'Who will be the last ten volunteers?'
This question rang in everyone's mind as they looked at each other with differing gazes. As they looked around, they found that most healthy adults were already chosen, and the only remaining people were young children, teenagers, wives, or seniors.
The first to be eliminated were the seniors; after all, the army commander had asked for healthy workers, not fragile people that would collapse within a day.
The second to be eliminated were the young children; they were way too young to do any hard work and hadn't matured yet. In their minds the young children would be the most protected among everyone here. They had a bright future and had a long road in their life; nobody in this crowd even thought of letting a kid participate in this death sentence.
Between the women in the village and the teenagers that were in the crowd, it could go both ways. Most women in this village were married, and with a vast majority of their loved ones going to participate, they were the only ones left behind to take care of their children.
But teenagers also included girls and boys that had an incomprehensible bright future; they would be the seeds left behind by their parents to grow into trees that would support the village's foundation.
Everyone just looked around at each other before falling into their thoughts. The kids looked around in confusion but also could feel the severity of the situation, so they didn't speak, just standing in silence.
"..."
Not before long the village head decided to speak up, trying his best to try and resolve this situation.
"I know it's not in my right to choose who should go, but I also believe that equality should be upheld."
Everyone snapped out of their thoughts as they once again looked up at the podium where the old village head stood weakly.
"Families that have already sent a person should not send more; they've already suffered enough. I believe it's only fair for those families that haven't participated to do so."
The crowd listened as a few of them nodded their heads at the words of the village head. After all, these words made perfect sense; why should a family sacrifice more than they have to while other families simply sit back without giving up anything and watch other people suffer?
As the village head said this, the crowd fell back into silence, and slowly but surely, pressured by the gazes of some of the people in the crowd, some people started to volunteer, and others followed suit.
Most of these volunteers were young teenagers, usually around fifteen years old or older. Ranging from both male to female, they mostly came from families that had a lot of children.
As they slowly reached higher and higher, the count eventually reached ninety-nine people before falling back into silence again.
"..."
Troy looked around as he felt numerous gazes fall upon them. Although the people in this village were kind, when they saw that the Stoneheart family hadn't done anything while their families suffered, it left a bad taste in their mouth, so they looked at them in expectation.
Troy felt momentarily shocked by this and couldn't speak as he looked forward in silence. He understood why they felt this way; he would've felt the same, but at the same time it was hard to accept while being calm.
Quickly snapping out of it, he looked at Kayla before realizing she was starting to walk forward towards the podium. Her body moved slowly, hesitating as she tried to gather some courage to keep going. Troy's eyes widened in surprise as countless thoughts ran through his mind.
'Is Kayla going to volunteer? But it should be me; I should be the one to go, not her.'
Kayla's hand touched Troy's shoulder as she gave a small smile, her body moving past Troy. Troy saw her body move a bit further away. Troy gritted his teeth as he tried to move his body but it was frozen in space
'D*mn it, I have to go. Our family needs Kayla, but as for me, I can be replaced by Kealos or my brothers.'
Right before Kayla was out of arm's reach, Troy gazed down at the rest of his family. Zane, at just thirteen years old, understood the situation as he clenched his hands in anger while a fierce anger burned in his eyes.
Cole, only being twelve, also understood the situation but was not angry like his older brother; rather, Troy could see the sorrow in his eyes while he looked at Kayla.
Blake, the youngest member of their family, still hadn't comprehended this grave situation. But although he didn't understand what was happening, an intuition told him that something bad was going to happen to his older sister. Blake took a small step forward, as if afraid his sister would disappear from his life forever.
Troy watched this scene with a frozen body. Moments before, he couldn't seem to move his body, as if a part of his heart was holding him back. But looking at this scene from his brother, Troy just couldn't seem to keep still.
Troy, finally being able to move with great effort, just barely managed to put his right hand on his brother's shoulder, stopping him from moving towards Kayla. With that, he took a small step forward as he grabbed Kayla's shoulder and stopped her from moving any further.
With a small force he pulled Kayla back behind him as he slowly walked towards the small podium. As he took small steps forward, he could feel the gazes of everyone landing on him. A sudden wave of nausea washed over him, but he quickly took in a deep breath and continued.
He felt as if he was seeing the world in a new light; his body moved forward in a daze, his mind constantly fluctuating between a sense of emptiness but also countless thoughts. The feeling that gathered in him couldn't be explained by simple words.
Before he knew it, he had ended near the bottom of the podium, where small steps led up to the main stage where the village head was standing. Taking small steps up the stairs, he felt the time slow around him as he heard the soles of his shoes hitting the wooden stair.
Eventually Troy ended up at the very top of the podium, where everyone gazed at him. In a trance everything in his mind was blank, as he didn't know what to do while everyone stared at him intensely.
"Thank you for helping the entire village."
