《Heart of a tree》CHAPTER-28 THE FIRST KILL
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the first thing I noticed when I woke was the smell
the horrible disgusting smell
that filled my nostrils made it so hard to breathe. my throat ached like hell and my head pounded as if someone had just beaten on me with a sledgehammer. the feeling made me feel nauseous, it didn’t help that I couldn't see damm thing
it took what felt like hours to visualise and activate my vision
in hindsight, I shouldn't have done that
as soon as I got my vision I noticed instead of the black and white grey sight I had gotten used it was completely different
the colours red and black filled my vision
when I came to be able to see properly
I saw that I was in a cave filled to the brim with scantily clad children
yes children no older than 12
there were two babies too held by two little girls of different ethnicity
there latest 60 or so if not more they all looked so young and innocent that it broke my heart
I had seen enough movies and read enough materials that I sort of understand their situation
these children had seen the worse side of humanity and had been forced to go through it again
they lived on earth, among humans and were treated poorly
if you asked me
they would all tell the same type of stories about how their parents are either dead or dying if not they were the ones who sold them if someone was lucky they were kidnapped because for them their parents never abanded them
I felt tears well in my eyes as I looked at the hopeless and life looks on their faces
it was as if they were crying out for help but they knew that it wasn't going to come anytime soon
"Mommy... daddy" one of them whimpered as she looked around, her face showing nothing other than fear and pain
I imagine inside every one of them
cried and screamed and begged anyone to find them or just take them away
I remembered Pollux's words
"you will know the sweet pleasure if the mines"
the whimpering of the young girl had turned into full-blown sobs as her
cries grew more and more pitiful and heartbreaking
I wanted to go up to her hug her and tell her it was going to be alright
but before I could move
a tall bulky boy suddenly got up from the corner of the cave
I hadn't seen him before he had a cold stone oval face with thick brows and a crooked nose his hair was short and messy with bits of sand and stones on the ends of his hair.
within seconds he reached the sobbing girl I sat back down thinking that dude mist have the same thoughts as me to comfort a girl in distress
when he reached the girl he stood there towering over her like a giant he must have been 5 foot at least if not for his childish face I would have considered him older
"I told you not to irritate me" he shouted
and before I could even register what was happening he bent down and grabbed the sobbing girls hair pulling her to look at him
he pulled harder making her cry even louder
"I said stop bothering me" he shouted at the girl with spit all over her face
and
began punching her on the with such savagery that I don't think I can ever explain
the scene was horrifying I now understood the phrase
"it all happened so fast"
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mother fucker
I quickly got up to my feet and realised all of my acupoints
I felt the cool energy pulsate throughout my entire body as I charged at the man beating down on the poor girl
as the cool energy flowed inside me like a river I began feeling strong and fit
the soreness and the pain my body had filed moments ago disappeared
as I ran towards the boy
I could feel myself start to get angry
but I was on the other end of the cave
I cursed myself to be too slow
so I shouted
"what are you doing? stop"
but the kid continued with his savage onslaught
as I reached him
I got my arms underneath his arms
grabbing his shirt and trying to pull him away from the poor girl
who was no longer making a sound
as I began to pull away with the child locked under my hand lock to stop this from getting any worse
it was easy as the big child felt nothing to me
I easily carried him away from the girl and tossed him aside into a corner
I turned to check on the girl her face was now unrecognisable
her nose was caved in there were hardly any teeth left in her mouth
her lips were cut and blood ran down her chin
I walked closer to her she looked so young
so helplessly vulnerable I didn't want this to happen anymore
I wanted the pain to leave
but I knew it wouldn't be quick
she looked broken
and her eyes
her eyes would haunt me till the end of my days
they were vacantly staring into space staring into nothingness
like she'd lost the will to live
no, no, no, no, no, no, ..........
the word kept ringing in my head like a chant
I knelt beside her reaching out to place a finger on her neck to check her pulse I felt none
there was no pulse
I didn't feel anything.
