Fantastopia: The New Life (Part 1)

My heart just cracked

By the time my training was done, I was so tired from swinging my arms so much that I can barely lift my arms. I sure hope I can use my writing arm tomorrow, though I doubt that’ll be possible considering it’ll be sore the next day.

Great...

After gathering my stuff, I was about to head into a room to change into my normal clothes before heading back when I heard someone speaking behind me.

“How was your first day of actual training?”

I saw that it was Averyl, his hands and clothes were covered in dirt, grease, and charcoal. I really hope he didn’t come here to talk to me about catching me ‘spying’ on him earlier. Cause I wasn’t.

“Oh um-” I began, hoping I was appearing calm “Exhausting.”

“Every training and battle you’ll do is exhausting, even to the most skilled fighters. But the more you do it, the less tired you’ll get.”

“I sure hope so.”

“Don’t worry, I know you’ll get the hang of it, no matter how long it takes.”

“Thanks.”

Okay, so maybe he didn’t come here to talk about what happened earlier.

“So-” he suddenly added, “Before you go, do you care to explain why you were spying on me earlier?”

Shit.

“Um uh-” I froze with my eyes widen “I really wasn’t trying to spy on you, I didn’t even know you were in that room. I just couldn’t stop looking at uh- um- I uh- well I was just-”

He held his palm up to stop my blabbering.

“I get it” he stated as he lowered his arm.

“It’s not what you think I swear,” I ensured, hoping he wasn’t thinking what I thought he was thinking of.

“You’re curious about the mark on my arm.”

“Yes!” I exclaimed in relief “Exactly! Oh, thank goodness! I really thought you were going to say that I was-”

I froze, why the hell am I even telling him this. Nice going, Jesse, once again, you keep humiliating yourself. Averyl just stood there, staring at me with no expression on his face, not even saying anything.

“Well um-” I mumbled nervously “You know what I mean. But I’m not, just so you know.”

“Are you always like this?” he asked me.

“Yes,” I quickly replied, “Unfortunately I am.”

“Hm,” he snickered “Don’t feel bad, everyone’s weird in their own way.”

“I always seem to forget that.”

“Everyone does, it’s what makes us weird.”

“... That is so true.”

Averyl gave another snicker as he pulled up his sleeve to show me the mark on his arm. I noticed that his smile had weakened, and as I got a closer look at the mark, I saw that it was some kind of symbol of a skull surrounded by a border and other designs, kind of like a coat of arms, but in a deadly version.

“What is this?” I asked him astonished “If it’s some kind of birthmark that is one crazy birthmark.”

“It’s not a birthmark” he replied, his tone suddenly dark “It’s a branding mark.”

“A branding mark?”

He gave me this look that answered it all as I felt my stomach flop.

“You mean-” I began with my eyes widen “You were uh- uh-”

“A slave?” he finished “Yes. Yes, I was.”

No way. I can see it now, the symbol on his arm had been burned into his skin, and now it’s on him forever.

“Oh man” I breathed in shock “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay” he assured while putting his arm down “It was many years ago. I’m free now, and that’s all that matters.”

“Um, do you mind if I ask how it all happened?”

He let out a sad sigh, hopefully, he was okay with telling me his tragic story.

“I usually don’t like talking about this” he muttered “But since you’re new and you did ask politely, perhaps it’ll be fine. But are you prepared for a long story?”

“In this world, I’m always prepared for long stories.”

He gave a small chuckle when he began.

“I think I was 13, and one night, my village got attacked by these savage people. They killed all of the adults, including my parents, and they abducted all the kids and put them into a slave trade. I was one of those unlucky kids, including my brother who was only 8 at the time. We were all taken to this unknown town where they sold most of the stolen kids, and those who didn’t get bought were forced to stay and work in that town.

They burned this symbol into our skins, I can still remember how painful it was, feeling the hot iron melting away my flesh. We were forced to do whatever labor was given to us, and we barely got any breaks. Whenever we would do our work poorly, they would t*****e us with whatever they had. Usually, it was with whips, but sometimes they can go as far as pouring boiling water on us, scarring us with their knives, there was this one kid who even got his finger chopped off.”

I clasped my hand over my hand to muffle my gasp. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, how could anyone be so cruel to children?!

