บท 4: Chapter 3: The Man of Glass
~ Third Person P.O.V~
It was noon, a few days after the events in the orphanage mess hall. The scorching sun shone overhead, mercilessly bathing whoever was unlucky enough to find themselves beneath its gaze.
It was unusually hot especially for this time of year, most of the nuns had retired to the shade leaving the orphans out in the orphanage's garden where they grew produce meant for the orphans but instead sold by the nuns.
Leo, Ashley, and Piper found themselves among the unlucky ones to have absolutely no shade whatsoever.
"By the gods.. it's hot." Piper said, complaining, wiping a few beads of sweat from her face.
"And this time it isn't just me~" Leo joked, flashing his friend a cute little wink. Both sharing a small laugh, Piper punching him in the shoulder. Ashley simply rolling her eyes at the two.
"Yeah, you wish." She said, feeling a little relief in the fact that she's still got her friends.
The friends began to till the soil again, Ashley breaking the dry hard soil, Piper planting a seedling and Leo watering the patch.
"I said no!" The same cruel nun from yesterday shouted, obviously in an argument with someone within earshot of the three.
"What's going on?" Leo asked, his head turning towards that direction.
"I don't know, let's listen in" Piper said.
"You know, you two really shouldn't meddle in the business of others, especially that which you know nothing about." Ashley said, crossing her arms over her chest and closing her eyes.
"Wha- hey!" Ashley said, as she opened her eyes to see her friends left her there alone. She sighed shaking her head as she followed suit.
"I don't understand. Why even have an orphanage if you won't let anyone get adopted?" An elderly man with a gentle look on his face spoke to the nun, looking up at her standing on the steps to the door, resting his weight on his ornate golden cane, encrusted with a large ruby at its top.
"Listen here you sorry old fart, I don't care!" The nun yelled at the man, squinting at the shrill of her voice.
"Our organization can offer them safety, an education, a sense of family. We can actually give them a home." The man said, his dark black trench coat buttoned up to below his chest despite the heat. "Why aren't you letting them get adopted?"
"We have our reasons, old man." She said, glaring at him, the insult seeming rather strange for she too was quite elderly.
"Ah... I see" He says, slowly turning around. Each movement he makes seemingly causing him great pain. "I don't suppose one of those reasons would be the Trite Stone grants our dear city supplies you. The more mouths to feed.. the more Trite Stones. The more Trite Stones.. well." He said, trailing off as he walked away.
"WHAT?! Of course not." She shouted defensively before noticing him moving away. "Hey! Get back here!"
"Oh believe me... I will." He mumbled to himself, his weary eyes trailing to look at how they force the youth to hard labor. His eyes scanning the garden, before something, no someone catches his attention.
"Hmm.." he hums as he slowly approaches the large metal fence separating the orphanage from the surrounding woodlands.
"Oh crap! He's coming this way, quick-" Piper was interrupted by Leo.
"Hang on Piper, didn't you hear what he said? He wanted to adopt some of us... maybe.. maybe he can help us get out, you know?" Leo said, hope in his voice.
"Don't even think about it." Ashley chimed in.
"I couldn't help but notice you three were picking up on our little... discussion with your headmistress." He said in a soothing voice, his calm blue eyes watching the three's reactions to his words.
"I- Uhm, yeah.. well- I mean, that seemed more like an argument than a discussion..." Leo said, rubbing his nape.
The man smiled at the boy's comment. "Well, yes. Nasty bit of business that one." He said, shifting his weight to his cane.
"I'm Apollo, and you would be?" He asked them, he'd offer a handshake but the gate stood between them.
"I'm Piper!" The girl chimed in, the man finding her peppy nature quite charming. "This nugget right here is Leo." She said, wrapping an arm around the boy's neck.
"And I'm Ashley, why exactly are you talking to us?" She asked him, raising a brow.
"Cautious, the mark of an intelligent woman. That's good." He said with a soft smile. Though Ashley didn't seem that amused.
"I just wanted to take you all away from here.." He said, his weary eyes trailing to the large orphanage. "This.. horrible place." He said, his voice sounding pained as he closed his eyes.
"I want to give you.. all of you.." He spoke, his gaze lowering to the three then to the other orphans. "Another chance... I want to give you a life worth living... the lives you deserve.. that-" he paused, looking away with wistful eyes. "..that everyone deserves.. a family." pain in his voice as he whispers out the tail end of his sentence.
"D-do you really mean that?" Piper spoke up, her voice sounding rather... unsure.
"Hm?" The man raised a brow, humming at the girl's question.
"What you said.. that everybody deserves a fair chance at life.. that everyone deserves a family?" Leo spoke up, now he and Piper were close to the fence, Ashley right behind them.
"Yes.. yes I did, and I vow to get at least... you three out of here. Piper, Leo, and Ashley." He said, as his eyes moved from one to the other as he named them off. Ashley seeming rather.. affected by his words.
"And believe me.. I am a man of my word."
~Time Skip~
The light of the moon, it's trailing stars and the stars dotting the night sky barely shone through the sole window in Leo, Ashley and Piper's prison cell of a room, the night was still.. not quite unlike that of a few nights before.. though with one glaring difference.
Ashely lay in her bed, restless. While her brother and their friend slept soundly in their beds, she lay there, awake. Sleep not daring to grace her eyes.
"Family.." she said, like a faint whisper. The man's words seemed to have left a lasting impression on all of them.. though it would seem, the biggest mark was left on her.
"Do we.." she said, pulling out a little scribble her brother made back... when they were far younger, they were all 17 now, one year from being kicked out of the orphanage.. and with each passing day, it seems less and less likely that they'll ever be taken in. The drawing was a crude illustration of him, her, piper and two other stick figures labeled mom and dad with 'Our future family' scribbled across the top.
