Is it weird for someone like Victor in these exact situations at the moment as Muffin and he burst through that window, he felt freedom for a long time. As the cold wind brushed against his hair and for a few short seconds of his life, his thought was empty from every burden, every contemplation, every guilt, regret, and worry. However, it was only for a few seconds before the thought of falling to his death set in.

“Muffin!”

Muffin dug her claws into the other building and slid down onto the plaza below.

“Plaza! Plaza!” The shouts of the castle guard’s echoed out. Guards poured out from every door of the castle and marched toward the beast with weapons readied.

“Muffin, go there!” Victor tapped on its side and gestured toward the gate.

The magnificent beast pushed her hind legs and launched herself into a dash toward the castle gate. Victor grabbed on with all his strength and prayed to Gidona for both of their safety. Five men with spears blocked the way, but Muffin only needed to leap over them to pass them.

“Close the gate!”

“Quickly! Muffin we need to pass the gate before they close it.”

One of the guards above the gate tower kicked the wheel and the steel gate came crashing down, blocking their way. “We’re too late. We need to find another way.”

Muffin didn’t stop though, she jumped and clawed her way up the wall with ease then leaped through the sky, crashing down into the stable’s roof on the other side. She charged through the wooden doors, barged out with hays and broken woods all over the place. Victor looked back at the castle and yelled, “WOOOO!!!”

“Good job Muffin!” Victor hugged the beast and she howled in happiness.

However, the struggle didn’t end there as an army of soldiers on horses chased after them. Muffin tried to navigate the maze-like street while hoping that the army lost sight of them. Victor tried to guide her through and toward the outer gate, which is the only way Muffin could escape. When the outer gate was in sight, Victor realized it was already closed and blocked by another group of soldiers.

“The wall! You need to climb it!”

Muffin hastened her stride then leaped again above the soldiers and clawed her way up the gate. As they made their way up the gate, on the right side of battlement stood ready with crossbows, they fired and Muffin immediately turned her belly facing those arrows to protect Victor. Muffin howled in pain and she leaped once more away from the battlement and onto the snowy ground below. However, the tremendous pain caused her to slip and forced her to throw Victor into the thick snow. She tumbled and rolled creating a trail of disturbed snow.

“Reload! Prepare for the second round!” The soldiers readied for another barrage.

Victor raised himself and noticed a trickle of blood on the snow, his hand made its way to his head where he felt a cut and a warm liquid flowing out. Half his eyes soon covered with blood, but that didn't stop him, he ran to block the arrow but…

He was not fast enough, all of the arrows except for one planted itself on the Muffin’s body. One of those arrows pierced Victor’s shoulder and caused him to scream. However, he stood up again, stumbled his way in front of his friend.

“ENOUGH!!” He shouted with teary eyes.

“Stop! Stop! That’s the prince! Stop!’

He turned around and rushed to Muffin’s neck where he embraced her. The beast whimpered in pain, she felt her lungs collapsed and flooded with liquid as she tried to breathe. She looked at Victor for comfort and an answer to her unknown suffering. For the first time of her short life, a tear flowed out of her eyes. She wanted the pain to stop, but she doesn’t understand that this pain was the consequence of her action, instead what she does understand is that there isn’t any pain more tremendous than seeing Victor in agony.

“M-Muffin!! Please forgive me. It’s all my fault.”

“You helped me, save me. And I failed to do so to you.”

Muffins nuzzled her head closer to Victor warmth, the darkness and cold was her companion in this freezing tundra. She felt every second of Victor’s shivering body as he embraced her tightly. Muffin’s body shrunk to her normal size and normal body, a human body. She glowed like the star, but Victor never let go. The light from her body encompassed and banished everything in its presence, so blinding that someone could mistake it for the sun and……

BOOM!

***

Victor found himself on his knee in front of everyone covered in bandages, a headless body covered in white fabric laid beside him, a king heavied by the action his son has taken, and the dreaded expectation of what might happen next. Steam escaped his lips as he exhaled every breath he took. He stared at the crack on the brick floor beneath him, his emotions demolished by the death of his savior and he knows that he was the cause of her death.

“Victor Lawson, The Prince of Frozehaven. Son of mine. Do you know what you have done? Do you know the consequence of your action?!”

He stayed quiet and kept staring at the floor.

“An innocent girl, of a royal bloodline is found dead in my very home.”

“Innocent?” Victor chuckled and he glared at his father with outrage. “There isn’t any creature that is more innocent than the one that you called a beast. That girl laying there d-deserved it!” The people gasped while Aburah’s men almost took out their swords and beheaded the prince if it weren’t for the King stopping them.

“Enough! So you admitted to your crime? Murder? Treason? And putting the people you swore to protect in danger!?” David’s grips tightened over the throne armrest.

“I admitted to no crime above, only to the crime of protecting myself and one innocent creature.”

The room was quiet for a short moment then David stood up with terrible guilt in his eyes, “Victor Lawson. Son of David Lawson. Heir to the Kingdom. It is with a..terrible...guilt, that I bestowed upon you. Your punishment. You are stripped of everything!”

“Stripped of your title!”

The guards walked to his side and grabbed Victor by his arms and raised him so he could stand up.

“Stripped of your inheritance!”

They tore Victor’s jacket and shirt open revealing his torso.

“Stripped of your kingdom!”

They forced Victor back to his knees and took off his shoe.

“What are you doing?!”

“Stripped of the loved one you have...”

The guards then forced him to lay down as they took off his pants and underwear.

“Stop!”

