The Truth (Part 1)

Two weeks after deciding that Alyssa and Emma would travel together, they finally reached their destination, which was the village of "Gale Rock" this little town was surrounded by several rocky mountains which made the little village extremely difficult to invade, as there was only one way to enter and leave the village.

"Wow, that's a really beautiful place, and also surrounded by a lot rocks," exclaimed Alyssa.

"yea, that's true. But seeing all those rocks makes me feel secure," replied Emma.

The village in itself was modest, but still one of the very few fluent amounts of supplies and was still pretty. the sounds of all those merchants trying to sell their products, the innocent children playing happily, and the prosperous atmosphere present here, really can make you at ease. After looking around the merchant's area, they decided to get to work. they needed a house to stay in. Unfortunately, there was no guest house. Alyssa and Emma instead asked for a family if they could stay over for at least Two days. One of them accepted, it was a woman looking like an angel, she was so beautiful, her skin was smooth, she had emerald eyes, she had blonde hair and most importantly she was living alone, so it was great for both Alyssa and Emma. The woman rapidly showed the interior of her house, and then the place where they would sleep.

"Please, make yourself comfortable. I will go make the dinner for tonight," the beautiful woman said with her charming smile.

"Thank you, madam," replied Emma with a sweet voice.

"Well here we are Emma, we got a place to sleep and to eat, without the need of moving a little finger, this is super," said Alyssa with an almost joking tone.

without any hesitation, Emma smacked the head of Alyssa.

"Idiot, you think you are gonna stay like this? without helping her?" Replied Emma with an angry tone.

"Ouch! I was joking, why did you smacked my head, wow, I did not knew that you weren't able to take a joke. of course, I'm not gonna let her do all the work as she has now two more mouths to feed." replied Alyssa trying to justify himself.

"I hope so Alyssa!" said Emma while pouting.

"Joke apart, I feel much at ease, I was afraid that we would have to sleep with the animals, especially for you Emma," said Alyssa worried.

"Thank you for your concern Alyssa, it is indeed I must say, kind of you," replied Emma sweetly.

A few hours later, while both of them had made them comfortable enough and chat a little bit, the beautiful woman called them for dinner.

"Dinner is served!! you two!"

"We are coming madam!!" replied both at the same time.

While eating, the beautiful woman questioned what Alyssa and Emma were doing here in this village and what they were planning to do.

"So madam What is your name?" asked politely Emma.

"My name? Oh sure, of course, you can call me Adeline." Said Adeline with a sweet smile.

"Wow, what a beautiful name Madam Adeline," replied Emma with admiration.

"Thank you cutie!" replied Adeline happily.

"My turn now, so tell me you two, you are not from this village, I never saw you around before, so why did you come here in our little village?" asked Adeline.

Alyssa replied trying to be polite enough, "I'm sorry madam, but I don't think that it is your concern."

"Alyssa!" replied Emma rapidly

"It's fine sweetie, don't worry, I understand his reaction." replied the beautiful lady sweetly.

"But, madam..." replied Emma confused.

"Idiot, Alyssa don't be so rude to this lady, don't forget that she accepted to feed us, and allowed us to sleep in her house," replied Emma angrily to Alyssa.

we could see some kind of sadness and sorrow in the look of the beautiful lady. after that, the rest of the dinner went silent.

A few hours later, it was time to sleep. Adeline came into Alyssa's and Emma's room to make sure that everything was fine and that they were also comfortable in their bed. after that, she went to sleep with still a sad look stuck on her face.

"Emma?" Asked Alyssa. But no answer from her

"Emma please, I'm sorry for having reacted like that earlier." insisted Alyssa.

"..." still no answer from her

"And I'm an idiot," said Alyssa.

"For being an idiot, yes you are one." finally replied Emma.

"Why did you react like this? All she was doing was asking a nice question?" Insisted Emma on that, irritated.

"If you continue to go like this, you are not going to get far, trust me," said Emma.

"Okay, but you, if you continue like this you are gonna get used by others, and trust me you will not get far too," replied Alyssa with a sad tone.

"Still Alyssa, I insist that you should not have been too much aggressive with your reply," said Emma

"Okay, I'm sorry, I will apologize to madam Adeline tomorrow when I wake up Emma," replied Alyssa.

"I hope so Alyssa, I hope so..." replied Emma full of hope and a sleepy tone.

"Anyway, let's sleep Alyssa I'm tired," added Emma.

"Good night Emma," replied Alyssa.

"Yes good night Alyssa," said Emma.

