Marci's Past -
"...Al … Alice …Alice, wake up !"
A soft voice called to her, warm and familiar.
Alice's eyes fluttered open.
"...I'm still sleepy."
"What are you saying, we're almost there !"
Her mother giggled and lightly stroked her head.
Alice felt her mother's gentle hand stroke.
She blinked.
The world around her was calm. It was a peaceful afternoon, she was sitting in a horse-drawn carriage. Her father held the reins at the front. Guiding the horse with a quiet hum.
She looked at the book in her arms, 'Tale of the Legendary Hero', its cover worn from years of rereading. She clutched it to her chest like it was treasure.
Her hair, long and red, spilled over her shoulder. Her dress was simple but clean. She just turned 13.
"Still waiting for your hero to come ?"
Her mother teased noticing how tightly Alice hugged the book.
Alice looked up, cheeks a little red.
"...maybe … "
"Oh my.. "
She began to open that book and start to read it again.
"...The hero will always come to rescue a vulnerable girl… and take her as his wife."
She whispered the words like a spell, a soft smile blooming on her lips.
Her eyes sparkled with wonder as she imagined it: a brave warrior breaking through danger, saving her just in time. Holding her hand. Smiling gently as he carried her to safety.
"Will my hero really come for me someday?" she wondered.
Just then,
A loud shout rang out from the front of the carriage.
"Stop!"
The horse neighed in panic, the carriage lurching slightly.
Alice snapped her eyes up, startled.
Her father had pulled hard on the reins, his posture tense.
Outside, a group of five people blocked the road, weapons drawn and faces hidden beneath dirt-stained scarves. One of them pointed a sword at the carriage.
Her mother's hand gripped hers tightly.
"I'm sorry," her father called out kindly from the driver's seat.
"We're just passing through, we were on our way to Canos!"
He sounded calm and polite.
Alice peeked out from inside the carriage. Her father, a tall man with a weathered coat and kind eyes.
As a hunter, he had always treated stanger with country, believing the world still held good people.
But the group in front of them wasn't smiling.
One of the men stepped forward, sword resting on his shoulder. His voice was rough and mocking.
"Canos ? I don't think so ! Just leave anything valuable, and we won't make this messy."
Her father paused.
A soft breath escaped him.
"...I see"
The realization hit. These weren't treaveer. Not adventures.
They were bandits .
He looked back into the carriage and gave Alice and her mother a glance, one filled with worry but still calm.
"Please"
He said raising both hands.
"We're just bakers from Keim Village. We are planning to open a shop in Canos, we don't have much but there was food and a little coin in the cart. You can take it, just let us go safely."
One of the bandits scoffed.
"We'll check first"
Two of them moved toward the carriage.
Then the leader barked an order.
"Line up. Out front"
Alice's mother held her hand tightly.
They climbed down together.
Alice clutched her beloved book, tightly to her chest.
She didn't understand what was happening.
But her mother's grip told her something wasn't right.
Alice clung to her hand, holding her book tighter than ever, watching in silence as two of the bandits disappeared into the carriage.
Moments passed.
Then they returned, arms full with what they had taken.
A pouch of coins. A sack of food. A small box of jewelry and keepsakes.
"Food, some money, and a few things that look expensive,"
One of them reported.
The leader glanced at the items briefly, uninterested.
Then, his eyes moved.
And landed on Alice's mother.
He tilted his head slightly.
Long red hair. A gentle face. Graceful features that still held dignity despite the fear in her eyes.
"...That's all?"
He muttered, eyes narrowing as he stepped forward.
Alice didn't understand the way the man looked at her mother.
But she saw the change in her mother's posture, her back stiffened, her fingers squeezed tighter around Alice's hand.
"...Please,"
Her mother said softly.
"We already gave you everything."
Her voice trembled.
Her father had been watching carefully. He understood.
Without a word, he stepped forward, moving in front of his wife and child, shielding them with his body.
"We've done as you asked,"
He said firmly, raising both hands.
"There's nothing more for you to take. Please… just let us go."
The bandit leader didn't answer.
He just kept staring.
Alice looked up at her father's back.
Then the leader's voice cut through the tense silence like a knife.
"...Take his wife and the kid. We can play and sell them later on."
"Take the woman… and the kid. We can have our fun and sell them later."
"No!"
He shouted, stepping forward with fire in his voice.
"You're not taking them!"
"Tch. Kill him,"
The leader said, like it was nothing.
"Okay,"
One of the bandits replied, drawing his blade.
Her father quickly pulled out a hidden knife from his waist, and stabbed the guy quickly before he came to him.
The situation turned into a bloodshed as that man quickly fell to his knee with blood flowing out from his neck.
".. what the hell ! Kill him now !"
The leader barked once again.
But this time it was four on one, Alice's father won't win with that.
Alice and her mother were terrified and froze in one place when those bandits began to assault her father at once.
They didn't stop with one blow.
The men began stabbing and slashing Alice's father, again and again, until his body collapsed in the dirt, motionless.
"Stop it!!" her mother cried out, trying to break free.
But it was no use.
They grabbed her, rough hands dragging her toward the carriage as she screamed and kicked, desperate to protect what little remained of her family.
Alice stood frozen.
She couldn't speak. Couldn't run. Couldn't move.
"Boss, what about the girl?"
"Tie her up," came the reply. "We'll sell her when we reach Canos."
One of them shoved her down and wrapped rope tightly around her arms. She didn't resist. She couldn't.
Her body had gone numb.
Then came the sound that would haunt her for the rest of her life.
Her mother's screams.
From inside the carriage.
Cries of pain. Of fear. Of agony.
The cries went on for a long time, from the bright afternoon until the sun began to set.
And then Silence.
Not the kind of silence that feels safe.
But the kind that means something is gone.
The voices that came after were cold and heartless.
"Damn… why'd you strangle her, boss?"
"Heh. I liked the look on her face when she was in pain."
"... Amazing boss !"
"Let's go"
The bandits took everything, coins, food, and the few things her family had.\
Then they set the carriage on fire.
The flames rose high into the darkening sky, burning hot, wild, and cruel.
It swallowed the carriage, her father and her mother.
They grabbed her by the ropes, dragging her like a bag of goods.
Alice didn't scream.
She didn't cry.
She just stared forward, eyes blank, her soul quiet.
They walked toward Canos.
======================
They arrived in Canos the next morning.
Alice hadn't slept.
She hadn't spoken.
She hadn't even blinked much.
Her body was there, but her mind was still back on that road,by the fire, by the screams.
Her eyes were blank. Empty. Soulless.
The rope around her wrists chafed her skin as the bandits dragged her through the busy streets. People walked by without looking. No one asked questions. No one cared.
They led her to a building near the edge of the market—a slave merchant's den, tucked behind layers of iron bars and cold stone.
A man stood at the entrance, dressed in dark robes, with a calculating smile on his face.
"New stock?" he asked.
"Young one," one of the bandits chuckled. "Quiet too. She'll sell well."
Her eyes stared at nothing. Her body moved only when pulled.
At the slave merchant's command, they stripped her dress—tossing it aside like trash—and handed her a thin, stained rag to wear. She didn't fight. Didn't cover herself. She simply obeyed, like a puppet with its strings cut.
Then they locked her inside one of the cages, lined up beside other slaves.
Some were old. Some young. Some were crying. Some are silent.
Alice said nothing.
She sat in the corner of her cage, knees pulled tightly to her chest. The cold stone floor pressed against her bare feet, but she didn't feel it anymore.
She spoke.
Barely a whisper. A breath.
"...Mother… Father… Hero…"