-Break-

  So I waited patiently day after day, to try and find an opportunity to speak to Vul, but I never found it. I couldn’t even catch a whiff of his presence.

  And as I lie in my tent I whisper to myself, “I guess they just must have tightened security around the area, so maybe he is just being watchful of my safety. That would be like him; Vul and everyone else always going out of their way to assure my safety, I am not a child anymore I take care of myself.”

  Like a scary monster, my roommate sits up, so I say, “What’s got you awake?”

  Ign me he stands up and says, “I o shit.”

  “Didn’t even know a golem like you could release waste.”

  “Golem?”

  “Don’t treat me like an idi-.” fused I say, “Wait, You really don’t know do you?”

  “No.”

  “Well, you see a golem is a-.”

  Getting up my roommate starts to walk away, so I grab him by the shoulder and say, “Hey I am speaking!?”

  “You take a while to talk, so I will listen after I take a shit.”

  “DON’T PISS ME OFF BRAT, you take a shit after I am done.”

  “But my shi-.”

  “Don’t care.”

  “But-.”

  “KEEP IT IN.”

  “Shit.”

  “Shut up and just listen! You see a golem i-.”

  Stopping in the middle of my sentence I see the boy pulling down his pants, so I yell, “THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!”

  “You won’t let me go so I thought I should multitask.”

  Pushing him out, I say, “Don’t stink up the tent, just go.”

  Outside the tent, he says, “I will be awhile so you just go to sleep and tell me ter.”

  “SCRAM, I ain't telling you shit.”

  As he walks away, I lie ba the floor and say, “That boy’s existence just pisses me off.”

  -Break-

  That night I had very pleasant dreams. I dreamt of the friends in my , the pce we all used the visit, the dances we all did, the beasts we huhe games we pyed, and my family which held me.

  The people I loved kept fshing in my mind, granting both a happy, yet sorrowful dream.

  -Break-

  Opening my eyes, I sit up from the floor and clear my vision, then I look out the entrance of our tent where I see something incredibly stra is sunny.

  This causes me to jump to my feet, saying “Did we sleep in!?”

  Toug my roommate, I say, “We o get up now or we will be punished!”

  Opening his eyes, he looks out the entrand says, “I see so it is one of those days.”

  “What do you mean?”

  He looks at me and says, “It is probably better you don’t know.”

  “WHAT DOES THAT MEAN.”

  Getting up he says, “What I said. Don’t do anything rash today, or you might die.”

  The words he said, like everything else he said felt tasteless but felt as truthful as all the others, so I say, “Ok then.”

  “Now we go.”

  “Where?”

  “To pray, and you should leave the leaves we won’t be needing them today.”

  Following the words of my roommate, we simply go along with our m daily schedule.

  We leave our room and then head over to the goddess statue to pray. “Five us oh great goddess Danu, we are sinners whose bloodlines have stood against your children. Are sins will never be fiven, but I ask you to accept our apology and the apology of our foolish forebears. By the power we have, we disregard all of our predecessor's legacies and choose to dedicate the rest of our left in repaying you for the foolishness and suffering they have caused your children. Our souls are yours, our lives are yours, and anything that derives from either is yours, so please five our i stupidity and foolishness a us live as your pets.”

  Still a disgusting prayer no matter how many times, I say it, but it is not like I will have to get used to it.

  The moment we finish we are then directed by a beastkin watg over the statue to follow the signs.

  “Follow the signs?”

  The beastkin says something with a disgusted expression in his nguage, then says in a nguage reizable to me, “Yes follow the signs human.”

  -Break-

  Walking dowh, I say, “This is taking forever!”

  “Where almost there.”

  Looking at him I say, “You seem to be taking this walk well.”

  “No worse than our normal walk.”

  “Like hell it is, we have been walking for three hours, is your sense of time even w.”

  “We're here.” My roommate says as he points towards, a rge wooden building with its doors open.

  Surprised, I say, “What is this?”

  But my roommate says, “It is a pce with food.”

  “Ugh,” I say as the thought of all the tasteless food they have served es to mind. Walking forward I say, “The food they serve barely gives me enough energy to make this walk, why did I even have to do this today.”

  tinuing my walk, I ehrough the doorway to the building, and I am greeted with a delicious aroma as I see tless tables of people with food on them.

  This sight stops me in my tracks, and moments ter I say, “Am I dreaming.”

  Suddenly feeling a jolt of pain in my side, I scream then my roommate says, “No you are not.”

  “You bastard it was a turn of phase I didn’t want you to actually pinch me.”

  “I see.” After saying this my roommate walks forward and sits down oable, with me following close behind.

