The Path of Ruin

Kael didn't even look at how close the creature was to him, he quickly grabbed one of the knives in his bag and drove the hilt into the window. The window rattled, but did not break. But Kael didn't stop either.

He realized that the sound of footsteps behind him was getting closer. Adrenaline surged through his body again and he hit the window again. Cracks appeared on the window, but again... it did not break.

"Aaaah! Come on, come on!"

Once again, he hit the window, this time literally with all his strength and without a care in the world.

The cracks on the window suddenly widened, then the glass quickly shattered. Some of the glass shards rained down on Kael, leaving two small scratches on his face. But he didn't care.

He went up to the window, heedless of all the shards of glass that might sting his hand. His hands were covered in blood, his fingers were bloody from the shards of glass... but he didn't care. He pulled himself up and threw himself through the window. He tumbled across the floor, dragging something like a rug with him.

He quickly straightened the knife he held upside down in his hand, pointed it at the window, and waited for the figure of the creature preparing to pounce on him... but all he saw was a pair of red eyes staring back.

The creature was in front of the window, standing there, tall and tall, and... looking right at Kael.

Kael swallowed. He remembered that the same knife in his hands had failed to make a proper wound on the creature before, but he held on it tightly nonetheless. But, even then, the creature did not attack him. It just continued to stand where it was.

After a short time, Kael realized something was wrong, and his eyebrows raised. Finally, instead of waiting for an attack, he began to study the creature. And as he did so, he realized something.

When he had looked at the figure of the creature before, he had realized that it was familiar, yes... But the creature in front of him was actually someone he knew! The dark hair falling over its shoulders, the clothes it was wearing...

It was none other than Elsin!

Is that why it didn't attack her...? Because it recognized Kael?

Kael looked into Elsin's eyes, which were glowing with a deep crimson color. He quickly erased what he had just thought from his mind.

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No, it wasn't 'Elsin' in front of him. He was sure she wasn't or couldn't think straight... Even if she was, why wouldn't she attack him just because she recognized her? Kael was a slave, a simple slave... Nothing important in her life.

Well, maybe a little... just because he could halve her workload. But that wasn't the point!

Elsin, or rather the creature, turned around after a short time... and walked away from the window as if nothing had happened.

Kael found himself staring blankly out the window.

"H- huh?"

As the adrenaline in his body began to recede, he realized he could barely hold the knife in his hands. A few of the glass shards had sunk into his palms, cutting his fingers. But he didn't care, he moved to the left where he could see where the creature had gone, and tried to see it. Of course, he didn't go near the window... he wasn't stupid enough to do that.

The creature was really moving away. Its back was completely to the window, walking slowly towards the greenhouse.

"A- Ah..."

Kael felt the strength in his legs disappear, he let himself fall to the ground. His breathing and his heart were in the greenhouse again, fast and like it was going to burst his chest.

'I'm alive...? I'm alive...'

He did not know why the creature did not attack him, but he was not going to complain. He was happy to be alive. After all, that was his goal in the first place!

'Strange things are happening here... damn it.'

Calming himself, he finally checked what kind of place he had entered. It was a small room, there were cupboards everywhere and the floor was pretty clean... at least it should have been clean before because it looked pretty bad now thanks to him.

'Is this... some kind of storage room?'

It was obviously too small for a storage room in a palace. But he couldn't find any other explanation. There was so much he did not know about the world. He had never needed to learn such things as a slave. He didn't even know how to read and write. This room must have been one of the things he didn't know.

After spending a short time recovering, he stood up, then paused suddenly.

'Ah, right...'

He went to the wardrobe closest to the window, then moved next to it, and started to push it very quietly and slowly. He struggled because the wardrobe was heavy, but gradually he kept moving it.

Even though it hurt him because of the wounds on his hands, he finally brought the wardrobe to the front of the window he had broken and closed his only connection to the outside. He wasn't going to take any chances just because the creature hadn't come in, he certainly wasn't going to do that.

Finally, he took a deep breath, as he always did, and looked at the wardrobe, which was quite difficult to push.

'Let's see, let's see...'

He opened the door carefully, checked inside.

Inside the wardrobe... there were clothes. A lot of clothes, all similar to each other, made for different bodies.

'Are these... for the servants?'

He went to another wardrobe and found the same clothes in it. Another one had the same clothes in it.

'Tch, it would have been better if there was food...'

He looked at the clothes in one of the wardrobes, studied them for a while. Then he raised his hands and looked at them. He could see a few pieces of glass, and his fingers didn't look very good...

Couldn't he use one of the clothes in the wardrobes to wrap his hands?

He didn't think anyone would care about a single piece of clothing... Although, what would someone do if they met him in such a situation?

'I don't know until I see it, I guess...'

He sighed, took a piece of clothing out, and cut it with one of the knives from the greenhouse. One by one, he removed the shards of glass from his hands, gritting his teeth even though it hurt so bad. Then, he used one of the antiseptics from the greenhouse on his wounds and wrapped his hands before they continued to bleed, and when he finally finished everything... he actually looked fine.

He stood there in the room for a while.

'Now... what should I do?'

He could choose to wait in the room, it seemed logical. He could wait until morning and then go out again and return to the greenhouse. He had damaged a part of the palace, and as a slave, the consequences would certainly not be good... So he would prefer that his actions were mysteriously attributed to a random person no one knew who he or she was.

Being held responsible for the corpse in the greenhouse was more than enough for him. He could at least blame the creature for the damage there, which was already dead.

'I'll wait until morning, then I'll go back to the greenhouse... They'll soon find out what happened here, and when they do, they'll start cleaning up the creatures. They won't leave the palace abandoned... will they?'

He wasn't sure, but one thing he did know... his life was likely to change.

If the Empire was really responsible for what was happening now... then he had no idea what would happen to him.

What kind of people were slaves to the Empire? He had heard of a kingdom where there were no slaves a few years ago. Who knows, maybe the Empire was one such country and he would be freed from his slave status...

But he knew he had to wait for the bad, not the good. Having high hopes often ended in disappointment. He had learned that the hard way as a child. So... in all likelihood, when he was discovered to be a slave, he would either simply be killed or left in someone else's hands.

Although... wasn't it optimistic of him to think he could leave here alive in the first place?

So far, he had literally danced with death and managed to survive by pure luck, but there was no guarantee that he could continue to do so. Like... what if the door of the room opened, a creature entered... and slaughtered him before he even realized what was happening?

'Idiot... just hide in one of the wardrobes, why are you just standing out in the open?'

He sighed, approaching a wardrobe. He was going to make room for himself by moving the clothes aside.

But... just then... he heard a rather loud noise.

~crrak!

It came from the door he had turned his back to. And it had opened so fast that he didn't even have time to react.

'Hah, knew it! Fuck my luck!