Some days ago
In a situation that seemed to repeat itself almost daily, Valar was hiding from the other children of the orphanage. It had started with some of the other boys bullying him for his food, like always, and had ended with Valar running away with scraps, like always… This time he had actually managed to keep a piece of cornbread—a much higher bounty than what he usually ended up with.
Valar's furious chewing was interrupted by voices just on the other side of the smooth stone wall he was leaning against. They sounded different from the usual passerbys, that was for sure. Guards, I think…
"The idiots patrolling the eastern district found a broken down sewer maintenance door! Can you believe it?" One of the guards laughed. "I mean, who the fuck would want to go break in there? I'm betting the sorry fuck thought it was a vault or something. Must've felt bad when he only found shit and rats down there!"
Most of the guard unit joined in on the laughter but one of them—Valar guessed female by the voice—was more worried: "Shouldn't we at least try to investigate who could have caused that? The sewers are one of the few ways someone could sneak in or out of the city."
The whole group of guards only continued their laughter after their female colleague's question.
"Look, lassy. We are paid to patrol the city and prevent any crimes from happening on these streets. Frankly, at least I'm way too underpaid to start crawling in that waste to find any criminals", a deep voiced man responded to the woman, his tone condescending. "Reyna, you're free to go wade in waste, but the city will probably fix the breach in a week or so anyway. I can even take your guard shift tomorrow if you go in there for 10 minutes!"
The guards' laughing voices disappeared when they had walked further away from the wall, but Valar had heard enough.
There was a chance that he could get free. Even if it was infinitesimally small, he just had to try it. Any chance to get out of the orphanage was worth everything to Valar.
He wouldn't stay in the orphanage for even a minute more than absolutely necessary. Not when they wouldn't help him with his sickness. More like a curse, really…
***
As Valar looked down the staircase, seeing the moonlit hallway filled with filth that was the sewers for the first time, he seriously doubted his own thoughts from a week ago. Sure, the orphanage didn't feed him enough nor protect him from the relentless bullying of the other kids, but at least he didn't need to spend his time practically swimming in sewage. Well, except when I last tried escaping. That was bad…
The head matron had made him clean every single toilet of the whole orphanage. Of course that was only after he had been whipped as 'discipline', adding to the already extensive network of scars on his back. Yeah, there's no way I'm going back there. I'd rather go down to the abyss and dine with the demons than meet that hag of a woman again. Besides, Valar's choice seemed to be already made for him, as he started hearing approaching voices call for him.
"Hey kid, just stop hiding and we won't rough you up before escorting you back to the orphanage!" a clearly tired and increasingly angry female voice echoed down the neighboring street. "I swear to all the angeli above, this is the fourth time we've had to catch you! Everybody at the guard is fucking tired of this-"
Valar didn't wait for the woman to turn the corner and steeled himself for the suffering to come.
Better days ahead…
He rushed down to the sewers, not even sure if he believed his own thoughts, and tried to not breathe in through his nose when he entered the hallway. It did not help.
As soon as he dove through the reinforced door, he hid behind it and snuck a glance through a crack in the door. The rancid smell of the city sewer system assaulted Valar's senses, but he tried his best to ignore it. I need to focus and stay quiet. The smell was really bad, but he would be fine. Just don't retch… Just. don't. retch.
Valar had fled from sight at a good time. A patrolling guard entered his vision only seconds after his entrance to the sewers. The muscular dark skinned woman walked with a torch in hand, holding her other hand against the handle of her baton—one that Valar was intimately familiar with and by no means interested to meet again…
The curly haired guard looked around, her torchlit eyes sharp as an eagle's. Valar withdrew his gaze from the alley he had run from. He had heard that some warriors could sense when they were being looked at, and he wasn't interested in getting spotted any time soon.
As Valar was leaning against the door, the woman's brisk steps becoming weaker as she continued her patrol, a familiar feeling surfaced in his chest. Valar's pupils dilated and his breathing became ragged as a scorching pain radiated out near his heart.
Happy thoughts... It'll go away soon like always.This pain was common, as he had suffered from it as long as he could remember. A searing, soul-deep pain that made him want to scream his lungs out. Hot coals burning in his chest, somehow deeper than even his own heart. It felt atrocious.
Luckily, the pain never lasted for a long time, usually abating after only a few seconds. Although it has appeared more often lately… First thing when I get to another city, I'm going to find a competent healer.
The burning pain was gone as fast as it appeared, Valar breathing a sigh of relief when he could move again. He stood there, leaning against the door for multiple minutes, just breathing. Without even realizing, tears had started to flow from his eyes. His hands trembled as he just tried his best to center himself against the memory of the pain. Better days ahead… There is a cure or some other help, I just know it. Because if there isn't…