"Cmon mom, let's go take a visit to the village doctor today," Kayla spoke in a gentle tone.
Nodding to her daughter, the mother slowly got up as she grabbed her cane, standing wobbly as she and Kayla slowly made their way out of the house.
As time passed, slowly but surely they eventually arrived at the village, where they slowly navigated through the streets. After a bit, eventually they ended up in front of a small, rundown building, a bit bigger than normal houses, with two floors and patients coming in and out of the building from time to time.
As they walked in, they were greeted by a familiar sight. There were multiple seats gathered around a small room where you would wait to be helped by the receptionist while the doctor would do his thing in the rest of the building.
Because of the small rural village they lived in, this small hospital-like place was run by a family, with the mother being the receptionist, the son helping around, and the father treating the patients. As they sat down in one of the many available seats, eventually someone came to help them. Her name was Lina, and she looked to be in her mid-forties and had lush brown hair that extended down to her waist with small wrinkles on her face.
As Kayla quickly gave her the letter that they had received and explained the situation, the woman nodded and told them to wait a bit longer. Leaving the room, Kayla and her mom chatted about the farm and how her brothers were doing until they were called by Lina and brought into a room.
In the room lay a couple of chairs and cabinets filled with tools and medical herbs. Kayla and her mom quickly sat on the chairs as they patiently waited for the village doctor to arrive
Eventually the door slowly opened, and a middle-aged-looking man with a gentle smile appeared in their eyes. Similar to the woman before, he had dark brown hair that was cut relatively short and a well-built physique.
As they greeted each other, the doctor quickly sat down as he started to talk to the both of them.
"Just to make sure, your name is Mara, correct?" The doctor asked while glancing up from his notes,
Kayla's mom nodded as the doctor continued to speak in a grave tone.
"I'm sure that you've already gotten the letter I sent the other day, and if there is anything that I can do to help you guys, please, by all means, ask."
Kayla nodded as she spoke in place of her mother, Mara Stoneheart.
"Please, doctor, my mom has already accepted her fate, but please tell us if there is any way to allow her to move around easier so she can spend more time with our family." Kayla asked with sincerity.
The village doctor looked at them before shaking his head, speaking in a somber tone as he replied back.
"I'm very sorry, but unfortunately we don't have access to those methods. I'm afraid only the people that have access to that are people of high status; insignificant commoners like us simply have no way to do anything about Chaotic Energy Aberration.
Kayla looked extremely dejected as she sat there glaring at the ground without speaking; in her place, her mother, Mara, responded instead.
"I understand. I've already accepted my fate; there's no point in dwelling on the inevitable, Kayla."
Kayla looked up at her mom with stubbornness before Mara kept going
"Doctor, thank you for everything that you have done for us, from my husband's death to now, you have truly been a great help to this family." Mara replied to the doctor but also bowed in earnest sincerity.
"Since we've gotten the response we needed, there is no point in us staying much longer; there are many more patients that require more urgent care than me," Mara said with a soft smile.
The doctor gave a faint smile as he nodded before slowly standing up, only leaving a quick message before closing the door.
"I truly wish your family the best of luck, and please come back whenever you need help with anything; our family will always be willing to help."
As the village doctor departed, Kayla helped her mom slowly get up as they walked out of the room and back into the reception room where all the tables lay. As Kayla got up, Lina asked about the payment. Lina refused and told her to keep it and return it when they get the chance in the future instead.
Lina clearly knew about the situation the Stoneheart family was in and had always said the same thing to them every time they came around. Kayla thanked her greatly and promised that she would repay this kindness one day and left with her mom out of the building.
…
"Ah yes, thank you, sir."
Troy left another store with a dejected gaze as he walked around the streets of the village.
"Sigh."
Troy let out a deep sigh as he tried to figure out where Kealos had possibly gone. He couldn't find Kealos anywhere on the farm before he left, nor has anyone from the village seen him.
As he wandered around the village for a bit longer, he eventually got distracted when he heard a commotion off to the side.
Seemingly this commotion was relatively big, which was very unnatural, as the people living in the village of Elandor usually didn't get into many fights. As he got closer to the commotion, he could see a group of people surrounding something as he quickly joined in.
