Psycians created curses? We're the devils?"
These questions floated through Alex's head after hearing what Pope Gaius said about Psycians. He's still trying to take in the fact that he's actually a Psycian, but all of this is just too much for Alex to process.
Suddenly, Rin stood up from his chair and walked to Alex. He crouched down and raised Alex's chin to make him look at him.
"Alexander Armstrong. Do you not realise what you have done?" Rin asked. "Do you have remorse for what you've done?"
"What?" Alex muttered. "What did I do?"
"Huh? What did you say? I couldn't hear you and your stupid little voice." Rin mocked. "Speak up, you accursed Psycian!"
After hearing that, Alex clenched his jaw and fist as he could bear Rin's mockery no longer. He slapped Rin's hand away from him and stood up against him.
"I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING! I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU WANT FROM ME!" Alex cried as he felt like he needed to speak up for himself against the Rosians. "I'M JUST A CHILD! I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU WANT FROM ME!"
After hearing that, Rin immediately slapped Alex across the face and grabbed him by his collar as Alex bellowed in pain. When Alex turned back to look at Rin, he was staring back at him with a face of pure disgust and contempt.
"Psycians like you never learn. You peoples never feel remorse for the thing you've done." Rin shrieked. "THIS IS WHY YOU DON'T DESERVE THE RIGHT TO TALK, I EVEN GAVE YOU A CHANCE TO ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR MISTAKES. IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE RESPONSIBLE THEN SO BE IT!"
As Rin vigorously let go of Alex, he tramped back to his chair and took the piece of paper that Judge Louis gave him. After looking at the paper for a while, he then finally announced the results of Alex's trial.
"I hereby sentence Alexander Armstrong to be exiled from this country and be forced to work as a slave for trespassing, abduction and verbal harassment. He shall spend the rest of his life outside of Rosia to atone for his sins." Rin exclaimed. "Guards! Drag that filthy pest out of my court now! I never wanted to see him ever again!"
"What? trespassing? abduction? verbal harassment?" Alex exclaimed. "BUT WHAT DID I DO? YOU STILL DIDN'T TELL ME!"
After Rin announced Alex's sentence, the guards behind him immediately dragged him out of the court. As Alex was being dragged by the guards, he struggled, not wanting to accept his fate, but what he's doing is useless and the guard's grip is too strong for Alex. When the door of the court closed on him, he saw a glimpse of his dad looking back at him. But he couldn't see his expression, is it hatred? or is it unwillingness? Alex just doesn't know what's going on anymore. After seeing his dad looking back at him, he suddenly stopped struggling, he doesn't know why, but he no longer dares to do so.
The guards dragged Alex to a horse carriage and threw him into the back of it. During the entire process, Alex didn't even try to struggle, he doesn't want to try anymore, he doesn't have the courage to do anything. He just sat there, stared into nothingness as his life fell apart in front of him. As they were about to take off, Alex heard the conversation between the 2 guards.
"We managed to catch another Psycian disguising as a child trying to blend in. Though this one doesn't want to reveal his true form. Scary right Fred?"
"Yeah, it's only been 3 years since the last case and another case has already risen up," Fred complained. "Those Magic-Bastards must be up to something since they lost the siege of talents. We better get going to the slave camp now, Conrad."
"Siege of talents?" Alex thought as he eavesdropped on their conversation. "Yet another unfamiliar term, I'll never understand anything in this world, would I?"
Before they took off, a guard suddenly walked up to them and stopped them. The guard was holding a glass bottle with some strange substance in it and handed it to Fred and Conrad.
"What's this for Travis?" Fred asked as he looked at the bottle Travis was holding.
"It's a monster repeller. Take it with you." Travis exclaimed. "It's the monster breeding season right now, so they are more active."
"Weird to see you helping us, you're normally very quiet," Conrad said. "I don't see the point though, we do have armour and weapons to defend ourselves."
"If you were given the chance, would you skip a fight? Plus you guys are still beginners, don't be so cocky" Travis said. "Just take it, it's better safe than sorry. Remember you need to pour it on yourself to use it."
"You do have a point," Fred said as he took the bottle out of Travis's hand and put it in his pockets. "Thanks bud."
As they set off, they passed through the gates of Rosia. While being in the carriage, Alex could hear the sound of the gate closing on him as he was stripped away from his home. The horses kept running as they passed through a dense forest.