“I made sure I did all of my work correctly, and I did whatever I could to help the others from getting those beatings. And as the years past, I’ve gotten so used to working that I barely got tired anymore. But I knew I had to find a way out of this, one way or another, I was going to escape, and if not, I could hope for a miracle to save all.

But then one day, a few days after I turned 17, this man appeared and he told the owner that he wanted to buy all of us. I overheard the conversation, and at first, the owner refused to let this man buy all of us, but after some hard convincing, he allowed me to be sold to this man. At first, I thought that this nightmare was never going to end, we all have been sold to this stranger who could be just as worst as our last owner. But to our surprise, the man was actually a friend of my parents, and ever since the night of the ambush, he’s been trying to find all of the kids who were stolen.”

“Whoa,” I gasped, now things are turning better.

“He was actually able to find the other kids who were bought before us, well, at least the ones who were still alive.”

“Oh,” I responded sadly.

“Apparently, it was even harder for him to find us. He had to do a lot of asking and traveling until after all those years, he finally managed to find me and the others. I don’t know how he did it, but if it wasn’t for him, we’d all still be living a nightmare. After rescuing us, he brought us to this castle where he gave us the option of becoming warriors. And to my surprise, we all chose that path. He trained us, he made sure we were cared for, and once we were ready, he helped us find permanent homes.”

“Wow” I smiled amusedly “That’s amazing, I sure wish I can meet this guy.”

“You already did” Averyl suddenly smiled back.

“I did?” I remarked “Who?”

“He’s your trainer.”

At that point, I gave a loud gasp when I realized who it was.

“Farrell?” I gasped as he nodded with a smile “No way! Really?!”

“He may be a strict guy, but he’ll do whatever it takes to save a life because he’s that loyal.”

“Damn” I breathed astonished “That’s incredible.”

“We all owe our lives to him, he gave us our freedom.”

“But, what happened to those people who put you in the slave trade?”

“From what I heard, most of them got caught, but we never knew what happened to the others, for all we know, they could still be out there doing their cruel job. But I swore to myself that if I ever see that boss man who stole us from our homes and forced us into s*****y, I would make sure he would never get anywhere near me and the ones I care about. I haven’t seen him since that day, and I hope I never will.”

“I hope so as well” I agreed when a thought came to me “But hold on a second, you said that everyone chose to become a warrior, you were a warrior too?”

“I was” he breathed when his smile suddenly faded “I actually enjoyed it for a while.”

“Until what?”

“I um-” he avoided “I really don’t wanna talk about it.”

Darn, I was really hoping he would. But, I have to do the right thing.

“It’s okay” I assured calmly “I won’t ask again. But um, if you don’t want to talk about that, can you at least tell me what became of the others?”

“I know that most of them have moved on with their new lives, some stayed here, some moved away. Although I don’t really know how they’re doing now, I haven’t left this area in years.”

“How come?”

“Just seeing the outside brings too many memories” he mumbled while rubbing his burned arm “I only go outside if I need something, but I stay in here whenever I can, doing whatever work that needs to be done.”

“And you’re okay with that?”

“I am actually. I do talk with some of my old friends whenever I see them here, but this is my life now, and I’m fine with it.”

It doesn’t appear like he’s fine with it, he looks like he’s trying to hide his real pain with a fake smile.

“Are you living by yourself here?” I asked, “Or are you living with your brother?”

Once again, his smile went away. Oh oh, let me guess, something bad happened to his brother?

“My brother actually passed away a little over 10 years ago,” he told me quietly.

I knew it. And like always, whenever I would hear death, my heart cracks.

“I’m sorry.”

“Thanks” he sighed sadly “Well um, I should get going, you should too.”

“Well um, before I go, I just want you to know that if you ever want to talk about anything, you can always talk to me, okay?”

“Thanks” he nodded when he gave my shoulder a pat “You have a good night.”

“You too” I replied as I watched him walk all while pulling his sleeve down his arm.

Man, that poor guy. He’s suffered so much over the years, and I can tell he still does. I’m pretty sure most of it has to do with PTSD, but still, he lost his whole family, and I can tell he’s forcing himself to be alone. All that guy needs if a friend, and if no one was going to do it, then I will.