Progression(3)

The men surrounded the wagon like a pack of wolves, their eyes alight with mischief and sadistic sensibilities. They wore yellow-colored uniforms with a dog-shaped insignia engraved at their right chest. They each were armed with one long sword and a dagger. Sorren gazed at the men warily, he clutched Callie and Cale close to keep them within range.

" OI, WHERE'S YOUR IDENTIFICATION?" The red-haired asked. Sorren flinched. He knew nothing regarding the identification process for the capital villages. Sorren clamped his mouth shut not knowing what to say.

The commotion brought about a few stragglers, wondering what was going on.

Sorren felt his heart thumping wildly, his body trembled involuntarily as he stared at the red-haired man before him. It was because he could feel something akin to malevolence coming from him. Sorren who trained with his father knew what this was, it was "Bloodlust" and it was projected wholeheartedly unto him and his siblings.

"OI, YOU IGNORING ME BRAT? I ASKED WHAT YOU'RE DOING OVER HERE! I DON'T SEE YOUR IDENTIFICATION EITHER!!" The red-haired growled fiercely. A vein bulged from his neck and he slammed his hand down on the wagon, visible cracks etched into the exterior.

The loud noise caused Sorren and his siblings to flinch in agitation. Sorren felt tremendous fear, he clutched his sibling closer. He knew that one wrong move could spell death for him and his siblings.

"I-I...W-we…" Sorren stuttered, barely able to get the words out. "We don't have any, but we meant no harm! W-we jus-" However the red-haired man lashed out in anger. He swiftly grabbed Sorrens neck. Sorren could barely react because the speed was too fast.

"HAAAH!? DID I ASK YOU THAT?" The red-haired man tightened his hold on Sorren's neck.

"No identification? That means….you're a blank…..and blanks…." He gripped the sword near the left side of his waist.

*Skrrrt*

the blade slowly slid from the scabbard revealing a silver steel blade that gleamed brightly in the sunlight.

"blanks get disciplined," He said sinisterly.

Callie and Cale cried out hysterically. They faced red as they tried to reach out to their older brother who was dangling from the iron grip of the red-haired man.

"SOWEEEN"

"LET BIG BWOTHA SOWEN GO"

The commotion brought even more people, this time a large circle formed. Women gasped in shock, covering their mouths in horror at the spectacle. Men turned away in shame, not wanting to intervene in something that was the norm. They knew this was reality, though cruel, those that don't harbor the rules of the kingdom were treated in such ways.

Sorren felt the air sucking out of him. He felt the crushing weight of the man's large hands as he gripped his neck tighter and tighter. Sorren in his haste scratched at the man's hand, trying earnestly to get out of the man's clutches. He glared fiercely, not wanting to yield. Sorren kicked at the man's chest as hard as he could, but this prompted a chuckle from the red-haired man.

'OHO! THIS YOUNG LAD HAS A BIT OF SPUNK IN HIM!" The man cried in amusement. His posse snickered as they watched.

"Oi, you see who you're kicking here?" The man tapped on his hound-shaped insignia repeatedly. "I can have you executed for resisting boy kekeke '' The man's eyes curved like crescent moons, he shook Sorren like a rag doll as he grinned with glee.

As the man continued to taunt and shake Sorren, the momentum caused a green trinket to fall from Sorren's shirt, sparkling brightly in the exposed sun. One of the man's companions caught sight of it.

His eyes flashed with greed and he grinned.

"Oi oi Dormon, no need to be so violent, he's just a naive kid. Perhaps he just made a mistake is all" One man approached and patted the red harried man known as Dormon on the shoulder. He had a lanky almost boney physique. Long stringy hair like writhing worms tied into a messy ponytail. His cheeks were sunken and his eyes were leery, colored a deep obsidian black.

"B-but Captain Porter! To leave these fugitives is-" The man waved his hands " Come now Dormon, let's just hear the little lad out, can't you see his desperation" Dormon clicked his tongue and loosened his hold on the boy's neck. Sorren slowly slipped and fell to his knees, having fits of coughing.