After travelling for half an hour, Fred kept hearing weird screeching sounds in the forest as they ventured deeper into it. Fred tried to ignore it at first, but the sound of something crawling around kept getting louder and louder. It gave him goosebumps and chills.
"Conrad. Do you hear that?" Fred asked while being very concerned. "It certainly doesn't sound nice."
"Damn, is this the first day at your job? Get over it snowflakes, it's just some noise!" Conrad said confidently. "Even if it's a monster we could just fight it off, don't make a fuss about it."
"Damn I know I'm a grown man but you didn't have to be that harsh," Fred muttered. "Fucking jerks."
Suddenly, an abnormally-sized ant jumped out from the tree and pounced on Fred. The ant is half the size of Fred. It pushed Fred off the carriage and began biting on his neck. Fred began to scream in pain while trying to struggle the ant off him. When Conrad saw what was happening, he immediately stopped the horses, jumped down the carriage, drew out his sword and sliced the ant in half.
"Ugh! Took you long enough!" Fred grunted as he tried to sit back up. "That Titanomyrma came out of nowhere!"
"Wield your blade, there's more hiding in the trees."
Suddenly, more Titanomyrmas crawled out from on the trees and pounced towards Conrad. He quickly sliced the ants in half and backed away from them. Soon, even more, ants swarmed towards them, and soon they were overwhelmed by the Titanomyrmas.
"Fred!" Conrad yelled. "Grab the repellent! We can't hold them off any longer!"
Fred quickly grabbed the repellent from his pockets, opened the cap and poured it at himself and Conrad. After he poured the repellent on themself, the colossal ants didn't seem to run away. They didn't even react in any way.
"What the hell?" Conrad yelled. "It didn't even work! What kind of shit ass repellent did Travis give us? And this thing smells like ass!"
"I don't know. We have to fight them off on our own for now--"
Suddenly, one of the ants jumped straight towards Fred and bit him in the eye. It used its strong pincher and dug out Fred's eye. Fred began to scream in pain as he tried to shake off the ant.
"GET-GET THIS SHIT OFF ME!"
Conrad panicked when he saw Fred in this state, he tried to help him by slicing off the ant that was on top of him. But suddenly, another ant swiftly climbed on Conrad's back and began biting on the back of his neck. Conrad accidentally dropped his sword out of pain as he felt that the ant was about to rip his throat out from behind.
When all the Titanomyrmas saw Conrad drop his sword, they all swarmed them at once and began tearing them to pieces. They screamed in pain as the burning, stinging pain of the ants' pincers began to overwhelm them. The horses neighed in pain as the ants also began to attack them. They shook and kicked which caused the entire carriage to shake.
When Alex heard the commotion outside of the carriage. He realises this is the only chance he could still be saved. He stood up and tried to kick open the carriage door, as his arms were cuffed.
"C'mon! C'mon! OPEN YOU DAMN THING!"
He began to kick the door harder and harder desperately. He put all his strength into his kicks and eventually burst open the old carriage door.
The sound of the carriage door breaking attracted some colossal ants, Alex immediately jumped out of the carriage and began to run deeper into the forest.
"Don't look. Don't look!" Alex thought as he could hear Fred and Conrad screaming in pain. "Just keep running!"
The ants screeched at Alex when they saw him and began chasing him. Alex could hear the ants and sped up his pace. But because of his handcuff, it limited his movement and he tripped. Alex desperately crawls away from the colossal ants as the sound of leaves rustling and branches breaking followed him. He could feel the Titanomyrmas getting closer to him inch by inch as their raspy screech got closer.
"I'm...done for. I'm going to die."
Suddenly, a bolt of fire flew towards one of the ants and it began to burn to a crisp. It shrieked in pain as the other ants started to back up away from Alex and starred in the direction the fireball came from.
"What's going on?" Alex thought as he noticed that the Titanomyrmas stopped following him. "Why didn't they attack me?"
Suddenly, A woman came out from the woods and began marching towards the ants while holding another fireball in her hand. She wore a purple robe as her eyes shine a bright magenta light. The ants slowly back up as they're cautious of the woman. The woman fired another fireball at the ants, when the fireball touched the ants it immediately burst into flames. Upon seeing this, all the Titanomyrmas let out a fearful screech as they all scattered away from the woman and Alex.
After seeing the ants running away, She crouches down to look at Alex, to see if he's alive or not.
"Are you still alive? Kid?"
"Magic..." Alex mumbled. "Is...that...mental magic? How fascinating..."