A single tear rolled down his face as his mouth hang open in shock.That was only the first question, and from the look on the priest's face,it was probably the easiest one.
"Do you pledge your loyalty to the King or to the Emperor"
The question echoed in Jikad's brain endlessly.A pin drop silence reigned in the tent. Everyone had their eyes on Jikad expecting him to reply immediately to the obvious question and wondering why it was taking so long for him to answer.
Jikad stared back at the priest his mouth hanging wide open as another tear rolled down the other side of his face.
The priest blinked in confusion thinking that perhaps Jikad had not heard his question. It usually took a second latest for most people to answer that question.
"Erm-Do you pledge your loyalty to the King-"
"UWAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Jikad suddenly burst out crying.Streams of tears ran down his face as he sobbed out loud. Everyone in the room seemed to pause for a moment as the sound of loud weeping filled the entire tent.
"~HNGHAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!" His shoulders shook with the intensity of his cries.Everyone was dumbfounded by the hysterically crying boy seated on the floor.
" HIC- I' M SO SORRY SEBASTIAN-UWAAH!" Jikad wiped the tears on his face calling out the name of his personal butler but more tears streamedout.
"HNNN- IM SO SORRY- HIC IF I ONLY I'D LISTENED TO YOU I WOULD HAVE NEVER LEFT MY HOTEL ROOM AND GOTTEN KIDNAPPED BY THAT PSYCHO - WAAAAHAAAHAAA!!" Jikad's fingers dug into the ground his chest rapidly heaving.
"AND THEN,AND THEN-HIC- SHE SACRIFICED ME IN HER CREEPY BASEMENT DOING HER CREEPY RITUAL - UWAAAH- I WAS SO SCARED - WAAAAA!- SEBASTIANAAAAA!- I WAS HIT BY SOME ANGRY BALD MAN- IT IT HURT SO MUCH WAAA!!"
He suddenly grabbed the legs of the priest who was too startled to move.
"I JUST GOT SACRIFICED AND CURSED BY THAT EVIL WOMAN I SWEAR-WAAAA!- I I ALREADY DIED ONCE I DON'T WANT TO DIE AGAIN -MMMPM" He cried out pulling at his robes. The priest awkwardly leaned down from the way his robes were being pulled.
"TAKE ME BACK TO HOME !! TAKE ME BAAAAAAAAACK- WAAA!!IM SO SCARED I MISS MY MOM-UWAAAAAA-MAMMAAAAA!"
The other knights awkwardly glanced at each other.Even the fat one had dropped the file he was going through and stood there with his hands still suspended in the air.
" I DON'T WANT THAT SCARY HOT BLONDE GUY TO TURN MY HEAD INTO A SHESH KEBAB- UWAAAH-TAKE ME BACK HOME-WAAAAAAAA!! I SWEAR I WILL TAKE MY STUDIES MORE SERIOUSLY FATHER-WAAAA!"
Jikad shook his head "I WON'T COMPLAIN ABOUT TAKING OVER YOUR BUSINESS AGAIN FATHEEEEEERRRRRR-WAAAH! I SWEAAAAAAR!!"
" I WONT! I WONT! I PROMISE FATHER-UWAAAAH!- I'LL EVEN TURN IN MY FERARI COLLECTION- I'LL GIVE BACK MY PRIVATE ISLAND AND AND EVEN MY PRIVATE JET- UWAAAH-!!"
The priest was already on his knees ,cold sweat had trickled down the side of his face. He had met a few crazy people but this ,this was on another level.
"Calm down child....erm- don't cry" He awkwardly patted Jikad on the shoulder.
"Nooo- noooo" Jikad shook his head still sobbing. He was holding on to the priest as if his life depended on it.
"It was that woman who cursed me- waaaaaah" he sobbed burying his face in the priest's chest."That crazy bitch-hic- I don't even remember her name that damned phsycho- hic"
" There there...its alright "The priest cooed gently rubbing Jikad's back
" I don't want to turn into a meat skewer - a head skewer - hiicc" Jikad weeped,at this point he was practically clinging on the priest like a koala.
"Take me back to L.A-hngh- I want to go back hoomee-waaah"
" Shhhh- don't worry, we will take you back to that erm- 'el-ae' you speak of"
"Uwaaaa-sebastian"
"Poor child" The priest muttered. 'Tsk!Did he really have to frighten such a poor child. It is clear that the boy is of unsound mind'
The priest thought to himself glancing at the lieutenant who was still standing with his sword unsheathed.
Jikad had never cried so hard in his life.he felt as if the dams of his tears had broken and so they kept streaming out.He felt so helpless and defeated that he just couldn't help but cry. He also couldn't stop rambling on and on about how much he wanted to get out of this scary story that he has never even read. The gentle soothing of the priest didn't do much to calm him down since he could hardly hear him anyway.
The corners of his eyes began to darken and soon he was plunged into darkness entirely as the sounds of his environment slowly faded away.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
" aww shucks! why do we have to ride with the crazy guy?"
" sshh! lower your voice he might hear you"
" ugh- move your feet a little I'm cramped"
"I can't..there's no room"
"someone should wake him up,he's taking up all the space by lying down"
" Wake him? what if he goes crazy again?"
"Yeah, I don't want to deal with a crying madman"
" mommy I'm hungry "
" stop whining unless you want to get off"
Jikad stirred from his sleep,the noise had awoken him. He still hadn't opened his eyes but he felt his body swaying as if he was lying on a moving bed,a hard bed at that. He felt a dull warmth on his body as if he was sleeping under the sun. His body felt uncomfortable and rigid,so he groaned from the discomfort.
