It was getting late and the only money Arya had collected was that given to him by the old man. Five copper coins wasn't a lot but it was enough to buy himself a loaf of bread, however Arya knew what happened to the children who tried using the money they were given.
The caretakers had spies amongst the children, in exchange for their services they would get special treatment, like an extra serving of food or extra blankets and clothing. As Arya watched the sun set the other children of the orphanage started heading back, the caretakers would often lock the doors and any children who arrived past dusk would have sleep outside in the bitter cold of the night.
As Arya and Terresa were walking past a few alleys towards the orphanage, somebody covered Arya's eyes and mouth and dragged him into an alleyway. "I told you this wasn't over Demon boy." said a rough voice as Arya's leg's and feet were bound.
As the hand that blocked his vision was lifted Arya saw that they were about 8 boys there and it was clear that Randel was their leader. He turned to his side and saw that the same thing had been done to Teressa. "The Director gave me a pretty good beating because of you and your little girlfriend. Don't you think I should return the favor?" said Randel as he grabbed Arya by the neck and punched him square in the face".
After a few punches Randel stepped back and the other boys joined in. They bashed Arya leaving him with blood dripping from his nose and mouth. Arya was way smaller than them, but the boys didn't seem to care, to them it was survival of the fittest and Arya was the sad soul who was on the losing end of this phrase.
"Enough of this brother. Kill them now and be done with this place." said a voice in Arya's head. "And how do you suppose he does that? Or have you forgotten that we are bound? I say we let him finish, we've been through worse." said another voice. "Use magic on them. Show them just how strong you truly are brother." said the first voice as one of the boys kicked Arya in the gut making him puke out bile.
"Come on boys, I said that I would show you a good time didn't I? Feel free to help yourself with his girlfriend as well. She doesn't look half bad, and I'm sure Arya wouldn't mind. Do you buddy? See he doesn't." said Randel with a wide grin on his face. Teressa struggled as some of the other boys tried picking her up, they seemed amused by her efforts and tried removing her dress.
"Kill him! Kill him!" said both voices in unison as Arya watched Teressa's tears flow down her cheeks. She didn't cry audibly but you could see the fear in her eyes as she tried biting and scratching her captors. Arya tried to let mana converge right in front of his palm but it was no use, his emotions got the better of him and he couldn't focus enough to draw mana from the surroundings.
"You've failed them again. You are worthless." said voices in unison this time in a colder tone than they usually used, for once they agreed with each other and Arya's own voice was telling him that they weren't wrong. "What are you boys doing over there." shouted an elderly man.
It was the old man that had given Arya money earlier. "Get lost old man. Go back home no one wants you here." said one of the boys as the old man tried throwing a punch at one of Teressa's captors. But it was no use, they were much faster than he was and the only thing he managed to do was make them more restless than they already were.
However the old man didn't give up, once he missed the punch he rushed straight for Randel as fast as his old bones could carry him. He managed to knock Randel down but it didn't take long for the young boy to stand back up. Randel punched the old man in the gut making him double over in pain, however the old man still had some fight in him. He bit Randel's leg drawing blood.
"Big mistake old man." said Randel as he pulled out a short knife and stabbed the old man in the chest. The old man fell to the ground bleeding, his open eyes staring at Arya as blood spread all over the floor. "Death, an old friend." said all three voices in Arya's head. "Hey Randel, I didn't sign up for this. Nobody said we were gonna be killing anyone man. I-I'm out of here." stuttered a young boy scared at what might happen if they were caught.
"Nobody is going anywhere. Take both of them to that guy, and throw the old man in the river. And if any of you so much as say a word about this to anyone you'll be next." said Randel as all the other boys cowered in fear. They thought it was just going to be harmless fun, however Randel had other plans.
The boys picked up Teressa and Arya and carried them to an old warehouse a bit out of the city. "The caretakers will have our heads it's already dusk, I say we leave these two here and ditch Randel." said a brown haired boy. "Ye right. So that you're the next person who gets stabbed? Let's just get this over with and forget this ever happened. The caretakers won't care about the disappearance of two orphans anyways. People run away all the time." replied a black boy from the group as he knocked on the door.
The warehouse was an old seemingly abandoned building about the size of a small tavern. An old man opened the door and said nothing. He had very pale skin and long unkempt black hair with wisps of white hanging about marking his old age. As he lay his long bony fingers on the on the door he put on a peculiar smile and studied the children stopping on Arya for a split second longer than the other children.
He didn't seem the least bit surprised or worried that two of the kids were tied up, and seemed to be deciding on something in his mind. After a few awkward seconds the boy with brown hair who spoke out earlier broke the silence, "Randel sent us her-." said the boy as the old man interrupted him.
"Come in." said the old man in a coarse voice as he opened the door even wider inviting the children into his home. The warehouse seemed to give of eerie vibes , like that of a cemetery, "I really don't think we should, we just came to drop off these two and head back." said the brown haired boy visibly shaken. The boys were regretting taking part in another one of Randel's schemes, many of the boys shifted back a bit, too scared to enter the house.
"I insist, I have some snacks. Aren't you boys hungry? The least I could do is pay you back for helping Franden bring those kids here" said the old man with the best attempt at a welcoming smile that his wrinkly face could achieve. "It's Ran-" one of the boys in the group tried saying but was quickly shushed by his friends.
The boys were scared but more hungry, and in a contest between the two hunger always won so they would never refuse free food. As they entered the old man's home he closed the door and turned around to stare at the kids. "Well, w-w-where's the food?" asked the brown haired boy now scared out of his mind. The old man simply smiled and stared at Arya, "I can finally complete my experiments." said the old man with a wild smile on his face as the darkness around him started to shift and take shape.