Twilight or Despair?

The lord had given our village a flag. It had been a present, and a symbol of the town. Just then it fluttered down from above and fell before me. It was like it was agreeing with me.

That was it. It was a sign, a sign that my parents were watching over us.I picked up the flag, and the other villagers brought over a large pole for it. We attached the flag to the pole.

"It's a sign from heaven! Let's work to rebuild our village!"

"Yeah!"

And so everyone decided to try and rebuild.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

I was instantly awake. I was inside of the tent we had set up. My house had burned to the ground—most of ours had. So we were all sleeping together in a large tent I think I might have been dreaming.

"Hey, did you hear that voice?"

An older man was rushing over in my direction.

"Raphtalia, you were screaming."

"Was I?"

I needed to smile. If I didn't, it would worry the rest of them.

"I'm fine! It was just a bad dream."

"Okay… well… don't overdo it."

"I'm fine! Thank you though."

Father. Mother. I'm doing my best, I promise…

The next morning we decided to leave the completely destroyed houses the way they were for now and focus on repairing houses that we could live in sooner.

We also put some people in charge of making graves for the bodies that had washed up on shore.

The adults were all focused on rebuilding the town, and all the children were doing what they could to help. But we were getting worried about the food supplies. They might not hold out.

We had discussed sending fishing boats out to get more food, but the sea was very rough, and we decided it best to save that for later.

"What now…"

We all counted the survivors. There was only one quarter of the village left alive. Even still, one of the older men said that we had made out as well as he could have hoped for.

"It's just like Raphtalia said. We are all still alive."

"Yeah!"

What I hadn't known then was that all our efforts were going to be tossed aside mercilessly.

"Hey! What are you doing?!"

There were some scummy-looking men wandering through the village, and they were pointing their swords at a group of adults.

"Hey!"

"Who are you guys?!"

"Ahahah! I'd heard that there were still some demi-humans alive here. Guess it was true!"

"Yeah, and this area isn't protected. We could probably make some good money!"

"Yeah! Argh!"

One of the older men stepped forward and yelled at the attackers.

"The lord of these lands will never forgive you for this behavior! There are castle knights still in the area too!"

The nasty-looking men all smiled at once.

"What do we care if your dead lord gets mad? And besides…"

Swipe! It happened quicker than I could see. It happened before I could understand what was going on. The old man's stomach was split open. One of the bad men had cut him

with his sword.

"What the…"

"Ahaha!"

"Can't you tell? We are the castle knights!"

"They haven't figured it out yet, have they, Boss?"

"Nope!"

"AHAHAHAHAHA!"

The old man fell over in a pool of blood. He didn't even twitch. The pool of blood was spreading. Soon it was at my toes.

"Ah! AHHHHHHHHH!"

Suddenly everyone was panicking. I didn't know what to do, so I ran.

"Don't let them escape! Kill the old ones! We can sell the women and children, so don't run them down!"

I can't really remember what happened next.

"Noooooo!"

"Calm down! Take that!"

"Ugh…."

Someone had a hold on my hair. I felt like someone had hit me, and then nothing. A week passed. I continued having dreams of my parents' deaths.

They caught me, and sold me into slavery. The first owner seemed nice. He just wanted me to act as a servant, but then he sold me, and I still don't know why. The next one…

"Take that!"

"Ugh…"

Why? Why did they treat me this way? He was a fat man and looked like a bad man. He kept me in the basement of a large house, in a town I'd never heard of.

There were animals there. They were just like me… Ugh… Apparently this man had bought Rifana before he'd bought me.

Every day, whenever he felt like it, he would hang me from the ceiling in chains and beat me with a whip. He hit me until I was bloody. Then he would keep hitting me.

Whenever I tried to stop him, or tried to protest, the slave curse on my chest would burn me. The pain from the whip was driving me crazy.

But I wasn't going to give up.

I'd bare it, for my parents, and for everyone in the village that hadn't

made it. So I wouldn't give up.

"Raphtalia…" Cough.

"It's okay... It's okay. We'll make it back to the village."

When I reunited with Rifana, she was already sick. Even still, the man never stopped hitting her.

"Yes… We… We'll… make it…"

What did this man want from us? Did he just think it was fun to beat us with a whip?

"Ha! Why are you still having dreams of a better life?"

Slap! He hit me again, and I felt blood trickle down my back. I felt tears well up at the pain.

"Yes! Scream from the pain!"

"Ahhh!"

After that point, things got worse. He started to torture me. I was finally free, and ragged, but I crawled over the muddy floor to go

take care of Rifana. He brought us an awful stinking bowl of soup. It tasted like mud. It was our only food for the day.

"Huff… Huff…"

I slowly fed it to Rifana. That was one more day of life for her. It would be okay. We had to make it back to the village. Everyone was

waiting for us.

"Hold on… I swear I'll help you."

There were latticed iron bars that ran almost to the floor. I realized that if I took a rock from the wall and used it to dig out the foundation under the bars, then we'd be able to wriggle under them and escape! It just had to work.

"Thank you."

"Yes! We'll meet everyone again!"

My mother and father had told me to take care of everyone.

"Yes… We… We'll… make it…"

What did this man want from us? Did he just think it was fun to beat us with a whip?

"Ha! Why are you still having dreams of a better life?"

Slap! He hit me again, and I felt blood trickle down my back. I felt tears well up at the pain.

"Yes! Scream from the pain!"

"Ahhh!"

After that point, things got worse. He started to torture me. I was finally free, and ragged, but I crawled over the muddy floor to go

take care of Rifana.

He brought us an awful stinking bowl of soup. It tasted like mud. It was our only food for the day.

"Huff… Huff…"

I slowly fed it to Rifana. That was one more day of life for her. It would be okay. We had to make it back to the village. Everyone was

waiting for us.

"Hold on… I swear I'll help you."

I heard the sound of footsteps again.

"Looks like he is coming to beat us again"

But this time, it was not him. There were two people. One boy and one girl. The boy gestured us to keep quiet.

"Alna, cut the bars off!" The boy ordered.

The girl did the same, the boy immediately came inside the cage and started feeding something to Rifana, as if the boy already knew that Rifana's condition was worse than mine.

Rifana's wounds started getting better, she started coming back to life.

"Should we give them something to eat first, they look very weak."

"There isn't much time!" The boy shouted.

That boy immediately checked both of our breasts. When he saw the slave mark, he... started crying?