Chapter 8: Chapter 6: The Beginning Arc

“Rest a bit white-haired girl, we’ll do our best to find your friend and bring him here.”

The young woman laid me back down and pulled the linens, carefully, ending it with a kiss on my forehead as a reward for behaving nicely.

“Thank you... Maia...” I told her, unclear of what gratitude my heart felt for her.

She left soon after, closing the curtains and then the door, locking it from outside.

“Let’s go meet the master Rubia, and present him with some good news.” Maia smiled proudly of her acting skills, bringing an equivalent radiant face to the young woman close by.

“It always surprises me how good you are at making kids open up so easily.” Hearing those words, she rose her left index finger in the air, waving it to the sides happily.

“Motherly love, dear Rubia, motherly love.”

They began walking towards the stairs while giggling.

“Really now?” She made a big smile, suspicious of her sister.

“Nothing that a few magical herbs won’t do the trick.”

They chuckled while going downstairs, leaving me behind inside the sheets.

A little while later, they entered the room used by the master. “Has brother Timothy left already?”

“Yes, Maia. He had an important mission to prepare for.” They could see the old man sitting on a wooden chair with red pillows that covered its base, analyzing his oak long staff that extended through both sides of the table where it laid.

The other girl questioned him, filled with curiosity. “Who’s he going to assassinate this time around?”

The master got up and slapped Rubia who got careless, drowned in the earlier happiness, forgetting her place momentarily.

The old man then shouted furiously, “fool! We do not speak about the missions!”

“I’m sorry, master, it was just a joke.” She placed her hand on the cheek, that was turning into a redder tone.

With indignation, he threatened her. “If you weren’t a named...”

The glare made the body of the girl tremble in fear, feeling her own self shrinking in size as if standing against a 100-meter giant. She, who had grown used to act like it was a genuine family, soon knelt on the floor apologizing to the master, who forcefully reminded her of the hierarchy and the laws of the base.

After a bit passed in silence, with a calmer tone, the elder turned his gaze to the girl next to Rubia and spoke.

“Maia, any news about the girl? It has been six days since she’s been upstairs.”

The girl bowed out of respect in order to avoid a similar punishment from the master who hit the sister, and also because he was egocentric, so feeling superior to others was the most viable path she could take to ease his severity.

“The white-haired girl woke up today. I gave her some food and received all the information I could. In fact, there’s a named, a boy in the orphanage where she’s from.”

“A named orphan?” The old man, filled with curiosity towards the kid element, voiced out once more filled with clear greedy intent towards such a lowly being. “Did she know his affinity? Which institution?”

She regained her composure and stared directly into the old man, who took a seat. “A boy named Esteban Rucal, from the orphanage 55, is an unknown element.”

“Rucal...” He reminisced about it, finding a hint of familiarity. “Hopefully water. I need a successor. I’m exhausted from looking for one.”

After he thought for a while, he issued a command.

“Prepare a few named to leave tonight. We are going to find the boy. Ask her for the lad details, so we don’t miss him by mistake. You have until we leave to find out.”

The girl nodded, hiding her smile of achievement, “at once, master!”

Maia grabbed her hands tight behind the back, recalling herself about something, causing a certain memory and a wave of nervousness to flow into her brain. ‘The magical herbs, and their prolonged second effect, which will make her be completely asleep... how do I ask her about the boy now? I should have done so earlier! I’m so stupid!’

Still annoyed, the elder shouted, killing her thoughts.

“Dismissed! Go! I’m busy!” He started shouting madly while picking a book, and as he was about to throw it at one of them.

There was some hesitation alongside some words. “This one is a good one. It would be a waste to get it dirty.” The girls got away swiftly without receiving a heavy book to the head, as it happened a couple of times before from time to time.

After Maia reached upstairs, unlocking the door, entering the now dark room, and the moment she did, she felt an icy breath on her arm. Feeling scared, she turned around, freezing upon looking at my light blue eyes, as I was right next sitting on my knees on top of the bed, silently staring at Maia, whose mind grieved in shock. A few drops drenched the young woman’s panties as she regained some air, grasping for control over her body that was temporarily lost, unable to scream.

The eyes closed and then they opened, and with such a calm motion, a tone of a peaceful voice reached Maia’s ears, waking her up from her trance. “I got lost in the dark looking for a way out... I was frightened, so I returned to this bed.” My arms hugged Maia by her waist, giving the final push for her voice to be free, coming out in soft breathing as a result, a different one than initially expected.

