Chapter 2

I woke up and immediately noticed that my wishes were not fulfilled. In a room that wasn’t mine, in a house that wasn't my house.

There was a knock.

“Elias? It’s me, Dorothy. Are you awake? Would you like breakfast?” Sighing, I made my way to the door and opened it. Her hair was open, and only held back by a headband so they wouldn’t fall in front of her face. “Good morning!” She greeted me happily, meanwhile I couldn’t muster up the strength to smile back and simply answered: “I would gladly have breakfast” She nodded and led me back into the dining hall, but this time it was full of freshly awakened attendants, scurried about as they helped themselves. The table was filled with delicacies. Scrambled eggs, sausages, toast, salad and so on and so forth. Dorothy gave me a plate and took one herself.

”Help yourself”

I walked to the table as my gaze wandered over all the other people. It could have been roughly about twenty people, each one different from the other yet they all had one thing in common: Some kind of fiery red accessory. Bracelets, rings, necklaces, earrings, buttons. I turned to Dorothy, who had placed quite the amount of sausages on her plate, as our eyes met she took a quick look at my still empty plate and then slammed a sausage on it. “They taste heavenly, trust me” I didn’t really feel hungry, but if I had to pay the debts of my parents here then I needed to stay as healthy as possible.

The door to the hall swung open, and the elderly man that led me into the house, entered. As if they were all one body, everyone yelled: ”Good Morning, Paul!” He laughed happily and reciprocated the good morning. He noticed me and made his way over. “How did you sleep, Elias?”

“Good.” That was a lie, but I did not want to worry him needlessly. “After we had breakfast, I would like to show you around a bit, to get you accustomed with everything.” I nodded and spent the rest of breakfast silently.

Afterwards, Dorothy had to go back to her duties and bid her farewells, promising that she would be done as fast as possible and would come back to spend time with me. I tried to explain that she didn’t need to overwork herself just for my sake, but she did not care for it.

“She’s a lovely girl” said Paul after she had left and as we walked down the hall. “She’s full of energy” I added quietly, and he simply laughed. ”You are right.” We walked into a giant room, it was large and filled with shelves, and those were filled with books. A big wooden table spanned the middle of the room, littered with chairs at its sides. On it there were open books, some were even piled on one another. Leaned against one of the shelves was a lady. She held an open book in her hand and seemed to study it intensively. She had shoulder length black, smooth hair. She wore a long, tight black dress with a fiery red belt. She heard us come in and her gaze found its way to us briefly. Her eyes were golden, and they looked at me with disdain, while her blood red lips stood out due to her pale skin.

“So this is the newcomer” Her voice was silky but I could hear a snappy undertone

“This is young Master Elias.” Paul presented me to the lady. She raised a brow and closed the book that she held in her hand loudly. “This is Matilda; she takes care of the finances of the Castle.” I nodded and tried to avoid eye contact with her, as it made me shudder every time my eyes met her cold gaze.

“I was leading him around the castle and thought, since you’re here, why not have you meet” Paul explained. “Tell me, Elias, why are you here?” Matilda asked suddenly with a mischievous smile on her lips “Were you kicked out?” I did not answer as it felt like provocation.

“Wait, let me guess” she said, and it seemed to me that her eyes glowed briefly. She suddenly started laughing and ran her fingers through her hair. “Sold! Now that is something” I felt my cheeks turn bright red as I looked to the ground in shame, biting my lower lip.

“Matilda!” Paul shouted, outraged. I heard her come towards me and stopped just a few steps in front of me. With one hand she grabbed my chin and forced me to look up at her. Her blood red lips formed a smile as she spoke: ”Your thoughts are dark Elias, so dark.” She let me go and her smile disappeared. “This rage that you feel, it will eat away at you until only the pathetic product that your parents worked so hard for remains.” Paul put himself between us and started talking to her in anger, but what was said was said. Without warning, I left the room and made my way down the hall. I had difficulty breathing and tried to not cry with all my might. I hate it here! I hate it! I hate it! I hate it! I HATE IT!

And now I was lost. Out of sheer anger, I did not see where I was going. As I came to a stop, I found myself in a courtyard that was unknown to me. It was gigantic, as if the one I saw only was a camouflage. There were stables here, a few men were tending to the horses. I saw maids that chatted while carrying baskets full of laundry. In the middle of the courtyard there was a giant Oak tree, and with its grandeur illuminated the entire courtyard. I walked over to it and sat down.

I did not want to be here, I wanted to leave, go as far away as possible. Where could you possibly go? You don’t know the world and the world doesn’t know you, how long would you survive for? I shook my head and leaned backwards. I closed my eyes and tried to forcefully convince myself that it wasn’t that bad, I just needed to get used to it, that was all.

Heavy steps stopped before me and I opened my eyes. Three men stood before me, they had black pants with equally black shirts, but their clothes did not seem like they were made out of cloth. They were thick boots, black gloves and each one of them had a fiery red bracelet. They were built, and tall. Their faces looked distrustful as they looked down at me. One had short red hair, his eyes were brown and his face was covered in freckles. The other one had blond hair that covered his ears, and green eyes. The last one stood right in front of me, he too was blond, but it was cut so short it barely reached his ears and his eyes were as black as the darkest night.

“Name” he demanded with a deep voice.

“Elias” I answered quietly and stood up. He examined me quickly and then continued with his questions.

“Reason for residence.” I frowned and didn’t answer “Reason for residence” he repeated and I could hear the impatience in his voice. The arrogance that these people emanated made me so mad that I could only angrily stare at him. He raised a brow and got closer “Answer me.” I shook my head and simply said “Why should I?”.

