Chapter 30: Attempts

"The heart can get really cold if all you've known is winter." —Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Last Night I Sang to the Monster

"No one wants you to be yourself. They want you to be the version of yourself that they like." —Marie Lu, The Young Elites (The Young Elites, #1)

"Everything has a price. The price, however, isn't always money." —Ahmed Mostafa

***

Silent, eyes blank and staring at nothingness, Xenia just sat there in front of his mother and three mutilated siblings, bloodied and lifeless.

While Thaniel and Arlan waited outside, patiently standing under the now cooling weather of the island, their heads and thoughts focused on how Xenia was actually feeling upon seeing the dismembered bodies of his family.

"You know, Arlan, after witnessing that Xenia's family was killed, I could not get the thought of our parents being—"

Before Thaniel could finish his sentence, Arlan blatantly cut him off with a hoarse scream.

"No! Thaniel, you don't say that!"

Arlan would either call him a brother or big bro. The amount of time Thaniel heard Arlan call him by his name could be counted with his fingers. And every time Arlan did so, Thaniel definitely did make him upset or did not like what he said.

"But it could be a possibility... You know it too, Arlan. Harsh or rude as it may sound to assume, it's not impossible since they got left behind while we save our own asses."

Still, Arlan was in denial of the thought that their parents met their demise back in their house while they tried to help others escape from the retched evil killer. And at this point, the tears that he was holding back while being forced to picture both of their parents being dead eventually dripped down his face.

"Why...? Why, Thaniel? Why do you always have to be so pessimistic? Often thinking of the worst possibilities, trying to overlook the chances of something being good and downright stupid!"

"I know, Arlan. I know..."

Thaniel was aware of his behavior, yet did nothing to change his demeanor when it clearly affects people around him. Moreover, Thaniel knew how selfish he was. There may have been times when he chose others before himself but not always.

***

Marching through the paved dry dirt, a path created by the tribe for quicker and easier transport, Grenoble led the people of Balmack and his fellow Sultenians towards a relatively large cave in the middle of the mountain. Firewood and tree saps were made into torches and attached to the side of the surrounding walls.

Unbeknownst to the Lakambini, they were greeted by the alluring beauty of the woman wearing her mask as she waltzed and danced around with blood on her hands splashing everywhere within the cave.

Of course, their eyes were fixated not just on her movements but most definitely on her secretive appearance. Wondering what was behind that mask, they all walked past her, proceeding to go further deep into the cave, where humidity and coldness increased.

"Everyone of them paid respect to that woman in the mask we just passed by. She must be really important to them."

"Did you smell that sugary scent when we got closer to her?"

"Not just sugary. It indeed is though, but it also smelled like red rose mixed with vanilla extract. Or I'm just delusional, just my imagination."

As they were getting closer to their destination, the end of the cave where the place became much broader and the ceiling reached far up their heads had altar tables being cleaned by more Sultenians.

"Are they slacking off? Didn't you instruct everyone to do the job even before we proceed with the plan? Haven't you guys maintained cleanliness in the Pagan?"

Sultenians assigned in cleaning the altar tables with pillars right above the stone board that acts as a hard pillow were delighted upon seeing Grenoble, thus stopping what they were doing just to greet the man himself.

"Hold on. I've heard of altars before. I think that's where they put their sacrifice to the god they worship. Does that mean... you guys are gonna kill us?!"

Every Balmackian freaked out after they heard what Dasha blurted out. She was right. They were altar tables for sacrificing people to their god whom they worship and believe to have granted them prosperity over time.

While inside the cave, chaos once again broke out when the townspeople tried escaping, doing everything to free themselves from getting offered to the Sultenians' false god.

"Fucking hell! Why did that whore have to go and ruin the peace inside the altar?! Someone teach her a lesson!"

Sultenians who were lusting over Dasha from the start stepped in front, bearing downright disgusting expressions on their faces as their hands moved in a lewd way, expressing how they will play with her.

"Get your hands off me!"

Having her hands tied behind her, struggling to get away seemed to be impossible. Also, the Sultenians were much stronger than her womanly physique and strength anyway, but she persevered and fought back their tight grip, squirming and kicking with her feet. She was unaware of who she was kicking but it didn't matter to her.

"Stay still, whore! We will be done before sunset and before the ritual starts!"

At the side of her eyes, Grenoble's gaze met her and just by looking at his, Dasha silently screamed for his help, although he had betrayed her. Her clothes were ripped off and her bare skin lay exposed in front of every Sultenians eyes to feast upon. It did take that long for tears to come flooding her cheeks.

"Can you believe this? Gahahaha! She was acting all tough just now and she's crying right after!"

The flock of sexually motivated Sultenians was all shoved off to the side when Grenoble had to step forward and cease their disgusting behavior.

"Who the f— G-Grenoble, sir?"

"Cut it out, all of you. Aren't you guys ashamed of yourself? Lusting over a helpless woman and succumbing to sexual pleasure. Think about your family, your wife, and your daughter. What would you feel if someone from these people rape them? How would you feel?"

"Angry, of course! I'd even kill them for it!"

"Then that means you have to die, too, right? You're trying to sexually assault a woman incapable of defending herself."

Grenoble humbled them quickly, shutting their asses in an instant, and putting them back to work.

"Stupid idiots."

Covering her body as she weakly surges from the ground, Dasha's wordless actions express her gratitude towards Grenoble.

"Should we start bathing all of them already? Or do we feed them before going in for cleansing?"

Baron changed into another religious attire, wearing a painted mask with linen silk on top, embroidered with strange language the Balmackians had never seen before.

"We can't possibly pass them up to our god with an empty stomach and dirty body. Feed them the ritual food and bathe them in purified spring water."

Sorting to violence against the Balmackians was their last resort but the townspeople were just so eager to survive that they got hurt and knocked out to put a stop to their farce.

"Those that are awake will eat while those who are unconscious will be bathed!"

They were getting ready for the ritual. To sacrifice as many lives as they could to their god in order to bless them with prosperity and overwhelming peace and security under the guise of a safe island.

~