Daiyu's world shook at that very moment, what did he just told her? Banishing her? How could Komodo do such a cold-hearted and cruel thing? After all the effort, physical and mental pain and sleep deprivation, this is how he treats her? Just everything she ever tried to try and make him proud of her, just once
But instead he turned his back on her and threw her to the side like a used sock
"What?! Are you kidding? Why?!" Daiyu gasped as Komodo paced around
"Because I've been wanting to tell you this for a long time! The reason I didn't was because Bo kept making excuses to keep you here, but it has been enough. The boys are slacking and they're supposed to be men by now, the townspeople are ashamed to have you as their protector and therefore, everything was decent, until I found you at my doorstep! So I will have to tell you to go pack your things and leave by midnight, you know the consequences if you disobey me"
"You can't do this! You can't rob me my home and deprive me from Bo! This is my home, my only home!" Daiyu shouted desperately
"You were never the student I wanted and you've failed me too many times, so I will send you away! I do not care where your destiny is, as long as it is not here!"
Daiyu's eyes filled with angry tears, yet she managed to keep them in and not let them fall. The Valley of Void was the only place she knew as home, no matter how many of the townspeople hated her, no matter how much she got bullied and attacked, she still saw it as her home. And Komodo took that away from her
"This is it? After everything I've done for you?! Maybe it's just you, maybe you're just-"
But Daiyu got cut off by Komodo whacking her across the face with the back of his paw, making her fall backwards and yell in shock and pain, Daiyu leaned on her right arm as she held her left cheek that stung intensely badly and felt hot
Not only that, she could taste a droplet of blood coming from her lip. She gasped in horror at what Komodo had done, he hit her and gave her a busted lip. Tears fell down her cheeks as she stared at him in silence
"Listen here now, like I have already told you, you have until midnight. Unless, you truly want to challenge me and you know how my opponents end up" Komodo warned as Daiyu's tears kept falling and her whole body trembled, Komodo has told her and the boys about his venom and how his enemies always end up with their legs in the air and seeing Komodo's face for the last time, before dying a painful demise
As fear and adrenaline overtook her, Daiyu sped back to her room and slammed her door shut and locked herself up, crying into her paws from both the pain of being hit and of being kicked out and making her homeless. After calming herself down, she began to think
Daiyu hoped that Komodo would see his own coldness once she left and that he'd sent the boys to go look for her, but at the same time she hoped she'd also be able to find happiness outside the Valley of Void, so she started packing yet the flowing tears and rapid breathing didn't stop
Because, yeah. Was it really worth it to stay here at all? She couldn't even remember the last time where she wasn't fake smiling and pretending all the time
As she was starting with putting the bare essentials into her bag, the loud yet irritating voices of Stork and Beetle were heard snickering on the other side of her door. Daiyu knew they were only here to taunt her more, because they'd always do that outside her room
Physically assaulting her would always be done to her inside her room with the door locked
"Hey, Sore Eyes. Guess what, there's a guy that came to us and asked for you" Beetle spoke
She could hear them trying to keep themselves from laughing as Yak continued
"We told him you were busy and then asked if you'd meet him tomorrow instead. I'd suggest wearing a straw hat, he likes 'em mediocre"
They giggled and laughed as Daiyu was too focused to care and instead focused on getting proper oxygen, until they were gone. She didn't know whether they joked about that boy or not, but the years of being asked out as a joke got rightfully into her head
"So long, Sore Eyes"
That nickname made her want to strangle them, but she couldn't do anything at the moment right now. It's been almost 2 hours and it was dead quiet, only the wind from outside and the slow breathing of everyone else could be heard by her
She assumed everyone else went to bed, so she wouldn't have to worry of getting caught, but still kept quiet
Meanwhile, Bo's worry was starting to increase when Daiyu didn't come back to the barracks that night, she couldn't find her in her room either. As swift as a lighting bolt, her concern rose to her head and bolted to the palace. Komodo was still standing there in the center
"Master Komodo, I'm concerned about Daiyu, do you know where she might be?" Bo asked as she bowed to him, only to be met by silence and Komodo sighed deeply
"... I can assure you that it is not worth it to keep looking for her, she'll be gone by the time you've looked all over the palace"
And it all came together for Bo, she just knew that Komodo had already banished Daiyu and there was nothing she could do anymore. Her eyes widened as they filled with tears, she couldn't believe that Daiyu, a child, had been insensitively banished and had nowhere to go