"Agh, cough cough" He gasped for breath as he slowly reached for his throbbing neck.

The stringy-haired man known as Porter casually walked up to Sorren and kneeled on one knee. "Sorry sorry kid. The names Porter...Porter Machin. I'm sure we startled you" The man named Porter spoke in a friendly, comforting tone. He smiled gently at Sorren.

" We just got word that some blanks had snuck in here, so we're a bit alert you see. Those who don't adhere to the "Golden principles" have to be disciplined...hope you understand" Sorren gritted his teeth. He wanted to deny being considered a blank, He always followed the rules just like the rest of his fellow village men. yet he abstained.

" I don't see your guardian here, I'd like to think they would explain these principles to you," Porter asked. Sorren stared at the man. He felt…..alarmed. Though this man spoke in a gentle tone, Sorren couldn't help but feel wary of the man. It was like...a snake was slowly slithering around his neck, tightening his hold on him. If anything out of all the men in this group This man gave Sorren the most agitation.

"W-We did come with someone….he went away somewhere" The man nodded in understanding. "I see, and what might this man's name be" Sorren hesitated. He felt like telling this man anything was dangerous but he didn't understand why.

"OI THE CAPTAIN ASKED YOU A QUESTION" Dormon shouted and gripped his sword and took a step threateningly. However, he stopped when Porter lifted his hand. Porter turned once more and smiled brightly.

Sorren gritted his teeth. His head was swamped due to this dilemma. If he didnt talk he felt that it would be dangerous. But If he did talk, then something bad would still happen, that was what his instincts were telling him. It was like it was a double-edged sword. Sorren tensed up and spoke...

"H-His name is...Jean"

There was a long pause, and neither man said anything. Porter's smile widened. "I see...and where might Jean...be?"

Sorren's heart slammed against his chest. He didn't know why but he felt like something was horribly wrong. Porter seemed normal, he was still smiling in a friendly way but for some reason, that smile seemed...deadly.

"I...I don't know," Sorren said. Porter shook his finger at the boy.

"Tch tch, growing boys shouldn't lie, you can get dragged to the beasts if you do," Porter said in a mushy tone.

" Tell you what. You tell us where Jean is, I'll overlook this little incident. Heck I'll even help you get a nice good place here, identification, job and all. You'll be able to provide for those little tots of yours. what do you say?" The man gestured at Callie and Cale, they were still crying, not understanding what was going on.

Sorren shook his head "I-I don't know"

Porter sighed. "You're killing me here kid. Do you even know who you'd been traveling with?" Sorren frowned. "W-what do you mean"

"That Jean there is a bonafide fugitive, a walking calamity. Everywhere he goes people end up broken, crying, or worse yet dead. You should really just abandon a curse like that and move on" Porter shrugged.

Sorren didn't understand what he was talking about. Jean a curse? Jean was always laid back and filled with kindness. He'd never harm anyone, so why?

The man read Sorrens confused expression.

"Aha~ he hasn't told you anything I see." The man snickered. "That fool was responsible for having his parents executed many years ago" time seemed to pause as Sorren processed his words.

" W...What?"

Jeans..parents were executed? And it was his fault?

" Haah, so you really knew nothing. Honestly, that guy should have been executed a long time ago, I mean he would sleep around with almost any woman and then dump them, breaking the hearts of all young maidens. But then a p-a-r-t-i-c-u-l-a-r maiden happened to be a noble's daughter per se, and well….let's just say he wasn't happy" Porter snickered at the memory, but Sorren wasn't laughing.

"Anyway, because he was too much of a coward he blamed it on his parents and got them executed. Then he got up and ran off." The man shrugged as he spoke the last bit.

'I don't understand, Jean said his parents died due to a disease, he was born and raised in Wheatonville...and yet these guys are saying Jean was originally from the capital village Lo'Ven'

"T-that can't be..J-Jean was born and raised in Wheatonville, there's no way he'd do something like that" Sorren denied it deeply.

