Chapter 9  

After the accident, a fever forced Kai to bed for a week. It got so bad his parents had to spend more of their savings on a doctor. Kai didn’t remember much of this period and only learned of the fact many days later. Making him feel even worse.

From then on, he was extremely careful each time he went outside. He tried to only go around with his family or with someone he trusted from Whiteshore. When he was forced to go alone, he always stuck to the main streets and always kept his ears and eyes wide open.

These efforts were rewarded with an unexpected skill.

*Ding*

New skill learned! Awareness (lv1) - Keeping track of your surroundings has become second nature.

With this skill, all his seven slots had been filled, but this problem didn’t feel as important anymore. He had stopped trying to learn new physical skills, same as Reading and Writing since his father had no time for that.

All his plans for the future were the dreams of a kid, he had more pressing problems to worry about.

The first year in Greenside was destined to get much worse before it could get better.

As winter drew close, things were becoming more desperate. The cold wasn’t going to be pleasant, but not enough to threaten lives. Starvation was a more serious possibility. Greenside didn’t have the production to sustain its new population.

And a rift between the original population and all the newcomers was beginning to form. At first, the old inhabitants of Greenside almost unanimously welcomed the migrants. Some were annoyed that their peaceful town had been ruined, but they were only a handful of people. The majority agreed to help and share what they could.

When it became clear there wasn’t going to be enough for everyone, this disposition didn’t last. They had already given all they could for the new population, they weren’t going to let their own families go hungry.

They had also been wronged and had done all they could. Still, what should the newcomers do?

The relocation took place in spring. The people with more foresight organized to clear new acres of jungle to expand the fields with as many crops as they could harvest. Most of it wouldn’t have been possible without the use of skills to quickly clear the land and help plants grow faster.

The wood from the jungle had been used to build more fishing vessels, since they had to abandon theirs when they were brought here.

Despite their best efforts, it wasn’t enough. A tropical cyclone had ruined a large swathe of farmland, while the storm that accompanied it sank four fishing vessels killing most of the crews, who were still inexperienced in these new waters. Some locals went to forage in the outskirts of the Veeryd jungle. It was a very dangerous place and only a few experienced hunters dared to go deeper. More than one desperate was seen entering and not coming back.

There was no solution.

As things started to get more dire, an unlikely savior offered a solution. Weekly shipments of food were organized by the Republic.

There was something to say about the fact they had to spend all the chips the Republic gave them and then some of their own to buy the overpriced food. Kai couldn’t care enough to think about it.

If things were bad for the population of Greenside, they had been worse for his family. At least now there was a small respite.

Looking at the cloudy sky, it was hard to even feel angry anymore. The town wasn’t safe and staying closed in his house all day long consumed his energy. What use was worrying about things he couldn’t change?

Every first day of the week people eagerly waited at the dock, scrutinizing the horizon for the ship flying the Republic’s soaring hawk. They wanted to be the first to buy the best overpriced goods.

The same happened this week. They waited all morning, then the afternoon till the sun went down. No luck that day, but a little delay wasn’t anything to worry about. They looked at the swirling sea and concluded the ship had been prevented from sailing by the bad weather.

The next day they did the same. They waited from dawn till sundown, but no luck once again. Probably the tide was too low for the ship to sail.

The same scene repeated the following days. Each time the crowd got a bit smaller and their faces a bit more strained. Some tried to stay positive, others not so much. His parents forbade him to leave the house.

After a week with no news, the mayor announced it was a short delay for the bad weather, the ship would soon come. When that didn’t prove true, he said there had been some logistical problems in the farms supplying food, but they had been resolved. They had to wait only a bit longer.

Maybe it was true, maybe there was some other reason. Greenside’s citizens did the only thing they could and waited. Days turned into weeks.

One week, nothing.

Two weeks, still nothing.

While the tension was rising, the mayor kept repeating the shipment was due any hour by now. There was absolutely nothing to worry about.

