Bab 12: Do you seek strength?

The man kept gazing at the tombstone even as he talked. He didn't even look at Atlas for longer than a few seconds at a time.

Atlas had a thousand questions of his own, but he felt that it was better not to antagonize the man. He decided to tell his story, lowering his head.

"My story…" Atlas let out a sigh. "I wonder if I can even call it my story since I was never in charge of my own life. I was always in the backdrop, just trying to survive. However, being a weak human, what could I do? I was a commodity."

"When we were little, our mother died, giving birth to my little sister. I was two years old when that happened. As she died, we were only left with our father, who wasn't a bad man at that time."

"However, the death of our mother changed our father. He started drinking more and more. There wasn't a single day when he didn't come home drunk. Not only that, he always blamed my sister for my mother's death even though it wasn't her fault." Atlas let out, remembering many instances where his father hit his sister. Not only her but even he was beaten regularly for minor things.

Hearing the story, the silver-haired man raised his eyes to notice the expressions of Atlas.

Meanwhile, Atlas continued with his story. "Despite all the taunts from our drunkard father, we were living our lives the best we could. However, it came to an end..."

"I was twelve years old, and my sister was ten at that time when our father came back drunk like every day. However, it was different that day. He came with an old man with him..."

"Why?" The silver-haired man asked.

"I always wondered where our father was getting the money to drink. It turns out he was taking loan after loan from the old man that he brought home. And it was the day when the old man stopped giving my father loans until he paid back his old loans."

"By that time, our father was already addicted to alcohol. He couldn't bear the thought of not being able to drink, so he made a decision... Since he couldn't give the old man money, he decided to give him something else..."

"Your sister," the silver-haired man muttered as if he could already guess.

Atlas responded with a nod. "My father decided to sell my sister to the old man. I kept begging him not to do this, but he didn't listen. He pushed me aside and handed over my crying sister to the old man..."

"What did you do?" The man inquired.

"What could I do? I was weak and couldn't face two adults." Atlas sighed.

"So you let the man take her?" The silver-haired man frowned as a look of disgust flashed before his eyes.

"No." Atlas shook his head. " I couldn't let them take my sister either despite being weak. I ran to the kitchen and picked up a knife. Since I didn't have strength, I could only take external help."

"You killed the old man and your father?" asked the man.

Atlas nodded in response. "I killed the old man. When my father saw me kill the old man, he stepped back in fear and slipped. His head hit the table in the back. Even though he didn't move after that, I'm not sure if he died after that or was just unconscious when I ran with my sister."

"Sigh, I might've done the same if I was in your place." The man nodded. "In our world, people often forget the importance of family. Only people who don't have a family know the importance of a family..."

Atlas could feel the sadness in the voice of the man as he spoke.

"You didn't have a family?" he asked.

The man simply shook his head. "I didn't have a family. But I made a family of my own in this world. Even though I didn't have a family by birth, I had people who could support me. They were no less than family…."

As he spoke, he shifted his attention back to the tombstone. The sadness once again flashed in his eyes.

"Anyway, continue with your story. What happened?" he let out.

"Right. I ran away from home with my sister, closing the door from the outside."

"We left the village and continued running. We didn't know how far we could run as we had no food or water. We were almost on the verge of death from hunger and thirst."

"That's when we noticed a carriage in the distance. We stood in the path of the carriage, hoping they could spare some food for us. Worst decision of my life… it would've been better to die of hunger that day."

"The carriage stopped, and the man inside gave us food and water. If only I knew how dearly that food was going to cost us. Those people lured us with their kindness and took us with them. I didn't know how vile they were from the inside until it was too late."

"What did they do?" the man asked.

"They took my sister and me with them and sold us in the market of slaves as if we were their property. We kept begging to be free, but no one listened."

"That's where we were bought by another old man who brought us to a Palace in the mountains. I didn't know it at that time, but it was a Palace owned by the Vampires. We were kept in a cell and used for our blood for four years."

Atlas continued his story, talking about how they spent their last few years. He spoke calmly about everything that took place in his life. However, it was only when he spoke of the incident in the main hall that tears appeared in his eyes.

"My sister... She died right before my eyes. I couldn't do anything to save us. I was too weak. I couldn't even face human guards who stopped me from giving a proper burial to my sister after her death."

"If only I had the strength... I could've saved her!" Atlas clenched his fist. "Why is it such a big crime to be weak in this world? Do we have no rights just because we are weak? Can the strong do whatever they want?!"

The silver-haired man didn't respond and went silent as he glanced at the Blood Moon in the sky.

"Do you seek strength?" After a long time, he opened his lips.

"If strength helps me get my sister's body back, then yes! Even if I'm told to become someone's slave in exchange for them helping my sister, I would agree in a heartbeat. I want nothing for me, but I want her body to rest in peace," Atlas replied. "But it's impossible."

"The world has changed a lot, it seems. But some things remain the same. They never stop toying with humans. Sigh, when will they learn..." The silver-haired man let out a sigh, shaking his head. "It seems the world needs a change. Maybe that's why you managed to get here…."