“You will always be fond of me. I represent to you all the sins you never had the courage to commit.”
―Oscar Wilde,The Picture of Dorian Gray

 

 

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Prologue: The Escape

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"Faster!" He gazed at her naked breasts with lustful eyes, "Bitch! Move your hips faster!"

The moans of the women spread throughout the room. He leaned in closer to suck on her breasts.

Thump!

The sound of the door being banged caused a sudden shift in the man's expression.

He jerked the woman harshly with his hands, causing her to fall on the floor. Then, he reached out to the table on the side, trying to grab his sword.

Crack!

Pieces of the broken door flew across the dusty room in the hut.

Three men barged in wearing only leather straps on their upper body and grey trousers. On their hand, they carried a long metallic sickle.

They laughed as they saw a naked man with a tiny junk on the bed, pointing a sword towards them while shaking like a little girl. But their expression changed as they saw a blonde girl crying on the ground. Trembling and covering her breasts with her hand.

"Jackpot!" One exclaimed as he noticed the girl's beautiful eyes that expressed a shade of over 12 colours.

"Cut the man's dick! Then throw that junk down his mouth. Then cut off his head," He commanded.

"Aye!!!" The others roared as they barged onto the room. The bandit then moved closer towards the girl. Grabbed her hair with his fingers and dragged her.

"AHHH!" The girl cried in pain.

He dragged the girl outside the hut.

Flames had engulfed the rest of the huts. The moon's light failed to shine the blood on the ground as brightly as the fire on the hut did.

Roars of other bandits could be heard, so could the cries and screams of the villagers. As the bandits mercilessly sliced off and tortured them.

"No! My child," A mother cried as a bandit snatched her little boy. Two other bandits grabbed her arms and dragged her away.

She witnessed her little boy getting his eye pierced and neck sliced by a sickle.

"No!!" She struggled, trying to free herself. Her heart shattered as she saw the bandit stomping on the boy's face, even after he had already died.

"No! Please," she begged.

One of the bandits got closer to her ears and whispered, "Bitch! Forget that kid and think about what's gonna happen to you tonight."

The bandits laughed, with not a hint of guilt in their eyes.

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When she first saw him, she thought of him as a peculiar boy. He sat there leaning against the wall. His both legs bent, and his face gazing at the ceiling.

His face and clothes looked dirty like he had bathed in dirt. Then his eyes, they looked cold and lifeless.

"Oi! We have to escape," She grabbed his shoulders. "Oi! We have to escape now."

She urged as she shook his shoulders.

That's when he turned his head and looked at her. A strange sensation passed down her spine as she truly noticed his lifeless black eyes.

"Why bother?"

She let go of his shoulder when she heard his faint cold voice.

"If we get caught, you would be the one to get raped. They won't even care about your age."

"What?" Her voice choked. "How did you," Her voice got interrupted by the screams coming from outside. The maddening cries. The clash of blades.

Her body trembled. She covered her ears using her hands. She curled down, grabbed her feet with her arms, and buried her face there.

As the time passed, the screams got louder.

Her mind got clouded with thoughts of what would happen to her. If they found out, she's a girl dressed as a man.

'I need to run. I need to escape,' She thought.

Legs stills trembling, she gathered up some courage to stand.

The prison walls were made of wood. She got closer.

"Don't," Her body flinched as she heard the boy's voice. She looked back.

"If you think, you can use the chaos as your shield. You're mistaken," Like before. His voice sounded cold. "They kept both of us alive as we possess the potential to become priests. However, everyone's blinded in the heat of the battle. The soldiers won't care for who you are. The bandits won't care for who you are. They will kill anyone they see in front of them," He contined. "You will get your chance when the screaming stops. Have patience. Then leave"

"Le..ave" Her voice shuttered. "Alone?" She was afraid. "What about you?" She cried

The boy looked above and remained silent.

"Don't you want to survive?!" She roared

The boy remained silent.

"Please.." Drops of tears fell from her eyes. Her throat felt tightening. "Please," She begged. Her chin quivered. She wiped her tears, "I..I cannot take it," The cries, the screams, the bloodshed. It was all new to her. Fear consumed her. She could not do it. Even if she wanted to run away, she could not do it alone. She feared. She feared for her life, for her purity. She was but a 10-year-old.