Then, one day the mayor disappeared too, together with all the garrison from the Republic. A few sailors said they had seen them sneak away in the middle of the night. All that remained was a short notice nailed to his door.

``Esteemed citizens of Greenside, as you all know there has been a continuous delay in the shipments of food. As mayor of our beloved town, I saw it as my duty to personally investigate and petition our case in Higharbor. I’ll return as fast as possible with the promised food.

Rufus Rathingard, Mayor of Greenside``

Some people stubbornly kept waiting at the dock, insisting the ship was due any moment now. Only a handful of people remained from the once large crowd. Their faces emaciated and tired, their eyes ranging from desperate to empty.

A wave of inevitability swept through the town like a disease.

Everyone knew what the mayor’s actions meant. Some people just didn’t want to believe it or couldn’t. No more shipments were coming, and the mayor ran away before things got out of control. Why else sail in the middle of the night and bring the whole garrison with him?

The mayor's house was burned and pillaged that same night. The barracks of the Republic’s troops had to wait one more day.

Some people chose to leave the town by land, but the closest town, Sylspring, was a week-long journey away through the Veeryd jungle. All other villages along the way had been disbanded in the relocation. The trip wasn't easy, and with the rationing going on, few were in good shape.

Even if they didn’t encounter any mishap, he doubted they would find salvation. Sylspring had probably received even more migrants, it was likely in the same situation, or worse. The only ones who chose to go had family there or were without any alternative.

All the people who could afford it hunkered down with their supplies and barred the doors. Fewer and fewer walked the once crowded streets, their figures thinner and weaker, struggling against the fierce winds that hit Greenside during this season. Sometimes a person would fall pushed by the winds and not get up again.

The deaths began silently, the firsts were the sick, who had no strength to fight hunger too. They were soon followed by the oldest and youngest members of the community.

From the small window in his house, Kai observed the slow processions of weeping families carrying the bodies of their loved ones to the ever-enlarging cemetery by the forest.

They were the lucky ones. Those who had no one to reclaim their bodies laid in the streets abandoned, waiting for someone to come for them.

Kai heard whispers of people laying on the dock, their hands grasping towards the sea for a ship that would never come.

As things got worse, an invisible border was traced between the old part of town, where some order still remained, and the new part, where bands of hungry and desperate hid in dark alleyways.

Screams haunted the nights, most full of sorrow and mourning, some of a different nature.

Rellan and Alana told him everything was going to be fine, but the more they repeated it, the more it sounded like a lie.

His family didn’t have enough to push through the winter. Alana went out to scavenge or barter what she could. Each time they didn’t know if that was the last they would see her.

The next option was joining one of the crews going to sea to fish and risk the unpredictable weather of this season. With no experience or appropriate skills to offer, Alana could only hope to join a group as desperate as her. They weren’t at that point yet, but it got a step closer every day.

From what Kai understood, Rellan was in an even worse position with his skillset and profession. Not that anyone would accept him anyway.

Closed in their cramped house, each day was slow and monotonous. Kai lost himself in his thoughts to pass the time, his mind as grim and bleak as the town.

* * *

It was the middle of a windy night, two solitary moons in the sky. Kai was jolted awake by a loud thud that reverberated through the thin wooden walls of the house. He tried to sit up but remained entangled in the blankets he and his sisters shared.

He couldn’t see a palm in front of his face, but he could hear them stir up too.

“What’s goi—,” Keandra was interrupted when the door to their room was thrown open.

Before he could panic, they heard their dad's voice. “Push the bed against the door and don’t move it until I or your mother tell you.”

He was trying to sound calm, but Kai noticed a tense note in his words.

“Dad—,” Keandra tried to ask.

“Not now dear, I’ll explain later. Everything's going to be fine. Now hurry.”

Before any of them could ask what was going on, he had already closed the door.

Without even seeing her, he could tell Keandra was about to run after Rellan, when another bang shook the wooden frames of the house.

“Come on, you heard dad!” Eleni whispered to them. Her voice shook, struggling to hide her fear.