He grabbed me by my shirt collar and pulled me closer, close enough that I could feel his breath “Because it’s an order” he said, gritting his teeth.

“Hey, hey, hey what’s going on here?” called a voice that quickly made its way to us, I recognized it instantly “Let him go you Gorilla” Dorothy snapped, and then man let me go. “You know him?” he asked, to which she just nodded. She had an empty washing basket, which she held loosely against her hip. “Did he do something?” she asked angrily, and he shook his head. “Then there’s no need to question him so aggressively.” She wrapped her arm around mine and pulled me away.

When we were far enough she stopped and turned around “What are you doing here, Elias?” she asked, worried. Good job, not even two days here, and you already got lost, made three men hate you and one of the few that actually likes you has to babysit you now.

“I got lost” I said softly, evading her questioning gaze. “Please don’t get into trouble with these men, since they are part of the Black Legion.” And now it was my turn to look at her in confusion.

“I don’t know the details, but I know that the Black Legion is one of the strongest but also most merciless militaries.”

“Why are they here?” I asked curiously. ”For our protection” she answered, I didn’t want to pry any further and just remained quiet.

She brought me back to my room and told me she would send Paul to me as soon as she saw him. Can’t even do that alone, can you. I threw myself onto the bed, grabbed the pillow and screamed into it. Nothing worked, I was completely useless, Matilda was absolutely right I was only a product to pay off debts. I should also behave accordingly, so I stood up and walked down the hall, into the dining hall and directly into the kitchen. It was full of overworked cooks that scurried around but somehow always managed to never be in the way of one another like a well-oiled machine. Someone with a saucepan hurried past me and I tripped backwards a little.

“Excuse me?” I called into the kitchen, but no one answered “Hello?” I tried again, when suddenly a young lady walked up to me and tapped her foot on the ground.

“What?”

She wore a white chef jacket with equally white pants. Her brown hair was tied in a very tight topknot and not a single strand fell out, but one could spot a fiery red hairpin. I tried to be as concise as possible as she seemed to be rather busy. “I’m new here, and was wondering if I could help in any way.” The lady raised a brow and checked me out from head to toe.

“What are you able to do?” she asked, and I replied by listing all that was taught to me. “I can cook, fry, wash the dishes, prepare different types of sauces, I also know how to present a me-” “How fit are you?” She interrupted.

“What do you mean?” I asked, uncertain “Can you lift heavy things?” I nodded and she smiled. “Good. Go into the warehouse and bring me a crate of potatoes.” I nodded again but looked at her with a puzzled look. “Where is the warehouse?” She sighed and spoke again, “Ask someone else, I’m busy.” And like that she disappeared in the chaos of the kitchen. I walked out of the kitchen and tried catching one of the servants, to ask the way. But unfortunately, Paul caught me first.

“Young Master Elias! There you are, I was getting worried.” He seemed to really have been worried and I apologized. “I’m sorry, I got lost” I explained, choosing not to mention the thing with the Black Legion. “Do you know where I can find the warehouse?” I asked suddenly, he looked at me, confused and answered “Of course, but why would you want to head there?” I sighed and replied “Because I have to do that for which I was raised” He went pale and he looked shocked. “Can you lead me there?” I asked quietly, and he nodded.

The warehouse was gigantic, like most of everything in this castle. So many crates, and all were named. I looked for the potatoes and found them rather quickly. I grabbed myself a crate while Paul stood next to me, uneasy. “Elias, let’s wait until the Master is home, then you can discuss everything with him.” I walked past him with the crate in my hand, and asked “When is he coming back?” He looked around in frenzy and nervously fixed his glasses

“Do you not know?”

He sighed and then explained “The Master hates making empty promises, because of that he never tells us when he returns.” He just doesn’t want to tell you. I only nodded and made my way back to the kitchen with the crates.

“Thank you very much boy.” The chef lady said with a wide smile. “Anything else I can do for you?” I asked her, but she shook her head “No, but once again thanks a bunch” And with that, that was over. I had to find something else that I could do, or else I would be useless. I tried the stables, with the maids. I asked Dorothy if I could do something, but no one wanted my help. You managed to make the entire castle think you are useless. I had to find something that I could do, anything. I couldn’t sit still. I walked through the entire castle until I once again ended up at the library. Before I entered, I made sure that I wouldn’t meet Matilda again, thankfully, she didn't seem to be there.

The library was beautiful, so many books I had never seen before. I ran my finger across each back of each book, until my finger landed on one that really interested me. It was about magic, a genre that always fascinated me. I took it back to my room and spent the rest of the day reading it. I didn’t stand up from the bed, not even when Dorothy came to get me to eat dinner, which I rejected. “As you wish” She said before leaving me to myself once more. I was so focused on the book, as if I went to another world. That’s why I love fantasy and magic so much, because if something like this truly existed, I could simply fix all of my problems with magic, solve everything with a finger snap.

It turned to night and my eyes fought against me, so that I would finally close them, which I reluctantly did. This time around I could sleep and wake up fresh first thing in the morning. I was ready to start anew and try to tackle things a bit differently.

Frantic knocking at my door.

“Elias?” I heard a nervous voice. Paul came into the room and fixed his glasses, to then also clean the sweat off his brow with a handkerchief. “Oh good, you’re awake”. I stretched a bit and began calmly dressing myself. “What’s wrong?” I asked him curiously. “The Master, his carriage was spotted. He will be here soon”.