But if she runs away, many of the villager would freeze and starve to death because there won’t be money to buy food and warm clothes.
The girl stayed like that for several minutes before raising her head. She looked at Chaos who was watching her quietly the entire time. There’s determination in her eyes.
“I’ll leave.” Rennel said with determination.
“Is that your final answer? You won’t change your mind?” Chaos asked.
“Yes.” Rennel answered without hesitation. Although she has feelings for the village, Rennel could still not forgive the adults for selling their children just like that. Even if the villager did that out of desperation, what they did was still unforgivable. The fact that they continued doing it year after year proved that the villagers choses the easy way out of their predicament.
It was immoral and wrong. Even if slavery was a common practice in this world, it would not change the fact that it was immoral and wrong.
Even though she's feeling guilty to leave the villagers to their fates, Rennel still decided to be selfish for once.
After seeing the determination in the girl’s eyes, Chaos nodded its head. It was satisfied with the girl’s decision. Chaos had always appreciated people with strong will. Those who tried fighting their destiny despite the overwhelming odds are always pleasing to the mysterious creature’s eyes.
“We should leave now.” Chaos said in a matter-of-fact manner.
“Eh? You mean, right now?” Rennel was stunned by the suddenness of the situation. She thought that Chaos would give her a little bit of time to prepare. She didn’t expect that she’ll leave without preparing anything.
Chaos gave the girl the side eye, “Why? Do you want to stay her until the slave trader arrives?” It asked bitingly.
Rennel shook her head and quickly explained that she hasn’t prepared anything yet. She was especially worry what to eat while on the road. After all she didn’t want to escape slavery only to die of starvation!
“Is that all? And I thought it was something serious,” Chaos looked at the girl with disdain. “I’ll be going with you too. Do you think I’ll let you starve? Surely you haven’t forgotten who caught the fish you ate at dinner, right?”
Right! How could have she forgotten about that? With Chaos ability, procuring food would be easy!
Rennel hesitated no longer and quickly change to a much warmer clothes. Following Chaos’ suggestion, she packed light, bringing only things that would keep her warm like a blanket. After putting everything in a sack, she wore her old, worn-out shoes and nodded at Chaos.
“Let’s go.” Rennel said.
****
Chaos and Rennel slowly sneaked out of the house while trying to reduce the noise they’re making as much as possible. The house was small and a loud noise could wake up the girl’s aunty and uncle which could make escaping more troublesome.
Not long after the two found themselves on the road to the nearest town which was about 2 days or so away on foot. The snow had already started accumulating in road making it difficult to walk. Coupled with the cold weather, the journey was far from pleasant.
After an hour or so of walking, Rennel was already feeling tired but she dare not complain. Since she decided to run away, she’s determined to get through with it.
“There’s something that I must do so I’ll be leaving you for a short while.” Chaos suddenly said. “You keep walking, and don’t wait for me. If you found that people are after you then run. No matter what don’t get captured.”
Chaos jumped off of Rennel’s shoulder after giving some instructions and went into the woods before the girl could even react.
“W,wait! Where are you going?!” Rennel begun to panic after seeing the mysterious creature leaved. She tried calling to it but received no reply.
Dumbfounded, the girl could only stare blankly at the dark woods where the mysterious creature, Chaos, disappeared to. After recovering from her shock, Rennel wanted to follow Chaos into the woods but hesitated after recalling the creature’s instructions.
Feeling annoyed and dejected, Rennel could only continue walking along the road. Even though she’s scared to be alone in the middle of nowhere, the girl could only trust Chaos’ promise that it’ll return after completing what it sets to do.
“Stupid Chaos… How could it just leave me like that after convincing me to run away?” Slightly resentful, the girl could only curse under her breath. “Hmph! Just you wait. I’ll ignore you after you returned.”
While Rennel was complaining to herself, a large group of men are seen walking just a few kilometers behind her. These men came from the direction of Rennel’s village and they all looked especially solemn. One of the men was someone Rennel knew quite well – her uncle!