The day was over, at least for Alyssa and Emma, but for Adeline, it was only the start of a pure moment of sadness, and sorrow, as she passes her fingers on what seemed to be a picture frame, tears were falling down her beautiful face, she was sobbing, crying, but retaining her voice to avoid waking up the Two children who were sleeping...The sadness could be seen miles away on her beautiful face, she was facing the picture frame, and her tears were still flowing down, and some of her tears even dropped on the picture frame, she was in a fetal position on her bed, putting the picture frame against her chest while crying and sobbing a whole night, it seemed that she was like this for quite a long time already, there was, what it seemed to be some open old letters or documents on her table, the paper had been wet, logically by her tears, she was fighting to get her sleep, but wasn't able to, she was trying to win an impossible fight. Each time, when she was closing her eyes, that cursed image automatically came into her mind, preventing her to sleep, preventing her to be happy, preventing her from, simply living. half-naked in her room, her beautiful body, and her smooth skin were no longer smooth once she decide to reveal herself, on her body, could be seen an incredible amount of marks present on her body. Touching herself where the marks were, rubbing them gently intensifying her sadness, and her will to finish it once and for all, but each time she tried, she wasn't able to finish the work, as her souvenirs came to the surface and felt guilty about the promise she made.

The next day, Adeline with an incredible force of will got to her normal composure, she hasn't been able to sleep but went to wake up Alyssa and Emma as she already prepared breakfast.

after a few minutes later, they both came down and sat at the table, to eat their breakfast, but something was odd Outside, there was more noise than usual. but Adeline got interrupted in her thought by Emma.

"Madame Adeline? I was wondering, this is a kingdom where Wizards, witches, Werewolves, and so on, share those lands, but it seems that here no wizards or witches have been spotted...at least. I did not see anything like that here, is that normal?" Asked Emma.

"Yes, that's true, now that you..." was saying, Alyssa.

but just at that moment, the glass in her hand slipped and fell on the ground and broke into million pieces, and Adeline broke down in tears.

"Madam Adeline!!" both Alyssa and Emma ran to Adeline.

"Are you okay Madam?" asked Alyssa.

But she did not reply, she was instead sobbing and crying...and she suddenly said

"I can't anymore."

"Why? what do you mean?" asked Emma.

at the same, the door opened. Three men in some kind of knight uniform entered Adeline's house. One of them directly stared at the two children menacingly causing the children to be afraid.

the other one asked a question;

"Is that your children peasant? Even if they are not, you gotta pay their tax." with an amused tone.

we could see outside Adeline's house, all the villagers trying to watch what was going on inside, as Adeline was the last to pay the taxes, their expression was depicted like they knew what will happen...

"So, do you have the money? I think there is no need to tell you what will happen if you refuse to cooperate, you know like the last time. You don't want that to repeat, isn't it?" said the third man with a more amused expression almost as if he was ready to execute his action.

"I have the money." Replied Adeline in her very low voice.

"Great, then hand it over peasant." said the first man.

"Who are you!?" Asked Alyssa menacingly staring at them.

"Oh oh, what do we have here? a little brat who is trying to protect his mom? You better stay out of it, it's for your own good kid." said the Second man with an irritated tone.

"Pls! Don't hurt those two children, they are mine, and I'll pay for them, but please don't hurt them," Adeline screamed out her lungs.

you could see the desperation on her face, she was like trying to change the errors she did in the past as if she was trying to apologize for her mistakes.

"Nice choice peasant, now hands over the money before I decide to change my mind," said the third Man knight.

"What's happening Madam Adeline!?" asked Emma scared of what could happen.

"It's fine sweetie, everything will be alright, you are safe sweetheart I promise" replied Adeline, tears on her face while looking at Emma and Alyssa.

She stood up, and walked towards the 3 knights before handing them the money she added while smiling;

"This money is for the children, I don't have anything after that"

"You know what will happen, peasant don't you? if you can't pay, you have to be executed in front of your village to show the example to those who can't pay." the second man said with authority so that the other villagers could hear that.

"Nooo!!!! please!!! don't kill her!!!!" Emma screamed.

"It's fine Sweetie, don't worry I saved you two, so I'm at ease now, I did not made that mistake again." Tears were still flowing from her beautiful face, but this time it was not sadness, it was a tear of joy, accomplishment, tears of satisfaction. She finally fixed her mistake.

"Your hands, we need to chain you so that you do not try to flee." said the first man

Adeline replied;

"To flee? but where? there is no point, I did my duty as a mother, and I can finally die in peace."

Alyssa and Emma were watching Adeline, trying to move, crying to rescue her, but the Second man and the third man watched them and prevented them from moving. Emma who was so sweet usually was crying all the tears of the body, and Alyssa who was usually so strong, wasn't able to move a muscle, then he remembered that he was a wizard and could use his magic ability to save Adeline, but in vain, it turned out that those rocks neutralized all magic power in this village, but of course, Alyssa did not realize it and was shocked at the facts he would not be able to save someone. The villagers from their perspective were indeed sad about what was happening, the incapability of fighting to free their comrades, but unfortunately, they already accepted the fate that was upon them.

at that moment, time seemed to have slowed down, birds, people, little insects, and everything around the village's area seemed to have slowed down. now, was only sadness, watching their friends being killed in front of them, incapable of anything onve again. Alyssa tried to watch this scene without looking down which for him seemed to last an eternity, Emma, even drained of tears, continued to cry her soul. And on the other side, satisfaction was here, the sensation of giving her life to save her blood, was pure satisfaction in her eyes. Slowly walking, toward her fate, all those eyes on her, but she kept her head up, even if she was still crying, and terrified of death, she tried to show everyone that she was proud of what she had done to save those Two children.