"Really.. deserve one?" She pondered, while her brother and Piper never seemed to lose hope in that.. she might have, though today.. something as simple as the man's words lit a fire inside her.
Her nose scrunched up as she gripped the paper in clawed hands. "Yes. Yes, we do." She said with determination in her voice.
"Leo!" She said, as she leaped out of bed.
"Guahhh!" He sat up startled, once again falling out of bed. "Ouch... I've gotta stop doing that.." he said, laying on his back, his legs raised up, resting against the bed.
"And Piper, reporting for duty." She said, springing up quite enthusiastically. Not used to seeing Ashley up and about so late at night, seemingly ready to give them something to do other than sleeping at that hour, no less.
"We're breaking out of here. Tonight." She said with determination in her voice.
Leo, Ashley, and Piper found themselves sneaking around the orphanage, trying to find a way out. After Piper used a hair lip and some bobby pins to open the door, it was only a matter of finding an exit.
Both Leo and Piper would be lying if they said they hadn't been dreaming of this moment for.. quite sometime now; but Ashley? They never knew she had it in her.
They kept their breaths slow as the nuns made their rounds, they were on the 3rd floor of the complex, now that wouldn't quite be the problem if it wasn't for the hallways seemingly stretching for miles.
"Are you sure this is the way?" Leo asked.
"Obviously not, we've never even been in this part of the orphanage before" Piper snapped at him in an effort to make him hush.
They made their way down spiral staircases, hid behind pillars, and narrowly evaded the prying eyes of the nuns making their rounds, flashlights in hand.
Finally, they were near the end, they merely had to cross through the Orphanage's garden, then make a break for it.
Everything was going according to plan.. until.
"HUH?!" Leo gasped, as a flashlight trained on him. The jig was up.
All of them felt the air grow hot as the figure eyed them, terrified.
The blinding light of the flashlight made it impossible to make out any features... that is, until the figure approached them.
However, instead of a swift smack to the side, they were met by a warm embrace.
"Sister.. sister Charlotte..?" Leo asked, looking up at the nun.
"Yes child, you don't have much time... take these.. and run." She said, handing them some trite stones, a few small yellow ones. "They should be enough to-" the Sister paused as another flashlight's light shone on them.
"Well now? What do we have here?"
~Time Skip~
About two hours after they were caught, their screams of pain continued to ring out through the penance wing of the orphanage.
The hallway was a dark musty one, lit only by a few torches, feeling quite out of place in the modern setting. Large metal doors led to rooms where the orphans were disciplined.
They ranged from simple starvation to beating to... something far worse.
"Please sister... no more" Leo said, bound by the wrists and forced to kneel.
"Silence!" She said, smacking his face with a metal cane. "you shall speak, only when spoken to."
He felt his cheek begin to bulge with pain.
"Now tell me, who's bright idea was it to try to sneak out? Do any of you worthless little whelps know how much that could have cost us?!" She said, walking back and forth in the room. Her cane already bloodied.
"So.. so that's it.. huh..?" Piper spoke up.
"What was that?" The nun asked, anger in her voice, walking towards her.
"All you're after.. your sisterhood what you stand for... it's all just.. just smoke and mirrors.." She said, taking in a pained breath.
"All you're after.. is money." She said, a bitter laugh escaping her lips.
The nun began to beat her senseless, until Ashley spoke up.
"Please.. miss stop... spare my friends.. it was my fault."
"I. Don't. Care." She said frankly, in a cruel calm voice.
All three of them were badly injured, Piper left unconscious. Leo and Ashley looked to their friend, blood dripping down their faces.
"You're all worthless. None of you, deserve love. Not even your own parents loved you enough, they left you.. with us" she smiled wickedly.
"To rot." She spat with venom in her voice. Leo and Ashley.. felt something, the face their friend was on the verge of death coupled with the nun's glee in the act... it sickened them to the core.
Leo gripped his chains as hard he could gritting his teeth. Ashley doing the same. The air temperature began to shift.. from intense heat to intense cold.
"W-what? What's happening?" She asked, as she looked around her. Cinders began to dance in the air with snowflakes as Ashley's chains caught flame, Leo's being covered in a creeping sheet of frost, both crawling towards the nun. Both of them began to arch their backs, not in control of what is happening.
While this was taking place, the distinct sound of leather shoes hitting pavement began to echo throughout the hall, only interrupted by the thud of a cane. Thump, thud, thump. Thump, thud, thump.
"SWEET MOTHER GIONE!" The nun cried...
"They're possessed!" She cried out, barreling out of the door, frost, and flame nipping at her clothes, turning a corner and bumping into none other than... Apollo, now dawning dark red glasses over his eyes.
"O-oh merciful goddess!" She said, nearly bumping into him.
The man simply grabbed her shoulder and lowered his glasses, his eyes flashing silver. As the nun fell unconscious, the man watcher her fall to the ground.
"No, not possessed." He said, eyeing her unconscious form. He stepped over her, rounding the corner and nearing the room.
"They are simply experiencing a flare." He said, before opening one palm, shooting out rays of frost, followed by fire creating a stunning display to block off the entrance to the room. By the time he stepped in, all three had fallen unconscious.
He looked at them, concern in his eyes, striking the pavement thrice with his cane, the shadows around them began to quiver and gather slowly enveloping them in an orb of darkness, growing smaller and smaller until no trace of him ever being there was left.
All the while, a lone figure watched them leave from the dark end of the hallway.
ของขวัญ
-- ได้รับของขวัญแล้ว สถานะพลังงานรายสัปดาห์
-- การจัดอันดับด้วยพลัง 
-- หินพลัง