"No... no, no!" Bo gasped as she covered her eyes and sobbed into her paws
"Oh, Master Komodo! How could you do this? How could you?!" Bo cried as Komodo just kept silent and left Bo on her own
She cried at the loss of the daughter she never had, the ray of sunshine she hoped would never fade away. And the worst might be, she unintentionally broke her promise. Bo wiped off her tears as Jia Li came to her from behind and soothingly rubbed her back with her wings
"I-I'm so sorry, Qiaolian. I promised I'd take care of your daughter, but I failed!" Bo sniffed as Jia Li hugged her
Days have passed since Daiyu's banishment and has already lost hope. Miles outside of the Valley of Void, Daiyu has set up a tent in the dense bamboo forest and made her way to the nearest village, hoping she'd get a chance of receiving food or even shelter, but no luck
They all shunned her away and Daiyu was left to live in her tent and search for edible food somewhere in the forest
Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months, day in and day out she's been given the cold shoulder and forced to live in her small tent with thin blankets. She always thinks back of how it's been going on with her classmates, who receive a cooked meal every day and warmly tucked in their bed while she's the one who's forced to survive alone in the middle of nowhere, because of Komodo
He always picked favorites, comparing his students with each other and remind them, especially Daiyu, how much of a failure and disappointment they really were to him
It was the middle of the night, pitch black and Daiyu was wide awake, starring off into the distance. All her flashbacks and memories came rushing back as she immediately started crying, the pain and all the mental abuse was way too much for her and felt so vulnerable and weak
All cold, sick, alone and upset, thinking how much of a comfortable life everyone was living and not her
She didn't know what it was, but she needed to think of something else other than the mental pain right now. She couldn't hold back any longer. As she outraced her claws, she was already hyperventilating and started to scratch her forearms, cutting herself deeply and her blood was almost everywhere
The pain in her arms wasn't even half as bad as the pain she's been pressuring for years. Her cuts were deep and could easily get infected, but then she came to the realization: What was the point of granting her existence in this world? What was the point for her to live at all?
What was she destined for?
"They're laughing... they're laughing, laughing, laughing, laughing! Make it stop already!" Daiyu cried as she continued her rant while holding tightly onto her head, her claws digging deeper into her flesh, until she hears a gasp from behind her
"Oh, dear girl! What are you doing to yourself?!"
Daiyu gasped as she kept quiet and listened closely to the woman's voice, sounding all worried and panicked. She could feel the woman taking her arms in hers and knew she was inspecting the wounds closely by the sound of dead silence around them and the woman's panicked mumbling
"W-Who are you?" Daiyu asked
"Oh, forgive me, darling. I'm Lisha" the woman introduced herself and then she added
"You're blind?"
"Yeah" Daiyu nodded, feeling uncomfortable
"I'm blind too, I'm a mole rat if you're wondering. Now, follow me" Lisha said as she took Daiyu with her
"Then how do you know I'm blind?" Daiyu asked as Lisha took her to a nearby tree, where there were other mole rats
There, they treated her wounds and wrapped them around with a thick bandage. Soon enough, Daiyu realized that even though the mole rats were blind, they seemed to be doing fine and are having almost no issues at all, she wondered if they had any tips
"Um, how do you do that? That, um, surviving without a cane or someone to help you out?" Daiyu asked
"We have our own way of seeing, we see through the ground" Lisha replied, causing Daiyu to raise her eyebrow
"Through the ground?"
"Lisha, what are you doing? We cannot teach her our secret" one of the mole rats spoke
"But she will need it eventually"
After going back and forth for a while, they've all come to an agreement to help Daiyu to turn really independent. But on one condition, that she will keep giving them credit and that she won't ever use that skill against them and she had kept her word
After months of successfully teaching her their great skill, she continued her journey to wherever she could possibly find any luck of living her life without expectations and maybe find her destiny in this world
But she unintentionally had some high expectations herself and thought that she could make enough money to buy clothes and food, but no luck at all
She decided to use her healing ability to heal others for 1 or 2 yuan, but most people were already healthy or some refused to pay. If she was lucky, she'd make 6 yuan a week and then she'd travel to the next village
It also did something with her physical health as well, walking for miles and barely having her stomach filled. Leaving her sick, thin and malnourished