Victor tried to raise his head at the king, but the guards placed their foot on top of him and forced him to lay naked against the cold floor.

“You shall receive no help or pity from anyone, not the people of Frozehaven nor the inheritance you were promised. And you shall be cast out into the cold with no coins, no weapon to defend yourself, and no clothes your family has provided!”

“No! You are sending me out to suffer! Why not just kill me!” Victor said through gritted teeth.

“Shut up worm!” The guard kicked him in the stomach and caused Victor to puke out his dinner.

“Remove him from the city ground…”

Victor coughed as the guards grabbed onto him and dragged him out of the throne room. He was chained and tossed into the back of a carriage. The guards showed no mercy as they unchained him from the floor and tossed Victor out of the carriage and then dragged him against the freezing pavement. He was then again thrown into the snow without any clothes on. Victor raised his gaze and shed tears as he saw the crater that was his friend.

“Run. Toward the forest.” One of the guards said as they got back into the gate and closed it.

Victor turned to the forest, with nothing on his feet, he pressed his barefoot against the frozen snow and started running toward the forest. The faster he got the colder it got, with no layer of protection against the freezing wind, it was getting painful to run, his body was shivering, but he endured it. He entered the dead forest, looking around, trying to find someone, but it was hard, with no light around to illuminate the path, he was certain that this was a pointless effort.

Then a light appeared in the distance, he ran toward it with hope in his heart. However, how fast that hope was crushed is as fast as he laid his gaze on the men, not just any men, they were Aburah’ men. The distinction in their clothing and armor was as bright as the sun. Suddenly, Victor’s face was planted against the frozen dirt, he coughed and felt a dripping liquid on his head.

“I’m surprised the hit didn't kill him.”

Victor was confused, why were these men here?...then it crossed his mind, his loyal guard had betrayed him.

“Finish it quickly, we need to bring his head back to the Sultan.”

Victor sneakily grabbed a rock, and when the men got closer to him, he turned and hit the men on his head. Then quickly take off away from there, he could hear the ruckus behind him as they started to chase after them. The further he got, the stronger the sound of running water became. There was a river here, he might lose them if he crossed that river. So he makes his way toward the source of running water and arrived at the brink of the river.

Out of nowhere, he was tackled by a man, he struggled to get out of his grip and managed to escape when he hit the man in his stomach with his knee. He stood up and ran toward the old and rickety wooden bridge. However, he was stopped again in the middle of the bridge when he grabbed his arm and pulled him.

“LET ME GO!!”

“Quit it!”

As they were struggling with each other, the man’s foot slipped on a broken hole and his body tilted toward the railing, breaking through them and taking Victor with him into the freezing river. He manages to escape the man as he hits his head on a rock while they are carried by the strong current. Victor tried to swim up, but his body was rolled by the gushing water the river created. The air violently escaped his lungs as his stomach was slammed against a rock, and he desperately tried to escape, but that was it.

Nothing could be darker than obsidian, but as he pushed his last breath out, that was the last thing he saw, true darkness.

However, Gidona had other plans for him than death, Victor was barely conscious as he lay on the frozen riverbank. He felt something or someone was dragging him toward somewhere. but he didn't have the energy to struggle, or open his eyes, or even move his fingers.

Despite how tragic Victor's life went, his Goddess or some higher force woke him up from his deep slumber. The floor trembled as if the world had shuddered from Victor’s awakening, or so he thought, the boy opened his eyes and realized that his neck along with his arms and legs was chained together. Yet, that was not the worst part of it. The stinging pain swirled up to his head as his body shivered from the unforeseen bath he had last night. However, the good news is, he has a semblance of clothes on him, even though it just rags stitched together to cover his private parts.

“Here, drink this.”

Victor’s sight was too blurry to make out the person next to him, but the heat from the cup in front of him was unquestionably tempting so he slowly sipped a bit of it. It tasted like stale water with too little flavor in it, but it was lukewarm and it helped Victor fight back the encroaching cold.

“Tha- *cough* Thank you,” as Victor’s sight became clear, it was not who he was expecting. A woman with foreign features that look like she’s from Yakawa, almond-shaped eyes, and thin eyebrows. However, she was also in chains, but that didn't dampen her mood at all, she looked calm and was not upset by her situation.

“Who are you?”

“An unlucky person, I suppose,” a smile accompanied her words.

“Aren't we both?” Her blissful mood was infectious.

“It’s Jin Li.”

“Huh?”

“My name is Jin Li. What’s your name?”

“Victor La… Wait, I guess it’s just Victor now.”

“No family name?”

“It’s complicated, stuff happened.”

“I know what you’re feeling, I guess time will tell whether one day you would like to share it or not.”

“Where am I, and where are we heading anyway? And what with the chains?”

“The men found you, half-dead on the side of the river. They brought you along with them. Oh, I've been taking care of you. You were barely hanging on to the light, but I'm glad you're fine. To answer your earlier question, we are going to Yakawa to be sold as slaves.”

“Wait? Been?”

"You didn't realize it? It has been two days after we found you."

"I was unconscious for two days?"

“Shut up behind there!”

“Who's that?” Victor whispered to Jin.

“Our captors.”

"Slaves?" Victor began laughing quietly. His eyes teared up as he pressed his arm against it.

The chains dangled as he moved his hands. Out of nowhere, he started to shed tears and held in his whimpering. Victor was at the point where he feels relieved to wear such miserable clothes and being sold as a slave than being out there naked and chased by men who wanted to kill him. The thought that he was betrayed by his people seems unreal, but everything was crumbling down in a single day.