Chapter 5

I am now a so-called "refugee" from the tensions of the main houses. I was full of wonder when a middle-aged mortal taps my shoulder asking me if I am lost and I just nod unconsciously.

"You are a very beautiful young lady, where is your family?" an ill-looking lady holding a bowl of soup asked me.

Shrugging as my response is what I did and leaving that so-called shelter of theirs. I have no time to waste, but it seems like I lost my way to that street where I saw the wings. No guardian is willing to sacrifice his wings for the wealth of the mortals, we have more than they have.

Streets after street, I again wandered endlessly not knowing my way back. While wandering around, there is this stall that seemed to be different from the others, there is a pile of mortals trying to buy something.

Squirming through these mortals makes my stomach growl but physically hurt my wounds, but my curiosity had to be fed.

"Ungrateful imbeciles," I muttered under my breath, ensuring no one ever heard.

"It's only one note per doll and ten coins per feather folks," the vendor keeps on shouting.

There seemed to have an unusual flock of these imbeciles making that vile-looking vendor is smiling like a fool ear to ear. My stomach is getting more and more upset, I cannot stand this.

"The main house of the Swarts wants to buy every feather you have! The main house of the Swarts wants to buy every feather you have!" someone with a very unpleasant voice said, more like shouting at the back.

The pile of imbeciles suddenly got divided into two leaving an open space in the middle. What's all this mess about?

"I heard that the main house of the Swarts also bought all the feathers of the other stalls,"

"They said the lord of the Swarts is obsessed with feathers,"

"It's not just the lord, even the mistresses all want to own a feather,"

I looked at the two average-looking male mortals talking behind me. One is covered with some sort of coal and the other is emitting some stinky smell. They are looking intently at the odd-looking man wearing a shining gold-colored coat and white boots with his clean-braided hair.

"That butler of theirs can kill ten people at once, he was once a warrior," the coal-covered man said.

"No one ever did try to mess directly with the Swarts because of him," answered the other.

"Plus there's a rumored he killed a guardian by himself,".

I hissed making them look at me weirdly. I apologized quickly but they suddenly touched my back, it touched my wounds.

~~Tria Valley

"Oldess, Rouge cannot handle the fields by herself. Let me follow her," Mio said.

The Oldess is doing her best to manage the remaining guardians by herself even if she's devastated enough.

"Rouge can handle herself alone, you heard her right? She can, she said it herself, and we have a valley to protect, there is no one we can depend on right now," she firmly said.

They are now out of the shelter and starting to scrape from the remains of the now lifeless valley. Though there is nothing much left in the ruins of the burned houses, some materials can be reused for the guardians to restart again.

"But what if the mortals hurt Rouge?" the young Fina who's holding a burned log asks their Oldess.

The youngest of the remaining guardians is actively doing anything, like trying to forget the traumatic events she had just experienced.

"She has seen enough of the mortals and for sure she is smart enough to save herself," the Oldess replies while trying to dig a jar from the ruins.

Naty came to help the Oldess while the others are flying freely, or not. They seemed to be spacing out in the mid-air. Their red wings are flapping slowly and letting the wind drive them slowly, creating a beautiful view from the ruins. They are like phoenixes who have just got risen from the ashes and are now seeking the life they had.

After getting the jar from the ruins, the Oldess cries and hugged the jar like some precious antique.

"Oh Marcu, my Marcu," she cries.

Both Mio and Naty let the Oldess cry about her miseries. Marcu is the deceased husband of the Oldess and the jar is the one he made from the crystals he collected from one of the caves in wild.

The two fly to the other guardians and join them adding redder to the sky. The youngest of the guardians is watching the others in the air like some kind of theater show that made her tears fall unconsciously.

They are trying to be the legendary phoenix, with every monster on the outside going wild to capture them.

~~

The pain from my wounds is intoxicating. I looked in their direction trying to hide the pain so they do not doubt me or anything.

"Young lady, yar not from here, aren't ya?" asks the mortal with an unusual smell.

"I-i I- I am not," I am stuttering from both the pain and fear.

"Ya a refugee?" he again asked.

I am not.

"Uhmm, yas," and I just looked at the ground biting my lips, it's so painful.

"No wonder, ya cannot wander around, those from the Swarts, see that odd-looking man," then he pointed to the man who shouted a while ago.

I nodded.

"They are getting every refugee and making them their servants, be careful," he said in a low voice.

He bid farewell and I just nodded at him.

Mortals may be all ungrateful and evil, but those like him—no, Rouge, every mortal is the same, they will get close to you just to take advantage of your kindness when you let your defense down.

I watched as those following the odd-looking mortal packed all the feathers the stall had. The seller is smiling like a fool and the urge of killing every one of them reached the highest point.

"It's a pleasure doing business with the Swarts," says the smiling fool.

The mortal said nothing and left with his head held high. How I would love to cut it off.

For now, what I need to do is to know where did they get those wings and who was the guardian that the odd-looking mortal killed. Being alone in the den of the monsters is making me hopeless even more, even so, I have to think of my valley, they needed me, and I have to do it.