" Aiya~ so that's where he's been hiding. And look what's happened to it, Wheatonville had been destroyed, you a homeless fugitive, your reality crumbled to dust" The man spread his hands. Sorren lowered his head in a daze.

"Now that you understand, why not alleviate such an accursed person and be free" Porter held out his hand in offering. There was a long pause. The man grinned as Sorren was in a dilemma.

Then….

*SLAP*

Sorren slapped Porter's hand away and glowered at him fiercely. "I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING AND I WILL NEVER TELL YOU ANYTHING!!" Sorren shouted.

He didn't care what Jean was then and what he is now, all he knew was that Jean was like family, someone who stuck with him even after his parents died and was still with him now. Sorren considered Jean like an older brother, whatever his circumstances were, he did not judge what he was now.

The Crowd gasped and their faces paled. Some were even angry though they couldn't hear what was being said, they judged based on what they saw.

"That idiot! why would he get on the overseers' bad side?"

"Suburban kids really are ungrateful"

" tch, tch, truly horrible. Instead of acting tough, he could have still lived."

Ported looked down at his slapped hand, his bright smile still stuck on his face. Then he clenched it tightly. He chuckled slowly before it gradually grew louder and louder until he was laughing out loudly, tears running down his face.

"Kehehe... Haaah I really like loyal kids like you…. But you should really pay attention to your reality boy" The man stood up and waved his hands.

Suddenly...

"UWAAAAAH" Sorren quickly turned and saw Callie being yanked from the wagon by her hair, she squirmed and kicked as the man quickly took out his dagger and pointed it at the child's neck, blood trickled slowly on the silver dagger, droplets of blood splattering on the pavement.

Dormon the red-haired man pointed his sword at Cale's neck, he grinned sinisterly ready to slice the boy's neck without hesitation upon the order.

Sorren staggered up and tried to run to his siblings, but then a looming shadow came, and suddenly, Sorren's once upright vision twirled wildly and suddenly his face was facing the paved roads, his body in pain.

'H-he's so fast' Sorren couldn't even sense the guy nor see him, his strength was just that high.

"Harboring a fugitive, Entering a village without identification, lying to authorities. You have quite a lot of crimes here lad" Porter raised his voice loudly for all to hear.

" AND NOW," Porter said as he pinned Sorren to the ground, he was still smiling brightly. His raised voice gradually lowered back to its casual tone

" you have one more chance"

Sorren tried to squirm and get out of his hold, but Porter proved to be quite strong despite his lanky body. Sorren glared at Porter.

" YOU LET MY SIBLING GO!! THEY HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS!" Sorren yelled but that prompted Porter to slam his head on the road.

"KYAA" The crowd flinched, some turning their gaze away at the brutality. Sorren spit out blood. Despite the pain, he still glared at Porter.

Porter grinned, looking at the fire in the boy's eyes "uwah scary~ this kid really does have spunk!"

"I can let them go...but" He leaned in and whispered in Sorren's ear "Not without a fair trade"

Sorren felt utter repulsion at this person who claims they are of authority. He could see the man's face smiling with madness, curved eyes like crescents, his face overcast with dark shadows. He looked like a monster.

Sorren bit his lips until blood seeped through them. He knew this was wrong. he felt that this entire situation was unfair. they knew nothing about what he been through, of the people he lost, of the terror he seen. he just wanted to be safe with his relatives, and yet he's been subjected to this.

His eyes glared at the crowd that surrounded them. people that could step up and do something yet chose to just sit there and watch. He could see it, the fear the selfishness.

'I would help but then what's going to happen to me?' He could see it all in their faces. they would rather watch than subject themselves to pain. Without power, we as humans are nothing.

'Their all COWARDS!!" Sorren screamed internally. But then, he felt a prick of guilt, because he himself was guilty of it. He could understand them but in another sense, he didn't want to understand.

He wanted to kill them, wipe away their mugged grins, slash at those disgusting faces, he wanted to cut them all down. But he was weak.

Weak.

That's all that he was. Too weak to stand up, too weak to speak out, too weak to endure the essence of humanity.