Led by their sister, all three pushed their bed to the door together. It wasn't too hard, they only had to move it a step to reach the door on the opposite wall.

Another loud thud made them jump. Kai's fogged brain finally gained clarity: someone was trying to knock their door down.

This can’t be happening.

An unmistakable cracking sound confirmed they had broken through. It was soon followed by multiple steps and shouts.

His heart was thumping in his ears, on the spur of the moment Kai closed his eyes and activated Mana Sense. The world turned alight. With an effort that would have usually seemed insurmountable, but now felt trivial, Kai focused beyond the thin wall in front of him and disregarded everything else.

After a tense tug of war, his will won and forced the skill to follow his wishes. The glowing outlines of several individuals came into focus.

On one side stood a small group, just two people, Alana and Rellan. Facing them there was a much larger group, Kai couldn’t distinguish all those meshed shapes.

The assailants then spread around the small room, to encircle and intimidate his parents - there were five individuals. Having his complete focus on Mana Sense, their shouts were a muffled noise in the background. Kai only understood a few words, threats, demands for their food, and more threats.

Despite a lot of posturing and yelling, his parents stood firm one beside the other. They were trying to talk them down. He could hear even less of what they were saying since their tone was lower, but he perceived their calm and resolute attitude as they tried to reason with the rabid bunch. He knew they must be scared too, but they were selling the impression of being calm and confident.

His family didn’t have enough food to last more than a couple more weeks, let alone the whole winter. If they conceded, they would condemn themselves to starvation.

Kai felt a sense of admiration for his parents' courage, he was proud to be their son.

With each second passing, the mob seemed less imposing and more hesitant, until they reached an impasse. Neither side was willing to make a move. The tension racked up, his mind was pounding from his forced use of Mana Sense, but he ignored it.

They seemed to reach some kind of agreement, the figure he thought was Alana moved into the back room. It was likely a compromise; she would give them part of their rations.

A heavy weight was lifted from Kai’s chest. His parents were going to be fine. Things were going to be harder, but they hadn’t lost everything yet. They were going to get through this together.

With the tension breaking, his concentration wavered, he noticed too late a figure from the bigger group had taken a few steps forwards. His arm extended holding something—inanimate objects were much harder to see—but with his aggressive posture Kai knew it was a knife.

Panic sprung inside of him together with a shout. His father turned towards the armed intruder, who was trying to push his way through to their room.

Kai's Mana Sense stretched to a new limit, he saw the bright currents of mana flowing through his dad, outlining his figure. His father’s shining figure stood in front of their room with his hands in a pacifying gesture to stop the assailant. The intruder pushed him, but his father stood firm.

In an instant they clashed, Alana left what she was carrying and ran out of the other room. In the blink of an eye, his father was laying on the ground. People started shouting, he didn’t hear them. The light escaping from his father’s stomach was the only thing in the world that mattered. It kept flowing out in a terrifying spectacle.

Next thing he knew he and his sisters pushed the bed aside and ran out of the room towards their father. Kai deactivated his skill, hoping his eyes would tell a different story. His gaze revealed the same scene, his father was on the ground with Alana beside him, trying in vain to stop the expanding crimson pool.

The intruders had run away, but he didn’t even notice it as he kneeled beside Rellan with his sisters.

Eleni was crying out loud, Keandra was silent as she grabbed their father's arm and big tears fell down her face.

Kai had no idea what he looked like. He stared at his father’s pale face. He was trying to say something, but only coughed up blood as he struggled to breathe.

Alana screamed for help, but no one came.

Rellan squeezed his hand, his words lost amidst the blood coming out of his mouth. He smiled and looked them in the eyes, trying to communicate all that couldn’t be said.

“D-don’t leave me, dad…” Keandra whispered.

There was too much blood.

They stayed like that, hugging each other for a few interminable minutes that passed too soon. His father’s body lost his strength, his eyes held no more light. He was dead, but no one moved, they remained hugged in the same position.