Hmhm, this feels rather nice~ I did not know that hay could move, I felt warm and comfortable. 

 

“Hmm!” I attempted to stretch myself from my nap, but my arms and legs felt restricted. “Eh?” I opened my eyes, I could see a warm spot in front of me, but no sun. I attempted to stretch my hand to touch it, but I ended up touching it without even moving too much; I did not intend to touch it like that...

 

Eh… what is this? I kept touching it, it felt soft. I moved around where I was, I was in some type of container, was this a bag? I was inside some type of bag. After moving around, I managed to see an opening, it seems I had loosened it. 

 

With a bit of a struggle, I crawled out of it. I looked around, it was sunny outside. And I was inside a carriage, or at least it was a wooden cart. I had no idea of the difference, as far as I was concerned a carriage had roof and was fancier. So I suppose I was in a cart. The wooden cart had seen better days, with dried out wood from the constant wear of the sun. 

 

I was somewhere inside the town, although I could tell I was still around the outskirts.  With a simple glance could see the open fields, the forest and the stone fence from my current location. It was not the same place that I got kicked out from. Recalling the guard’s warning I knew I could not be inside the town… Someone that cares that much about the protocol would not go back on his words! Although... I actually had no idea if it was like that or not, all I could do was make assumptions. Regardless...

 

I had to escape, just for my own safety! If I wanted to play hide and seek, I could do that later. I also had no idea how I had gotten here, but I had a feeling I did not want to know. I looked to my surroundings, it seemed I was in some type of low-status place. The houses were cracked and had no visible glass windows, just windows, the paving on the road was uneven and worn down by the tracks. It just gave me a bad feeling.

 

I glanced around some more to prepare for my escape, I was in the clear. I made sure to not have my feet tangled on things, and left the cart with utmost silence. I stood right next to it, I wanted to head directly to the field and leave, but something told me it was an obviously bad choice. Seeing I was alone, I looked around some more and saw a cart full of hay. 

 

I started to hear footsteps from the house behind me, it was now or never. In a rush I dove into the hay, I was going to be a-okay. 

 

“Well, looks like it won’t be quick cash as we were expecting.” I had no vision but I could tell there was more than one person. 

 

“You know, she is cute. I am sure we can get good money.” And they sounded pretty evil. 

“Well, worst case I will buy her and keep her as a pet.” What were they even talking about?

“I just want to do it with her, it’s been quite a while.” Do it? 

 

Needless to say, I was completely confused about what they were talking about and the conversation contents. I continued hearing as they got on the wooden-cart. I heard the horse neigh, they were getting ready to leave. I was going to get away!

 

“Wait!” One of them called. “She is gone, she escaped!” 

“Eh, that’s impossible. Didn’t she smell the poison?!” 

“She did!” 

“Tch, get to looking boys. We cannot let her get away! Not her.” 

 

I heard footsteps going around, they all scattered in multiple directions. None of them looked at the hay, was I saved? I sighed in relief and stiffened at the same time, it kind of felt rather cliche to get caught right after, but it didn’t happen. I relaxed myself once again, this time for a few minutes, as well as waiting for them to go far away.

 

I got out of the hay, the surroundings were completely lonely. I carefully guided myself through my senses, for some reason I could still tell where the mountain was. Was this a perk of being a core? I had no idea, I also knew I had quite the sense for detecting bad omens. 

 

After shattering my parent rock I only felt the familiar sense to it detach, but for some reason I still felt the attachment of the place as my home. Using that as a guide I ended up finding myself on a rather busy street. 

 

“Oh, what do we have here?” Eh, I had been found out. “Running away like that, is not a good thing now, is it?” He was talking to me from behind. 

I turned around, he was a cloaked man with indistinguishable features, walking slowly towards me. 

 

“Wrong person!” In a panic I turned around once again and started running through the street. 

 

“Watch it!” 

“Why is there a rat here?!” 

 

“Tch, I see you like things the hard way!” I heard the man’s threatening voice from far away. 

 

I kept running into people, they always seemed to make some type of mean comment, but I didn’t care! I kept running in between the crowd, it was surprisingly easy. Running and running, although I noticed a rather particular trend; the stares of people. They were all the same; not very welcoming ⁠— borderline repulsed. 

 

I didn’t care about what people said, or thought about it. I was running for my life, it didn’t take a genius to realize that the men that were chasing me had incredibly ill-intent! At least I could tell! It would’ve been stupid to let them catch me. Certainly not something for anyone, it was simply a bad idea. 

 

The chase continued for a few minutes, running away as I followed my senses. 

 

I was getting tired, and I wanted to rest. For some reason I could not run for long, actually, it wasn’t even surprising. I looked for a place to be able to rest and saw a rather deserted alleyway, that was it. That was my chance! As I was about to turn a corner and go into an alleyway I got an incredibly uneasy feeling, sweat ran through my forehead. A single step and it increased, it was a bad sign! I kept running with confusion and visible panic. 