The young woman gulped dryly after having moved at a fast pace towards my room, disturbed that I could be asleep. Nonetheless, she gripped her hand with a bit of strength behind her back. My eyes noticed it, but I didn’t care. The fear inside of me was superior to whatever was going on with her. The only thing that mattered was that loneliness terrified me.

“I... it’s okay now... everything’s alright.”

She patted my white hair softly to not show any weakness, and also to give me some consolation, which I was grateful for.

“Tell me. What’s your friend Esteban like? My master would like to save him from the orphanage.”

Hope that helped to fight the fear within me caused my mind to gain a voice. ‘They’ll save him...?’ With an inner yearning wish of saving my friend, I decided to tell her his information. “He’s the one with black hair, a bit taller than me. Another thing, since my skin is so pale to the point of people calling me a ghost. I suppose his would be the complete opposite. I’m sure you’ll find him easily.”

“Thank you.” She walked further away from me, opening the dark curtains along with the center windows for some fresh air, allowing the leftover light of the sunset to enter. Maia then looked back at my eyes, they who followed her everywhere she went while trembling. “Did you need anything, or were you only afraid of the dark?”

After shaking my head in disagreement, I replied hesitantly. “I’m... not afraid of that...”

Maia took a deep breath while glancing at me dubiously. ‘She isn’t? Yet shaking like that? Guess the girl is doing her best to act strong. I don’t dislike that attitude.’ She thought, forgetting that I was still under the primary herb effect, being able to only tell the truth.

“Would you like to come downstairs and meet others like you?” Maia headed closer to the exit while speaking and staring at me.

With the willingness swelling inside of me, I replied happily, “sure! I’d like to meet everyone else. Any place is better than this one.”

She chuckled, causing me to be petted briefly with a few strokes on the top of my head.

“After getting a scare, I sure can relate to you. Come on, then.” Maia stretched her hand towards me after leaving its place, which was then grabbed by my own, and then we walked out of the room.

I looked at the bed, whose linens remained covering its entirety before leaving where my bottom once sat at the edge, watching them wave upward softly. My left hand that was free rose, allowing me to place a finger in front of my nose, like telling someone to be quiet while smiling innocently, no longer shivering.

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After taking some steps closing the door behind us, Maia turned to me, “How does your body feel? Able to walk properly?"

I tried out my body parts, stretching, waving, bending, and even jumping, eventually stopping due to a bit of pain and itch, consenting with a nod.

“Alright then, come along.” Maia took the lead, walking all the way to the stairs, and then downwards towards the bottom dark pit, as I could see no window in such a spiral. Once we successfully reached the bottom, we turned to the side, leading to a certain brown door.

The moment it opened, and we went through, I found myself with my mouth open, completely amazed at the view. “Wasn’t I in the city?” I took barefoot steps on the yellow sand, approaching the water by its shore. Maia turned her gaze to the side, finding Rubia taking off her shoes.

“Go tell the master the kid has very black hair, is a little taller than that girl, and the skin tone should match the hair. From her words should be easy to find.”

Rubia, who remained vigilant at all times, nodded in agreement, voicing a few words before leaving. “Alright Maia, don’t let the girl out too long. The sunset is almost out.” 

“I know.” Maia approached me, eventually catching up, and then walked alongside for a while as we spoke.

“You used to be in the city, but then you got carried and placed into a carriage whilst you were asleep. This entire place is the domain of our master, and all those kids you see around the house we left, along with the other five buildings.” She started pointing in diverse directions by stretching her arm, showing me all the different houses where some had lights coming from the diverse windows.

“All of them serve him, the unnamed and named. Our master is very wealthy, as you may imagine.” Filled with curiosity, not towards his richness, but about his character. After all, he did help these youngsters to have a possibly better life than the one they’d get from their buyers.

I mumbled my wonders, “I wonder what’s he like...”

“Old, angry, mean, and severe.”

I shouted, surprised, causing her to burst into laughter at me, “isn’t that like a bad person!?”

She regained her calm, looking at me with a smile. “Excluding the age part, yes, but if you knew him, you’d understand that some things in this world aren’t easy.”

I consented softly with my head on such words, giving her room to speak further. “The elder’s only this rich because he’s extremely powerful and kills a great number of enemies of this kingdom.”

My eyes gazed down at my hands while losing myself in thoughts. ‘What should I do... It seems like no matter where I go, there’s no good place to live in. This woman seems a lot nicer than Josie, but... I don’t know.’

Maia sat on the sand while passing her hand below the dress, allowing it to be adjusted through her legs all the way to the knees. Like this, it made the sand harder to get inside.

“What are the master’s expectations towards me?”