Soon, she was at the main place of the village, everyone was there, even Alyssa and Emma, still watching with burning eyes.

"Here we are, peasant, do you have a few last words to say before I execute you?" Said the second man with an excited tone.

"Yes I do" She replied calmly.

"Then please go ahead," said the first man.

"First of all, I would like to thank everyone, you allowed me to get a peaceful life far from the battlefield. You gave me a house so that my children could live a normal life, I must say thank you to you all because you accepted me as I was till today." While smiling and trying to not let her tears run down her face.

but as soon as she turns her head and saw Alyssa and Emma crying, she could not retain her tears anymore, and burst into tears once again even more while saying those words;

"Thank you, really...thank you, even if it was just for one day, to be a mother again, and let me fix the mistake I did in the past. Never forget that you are strong when you are united, nothing can stop you, my sweeties, I love you...I love you so much my sweeties, I will never forget you, even dead, I will continue to look over you both like an angel, you were like my children, they had the same characteristics as you."

"I'm sorry Adeline, I'm so sorry Adeline, please forgive me, I did not intend to be mean to you, please forgive me!!" Said Alyssa bursting into tears. The pressure was too high, he reached his limit, and he cracked.

"It's fine Sweetheart, you don't have to be sorry," replied Adeline while laughing sweetly at him.

The villagers were watching Adeline silently while some of them were trying to not burst into tears, and some others were Sobbing.

The third man interrupted them, and said;

"Okay now, enough talk, time for action"

The first man was pained by what he was watching, and tried to give Adeline a little bit more time for her to say her last words, but he failed, which made him uncomfortable. Some of the elders noticed it but weren't able to do anything.

Now it was time for her judgment, no going back. the third man asked the first man to pronounce the sentence and the second man was in charge of executing her.

With a lot of pain, he pronounced the following words;

"You Adeline, Resident of 'Gale Rock' is found guilty because you did not pay...You did not pay.....You did not pay your tax in the due amount of time, as a result.....as a result, you should be punished by being hung to show the example of what will happen if you don't pay your taxes." The voice of the first man cracked several times during the pronunciation of the sentence, everyone could feel the pain in his voice, especially Alyssa and Emma.

The rope was around Adeline's neck, ready to be tightened at any moment, the lever was ready to pull, and most importantly, everyone was silently observing the scene that was about to get witnessed, a few minutes passed by, and the lever was pulled, the sound of the mechanism being activated could be heard, the trap below Adeline's feet opened, she felt, and at that time, her instinct took commands, she was fiercely trying somehow to struggle. Alyssa covered her eyes and whispered in her ears with a broken voice while watching Adeline dying;

"You don't have to see this Emma."

The villagers were standing still and watching Adeline Agonising, but they did turn their line of sight, almost like they wanted to give her an honorable death and to make her understand that she was loved by everyone in the village.

she was struggling a little bit, and then, nothing, her body stopped moving, and her hands were down, and her feet were down too, with no sign of resistance, she was dead. As she stopped agonizing, Alyssa and Emma ran toward her dead body and hugged her lifeless body. As all of this was finished he kneeled himself and realized how much sadness he created while taking part in this, but it was already too late, she was already dead, and the people who loved her are now in pain. The second man and the third man were already going to dispose of the body and trying to make the Two children get off her lifeless body, but the first man intervene and yelled at his two teammates;

"Can't you leave the body here for at least one day, can't you see that this village is in pain, can't you respect her dead body too? just....just let her be for today, leave these children alone, it's an order soldiers." the tone of his voice changed into a dark authoritative tone.

"Let's go now," he added

before leaving, he turned to Alyssa and Emma who were still crying on Adeline's dead body, and said with a pained voice;

"You have One day to say goodbye to her, after that we will need to take it, otherwise it will make an epidemic disease in your village."

At this point, Alyssa and Emma did not show any signs of anger against the First man, their sadness was too strong to feel anything else, they instead replied with a Monotone but satisfied and devasted tone;

"Thank you, Mister," said Emma.

"Yea, thank you." Said, Alyssa

and then like that, the Three of them went away, leaving a whole village in sadness, Two children in pain, and most importantly, a satisfied soul who fixed her errors from the past.

~TO BE CONTINUED~