&***LET'S GO EVERYBODY! CHAPTER 100!!!!! Thank's for all my readers who've made it this far. But fair warning...disclaimer adviced for this chaper ( Though not that serious)***&&
Remember how I told you that furrhas were a rare breed of monsters and it was hard to come by one in your lifetime? Seems like that sort of rule doesn't apply to me seeing that everywhere I go I have to meet at least one!
The monster itself stared up at me in defiance, but that bravery was just a mask since I could smell the fear off him. He tried squirming away again, but both I and Earl tightened our grip. I pulled some vines near me and tied the furrha up pretty nicely, then we could finally let him go.
"Alright, let me gather my bearings," I mumbled while trying to lessen the amount of breath I was expelling. We didn't tie up the Furrha's mouth, since we knew that he too wouldn't dare risk death from the bloodthirsty beasts from around here.
"OK then. I'll go first then. Who are you, monster?" Earl asked, whispering while stripping the monster's weapons that he had on him; a small dagger and some supplies for survival.
The Furrha looked at Earl with a different type of anger, before spitting at him just to spite the elf. Earl easily dodged, but I could tell he did not appreciate the little Furrha's greeting.
I scanned the Furrha carefully, to try and get some information on him. He looked much younger than me, maybe around Alex's age, and just like any normal furrha, he had the face of an elf, and wolf ears to complete the look. That deep hatred in his large white eyes made him seem fiercer, but even through the dirt and grim, I could tell that this kid was easily one of the most handsome elfs I've ever seen. He tried frowning, but rather than looking intimidating, he just looked adorable, which I bet he was trying so hard not to look like.
He was in a black hood, probably for easier traveling inside the shadows of the trees. But what really surprised me the most was the white tail that occasionally slipped out of the hood. That's a rarity, even among the very few furrhas in the Beastverse...but are we furrhas really as few as I was told? I'm starting to doubt that.
*sigh*
"Since this is going to be a serious talk, let me cast some silent magic around us to make talking much easier without having to worry about the beasts below," I whispered to the two.
"Wait, you could have done that in the first place?! You made me lessen my snores because of the beasts down there! " Earl whispered harshly at me.
"Oh, boohoo! You didn't sleep well, so what? I have to conserve my mana, and I didn't feel like wasting it on the likes of you. Besides, we still have to fight tomorrow, or have you forgotten?"
"..whatever. Do what you want,"
***
<*Skill [area zero(LVL 2)] has been activated! No sound will get out of the specified area for the next ten hours. Mana usage [100]*>
***
Damn! That's why I didn't want to use it. One hundred mana was very valuable to me right now. But since this is a serious issue, I guess it had to happen.
"OK. I can tell you hate Earl here. What about me? Will you at least talk to me,"
"You're worse than him! Talking to an elf so casually. Especially an elf noble!" the young Furrha answered back with a forced deep voice, though I could tell he sounded a lot like a Alex, if he ever decided to deepen his voice unnaturally.
"Oh? And why do you hate elves?"
"You really going to ask me that question and that's the same reason why you are here,"
Both I and Earl stared at each other before he came to my side, and we both sat down, opposite to the Furrha.
"What do you think we are doing in this planet, kid?" Earl asked.
He got no response from the Furrha. Oh wow, he really does despise the elves for him to outright ignored Earl like that.
"How about I do the asking from now on, Earl?"
"Yeah, ok,"
"Alright, monster. Start talking. What do you think we are here do to? Don't try lying to me, I'll know,"
The Furrha stared at me confused at first, then his eyes narrowed,
"So the elf isn't holding you hostage, taking you to 'that' place?"
"As you have clearly seen, no, he's not holding me hostage. We're friends actually,"
"No we're not. Just forced circumstances," Earl answered with no hesitation.
"Jeez, could you at least have kept quiet about that? And I noticed there was no pause in your words. Almost like muscle memory,"
"You're just that detestable I suppose,"
"That's a low blow and you know it! Anyways kid, just know that we're not–"
The furrha suddedly stared so hatefully at me, that I could see tears almost forming. And I was right, cause immediately, tears suddenly began dripping from his eyes.
