-Break-

  The day

  Location: Scortha fields

  With my feet freezing from the cold, I say, “How is this worse!”

  “During the summer months, these fields were ridiculously hot, and now during wi is stupidly cold.”

  But still, despite my pining, I tio do the wiven to me. Today we are being forced to poor these sacks of white materials through the fields in which we pnted seeds in.”

  Beside me, Charles tio do the world as well at the same speed at me. I would be happy that I am keeping up with him, but it is not like this work requires any form of ability, it is just p this stuff into the fields.

  As the white powder-like substance tio pour out of my bag, I look to my left ahat Charles has stopped while holding something in his hands.

  Instantly panic takes over my body, and I look around, but luckily none of the guards are around us, so I quickly say, “What are you doing!”

  “This fell out of my sack.”

  Within the hand of the boy named Charles, is a cm, and upon seeing this Nero says, “You look at it ter, right now we o get to work or they will start attag us.”

  “Ok.”

  -Break-

  The day

  Location: Campsite

  Standing in front of the gate getting ready to be let out to go start, I slump my head down as I try to stop myself from getting sick.

  Looking towards me, Charles asks, “Are you ok?”

  Stick up, my thumb, I say, “Yeah I am good.” I ’t tell him the reason I feel like this is because I had a rather horrible dream st night. But I should be proud at least I didn’t spill my guts, well at at least not yet.

  Beside me I hear Charles shen I say, “Are you sick?”

  “What does that mean.”

  “It means you're starting to feel strange and lose to ability to work.”

  “Then I am not sick. Sometimes during the year, I start to sneeze and cough, but then it goes away fast enough.”

  “I am pretty sure that is what being sick is.” Well whatever he is some sort of superhuman, so I am sure he will be fine no matter what.

  Upon opening the gate for all of us to be let out, I see that the other side of the gate has a bunaterials, ohat look very simir to the one each of our huts are made out of, and what the wall around our campsite is made out of.

  Walking a beastkin says, “We will be beginning expansion earlier this year. Eae of you are to expand your hut’s sizes while also doing your part in helping the walls expand as well. You will be given instrus follow them precisely and remember that these materials are more important than your life.”

  Throughout the area, as they all listen to his instrus, most of them stare in fusion, while others are scared with fright at their ck of uanding, but one of them Nero, is just trying to hold back his ughter.

  What the hell kind of at is that!!!!!? Not only that his pronunciation was all over the pce, I swear some babies ba the spoke better than him. Don’t ugh, don’t ugh, don’t ugh.

  With the same horrible voice, he says, “What is the matter humans, have I not given you your instrus!”

  One of the other people in the crowd says with a polite smile, “Sorry could you please repeat that most of us couldn’t decipher what you said.”

  Looking down towards the crowd, the beastkin notices some faces are smiling while others at genuinely fused, and turning to look at his fellow beastkin he sees that some of them are mog him behind his back.

  Uo hold back his embarrassment, the beastkin jumps dht up to the man who said this and asks, “You must think you're funny, asking me such a question as if it is my fault that your pathetic human ears couldn’t uand me.”

  As the beastkin walks towards the human, he backs up and says, “No master, I meant no such thing.”

  “SILENCE!” Stopping and looking all around us, he says, “You humans still keep fetting your pce, you don’t get to think unless we want you to, you don’t get to speak unless we want you to, you don’t get to eat unless we want you to, and you don’t get to live unless we want you to. But it seems like you don’t know this, YOU’RE ALL SLAVES.”

  Walking over to me, he says, “And to those of you who think it’s ok to smile and ugh, at my words.” He hits me in my left check sendio the ground.

  “Then you don’t need mouths.”

  On the ground, I spit up blood, from my mouth while trying tain my senses.

  Walking over to another man, he says, “And to those of you who ’t uand what leaves my beautiful mouth.”

  With his finger, he pokes a hole in that man's right ear, and says, “You don’t need your ears.”

  Walking to the middle of the crowd he says, “You all have gotten too cocky simply because the Marquis won’t let us end your lives, but I promise from the bottom of my soul that I make you all wish you were dead. Now get to work, and all those who fail at their tasks will be punished.”

  As everyone walks away Charles runs up to me, while I am on my hands and khen asks, “Are you ok?”

  I wonder if Mom, Aurelius, Lillian, and everybody else are experieng pain this bad right now? If so I would want with all my heart to take it away, but I ’t, I ’t reach them I am simply too weak, and I don’t think I ever will.

  But the thing someone like me do at least, is make sure Charles doesn’t have to experiehis, and for whatever lies for him iure that he at least have happy memories.

  So I put on my best smile, and say, “Yep, I am good.”

