Chapitre 27: Back in the Ward mansion
"Step your right foot forward, do a low swing. Switch sides and do a high swing. Repeat fifty times." Connor was giving instructions to Osmond.
Osmond's sword training had started. He felt his leg splitting and his hands shredding. Yet he couldn't stop, for Connor was watching like a hawk.
"After this, you have to do your basic training. That will always be there," Connor glared.
Osmond felt as if he was sweating blood. He felt as if his lungs were rubbing against his ribs. His heart was running like a sprinting horse.
"You should be able to reach the maximum potential of your body, only then you can use Crux to cross it. Right now, Chadwick can do double of what you can," Connor shouted.
Osmond lay there as if his soul was sucked. His stomach complained like a wailing child.
"A small reward for your menial effort. You can meet your Demi slaves in the afternoon," Connor said without care.
Osmond slowly got up. He was waiting for this day. He went and had his meals, cleaned himself and waited.
Outside the side house, Kira was sitting on a bench. Her grey hair glistened in the rays of the sun. She was wearing a milky white robe. Her shackles have been cut and they have left a scar where the iron had pressed. Kivela was chasing a squirrel with her tail wagging. The squirrel jumped up a tree, out of Kivela's reach. Kivela stood there teary-eyed.
Feeling the presence, Kira looked and met with Osmond. She stood and bowed, "Good to see you, master."
Osmond sat on the bench and asked Kira to do the same.
"I cannot do that master," Kira said waving her hands.
After much persuasion, she sat near Osmond.
Kivela came running and hugged Osmond's legs.
"Brother," she called.
"It's master, Kivela," Kira said taking her to her lap.
"Are you two alright?" Osmond asked clasping his fingers.
Kira brushed Kivela's hair with her fingers. Kivela playfully squirmed in her mother's lap. Kira looked at the falling leaves and glanced at the sky.
"At first they were scared, we being Demihumans. But the slaves are together, so slowly they started taking care of us. Now Kivela is like their daughter," Kira smiled.
"Thank you master for taking us here," Kira said looking at Osmond.
"I didn't do anything, Kira," Osmond said smiling.
The three of them sat there watching the scenery. A bird perched on a branch. A squirrel came down looking for fruit. A cloud the shape of a lizard and a fish went away.
"Can I ask something, Kira," Osmond was looking at the clouds?
"Anything master," she said.
"Can you tell me, why were you crying that day?" Osmond asked softly.
Kira's eyes widened. She put down Kivela and asked her to go and play. Kivela went chasing the squirrel.
"I am so embarrassed," Kira covered her face.
"I am so sorry that I didn't tell you. I heard a noise and checked to see if you were alright," Osmond panicked.
"Did you see?" Kira asked wiping her face.
"The scars?" Osmond was looking down.
The squirrel cried and ran back. The birds chirped and Kivela giggled, yet the two on the bench were silent.
It was Kira who started speaking.
"You are kind, master and this place for us is a paradise. The masters before were not so kind. You are young, master and this is what I can say now."
"Sometimes men also have to be monsters," Connor had said. But it seems that some men choose to be monsters.
On the next day, Osmond was silent during his lecture. Channing was concerned and so he asked the reason.
"Why are people taken as slaves?" Osmond asked sadly.
Channing pulled on his beard and thought.
"Do you know from where the ancestors of Deimians came from?"
Osmond tried recalling but couldn't. He replied nodding with a no.
"They come from a land far from here. They call it 'The Land of ever snow.' They came in ships and landed on the coast of Deimo."
"For us, Deimo is a wasteland where anything barely grows but for them, it was a paradise. They went on conquering lands. But when they tried to cross to Pemphredo, it lead to war."
"The stronger army of Pemphredo won in the end and their conquest stopped there. And so The treaty of Deimo was signed."
"The treaty prohibited the formation of monarchy in Deimo. It also leads to the formation of the wall. As of now, the only way Deimians can live freely in Pemphredo is by becoming a slave and later earning their freedom."
"Then why was Kira kept as a slave?" Osmond was confused.
Channing looked at Osmond lovingly, "Out of spite," he said.
"Spite?"
"Humans can be cruel creatures. They want to give the same suffering they have to others. Deimians hated that their people were living as slaves. So they hunted for slaves themselves. The Demihumans."
"But what they did not know or maybe did not care was that the Deimian slaves are treated as humans. They captured the Demihumans and treated them as animals. They had no choice but to flee to The forest of right and left."
Osmond's mind turned. It was as if the humans were acting like the destitute, he thought. But hope remained.
Kira's people could still be out there.
"Is it possible to find other Demihumans, teacher?" Osmond asked.
"Well, you can. But as you are now, it will be hard." Channing replied thinking.
Osmond resolved that he will take Kira back to her people. He had now one more goal to achieve.
That night Osmond thought of Kira. He remembered the scars on her body and how she helped her through sickness. She was robbed of her family and he thought of something.
He was robbed of his family by the destitute and he wanted to kill them for that.
So what were humans to Kira then? Were they targets for her animosity?
Osmond didn't want to be hated by her.
Cadeaux
-- Cadeau
reçu État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone