Back with another chapter, it is a bit longer than usual but I really enjoyed writing it!
If you'd like to help me out, votes and feedback of any kind are appreciated :)
Enjoy!
"I've seen you going into this hut. Did your friend live here?"
In the doorway of the hut, a short but intimidating man, his white framed sunglasses hiding his eyes as usual, his short, dark hair more chaotic than the last time Clay had seen him, there was-
Henry.
"W-what do you mean did live here? He does live here!"
Clay's voice got louder and louder as he went on, desperate to understand what was going on.
"You told me you would take him home safely! Where is he? What did you do?!"
His mouth was faster than his brain- the moment he realised what he said, and especially how he said it, it was already too late.
Never had he actually spoken in such a disrespectful way to someone as powerful as a Pretiosi.
Henry's voice was so full of powerful anger that Clay backed up against the wall, staring at him, scared of what he would do.
"You do not talk to me like this."
The short yet intimidating man raised his hand as if he was about to punch Clay from far away and for a second he felt an unbearable heat enclosing him from all sides.
Henry quickly pulled his hand back, as if he was surprised by his own actions.
But his confusion quickly turned into anger once again.
"You should know your place, little Vilis kid. I could tear you into pieces and nobody would notice. Nobody would even care. You are nothing."
The last word came with such a disgust and devaluation that Clay felt a shiver rushing through his whole body.
"Please don't hurt me."
Clay whispered, making himself as small as possible.
"You know that I could've just left you there this morning? I could've let this Aquantura do whatever he wants with you? Watch your words! Without me you would be dead!"
Clay had no idea what an Aquantura was but he supposed it was a term for the dark-blue eyed man who tried to drown him earlier this day by enclosing him with water.
His voice was nothing more than a whisper.
"I know."
Trembling, he looked up at Henry, waiting for any verbal or physical attack.
But nothing came.
"W-why? Why though?"
Henry looked at him, lifting an eyebrow behind his sunglasses.
"Why did you safe me? As you said… I am a Vilis, my life means nothing. Why did you…-"
"Don't ask me that, I'm not able to tell you."
His voice was neutral again, revealing nothing about his current mood.
They were silent for a bit. Clay was still sitting on the floor, his back against the wall of Nick's hut. Henry was still standing in the middle of the room, no expression on his face around the white goggles.
Clay did not like that he could not see the emotions of his counterpart, making it slightly difficult to communicate. But at the same time he knew that his opinion on that was totally irrelevant.
Into the silence Clay's stomach began to rumble. He instantly thought about the dinner he skipped and started to regret it.
Henry took something out of his pocket and held it out to the Vilis boy.
Clay hesitantly grabbed the small, elongated packaging. It was red with yellow stripes. Big, fancy letters were spread around it, creating the word "ChocoCocoLove". In a smaller font it said "Love your chocolate, love your Empire! Long live the King!"
Clay turned the strange packaging in his hand, examining it further. On the back there were a lot of words he did not know, summarized as ingredients.
He raised his head and looked at the man.
"What is this?"
"That's a chocolate bar." Henry said, amused.
"What is a chocolate?"
Henry chuckled.
"You never had chocolate?"
Clay shook his head. What if chocolate actually was something like poison and Henry tried to kill him?
He pushed that absurd thought away quickly; if Henry wanted to kill him he could just use his power, whatever it was.
"Just try it. It's really good and you won't be that hungry. It's with coconut though, I don't know if you like that."
Clay carefully teared the crackling paper apart. Inside it was completely silver, embracing a dark brown, cuboid-like bar.
He slowly brought it to his mouth, sticking his tongue out slightly, touching the cuboid for a second. He quickly pulled it back.
Then he carefully took a small bite, revealing the white inside of the bar.
He had never tasted anything like this.
The chocolate melted as soon as it touched his tongue, spreading a warm feeling through his entire body.
It was sweet, but even more than sweet, Clay never thought anything could be that sweet. The mixture of the white inside and the dark brown covering confused his taste buds, but it was good, kind of.
A thought struck him; was this what luxury tasted like?
He took another few bites, causing his stomach to completely forget his previous hunger and pouncing on the unique feeling this small bar created.
After some time, Clay began to speak again.
"Do you regret it? Saving me?"
Henry turned his head, looking at the boy on the floor for a few seconds.
