Ash was dying but could faintly hear the ape going crazy.
He figured the creature must've been close to purifying it's bloodline, which was pretty difficult and even more so for an ape with no one to rely on. There was a reason the ape chose to stay asleep. The spring root moss was it's cheat in order to help it evolve.
Destroying the spring root moss ensured a berserk ape; the battle ahead was going to be a nasty one. Those brutes expected a more docile enemy but they were in for a surprise.
In his state of death comprehension, Ash saw a figure that beckoned to him. Looking around the spiritual world, he saw an angel.
There were descriptions of such beings as they appeared throughout history. Angels acted as heralds of God and you couldn't be sure of what they were there for, but they often had huge impacts on society.
Ash walked before the figure but refused to bow, not like he would even if he was religious. His mother taught him that much, you should worship the creator not the creation.
However, Ash recognized this angel from his childhood. Shock and anger bubbled, as he remembered the angel.
Ash had a dark look as he started at the being. "You are here today because you have been selected. Peace has run thin and those who walk in darkness are loose once more." said the angel.
Ash was both confused and angry, this sounded both corny and egotistical. Ash had hang ups about tragedies that took place in his village; it wasn't all rainbows and sunshine growing up there.
"Hahahaaha, holy shit. This guy can't be serious." The laughter conveying more rage than comedy at this point.
'Why the hell am I being called to fight some great evil, isn't that why angels exist?!'
He felt an entire wave of emotion come over him as veins popped in his head. Face twisting the boy bellowed.
"WHY, Why did you abandon my village? Why did that disgusting noble have to appear, and why does my village live like rats? I'm not asking to be born a king but the conditions we lived are horrendous. Why did God not answer my prayers? How can you casually appear and think yourself no different form the fallen ones?!"
The angel looked at him with eyes filled with wisdom and told him that it was to make him steadfast. "Do you think that you are the only one to suffer, God did not look onto your situation with glee as people died. Neither the violation of those girls, by the nobleman. Furthermore, those same people experiencing those hardships were God's people. A better question is what did these events leave you with?"
Ash had gone through famine, beast waves, he had also seen a noble rape a childhood friend of his, there was even the murder of good men and women by bandits which happened frequently.
This angel had appeared around the time the village was still going through famine. Ash couldn't remember how little he was but he remembered the striking young man as he looked unnaturally handsome. He had hoped that he would look like him when he grew older.
That man had played with him and some of the village kids, the morning of Milan's death. He had apparently come to drop something off to a relative, though in hindsight he was there specifically for Ash.
The angel had told him that day, "You are called to be a great king, do not forget." Then disappeared shortly after saying those words. Why would the angel appear to him before the events of that day; Ash felt like the angel watched the whole time, yet idly stood by.
How could he have know that a monster in human skin would appear to change his life. A noble from a small clan in a nearby city came to do business, he was a source of revenue for the village as they had a surplus of tea leaves, and a special type of honey called green speckled honey.
Their village was experiencing famine and needed to trade for food. Ash's father, as head hunter of the time, was busy talking to merchants at his office, his mother was in the healing huts trying to heal people who had been ravaged by beasts, while the sickly village chief was negotiating with clan delegates.
Ash was in the small market that the village had as he was learning from one of the older ladies that used to work as a merchant. He had just got out of lessons early when he and Milan met up in the market as her mother worked there too. The nobleman had come early for negotiations and went to their market as a whim, passing by the stalls he looked out and saw Milan and her mother talking.
Milan's mother was quite the looker with long curly hair and tan brown skin, Milan was similar but she had purple eyes unlike her mother's brown. The fat nobleman whispered something to his guard and one of the two had moved to the mother daughter pair.
Milan was still trying to convince her mom to let Ash and her play tag as she hadn't finished her studies.
As the guard approached he told her that she would "serve" his lord; Milan's mother had gone pale and begged that her daughter be let go, but the guard simply shook his head saying she had to come too.
Ash remembered that Milan's mom was one of the ladies to talk to him about God, she had prayed that the Lord help her at that moment. However Ash never remembers that prayer being answered.
He pulled the two as Milan's mother screamed for help while Milan herself grew tense and started to cry. Ash remembered how quiet the market was despite having a sizable number of people being there. No one wanted to offend that piece of filth and everyone knew what would happen.
Ash screamed to people for help, Aren, Fabian, Old man Lither, any adult to help. They all looked away.
Deciding to save the girls himself; Ash had ran at the guard only to be knocked away violently leaving him unconscious for about an hour.
Kaz and some of the other kids had been fortunate enough to not be there but unfortunately Ash wasn't.
The nobleman was brought the woman and child. He raped them right in his carriage, he didn't even move out of the market.
He awoke to the weakened screams of Milan. Ash was too young to know about sex at the time but he knew what was taking place wasn't right.
He got up in his dizzied state, with blood leaking from his head as he slowly walked to the carriage.
Walking over, the guard was about to hit him again when the nobleman opened the window and whispered to him again. The guard opened the door for Ash and he walked in, and what he saw haunts him to this day.
There was semen, feces, vomit, and blood leaking all over the place, a bottle of meds used to increase libido on the floor. Milan and her mother both had blood and semen leaking from their genitals. Swollen Bruises laid all across the backs of the two.
Their beautiful hair looked matted and parts were yanked out. Vomit was still leaking out of Milan's mouth but her eyes dead. Ash couldn't understand the horrific scene and looked at the fat bastard who smiled.
He would always remember that sick grin: yellowed teeth, meat stuck in his gums, paper thin lips, with a fat mole on both sides of his mouth. Ash heard the soft spoken man speak to him, " I think I've had my fill today, but that expression is the perfect dessert. Been awhile since I had a boy, let alone a Southern one."
The man looked at the bottle of pills and saw it empty and shook his head in disappointment, he studied Ash who cried silent tears.
The pain on Ash's face gave the man satisfaction as he ordered one of the guards to throw the bodies out and to throw the boy out too. The guards removed the bodies of the barely breathing woman and her dead child. Ash was harshly tossed out, left trembling from the experience.
That same man went on to have negotiations with the previous village chief a few minutes later. Nobody did anything, almost all of those people had tamed beasts but nobody wanted to stand up to a nobleman, even if he was a low ranking one.
Milan's mother had said something in her dying moments that bothered him. She asked him when there would be justice. Ash stood there looking at the bodies, not even when his mother came after hearing of the event did he say anything.