Wiping her tears, she looked at him.

'Why?' She asked herself. Her own body trembled, yet his frame remained still like water in a well.

But she realized the answers as she looked into his lifeless eyes.

He no longer cared.

He felt no fear because he no longer cared whether he lived or died. Like a man who had lost everything.

Soon, the clashing of the blades died down.

The night had gone silent as the screams stopped.

She lay there on her knees. Unable to think anything anymore.

The boy sighed.

He stood up and went near the prison bars.

The door opened with a light touch from his fingers. The bandits were not organized. When the soldiers suddenly attacked the bandits. The bandits had thrown those two in this cell but never locked it.

He turned back and looked at the girl. The girl had frozen on her knees.

He extended his hand. "Shall we leave escape now?"

She flinched. She blinked rapidly, looking at him.

"Let's escape" She grabbed his hand and stood up.

The cell was underground.

She saw few more cells, right after she got out, on the sides and the front. There were only women on those cells. She realized, even though none of the cells was locked. None tried to escape as they all had already died inside with no will to live or escape anymore.

Her stomach revolted at such a site. She covered her mouth and kept moving.

"There," The boy said as he pointed his finger towards the wooden stair.

He climbed first. At the end of the stair, there seemed to be a ceiling. Dead end. But, with his arms, he touched the wooden ceiling, then slightly pushed it.

Crackle!

The wooden plank moved.

The stairs did not lead to a dead end. The bandits had covered the entrance to the underground prison with a plank, so the soldiers would not find them.

He jerked the plank to the other side and got out. Then, he lent a hand and pulled her out.

As soon as she got out, she saw a pile of bodies on the ground. Fresh corpses on the floor. Some of the bandits and some of the people wearing a white robe.

Her face turned pale, and she vomited by the side.

She breathed heavily.

"Sheesh," He said as he tapped her shoulders.

They were inside a hut. Ambling, he got closer to the door and peeked outside. Many corpses lied on the ground. Most huts were destroyed.

There was no one in front.

"Fire the Corpse!!!!" His body flinched as he heard a sudden noise.

He peeked towards the other side. Some bandits were still alive. Around 8-15 in numbers. They were far.

He covered his mouth as he saw a bandit ripping out a dead man's arm and chewing it.

They set a campfire.

The bandits seemed to be quite far.

He stopped peeking.

"They are probably preparing for some ritual. This is our chance. The moment we leave through this door, we run. If we find the church, we live. If not, we die. You understand?"

She nodded to his suggestion.

The bandit's hideout was a small place in the mountains.

The moment they left the door, they went behind the hut where the bandits could not spot them.

Behind the hut were some destroyed wooden walls. After the broken fence was the forest.

She gulped.

The chances of surviving in a forest were slim. But any fate was better than being with those bandits.

"Let's Run", She said, looking towards him. However, as they stood near the forest entrance, she noticed a line of tears down his face. His expression remained unwavering like it was since the beginning, but on his eyes was a trail of tear.

"Are.. are you ok?" She asked as he caressed his shoulder.

He wiped away his tears. "Let's move," He said.

She then realized. Even he was but a 10-year-old boy.

It was when the sun began to rise that she began to notice some other things.

"We can rest for a while. if you're tired", He asked

"No, I'm fine", She breathed heavily. Her legs had begun to hurt.

They kept moving.

As the sunlight rose, and the forest started getting brighter. Hope began to brew in her heart. However, the sunlight was not the only reason for hope to take birth in her heart.

"Are you fine?" He asked.

She had noticed the looked in his eyes had changed. They seemed neither cold nor lifeless. Instead, it gave some warmth. His expression no longer looked indifferent. It looked gentle. At times, when he asked how she was doing. She felt comfort in her heart as his words felt sincere. Even though he wore rugged clothes and looked dirty, she noticed a charm within him.

"Shall we keep on going then?" He asked with a light, gentle smile

"Yes," She said as she grabbed his hand.