"HOW COULD YOU! HOW DARE YOU JOKE WITH SUCH EVIL BEINGS LIKE THAT?!" he screamed angrily at me. Good thing I put up the noise cancellation spell.
"What's wrong kid? There's something deep you are hiding from us. Why do you hate the elves?"
"Because they were my captors!"
"I'm sorry, what?!" I said in surprise. Earl also looked shocked by the kid's words.
"Explain yourself kid. Why would you say that the elves were your–" Earl couldn't finish his question.
"SHUT UP! SHUT THE HELL UP, ELF! Don't talk to me like we know each other!"
"I–I didn't mean to offend you. I'm just trying to understand–"
"GO AWAY!" the furrha screamed at Earl. Now I think I have a good idea of what is happening here. Too bad Earl didn't, judging by the angry scowl on his face.
"NO ONE, especially not some weak snot-nosed punk I just met, talks to me like that! Do you want to die?" Earl threatened while standing up, that irritating side of him surfacing.
The furrha looked shocked by the sudden change of mood and his eyes widened in fear. He tried squirming away from the elf but the vines held tight.
"Hey, I think that's enough, Earl. You are scaring him. Go take a walk," I said in a low tone.
"Not now, Max! This kid has to learn his place! I think I'm just going to break a few of his fingers–"
I slowly got up from my place, firmly placed my hand on his shoulder, and brought my face closer to his.
"I don't think you are getting what I'm telling you. Go. Take. A. Walk!"
Earl's eyes widened in suprise, the fury but then calmed down. I think I saw a hint of fear in them.
"Umm... yeah, I–I'll take that walk. Could you, like, let go of my shoulder. You're hurting me, " he stuttered.
Huh, I wonder why. But now I realized that I was holding his shoulder a little harder than I intended.
I let go, and Earl climbed a bit higher on the tree, too quickly if you ask me. I took a deep breath before turning back to the Furrha, who looked even more scared of me.
"Don't worry. I'm not going to hurt you, Furrha. I just want to talk, is that good with you?" I asked him while sitting back down.
"You looked really angrered by what the elf said. More than me. Maybe you really do hate him and are just hiding it," he said.
"Nope, it's not that. He just made me resurface some really unpleasant memories, and what he planned to do to you...let's just say, I've had my experience with those type of people,"
"Ok, before I answer, tell me this. Ever since I noticed you two, why do I feel some sort of connection with you? It's not some small feeling either. That was the main reason why I followed you guys,"
"I think I might have an idea. But, Let me guess your circumstances first. Your captors, were elves as you said. And due to our race, I'm predicting they used you how they pleased, tortured you for their enjoyment, and even did more unspeakable things to you just because they could, I'm I right?"
The furrha looked shocked at me before he asked, "How?"
"The way you reacted when Earl threatened you. That's a look I'm all too familiar with. And the robe was also a dead giveaway,"
"What about the robe?"
I rose up and walked to him, then pulled the cloak he had on a bit lower. The furrha didn't resist and allowed me to do what I wanted. I grimaced at the familiar marks of whipping and burnt skin and pulled the robe back on.
"Unless you are a wizard or have poor fashion sense, you wear something like this to hide something," I said.
I could tell he had such marks on his body when I pinned him down earlier. It may have been too low to make out, but when I had grabbed him around there, he whimpered in pain that only my sensitive ears could pick up.
"That doesn't explain how you were that accurate enough to guess that,"
"Want me to tell you a secret?"
The Furrha raised an eyebrow in question.
Since I was in my army shirt, I showed him my bare hand. He looked at it curiously, wondering what I was planning to do with it.
***
[Bradley, remove the illusion]
[I'm sure]
***
My white skin suddenly cleared up and many scars suddenly appeared around my arm. The Furrha gasped in shocked and looked up at me.
"I guess that's where you felt a connection from, Furrha. We have a lot more in common than you think. Now why don't you tell me your name? I'm Mandrax, by the way, or Max, if you prefer it,"
After showing him my scars, the furrha was a lot more cooperative.
"I'm Pinecrest, but call me Pine. So you were under the same circumstances as me? But what I don't get is why then do you associate yourself with the Elf?"
