The sound of flames came to hunt Jason once, he who was sitting in the dark heard it like a monstrous screech, even when closing his ears, the light came from underneath the door of the nurse's home, there where he sat all by himself
Trying to close his eyes the trauma came back as a memory, the screams and help pleadings of his sister burned all thought, the day he thought forgot came back anew
Outside in the field the people circled the fire, there both the chief and his daughter hanged upon it, although they were already dead long before they were caught on it
In the chief's tent the so-called hero of the shelter, Pharam, sat beside Ramo and the now released free Sarom
"I need and explanation, not too long ago you were planning a massacre, and now you kill the chief alongside his daughter?" said Sarom, standing with his hands flat on the table map
"First you need to calm your voice down" said Pharam "You don't wish to go back into chains, do you?" staring coldly onto Sarom's eyes, to make sure he understood that Pharam is up to his own words
Sarom sat back down letting Pharam continue "the chief was bound to die sooner or later, I thought having a leader will keep the people calm, sadly bloodline blinded all reason"
"I had to plan his death, but with his bodyguard around, that loyal dog, but with a high enough price, anything can be archived" said Pharam looking at his own leg
"Why kill his daughter alongside him? I know for sure that she is no threat. You could have stopped the blade from going through her!" said Sarom
"And then what?" said Pharam "the people despised the chief, and they couldn't pour out that hate for I finished him, or you could say I had mercy on both him and his daughter"
"Killing his daughter is mercy?!" said Sarom angrier than before
"Yes, it is!" said Pharam "The people started to distrust if his blood is indeed the royal blood line, he grew weak, pathetic, mad, do you think his daughter will have any better of a life after his death"
"You could have sent here away!" said Sarom
"Where!?" said Pharam standing up
"You are smart, but your soft part pushes your potential deeper into the dark, we have no other place expect this one, no one would want to threaten his life by accompanying her into the hands of slavery" continued by as he sat back down
Sarom defeated in this conversation calmed down forcing the truth inside his brain, then he said
"And what's with the fire ritual you did outside"
"That is a cherry on top, the flame will burn the hate they kept inside" said Pharam
"And you, Ramo? You knew about it the whole time?" asked Sarom
"Who do you think freed you from your cold cell?" replied Ramo
"But why? You could have just continued without me," said Sarom
"Everyone did their part so we can be the good people" said Ramo "With you announcing his crime, me declaring him guilty, and Pharam executing him in front of the people" said Ramo
"I had no thought of letting you receive the people's hate, to clear our names I had to do so, and it worked perfectly, something I did not expect, the chief was too focused on starting the fire" said Pharam
"Sigh, and now what? With the royal blood gone what is going to keep the people together?" said Sarom
"Nothing" replied Pharam as both of them looked confused
"Wait you don't have a plan to the future?" asked Ramo
"As I said, I was just lucky enough this worked, I'm no genius do not expect me to think so far into the future, I am just, a man of the people" said Pharam
"You must have at least something, anything to say to the people," said Ramo
"Not a thing, all I had in mind is declaring us the heroes, and asking them to follow our words, wither they choose to leave the shelter or follow our lead I shall not stand in their way" said Pharam
"Then you need to go out to them, the fire is almost out, and so is their patience" said Ramo
Standing up with his bloody limping leg, Pharam forced himself onto the light, the rays of the sun blinded him for a moment before he saw the people, facing him, whispers and talks about what happened travelled from one mouth to another
He stood tall above a log made for him to speak facing everybody, with no need to fight for a glimpse of him
"I will not call you, my people, I will not call you soldiers, warriors, I shall not speak with any swaying praises, for any of them will be lies" said Pharam
The whispers grew larger in disbelief; confusion danced in between the lines for they were not used to such treatment at all
"The true heroes, are the ones that fought from the start, in wish I am not part one of, nor are my friends" said Pharam his hand pointing at Sarom and Ramo
He took a deep breath and continued "Like any of you, I was afraid, for my life, for my loved ones, for my status,"
"And that fear brought me to my knees, like most of you were. A fear of an enemy who couldn't stand a cripple's strike"
