Taming the Wild: A Game of Control

As a matter of course, Sebastian Cervantes saw Cecilia Delsa again, she appeared in his dream world at the age of thirty-seven, when he was still in the prime of life, and the past came back to him with her, as the rusty ship rocked in the storms of the tropical ocean with its relentless pursuit of memories, and take him back to Bessarica, back to that unprecedented winter. Counting from the days when it was a small dock hundreds of years ago, Bessarica has been through countless gales and rainstorms, but it has never snowed in the city, not noce. No one expected that on this seemingly ordinary winter day, a heavy snowfall that would last for a hundred days would come together as the Winter God's Ritual approached. The night before the blizzard hit Besaliga, then twenty-year-old Sebastian Cervantes crossed the Guarda River for the first time in his life and walked into the misty Lower Town, he did not enter the brothel-filled Bolano Street like other rich kids who came to the Lower Town to unleash their desires, but only because of a message brought by Javier Villanova. “The kingdom's most prestigious itinerant brothel is coming to Bessarica to sell the first night of a pair of twin sisters.” It was said that the sisters had just come of age, with their snow-white hair, golden pupils, and exceptional beauty, and that they had learned all manner of man-pleasing skills since childhood, attracting many uptowners who wanted to see what they had to offer, even though the price for a night with them could be expected to be high. In the previous twenty years of his life, Sebastian had seduced puritanical maidens and tasted widowed noblewomen, but he'd never had the pleasure of having two identical faces submit to him at the same time, and the freshness of that desire drove him to the edge of the city, where he was accompanied by two of his best friends, Javier Villanova and Aiden Conrad. The itinerant brothel was stationed in a deep forest, and the tents were packed with rich kids who had come to seek excitement, and at nightfall, starting at a hundred osos, the auction prices rose, and lips hidden behind masks howled with passion, and after many rounds of jockeying for position, Sebastian won the night with a price of a hundred thousand orosos. After the auction, the naked twin sisters led Sebastian into an ornately decorated purple tent, the two young girls as fresh and delicate as lilies, their bodies as soft as if they had no bones, their ways of pleasuring him fresh and bold, their movements so skillful that he almost began to suspect that he was paying for two false virgins. But Sebastian didn't care about any of that, and he didn't pay attention to where his two partners were at the moment; the two young girls who encircled him one after the other kept him swimming tirelessly in a sea of desire all night long, until the next afternoon, when Javier lifted the tent's curtains and yanked the naked man out of his bedding. “We should get back, the radio said there might be a thunderstorm this evening.” Javier said. Sebastian reluctantly dressed, not forgetting to kiss the two young girls passionately, and at Javier's impatient urging, Sebastian hurried the car, Aiden was sitting in the passenger seat, listlessly stating that he was exhausted and needed a nap on the way back. Javier Villanova started the car, short and gruff, cursing under his breath, eager to get through the soon-to-be-closed river crossing before darkness fell. The body lurched violently as the wheels ran over a small dirt puddle, and Sebastian scoffed, “Javier, you're a worse driver than blinkered and deaf Felipe.” Javier twisted the steering wheel indifferently, only to hear Sebastian add, “Can we get back to the other side before curfew if you're so slow?” Whenever night falls and the barrier on the bridge across the river falls, Bessarica will be divided into two worlds by the Guarda River, on one side is the “civilized world” with clean streets and beautiful buildings, on the other side lives the kingdom's poorest commoners and the natives of the southern continent who have been lured here by all sorts of reasons, as well as their mixed-race offspring. In the Lower Town, where drunks and vagabonds roam in packs, and witches and minstrels let loose with their songs, the poor have accepted each other for decades, their blood fit together, doing the dirtiest and most exhausting jobs in a neighborhood they're not allowed to leave, and waiting for relief day in and day out. Of course, the rich, who traveled freely along the banks of the Guarda, often set foot in the slums. Bolano Street, close to the riverbank, was the best place to have fun, and poor women who couldn't survive will selling their bodies for pay, and the rich would spend a little money to torture poor poor women to satisfy the dirtiest, most evil pleasures they couldn't get from their wives and mistresses. It was not uncommon for women to die as a result, and their bodies would be put into a tattered burlap sack and thrown into the dump at the very edge of the ghetto, to be burned along with everything else that was shipped over from the rich neighborhoods. The bell rang again, but Javier drove slower and slower, he said, “My noble young master Cervantes, please open your eyes and look out the window, this damn place is full of potholes, what if accelerating causes the car to go out of control?” Aiden Conrad, who was sitting upright on the side, quickly agreed, “Basti, don't be anxious, safety is the most important thing, it doesn't matter if the barrier is closed, I'll ask my father to send someone over.” Sebastian craned his head to look out the window, only to see the deep night gradually spreading out, the buildings in front of him a blur, and even more bizarrely, a large, heavy snowflake falling through the dark clouds to the earth. “It's snowing?” Sebastian rubbed his eyes, an incredulous expression on his face. In just a few moments, the dirty black streets were almost almost covered with snow, the hurried passersby disappeared one by one, and only a dead silence remained in the night. Sebastian let out a loud laugh and said indifferently, "Whatever the weather, it's all worth it, after all, that's a pair of twin sisters! Couldn't wait to get themselves naked