Nothing.
She was dead.
The thought almost brought me to my knees
how could it be? I'd been here less than a minute and I was already having an emotional breakdown
then I heard a commotion behind me but I ignored it
"I said don't irritate big Ci" the childish voice of a young echoed in the cave just as something claimed into me and sent me tumbling
I my shock I had stopped the appoints pulsation
I reactivated the technique as I stood up
I saw the boy breathing heavily with snot running down his nose and his mouth open snarling at me
with a deep scowl on his face
I felt disgusted
the creature standing in front of me was no child
he was a monster in human skin
he let a howling scream as he once again charged at me
I felt the rage come
and rage felt good
I sprang at him closing the half meter gap between me and him
the idiot decided to lung at me with his fist raised high
" don't anger big Ci" he screamed at me
asshole
I was close to enough to see the whites of his eyes
unconsciously I fell into a reflexive and instinctual routine
the training sessions with pollux were not a waste of time as I had thought
one punch to the right side another to the left bent down then hit with an uppercut to his jaw and finish with
a kick to his chest that sent him flying to the back wall of the cave
before jumping at his neck
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I did a quick roundhouse sweep at his ribs with both legs kicking him square in his groin
I had already adjusted the number of active acupoints to adjust my strength as to not kill the monster directly
I wanted my time with him
as the boy fell backwards onto the ground
his eyes widened with rage
he wobbly stood up and then he spotted a tooth along with a chink of blood to the ground
"you hurt big Ci," he said staring at the tooth
then he stared at me with anger
"big Ci kill you" and once again charged me
I suddenly didn't feel like playing with the child monster
as I allowed my strength to grow with more appoints being realised
as soon he was in range I punched him straight in the guts and sent him flying
he fell 3 feet away from me
after some time later after all the coughing and wheezing, he slowly got
I was surprised by the boy
he looked terrified
his face was contorted in terror
he scrambled back
he crawled further into the corner and tried to escape
I followed him,
"no don't hurt big co, big co be a good boy now," he said trying to escape me
I stooped for a second to look at the pathetic little sacred boy
I realized what I was doing
I felt a way of uneasiness and revulsion
I felt my rage die down
This was just a child I was just about to kill a child
just a child
I was about to turn around and leave the child alone when the child suddenly jumped up
he was holding large rocks in each hand
as hurled one at me he shouted
"no, hurt big Ci"
I felt a blinding rage come over me
as I activated all my acupoints and charged him avoiding the flying rocks
I cover the distance between me and him in a blink of an eye
without hesitation, I punched his face with my full strength
my fist went straight through his skull and he instantaneously collapsed
I stared down at the now-dead boy
His face now had a huge gaping hole in the middle
that was where my fist went through
I could see the brain matter splattered around me
"I'm sorry"
was the last thing I managed to say
I felt sick to my stomach
I looked at the dead boy
for a second I lost the will to live
"what's wrong with me"
"so much for avoiding my punches," I said to myself as I went over to his lifeless corpse
and I picked up one of the rocks
the child was 200 % dead
I had slain the sacred boy
the world began turning as I felt the pressure mounting up in my chest
I suddenly lost the feeling in my legs and fell down
I laid there in the dust as the child's body slowly started to change
it started to smoke and foam as I soon realised his corpse was rotting at a pace visible to the naked eyes
I took in events as I sat there next to the now rotten corpse
The children all around me were shifting away they were willing in groups in corners of the cave
Starting at me with terror
as they were horrified and unable to leave
after a few moments, all the children screamed
I was not as frightened by this as I was bothered by what was happening
I was now questioning if I was even sane
I felt the energy burn in me as I tried to close my acupoints
I got to my feet feeling full of regret for the wrong I had done
Suddenly I heard a charming mature famine voice
"Stop screaming, you are giving me a headache,"
I turned to see a woman dressed in bright red colour armour standing in front of the cave entrance which wasn't there moments ago
she was standing next to the huge sword she had brought with her
she looked like she had just awoken from a long sleep
she stretched out her arms as if inviting me to help me
a beautiful smile appeared on her face
Come on children let's go
The children stopped crying and screaming as if someone had hypnotized them
They quickly got up and formed a single-file line
The woman clapped her hands
"Wonderful no one does today"
She said ignoring the rotten corpse of the boy and the fresh corpse of the girl
"Now let's go," she said as she turned and left the cave
The line of children like caterpillars walked out of the room in complete silence
What the hell I thought as I too joined the line
where in the world did the bastards send me
...…..........................................................
