Galekin

Chapter 25, The Village Inside the Mountain

*Theodore's POV*

The next morning, I met with Sereen and she led me to the village. I was excited yet scared to see it. I heard from Sereen that their living conditions weren't that good. When I entered the village, I was truly appalled by what I saw.

There we so many people living in one small area, their clothes were mostly rags and a lot of people looked sickly, as if they have never seen the sun. Sereen told me that most, if not all, had never been outside the mountain, and it was clear when I saw their faces. The people looked lifeless and malnourished, like their only objective in this world was to survive. There was no happiness there, there was only pain and suffering.

Sereen also told me that getting food was hard, since we only had a couple of hunters. They would go out and hunt around the mountain and the forest behind it, but it was never enough to feed an entire village. The villagers gave most of their food to the Order, so that the members there could be stronger and could free the gifted. There were also a few farmers that lived outside of Raebershire and sent their produce to the mountain, but with the taxes they had to pay to the kingdom, not a lot could be sent without suspicion or them going bankrupt.

It made my heart hurt, knowing I was able to have good meals in the castle while these people were left to starve. And suddenly I understood even better why the Order has been fighting for so long. I understood their determination to take out corruption and fight for freedom. I understood why they never made mistakes; they couldn't afford them. The order couldn't fail, because if they did, the people would suffer.

We were currently walking towards the main square, where the children apparently played quite often. When we reached, we saw a group of children playing tag. As soon as one of them saw Sereen though, his eyes widened, "Look! It's the Silent Assassin!" he yelled and all the children immediately stopped in their tracks and looked. They all got a massive smile on their face when they saw the blonde besides me and came running up to us.

"Miss Sereen! How are you!"

"Did you bring us anything?"

"Have you freed us yet?"

Most children yelled something along those lines when they neared us.

Sereen chuckled, "How are you guys doing?"

"We're great!"

"We were playing tag!"

"I had a potato last night for dinner!"

"Really now? That's awesome guys." Sereen answered most of the kids at once.

One little girl tugged on my shirt, "Who are you mister?" she asked.

Sereen answered for me, "This is a new member of the Order. He comes from the outside, just like me."

The kids looked at me in awe before they all jumped me at once.

"What's your name mister?"

"Have you seen the clouds?"

"Are you really from outside?"

"Do you have a gift?"

"What's your name in the order?"

"How old are you?"

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

"Will you play with us?"

I took a small step back so I could face all the children and Sereen told them to calm down.

I smiled, "Uh... I guess my name is Theo, I'm 23 years old, I don't have a gift, yes, I'm from the outside, uh I have seen the clouds." I started answering questions which caused more to arise from the children.