Singal Nixeor

"Who is there?"

A mean asked in a dark corner of a room.

The voice startled Sheyken as it was hoarse and creepy like a ghost was speaking. It made him alert. He was in a dark room that the villagers had put him in. It was located in a separate building after you made your way from the shop fronts where Ningal and Vitula's shops where and in there, he had a view of the street end of where the village would hold celebrations or meetings through a tiny opening that had bars at the top of the room to allow air in.

When Dunnam had heard Nanna call Ningal her mother, after making sure that he heard right, he quickly helped Flosbris up and then instructed Agna and one of his guards to take Sheyken to a secure place. Flosbris was still not thinking straight as she did not know what had happened to her pet or what to make of the bombshell of a word the child standing next to Ningal had said.

What everyone did not see as they were in awe of seeing Flosbris fly through the air was that the Araneu had moved to stop Ningal as it was getting ready to slice her with its two scythes. Sheyken had quickly pulled out Plot Armor, and performed Fluid sword, cutting it into pieces. He had finished the move even before Flosbris hit the ground and had put him back into Ruby. Only Vitula had seen him as he was watching him even while being held by the other villagers to see if he would not make a wrong decision. Seeing his skill, Vitula knew he was lucky to have set down and talked to one of the most skilled kids he had ever seen. He now had ample trust in him to find a way to escape.

When he left, he saw a big smile on Ningals face. It looked to him like she had been wanting to do that for a long time and today was the big day. In the cell-like room they had put him in, he knew someone was there with him when he entered. He was just so worried about the others that he paid no attention to it and was trying to see if he could find a way out. That is how he saw the small opening that showed him what was happening outside.

He saw people carrying some word and placing it on a pile not far away from where his cell was.

"Looks like this building was meant to hold prisoners. The cell is underground so the only way out is the front door."

He said while looking through the opening. When he finished talking to himself, he heard the voice. He turned to face the direction of where it came from.

"Who are you?"

He retorted. A pale-looking man appeared as he walked to the side the little light in the room had, which was coming from the opening that Sheyken had been occupied with.

He was looking worse for wear. He wore a plain brown shirt and trousers that had holes in them. It was clear that he had been in the cell for a long time and did not have any change of clothes. He had red hair, brown eyes and was the tallest mean he had seen in the village.

"You a child. That is unfortunate. I thought the villagers had stopped having children because of them."

The mean said with his tone full of sorrow.

"If only I stopped her. This village might still be peaceful and they would have never come."

Sheyken was sick of hearing the word 'they' at that point, but he gathered that the villagers were either too scared to say their name or were told not to and it was now a norm to call them 'They'.

"Who are you?"

"Aw am sorry son, I have been alone here for two years and I have only seen a human 3 times since then and the third time is now."

The old man said. Sheyken was intrigued. He hoped that if the man had been put here because of something he did two years ago, then he must know what was going on with the village. That meant he could get the answers he was looking for.

"My name is Singal Nixeor."

The man said and as soon as he did, Sheykens eyes lit up.

'Didn't Vitula say he disappeared along with his son? I know what happened to the son but that would mean that he was in here all this time and I can guess who put him here.'

Sheyken thought.

"I am Sheyken Lewis."

He replied.

"I see, you must not be from around here. No one here goes by that surname, and you already to old to have been born here."

Singal said.

"If you are in here, it means that they plan to give you to them."

"Who are they and why are you locked up in here."

Sheyken asked.

"I will tell you, but can you please tell me what is happening out there. I can smell smoke."

"No, I will tell you what is going on up there when you have told me what is wrong with this village and why you are here first."

Sheyken was tired of having someone that could give him information but for them to talk about something else and then have something happen, making them unable to tell him what he wanted to know.

"Awe, you a feisty one. Ok, first tell me what you know about the village and the individuals you know so I know where to start.'

Sheyken wasted no time and told him everything he knew.

"I see, so you have been here for almost three weeks now and the people you mentioned, well, I am sure you know now that one is my wife and the others were my friends.'

Sheyken nodded his head as to show that he was listening.

"First off, about me. I am the only Nixeor in the village that stayed to look after the place. I am sure if you would travel around Uros you would find some of my relatives. I married Flosbris 10 years ago. We were happy for three of those years as I was teaching her the techniques of my household. She is a smart woman and she learned them without any problems, but when there was nothing more she thought she could learn from me she started to grow distant. Even when we had our child, she would not take care of him, only immersing herself in the techniques I had taught her."

Singal took a breath to gather himself and then continued.

"Later on when all the compasses the village kids would use for their hunts went missing I found out that she was the one who had stolen them using what I had taught her. I wanted to tell the others but she threatened to kill our own child as she told me she was pregnant at the time. She then told me that she was a spy, sent here to scout the village and report to them. Since Vintas who was a third circle mage was gone and they had taken care of him, she told me that the village was now in their hands."

Singal said as he tried to catch another breath. Sheyken had a feeling he knew where this story was going.

"They came and put a spell on the village so as not to allowed any of us to escape. They then took the children but left the ones that were too young or had already reached the age of 9. They then took Ningal to perform...."

Singal could not finish his sentence. it seemed what he was about to say was dark and did not want a child to hear.

"Our child was one of those they did not take at the time as he was too young. by that time I was a shell of myself and because of the guilt I had for not stopping my wife and for what I saw...."

Singal closed his eyes as to try to hold back tears but a single one managed to escape and ran down his face.

'I did not want to talk to anyone except raise my child. When he was five, he heard us arguing as Flosbris was obsessed with wanting to sacrifice him. Since he was older and could understand what we were arguing about, he took the family's Sicapugi and left the house. Since no one could leave the village, we thought he was going to go to Ningal's or Vitula's place but Agna came and told us that they saw him leaving the village through the gate. Since many saw him, we had to believe it. I was happy that he could run away but they then told me he ran into the Trial Forest. I knew that he was not coming back at that point but Flosbris still thinks he is alive. She blames me for the incident and she and Agna who would bring me food put me here to rot away. She would not kill me since she thinks there are techniques I never taught her."

Singal finished talking and took a long breath.

"That is an intriguing story. Old man, I plan to escape here one way or another. You need to stop treating me as a child as I could be the last hope your village has. You need to tell me everything. Even if you think I am too young to handle it. Trust me, I have already seen my share of horror Ningal and Vitula have put trust in me and so should you. Whatever your guilt is, there is still time to rectify it, rather then sitting here in regret, you should tell me everything and I could get some help when I escape."

Sheyken said with a straight face. Singal was surprised to see the determination on his face and the fact that he was sure he would escape.

"Now, I had already asked you to tell me who 'Them' are. Now, I need you to tell me what they did to Ningal in detail and do not miss a single one."

Sheyken said, coming closer and closer to Singal so he could not miss a word of what he was going to tell him.