"Are you sure about this father?"
a very beautiful and very pregnant woman asked out loud in her sweet soft. voice
old bu turns around to see his daughter starting at home with her big hopefully eyes
he felt compelled, to tell the truth about the situation
the truth he felt guilty
he felt disgusted with himself
he looked away from his precious daughter
he's only 12 years old, how could he do that? he thought
but he just steeled his heart and nodded
"yes I am sure now stop asking me stupid questions"
they both were standing atop a hill gazing over the horizon of the sea of sand that was just a few feet below them. the sun is shining brightly up above them, its warm air gently brushing their bare skin and the slight breeze rustling the leaves of the trees on top. everything feels perfect right now. but the mood was too sombre to match this atmosphere
the woman began petting her building belly
"he will hate you know"
old bu just scoffed at that
"let him I don't need him to love or like I just need him to be ready"
"he will hate her too," the woman said with the worry apparent in her voice
old bu paused at that
"I will make sure he never finds out my girl"
"but can't you tell him he is a nice boy he will help if he knows I am sure of that "
"no" old bu practically jumped up
"you will do no such thing he is too soft right now to survive out in the world"
" I need to beat the softness out of him I need him strong focused and ruthless before I send him out"
"ruthless," the woman asked in shock
"no ruthless man will take care of a baby father, you will destroy her chances.......
" shut up," old bu said his voice filled with power
" I know what I am doing I don't need you to tell me" with that he took a wooden walking stick and began marching down the sandhill
soon he was gone
the woman angrily stomped her foot shaking the sandhill
"strip old geezer ruining the future of my daughter"
"I will need to do something," she said looking at the sky
...............…...............................................
In a dark stone room
two figures shrouded in darkness were huddled together at the edge of a pool
they were both intently staring into the water of the pool
"He killed him," one of the figures said in disbelief
it was an enchanting deep youthful feminine voice
but the voice did not match the mouth it came from because the mouth was the face of an old crone
"good kid" another deeply disturbing voice echoed
it sounded as if two people were speaking from the same mouth
"you approve," the old woman asked
"We highly approve," the priest said in a high pitched voice
"I don't believe this the child is being corrupted how can you approve"
" We approve because the child will learn to survive by doing so he will grow and learn"
the old women looked at the priest in shock
" I will not let this continue"
the woman began chanting as the shadows around them shimmered
the priest realised his staff and banged it to the ground
the ground shook and grey thick vines speculated from the ground and entangled the old woman
"U shall not interfere," he said in a
menacing yet calm tone, his body turned towards the shadow which was slowly turning into a figure. the person's figure began morphing into a form that resembled a human but had snake-like appendages for limbs; its face was that of a beast as it morphed into someone who appeared to be a young male.
"Priest you have gone mad"
" We are already mad"
"Please let me help him "
"none shall interfere with his growth he needs this "
the woman began to song uncontrollably
"you will regret this one day"
she said with tears running down her face
the priest nodded
"we will regret torturing him but if we do not do this we will regret his death"
the priest began to cry as he watched David falling to the ground
he then threw a pebble into the pool of water
disintegrating the image of the young boy
"but don't woody observer"
"The shadows shall not hurt she shall not kill him we will not allow them to destroy him"
"We promise this on our lives"
the priest then raised his staff and the shadows engulfed him as he disappeared
leaving the old woman crying and sobbing on the floor installed in grey thick vines
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