"Every human life is precious."
"You Pretiosi don't see us as humans."
Clay's heart skipped a beat as he realised he had spoken without thinking again, but Henry remained calm.
"However, I just visited to make sure you got home safe. And that they hadn't taken you aswell."
"They will soon. My birthday is in 4 days."
Henry frowned.
"I thought you have a job."
"I don't."
"Then what were you doing in St. George's?"
"In- in what?
Henry frowned even more.
"Town of St. George's. It's named after m- after Prince George. You visited it this morning."
"Oh."
Clay nearly made a snappy comment but he wasn't dumb enough to make a joke about the Prince- everyone in the Pretiosi Empire loved him and even the Vilis community didn't dare to be disrespectful towards him.
"You don't seem to know a lot about the world you live in."
"That's not the world I live in. I live in this village, I always have and- well I will until my birthday."
Henry sighed and stared into the void for a moment.
"Don't worry about your birthday."
A dry laugh escaped Clay's throat.
"Yeah sure, I won't worry at all about the day I'll be taken by the army to fight at the front and die." He said sarcastically.
Once again he looked at Henry, worried he would feel disrespected by his tone.
But Henry only curled his lips a bit and looked at the floor.
"The Holy Pretiosi Empire sure might have some flaws."
He turned towards the door, ready to leave.
"Goodbye, Clay. I don't think we will ever see each other again, and I never thought I'd say this about a Vilis, but I'm gonna miss you. You're a funny kid and it's a shame you might lose your life in the war.
Please don't worry too much about your birthday, it's not worth it."
Clay stared at the man, unsure what he should think or feel.
Henry walked towards the door but stopped once again, turning to face the boy.
"And Clay-
I'm sorry for your friend."
When Henry turned his head towards the door, Clay could see something red flashing from behind his sunglasses.
For a second he thought he would see a red eye looking at him past the side pieces of the goggles…-
But maybe it was just imagination
~
The days went by faster than Clay would like.
Lazy mornings were followed by nervous afternoons before terrified evenings ended the day with the threatening knowledge of his 17th birthday coming closer and closer.
His parents and sister tried to talk to him but he blocked every contact off, trying to repress his fear of this day.
The day before his birthday he woke up after a strange nightmare.
Shreds of memories flew through his mind.
He was running from a cheetah that had Prince George's head and was laughing at him. His red eyes were beaming while he was yelling.
"Claayyy, come heeeeere~"
He stopped abruptly as the cheetah disappeared and Prince George suddenly stood in front of him, cutting his only way of escape while white goggles fell from the Prince's forehead to his nose, hiding his red eyes.
Behind him dozens of orange-eyed soldiers walked towards Clay, reaching out for him like zombies.
Clay shook his head, then buried his face into his palms. Why couldn't his brain just be normal?
Besides him he could feel Nick's small plush panda. He had taken it with him when he left Nick's hut the other day; he did not want his best friend's only and favourite plushie being left in the empty house.
He got up from Cliff's bed in which he had been sleeping in since his brother had been drafted by the army.
It was early in the morning so the whole hut was silent.
From the other side of the little room a young man with curly blonde hair and purple eyes was staring directly at him.
He walked towards the mirror, examining the person's face.
Is this really me?
He lifted his right hand and brushed his hair back.
The boy in the mirror did the same.
In front of him on a small, wobbly table there was a pack of contact lenses.
He took the right ones out and carefully put them in his eyes.
He blinked a bit to get used to the feeling, then looked up once again.
A boy with bright green eyes was staring back at him.
He remembered the time his younger sister had said "With these contact lenses you look just like one of us."
Then she had been getting yelled at by their mother to never say something like this again.
He had often struggled with his sense of belonging because he could not believe that he was part of a family where everyone except him had green eyes.
Today he knew it was simply a gene defect- these things just happened.
He jumped as he heard a loud knock on the front door, followed by an intimidating voice echoing through the walls,
"In the name of the King, open up!"
He froze as he heard shuffeling below him, then someone opening the door.
No. This could not be. This must be a mistake.
He held his breath, trying to understand what the conversation was about.
"…-your son, his name is Clay after my information."
Panic started to rush through his body.
Why him? Why today? His birthday was tomorrow! They were one day too early!