" I see you have this fancy-looking jewel here...." Porter played with the necklace around Sorren's neck. Sorren's eyes widened as he watched the man hold it up. It was the green jewel that the kind and mysterious girl gave him in the Moon Forest.

"Since you wouldn't tell me where Jean is, my time was wasted you see. However, I'm a generous man, so I'll let you slide, BUT ONLY…." he raised 1 finger up and then slowly lowered it down, pointing at the green jewel.

"If you give me this necklace here. What say, you kid?"

Sorrens face contorted in pure rage.

'T-these bastards….this must have been what he was truly after….' The kind girl had risked her life to give it to him, she who gave him something so valuable without any regard to her life. That trinket was special to him.

" I would rather bite my tongue than ever give anything to you bastards," Sorren said slowly, his voice trembling in rage. Porter sighed and shook his head. He looked down at Sorren with pity.

"Haah..it's always the naive ones that bite the hands offered to them," Porter said quietly to himself.

"You seemed like a smart kid, but I guess your parents really didn't teach you anything worthwhile" the man's face turned completely emotionless. Like his friendly smile was all just an illusion.

"I guess all you rat's mother only knows how to do is spread her legs and push huh? no surprise she died miserably," The man's face was distorted in scorn, his eyes blazing with madness as he threw insults at Sorren's family.

"This is why you suburban rats deserve to die, why do you think there's a border separating us from filth like you? Kekeke you should thank our great king for even allowing rats like you to feed and live"

Sorren trembled; he was so angry he couldn't think. They knew nothing of the torment, the fear, and the devastation that Sorren and his family had experienced when their village was destroyed. All those people were terrified and screaming as their bodies were torn to shreds. These bastards sucking on their own cocks were the ones that were truly blind and naive to the world.

"Such a pity boy, and now.." The man snapped his fingers prompting the man to move forward, "You will watch your family be slaughtered like the measly little cattle that you always were"

The men grinned and brandished their swords.

"NO!! LET ME GO!! LET ME GO, CALLIE!CALE!" Sorren tried desperately to get from under Porter's tight grip but he wasn't strong enough. The children screamed as the blades of death swung towards them.

"Only the strong get to choose how they die boy, that's just how life is, without power you're nothing!"

Time seemed to slow down. '

'Again…'

'It's happening...again…'

Memories of fire and the piercing screams of the dying flooded and overlapped in Sorren vision. He could practically see fire surrounding his siblings as they cried out.

'Why…

'why am I so weak'

'I promised.... I'd protect them...that was my promise to mom and dad and yet, if only I was stronger...'

Tears leaked from Sorren's eyes, his body felt limp, he felt as though he couldn't breathe. It was as though this didn't feel as if it was actually real and yet here it was happening right in front of him.

The feeling of powerlessness and despair is painful. You feel as though you are animated in time as if something is holding you down keeping you from moving forward. You want to scream, shout, do everything in your power to grab onto that dimming light called "If only" But if only, is only a feeling of a warm fantasy, not the cold reality of life. Sorren shut his eyes tightly not wanting to see another one of the people he loves die.

Then...

*Shtuk* *Shtuk*

"Argh"

"U-urgh"

"KYA"

"WHOSE THAT?"

Sorren could hear groaning and the slumping of bodies as they fell to the floor. The agitation of the crowd prompted Sorren to open his eyes. Through his blurry tears, he could see a figure. Sorren blinked his tears away and his vision cleared revealing Jean holding a bow, an arrow locked and ready to be fired once more.

"W-what Jean?" Sorren whispered. His teary eyes quickly shifted to his siblings Callie and Cale. Callie was on the ground crying along with Cale. Just beside them lay the body of the man in the yellow uniform, his head had an arrow pierced deeply in his frontal lobe. Blood pooling beneath him.

Dormon was groaning in pain, for he had an arrow pierced in his right arm, his uniform soaked in his own blood. He glared blazedly at Jean.

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(Authors note): I have decided to do uploads every other day. so tomorrow there will be no upload, but the next day the chapter will be up. Due to life issues, I can't upload every day like initially. I apologize.