  -Break-

  As the cold of the night enters my body, I walk bay hut. While I was helping others with the gate today, Charles was at the hut making it bigger, it seems they just split up the work between huts.

  So just like always it sucks that it is just the two of us, but I wonder if I wasn’t here would they have made Charles do both sets of work. The thought of that makes all of my ag bones hurt even more.

  Walking up to my hut, I see the men who used to bother us kig Charles as he ys down curled up in a ball. What the hell is he doing, he isn’t even proteg his head.

  Running with all the might I muster, I jump and dropkie of the men out of the way. Getting up from the attack, I say, “You guys o go do something with your pathetic lives.”

  Getting up the man says, “Shut up you dumb brat.”

  “looks like someone has an attitude, maybe I o break your ax-, oh no.”

  “We no longer have to do any work involving axes, so from this point on we return things to how they used to be.”

  Putting my fists up preparing to fight, I say, “Then I guess I o teach you a lesson with my fist.” Immediately I run forward.”

  Oing ter

  Laying on the floor with my feet over my head, I say, “You better run.” Then instantly I feel pain throughout my mouth from their punches.

  Well, at least my body was in actual good shape because if it was like before, I think that beating might have killed me.

  Getting up from the floor, I see Charles holding something and in that moment his aake seo me. So I move over to Charles and ask, “What are you proteg?”

  In his hands, he shows me a cm.

  “Is that the one from yesterday?”

  Looking at it he says, “Yes.”

  Sitting down beside him with my legs crossed, I ask, “Noould you do that? You do realize that you could have died proteg that thing?”

  “I know, but it is pretty.”

  “It is just a cm you find those all the time he o.”

  “The o?”

  Something hits me and I say, “You don’t know what the o is do you?”

  He shakes his head from left tht.

  With a smile, I say, “Well it is a river but really, really big. Lots of other sparkly things, like rocks and pearls be found near it, there are also animals and wonderbeasts that flow throughout the o.

  Oime when I ying with Aurelius he o we saw a giant dolphin, and we even got to pet its head.”

  Charles asks, “Who is Aurelius?”

  Rubbing the bay head, I say, “He was just a friend, who was like a brother to me, ba my .”

  Charles asks, “You don’t really talk about members of your .”

  “Well, the stories are kind of stupid and b, not something anyone would care to listen to.”

  “I want to hear them,” Charles says the moment I finish speaking.

  Charles's face is expressionless, but I feel it, the excitement and drive that he feels is tangible. Then with that same expressionless fad tasteless tone, he asks, “I really want to hear about it.

  “Ok then but we ’t do it out here, so let’s head ihe tent.”

  That night I talked and talked about the o, the other pces my has been to, the animals the members of my , and all the fu up to.

  By the time we had fihe bell was wrung for us to start work today, and when I heard it I shouted, “I FOT TO SLEEP.”

  -Break-

  A week and a half ter

  Location: Far east of the River Lúide

  Holding a bri my hand, I say to Charles beside me, “Isn’t everyone being way too x? They aren’t w and just sitting around.”

  “That’s normal for this time of the year.”

  “Huh, way?”

  “The beastkin have four celebrations year-round Samhain was one of them, and another one is at the start of the seonth of the year. During this time many of the beastkin vanish I believe to celebrate, so there aren’t many people around. Some even sneak off during this time.”

  “I see well then I guess we be a little more x on our quotas.”

  “Yeah yht,” Charles says while walking very wobbly.

  Looking at Charles I say, “Is something wrong?”

  Turning to look at me with the same expression he always has, he says, “No.” Then he walks forward and falls to his side.

  Running over to him, I touch his forehead and notice that even in this cold weather he is hot. “Charles you're burning up, that definitely isn’t normal.”

  “But it is since I have been feeling like that since I sneezed.”

  “You mean since almost two weeks ago! THAT MEAN YOU’RE ARE SICK.”

  With an expressionless face, he says, “I see.”

  Over his body, I start to panic. This isn’t good, this isn’t good, if he gets sick I doubt they would stop him from w, which could lead to death. But they aren’t allowed to kill us so maybe asking for some medie could work. But not killing us and actively giving us some form of care are probably not the same thing.

  Wait, I have another option. No is being watched, so I could simply take care somewhere else, so he doesn’t have to do work. Hiding him and myself in the forest until we all walk home could work.

  But if we are found, I am sure that even this would be grounds for death. I could die.

  Suddenly fshes of Lillian and my father appear in my head causio shake. Then from the ground, Charles grabs my hand and says, “Good job,” With the best smile he muster.

  No Nero, you pick the best option for his survival, you promised yourself so now get on with it.

  Pig Charles up and putting him on my back, I make my way towards where the other men were using to sck off.