Chapter 54: A marriage without choice.

Outside, the cool night air hit their faces. A large crowd was gathered around the exit camp. Standing at the front was the ground Master, looking down at the survivors with a deeply disappointed expression. He clapped his hands together, but there was no warmth in it.... just a slow, mocking rhythm.

"Congratulations to those who returned," the ground Master announced, his bored voice carrying across the quiet field. "Out of the two hundred and forty-three people who entered this time... only one hundred twenty-three made it out alive."

A heavy, mournful silence fell over the crowd. More than a hundred people had died in two hours.

"I call this operation a total loss.... the worst recorded in history if you ask me," the ground Master continued coldly. "Many of you don’t even have a single energy stone to show for your survival. What a waste of resources."

Zyra clenched her hand around her knife. Anger coursed through her blood at his words. People had died! Some had been killed by fellow hunters. Shouldn’t that have taken precedence over the failure to harvest energy stones?

A hunter sitting on a nearby chair, his pant leg torn to shreds and his thigh leaking blood, spat on the ground. "A loss? I’m lucky to just be breathing!" he cursed, his voice trembling with anger and pain. "I nearly lost my entire leg to get two energy stones! And what happens? The collecting officer took one from me without an ounce of mercy! The government is bleeding us dry down here."

The camp guards ignored his crying, keeping their guns aimed at the hunters.

An officer walked up to Zyra and Hunter, holding an empty wooden crate. "Hand over your stones for evaluation. Fifty percent is tax, you know the rules."

Hunter put his hands in his empty pockets and shrugged, looking completely defeated. "We don’t have any, officer. We barely escaped with our skins. We were robbed."

Zyra sighed perfectly on cue, looking exhausted and empty-handed. "Yes. We have absolutely nothing. If you enforced proper rules around here, we wouldn’t have empty hands and heavy hearts."

The officer glared at them, searching their light clothing with his eyes. Seeing no glowing bulges or heavy bags, he muttered a curse under his breath and waved them away. "Useless trash. Move along."

They walked past the gates, blending into the dark night. Once they were safely away from the torches and the guards, Hunter leaned closer to Zyra. "It’s night...we cannot go far," he said softly. "Let’s head to the Starise lodging house just down the road. We can get a hot meal and rooms."

Zyra smiled. "Lead the way."

********

Back in Myrtle City, the streets were quiet. The city was no longer as vibrant as it once was. People were terrified to move around, keeping their doors locked tight even though the scary hunters and soldiers sent by the mayor to hunt for Zyra were finally gone.

The "Wanted" posters featuring Zyra’s face had been ripped down from the walls, and her relatives who had been abducted and dragged off to the capital were finally allowed to return home.

Some families were weeping tears of joy, celebrating that their clan members were back safely. Others were silent, as they had accepted compensation from the Mayor for the accidental death of those who died when Zyra was kidnapped.

That was the lie the families were being told. But the whispers about what truly happened had already traveled. However, no one dared to confront the mayor.

The former captives were of course happy to be released. All except Lita Frood. She was one of the unlucky ones to find that without Zyra, her life was not going to be better off, like she had imagined.

Inside the Frood house, Lita was crying her eyes out so loudly she sounded like a dying beast. "I am not doing it! I am not getting married!" she screamed, throwing a silk pillow across the room which was full of broken items.

In the far corner of her large bed, her bear sat curled into a sad, furry ball. The poor beast looked completely exhausted from listening to its master wail for three straight hours, its small wings drooping miserably over its ears.

Samuel stood by the doorway, looking entirely unmoved by his daughter’s breakdown. He turned to his wife, who was wringing her hands, looking deeply bothered that her daughter was in such a state of absolute despair.

He took a step into the room, his voice cold and heavy with ambition. "Listen to me, Ursula. This is an opportunity that our family cannot afford to pass on, no matter what Lita wants."

"Father, he is an ugly freak!" Lita wailed from the floor. "I was supposed to marry Hans. This is all Zyra’s fault, find her and make her marry that ugly freak."

"Silence!" Samuel snapped. "The Kaelion family is one of the most powerful families in the entire world! Do you have any idea how much influence they have? The Divine Soul Maiden herself pulled many strings just to set up this marriage arrangement. This was not her initial plan; Zyra’s disappearance has changed many things.

We have to adjust according to the new settings. By tying ourselves to the Kaelions, our family is moving up a class in society. And not just any ordinary class.... we are entering first class!" He looked down at his sobbing daughter, his face hardening like stone. "The marriage is happening. Whether you like it or not, you will put on that wedding dress and bring glory to this clan."

SLAM!

The wooden door shook on its hinges as Samuel stormed out, leaving no room for argument.

The second the door slammed shut, Lita stopped shuffling her feet. Her loud, dramatic tears instantly vanished. She wiped her cheeks dry with the back of her hand and glared at the door. "Old hypocrite," she cursed under her breath. "I hope you die in your sleep. I hate him mother!"

Ursula closed her eyes and let out a long, tired sigh. She walked over and tried to smooth her daughter’s messy hair. "Lita, please, calm down. Your father is harsh, but this marriage really is beneficial to all of us. Do not marry a useless man like I did, because you will have to kneel and bow and scrape to survive. We used to rely on Zyra’s promised future as a glorious Soul maiden. Now that she is gone, we are nothing. You are nothing. So, just think of the resources and the protection."

Lita burst out into a loud, incredibly sarcastic laugh. "Oh, it’s so easy for you to say, Mother! You’re not the one who has to marry the freak."

"Shh! Lower your voice!" Ursula gasped, her face going pale as she quickly covered Lita’s mouth. She looked around the room as if the walls themselves had ears. "Never call your husband-to-be that! Have you lost your mind? His name is Eliot! Eliot Kaelion. No matter what he looks like, you will have to act like he is the most handsome man in the world. You have to make him love you. No, obsessed with you. Then...and only then, will you have power to step on Zyra forever."

Ursula hugged her tightly, thinking back to Zena’s beautiful, proud face. How she hated it! Where she failed to step over Zena, her daughter would step over Zyra. No matter the cost.