Troy suddenly snapped back when he heard this sudden voice from the village head, who was bowing at him. Quickly regaining his senses and trying to bury any distracting thoughts, Troy quickly bowed back as he replied in a soft tone.
"No, it should be me thanking everyone for all the help. Without you, we would've been long gone."
The village head nodded, looking up with sadness in his eyes as he looked at this young man with a bright future in front of him. Regaining his composure, he stood up straight and spoke a sentence to Troy in a small tone that only they could hear.
"Would you like to say anything?"
Troy, hearing this, immediately fell silent as he thought for a bit. He looked at the crowd of people and saw numerous gazes. Grief, hate, acceptance. All these emotions were plastered upon them, including his family.
But Troy knew deep down he should say one last line, something to comfort his brothers or to reassure his beloved sister. But at the same time, he knew that the moment he was to say something, he would most likely break down crying.
It was true that Troy wanted to protect his family, and he had done that right now. But it was also true that having ambition didn't mean it came with bravery or courage on the side for free.
Fear of death, fear of never seeing his family's faces, and fear of not being there for the death of his mother plagued him. Everything pushed down on his soul; it took every last bit of effort for him to not fall into despair.
Shaking his head, Troy politely declined as he walked off the podium. One last time before he walked off the podium, he looked at his family for the final time. His sister, Kayla, stood there frozen, while his brothers were shocked beyond belief as they looked at him with a gaze of sorrow.
Turning around, he slowly walked off the podium to the area where all the previous volunteers had all gathered. During this slow walk countless thoughts ran through his mind, turning this short distance into an endless path.
Maybe if he wasn't so ambitious in the past and constantly chased after glory and the wonders in the Spiral, he could've spent some more quality time with his family. Maybe then he wouldn't feel so empty when doing this.
Thinking back, he remembered the constant bickering between his brothers and himself. The way Troy teased him and messed with them and the angry expressions they made while looking at Troy brought a smile to his face amid this endless chaos.
Troy let out a small laugh as if he had gone crazy. But it was all he could try to do to calm himself; among moments of despair, a person would think of good memories to try and get through this tough time.
Even though he tried to comfort himself through this situation, he felt something nagging at his brain, as if he had been overlooking something very big…
'I feel like I'm forgetting something…'
This thought ran through his mind as countless questions appeared. What had he not thought of? What did he miss? Suddenly, as if lightning had struck him, it suddenly appeared in his mind.
Kealos, where had Kealos gone in this situation? With the huge commotion, it should've gotten his attention. Troy knew deep down inside that Kealos was a smart man, at least way smarter than himself. Even Troy himself knew the importance of this emergency bell; he was sure that Kealos also knew since he had told him before.
Thus the only thing he could think of was that Kealos must've encountered something. But what could it be?
Troy knew Kealos well; although he couldn't say he knew every part of him, he was absolutely sure that Kealos was a very smart and cautious person. Everything was well thought through before action.
But as one thought led to another, he thought about this coldheaded nature of his friend, and a thought popped into his mind that he had pondered many times. A thought that he had always thought about in his free time.
'What did Kealos want?'
Even though Kealos constantly advocated for peace and quietness and living a simple life, Troy knew that there was something else that he wanted. Being his close friend and almost constantly with him for the past year, there was an indescribable feeling that told him Kealos wanted something more than what he had at the moment.
But what it seemed to Troy was that Kealos himself didn't know the answer either. Whether it was money or glory, it didn't seem to excite Kealos at all. He always wondered what Kealos had wanted but never got around to finding the right time to ask.
'Perhaps he discovered something that he wanted?'
Thinking of this, Troy gave a small smile, hoping that Kealos had finally found something that he enjoyed in this world. But he was still a bit nervous, what if this thing that Kealos had been searching for was something dangerous, and he tried to explore it and got in trouble?
Troy scoffed to himself while thinking of this. There was no way Kealos would possibly do such a thing. Maybe it was him, but Kealos? He laughed at the thought of Kealos doing something dangerous; there was just no way that could happen.
Comforting himself, he tried to tell himself that Kealos was safe and sound. With his help his family would probably do pretty well, and so he shouldn't think about it that much.
But even though he told himself that, a pang of regret washed over him as he thought of his friend; he wanted to at least thank him or see him off one more time before all of this had happened. Maybe even see his friend discover himself, finding what he wanted in this life much like what Troy had himself.
As his thoughts slowly disappeared from his mind, he found himself almost at the group of volunteers, where some of them looked at Troy with deep gazes, others blankly looked at the ground, and some chatted with each other.
One last time Troy couldn't help but turn around. Maybe he should've said something, maybe something to calm Kayla and his brothers down, but it was too late to dwell on that. Letting out a deep sigh, he looked at the forest behind the village as he muttered a question to himself.
"Kealos, please tell me you're not in trouble out there…"