Day Seventeen: Live or Die (2)

Pant... Pant... Pant...

The girl runs through the forest without stopping. She sometimes took a look back, as she tightened her grip at the short sword. She didn't know why those soldiers let her escaped, cause she herself knew, how horrible the Marquis is, she knew how they would be punished if the Marquis knew about it.

That's why her doubts keep getting bigger, as she continued to think of it, for what reason would they let her escaped? what would they gain from it? was it all part of the Marquis's ploys?

She couldn't find the answer no matter how much she thought about it. She experienced horrible things at the hand of others, she was raped, tortured, used as a pleasuring tool, used as a chair, a toy, a bait, and used as a punching bag by the people who bought her as a slave.

Slavery was renowned throughout Ashura, they were legalized by the rulers of a kingdom. And there are two types of it, Illegal and Legal ones.

The legalized slavery is managed by slave traders that the kingdom recognized, slaves in a legalized slavery has rights as they are only used for labor or things the slave themselves can do and approved of. The slaves in a legalized slavery are protected by the law; they must be given shelter, clothing, and food, if it can't be followed, the owner would be punished. That's why only nobles, merchants, and other people who could afford it, has slaves of their own. And the only way to be a slave in a legalized one would be through having a debt, if the person was not able to pay up the debt, then they would live their life as a slave until they were able to pay up their debts.

The second one is Illegal slavery, a type of slavery that the kingdom does not approve of. This slavery kidnaps people of different races and gender and sold them through the black market, the most abundant slaves here are female slaves, specifical elves with everlasting beauty. They are slavery that does not care about rights and treats the slaves they've to kidnap as things.

And the girl that is running through the forest is one of them.

Pant... Pant... Pant...

As the girl continued running, the wounds on her body, started to open up, red fluids was now dripping from her wounds. She couldn't feel the pain, but then she could feel the blood rushing out of her, as she stopped.

Pant... Pant... Pant...

Her breathing was unstable, as she clutched her chest, trying to get some air to her lungs. And she cooled down, she looked at her wounds.

「Girl: ...」

The girl tried to open her mouth as she tried to speak, but no words came out, specifically, no voice came out of her. It was one of the effects of the continuously crying and screaming that she did when she was younger, the pain that all living things should feel, was non-existent to her. It was like her body became completely numb, yet her sense of touch was still there and was just numbing her pain.

As the girl saw continuous blood dripping from her wounds, she sat down and leaned her body, with the weight on her back, to a tree.

She fixed the bandage of her wounds after she sat down, And looked around the forest, the night has already come, and different sounds of howling and growling could be heard everywhere.

The girl stood up and once again ready herself, and after moments she once again dashes through the dark forest, blood still dripping from her wounds, nevertheless, she continued to run. She didn't want to lie down and die, she didn't want to die, she couldn't waste all her efforts of enduring those painful tortures and unpleasant saliva of men and a few women, she doesn't want her efforts of enduring those men having their way with her body. She doesn't want it to be all in vain.

She wanted to live, and see her family again, she wanted to see her mother and father, she wanted to see her newborn sister that she saw with them as they looked for her.

That's why she would live and escaped death.

「Girl: I would live!」the girl thought as she runs.

And as she ran through the forest, different monsters started to appear, attracted by the sweet smell of her blood they followed her.

The girl immediately noticed them as she unsheathed the short sword she was holding. She may not be able to use it well, but it's better than nothing.

The girl slashed her way through the monster that appeared, though none of them died, she was still able to buy ample time for her escape.

And as if the Goddess Reil, wanted her head, she approached a dead end. A waterfall cliff was infront of her. She immediately halts her steps as she gets near the cliff.

She turned back and saw countless monsters slowly approaching her. There was no more escape route for her, fighting the monsters would kill her, and jumping through the waterfalls would endanger her wounded self.

She gritted her few teeth as she ready herself to fight the monsters, she would fight till the end is what she thought, cause at that moment she heard a low but gentle and beautiful voice of a girl.

「???: Jump and Live」It said.

She immediately scanned her surroundings as she heard the voice, she didn't know where it came from, and who's it was. Her heart started to pound loudly.

Lab-dub. Lab-dub. Lab-dub.

Her body started to heat up as she looked for the voice, and as if it was the deciding factor she heard it again.

「???: Live」It said.

And as the monster saw her moved, they ran towards her. The girl also started running, not towards the monsters, but then towards the waterfall.

She closed her eyes as she jumped, she tightened her grip on the sword she was holding and brace herself from impact.

And as she fell, she realized, the beautiful and gentle voice, she knew who's it was from, it was hers. The voice that disappeared along with her feelings of fear and pain, along with her tears, her voice also wanted her to survive.

Splash!

The girl's consciousness darkened as she plunged through the water. She couldn't feel anything anymore, she couldn't breathe, she couldn't open her eyes.

「Girl: Is this the feeling of death?」the girl thought.

「Girl: It truly is terrifying...」She thought as her consciousness wanders through the void. As her body sink deeper into the water.

A beautiful white hand of a woman reached out to her, as she wanders through the void. It was calling for her, the voice was so gentle and alluring as it called her, she went near the hand and reached her hand out as she tried to take the hand.

But before she could take it, she heard a voice, another voice, not herself nor the hand's, it was a very familiar voice to her. The voice she long to hear. The voice of the person that cared for her more than anyone.

「???: Lara, It's time to wake up, you still got a loooot of things you should do, right? Mother would be waiting for you, along with your father and little sister」it said, the voice was so comforting, completely different from the hand's voice, It was her mother's voice.

「???: So, return to us okay?」she said.

The void started to crack up as her mother's voice fades away, the white hand had already disappeared as soon as her mother's voice was heard, like a charm warding off an evil spirit.

A few moments later the void was destroyed, consciousness returns to her body. She could breathe, she could move, and she slowly opened her eyes, she saw a rocky ceiling, completely different from the water she saw earlier, and after a few seconds, she once again heard a voice, this time it was a man's.

「???: Oh! finally, you're awake, Good morning... Is what I'd like to say but it's night already」the man said.

She then turned her head towards the man who called out to her. As her gaze moves from the ceiling to the man, she realized that she wasn't in anyone's house, but instead inside a cave. And then she saw him, a boy that looks like the same age as her or older by a year, he was sitting infront of a campfire, where she lay near. The boy was cooking something on the side of the fire.

「Boy: Want to eat?」he spoke.