"Tch! What part of you gives you the right to reject? You live on the grounds of our noble family, and you dare rebuke us?
Troy slowly made his way to get a better look when he saw a bunch of armed people sitting on horses while talking to the village head. The village head, after hearing his words, immediately got on his knees as he begged for forgiveness.
"Please, sir, it was my mistake. Our humble village is definitely willing to help contribute to your noble family."
Time slowly passed as the commander leading the army stared at the kowtowing village head with fury in his eyes. Eventually his eyes softened a bit as he glanced at the surrounding people and issued an ultimatum.
"I will be back in a couple of hours, before I return, I want to see a group of a hundred strong, healthy people gathered to work for us."
The commander glared at the village head one more time before gathering his men and leaving for a certain area within the forest. As they departed, the surrounding crowd became deathly silent as they looked at the village head. Eventually the old village head got up; he clenched his hands in anger.
"Why does it have to be us? The nobles haven't done a single thing for us except extort us, and they now expect us to sacrifice our lives for their own personal gains?"
The old village head muttered these words of pure anger, and he watched the directions the army had left in. Before long he slowly looked back to the group of gathered people as his expression became solemn. At this moment he, as the village head, didn't know what to say.
Was he supposed to tell aspiring young men to sacrifice their lives or innocent young women that just wanted peace and quiet? The village head fell silent as he thought of the consequences of what could happen if they were to disobey the noble.
Even if they were to sacrifice a hundred people, it would mean that the rest of the people in the village would live. Loved family members and partners would be able to live a good life but at the cost of one's own sacrifice.
But disobedience would mean certain death for the entire village. With the overwhelming amount of strength the army had, they could easily slaughter everyone in this village without a second thought.
Even if one or two people were to survive, they would most likely die out in the wilderness, but even if they got to another village and reported it, it would mean nothing.
The nobles could simply use the excuse of them refusing to obey orders and simply execute them in the name of the noble family, and the commoners could do nothing about it. Everyone in the current crowd knew all about this situation. Even though they were commoners and lived a life of simplicity, they were by no means idiots.
Among the crowd, some had surprised gazes, shocked beyond belief. Others had a face of despair, not knowing what to do. Others could be seen silently sobbing, grief and sorrow washing over them as this occurred.
"Troy! Troy! What's happening right now?" A young girl's voice shouted over the various emotions of the crowd. Troy turned around and saw his older sister appearing along with Troy's mother.
Quickly running over to them, Kayla asked between gasps for air.
"Why is everyone gathered here? Is everything okay?"
Troy responded while he quickly rushed over to support his mother, letting Kayla have a moment to breathe.
"Although I don't know the whole story, it seems some noble family found a nearby Spiral of Chaos and is forcing us to work for them."
Kayla's face paled as her mother, Mara, fell into silence and deep thought. Kayla quickly recovered as she asked a question back at Troy.
"How many people are they demanding?"
"..."
Troy fell into silence as he hesitated before speaking out once more.
"They want a group of a hundred, all strong and healthy."
Kayla's face turned into one of shock as she said back in a high-pitched voice.
"A hundred? Our population in this village barely amounts to five hundred. With the young and elderly, almost all of our working power will be gone, and this village will fall apart almost instantly…"
"..."
Troy looked around the village as he felt a wave of despair washing over him. He wished that he could've enjoyed those moments of peace before this had all happened; he wished that he was able to live without those constant ambitions of exploring the Spirlas and enjoyed that time before all of this had occurred.
Alas, when the time truly came and everything was spiraling out of control, Troy started to truly realize what he had once lost. Those blessings that were once hiding in plain sight started to disappear; Troy started to value them more than ever before.
Troy hugged his mother and Kayla as he tried to reassure them; a moment after that, a bell rang loudly through the entire village, shaking everyone out of their thoughts. The village bell was used as a way to tell all families to gather in the village square, reserved for crucial emergencies. Throughout Troy's life, it had only been used once, and that was when a beast had threatened the future of the village.
