Chapter 5 - Beginning
Advena
Before everyone decided to just give up, the room was silent as they all sat there, pondering on their options, some had already chosen to join in the 'volunteer force', as Matthew had put it, but not everyone was sure on it or not, they had only taken the choice for a lack of a better option, but some weren't so sure about taking that choice at all, perhaps they could find a manual labour, help construct things, or cleaning taverns, but if what he had said was true, this was the best choice they had, or at least, as some had said, the 'less worse'.
Ashlyn just sat there, looking around, at the other people sitting beside her, the money on the counter, and back to the others, her mind was rushing, being offered money to kill, even if they weren't human as Matthew had put it, it was still somewhat wrong, and part of her hoped that others agreed with that sentiment, but no-one seemed too keen on looking at her, let alone talk to her, so she kept thinking, evaluating her options, deep down she knew, this was her best chance, but she still tried to find another way out of this.
Meanwhile Aquilo was leaning on a support pillar, joined by the man he had helped way back down in the 'cavern', they were looking at Matthew, sitting on his counter, with purses of coins and a paper for signing, from time to time, people would go there and sign it, grab their purses, and head either outside or close to the door, as they observed the scene the man spoke, "So, what do you think? About this choice I mean." He looked to the man, the light wasn't as good here but could still see him, black skinned, short hair, his face neutral, simply staring at Matthew, the man was taller than him, that Aquilo could notice easily.
"Honestly, we might as well go in, it's not like anything else will work out for us at the moment" Aquilo said, receiving some looks from the people seated near the fire, he didn't know what to do about that, so he ignored them and turned to the man, "What about you, thinking about going in?"
"I don't know, being fair it's not like we have much of a choice, as you said," more looks on their direction," but still, it doesn't sit well with me." Aquilo understood that, but whether they had the same reason was something unknown to him, and something he decided not to ask, before he could say anything however, someone came from behind him, and, as he passed, addressed both of them.
"We have a choice, but one is the best option, simple as that" He never turned to face them, he just kept walking until he reached the counter, signed his name, and took his purse, the man near him just sighed, shrugged and looked back at Aquilo.
"Sen's unfortunately right, but still, it doesn't mean I have to be happy about it." He moved away from the pillar, turned to face Aquilo, and continued. "Might as well make sure we support ourselves like we did back down there then." He tried to sound at least eager, but either the fatigue from his pains or just the whole situation made him sound more like someone who had accepted defeat, even his face looked like he wasn't too thrilled by this, still, Aquilo nodded, and watched as he went forwards, signed his name, and grabbed his purse, before returning to the same place, he counted the coins, before speaking again, "Hopefully we'll get to choose our own food at least." Aquilo looked at him with a puzzled look on his face, "I said that out loud didn't I?" He nodded, before looking around again.
By now, there were only six people, himself included, that hadn't decided whether or not to join in, the man near him spoke to all of them, not much confidence in his voice, even stuttering and pausing every now and then, "Guys, we don't have much of a choice here really, but how about we just sign up and go to these 'barracks'? It should clear our heads for tomorrow, and if anyone decides to not really join up you'll at least have the money," he turned to Aquilo, "right?" his eyes looked like he was pleading for help.
Aquilo stopped to think, yes it was true, it was never said they had to go out and kill, also, they could use the money for other things, but still, it seemed wrong, he turned to Matthew, who just nodded and kept watching them, before speaking, "As I said before, if you decide to leave, we won't take the money back, but we won't give you any more money after this, either you get a hold of your life, or you'll be on the streets in a week or two." The remaining six people looked at Matthew, at each other, and at him again, before giving up and getting up, a defeated look in some of their faces, they all signed and grabbed their purses, before heading back to the door again, Matthew grabbed the papers, folded them and stashed them somewhere behind his counter, before telling them "Welcome to the Crimson Moon Volunteers", before heading outside, leading them to their new home.
As they walked through the streets, Paul's mind kept racing back and forth, about whether he really would go through with it or not, if he would, then how would he actually do it, and if not, then what would he do, he paused momentarily, thinking if maybe the others were thinking the same, some of them had to be, he thought, before he kept following the group. The whole trip was uneventful, the shouts of pursuit had long since vanished, either the bandit had been caught or escaped, whatever the case, it was dead quiet, with the occasional dog barking and cat meowing coming from everywhere, after some minutes, they finally arrived at their new home, a building situated on top of a small hill, and the building he saw in front of him surprised everyone, if the gasps and questions he heard were anything to go by.
It was a wooden structure, or looked like it from the outside, but it looked more like a death trap than whatever it had once been, some planks where falling off, creaking noises could be heard even from outside, and it looked like it had no lighting inside as far as he could see, he only hoped the beds would be better at least, Matthew turned around and addressed them, "Welcome to the volunteer barracks, it might not be in the best state, but it is home, we have enough beds for all of you and couple more, there are baths and toilets in the back, the rooms have two double-beds each, so please do break the rooms in Male and Female, you won't be warned twice." Nobody seemed to really care about that, the shock from the state of the building seemed more important to them.