"mommy look, the crazy guy is waking up" he heard someone whisper. The voice which sounded like it belonged to a child was not familiar, infact neither of the voices he'd heard before were familiar to him.
Jikad slowly opened his eyes and to his surprise there was a hand resting a few inches above his eyes.
When his eyes finally adjusted to the sunlight, above him he saw a familiar face. A calm face framed by brown locks that gently swayed rythmetically. His dark brown hair had a glint of caramel from the sun rays that gently caressed it. His brown eyes were focused ahead and his hand was extended above Jikad's face to shield him from the glaring sun.
'Garam~' Jikad called out hoarsely his voice breaking. Garam turned his attention to the boy lying on the cart's floor.
"you're awake" His gentle voice answered retrieving his hand. Jikad propped himself on one elbow raising himself. He winced as a sharp pain pierced his head.
"ugh- what hap-pened?" He said his voice coming out as a broken croak.He massaged his temple trying to sooth his throbbing head.
"You fainted" Garam helped him sit up beside him.
Jikad cleared his throat but it only became more hoarse. It hurt. infact,his whole body ached. He groaned as he massaged his shoulders.
" for how long?" He croaked.
"Half a day"
Jikad looked around noting that he was no longer in the tent. He was seated in an open moving cart. The cart was filled with other people who were just staring at him.Two clearly tired and overworked donkeys were attached at the front in charge of pulling it.
Jikad rubbed at his eyes that only irritated him more as he did.
'So I cried untill I passed out' Jikad thought to himself.He vaguely remembered latching on to the priest and bawling his eyes out crying at the top of his lungs.
"ughh" He groaned burying his face in his hands' how embarrassing!'
Judging from the weird looks he was getting from the other people on the cart, they'd probably heard it too.'just kill me now!!' Jikad had never been so embarrassed in his life.
He tried to assure himself that at least he manage to survive the inspection, albeit at the cost of his dignity.
' holy shit that was scary' He sighed. Jikad had always found a way to survive whatever problems fate threw his way.... but even that was too much. It was even more scary than when he was abducted in highschool by some thugs who wanted ransom from his dad.
He was really sure that he'd hit rock bottom this time.'That lieutenant guy...' just the memory of him was enough to send a shudder through out his body.Jikad had seen and read of a lot of villains,but 'he' was definitely cut above the rest.Jikad had felt as if he was staring at the face of death itself.
He shook his head trying to rid of those memories.' Yeah,it's best we don't think of him anymore'
His attention was drawn to the band tied around his wrist.It was a yellow band about the size of a small napkin. This was his first time noticing it.Jikad didn't remember having it on before he entered the tent.
"it's called a bander" Garam said after seeing Jikad's confused expression.
"err- where did it come from?" Jikad inquired still inspecting it.
" The check tent" Jikad involuntarily flinched at the mention of that place.
"The yellow bander is given to identify disabled people "
Jikad blinked" Disabled?"
" mm" Garam nodded.
" The check tent regarded you as a mentally disabled person,so they gave you that to alert other people and authorities."
Jikad was beyond flabbergasted. Well, it made sense for them to assume he was a little crazy from the scene he caused.Jikad also grudgingly agreed to that. But was it really necessary to publicly brand him as insane? Besides that,Jikad didn't understand why 'disabled' people had to wear this banders as if their disability was contagious or something.
"Isn't that a bit... discriminatory ?"
'Isn't there like a right to privacy in this place'
Garam shrugged. Jikad thought back to how there were heads stacked on the wall 'nope,I don't even think there are human rights in this place at all'
"Hey Garam" Jikad's eyebrows furrowed as he pondered," the priest-chancellor dude asked me something about a king and an emperor...what's that all about?"
That was the question that broke every last hope that Jikad had and threw him into a pit of despair.He really thought he was done for back then.
"Who you pledge your loyalty to?" Garam recalled, Jikad nodded his head.
The cart was riding on an earthen road sorrounded by wild growing grass that went on for miles. There were a few more carts ahead of them and each of them were as equally full.
Garam's eyes trailed off ahead of them,they were still a significant distance away from the business district.
"The Kingdom of Sagia is divided into two" Garam began narrating in a neutral tone" East Sagia and West Sagia. The eastern side is ruled by King Dacaris while the western by Emperor Augustus."
"So,which side are we on?"
"East."
'I guess the answer during the inspection should have been the king'
Jikad recalled how the lieutenant had called him a western dog as he it was the worst insult on earth.
" The western side,they are the atheists right?"
"mm"
'Just my luck to end up on the eastern side' Jikad thought sarcastically.
"haagh- what religion do people follow here anyway?"If they hate the atheists so much,it had to be a pretty strict one.
"Lunarism"
"huh?" Jikad had never heard of it before. He was aware that he slept through out most of his theology classes but still...he'd have at least caught a whiff of it.
Then again he wasn't in the normal world.Jikad reminded himself that he was infact still in a fictional story which he was yet to figure out.
There was a strange feeling that Jikad had from time to time. He didn't have enough time to figure out what it was since he was being thrown from one life-threatening situation to another. He glanced sideways at Garam. Garam was young,Jikad guessed he might be nineteen years or so.He was about five foot four tall and when they were all seated like this,Jikad realized that their heads were on the same level.
Jikad suddenly loudly gasped drawing the attention of other people on the cart who threw him disapproving glares.
'No wonder I felt something was off!'
Jikad stared at his hands in shock. They were skinny,small,dirty and looked nothing like before he came to this place.
Jikad frequented the gym a lot and had built a ton of muscles.
"what the fuck?" He muttered to himself in disbelief. He stared at his slender hands that looked as if the had never lifted a single dumbbell.