The reason the village men almost caught up with the two so easily was due to some incident.
Not too long after the Chaos and Rennel started their journey, the girl’s aunt checked on her but found her room empty. At first, she didn’t find this strange and only thought that she went to the bathroom. But after waiting for quite some time without seeing the shadow of her niece, she became suspicious and went to check her room again. This time she noticed some missing things like the girl’s blanket, an old coat, and a sack.
She was stunned and realized that her niece had run away. The aunt quickly wake up her husband who, after knowing what happened went to the village chief’s house.
The old village chief was flummoxed and grew panicky. He quickly ordered for a large group of men to pursue the girl. The slave trader was set to arrive tomorrow noon and without Rennel, they can’t get the money to buy the necessary supply to tide over the winter. She must be caught no matter what!
Due the difference in their physiques, the men quickly caught up with Rennel who panicked after noticing the village men less than a kilometer away from her!
Rennel tries her best to run away from her pursuers. But the difference in physiques and stamina between her made it impossible to outrun the men. What’s more, the girl had been walking for more than an hour under the snowing sky when the village men caught up with her so she was already exhausted.
Although she had a head start, the men eventually caught up with her. Terribly exhausted, Rennel finally ran out of energy and stopped running. The men drew closer to her but stopped when they’re about 15 feet away from her. A figure, that Rennel was familiar with walk towards the front.
“Uncle…” Seeing the person that walked forward, Rennel’s expression grew complicated.
“Have you had enough causing trouble? If you have, you should return to the village with us.” The man, Rennel’s uncle reprimands.
Rennel shook her head and looked straight at her uncle -- her gaze full of resentment. “You want me to return to the village so that you could sell me to the slave trader? I’m sorry uncle but I have to refuse.” The girl said with determination.
Rennel’s uncle and the other village men were caught off guard by the girl’s accusation and didn’t know what to say. The girl’s uncle wanted to refute but couldn’t and could only let out a sigh.
“So you already knew, huh… No, considering that all of the children aside from you disappeared, it wasn’t strange that you knew.” Rennel’s uncle said with a hint of regret in his voice.
“Was it worth it? Selling the village children and pushing them into slavery? Is it really worth it?” Rennel asked in a voice full of resentment.
Another man stepped out of the group when Rennel’s uncle didn’t reply to her niece’s question. It was someone Rennel was familiar with. Before Pina was sold to slavery, Rennel also called the man uncle.
“What do you know?! Do you think we want to do this? If we didn’t sell our children, the whole village would have starved a long time ago!” Pina’s father explained with a pained voice.
“We tried everything we could but there’s just no other way. We’ve asked help from the local officials but they told us that we’re on our own. The most that they could do was not tax the village. There had been an ongoing war since several years ago; coupled that with the unending famine that hits the kingdom, we could only turn to selling our children in order to survive.”
Rennel listened to everything that Pina’s father said. Chaos already told her everything while they were on the road but it didn’t affect her determination. No matter the reason. What they did was wrong.
“Let me ask you this. What are guys going to do after selling me?” Rennel asked with a dark expression. “No children had been born in the village since you started selling them. After I’m gone, who are you guys going to sell next? Are you going to sell yourselves, or maybe you’ll sell your wives next?”
Rennel’s words were full of barbs and scathing, piercing the men where it hurts the most and leaving them with no way to retort. When it seemed like that the silence would continue; another villager stepped out of the group.
“We don’t know what will happen next. But what we do know is that you’re coming with us!” The man threatened.
Hearing the man’s words, the other villager woke up of their reverie. Although what Rennel said made them ashamed, the die had already been cast and they could no longer stop.
The village men with the exception of Rennel’s uncle and Pina’s father started surrounding the girl. But as they’re about to apprehend the girl, they heard a voice that made their souls shake in fear!
To be continued...
