(Warning...
Physical abuse against child)
"Can I trust him?" Violet thought for a moment, but somewhere deep in her heart there was a voice promising her about Vael.
Violet and Vael set off on a journey to the capital. The destination was very far; by foot it might even take months.
The journey was long but it had a lot to teach them.
They decided to travel close to the bank of the river, and stop near a village to get things for Violet to make sure her journey wasn't too troublesome for her.
They went to a small village nearby. Violet walked and the dry land and air started affecting her. Why wouldn't it?
She was raised in the coldest region of the Orundeil continent. The harsh freezing winds were the ones that brought a sense of home.
"What is this weather? The sun is really hot here..." Violet got tired after walking a mile.
"What? Are you tired already?" Vael looked at her with pity and concern. If the start of this journey was like this, what would it be like later?
"Come on, it's not even hot! Get up, it's not even that far! We can make it in an hour and so..." Vael said.
Then Vael hit the bottom of his fist into his palm as he got an idea.
He crouched in front of Violet, telling her to hop on his back.
Violet looked at his back, confused.
"What are you doing?" she asked, tilting her head in confusion.
Vael again turned red and started squatting furiously.
"Stretching, of course! What else would I do? It's a long way from here! I need to stretch nicely!" He said all of this in one breath, and at the speed he was doing squats he must've done at least a hundred in a minute.
After a bit of rest they continued their journey to the village. The sun was setting and the night was about to arrive. They had reached the small post with the village name on it.
"We are here." Vael pulled out a headband and wrapped it around his forehead.
Poof!
His ears and tail vanished. Violet's face gloomed.
"No... the fluff is gone..." She was a little saddened.
Vael looked at her and was a bit happy, because she liked something about him.
"Why did you hide your ears and tail?" she asked him.
She is really different from them, he thought to himself.
Vael's face turned grim and he sighed. "You'll know when we get there."
Violet saw sadness behind those eyes and decided not to pry much.
Then they entered the village, Kuali village.
It had many small homes made out of soft bricks and timber. The alleyways were narrow with lots of windows.
Even though it was a village it wasn't less than a small town. Had they all gathered here to make sure to survive on each other's backs?
They started looking for shops. Violet decided to buy a few things: first clothes, some medicine, and a weapon.
She looked around. Even though it was evening, the town still had some life.
The food stalls were moving around and the shops started lighting their lamps.
"This village has a small adventurer guild. Since this area is quite large with only one source of water, the large oasis in the middle of the village, all the tribes had come together and made this village," Vael told Violet. She looked at the carefree walking Vael, but then her gaze moved around and she saw people squinting at Vael.
Their stares weren't just stares but somewhat like hatred.
She could feel their eyes looking at him with intention beyond curiosity.
"Stay close," Vael said, voice low.
Vael realized and grabbed Violet's sleeve.
"Stay close to me. The night is when the most disgusting but most dangerous beasts wander."
As Violet heard these words the memories of that night flashed before her eyes. Sweat started pouring out and her breaths slipped away.
"Mama! Papa..." Her breaths got longer and deeper; her heart twisted in anticipation and fear.
"What is this? Why do I feel like this? My body... I feel like each of my limbs is crying to be separated from me but there is no pain..."
Violet slowly leaned on Vael.
"Wha—Wha—Wha—Wha—Wha—" His face turned red and flushed a bright shade.
"What happened to you suddenly—" he slowly lifted her up and saw her grabbing her chest.
"So sorry..." Someone bumped into Violet and Vael; she fell into his arms again.
Vael's heart was barely holding itself.
"Water... I need water..." Violet's lips were dry. Her lips trembled as if a gust of wind were shaking a dry branch.
"Alright, just wait here for me! I'll get you some water—" Vael shoved his hand into his vest to get his pouch of money, but all he found there were bones he had saved to chew later.
"What? My—" He couldn't believe it. He who had broken any arms that reached for its clothes was now a victim of pickpocketing.
Maybe something happened to him which made him forget everything in this world.
He gently guided Violet to a well-lit shop and told her to wait there. She slowly tried catching her breaths and was a little better.
She nodded and blinked, telling him to go ahead.
He then took a long sniff and his eyes got stuck in one direction.
