Chapter 808 The Goldsand Confederation
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"He woke up?!" Emeraldine was clearly surprised. "T-Then we need to go see how he is right away! Uncle!"
"Right!" Her uncle nodded. "I need to check his health too, he might still be afflicted with something… And also, well, we need to talk about a lot of things."
Emeraldine's uncle had already forgiven Ash for what he did, it seems he always knew he was being forced to do what he did, and never truly held a grudge, even if the other people of the village did.
He is a good man, and only ended blaming himself for not being able to stop him, nor for being able to protect him… It isn't fair to blame himself, there are sometimes things we can't change, no matter how hard we try.
But as long as we can keep our lives, we can continue moving on, and try to redeem ourselves for not having been able to do anything against such things.
That's… well, that's something I learned through my two lives. After having died so tragically, I was never able to do a single thing about that.
But now that I've been given a second chance, I want to make things different, and right. I want to change people's lives for the better whenever I can…
And help those in need, that have been wronged unfairly by life, and those that lurk in the shadows, looking to take advantage of the powerless innocents.
Maybe I sound too corny and stupid, and maybe it is an unrealistic ideal… But that's what I want to strive forward to.
"Let's go meet Ash then." I said, as I guided the rest of my family to the second floor, and we greeted the young boy.
Ash was sitting over his bed while looking at the window, his face looked exhausted, and his eyes seemed to be devoid of light. It almost felt like he didn't wanted to be alive right now…
"Ash…" August said, entering the room.
"U-Uncle…?" Ash opened his eyes in surprise.
"Ash!" August ran towards the young boy, hugging him tightly.
"E-Eh?!"
Ash was clearly surprised, as August hugged him tightly, and started crying out of happiness that he was alright.
"I was so worried, Ash! I thought you would be dead…" August cried.
"W-Why? Why are you happy?!" Ash cried. "I only did terrible things…!"
"But you were manipulated to do that!" August said.
"B-But…!" Ash started crying. "Why…?! I betrayed everyone and destroyed the forest… Everything… this beautiful place… It's all my fault… I did all of it…"
"It is not your fault completely!" Emeraldine stepped forwards. "You were manipulated by forces you simply couldn't fight against. Even if you betrayed them… I can't blame you, Ash."
"Y-You're… And you! You're the ones that appeared in my dreams…" Ash pointed at Emeraldine and then at me.
"Your dreams?" I wondered. "Oh, we must have looked like that. We pretty much fixed that soul of yours and took away the evil voice you always heard."
"I-It is gone?! But I thought I would die… That voice…" Ash continued crying. "Why… why did you go to such lengths to save me…? Wouldn't it had been better if I died? My whole life… I've spent it running away, and being used by others… And then, when I finally found good people, I betrayed them… I'm horrible, I'm a monster! Why are you being nice to me?! You should all hate me!!!"
Ash started crying while angry over our forgiveness of his actions.
"We can't treat you like a monster, nor you're horrible as you said." August sighed. "We can't hate you either, you're a young, innocent child, and no matter what you did back then, it won't change that fact… I'm sorry for not being able to help you back then, Ash…"
"U-Uncle… Uncle! Bwaaah!" Ash quickly started crying even more, hugging August. "I was so scared… I'm sorry! I'm sorryyy…"
"It's fine." August sighed. "It's alright now… Calm down."
"Ash, if possible… We would like to talk about what you experienced and all of that." I said. "Regarding your experiences with the Vampires… And where did you come from."
"Yeah, is it possible?" Emeraldine wondered. "If it hurts too much to remember that, maybe not…"
"No… I'll talk, if it can help you even a little, I'll tell you anything I know!" Ash nodded.
"Thank you, Ash." I smiled. "How about we eat first? Are you feeling hungry?"
"Ugh… I do feel my stomach really empty…" Ash sighed.
"Alright, let's go downstairs. Can you walk?" Emeraldine wondered.
"I-I can! I think I can." Ash nodded.
He slowly stood up, feeling healthier and with more vitality than he expected. In fact, it took him a while to realize a fact he had not realized when he first woke up.
"Huh? My Miasma… Is it gone? I don't feel any fuzzy and weird feeling inside of me anymore… W-What's going on?" Ash wondered, feeling strangely weirded out.
"Well, looks like we did a few things there, seems like you lost that power." I smiled. "Maybe you'll be able to finally touch things without fearing to destroy them."
"Oooh… T-This is…" Ash was shocked.
"For now, let's go eat together… As a family, Ash." August smiled gently, holding the boy's hand.
"O-Okay!" Ash nodded.
We walked downstairs and had breakfast. Ash started eating fruits and pancakes happily, the flavors and the refreshing taste made him go almost insane while eating.
"So where did you come from?" I asked.
"From a place named… Goldsand Confederation." Ash explained. "I was… well, my mom… She died. And when I started being homeless, I was… kidnaped. I remember other kids also being kidnaped similarly. We were thrown into a strange underground room, and there were these creepy people with red eyes… They said we would be given powers beyond our imagination."
"Red Eyes…" I sighed. "Why are the Vampires trying so hard to be the villains now? They were wronged and all of that, yes, but do they have to hurt innocent people to accomplish their revenge? Don't they realize they're becoming worse than those that wronged them in the past now?"
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This content is taken from fr(e)ewebn(o)vel.𝓬𝓸𝓶