Astral Odyssey: Dying Ember

World 4.33: Vanora

A week passed by smoothly with occasional visits paid to their house, of which all their visitors were women, young and old. They came with small gifts of food, giving the excuse that they were for welcoming them into the village and helping them to tide over tough times for now. Vanora felt that even a brainless person could see through those superficial lies since they always blatantly asked to see Vlad so that they could pass him the gifts even though it was always Vanora who went to receive them.

Vlad had always not paid attention to anyone else besides Vanora once they got the house done. He believed that there was never a need to have good relations with the villagers since they could survive well on their own. He only talked to the villagers really nicely at the beginning to carry out the act that Vanora had planned.

Vanora believed otherwise. She did not want trouble to come knocking on the door just from being disliked. She chose to be impassive, not friendly nor unfriendly. Ideally, they would begin to forget about her existence. However, that was near to impossible since the person she was living with would never be forgotten.

Each time she would obediently call for Vlad. Each time Vlad would obediently listen to Vanora and receive the presents. In the corner of his eye, he would notice Vanora nonchalantly returning back to the field to work on their crops and that would put him in a sour mood. She really did not give a hoot that there were women clearly hitting on him.

After receiving the gifts then leaving the women without so much as a word of thanks, he returned to working in the field with Vanora. He would do so with so much fervour and energy to vent his frustration.

Wow, does the attention he gets from the women energise him that much? Or is he sexually frustrated?

Feeling Vanora's eyes on him and liking it, Vlad began misunderstanding her stare as she liking it whenever he worked doubly hard. So he began to do so more consistently.

Vlad's actions in turn made Vanora lean her guess towards sexual frustrations.

It was another day of being forced to rest in the house while she watched Vlad work hard in the field. I wonder if I should ask him about it...

Suddenly she heard the sounds that had earned her concern over the week. It sounded like someone was being bullied and she located it to be in the center of the village. It was nothing new and had even happened to the original soul before, but it piqued her interest because she still remembered the two children she met on the first day she converted. She inevitably wondered about their well being and if the boy's injury ever did heal properly somehow.

When BaoBao knew of her thoughts, he had immediately let her know that the victims were indeed those children. This was part of the reason why she was willing to let Vlad do most of the work. She was slightly distracted from monitoring the children's situation. She could not help but feel responsible for their current plight. However, she had not intervened at all, unsure if she would help or worsen their situation. It was after all the universal law of the jungle. She also felt too ashamed and guilty to see the children.

"Just go and die already, you one-armed freak! You've been useless for the past two years. Why haven't you given up yet? Can't work properly, resorting to stealing food. Like I said, just let your sister work and put the food on the table for the both of you! I know she'll grow into a wonderful woman... Fuck! You dare to try and bite me?!" Sounds of a harsh beating and a young girl's sob and pleas followed.

Vanora's expression turned darker and darker as she listened on. She finally could take it no longer and left the house in haste, not forgetting to inform Vlad. "I'm going to the village center to get something! You can wait for me here!"