Sen was brought back to the world by a loud clapping from Matthew, standing in front of the door of this deathtrap that he would have to call home, Matthew spoke again, "Go on in, have some rest, tomorrow if any of you decide to stay in the force, pass by the HQ and I'll tell you what to do, and even if you don't, there are some things you need to know." With that, he just started moving around them to leave, back to his home probably, before he turned to them and said again, " And please come in groups, I don't want to repeat the same thing twenty-one times because you decided to come one at a time." and with that, he made his way back into the town.
The new volunteers stood there for some more seconds, before Ivan, or the leader, as some had taken to call him, walked through the door, the sound of the door caught their attention and they all decided to go inside, some waited until all the ruckus cleared, before going in as well, Sen found himself with Paul and whoever the guy with him was, as well as a girl following behind them, Paul pointed upstairs and said, "I'll take one the upper rooms if at all possible, any of you joining me?" he noticed that Aquilo after some thinking, agreed, and he nodded as well, and they all began moving to the stairs, to the upper floor, he didn't know them that well, but he knew Paul a bit more than the rest, and that was good enough for him at that moment.
Ashlyn
She had been following the only two people she knew for all this time, but as Matthew had said, the rooms were divided by gender, and she herself didn't want to sleep in the same room as them, still, they were the only people she knew, and if she woke up late next day, she could lose track of them, and they might group up with others, even though she thought that she was capable of joining another group, at this point she decided to play if safe, when they were in the door to their room, she spoke. "Hey," they turned around to look at her, at least Paul and Aquilo did, the other guy just headed into the room, took a bottom bed, and lied down to sleep, she stopped to think on what to say before continuing, "is it alright if we group up tomorrow?" The taller of the two, Paul if she remembered correctly, simply nodded, while Aquilo looked at Sen, probably looking for a response, before turning back to her and nodding, perhaps he had forgotten he had said his name, even she didn't remember whether he had said his name to her or she had just heard it in conversations, they proceeded to present each other.
Through this, she learned that that indeed, the taller one was Paul, the middle-sized was Aquilo, and the shorter, sleeping one was Sen, after presenting herself, which earned her a "nice to meet you" from both of them, she turned to another room after telling them, "I'll try to catch some sleep then, when you decide to go talk to Matthew, call me, I'll be next door." Paul had a puzzled look on his face, before nodding, and waving her goodbye, Aquilo entered the room after doing the same and she heard one of them 'calling dibs on the top bed', as they put it, she just smiled and headed to the nearby room, which, to her surprise, was occupied, three more girls where inside, two already sleeping, and the last one sitting on her bed, the only bed left a bottom one, she didn't mind much, she went to her bed, a sheet full of hay as a bed, with a higher part as the pillow, she sat down, and noticed the other girls looking at her, a look of worry on her face.
She knew how she felt, the same worry, fear and puzzlement she had, she said, softly, almost a whisper, "Don't worry, we'll be fine, I'll make sure of it." then, she gave her a slight grin, trying to look like she trusted her own words, she nodded back at Ashlyn, gave her a slight smile, and lowered her back to the bed, staring into the ceiling.
Ashlyn looked to the other two in the room, already sleeping, Maybe I should do the same, tomorrow will be a long day, but even then, though her body was begging for some rest, her mind still wandered back and forth, through the day and what had occurred during it, still, she lay down on the bed, and thought on what had happened, and what would have to be done. The only sounds to make her some company were some cicadas outside, and the occasional dog barking somewhere in the town.
The offer appeared again in her mind, an opportunity he had said, she wasn't exactly sure about how she felt on that, on one side, it was better than starving to death, but then again, if they had understood that correctly, they would have to take the lives of other living beings, that didn't sit too well with her, the thought of taking a life not exactly a good feeling for her. Perhaps in the morning she would be able to talk to someone else about this, maybe the girl on the other bed, maybe the boys on her 'group', or even Matthew himself, perhaps he could explain it better during daytime.
She lay there undisturbed,lost in thought, until a voice from outside called her attention.
Paul
I can't sleep.
No matter what I do, how I lay down, I can't sleep. Too much has happened today for me to just calm down and drift into dreamland, Sen and Aquilo, meanwhile, either don't have the same problem or are just too tired to do anything other than rest.
I sighed, bringing myself to rise from the bed, just sitting up was difficult now that I had rested for a while, but I knew that I wouldn't sleep anytime soon, I had to do something, so, very slowly, I made my way outside, going past the door, trying to open it without much noise, down the stairs, creaking all the way, ad finally through a different door than the one we entered.
