Chapter 5: Everything

In the complete darkness of the abandoned storage room, a man snored quietly. Enthralled in his task of assassination and escape, Julius was completely exhausted and had fallen asleep almost immediately after Stella had left. He dreamt about his past and future. Suddenly, the sound of a match being struck could be heard from the other side of the room. A small light illuminated the room, causing the snoring man to wake up. Holding the match was an old woman with wrinkles all over her face. She was clearly at the age where death should be near, but her eyes showed a splash of youth on her otherwise tired expression. The woman spoke.

“You’ve been sleeping for long enough. I’m called Auntie around here, so address me as such.”

She spoke in a harsh, rude tone. However, immediately after finishing her disrespectful words, she grabbed a bowl of soup off of a wooden table that was next to her. She outreached her hand as she offered it to him.

“You’re probably pretty hungry, right? It’s not very good and it’s cold, but-”

Julius grabbed the bowl and gulped it down. He finished the soup in about 15 seconds and let out a belch.

“Thank you, Auntie.”

The old woman stared at him and let out a mocking sound as if discontent. Julius could already understand that she was a kind person that was simply acting rude. After all, he had slept in her home for hours without being interrupted.

“You were with Stella. Why?”

Julius tightened the grip on the bowl that he was still holding. Just before answering her the truth, however, she continued speaking.

“It doesn’t matter why, actually. What matters is that she seemed to care for you. So let me ask you this: do you care for her as well, or is this merely an act to benefit yourself?”

Auntie was no idiot. She had deduced from everything that had happened until now, as well as his sketchy appearance, that this man was a criminal being pursued. Her many years of experience told her that, while not all criminals were evil, they certainly weren’t innocent.

“I care for Stella.”

“Why?”

“It’s not for my gain. Well, I was using her for myself, but…”

“Why?”

“I needed help and she offered.”

Auntie sighed at this answer. She could roughly understand what had happened.

“That girl… She’s always helping others, when it is herself that’s in the most pain.”

Julius looked to the ground as he reflected on the burden that Stella had been carrying with her all of her life. He remembered how, despite being in risk, she was genuinely kind to him. The old woman noticed the expression on Julius’s face.

“She… told you. Other than me, you are the only person to know of her guilt.”

Julius silently listened while his gaze was locked onto the ground.

“She’s really a strange girl. I met her while getting food one day. No one would want to help an old woman that held no value, but a single child offered me half of her food.”

“From that day onward, we began seeing each other and discussing our lives. I told her about my life as an ex-merchant from Badland, and she told me about her mother and father.”

“After about a year, she told me that she felt it was her fault for her mother’s death. Can you believe that? A child, who was kind enough to offer food to a useless old woman, felt that she was a killer. How laughable.”

“Do you know why that child is so kind?”

Julius, for the first time in a while, looked up into the eyes of the woman.

“Of course you don’t. I’m the only one that knows. Seeing that Stella cares for you so much, I will tell you.”

Julius’s eyes narrowed.

“She’s faking.”

“Well, she’s not a mean person, but she’s definitely not the saint at heart that you and everyone else thinks.”

Julius was caught off guard at this answer. He thought about how she had acted, and thought that she was truly kind. However, assuming that Auntie was correct, he came to a conclusion based on her previous burden.

“She’s filling the hole that her mother left. Right?”

Auntie narrowed her eyes as she highly appraised the perception of the man in front of her.

“Smart boy. Of course she is. In her mind, she has robbed the world of the most pure and innocent person. Every time she sees someone in the slums, she thinks about how her mother would react if she wasn’t dead. She felt that it was her task to perform the role of the dead, innocent, wonderful woman she had killed.”

“Of course, her mother wasn’t as innocent as she thinks.”

This surprised Julius as he widened his eyes in curiosity. She struck another match and threw the burnt one away. The extremely large matches lasted longer than a typical one.

