The Hunt

[10] Levilnor And Painful Memories

"What're we gonna tell them? No, what're we going to say to Vela?" Nick cried, squeezing my hand so tightly I winced. "I'm sorry." He immediately let go of my hand.

"It's okay," I said, taking hold of his hand again and rubbing circles on the back of it with my thumb. I wasn't calm. But I wasn't shaken up like him either. I didn't know Sarah that well and I'm pretty sure I have never spoken to her before this whole shitty thing started.

But Nick. Nick knew her like the back of his hand. He was always with her, he would go everywhere with her and I remember seeing them at 'Ivy Restaurant' all the damn time, laughing and jokingly flirting.

I wasn't stalking them, of course. But I used to be at 'Ivy Restaurant' every second of the day so to entertain myself, I would just listen in on everyone's conversations, laugh at what they're saying and basically, stalk them until they leave.

As a stupid low rank, I had nothing to do. I finished school and then stayed home. Sometimes, I would go hunting but other than that, I wasted my time doing nothing.

See, my village isn't what you might think it is.

Levilnor is a huge village. A village full of Vikings. And Vikings aren't those malicious people who wear weird clothes and kill anyone at sight.

Vikings are like normal people. We wear normal clothes such as dresses, tops, jeans and skirts. We don't wear helmets all the time nor boots. We're just as normal as any citizen.

But Levilnor is not a village you'd want to live in.

It had tons of rules you had to follow and if you broke just one, you'd either get punished, exiled or executed.

But here's the thing, my parents used to always tell me stories about how the village was never like this but they wouldn't explain what truly happened for it to be that way.

We had battles almost every week with our neighboring village for unknown reasons and every time, the low ranks are the ones to fight while the eminents stayed at the auditorium. Safe.

We had to fight, for them to stay alive. We would piss our pants once the fight was over, hoping and praying to God our loved ones were okay.

They would just give us money as a recompense for our losses. As an indemnity.

But who the fuck would want money after losing someone they loved? Who would want to live after losing a parent? Maybe even both parents.

I remember, I would always be at the hospital, nurses and doctors surrounding me, healing my wounds. And I also remember leaving the hospital and hoping my parents had made it.

Sometimes, if I wasn't the one being healed, my mom or dad would be.

I would stay outside, banned from going in to check on them. It was a rule. A stupid rule that didn't allow you to visit anyone at the hospital after the fight. For no GODDAMN REASON.

I would finally smile when I see the both of them, opening their arms for me. But my smile would immediately disappear once I realize that it isn't over. It was never going to be over because we would be training for next week's battle.

It was never known for sure that it was going to be next week. But it was guaranteed that it was not going to be the next day because our enemies would be just as tired as us. I mean, we always fought back.

There was no winner though. They would just attack us for fun and again, I don't know why. I don't know what we did for them to hate us so fucking much.

Brandon had lost his father when he was seventeen years old. Amelia had lost her older sister when she was just fifteen and I... I had lost my twin.

My twin brother, Zane.

Almost every single low rank family isn't complete. And it's all because of the eminents.

The eminents who gathered in the auditorium and just wished their houses were fine. While we wished we don't die. That we live to see another day.

I involuntarily let go of Nick's hand as we walked down a valley. Guess my thoughts affected my actions.

He look concerned but I just swallowed and sped up a little so I could stay away from him. He hurried after me, pulling me back by my bicep.

"You okay?" He asked, a couple of tears running down his cheeks. Wow, I didn't know he was still crying because he lost Sarah. Bet he isn't used to losing someone special.

"I'm just," I paused and looked him in the eyes, "I'm just tired." I yanked my arm out of his grip and continued walking, him following silently behind me.

When Zane died, he was only eighteen. He was so young and had all his life to live but NO, we had to fight.

We went to school and then left immediately to the academy so we could train. So we could learn how to fight while the high ranks headed home to rest.

That doesn't mean they don't know how to fight. Oh hell no, they're experts at fighting. They just had a privilege to chose when to train. Unlike us.

I mean, have you seen Sarah throw that spear? Fucking effortlessly and she killed the snake.

Speaking of the snake, we don't have it. Sarah had let go of it so she could try and push the lion off of her. So yeah, we don't have any food for today.

"Felicity, are you mad at me?" He asked, catching up to me. I turned to face him, "No. I just need some space, Nick," I answered and he pursed his lips, nodding.

We started walking again, skipping through trees, ducking the vines and branches. I grasped my sword tightly, sometimes using it to cut through the vines that blocked our way.

The jungle is pretty dense. Unlike the woods.

I used to hunt there a lot. Usually with a spear, a bow and a quiver of arrows or an axe. That's where I trained freely. Doing whatever may please me. Throwing my axe at the trees and hitting them perfectly. Aiming at the bull's eye with my bow and arrow. Hunting birds with my spear and so on.

I remember Brandon, Amelia and I, going there before heading to the auditorium where all of the village members—eminents or not—gathered around the enormous table where we'd eat lunch.

At the village, we had breakfast, lunch and dinner at the grand hall (the auditorium) but as for brunches and snacks in general, we always went to 'Ivy Restaurant'.

"Hey," Nick whispered, pulling me behind a tree. Before I could speak, he shushed me. He pressed his back firmly to the tree and pressed mine to his chest.

We were near the river, why would he do that?

"What is it?" I spoke quietly, covering his arms—that were wrapped around my stomach—with my hands.

"There's a leopard," He responded, his voice low. Oh God, not again. More danger?

... I mean, of course, we're in a freaking jungle, how stupid of me?

I tried to peek at it from behind the tree to make sure it didn't sense us and just as I did, an arrow tore through its chest.