The young woman’s gaze shifted from the clothing to my face, but before that, she bent one leg on the top of the other, allowing the arms and chin to rest on top of her knees, creating a soft shadow below, darkening the sand.

“When the master returns tomorrow, you’ll go through a ritual. Depending on the results you get... bad to good things might happen to you.”

“Bad things like...” I asked rather scared and partly curious while trembling, half nervous and the other half from the chilly wind coming from the sea.

“Chores for the rest of your life, that’s what the unnamed do around here: farming, fishing, taking care of the animals. We have some fields further behind those houses far from the sand. We have two wells where we take water from. Everyone helps each other, but it’s still a lot of heavy work.”

I fell on my knees upon hearing such words, as the information provided for this time was a lot different from before, feeling extremely relieved to the very core of the entirety of my being, scaring the girl who shouted.

“What’s wrong girl!?”

With a mix of emotions, nervousness, and relief, I smiled awkwardly and answered quickly, finishing what she had once interrupted while we were inside that room.

“That’s a lot better than being chopped down into small body parts.”

Maia felt a drop of cold sweat flowing down her back, as she didn’t expect such words from me, an innocent-looking lady like me, but understood that I wasn’t lying by my despaired expression and broken smile.

“W-what do you mean by that!?” An angry and terrified shout came from her, startling me. My face turned into an expression filled with hopelessness while telling her about it.

“I ran away from the orphanage after hearing a talk of my carer Josie and the chief, a man named Rival. They were discussing...” I gulped before continuing, trembling in the process once more. “... selling me to a noble who wanted to dissect and chop my body into pieces, to know why my hair had been born white.”

The young woman hid from me the act of placing one hand on top of the other behind her legs, making it impossible for my eyes to see, clutching them tightly.

“Stay here. I’ll be back shortly, and that’s an order.”

I nodded in agreement, used to follow other people’s demands, staring at the young woman as she walked back to the brown door where we had gone through together once. Her mind twisted through the original plans and ideas from before we left the room.

‘I wonder what was that all about? She seemed pretty angry. Isn’t that a normal thing for buyers to do? If not for my hair, then other things they might find weird, like my skin tone different from all the other kids... or some other aspect they dislike...’

I took a seat where she had been while looking at the sea clearly for the first time. ‘After all, I’ve never seen any child returning for a visit. Hearing their talk on that day made me realize a lot of things. I can only expect that to be one of the endings we orphan can reach.’

Unknowingly to me, such thoughts were indeed true.

‘Doing chores for the rest of my life as an unnamed, sounds like something a high-born would make us do. In the end, someone this wealthy might easily be one of them.’

A white bird flew upward, making noises, a seagull with long wings and a pointy yellow beak. I chuckled lightly at it, watching it flee away from my laughter, towards the sea.

‘Once I obtain the results of the ritual, I may have to escape from this place. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life as a slave, just for not having something they want. For now, I’ll keep acting like a tool. That way, it’ll keep their guard down, and then when the time comes... if necessary... I’ll have to find a new place to live. Worst case, I can wait some years to learn more about how everything works.’

I heard the sound of the door opening, causing the top of my body to turn around, watching Maia passing through, walking closer, and then upon reaching me, she grabbed my right hand, pulling me out of the sand. “Let’s go, it’s getting colder. You can’t get sick again.”

We remained with our hands glued onto one another while walking back to the house, and I felt the tightness and force the woman was using on the grasp.

‘I suppose she’s still angry at me for what I told her... it’s not like I did anything to deserve it though...’ My eyes glanced at my hand that was hurting due to the grip.

Once we went through the door, the first thing she did was introduce me to Rubia, who closed it with a key, allowing me to hear the clank, a familiar sound but less mechanical, possibly not as rusty too. The three of us continued upstairs all the way towards the inside of the room.

Some time passed and a fourth girl came, whom I got to know was called Fafia, who brought some food, placing it on top of the table.

She took a quick glance at me before leaving. “Once you’re done eating, blow off this candle and go to sleep. We’ll come to get you tomorrow when the master orders.”

To those words I nodded slowly, not meaning any disrespect for all they did to me, especially giving me food for the second time in the same day, which was a first during my life.

“Alright. Thank you all for everything.” I declared with a faint smile, watching as they left me behind, closing the door, followed by a key that locked it.

‘Not even a good night... feels like everywhere is the same, but at least...’ I got up and left the bed, walking to the chair in front of the table close to the new bowl, a brown one made of an unknown wood.

“At least in this place I get more food than in the other one...” The light of the candle got extinguished due to a breeze from the open window turning the room around me dark. The meal then became slowly depleted under the beautiful moonlight that served me of some consolation, no longer fearing anything.

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