The Beast Within

CHAPTER SIX

*One year later*

"Ceraun! Ceraun!! That be the morning bell! Best be getting up or we won't be getting any water for today." Tes Feyrer called out to her only son, peeking her head into his room.

In the interior of the tiny room that was as well as bare, nothing but a flat pallet on which a young boy was stretched out on, groggily getting up at his mother's words.

Ceraun opened his eyes slowly, expression souring immediately when he was forced to leave the land of dreams where he could put the cruel non-Mages in their place.

He had half the mind to lie back on his pallet but his mother was right, if he didn't get up, they would have to survive on the remainder of the water he had gotten the day before, it wasn't very much.

The non-Mages were achieving the very thing they always wanted by rounding up the remaining Mages in the Lands of Nordin to a small town in Slyshell City like a mockery of their heritage, to break their spirits.

Thrika was a cursed town, the grounds dried and cracked, providing no water or nourishment for the people existing in it.

The non-Mages wanted to break their spirits under the guise of protecting the cities from the evil magical beasts that apparently the Mages had called up to wreak havoc on them, never mind that Mage dominated villages were the worst hit by the surge of magical creatures.

He got up from his pallet and obediently folded his threadbare sheets and placed it by the head of his pallet.

He knew this would shock his mother because he never remembered to fold it.

He dashed through the cramped house for the measured barrel with which he would go to the mouth of the city where non-Mages would be waiting with carrions of water to share to them… like they were domesticated animals.

Each day of existence broke his young spirit, what he wouldn't give to go back to the carefree days where his only worries were the other village children nitpicking on him, where he was younger and carefree.

But those days were gone, Nana Leona was long dead and he rarely saw the other village children anymore.

Although it hadn't been very long since then, Ceraun felt like he had always lived this constricting life where his existence was spat upon at his every waking moment.

His mom now weathered with age, it was unlikely how she would age so much in just the space of a year, was still holding on, he knew it was for his sake, he saw it on their weary faces each time they ate a sparse dinner that barely filled out their protruding collarbones.

She was getting ready to go down to the center of the town where she would gather with the other women to weave and sew until their fingers turned gnarly and black.

If they weren't able to complete their portion of work, they wouldn't get their ration of food for the day.

Ceraun had grown taller, limbs gangly and everywhere like he had no idea what to do with his body parts.

Cutting his hair was a luxury so he just left it long, tied up behind his head with a worn and broken piece of twine, non-Mages banned all weapons or sharp instruments from Thrika, saying that it could fuel a rebellion.

"I'm going, mother." He said in a low voice, sack robe threadbare.

His father working in the mines was responsible for their clothing and as usual was already long gone to slave away mining for precious materials for the non-Mages.

But Elder Feyrer wasn't who he used to be, now weathered down with suffering and a broken spirit, he could barely mine enough to ensure that they had a roof over their heads.

"Stay safe child." Tes responded in a weary voice punctuated with her lilting accent.

Ceraun was taller than his mother now, looking sadly at the hunched form of his mother, he dashed out of the house, the inability to do a thing to help eating away at his sanity.

"Was starting to wonder if you had gone soft on me and taken a bite of a wild lotus flower." Adrik drawled to him, the other boy was leaning against a partially broken pillar on the way, waiting for the other.

He was still taller than Ceraun, dark brown hair still cut short, hazel eyes staring out of a hard face.

"Shut up." Ceraun grumbled under his breath, he and Adrik had made a strange friendship of sorts, although Ceraun still had the odd sinking feeling that when it came down to it, Adrik wouldn't hesitate to push him off the edge of a cliff.

But what was a friendship without risks?

Wild lotus were the only plants other than the odd, useless weed that grew in Thrika, almost like it had been planted there for the sake of the Mages, its red lined white flowers were a lethal poison in full bloom and more often than not, Mages turned up dead in their homes from the plant's use.

"Decided to give up on life too?" Ceraun noted that Adrik didn't have a container with him, he carefully held his wooden barrel, if it broke it meant they wouldn't be able to get water so he had to handle the aged utensil with the utmost care.

Adrik scoffed, hard face older than his thirteen years of life. "While you were crying in your pallet, I went out and got water."

And so their back and forth would continue, Thrika was big enough that they didn't get to see much of the other surviving children of their fishing village so they just had each other.

It was no surprise as Mages who were captured from like villages banded together even though they were scattered throughout Thrika like a handful of grain against a thorny ground, laid out for birds to come and peck at them, for the sun to scorch.

Life was bleak, existence was a chore and the future was non-existent…

So exchanging crass and dark remarks and taunts with Adrik was one of the things that kept the both of them sane.