"An enemy who chose to spill our blood to keep his own safe, he forgot that the people aren't the land, we do not fight for the dirt, I want you to fight for your lives, your children's lives"
"I do not ask of you to follow me, I ask of you to live, for yourselves, I will not stand in your way going out, but know that outside lays death, and what could be far worse than it"
"To the ones that choose to leave, I have but one message, your enemy is no longer inside these walls," said Pharam as he walked down entering the tent while Sarom and Ramo followed after him
"What the heck was that! Do you think stating it that way will keep them inside? Couldn't you have put it any better," said Sarom
"And lie? Weren't you the one who did not like the foundation we built in the first place?" said Pharam "I chose to destroy the foundation we stood upon, and I shall rebuild it anew, with whatever stays left of the people upon it"
"The problem is we need the right hands to stay, the best nurse we had is gone, and we are uncertain about the rest's choices," said Sarom
"Talking about the nurse, I think I overdid it with burning her" said Pharam
"She was already dead; you just stopped the people from turning her body into a puppet" said Ramo
"I don't mean it that way, she was in charge of the boy, Jason, the fire trauma kid, I wish this did not worsen it" said Pharam
"Then you need to go check on him, with all the emotions and thoughts he must have by now, at least letting him hurt you is much better than hurting himself," said Sarom
"You might be right" said Pharam standing up, walking around the streets he watched as some cleaned the burning remains, both of the medicine house and of the chief and his daughter
He walked by people who whispered behind his back, a faint trail if blood followed him for the nurse who bandaged his wounds is gone by his own hands
He reached where she used to stay at, hesitant to open, he knocked once, but chose not to stay longe and wanted to leave
The moment he turned his back Jason opened the door, going inside leaving Pharam the choice
Pharam entered, it was dark only a candle was on, the same one that Jason burned his hand upon, but Jason chose to set in the dark corner
Pharam slowly approached making his seating beside him, his leg pained him while tried to reach the ground
He sat silently, out of words, Jason spoke first
"If you are going to say you did this for the people then I already heard your speech outside," said Jason
"No" replied Pharam, Jason moved his eye to His side waiting him to continue
"I did it for me, and what is left of my family, so weird that I who despised building the floor on lies chose this to be the first log" with a ridiculous smile he said
"I despised him, how he treated us as sacrifices for his bloodline… I don't really like talking about the past" said Pharam before he sighed making his choice to open up
"As you know already, one of your friends, if he indeed has friends, is my brother, Seryon, we both aren't shelter borne, our camp was a defence line,"
"When we were in a critical position, father pleaded for the agreement on retreating, but the chief chose not to, he wanted enough time to get back his brother, alive, both our parents alongside the chief's brother died that day,"
"The chief said that we were sent here to aid the shelter, lying about the fall of the last defence line,"
Jason spoke after saying "So that was the day when the current king slaughtered the remaining royal blood line of ours"
"Yes..." said Pharam "I am not saying this to redirect your hate our anything, you can keep on despising me if that is going to keep your will to live intact—" Jason cut him
"No. I don't hate you" his eyes slowly raised and faced forward with determination
"It was not you who burned my sister, killed my father, and it was not you who took the nurse hostage. You too are forced into choices you don't like walking upon"
"But I am different" as he stood up "I choose not to stay afraid like you are, I will not blame myself to feel better" he stared right into Pharma's eyes and spoke
"I did nothing wrong, it is all the Varish's fault, I will be making sure they understand that, one day or another"
Pharam thought of himself as the child as that moment, how can a kid have such resolve, he thought that Jason will just start crying, screaming, waving around and blaming others like an idiot, but he was more mature than him
He smiled and stood up before saying while walking out
"If you want someone to understand their fault, cheer words are not going to work, the training grounds are still open, and food still exists, these two things aren't going to stay forever" closing the door behind him
Jason left alone, he stared at the necklace he took the first day from his father's hair, looking at it, the wood covering it like a cage, he looked up at the faint candle's light, before leaving the room not daring to turn it off