The sight that greeted me was a small social space, if one could even consider it that, a large yard, probably an area of about four of the bedrooms making a bigger room, a well in the middle, a large rectangular table and some benches around it, it seemed enough to hold a fair amount of people, in front of me, past the well, was a big building, what it was I had no clue yet, and even though I had to do something, I had no intent on checking it right now, Maybe it's more rooms and whoever is inside is going to shout at me, don't need that this late in the night.
I made my way to one of the benches and sat down, leaning my back on the table, watching the sky, that red moon was something that I had not expected, but honestly there wasn't much I could do about it, other than accept it, doesn't mean it feels normal to have it up there, it feels too weird to look up and see something that seems so familiar and at the same time not.
My mind wandered back to the offer we received today, it still boggles my mind, whoever they are, they just picked random people on the streets and said Hey can you kill some things for us? We'll pay you for it. It was one thing if Matthew had said animals, as in, hunt for food and such, but instead, if my memory, which somehow recognizes the words he said, goblins and orcs, if it is working as it should, it tells me that those are living beings, intelligent beings like us, or at the very least, smarter than the common animal that wanders around, like the cows, horses, rabbits and such other.
"And you think there was another way out of that?" A voice asked me, startled, I searched for it's source, not only had no-one been around here, but the voice was oddly familiar. After a few seconds, I spotted a figure looking back at me, sitting at the corner of the well, I looked at his face and felt some confusion.
It was me, or at least, something that looked like me, but it was different, it's clothes at least, but other than that, it had my face, my height, everything, even my tone of voice and posture, I looked straight into it's eyes, or at least in their general direction, "Who- no, what are you?" It just looked up into the sky, and back to me, before speaking.
"I'm you, your conscience if you will, you wanted to talk to someone about this, but seeing as there is nobody awake and you don't want to bother anyone, I have to step up and take that position." When it finished speaking, my mind was just turning, trying to make any sense of what had been said. It was me, or my conscience, but it was supposed to be just a voice in my head, not something that can actually be seen, Maybe it's the stress that's making me see things. Still, it was someone to talk about, even if it was myself.
"This is too weird, but frankly, today has been a long day, I won't bother trying to understand this now." I said, a tired look in my face as I looked back into the sky, before remembering it's first question. "Maybe there wasn't another way out, doesn't mean I have to like our current choice." I told it, occasionally looking around, at the well, at 'me', at the barracks, the sky, and around again. It just looked at me, occasionally looking around, it seemed pensive too, but maybe I was just seeing things after all, trying to make bad jokes even at this time, truly I haven't changed much it seems.
"What is done is done, there is no time to complain anymore, all you can do is focus on the future," it said to me, crossing it's arms as it looked at me.
"That may be so, but there may be another way, Matthew himself said it, we don't need to join in, we can choose other jobs if we find them.
"And you think you'll find a job as good as what he offered?" It asked and got up, walking around the well, "From what we saw back at that tavern, and from what Matthew said, it is the best choice all of us have," Us, maybe it means me and it or everyone in the barracks, it honestly didn't matter too much, he stopped besides the well and looked up again, "you can try to find something tomorrow, maybe you'll find work and a bricklayer, or maybe work in a tavern, cleaning either the dishes, the tavern itself, or both, but you and me both know that the volunteer corps is the best place at the moment.
It's words were, unfortunately, too true, it wasn't a good thought, but it was true, in the end, we wouldn't have a choice, if we wanted a somewhat good living, this would most likely be the best choice we would have. I sighed, trying to calm myself down a bit. "Unfortunately so, but you know me after all, I'm very stubborn, I'll find something tomorrow, no matter what." Even though I said that, I had no idea how I'd do that, and it, being 'me', this is confusing, knew what would happen if that failed, still it asked.
"And if you don't find anything?"
"Then I won't have much of a choice anymore now will I? I'll do what has to be done." I said, conviction and resignation present in my voice. Silence followed that exchange, when a sudden thought passed my mind, somewhat worrying and at the same time not so much. "So, can anyone else hear you?"
"No, just you, I'm a part of your imagination after all."
"So everything we talked about, if someone were to listen to it, it would just be me, talking to myself, like a madman?" It nodded. I sighed, not really a good first impression if anyone was to listen to it, then again, it was more likely that everyone was sleeping already, still, the thought that someone heard me was a bit disconcerting. 'Nothing we can do then."
"Indeed," it paused, looking as if it was thinking of something, maybe this was the way my mind behaved to make it look like someone else, it turned to me, "You have any more questions?" A slight smirk appeared on my face, not only was it good to change the subject, but maybe I could force some of my memory to work a bit.
The rest of the night was spent trying to remember anything I could, where I was from, who I knew, what I used to do, anything that could help me even a tiny bit in the following day, maybe I had some skill that would help me find a different job than the volunteer one, or maybe I knew one of these people, whatever I could learn from myself, even memories from family and friends.
Needless to say, it was a long night, and in the morning, I woke up still in the bench, with a headache even worse than the last one.
