The old man asked Nicholas and his mother to follow him, then began walking among the dozens of men and women crammed into the place.
As they walked, he said to Nicholas, "Do you see all these people, little one?"
Nicholas replied in a tense voice, "Yes."
The old man said, "The same reason that brought you and your mother here. This is the only place that would take you in the moment you disobeyed the Katorans orders. The moment you step outside and the Katorans find you, your fate will be death in the most horrific way possible."
Nicholas looked toward his mother to find expressions of fear and sorrow controlling her face, which made him feel regret, since he was the reason all of this had happened to her. The old man stopped in front of a small, empty space and told them to sit there, then left.
The mother sat, and Nicholas sat in front of her. Nicholas felt discomfort and unease because of how cramped the place was and the foul smells all around, and he began looking at the people there, finding faces overtaken by expressions of despair, unable to do anything but sit and wait for their fate. Others were crying, regretting their disobedience toward their masters, while others shouted at them to be quiet.
Nicholas turned his gaze toward his mother to find her asleep, so he kept looking at her with a face full of sorrow while feelings of regret took over his heart, then said to himself:
"I'm sorry, I'm truly sorry, Mother. You don't deserve any of this."
Then he laid his head on her arm and drifted off to sleep.
After several hours passed, Nicholas woke up startled from being struck in the face, to find the old man in front of him looking at him with a sharp gaze, demanding that he follow him. Nicholas followed without a word or complaint about the punch he'd received, since he didn't want to cause another problem that might harm his mother.
The old man stopped in front of the same wall Nicholas had entered through the previous time, and before saying anything, the old man said in a calm tone:
"Listen to me well, child. Don't think we'll accept you staying here for nothing. If you want to stay, you and your mother, you have to work for it."
Nicholas replied in a somewhat angry voice:
"Hurry up and tell me what you want from me."
Expressions of irritation appeared on the old man's face, and he said to him:
"As you know, your case is still fresh only a few hours have passed. Most likely no one has noticed yet, and even if they have, only the people close to the incident would know. So all I want from you is to change your appearance a little so they don't recognize you at first, and to search for some food or water to feed the people here."
Nicholas replied:
"Fine, I'll do it, but why me specifically, out of all these people? Aren't you supposed to send many of them?"
Expressions of anger appeared on the old man's face, and he replied in an annoyed tone:
"Stop questioning, child. Of course I've sent others too do you think I'm stupid enough to send only one child? Be quiet and get ready for your task."
The old man took a rusty iron scissors from his pocket and began cutting his hair without warning.
Nicholas felt some pain from it but remained silent for his mother's sake.
As soon as he finished, he gave him a white shirt and blue trousers, then took him out of the hut.
Nicholas put the clothes on quickly, finding them too big for him, but he didn't care.
He left the empty alley, his eyes scanning the stone huts, afraid they would recognize him.
As he moved forward, he noticed the place was suspiciously empty, which made him suspect they were all gathered at Narcisa's hut.
Nicholas stopped in front of a shop selling bread and sugar.
He walked slowly near it, ready to pounce on one of the loaves, but he was surprised to find the shop owner absent, which produced a mix of relief and happiness in his chest.
Nicholas jumped inside and hurried to carry as much bread and sugar as he could.
Thanks to how loose his clothes were, he was able to gather enormous amounts, then hurried out before anyone noticed him.
A few minutes passed, and he reached the alley without any obstacles. But his ears began to pick up the sound of screaming and wailing from men and women nearby.
"Narcisaaaaa!!"
The blood froze in his veins, and he swallowed hard as the voices drew closer.
He tried not to make any sound while hearing the voices of those gathered in front of the house:
"Narcisa!"
"What happened?"
"Has Miss Narcisa died?"
(sound of crying)
"She lost a large amount of blood, unfortunately."
"She was a good woman, how did this happen to her?"
"(crying) She was my best friend, why did this happen to her?"
Nicholas felt a mix of bewilderment and irritation:
"These bas**s did worse things to us, while now they're mourning over this wh*."
After reaching the hut, he knocked carefully on the wall, and the entrance opened for him.
As soon as he entered, he dropped everything he had onto the ground, and those present pounced on the bread as fast as they could.
Nicholas headed to where his mother was and sat in front of her.
He reached into his clothes and pulled out a simple loaf of bread.
He quickly woke his mother, then split the loaf in half and gave one half to his mother while eating the other.
The mother didn't say a word, just ate quietly, with sorrow.
When they finished eating, the mother closed her eyes and went back to sleep, while Nicholas remained lost in thought, thinking:
"We can't stay like this forever. I need to find a way out of this. Should I climb the walls and run? No, they'll see me climbing and kill me. Then should I disguise myself?... No, they'll expose me easily there's no black Katoran."