 

As I sprinted away in confusion, I looked back and a hooded man came out of the alleyway. He looked at me with predatory eyes, and yet I could also see he was mildly confused. I highly doubted people had some type of sixth sense, and yet I avoided it. I shook my head. 

“I’ll, worry. About, that later…” I muttered through my teeth as I struggled to keep up my current pace. 

 

Was I going to get caught? I did not even choose to get abducted, this was unfair! I was getting tired, but I felt like I had no other choice. ‘Maybe, I should try to get help…’ Is what crossed my mind. But people had been openly mean to me simply for how I looked, it left me full of doubts. 

 

As I felt my legs burn and scream in agony, I took my decision. I had no other choice. I did not even have time to think about it, first thing that looked like a shop I went inside. 

 

T-ring~!

 

The melodious doorbell rang throughout the shop. It seemed like some type of restaurant/bar, it had a lot of tables with a counter full of barrels and other miscellaneous things. The atmosphere was quite weird since everything was lit by candlelight and the outside was not visible, it was a completely closed-off place. 

 

“We are closed.” A manly voice said from far away, I heard his footsteps nonchalantly approach. “We are not serving at this hour, so leave.” He continued walking.

 

“What part do you not und⁠—” He paused as he saw me, his eyes were wide open. 

“Um…” I wanted to ask for help. 

 

“You are unwelcome here, cat. Leave.”  But! 

“I need he⁠—”

“Leave.” He cut me off with his unwavering voice. 

 

I felt upset and almost helpless, I approached the door and I heard various footsteps outside as well as some muffled sounds coming towards the shop. They were coming for me. Once again, I made my decision.

 

“If you are not going to le⁠—”

“Please help me!” I turned around. “I will do anything, I will do free labor! Just don’t let them abduct me!” I pleaded on the ground like a pathetic animal. I guess it was kind of fitting... 

 

I heard no reply, I raised my head and saw the man with a pensive look. With a motion of his hand, he gestured towards the door right behind him.

 

“Just this once.” He said dismissively. I did not have time to thank him as much as I wanted as I hurriedly ran to the back. 

“Thanks…” I muttered as I passed him, he just huffed. 

 

I sat in the room and he closed the door. I was in some type of wine storage. As I looked at my surroundings I heard the familiar shop bell ring. 

 

“We are closed.”

“Ah no actually. I am looking for this little mischievous girl. You see, she is a runaway slave so I was wondering if you had seen her.” I recognized that voice, it was the person that said it was going to be the rough way. I shrank in the corner as I silently pleaded and waited for the man’s answer. 

 

“Haven’t seen her.”

“I see, then... could⁠—”

“Leave, we are not open.” The man dismissively said with unwavering tone once again. 

 

All I heard was the door ring one last time. I sighed in relief. I was saved! At last! 

 

The door opened and the man stood there as he waited for something. He looked at me in a rather unpleasant way, although I could not quite put my finger on it. 

 

“Do it.” He said without hesitation right in front of me. I was confused.

“Do what?” I innocently asked.

“Sex, you are a slave no? It’s your job. Especially since you are a kin.”

 

My eyes widened and I spaced out for a second. What was he talking about, who in their right mind would do such a thing? Was this man okay? Besides, wouldn’t he have a wife or something? Ehh…

 

Ding!

 

“Em, sir. I don’t do such things… I simply got abducted…” I kindly explained, although I received no reply. The atmosphere felt heavy. I looked up and he was frowning at me. 

 

“So you lied.” 

“No…”

“You said ANYTHING!” He shouted at me. Instantly making me shrink in fear.

 

“Yeah, b⁠—” SLAP! A burning pain shot through my cheek.

“YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A SLAVE, LEARN YOUR PLACE!” I backed away from him in fear. I knew I was nothing but scum, but nonetheless… nonetheless… This was unfair…  I wanted to plead.

 

“W⁠—” SLAP! He hit me once again, this time he grabbed me by the collar before I could react. Holding me with a single hand he carried me through the shop; opened the door and tossed me outside. 

 

Ding!

 

I hit the ground with a plain and hollow sound, rolling on the ground with a pained face. I felt my arms and legs burning and shooting up with pain. I heard some gasps, however, they quickly went away and people kept walking around me. 

 

“Little bitch, if you are going to make a deal at least make sure you can hold your end! Useless pests…” The door closed. 

 

[Alert: Notifications are in silent mode while in conversation. Consult a master board to see new titles and details.]

 

‘Haa… feeling like death and you give me this… How helpful…’ I resented the stupid alert as everything around me faded into darkness. I was weak...