《Windwakers》Chapter 7 - Loss of Innocence

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The rustic houses that were seen from the view of the wagon was a normal sight for the humans, but it still made Kalus sentimental when he saw his hometown once again after being gone for a year. His feet tapped the trailer of the wagon, following a rhythmic melody as he closed his eyes and leaned back to hide from the sun, humming different tunes as to follow the foot-tapping. He tossed, what looked to be a scythe, between his hands so effortlessly with his eyes still closed. It was as if time was nothing more than a thought in his head, and he clearly enjoyed the peaceful moment he was in. Kalus then stopped all of his tapping and tossing with the scythe and put it on the floor of the trailer as he approached the upper-end of the wagon, asking the chauffeur “How far away from Bauran are we now, gramps?”

The old man heard him, and replied with a chuckle before saying “Shouldn’t take any more than five minutes from here, young one!”

Kalus smiled a little before going to the far end of the wagon and looked at the wild animals on the sides of the track. There were Rotomonds running beside the wagon that looked directly at him. Rotomonds are particularly known for their magnificent red appearance and usability; these avian creatures excel as a one-person vehicle with their strong legs, and their crescent-like head are notorious for scaring away weak animals from the otherwise pacifistic creature. Rotomonds are usually reserved, but something made them curious in Kalus. Something bored them out as they quickly ran off from the wagon before it stopped; Kalus finally arrived in Bauran.

He picked up his scythe and hopped of the wagon before paying the chauffeur a few coins. The chauffeur nodded and stationed his wagon on the spot and Kalus wandered through the tiny town. There was nothing more than a couple of houses and a few shops ranging from animal shops that offer animals such as Rotomonds and Direwolfs, and shops that offer agriculture-related products such as soil and seeds. He then stopped in front of a house and looked around before knocking on the door. Something made him unsure about the house. A young lady opened up the door to Kalus; her appearance was near identical to his.

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“K-Kalus?” She sounded hesitant, almost as if she was scared.

“Anava, what’s the matter? You sound weird.”

“Let the boy in already!” A voice could be heard coming from the inside of the house, it was raspy and old.

Kalus entered the house without a word with his scythe in his grasp. He then saw two middle-aged men in the living room, chatting about something. Their attire was other-worldy, compared to the rest of the townsfolk's way of dressing. Anava wept as she kept speaking gibberish through her shaky voice. One of them had a whip hanging from his belt, while the other man had nothing on his belt.

“You know what happened with your parents, don’t you?” The man with the whip removed the sweat dripping from his forehead before he said “They played with their money and got themselves killed because of their greed. Your parents left you two to pay their debt, a debt that'll take a lifetime to pay back. It's sad it has to be this way, but it's our livelihood. Sorry.”

“That’s–” Kalus stopped himself before he continued, “My parents would never do something like that, they just wouldn't – my sister's ill. They would never risk her well-being.”

“There’s no need to rebel. We can give you and your sister time to save up money and get back to normal again, a start for a brand-new chapter, per se.”

“How much did you have to hold yourself back from puking to tell us this?”

“What?”

“Our parents died four years ago, and you’re telling me it’ll be all good now?” He pauses himself as he takes inhales and exclaims “Where was this amicable deal four years ago when my sister and I needed it the most!?”

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Both of the men sat in their chairs in silence before the one with the whip rose up from the chair and approached him with a hand directed toward Kalus' scythe. He grabs the scythe and attempts to pull it out from his’ grasp.

Kalus successfully yanked off the man’s hand from the scythe, scoffing “Get your vile hands off of me, you bastard!”

The man readies to use his whip, but Kalus retaliates; He lunges forward, walloping him and shoves him back into the chair, tipping over from the momentum. The other man snarls and leaps forward, pushing over Kalus with him on top. The man pins Kalus against the floor and pulls out a knife, attempting to repeatedly stab him, cutting Kalus’ cheeks in the chaotic brawl it has turned into. Kalus struggles to get the towering man off of him before releasing one of his hands from the lock he was stuck in. He places his free hand onto the side of the man’s face and pushes his thumb into his left eye. The man screams in pain and rolls over to the side of Kalus, covering his damaged eye with both of his hands. Kalus stands up to pick up his scythe, thwacking his face, mangling it more and more with every swing of the hammer-like end on the blade. Every successful swing pushes out a grunt from Kalus’ gut. The other man gets up from the chair, terrified as he watches Kalus battering his friend past unconsciousness with no sign of stopping.

"Kalus, stop!” The man with the whip shouts.

Kalus stops his endless battering and comes back to his senses, surprised as his shaking eyes scatters the room, terrified by the violence he has caused in this very short moment. He looks down on his scythe that stood on top of the face of a now-unidentified man. He drops his scythe, grasping his face, hiding his eyes between his curled fingers from seeing the chaos he has created. The man with the whip nears his unconscious friend, helping him up onto his shoulder.

"I... I'm sorry... I didn't know what I was doing..."

"It's... okay... Kalus." He closes up to the door and turns around, saying "We'll come back soon... be sure to pay a part of the debt by then, or else the guards will interfere and do it their way... just an advice."

Kalus nodded and the men left. Kalus was terrified by himself and what he did to that man. He thought to himself "It was like I was blinded by something. I feel... furious. I really was going to kill him if he didn't wake me up. Why did I do that?"

“Are you okay... Kalus?” She looks worried at him.

“I’m... good.” He exhales, wiping off the blood dripping down his cheeks, “We got to save up money to pay back the debt.”

"Yeah..."

"Anava." He hugs her, "I'll save us from this debt... I promise."

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