“Get up, sleepyhead” Egas heard his father calling.

  “Ugh… give me 30 more minutes…”

  As Egas tried to turn around in his bed, his father walked over to his bed and yanked the blanket away.

  “No, not in 30 minutes. Now.”

  He was staring at his father with a blank expression

  “Why though? Is there anything special going on today?”

  His father looked at him with a face that said ‘how could you forget?’

  “It’s harvest season. The field doesn’t harvest itself.”

  “Why do I have to help with that?”

  Egas slowly sat up.

  “Because you are now at an age where you can help. I can’t afford to feed you if you don’t do anything.”

  “But why now of all times? It was never like this before.”

  “Your mother wanted me to wait until you are a teenager to get you to help on the field. I respected her wishes and this time around you are 13 years old.”

  “Fine… I’ll get up. So, what’s to eat?”

  "Hmm... we got a loaf of bread, some apples and three eggs."

  “Eugh, we haven't had a different meal in forever. Can't we have something else?”

  “How am I supposed to get something else to eat? Do you think I can magically make food appear?”

  “Well, no... I was just meaning to ask whether we could have something else tomorrow.”

  "The answer's no. Get something to eat or go the day out with an empty stomach."

  "Eugh... fine."

  Half an hour later, Egas finished eating his breakfast. As he felt his hunger satisfied, he readied himself to go on the field.

  “Be home before sunset. I’ve got something important to tell you later this evening.”

  “I’ll try my best but I won’t promise you anything.”

  “I know you want to go and meet up with your friends, but try your best to be here on time.”

  “I’ll try.”

  Egas was making his way out of the house into the direction of the local nobles‘ field. On his way to the field, he walked through the village.

  The buildings in this region of Menia were not in the best shape. The roofs had lots of holes in them and the walls seemed to only be held up by them leaning onto each other. Even the streets were uneven and muddy in most of the village.

  Each time on his way through the village, Egas met many people that seemed to only be skin and bones and each time a baker threw away rotten food, they would throw themselves on it like vultures.

  They would have done anything to escape the misery, into which they were born and had to endure for their entire life.

  Long story short: The people here were miserable.

  As Egas got close to the village center, he turned to his right side into a smaller street, in which he encountered three kids, which by chance came walking into his direction.

  “Look who’s there. Haven’t seen you in a while, serf.”

  A small and plump kid, looking as if his father has force fed him his entire childhood, with a look that made him stand out of the crowd in the village, wearing the most expensive clothes Egas had ever seen was in the center of the group.

  Egas felt like puking when he saw him. He was one of the vilest people here in the village and always out to put everyone down. He’s the son of the lord of this land. All the villagers that were in the way between him and Egas were now making way for him to pass through.

  “Good day young master Filian. What brings you here? I thought you were attending school in the city?”

  “As a matter of fact, the school year has ended and I got a long leave and now have to somehow get over that time in this shitty village.”

  Egas was not happy with that answer. Filian was an asshole who liked to relish on the misery of the peasants of the fiefdom.

  There was no school around here as the village was quite poor and attending school was a very expensive thing. Only nobles and the clergy could attend school due to the tuition fees.

  In case of Filian, to Egas‘ enjoyment, his school was located in the city over, roughly five hours away from this village. He didn’t have to see him for an entire year. An entire year which Egas was able to just chill around and didn‘t have to worry about running into this dickhead.

  The three kids slowly started to surround Egas while he had to talk to Filian.

  “What have you been up to for the past year?”

  Filian had this haughty tone to his voice, which in Egas opinion was really annoying.

  “What else was I supposed to do? I served the fief and helped my father as usual.”

  “Good, good. What came to my ears however was that, you, Egas, weren’t doing jack shit. As a matter of fact, as a serf, you are the property of this fiefdom and by extension also my property.”

  Egas stood still, not saying anything as he feared he would make things worse.

  “You see, if you aren’t working, it decreases the fiefdom’s overall productivity. And if productivity decreases we will see to it that the taxes will be set higher to punish everyone here.”

  “What will you do when the people here want your head because they now have to pay for your laziness?”

  Egas stood there silently, letting Filian barrage him with his mighty attitude.

  “For now we will let you off with a warning. But let me tell you, if you don’t improve this the next time I come here, you will face the consequences of your insolence.”

  “My apologies, and thank you, master Filian.”

  The fatty left with a snort and the others followed him. This time Egas was able to continue on with his day without getting a beating. The tension in his body just dissipated all at once and he almost fell to his knees, feeling all shaky.

  “Phew, that was close.”

  This wouldn’t have been the first time that someone got beaten to death by Filian and his followers – and certainly not the last one either. He was a dangerous individual which wouldn't be touched by the law due to his status.

  Still feeling a bit shaky because of this encounter, Egas continued to make his way over to the field. It took him about fifteen more minutes to arrive at the field he was designated to work at.

  “Ah, how come are you here?”

  A familiar voice came from behind Egas.

  “Ah, Adam. You’re here too?”

  “You can bet your ass, I am. I’ve joined the harvests ever since 3 harvests ago.”

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  Adam was a boy, that is built a bit more muscular and taller than most. Adam and Egas became friends five years ago, after Adam asked Egas whether he wanted to play with him when Egas was lying on a field, staring at the sky. His brown hair has grown roughly shoulder length and can be described as if he’s been caring for it meticulously every day.

  “Did your pops not let you skip out this harvest?”