After several minutes of thinking, an idea came to Nicholas's mind:
"Hmmmmm, escaping by digging a hole to the outside... why didn't I think of that from the start? I could dig a hole and move forward inside it, and once I'm sure I've gotten far enough from the settlement, I'll dig out and run with everything I have. The only problem with this plan is: what will I dig with? And where will I even find it?... Damn, I hate thinking, but I have nothing else to do. Well, clearly that damned old man will exploit me to the very last drop of my life, so while I'm searching for food I'll have to search for anything useful I can dig with, while also not making noise while doing it. It will take a lot of time and effort, but it's the best thing I can do."
(The Next Day)
Nicholas woke up the same way as before, from the old man, then left the hut along with two others.
Nicholas walked among the huts like the previous time, but unlike before, the place was full of people, forcing him to raise his guard.
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Some time passed as he walked until he spotted a medium-sized skull of one of the creatures. Without thinking, he quickly picked it up and put it inside his shirt while continuing to walk.
An hour passed, and Nicholas's eyes settled on a plate of sweet cake set on a windowsill, its steam rising to the sky, its scent tempting everyone around.
He began approaching the window naturally, as if he were just a passerby, while his eyes never left his prize.
Once he confirmed an escape route was available, and that few passersby might disturb the operation, he pounced on his prize and ran off with it.
A woman began screaming: "The slave! Thief, thieeeef!!!!"
But he had already vanished among the narrow alleys.
He put the cake inside his clothes despite its heat, then kept running, changing directions with every moment and turn so no one could follow him.
After making sure he'd gotten far enough away, he reached into his shirt and took half the amount, hiding it in a secret pocket in his shirt so there would be something left for him and his mother to eat.
He continued his way back. Once he arrived and made sure no one was watching him, he stopped in front of one of the abandoned places.
He sat on the ground and took out the skull he had found, beginning to dig with it.
It was only a matter of hours before he managed to dig a small hole deep enough to fit his entire arm.
Once he finished, he took a deep breath and whispered in a tired tone:
"Alright, that's enough for today. It's still small, so there's no need to hide it."
Then he left for the hut, finishing his day there.
He repeated the same routine over and over.
Waking up.
Going out.
Digging.
Delivering what he brought.
Eating.
Sleeping.
Without boredom or fatigue, for an entire year.
There were days that passed without him eating anything, and days when he fell ill.
His digging tools changed throughout the year after one broke after another.
From hunger, lack of movement, and exposure to the sun, his mother became like a lifeless corpse. They tried to take her out more than once because of Nicholas's pleading for them to treat her, but she had already lost the ability to walk.
The situation in the hut was as bad as it could possibly be.
Most of the residents died from disease and famine.
So it fell to Nicholas to remove their bodies to prevent the spread of disease or foul odors.
Out of the force of starvation, Nicholas secretly cut up the bodies and cooked them before serving them to his mother.
Despite these problems, Nicholas kept digging day after day without stopping.
His clothes became filthy with soil, and his hands filled with wounds and sores from the constant digging, but that didn't stop him from continuing.
Until the long-awaited day arrived...
While Nicholas was digging the hole, he noticed he had gotten far enough away to be able to exit.
He took a deep breath, then grabbed the spoon he had been using and began digging upward.
His hands caused him terrible pain during it, but his urgent desire for freedom was unbreakable.
Neither pain nor exhaustion would stop him from achieving his goal. Nicholas kept digging and digging and digging. Only a few moments separated him from his goal, from his freedom.
He kept digging until the soil above him began to collapse, letting the sun's rays invade the darkness of the place. Nicholas covered his eyes from the intensity of the light:
"Ah, my eyes!... (slowly opening his eyes) Huh?"
His pupils widened from shock before igniting with flames of joy; his pupils widened intensely as he screamed in a voice of victory:
"Finally! Finally! Finally! I did it! I actually did it!"
He immediately dashed with all the speed he had, away from the place, and with every second that passed, his chest swelled with feelings of happiness, achievement, and hope.
And finally, after all those years of pain, enslavement, and humiliation, Nicholas achieved his goal and emerged into the outside world.
He collapsed onto the ground from sheer exhaustion, the sun's rays touching his smiling face, the cold air refreshing his tired body. Nicholas screamed loudly from the intensity of his joy, "I did it!"
Nicholas turned his head to the right to find a giant river in front of him. He got up from the ground, approached it, and began drinking from it.
After refreshing himself, he collapsed onto the ground and began moving his hands and feet randomly from the intensity of his happiness: "Finally! Finally! I can't believe myself, I did it, I've left that cursed village, hahahahaha..."
He took a deep breath, then closed his eyes to relax a little from all this exhaustion. But suddenly he opened his eyes forcefully, speaking in a tense tone:
"Mother! How could I forget her?"
He got up from the ground with difficulty, then prepared to go back, but before he could move, he froze in place, absorbing the harsh truth: "Oh right, the hole is too small to fit through, and besides, she can't even walk — she wouldn't be able to make it through it."