“Don’t make that face. Everyone in this world is guilty of something. I’m guilty. You’re guilty. Stella’s guilty of being a fake. Her mother was guilty as well. She sold her body while in the slums in order to feed herself and her husband. Of course, her husband knew about this fact, but had no room to protest as they needed and income they could get. He never told Stella this because he didn’t want to disappoint her. Who would have thought that painting her mother as a perfect woman would leave Stella in more pain than telling her the truth? Either way, the point still stands that she isn’t innocent.”

-Crack-

The bowl in Julius’s hand split in two pieces from the force of his grip. Auntie stared in disbelief at the surprising feat.

“You’re wrong… She is innocent. She had no choice but to sell her body. Just like how Stella had no choice but to fill the role of her perfect mother. They aren’t to be blamed. They aren’t the ones at fault.”

“The ones that are at fault… are the Royal Family. The only thing to blame… is the world itself. The ones that are wrong in this messed up world aren’t those forced into poverty. They also aren’t the ones that mind their own business and live their lives in solitude. The only ones that are wrong are those that created this world that we live in.”

The old, wrinkled face of the woman showed surprise at the answer of the man in front of her.

“They take everything from us… and they expect nothing to be taken from them. They kick and punch and scratch and bite, while we lay down and take it. It’s this society, the way life is.”

“Why… do you care about Stella?”

The woman asked with curiosity. Her eyes were glowing with interest.

“I… had a sister.”

“She was younger than me, and I took care of her as a diligent older brother. She was sweet and slightly mischievous. I suppose she reminded me of her.”

Auntie smiled at this response.

“Then take care of her, as you would your sister. She deeply cares about you, and looks up to you. Don’t let her down.”

Julius tightened his hands into fists as he stood up to leave.

“Of course. I won’t make the same mistake twice… no matter what.”

Auntie smiled wider in approval and pulled over a box with cloth in it.

“Put this on. You can’t go out in the same clothes as before, or else they’ll catch you immediately.”

She tossed a purple ragged cloak at him. It was not nearly as nice as his black one, but he had no choice.

“Thank you.”

He took down his hood and removed the cloak, releasing his hair and showing his unique appearance to Auntie for the first time.

“You… purple hair… those eyes…”

“You’re… from the Ancient Slayer Clan, aren’t you?”

“Payne?”

Julius glanced at the shocked old woman and looked back to the window after putting his cloak on.

“Take care of yourself.”

With those words and a determined expression, Julius left the storage room and went back into the cold alleys. Auntie remained unmoving while staring at the place he had been sleeping.

“No, it couldn’t be. I thought all of the Slayers were decimated years ago.”

The match she had been holding until now reached her hand and caused her to drop it from the heat. The light extinguished and all light left the room.

In the main street of the city of Norkfell, the snow was beginning to fall harder. The once slushy streets were now covered in white. The people moved through the streets quickly in an attempt to stay out of the cold. They kept their heads down and moved straight forward towards their individual destinations. In the center of the street, however, the group parted to move around a public display. It was a wooden stage with wheels that had been locked down to remain unmoving. On top of the display was a gruesome sight.

“How terrible…”

“They truly have no mercy…”

“Quiet! What if someone were to hear you?”

A man in a brown cloaked hood moved through the street. He thought about inviting Stella to join him on his trip. He had grown to care more about her through being separated. He kept his head down with his hood up and moved at the rate of the traffic. He had been walking in the main street for several minutes this way, so he was surprised when he bumped into a wooden stage. His hood fell slightly back as he looked up read the words written on the front.

“Those that would betray the Kingdom are not needed in society.”

Julius’s heart sank. A single pike was on top of the wooden stage with a severed head stuck on it. Julius’s voice was barely audible as tears filled his eyes.

“Must… they take… everything?”

On the pike sat the severed head of Stella. Her face was bloodied and her eyes were still open. They held none of the happiness and joy that they had in life.

A cold breeze rolled through the street once more. The blonde hair on Stella’s head waved in the wind, giving off the appearance of a single yellow flower in a cold and dark place.