Chapter 91 Eleven

"GET UP!", a burly man was shouting his lungs out. His belly was pouring out of his pants, and a few stains of fat were covering his clothes. He had a whip in his right hand and didn't mind using it to intimidate. He was shouting at a small child that looked sleep-deprived and hungry.

The kid couldn't get back up, he was out of energy, the life was barely visible in his eyes. The burly man kicked the child, but there was no reaction. "Tsk, another one for the dogs."

Just another, the child was surrounded by children of similar ages. You could barely tell them apart, they were all wearing rags and looked depraved. "What are you all looking at!? GET BACK TO IT!"

Everyone was scared of the man, his whip left enough scars to last a lifetime. He had the habit of whipping everyone at least once so that they wouldn't forget how it felt. The only thing they could do was follow his orders, no matter what.

One of those kids was later called Eleven, now he didn't have a name, or perhaps he did, but he couldn't remember. There were no memories of his parents, he only knew the ringmaster, but he couldn't see him as a father, merely a horrible man.

In the beginning, they could only work in mines or dismantle monsters, but not many could do the latter as there were some that started to eat the monster's intestines. While this would fill their stomachs, it could also poison them and it would lead to a loss of valuable parts. Only the most diligent of children could deal with the monsters. Eleven was once lucky enough to tear apart the monsters, but he needed to constantly control his sanity. The meat smelled horrible but looked tasty.

All they had was a daily cup of water and if they were lucky some bread. These children knew nothing but their mines and the monsters that were delivered from time to time.

After a few years, they were old enough for training. But this didn't make their life any easier, they needed to be trained to their limits. Having friends was out of the question, it wasn't only enforced by the camp's rulers, but the children themselves. There were only a few, like Eleven, that couldn't be alone, they needed to have a friend, or something close to it, in order to keep functioning. The daily stress was simply too high to deal with it on his own.

You could never know when the person next to you would disappear one day, never to return. Having a connection that could be destroyed in a matter of days taxed them emotionally. Still, Eleven didn't want to be alone, he wanted a connection, he needed something to keep him who he was.

But all the other kids just needed to survive, anything else was asking too much.

Years passed, and the rulers started to test the children if they had magical talents. The ones who succeeded were taken away to somewhere else, while all the others could stay and keep working in the mines. Eleven was one of the lucky ones, and it was at that point that he finally gained a name. He was the eleventh kid to have magical powers, thus he was given the name Eleven.

The ones with magical talent were exposed to new kinds of training. They were being schooled but only in magic. Anything else was left behind. There were some who grew arrogant with their new powers, but the moment they showed any sign of rebellion, they made sure to punish them accordingly.

Hanging the corpse of their fellow slave with their intestines spread out like an artwork, they needed to look at it every day. To remind them who was in charge, and who was meant to follow orders. Eleven kept his way of life, ignoring the orders of the ringleader and trying to not be alone. He felt that if they got together and fought back, they could escape, but his idea fell on deaf ears.

He was lucky that most of the kids didn't mind him trying to make bonds, so they didn't rat him out. But agreeing with his plan was suicide. They saw the ringleader's power, it was a meaningless fight with an obvious outcome.

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Years passed since then, Eleven was being stalked by his fellow student. He had made sure to keep his calm and collected face up, but it was starting to get loose. The random questioning of him made him think of himself back then. Someone who simply wanted to not be alone.

They had just given in their research about the runes Gilbert had given them. Eleven had been working on it 24/7, not giving himself a moment's rest, using magic to restock his stamina. He needed to succeed in these lessons, he had to.

"Hey, Eleven, I have to say I'm impressed by the results you handed in. I simply figured out the different runes, but it looked like you were already forming spells with them, weren't you?"

Eleven stayed quiet, for he didn't want to give away anything. He wasn't in the best situation and he simply needed to reach his goal. Eleven thought that Conrad was feigning his ignorance because he had succeeded as well. The task asked a lot of Eleven, making him spend a lot of time on it. He was trained in these kinds of things, yet it still took him quite some time. Yet, this boy succeeded, but had apparently also another teacher and visited the church, he had plenty of time left-over.

Eleven could only come to the conclusion that Conrad was a genius who was hiding his strength. There was no reason to follow Gilbert with that much insight and talent, so he must be hiding his status. Since there was a large pause, he started to feel awkward, the silence was getting to him.

"I don't know you and you don't know me, let's leave it at that."

'That's right, there's no need to drag someone else down with me, this is my task, my burden to bear.'

Eleven wasn't in Avesta for no reason, he had a plan and didn't want to be distracted.

"C'mon now Eleven, tell me something about yourself, like how did you get your name?"

"We have nothing to talk about.", Eleven said while trying to enforce his calmness into his voice. He wanted to make sure that his meaning came across. Although he forced himself to be calm, the forceful nature did make him walk a little stiff, hiding his nervousness.

"Fine, if you don't want to speak, do you mind if I take a guess?"

'I'm not going to get rid of him am I?', was the question that was dancing inside his mind. He still had way too much work ahead of him and with everything Gilbert told them, he might already succeed in his plans. He could only encourage Conrad so that he could focus on where to go next. The way the school was built forced every student to know exactly where to go, or else you wouldn't find it. Eleven had looked into the arrays that could be seen with Magic Vision on the walls, but couldn't decipher them.

"Let me see, you're name is a number, you look like an assassin and you're pretending to be emotionless..", Eleven's eyes darted toward where Conrad's voice came from, but he had already circled around him. 'How did he know?! I've practiced my stoic nature for so long and no one ever saw through it!'

"You look determined and with a clear goal in mind, but you aren't sure how to achieve it."

Eleven quickly turned back around to face Lucas who was standing with his hands behind his back. He looked like a butler to Eleven, but there weren't any good intentions coming from him.

"When you introduced yourself, you needed some time to think of your name. Implying that either you're terrible at creating a fake name, or it's your real one, but it's emotionally tied to something else."

"What are you insinuating?!", Eleven was in distress, throughout his journey he interacted with plenty of people, but none of them ever found out anything. They could only see him as an assassin due to his clothing, but that was it. The way that Conrad was describing things it felt like he was being seen through, his deepest secrets bare for this man.

Conrad smiled, but it was anything but comforting, 'The smile of a Demon!', he was distraught, the way Conrad smiled made him feel anxious. He gave little to no information away, but he saw through it, making links that nobody else made. His eyes felt like the sun surrounding an abyss, an endless darkness that was ready to swallow him whole.

Eleven's eyes widened, and his posture changed into a battle-ready stance.

"I think you're someone who has been trained to do a certain thing, but you were treated harshly. You were held captive against your wishes and forced to become what you are today. Your name is real, but also fake. I don't think you like your name, but you didn't know any other. I think your name, Eleven, is merely the number they gave to you."

The memory of the ringmaster pointing at him while saying his number, his name, came to mind. He panicked as that man was more intimidating than anything else.

"HOW DID YOU KNOW THAT?!"

"I think it's pretty obvious, no? Did you not pay attention to what I just said?"

"That's not merely enough information to reach that conclusion!"

"Yes, but your reaction tells me everything I just said is correct."

Eleven looked at the man before him, with a Demon's smile and the eyes of a puppetmaster. He felt like he was tricked, but also lead to this point from the very beginning. Purely because he couldn't keep his cool he even gave away that Conrad was correct, though not entirely.