"You have stolen from one person who should've avoided at cost, fucker!" And in a blink he vanished like a bubble.
Violet sat there quietly looking down. Even then she could feel the people looking at her.
Then someone tapped her on the shoulder. She flinched, stepped away, and looked back to see a young girl standing there.
She was a young child about eight or nine years old. She had torn clothes. Her face was covered in dirt with unkempt hair, dry skin, and a body as if somebody had nailed leather onto a skeleton.
Violet's heart wrenched at the sight and she immediately started wiping the girl's tears. She touched every inch of her body to make sure it wasn't an injury that made her cry like that, and she saw that the little girl was bleeding from her knee.
"Big sista... Heup... Help Jathen—" she formed some words while crying. She was wailing hard; her cries were loud but no one even turned to her as if it were a city of the blind and deaf.
Violet around her started yelling for help.
"Hello? Anyone? Can't you see this little girl in pain? She is asking for help! Are you all deaf?" She cried alongside her, hugged the girl tightly, and lifted her in her arms.
Her gaze moved around but saw everyone's eyes looking down, ignoring and doing whatever they were doing before.
She clenched her teeth and swept the girl's hair back. The tears and snot had made her gown wet, but all Violet cared about was the pain the girl was going through.
"What happened to you? Tell me! I'll help you!" Violet took her to the corner and tore a piece of her gown.
She wrapped it around the girl's knee and wiped her tears and face with the rest.
"They... they took Jathen— they are bullying him! Please save him..." The more she wiped her tears the bigger they came out. The cries of that little one hammered Violet's heart with every gasp she took.
Violet realised she could ask no one for help except for Vael, but waiting for him might make things worse.
Then she decided.
"Alright, take me there. Who is bullying your friend?" She picked her up again, and the girl pointed in the direction of a dark alleyway.
Violet took a deep breath and without thinking twice ran into the alley. She forgot about everything in her mind; this girl's trouble was bigger than hers.
She, without stopping once, went deeper and deeper until she heard a mixed sound of cackling from around a corner.
Her feet came to a halt and she gently put the girl on the ground. They both slowly approached the corner and peeked.
There she saw a group of men creeping. One of them was carrying a child on his shoulder.
They were five men, dressed in tunics and leather pants.
"We've just hit a jackpot! The nobles would pay anything just to get hands on this boy!"
"Who knew such treasure was hidden in this crappy village!"
"Maybe after this we could make our own circuit!"
They broke into laughter once again.
The child, younger than the little girl, was tied up with a swollen face and blue marks all over. One of his hanging arms was also completely swollen in size more than it would have been.
Violet's eyes turned bloody red with tears and rage. She bit her lips so hard it started bleeding.
"Wait here..." she whispered and walked into the alley.
Her steps were slow.
Tap
Tap
Tap
She walked as if a toy of a spring. Before her eyes were nothing but monsters and rage burning every inch of her body.
The men halted as they felt a raging mana behind them.
And then Violet uttered...
(TEARS OF NIGHT...)
The man who was carrying the child stared at her and broke into laughter as he saw Violet with her finger raised at him and the girl he had just kicked hiding in the corner.
"Guess what we have here? You are here to help them? That girl asked you?"
He laughed until he saw his friend staring at him with horror in his eyes.
"What?" Then the next moment the boy fell to the ground with chunks of ice falling all around.
The man looked over his shoulder and saw his whole right arm from shoulder to hand turned into ice and then crushed under the weight. There was no pain... no sensation.
It just happened.
And when the boy fell down, the recoil hit Violet's body.
She vomited blood and collapsed on the ground. She had used all the mana she had—at least what was not held by the illness.
The other men helped their friend, forgetting about the boy, and the little girl ran to him.
Violet, without caring about herself, looked at her with a smile.
"Take him and run away... as far as possible."
The girl stared at her with curled lips and tears, lifted the boy up, and even though she struggled she picked him and started dragging her feet.
"Oh no you don't!" The man saw her and tried to grab her, but Violet threw a rock at his face.
"Picking on little children! You are still fighting me! Don't ignore me!" she yelled.
The men looked at her enraged and pulled out their swords.
Their faces twisted in anger and they uttered,
"Don't expect an easy death, you bitch!"