The shaman worked his way through Fate's memories in no particular order, flitting from adult memories to childhood ones at random. For Fate, this was a harrowing experience; not because of physical pain – although there was plenty of that – but because he was quite literally reliving his worst memories as if he was there now. He started to lose grasp of where the present and the past separated, sucked into this world of memories.
Samantha was a beautiful girl, her blue eyes perfectly complimenting her exotic blue hair. She seemed to have been sculpted by a god, the curves and contours of her face as gorgeous as her curvaceous body was enticing. She was the heir to the Sedronol family, her father a successful tycoon that ran a factory in the industrial town of Fonford. This left her father very busy, so she was sent to live with her uncle here in Brergan.
Her beauty and wealth stirred the ambition of nearly every boy near her age of fourteen, and even a few girls who were into that sort of thing. The result was over fifty suitors vying for her hand, all of which she coldly turned down with a sniff and a turn of her head. The only one that had ever gotten close to her was Fate, a lowly thirteen-year-old from one of the poorer families in town and effectively the town outcast. His blackened sclera invoked either fear or disgust in anyone who saw them, or a combination of the two. Everyone except for Samantha.
He had met her one day when he was thirteen. He had been walking back home from Old Man Travis' shoe shop when he heard muffled shouting coming from within Brendon's house. An odd thing, he thought, as Brendon had been out of town for the past two months to see his grandmother. His curiosity got the best of him, as often happened to teenagers, and he pushed open the door. He tried to be quiet, but the hinges hadn't been oiled in months and a creak emanated from them. Giving up on stealth a little too fast, he threw open the door and cast his gaze around. What he found wasn't surprising, although it was disturbing.
A group of boys he recognized as Grend, Fabio, and Jerome were holding down the town's wealthy heiress, Samantha, as Yolden unceremoniously stripped off her clothes one by one. Samantha screamed into Grend's hand scratching and clawing to no avail as she was rendered nude. None of them even spared a glance at Fate, too engrossed in holding down the struggling girl.
He stepped out of the shadows as Yolden fumbled at his pants, hands crossed as he glared at the boys. "The fuck are you four doing?" The boys jumped in fright at the new voice, heads whipping around to find Fate in the mudroom, a deep frown etched on his boyish face. They calmed when they realized it was just him, but only by a little bit. Fabio grinned as he shoved Samantha's hand down, the girl having tried to use this opportunity to escape.
"Run along, little freak. This is none of your business," Fabio said.
"That doesn't answer my question," Fate replied.
"If you must know, I'm earning myself a future," Yolden sneered. "You're aware of Renaldo's Law, yes?"
"Of course, I do. That's how Mrs. Bredena got married." Renaldo's Law dictated that if a man raped a woman and conceived a baby in the process, the man was required by law to marry the victim and provide for the woman and her baby for the rest of his life. The couple would be checked up on every three months by the Empire's best Cognition Mages to ensure the man was doing his job. If the man was found lacking, he would be subject to death by a thousand cuts.
Of course, such a law resulted in many cases such as this, where men raped wealthy women to earn their wealth, as the resulting marriage would still merge their assets financially. This is why the Empress, in her infinite wisdom, added an addendum to that law a few hundred years ago. Fate didn't blame these morons for not knowing this new rule; they never bothered to go to Priest Desmond's classes.
"You know that if you rape her with the intent to force a marriage, the Guard won't marry you two, right?" Fate asked. "And even if it did work, the woman gains control of all assets. You won't get anything."
"Yeah, right," Yolden snorted. "Who told you that bullshit?"
"If you ever bothered to go to class, maybe you four wouldn't be as dumb as a sack of rocks," Fate sneered. "Honestly, doing this kind of thing without research is just stupid. Did you really think the Empress would create a way for people to just earn free money by ruining a woman's life?"
"Whatever," Yolden retorted. "The fact of the matter is, I'm going to be rich. And unless you fucking scram, you're going to be dead."
"It seems you all forgot how I kicked your asses last time," Fate said, a grin spreading on his face as he let his arms drop to his sides. "And that I don't take kindly to threats."
"Last chance, punk," Grend warned. "No one will miss you. We'll be doing the town a favor."
Fate shook his head in mock sorrow, fake pity welling in his eyes. "I feel bad for your parents. It must be horrible raising such idiotic children."
"Alright, you illiterate little fuck," Yolden said angrily, buckling his belt back up. "You want to get hurt so bad, who are we to deny you? Come on, boys. Jerome, stay with the harlot. We'll take this outside; I don't want Brendon coming home and punishing us for getting blood all over his stuff."
"Fine by me," Fate said, walking back outside without a second glance.
Fate massaged his neck, feeling a crick in it. He supposed he shouldn't have jerked his neck that hard, but when someone stabs a knife at your face, you tend not to think.
At his feet, Yolden, Grend, and Fabio were on the ground, unmoving. A puddle of blood was spreading out from the first one, Fate having returned the knife to the sender. 'He can only blame himself, really. He had me outnumbered three to one, and still had the nerve to pull out a weapon. Scum.' He spat on Yolden, giving the boy a vicious kick in the ribs. The groan from the strike reassured Fate that he wasn't a murderer.
"I guess I better go get the doctor. Ah, they can wait. Samantha and Jerome first."