Instantly people who didn't know about the situation or those who were still not completely understanding of the severity of the situation understood instantly. Throughout the village, families slowly started to leave their houses as they slowly started to make their way to the village center.
"I'll go first, but take mom back home for her to rest; her body is still weak and fragile. I'll try my best to take care of the situation until you return." Troy said to Kayla and their mother, trying his best to reassure them.
Kayla nodded as she quickly helped her mom walk back to the farm in a hurry. But as Troy was walking to the village center, he suddenly had a thought and stopped in his tracks.
"Wait, Kealos is still missing."
…
"Hah—hah—hah." Kealos had his hands on his knees, trying to swallow more air as if he was starving.
"I can finally see it; I can see the light above. I only need to keep pushing on." Kealos muttered to himself between gasps of air.
Kealos gritted his teeth as he slowly stood back up straight and kept on walking.
"Tap. Tap. Tap."
The echoing sound of his steps reverberated through the empty Spiral, and an eerie and mysterious sensation washed down Kealos' back as he kept on pushing. As he could start to see the sky clearly, he suddenly froze as he heard something that surprised him.
"Thud-thid-thud." A thudding sound could be heard slowly approaching the spirals that Kealos was in. As if realizing something, Kealos narrowed his eyes as he looked up from the bottom of the Spiral, glancing at the blue sky.
"Sir, the Spiral is over here! We've finally found it after almost a day of searching."
A faint voice sounded over the air as Kealos scrunched down, listening carefully.
"Good job, everyone. who knew that a Spiral would appear so close to where we were stationed, not to mention at night? With this luck, I'm sure that we are the first to discover it, not only will we get promotions, but we'll also have the opportunity to develop a city and gain endless wealth!"
Hearty laughter filled the surroundings as the thudding noises of the horses got louder and louder as they approached the Spiral. Eventually the thudding noises stopped as Kealos' heard the sound of shoes hitting the dirt.
Kealos felt confused as he looked at the opening of the Spiral in shock.
"What is happening right now? Stationed? Promotions? Who are these people, and why are they here?" Kealos muttered to himself as he thought of countless ideas and possible reasons, quickly forming a plausible conclusion.
'Since they mentioned promotions, that must mean that they are in an organization of some sort, and I'm assuming this Spiral is the key to it. Wealth or glory doesn't move me, but it'll be a problem if they force the village into work…'
But before Kealos could think of anything further, figures could be seen glancing into the Spiral. Even though he had mentally prepared himself, Kealos still stared at the figures while they stared back. Kealos could see the amount of armor and weapons they had while they stared at ordinary Kealos with a shocked expression.
"..."
"..."
Both parties felt at a loss for words as they looked at each other. Before the an old man leading the armed group spoke up in a hostile voice,
"Who are you, and what are you doing here? By your appearance, you don't seem to be part of the village, which means that you must be working for someone."
Completely coming to the wrong conclusion, Kelaos felt dumbstruck at these sudden words as the words he wanted to speak got stuck in his throat. Although it was true that he wasn't from around here, his black hair differed drastically from the typical blond and brown, but the reason that Kealos was here for was completely off.
The old commander's face got angrier as he waited for a response that never came.
"Not responding, huh? Well, it's no matter; I'm sure I'll get the answers out of you after we capture you."
Raising his hands, he signaled to his countless men as they started to rush down the steps to capture Kealos.
Kealos felt his heart jumping as every nerve in his body told him to run away as fast as possible, but those legs of his were melted to the ground, not being able to budge a bit. As the soldiers got closer and slower, Kealos' mind sparked with countless thoughts.
'What is happening? I need to run away. But where can I run away?'
Kealos felt his breathing become heavier and heavier as he suddenly thought of a way. Most likely something stupid, but since he was already going to die if he was going to get captured, he might as well try it.
"F*ck," Kealos cursed out loud before looking at the soldiers coming closer and closer towards him.
Kealos's eyes reflected fear and despair as he looked at the scene in front of him, but another flash of emotion also was reflected in his eyes.
Subconsciously the edges of his mouth lifted into a small grin as Kealos gritted his teeth and ran back down into the mysterious Spiral of Chaos.