Sonny was introduced to a new place and a new role as a servant or someone treated worse than a disciple in the righteous sect.
The eight-year-old boy, Sonny, looked at the elders who walked across the sect with a righteous face, and some of them gave him a cold face, while others gave him a disdainful gaze.
They heard rumors of how the disciple chief Killian had passed the boy to another elder like a piece of toy, for the boy was so weak with no cultivation. The elders looked down on the boy and gave him no more glances, and moved on to their location.
Sonny kept his head bowed down with his heart in turmoil, and he felt betrayed by everyone, including Killian, who was supposed to protect him. In his young mind, he couldn't grasp why Killian abandoned him when he needed him the most.
Sonny wondered if he had done something wrong. Something terrible made Killian throw him away like garbage.
He touches his red bracelet on his wrist, the only thing left by his father and the only thing that gives him comfort in the dark, lonely world he seems to be stuck in. With no one to love him or to protect him.
Sonny was stuck in his thoughts until a deep voice spoke sharply at him, "Boy, what are you doing?"
Sonny felt his heart hammering like a rabbit, and he turned to the Elder Zhen, who was watching him with a dark look, "I—"
Elder Zhen cut him off, "Don't slack off. You still have plenty of things to do."
Sonny nodded with an obedient look and got on his knees to wipe the long hall in the righteous sect that needed to be cleaned. The other servants were sleeping, for it was too early, and Sonny asked Elder Zhen why he made the boy work too early.
But the Elder Zhen caught him off guard by slapping his cheeks like he asked something he shouldn't. "Don't question me. Just do as you're told."
Sonny felt his bones aching and his back sore like a string about to be snapped. He knew he needed to finish cleaning the hall from one end to another if he wanted to eat for lunch.
Sonny heard that Killian had left two days ago to go on a mission that all cultivations do—hunt down demons. And eliminate them. Sonny felt a chill down his spine when he heard that. Is that what Killian is going to do when he finds out about me?
Sonny shakes his head and slaps his cheek hard, "I can't think about that. I need to finish my task, so I can't eat."
Sonny's belly growled loudly in the silent hallway, and a couple of people entered the hallway, and some of them gave Sonny pitiful glances, but no one stood up for the boy.
No one wanted to face the elder's wrath. They knew of his ruthlessness toward people of lower status.
A half hour later, Sonny finished cleaning the hall floor with the rag in his hands and the bucket he had to carry. He was exhausted and weary in his eight-year-old body. He took a shower in his servant's dwelling deep in the forest he was giving.
Then he went to the kitchen, where all the servants stayed, where they could get food to eat, and he looked around the kitchen in curiosity, but everyone looked away from him, for they knew of Disciple Chief Killian's interest in the boy.
Deep down, they were jealous, so they took petty actions toward the boy to make themselves feel better.
One of the boys who wore a black outfit for training and long black hair held into a ponytail looked at the boy with a sharp gaze, "Peasant, I heard that your master had you clean the hallway."
Sonny didn't glance at the boy and carried the food in the tray, and the other boy felt annoyance at being ignored by someone, a servant who thinks he's better.
The boy walked to Sonny with a contemptuous glance, and he stopped Sonny by shoving his fingers into Sonny's chest.
"Who do you think you are to ignore me?"
Sonny lifted his head at the taller boy, who stopped him from leaving the kitchen, and the taller boy grinned maliciously, then shoved the tray that fell on Sonny's clothes.
Sonny hissed through his teeth as the hot soup on the tray was knocked over and his clothes were soaked through. He said nothing; he knew his silence would irritate the other boy.
The taller boy glared sharply, "Don't think you're better than me."
"You're still a lowly servant with no origins. No parents. No siblings. No allies."
The tall boy smiled with menacing light in his gaze before he left the kitchen along with his lackeys, who followed him all day like a puppet.
Sonny held his breath, trying to control his emotions that wanted to explode from within. He feels betrayed and humiliated, his blood pumping with anger.
He throws away the tray into the trash, and his pride and dignity are slowly stripped away. His heart ached like an invisible rod stuck in his heart.
Then another voice called out to him before he could head back to his dwelling to deal with his pain, the emotional kind that leaves scars mentally.
"Sonny!"
Sonny turned around at the voice calling his name. It was an older man behind the kitchen who was staring at him with an apathetic expression, "Sonny, don't forget to do all the dishes now!"
The faint laughter echoed around him like smoke, and it doesn't make it any easier for Sonny. It makes the laughter even louder and crueler for the boy hasn't learned to block the harsh world out yet.
Sonny swallowed hard and bit his tongue hard to force the tears away from his eyes. He shouldn't be shaken by the cruelty after witnessing his parents' death and being nearly assaulted afterwards. But he was hoping it was all to be over.
But he was wrong.
Sonny followed the man dressed in a white robe and a white scarf wrapped around his head, steeped in beads.
Sonny followed him in the dark, shadowy area where the light seemed to fade. Sonny saw a large bowl of water and dirty dishes all over the place on the ground, and he knew he had a long task to do tonight.
A long one.