  As we sit at a table I see my roommate grab one of the many ptes of food, and take the food on it and put it in the wooden bowl in front of him, then start eating.

  Looking at the food he has taken I am in utter awe of what I am seeing, I didn’t know food could look like this. This isn’t let the vegetables we pulled from the ground or the meat we hunted from the animals, this is something else entirely. It is like they mixed different foods aables to create somethira delicious.

  Seeing this my mouth waters untrolbly, then I say, “We are allowed to eat this?”

  “Yes,” My roommate says in response.

  Feeling a thrill run through my body I strety arm and prepare to grab some food from the ptes lining our long tables to be put in the wooden bowl in front of me, but then I notice that some people areing.

  Looking around more I notice that people with simir clothes to my roommate; the ones who have been here for some time are ing actually some of them look like they are about to puke.

  Sometimes the berries my used to pick were poisonous so we usually watched what the animals would eat and followed them by example. If people here areing this delicious food something must be wrong with it.

  Returning my arm towards myself, my roommate says, “You should eat.”

  trolling my hunger I say, “I don’t o, this all feels too suspicious.”

  After taking a sed to look around my roommate faces me and says, “There is no be to yourself for ing the food, and I believe you will struggle to get through the day without the energy.”

  When he finishes he takes a big bite out of the food in front of him, and in that moment seeing that juicy food causes me to lose it. I grab some and pce it on my pte and moments ter I feel the juices flow in my mouth.

  Uo express himself with words the boy who has just taken a bite out of food he has asted before, simply cries tears of joy, and tio devour inch after inch of food.

  But that sight isn't strange in the area at the moment, because all around him are people beaten and bruised eating as if this is the first time their tongues have known fvour. The happiness emanating from ead every one of them is akin to the first time a parent ys eyes on their child.

  However, within this group, there are people who are devoid of smiles, those who ighe food in front of them and try not to vomit at the sight of it. Sweet trickles down these men's faces as they wait for the moment of reing to arrive.

  But as a man walks through the door, the men who wereing break out in a cold sweat, and the men who were faced him.

  Looking directly at the door I see a man who is rather dressed up. He has clothes that I have never seen before, they look kinda stuffy nothing a warrior would wear.

  But regardless of that as he holes his e in front of himself, I wouldn’t say he is a weakling.

  One of the beastkin walks forward, then says, “Foolish humans, stop immediately and listen to the words my great lord has to say to you.”

  But despite the words said lots of people tio eat the wonderful food in front of themselves pletely lost in the fervour, and in that moment all the beastkin around got close to us and started emitting a murderous presence.

  This is bad I knew all of this was a trap!

  The beastkin started to attaot only the men who igheir words but even us who were listening attentively. They smack the food out of our hands and push us to the ground as they strike us.

  What the hell is even going on? We are listenihey tio hit us.

  As the beastkin physically assaults each of the men and boys in the area, the beastkin who just entered mutters, “Three, two, ohen sms his e on the ground three times.

  All the beastkin arouop iracks and the man says, “Now, now, everyone calm down, o get violent.”

  Walking up to me, he picks me up from the ground and says, “Young man are you ok?”

  Getting a good look at him, I would say he is some sort of snake beastkin but one of the more human-looking ones.

  Wiping some of the spilt food off my shoulder, I say, “Do I look ok?”

  A beastkin beside me starts to growl with anger, but then the snake waves him down.

  “I am sorry for what happened I know the men here be a bit ruff, but I hope you will accept my apology.”

  Whilst he says this, he bows in front of me, and in my vision, I see the other beastkin, bee very visibly aggravated.

  “Ok, all is fiven.” Best to say this because I don’t seem to have very many optiht now.

  Turning from me, he says, “My name is Marqis Bricriu, and I am the one who is in charge of the transportation to and from our pntations, and I have just e here to say, thank you to ead every one of you.”

  The words said by Bricriu elicit a surprised rea from people around, but only those who are o the pntation, the rest just quiet down and smile.

  “The work that has been collectively done here has been utterly amazing and I thank you for such work. You have all provided us with what we o survive and now I share that with you.”

  Pig up food that was thrown and smeared onto the ground, he puts it in my roommate's hand and says, “So please eat to your heart’s tent, and make sure you eat it all because this in itself is a give from Danu herself, and oddess is quite vengeful to those who spit in her face.”

  As he walks away all the men and boys in the room go back to their tables and pick up the food that has been scattered.

  He might have phased it like a blessing, but he just told us all that if we do we will be receiving a punishment.

  Taking a smug piece of pe from the table I put it in my mouth a. Aww, even in this state it is still something that I ’t help myself but devour.