"Not coward…" Ron said, his blank, stoic stare directed toward the ceiling. Where a little moonlight leaked inside.
Hubert's cry of insanity slowly died out, the pain in his muscles, flesh and bones, was relieved by Ron's voice.
"Weak… Hubert weak," Ron told with a pressed tone.
Hubert was in a fetal position, looking at a direction opposite of Ron's.
His eyes welled with tears, the source of which was unclear, either the feelings of pessimism or one of gratitude.
---
The clinking metals against rocks, rotating wheelbarrow, moving carriages and grated shovels filled the mine. The unforgiving, scorching sun high above their head slowly turned the sky orange as it descended into the horizon.
The guards called for the slaves to stop working. They all started lining up on the long and arduous queue of the food stand. Where today's menu was vegetables soup and a side of boiled eggs.
Hubert collected his bowl of soup and one boiled eggs from the workers. While receiving glances of carefulness and the occasional disgust from other slaves. They distanced themselves from him but Hubert was not friendless.
Behind him, Ron, followed him closely to where they previously eaten the day before. Under the tree, with a good clearance of the surrounding area and a view of the evening sun.
Then Robert came to them, where as he positioned himself, sitting on one of the higher bulging out stumps.
The atmosphere between them was grim and silent as Hubert ate his food. Ron, who had always been quiet since the start, consumed his, while Robert, once excited, kind, and vibrant, didn't dare to speak a single word.
His welcoming smile had vanished.
His muscular body and a large build had always given him the sense of being a protector to those weaker than him. But he failed, showing a face full of guilt as his eyes didn't dare to look up and couldn't contain the shame.
"Robert…" Hubert's, his voice hoarse.
Robert's veiny and bulgy forearm, with strength capable of folding a sheet of metal, couldn't even hold a wooden spoon when called by Hubert. His octopus-like grip gradually weakened and his food almost fell to the earth.
"Y-yes…?" Robert asked.
"You are a good friend…" Hubert said, his eyes looked at Robert as he munched his food.
"N-no," Robert disagreed, clenching his spoon as his sight now aimed at the clear reflection made by the soup in his bowl.
"You can't say that…" his tone soft.
"Not after what I had done to you! I abandoned you when you cried for help! I left you there to be beaten by Brad's underling, when I'm the very same person that led you there," stream of tears came out of his eyes.
Ron looked at Robert as he consumed his last spoon of soup and ate the boiled egg in one clean bite.
"Hubert… Follow," Ron stood up.
Hubert coincidentally finished his last spoonful of soup. He glanced at Robert one last time before following Ron.
Robert remained under the three, desolated, with only the howling wind and the falling of leaves that accompanied him.
After dropping off their utensils, Hubert and Ron made their way around the mine and toward an open clearance behind the stockpiles of mana stones.
Hubert stood, his body slouched and his shoulder slumped, his face full of wounds and flesh full of fresh bruises.
"Push up…" Ron ordered.
"What…?" Hubert asked. To which Ron knife handed his right rib in a quick slashing motion.
Surprised by the sudden strike, Hubert dropped to the ground on his knees as his throat coughed and lungs gasping for air.
"Hey!" He yelled, irritated, holding the part of his body which got knife handed.
Ron raised his eyes again, his eyes peering down on the kneeling Hubert, his eyes targeted which part of Hubert's body he could strike.
In a time that a leaf needed to fall from its branch to the ground, Hubert pieced the puzzle and understood Ron's intention. He hurriedly placed his calloused hands on the ground and extended his feet in a straight manner.
"Two…" Ron told.
"Okay!" Hubert confidently responded.
He inhaled as he lowered his body slowly, his hand reducing the fall rate of his descend.
Inhale
Exhale
His chest muscles contracted, along with the air escaping out of his nose.
Inhale
Exhale
"Ea-easy," his breath slightly more arduous than before.
"Hundred," Ron continued.
Hubert's eyes widened, his sight directed toward Ron above him. Ron's eyes peered down at him, his hand raised, threatening another strike at Hubert.
Hubert gulped.
He lowered himself down.
"Three… Four… Five…" Ron kept count. Hubert worked out.
---
Meanwhile, Anna walked into the almost empty church, Henry following closely behind her.