Would they take him already? He didn't even get the chance to say goodbye to his parents, to Chris…-
"Clay?" The soft, trembling voice of his mother reached his ear.
"Come down, please."
Completely in shock, he climbed down the ladder.
The situation he was faced with reminded him exactly of the day his older brother and sister were drafted by the army.
Two soldiers were standing in the doorway, their orange eyes fixating on him.
On the other side of the small room there were his parents, also looking at him. He expected them to look devastated or at least shocked that their son would be taken too early, but instead they looked rather hopeful, with a slightly sad expression on their face.
He looked from his parents to the soldiers and back.
The left soldier started to talk again.
"You must be Clay. I'm asking you to quickly pack your most important things and then you will come with us."
Clay stared at him, scared of the powerful Pretiosi but also confused by their appearance.
"But- but my 17th birthday is tomorrow, I- I thought- I…-" he stuttered.
The soldier cut him off.
"We are not going to draft you to the army. You have been offered a job as a servant at the Great Castle. This means your family will get a monthly income for your work and all of your younger siblings will be exempt from serving the army."
The soldier sounded bored, as if he was reciting the lines by heart.
"Get dressed and pack your things. You can only take what fits in this bag."
A small, gray bag with only one zipper was handed to him.
Completely perplexed Clay grabbed the bag and slowly climbed up the ladder to his bedroom again.
He got dressed in his usual worn out clothing.
What did that mean? He got a job. He would not be drafted by the army. He would not die. He would live. He got a job. How? How did he get a job? He didn't even apply to it. He just got it. He didn't have to go to the army!
Nervousness and excitement replaced his panic and pessimism as he realised what all this meant.
And better than that, Chris didn't have to go to the army either.
He laughed out of gratitude. Neither him nor his younger sister would serve the army. They would both live.
He did not know what to expect in his new job, but it was most probably better than dying at the front.
He looked around his room, trying to decide what he would take with him.
He immediately took his pack of contact lenses and put it in the bag.
Nick's panda plushie followed right after. Between these two things he put the chocolate bar wrapper which he got from Henry.
He looked around once again, realising that he did not own anything else.
He added a shirt to the bag. As his gaze fell on Cliff's nightstand, he decided to take his brother's favourite stone- it had a light pink color and was about one and a half inches big.
Cliff had found this and other stones at the beach whenever he went swimming. The pink one was his favourite due to its extraordinaty coloring.
He added the stone to the bag. It was barely half full but he could not think of anything else he would need.
He grabbed the bag and left his room, looking back one final time at his 17 years of childhood.
In front of the door to his bedroom, Chris was waiting for him.
She smiled at him.
"I heard what they were talking. I'm so proud of you."
Clay smiled back.
"I'm gonna miss you, so so much. I don't know if I will ever come back. But we don't have to join the army and that's worth it. Please take care of yourself."
He put his arms around his younger sister, hugging her tight. A few tears were tingling in his eyes.
"Take this. So you don't forget me." Chris mumbled, pulling something over Clay's hand until it dangled from his wrist.
It was her green bracelet which she spent hours on making out of an old piece of green fabric.
"Thank you. I want you to have this." He took a golden coin out of his pocket, holding it out to Chris.
"What is that?"
"I found it in the big Pretiosi city. It is a golden coin and it's probably very valuable. So you won't have any problems before you receive my first income."
She stared at the coin with wide eyes before she took it, grinning.
"You're the best brother ever. You and Cliff."
Clay grinned back.
"Take care of mom and dad. And Chris, never forget how proud I am to be your brother."
They hugged one final time before Clay climbed down the ladder.
He quickly said goodbye to his parents as the soldier at the door seemed to get impatient.
"Take care of yourself." His mother whispered as she embraced him and held him tight.
"We are proud of you, Clay. You have a better future ahead of you." His father mumbled.
Clay only nodded, feeling the tears welling up once again.
It was not like he had the choice to leave his family- if he did not take the job offer he would have to leave by tomorrow to join the army.
He waved his parents one final goodbye.
The soldiers led him out of his hut, he held his bag closely with his right hand where the green bracelet dangled from.
He followed the soldiers through the village, the morning sun tickling his nose. He looked around and tried to memorize the look of the place he grew up- he had this weird feeling that he was never going to see it again.
As they made their way out of the village, along a stony path and up the hill, he could already see the city walls of St. George's in the distant.