From my binoculars, I saw the arrival of the nomads.

I've been residing in this abandoned house for a long time, and since then, I've considered it my territory. Whenever nomads, hunters, or explorers pass by or get lost, I scare them off. With just one blow on my shell whistle, it creates a macabre sound that really makes their hair stand on end.

I've got four unwanted visitors, three men and one woman, who are making a ruckus. They look like troublemakers, and I can tell just by looking at them that they'll bring chaos into my life. And if that's not enough, they've also got a jaguarnaut with them - a feral meadow creature that's fast and has a keen sense of smell.

When I blew the shell whistle, it let out a sound that seemed like a warning from a poltergeist, but instead of being frightened, they simply burst out laughing. They weren't afraid of ghosts.

They breezed into the house with ease, helping themselves to the belongings I had painstakingly gathered over time. It really gets under my skin when people handle my things without permission, particularly my prized ceramic collection.

"We're fortunate to have found a place to call home," said the muscular man to his companions. His bushy eyebrows and thick lips made him appear almost laughable, yet there was an unmistakable air of mortal peril about him, a sense that if you dared to mock him, he would unleash his wrath upon you.

"And check it out, there's a river right behind the house - perfect for washing up and catching some crescentfish," said the other burly man. He wore an eyepatch over one eye, and his other hand ended in a stump, with a menacing sickle strapped to the end of it. A single misstep or misplaced phrase could result in him cutting you down.

"Everything in this house is in order. If the owner's not here, they might be hiding. Check all parts of the house," their apparent leader commanded, his voice low and mysterious. His face was shrouded in a hood, and his teeth glinted with gold, giving him an air of terrorizing authority.

"What if we catch the caretakers of this house? What will we do to them - to him?" the only woman in the group asked. There was something unsettling about her, and the freckles and acne that dotted her skin only added to her unappealing appearance.

"We're not sure if there's more than one person living here, but if you encounter anyone, dispatch them immediately to put an end to the problem. I don't want anyone besides you all to share this place with us." Unbeknownst to them , I've been observing their actions from the second floor of this house. Given that they're accompanied by a Jaguarnaut, I've taken the precaution of applying bitter melon extract to my skin, ensuring the meadow feral won't pick up my scent.

While they were discussing where their designated search area would be, the woman's attention was caught by the spinning jenny behind her. She touched it, and let her fingers wander, and when she spun it, the wooden floor beneath her feet suddenly swung open, and she fell through it.

The men immediately checked on the condition of their only female comrade, and even though I couldn't see her, I knew she had been impaled by the blades.

The man with the gold tooth shouted, but it was too late for him to save her life. His face contorted in anger as he took in the sight of the woman's bloodied body. Goldfang looked at his two companions, and it seemed like he was giving them instructions.

"There might be more booby traps in this house. The person who set these traps is probably lurking around here somewhere. Let's not be inept in our movements if we don't want to end up like Bacardi."

They started searching the house. One went to the basement, another went outside, while Goldfang and the Jaguarnaut headed upstairs.

When Goldfang stepped on the fifth step of the staircase, an arrow flew towards him, but he dodged it. He ordered the Jaguarnaut to search the area where I was hiding, while he would search the other side of the second floor.

One advantage I had was that the Jaguarnaut couldn't track my scent, because if it could, it would have caught me earlier. And when I had the chance, I grabbed the meadow feral and stabbed the area where its heart beat using my dagger.

Goldfang called out to his pet, which now had its tongue hanging out and wasn't breathing. When it didn't respond to his commands, he decided to follow its tracks. And as he made his way to this room, I hid in a wardrobe.

Goldteeth shouted again in disbelief when he saw the meadow feral's body lying on the floor, and I even heard the gritting of his teeth in exasperation. He hugged the body of the Jaguarnaut, and before he could explode in anger, I came out of my hiding place and attacked him.

"Don't worry, you're next after your pet!" I sneered as I moved to strike him, the blade ready to plunge into his back. But before I could do it, someone struck me. The blow was so swift that I thought I would lose consciousness.

It was indeed true that I lost cognition, because the next thing I knew was that they submerged my face in water. This was what they did to revive me. When they found out that I had regained self-awareness, they submerged me in water again until I struggled to catch my breath while my body trembled.

"If only you hadn't killed my Jaguarnaut pet, I would have considered making you a servant in our group. But you're reckless, so you deserve to be punished," I heard Goldfang say as I struggled to catch my breath. One of his hands was clutching my hair, and it felt like he was about to pull it out from the roots due to his intense grip.

"Even if I didn't kill it, I would still do to you what I did to your pet!" I retorted, trying to provoke his anger. Again, he submerged my face in the water. My vision was already blurring, and the bubbles obstructing my view made it worse. Water was entering my nostrils, and some of it was slipping down my throat.

"You poor kid. You don't even have parents, and yet you don't know how to respect those older than you," said the man with thick eyebrows. "But you're clever. You outsmarted us. You caught us off guard with your little traps."

"I still haven't forgotten what you did to Bacardi, and you'll definitely pay for her loss!" the man with an eyepatch bawled at me. As they took turns punching me, I saw Goldteeth watching with a pleased expression.

I couldn't see even a hint of mercy in them. I endured all their pain, absorbed all their punches, and withstood all the hurt just to stay alive. But they weren't satisfied, especially Goldteeth. He pulled the chain to lift me up until only my toenails were touching the floor.

They laughed and left me here in the dark basement. As I grew hungry and thirsty, they were feasting upstairs, and they had the audacity to eat the food I had stored.

I was jolted awake again by a sunray that hit my eyes. It was morning already, and I could still feel the anguish they inflicted on me. Most of all, I was weakening. I saw the man with the eye patch and the man with the thick eyebrows coming down the stairs, carrying a chest.

"Before you put that kid into the chest, make sure he can't escape. Break his bones, and if possible, don't kill him. I want to think that he's suffering as he slowly being killed by the water." Tears welled up in my eyes when I heard Goldfang say that. I remembered something because this scene seemed similar to when my mother pleaded before the tribunal, but they didn't listen to her. She was still sentenced to her punishment.

They beat me up, broke my bones. They put me in a chest and now they're working together to nail the box where they put me.

My dream is to reclaim the throne stolen by my uncle. I want to bring justice to my parents' death and I want to find my missing siblings.

I knew they threw me into the river, and as the water slowly seeped into the hole they carved, I told myself that if I couldn't be the one to avenge the wrongs done to my family, I hoped someone else would do it for me.