Evening's sunlight poured into the church from various entrances and a large stained glass window. A stone idol sat on the altar, depicting a beautiful woman, with an open palm raised, as if blessing those that prayed to her.
While Henry waited near the entrance of the church, Anna made her way toward one of the pew chair. Where on the opposite row of that pew chair, a nun sat, with her hands closed in prayer and her attention straightened toward the idol.
"Sister Anna," the nun greeted. Anna sat adjacent her.
"Sister Kira," Anna hailed back.
"Why have you come to bother me some more?" Kira said, her eyes now closed, her voice filled with annoyance.
"Don't be that bitchy about it, Kira, I'm just wanting to meet an old friend after all," Anna replied, her smug smile crawling out and showcasing itself.
"…" Kira went quiet. Anna joined her in silence.
"Well, I shall excuse myself," Kira mentioned, her purpose filled in vagueness.
The sound of steps echoed in the church. Henry opened the door for Kira. The church shrouded in emptiness and quiteness once again.
"Tsk, bitch," Anna clicked her tongue.
---
Birds' chirps died down around them, the crimson sky slowly turned dark. Hubert and Ron still in that same place.
"Thirty six…" Ron counted.
Hubert's muscles screamed in protest in each repetition, a burning sensation spreading from his forearms to his chest. His arms felt heavy and unresponsive, akin to lifting up a horse. His joints stiffened and his veins bulged out, visible on his forehead.
His numbed and hazy mind torn between the fierce battle of determination to keep going and an overwhelming desire of respite. His vision of Ron blurred out as his lungs gasped shallow and quick for air.
Thud
Then he fell, incapable of such relentless pain travelling through his nerve system.
"…" Ron looked down at Hubert with his observing eyes.
"I-I can't do tw-two hundred," Hubert mentioned, his phrases often interrupted by his quick breathing.
"Sleep time! Sleep time!" a guard's shout could be heard from his watchtower, afar from Hubert and Ron, his voices barely travelled to their place.
"Tomorrow…" Ron told. The two made their way toward their sleeping quarter.
A feeling of weakness and tiredness filled his aching and numbed arm and chest muscles. Even walking toward his quarter was an arduous ordeal for Hubert's lungs as it still gathered air.
But one thing changed.
An excited smile in his face, gritting his teeth. A feeling of accomplishment and pride filled his once battling mind. Though his muscles were weak and hurt, his mind felt a small sense of victory, and his muscles began yearning for more.
That night, though smelly from sweat, tired from work, wounded from tortures, and bruised from beatings, Hubert slept with peace in his mind.
---
"Coward Hubert! Coward Hubert!" children around him mocked in his dream.
Hubert found himself under a tree, his back cornered, the bright blue sky and clouds reflected in his eyes, returning back to his once vibrant childhood.
Surrounded by 3 children who mocked, joked and taunted him. They looked at him like a source of entertainment, dutiful as a plaything.
"Weak Hubert! Weak Hubert," another taunted.
"Hubert! Look at this fist!" a boy said. Then he threw it at Hubert.
Pack!
It was a clean hit to Hubert's now bruised cheek.
"I'm a coward…" Hubert muttered under his breath. While the kids' attention were among themselves, laughing with amusement in their tone.
Slowly, Hubert clenched his fist, his teeth biting his lip, frustration filled his mind. Frustration replaced by anger, that gradually clouded his mind.
"I'm a coward!" he shouted.
But not only his lips that moved and his throat that vibrated, but also his body and his muscles. He threw a pitiful and menacing right punch with his fist toward the boy that hit him.
A small amount of blood splurted out of the boy's nose and his eyes squinted from the hit. The boy barely turned around when his nose nakedly connected with Hubert's fist.
"Take this hit from a coward!" Hubert exclaimed.
The three boys looked at him with surprise in their eyes. The boy that was hit began producing tears from his eyes, then his tears flowed down, his face like a toddler denied a candy.
His friends grabbed him and turned around, with a scared and fearful face, they ran away.
"Just wait, Hubert! We will come back!" another from that pack shouted as ran.
Hubert looked at them, then at his lightly bruised knuckles. A sense of joy and excitement rushed inside his mind, replacing the confusion and fear.
"I-I did it!" He proudly exclaimed.