WebNovels

Chapter 9 - " My Daughter "

The tavern was just about to close, and everyone inside had either left or was preparing to leave. The whole town had fallen into silence. Raina was helping her mother clean up while Lio slept on one of the chairs, his head resting against the table in front of him.

As she wiped down one of the tables, Raina tried to start a conversation. " Abyss and Star really helped us out today, huh… Mom? " she said in a casual tone.

"Yeah, you're right. Otherwise, who knows what would've happened to this idiot," her mother replied, her tone sharp but her gaze softening as it landed on Lio. Beneath her voice was a faint sense of relief.

Raina giggled, her eyes also drifting toward Lio, a gentle smile forming on her lips. Then she says "I wonder what they're doing right now."

Her thoughts wandered, imagining the time she would finally gather the courage to confess her feelings to Abyss but then a realization struck her.

" Wait... " she said to her self " Star and Abyss share the same room... and that room is really small... so they sleep together… and if they sleep together then—

Her eyes widened with every thought, her imagination running wild, her face flushing red until her head felt light. Then...

Smack!

She slapped both her cheeks hard enough to leave hand marks, desperate to stop her imagination from spiraling further.

Her mother turned, puzzled. "What was that?"

"It's nothing!" Raina quickly replied, standing stiff and looking straight at her, the handprints still visible on her face.

Her mother saw her red face but didn't ask any question and just said "Alright… once you're done cleaning, close the doors."

" Okay " Raina said.

Her eyes unintentionally wandered toward Star and Abyss's room. The lights in the room were still on. "But seriously… what are they doing?" she muttered.

Inside the room the silence was deafening, Star leaned casually against the wall beside the door just observing, what was happening and what was going to happen.

The kidnapper just stared at Abyss, " something about him is just so calming " he thought to himself.

He wiped his tears with the back of his arm. "I… I'm ready," he said shakily.

He introduces himself first " My name is Able, I was originally a farmer. I lived far out in the woods on the outskirts of town. I used to come here to sell crops with my daughter…' Mary.' "

Their weren't many people other than elves who lived in the outskirts of town. But for elves living in the outskirts or in the forest was practically nothing since most elves lived in the forests their whole lives.

The reason not many people lived in the outskirts was simply to put it ' inconvenient. ' There came many problems living on the outskirts like having to walk all the way back to town if you wanted to get anything, which took more than an hour to go to.

Then came the problem with water, the houses on the outskirts of town didn't have a steady supply of water not to mention medical emergencies. It was right to say living in the outskirts was not an easy task.

 "She is the only family I have left," he said softly. "My wife passed away shortly after giving birth to her. Ever since than I raised her alone. She is everything to me."He swallowed hard. "We lived happily… up until a few months ago."

His voice trembled as he continued.

"It was a normal day. My daughter and I came to town to sell crops. After helping me set up shop, she went to play with her friends, like always. But… she never came back."

His breathing grew uneven.

" Day and night I looked for her, searching in every last corner of town going to her friends houses, everywhere I could thing of I looked but I never found her "

The more Able talked, the more tears piled up in his eyes.

"Then one day, a man came to my house. He said he had my daughter and told me… if I wanted her back, I had to pay him a hundred gold coins."

For perspective, with one hundred gold coins you could live comfortably for decades without ever needing to work.

" He also said if I didn't pay or went to report to any knight station, he would kill her. Since I didn't had that much money, I started groveling at his feet, begging him to make the payment less, to let me see my daughter. But he didn't listen. "

Since their weren't any rulers on land, Star and Abyss had created knight stations across the world. Knight stations were places were you could take your complaints and problems and the Knights there would help you for what ever your problem was. They worked almost the same a police stations. Star had gotten this idea from one of the other Original Gods, the god of Time

" But when I said I will do anything, he laughed and told me to join them and work for them until I have payed my debt . And that if I make my mind on joining them, then go to the sewer system under the town then he stared leaving and before I could even processing everything he said, he looked at me and through a finger at me and told me to ' think carefully ' and then he just vanished"

" When I looked at the finger, it was my daughter's that grim realization made tremble uncontrollably, I ran outside hoping to find him but he was gone, like if he was never their "

The more Star heard about man's sorry the more, the he anger started pilling up. But at the a deep sense of sadness also started brewing in his heart.

Even Abyss was starting to twitch a little, though he thought everyone should be given a chance of forgiveness but for people like these even he started to have second thoughts.

Able continued, now the tears almost on the brink of spilling "I had no choice. I went to the sewer entrance, and a man in a black robe appeared. He whispered in my ear, 'Are you here for your daughter? Then follow me.'"

He hesitated, remembering the smell, the damp air, the echoing cries. "I followed him inside… and what I saw was horrifying. There were cages—rows of them—filled with children. Dozens of them. Some too weak to even cry. I wanted to save them, I really did, but… I was helpless."

" Then they took me to their leader and beside him was my daughter in a cage, instincts got the better of me and I rushed to save her but was knocked back by one of the his guards.

Able's voice broke completely now. "I begged him to release her, but he just laughed. He said if I wanted her alive, I'd work for him. And when I hesitated—he started beating her. Right in front of me."

Tears burst out as he said that. 

I agreed. I couldn't stand seeing her in pain."

He buried his face in his hands. "I'm a terrible person. I became a kidnapper… I hurt others just to save her… I didn't want to—but I was too afraid to lose her."

Before his sobs could grow uncontrollable, Abyss stepped forward and wrapped his arms around him. His voice was soft, almost angelic.

"Don't worry," Abyss said. "I'll save your daughter."

Tears stilled flowed on his face but now they weren't just sad tears they were also filled with hope.

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