  “No. I wish he would have let me sleep for at least an hour longer. Anyways, since when have you been here?”

  “Ah. I helped them as early as before the sunrise. We’re having a good harvest this year. Just look around you.”

  Egas took a look around and was surprised by the number of crops that had not died on this rather infertile earth that this village was surrounded by.

  “I can see that. This is enough to feed the village for at least a year.”

  “Yeah. If we are lucky we can even sell enough at the market in the city this harvest around to get goods like meat from time to time this year.”

  “So, what should I do to help?”

  “You take this farming scythe, cut the wheat at the bottom and bring it onto the stack over there.”

  “Kay, we‘ll meet again after the harvest, right?”

  “Sure bud, I will have some stuff to take care of after the harvest is over though. I’ll be there… maybe late afternoon. Where do you want to meet up?”

  “How about over at the large oak tree close to the flower field at the north side of the village?”

  “Sounds nice. See you then."

  Adam and Egas have split away from each other and worked on different ends of the field. As the field was at least 2 acres large it took a long while for them to actually harvest it all. At times, where there aren't as many people helping, it was split up into two or at times even three days. This day however there were many people that helped harvesting the field due to the amount of harvest it yielded.

  It was almost evening when the field was almost done being harvested. Egas felt some soreness in his entire body, which lead him to, by afternoon, made him lay down next to the field more, than actually helping harvest it. As he was told by an adult that they will end the harvest tonight and he could go home and Egas just started to walk, Adam from behind his back yelled "Catch!". Egas turned around quickly and managed to catch two round things. They were apples.

  “Here, some food for your journey back. Don’t forget our meeting later!”

  “What do you think how forgetful I am?”

  "Well, better to be sure."

  Egas scoffed before continueing to walk. At first he wanted to go home and afterwards take a bath in the river. After that he would have enough time to get to the tree to meet with Adam

  As he entered the house, nobody was there.

  Maybe father is helping out at the harvesting of another field?

  On a table in the kitchen, Egas found some soup and a weird drawing that he thought would symbolise… that his father would be back later? It’s hard to tell, but as they were peasants, none of them were able to read or write, so this was their only way to leave a note for each other.

  Egas took the spoon next to the soup on the table, sat down and started eating.

  Hmm. Nice, he put meat into the soup. Why isn‘t he here to eat something this expensive together with me?

  After briefly thinking about it, he finished the plate and got back up.

  He walked over to the drawer and picked out a change of clothes and a rag to dry himself off with once he gets out of the water and leaves the house to take a bath.

  The river was not too far away from his home. Usually it took him about 10 minutes to get there.

  A short walk later, Egas arrived at the river. It had a calm surface, without a torrent, so it’s good for a bath or for getting water.

  He took a look around to see if anyone was around. After making sure that nobody’s here, he took his clothes off and hung them on some nearby tree branches. A lot of people would call this habit feminine, but Egas didn’t care about that.

  The instant Egas stepped into the water a wave of coldness surged all over his body. While it was a typical, hot, summer, and the flowing water was still cold and uncomfortable at first. However, after a few moments it started to become refreshing. Once he got used to the water, he didn’t want to leave it anymore, just so he wouldn’t have to face the heat outside anymore.

  After he stood in the water for a long while, he guessed it was time to get out or he might be too late for the meeting with Adam.

  Egas got out of the water, instantly feeling the wave of heat that’s coming from the blazing sun and the air around him. He felt a light, warm breeze hitting him as he walked over to the place where he put his clothes.

  He put on the slightly oversized top and a pair of pants that fitted him like a glove. In general, with these clothes, he resembled a noble who’s become a beggar recently. His skin was fair and soft, his hair had a dark blonde tone. He had a build slightly smaller than that of Adam but he looked like a beanstalk and his majestic eyes had a bored look to them, a dullish green with fringes of grayish blue reaching into the inner parts of the iris.

  After patting himself down wit the rag, he went back home to put his dirty clothes into a handmade wicker basket before setting off again. It didn’t take long for Egas to arrive at the tree but Adam was nowhere to be found, so he just sat down under the tree and took out the second apple. Over time, the sitting turned more into laying and he slowly drifted into sleep.

  Egas opened his eyes. He didn‘t know how late it was but he was sure it’s been a few hours already.

  He found half of the apple he ate before he fell asleep still in his hands. Feeling hungry after the nap, he took a bite off it.

  The moment he took the bite, he started to feel weird. It started with a strong stomachache and headache. He felt like he was being torn apart and compressed into himself at the same time.

  The apple fell to the ground as Egas started to curl up, he could barely move due to the extreme pain he was in.

  The longer the pain went on, the more it felt like it was spreading throughout Egas‘ entire body.

  The indescribable pain first went over to his forehead and his hips respectively. After that the pain around the hips spread both up and down towards the thighs and the upper body, which felt like they were ballooning. The pain on his forehead was focused on two points, which felt as though something was piercing through his forehead.

  Meanwhile the pain on the upper body migrated to his back where it condensed close to the shoulder blades. Egas almost fell unconscious due to the immeasurable pain all over his body.

  The pain on the thighs moved onto his calves and feet. At the same time, his entire face felt like it was burning up. Egas held his hands in front of his face because of the pain brought to him.

  The moment he touched his face though, his hands and arms also began to have the same burning sensation.

  After a few minutes of that pain his entire body turned numb. He couldn’t get up or even move. Just laying there, helplessly.

  **Prologue: END**