Tavian's Reason (Tavian's Backstory)

I could see the mix of anguish and anger taking over her commonsense and walked further ahead with her.

"Stop it, or else you'll end up just like her. I'm trying to help." I told her. She stopped struggling and held her breath, looking away from Lia.

"It'll go away… this is a nightmare, right?" Lily asked me with her head on my shoulder. I held back tears of my own and shook my head as I could hear blood splattering against the block of ice and Lia's screams getting louder and louder.

I swear Orion… this nightmare will end one day, and today is the day it starts.

Once I was far enough away from their view, I ran deep into the forest with Lily in my arms.

"I know of a place! Just trust me, okay? You'll be okay." I told her. I sprinted, as fast as my legs would take me. The fear and fatigue were piling up, but I couldn't just stop because of that. I ran, through hills of dirt, bushes of poison ivy, and rivers of hard rocks, all to make sure they wouldn't catch me. This was it; I was finally on the run!

I ran for about ten minutes straight with Lily in my arms, up until I finally got to the very edge of the Redwood Forest. I could see a bay to my right, so if I went to the left, I'd be able to find Ellie.

Ellie was my best friend before she ran from Orion as well, but I didn't fake my death like she did, so I couldn't stay with her. I just needed to drop Lily off and find somewhere to go. It was easy, in hindsight.

I spent the next few hours walking, as it slowly turned to dusk, and I was able to find torches lit up on a house's balcony. Located in the middle of nowhere, I took a gamble that this was Ellie.

"Tavian?" I heard her familiar voice. I turned my back to it and there she was. It had been a year since I last saw her, but I was glad she was here now.

"I need you to help me. This girl was cut in the face. I used my shirt to stop the bleeding, but I want to make sure she's actually okay." I explained. I set Lily down on her one working leg and she took down my shirt, revealing the scar across her face.

"I'll do my best, but you know you can't stay here." Ellie brought up a case of some tools and Lily looked back at me.

"No! Where will you be going, Mr. Tavian? Are you going to go get my parents?" I stood, defeated.

"There's no easy way to tell you this… but I'm sorry, your parents died in that attack. Lia's mom perished as well, I'm sorry I couldn't do anything." I told her while looking down. Again, I chalked it up to how weak and scared I was to defy orders, not thinking about what I was doing right now.

"Thank you for saving me Mr. Tavian… but can you get Lia too? She's a big baby when she's not with me, I'm worried about her. She's like my little sister." I nodded at Lily's request.

"Let me rest, and then I'll go back and get her. Okay?" I told her. Lily nodded and turned to Ellie. I was surprised with how well she was handling this, but I think it didn't set in for her yet.

"She'll be in good hands. Come back alive, please." Ellie said. Ellie stuck her thumb up and began to disinfect Lily's cut wound, while I turned towards the beach south of Ellie's house.

I spent the night on that beach, staring up at the clouds. I slept under an overhanging rock on the beach and my head poked out, letting me stare upwards. I slept comfortably and as soon as I got up, I ate my emergency rations and decided to head back to the Castle to get Lia. I had to sneak in, but I would think of my plan on the way there.

Once I arrived at the Redwood Forest, I could hear the horn, not the hunting horn, but the missing horn. The dried blood on my shirt might make for a good case of losing Lily, but we'd have to see. I just had to get Lia and get out.

At least… I thought it would be that easy until I passed the clearing from the Redwood Forest to the glacier and could see Lia standing near the very edge of the glacier. Was she going to commit suicide?!

Behind her stood Orion, looking to the right. I knew I had to get up there as fast as possible, so I ran up the stairs located further downwards from the two. I slid down the cliff breaking the Redwood Forest and Orion's land apart and ran further up into the glacier until I was a good distance behind them.

"Thanks for the information Noboki had offered to me in light of the recent events, I was able to confirm who ran off with one of our precious workers!" My heart sunk… Noboki ratted me out?

"Because of this, Tavian, the man who ran off with one of my workers to do who knows what with them… has committed high treason!" Orion said. It felt like my heart dropped through the glacier at this point as I saw the battered hatchet in Lia's hand. You can't be serious…

"And we know how high treason is punished, right?!" The crowd started to cheer for Orion, but the tears forming in my eyes blocked out the crowd, forcing me to focus on the four people behind Lia with their heads covered with bags.

"Here I have all of Tavian's family! Begin the execution!" He yelled out.

As if my whole world collapsed around me, leaving shards I'd have to pick up later, I could only stare at my family begging for their lives in a mess of tears, sweat, and blood from resistance against their bindings. I could see Lia crying and Orion smiling towards the crowd. Orion picked up Lia's left hand and broke one of her fingers.

"Decapitate them, or else I'll do it to you." He told her.

The sweat from my hands caused me to slip from the glacier I was holding onto, and the jerk my body took caused the tears to finally fall from my eyes. Both Lia and I cried our hearts out, for different reasons.

I watched Lia hack at my dad's neck, missing the instant kill. His slurred speech begging for help counted as his last words as she swung one last time, cutting through the spine and killing him.

"Tavian baby! If you're watching, I want you to know that you didn't make the wrong decision! We love you! Change the world, my baby!" My mom yelled out to me.

I watched Lia kill the rest of my siblings, and my mother as well, in front of a crowd that cheered. So many emotions were sporadically flying around in my head, I had to kill Orion… I could probably do it right now if I ran at him and tackled him off the cliff… couldn't I?

"That concludes the execution! Their valuables are up for grabs, enjoy!" Orion grabbed Lia by the neck and dragged her backward, while I watched the crowd that smiled at my family being murdered loot their bodies, even breaking my mother's finger for her priceless ring.

I unhinged, losing all reason and I ran over to the citizens. "Oh, it's Tavian-" I punched the old man in the throat, causing him to fall to the floor with his hands wrapped around his injury. I pushed past that, slamming my heel into his windpipe, hoping to kill him.

The women were no exception, as I grabbed my brother's knife and cut it into their faces and chests with instant kills to the heart or brain stem. And right as I stopped killing the sixth one, I dropped the knife and stared at my bloodied hands… this behavior… is not okay, but this was taught to be okay to me through severe physical abuse and 'training' as Orion called it.

The screams attracted guards, and before they could even see who it was, I jumped from the glacier into the lake underneath with my brother's knife, my mother's ring, and my father's overcoat. On top of that, I was able to grab my sister's black hairclip, but only one of two.

I ran back into the Redwood Forest with more tears in my eyes than water in the lake. I tried to do the right thing… but it was just punished… that's the reach Orion has?! You have to be kidding me… the right thing was punished with my family dying in front of me?

This boundless rage I felt in my heart caused me to punch the tree, over, and over, and over again. Until my knuckles were damaged with blood and torn apart the skin and the adrenaline stopped the pain from passing, I didn't stop. I wanted to kill that man… but I couldn't even get close. I can't get Lia because she's constantly under Orion… this is bullshit. I can't believe this.

I walked back into the Redwood Forest aimlessly, staring at the floor the entire time. Through the bushes, through the rivers, through anything, I needed to pass. I ended up getting dizzier and dizzier until I collapsed into a boulder headfirst. To my surprise, the boulder moved with no problem, and I fell into a small elevator.

"Oh… sir, are you okay?" Said the voice above me.

"You look like you need some help… here, let me move this boulder back and I'll take you back up." The calming girl's voice helped me shut my eyes, but not because I was relaxed: because I lost too much blood.