"Because they weren't my captors, unlike you. Now, I want everything from you about these captors of yours. Don't leave anything out, OK?"
When Pine began explaining his story to me, I realized I had grossly underestimated what the kid had gone through. I found myself filled with so much pity for the kid, and so much anger for whoever did this to as he continued with his story.
To sum it up, he said he doesn't remember a lot about his younger years, just that his parents were killed in a fight against demons and he was left all alone in his home. Since from a young age his parents taught him about survival cause they feared they wouldn't be around for long(they were correct), he was able to get by and hopefully, if ever the beastverse authorities made their way into that planet, he would have fallen into nearly the same situation as me when I was young. Unfortunately, a different authority got there first.
As a kid, being promised a happy home with three full meals was nothing but a dream for a surviving half-wolf, so being offered that and a new family that looked nearly like him, it was a no brainer what he chose.
At first, he thought he'd found a home with people who loved him, and for a kid, that's all they needed. But that was not the case, cause after a week, he realized he was being treated as a lowlife. From the young age of four, in monster years, he was forced to be the house boy for a family living in this planet; about ten elves; six children, two fathers and two mothers. Basically, it was two brothers with their families.
The children were equally distributed, three males and females, but they all had one thing in common, and that was to torture this young furrha here. To make matters worse, he wasn't the only furrha working in that house hold.
As rare as our race was (finding out that this isn't the case at all), there were about six others, meaning that this was sort of a thing for the entire family; to purchase and kidnap lost furrhas and have them work for their household.
The whip lashes and burn marks on him were there cause he tried speaking out about their mistreatment...and well...mostly from the enjoyment of his captors. I thought that that was the worst of it, until he told me that since the elf children of the house hold were around five years older than him, they soon began getting even worse.
One day, when he was around six, one of the older boys called Pine to his room, and let's just say, it was no tea and cakes he was called for. And that was just the start of the sexual harassment. When all the elven kids decided to join in, since he was the oldest of the furrhas, he had to, can't believe I'm saying this, accomodate them all, or his friends would have to suffer a similar fate. Like he wasn't just as young.
He eventually gained enough willpower to run away from that household at the age nine, and narrowly escaped with the hope of finding some help around the planet. But, between you and me, I think he couldn't take it anymore and the only reason he stayed was because of the other furrhas...I guess he realized taking all the abuse would eventually not be enough for the elves....so there was only that one option, looking for help.
Unfortunately, he quickly realized why exactly there was a force field around the homestead, but only too late. But he said he was glad to escape that place, and death would have been a welcomed guest, if he wasn't on a mission to save the rest of the monsters left in there.
He promised himself he would find a way to rescue the other furrhas, even if it meant searching for it in one of the most dangerous planets known in the beastverse, and that's what he's been doing up until now. So imagine his surprise when he saw an elf and Furrha traveling together.
For someone who nearly all their entire life, has experienced the most pain from that one specific race, you kinda understand why his first instinct was to kill Earl.
It was a while before I spoke again.
"...now I understand why you hate elves so much. I... I can't even fathom how you are still taking this life as you are. Shit...can't believe that people like that managed to make their way into this planet...I thought it was just.....nevermind. I...I have to do something about them, I don't care about the mission, anymore. This takes priority."
While he was telling his story, tears were dripping down his face unconsciously but he was now wiping them. When he was done, he asked,
"How exactly do you plan on doing that? No offense, but you look just slightly older than me, and that doesn't shed a lot of confidence I'm afraid,"
"Don't you worry about that. I think you might have actually come to the right people. First of all, let me untie you,"
When he was free, I gave him the remaining bunny we had caught earlier, and told him to take a nap now, cause I noticed the heavy bags under his eyes, showing he has clearly never had a good rest in a while, probably ever since he was brought by the elves.
He went out like a lamp when I assured him that he was in safe hands, and promising that Earl wasn't a threat to him.
"You heard all that?" I asked as Earl came down from the branches. I could hear the anger in his voice when he replied,
"Don't worry, I have good ears too. What do you plan on doing, boss?"
"What else?" I turned to him with a deep frown on my face.
"The first mission for the young team of the elites, is revenge,"