before they even entered the room, rutted around my legs all night, shook their breasts in enjoyment of whatever I did to them, just the perfect bitches!" Javier licked his lips and replied, “Indeed Bastian, I have to say that such bitches are much more passionate than the pretentious rich ladies we usually see, willing to do anything to please a man.” Aiden, who was silent on the sidelines, Sebastian put a firm arm around his shoulders and said, "My dear little Aiden, did you spend last night alone again? Those sisters were really passionate last night, causing me to not take care of you, don't worry, next time I will find you a special one and take your lovely virginity." Aiden sniffled, a few freckles on his nose twitching uneasily, “Basti, don't be ridiculous.” Javier chuckled, “Basti, don't torture Aiden, I think the boy probably took his father's words as a commandment to remain a virgin until he takes his lovely bride!” The wheels of the car ran over snow-covered garbage along the way, leaving deep tracks in the snow, and the streetlights on both sides of the road didn't exactly illuminate the streets in the darkness as Javier carefully gripped the wheel and turned right in front of a statue that had lost its head, passing through a shaky shantytown before finally pulling into Balville Street. Balville Street was wider and smoother compared to the previous street, Javier temporarily breathed a sigh of relief, leaned back in his seat with ease and comfort, and said, “All is well, the end of Balville Street is Bolano Street, and the Guarda River is close at hand!” Javier stepped on the gas through yet another intersection with a relaxed expression, not forgetting to scowl back at his two friends, Aiden turning pale at that moment as he exclaimed, "Oh my God! Javier, look out!" An old woman on crutches suddenly appeared in the middle of the road as if she had fallen from the heavens, dragging a tattered wicker basket at a slow pace, she was crossing the road slowly, unaware of the impending danger. “Brake, quick!” Sebastian shouted. Javier honked the horn while slamming on the brakes, the snowy roadway emitting a relentless taunt as the car didn't slow down much, and Sebastian stuck his head out the window in the heat of the moment and shouted to the old woman, "Hey! Old woman! Get out of the way!" The old woman looked up, looking fearful and bewildered, and shifted both feet in a panic to get out of the way of the danger, only to end up slipping and falling to the ground from the snow. Despite Javier's best efforts to turn the steering wheel in an attempt to change the direction of the car's travel, the wheels ran over the old woman's legs, and the wail of misery mingled with the harsh sound of the brakes, echoing through the empty street. The iron fence across the curb stopped the car from skidding, and Aiden shivered and opened his mouth, "What should we do? Basti?" The fear lasted only a few seconds, seconds before Sebastian was the first to jump out of the car and walk over to the old woman, kicking the still wailing woman with his foot, who cursed under her breath and grabbed a handful of dirt mixed with snow and threw it in his face. Sebastian turned back to his partner and said, “She's not dead, probably just broke his leg on a wheel.” By now, Javier had also regained his composure, he got out of the car and said, “It doesn't matter if she's dead or alive, it's just an old woman from the ghetto, no different than a rat.” Sebastian and Javier kicked the old woman aside and got into the car as if nothing had happened, Aiden watched this and seemed to have compassion, he threw all the bills he had on him at the old woman along with his watch and said, “That's enough to cover the medical bills.” After Aiden got into the car, Sebastian said, “You don't have to do this, Aiden, that's just a pariah.” Leaving the old woman, the car restarted and continued on its way, and after skirting a pile of masonry placed haphazardly in the road, the car stopped in front of a row of dilapidated stores, and Sebastian asked, somewhat wearily, "What's wrong again? Javier, there's a curfew coming up." “The car died, something probably went wrong,” Javier blinked innocently, “Try it if you don't believe me, it won't start anyhow.” Sebastian and Javier traded places, no matter how much he fiddled with it, the car never started, parked in the cold windy night, they were out of ideas for a while. “We probably won't actually make curfew.” Javier said dejectedly. Aiden shuddered and clutched his shoulders tightly, looking to Sebastian next to him for advice, "What do we do now? Basti?" Sebastian frowned, before crossing the Guarda River he hadn't expected at all to be stranded on the Barville Street, the icy air that reeked of stale air froze his face numb, and his two companions, equally grim, kept stomping their nearly frozen feet. Javier said, “Let's find a place to sit for a while, we're going to freeze at this rate.” They were all wearing silk shirts that facilitated their indulgence, with only jackets of varying colors and materials over their shirts, and Aiden rubbed his hands together and said, “I agree with Javier's suggestion that we find a warm place to sit for a while, and then have my father contact the city's traffic control department to get a special pass to take us home.” There was really no other way, but Aiden's father, Conrad Sr., who ran the jewelry business, was a wealthy businessman in Bessarica, and in fact, there was no need for a special permit, as long as Conrad Sr. called, someone would naturally drive to take them home. Where to go to escape the blizzard became the most important thing, the stores on the street were closed in the blizzard, except for a few pathetic old street lamps that emitted a weak light, it was almost pitch black around them, and the three boys barely moved forward along the road, shivering and shaking the snowflakes from their bodies as they went. “That was fun, we're not going to freeze to death in the ghetto are we?” Sebastian, who was at the front of the pack, exhaled a breath of white air, still in the mood to joke despite his body being frozen stiff. Javier and Aiden didn't respond, and their steps came to an abrupt halt, while at the same time, a worn wooden door opened silently in the blizzard.