Nicholas looked at his swollen hands for a moment with an expressionless face, then turned his gaze toward the hole, shouting in a rough tone:
"I'm sorry, Mother, but I'll have to leave you alone for a while. But I promise you I will never abandon you. I'll get myself ready, and then I'll come back to you again and free you from there. Just wait for me a little while. I promise I'll come back to you when I'm ready."
(Back to Reality)
Nicholas slowly opened his eyes to find that darkness had already fallen. He got up from his bed, went to the clay jar, and began drinking water with a tired face while talking to himself in a low voice:
"Six years... six years have passed since I escaped that place... I wonder how my mother is doing now... Yes, she must be in a bad state, being in that place... How could I do that? How could I leave her alone all those years while she was in such a terrible condition? What kind of son am I?"
He began to feel feelings of regret and irritation:
"But I had no choice. I couldn't save her before... But now I have a strong body and good health thanks to this village's support, and I can equip myself with weapons. I have no excuses now. I have to do it."
Nicholas set the cup down on top of the jar and turned his gaze toward the table where his mission money was. He went to it and put 30 Enro in his pocket, then headed to his bed to sleep, so that the next day he could search for a shop that sells weapons.
But before he lay down in bed, he caught sight of Joseph out of the corner of his eye, walking around alone at night, which sparked his surprise:
"What is this idiot doing at this hour?"
Joseph kept walking until he turned right and disappeared from Nicholas's view. Nicholas stood in place with an expression of bewilderment on his face. After a few seconds, Nicholas felt some curiosity and decided to follow him to find out what he was doing.
He left the hut and began walking in the same direction Joseph had gone. The place was empty of people and intensely dark, which made him wonder even more what Joseph was doing. Until Nicholas suddenly felt a hand touch his shoulder — he turned around quickly with a shocked expression, only to find it was Jenny.
Nicholas's expression changed to bewilderment, and he said to her in a low voice:
"Seriously, what are you and Joseph doing in the middle of the night?"
Jenny replied in a low voice:
"Lower your voice so Joseph doesn't hear us. Even if I explained it to you, you wouldn't believe me — it's better if you see for yourself."
Jenny stepped forward and said to him:
"Follow me."
Jenny kept walking until she stopped behind one of the huts, the same place Joseph had turned toward. Nicholas kept looking at her with expressions of bewilderment and tension and said in a low voice:
"What do you want me to see?"
Jenny turned toward Nicholas and said to him in a low voice:
"Take a look behind that hut, and try to hide yourself as much as possible."
Nicholas was puzzled by what she said, but he did as she told him. He went behind the wall and began looking out of the corner of his eye toward the place Joseph had gone, and expressions of shock and terror appeared on his face: Joseph was in the very same place he had been the previous night, talking to the same creature.
Nicholas quickly pulled his head back and turned his gaze toward Jenny with a mix of shock and bewilderment, saying to her:
"What is Joseph doing? What is that thing?"
Jenny replied:
"Lower your voice, man. I don't know either. I'm just as puzzled as you."
Nicholas replied:
"Alright, let's continue this conversation somewhere else before he hears us."
Nicholas turned back to walk toward the hut while Jenny followed him. After they arrived at the hut, the two sat on the ground, and Nicholas turned his gaze toward Jenny, saying:
"What is Joseph doing with that thing?"
Jenny replied in a tense tone:
"I told you, I don't know. But I saw him with the same creature the previous night."
Nicholas got up slightly and took a quick glance through the window, finding Joseph leaving that alley and heading toward their hut. Nicholas quickly pulled his head back and looked at Jenny with a tense face, saying in a low voice:
"Shut your mouth, he's coming toward us."
Silence filled the place for several seconds, until Nicholas and Jenny began to hear the sound of Joseph's footsteps approaching them slowly, and Jenny's heartbeat began to race from tension.
The sound of footsteps grew closer and closer, and with every step he took, it increased the feelings of tension and confusion in Jenny, until the sounds began to be heard right in front of their hut. A hint of worry appeared in Nicholas's eyes while he began clenching his fist, ready for anything sudden.
After some time passed, the sounds gradually moved away until they vanished.
Jenny felt some relief and took a deep breath.
Nicholas approached the door, sticking part of his head out to check on the situation.
He pulled his head back inside, then looked at Jenny and said, "Alright, no need to worry, he's gone."
Jenny replied, "Great, I thought he knew we were here."
Jenny got up from the ground and left the hut, saying in a tense tone, "Alright, I'm going to my hut. Goodnight, Nicholas."
Nicholas replied, "Alright, goodnight, see you tomorrow."
After she left, Nicholas went to his bed and collapsed onto it, covered himself, and closed his eyes to drift off to sleep, with one thing occupying his mind:
"I'm coming, Mother."
(End)