Chapter 3: What's the Point?

  Max'Sall's stomach growled as he tried to ignore the hunger pains that came with it. He hadn't eaten well in the last few days, when jobs were scarce, food was too. Dormion kept the small leather bag in his hand, a little bit tucked away near his chest of his long coat. Both of them walked together on the streets of Kursoon towards the edge of the city. Most Dull lived on the edge of Kursoon, known to most as Ashen, like the ash that grows around a fire that burned too long. You knew you were walking into Ashen when you started to see humans wearing heavy coats that covered most of their body.

  Max'Sall and Dormion walked through the almost dusty streets of Ashen as they moved past other Dulls that covered their body in those heavy robes. They were so hot, and mostly uncomfortable that Max'Sall never wore them, but even then, he believed them to be a disgrace in some way. Dull worked just like others, slept, ate and breathed just like everyone else. Yet, they were called hideous all because they were born a little different. He was born wrong, some would say...But what did it mean to be born right? Were you born right when you were rich? Were you born right when you were tall? What about the things you did? Max'Sall didn't want to think about it anymore since it always made him angry when he did.

  "Well, at least we can eat a little bit. I would rather this than nothing." Dormion always kept a decent outlook on life, Max'Sall didn't know how or why he did but there were days when that was one of the only things that kept him going.

  "Yeah, like a half thing of bread each maybe" Max'Sall sighed heavily running his hand through his black hair. He shouldn't have been complaining, food was food never who you asked, you had to eat.

  "Probably, it's no cake is it?" Dormion flashed a small smile, like a tiny joy that he could bring through a joke.

  "No, certainly not. What I wouldn't give for some of that though." Max'Sall walked through the almost baren streets, moving past the beggars and the shrouded Dull. It was as if each day the city itself grew distant and more neutral. A city stocked to the brim with color and joy, but where was that joy in this edge of the city? Nowhere, Dull did not have color, they did not deserve color.

  "Maybe once we get on Caelen's good side, he'll share some of the stuff he has from his restaurant?"

  "As if that bastard could find any kindness in the depths of his heart to do that. That would require him to look down from his high balcony to the people that serve him. I guess we're just "lucky" that he pays us." Max'Sall started to get angry again, but that began to subside as he knew there wasn't much more to do about it.

  "I know how you feel, Max'Sall. I'm glad you didn't go further with Caelen, it doesn't matter with him, you should just keep your head down and push through."

  "I've been keeping my head down my entire life, when do I get to look up and push back?" What was once the pure flame of will that burned into his heart, became slow and turned into despair. Maybe it was time to realize that Dormion was right.

  "We will, just not yet...I want to do so too, but its just a matter of patience."

  Patience. Is that what everyone told him? You just had to keep going, push forward and keep your head low. Dull that followed those rules survived, and maybe they got good enough jobs to keep their bellies full at night, and desserts once in a life time. But that was no way to live, that was surviving, and life shouldn't be a battle for survival.

  Max'Sall always felt like he was drowning. An endless sea of people, and he was the only one who couldn't swim. They rode in boats and were picked up, but the waves kept crashing into him, pulling him further and further in the inky black sea below. They say that drowning was the worst way to go, like you're trying to hold onto something so precious as it slowly and surely slips out of your fingers. The fear that you would drown didn't scare Max'Sall. He had been drowning ever since he was born. What scared him was that he didn't know how to swim.

  "Max'Sall?" Dormion asked as he poked his side and Max'Sall looked back with a small smile.

  "Yeah, patience..." He went silent after that, just trying to soak up his own feelings as Dormion patted him on the back. Dormion gave full toothed smile, he always had a habit bringing people up with them.

  "Don't worry, I'll wait with you." Dormion said trying to keep that positivity about. Max'Sall just simply looked forward as they walked together. They were both drowning, but they would drown together.

  There was a set of footsteps that walked in front of them as Max'Sall looked up just to see where he was going. His eyes widened as he saw the same two of clients before him. Rylander, Barlow stood before them but they unnamed third man was gone. They did not block the path but stood a good ten or so feet away from them as they looked towards with strong glares. Dormion stopped moving as he quickly tucked away the small leather pouch containing what little money they had. Rylander laughed a bit before he put his right hand behind his back.

  "I guess it wasn't very hard to find where you two runts went off. I should have known a couple of Dull would just be living in the worst part of town. They certainly were right to call this place Ashen, these disgusting putrid people remind me of the ugly parts of life." Rylander spoke with a grimace, the smile clearly just a facade to hide that masked hatred burning in his heart.

  "Creation's end, just leave us alone for Life's sake! We didn't have your stuff, you guys just got duped!" Max'Sall screamed in their direction. He had backed up with Dormion trying to see if anyone else was noticing these two men. The rest of the people that would have been in the street simply looked away or walked away quickly. They had nothing to do with this, why should they get hurt? You always risked taking others with you, that was a risk they wouldn't take.

  "You think we don't know that?! We kept hearing that he was the only one you get the stuff from, we took a risk. And yet, for all our wasted efforts, that useless fruit doesn't make any Blot without the proper tools!" Rylander took out the item that he held from his right hand: a metal pipe. He tapped the metal pipe against his left palm.

  "Please, we just did our job..." Dormion was clutching the bag through his heavy coat as he began to walk behind. Max'Sall figured what was going to happen next as he grabbed Dormion once more, before turning in the other direction.

  "You've got to be kidding me! What in the Final Paradise are they here?! We have to get out of here before--" Max'Sall and Dormion only made a few steps in the other direction before a staggering pain filled Max'Sall's head. He fell to the ground as he clutched his head in pain feeling a small trickly of broken skin and his blood leaking, the grey and dark brown ichor dripping onto the stone floor.

  His vision was blurry and he wasn't sure what was happening, like he had been dropped a thousand feet down onto his head. He tried to focus on what was happening, he could make out vague shapes before a few seconds he could see the outline of Dormion being grabbed and forced to the ground by another man. His thoughts were scattered against the same floor where he laid as he felt arms pull him up and Rylander came into his vision.

  "Well your job isn't done. Nobody is really gonna care if we let out our frustration on a Dull or two." So that was it. Despite the flashing vision and ringing in his ear, Max'Sall knew that truly that was all it was about. They couldn't take their anger out on Caelen, they would have been killed, or worse... No. Nobody cared whether he or Dormion survived. Nobody would care if their screams rang out on deaf ears. Take what little they had, it was just the way it was.

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  "Max'Sall!" Dormion screamed out as his voice became clearer as Max'Sall was trying to focus on the situation at hand. He began to struggle, the little strength that was keeping him from blacking out meant that there was nothing left to defend himself. He struggled as he felt Rylander pick him up and hold him from the collar.

  "Yokan, good work back there." Max'Sall looked back to see the smaller of the three men, now known as Yokan, was standing there with a similar metal pipe as he was standing behind Max'Sall as he giggled to himself.

  "Got'em good!" Max'Sall should've figured, that's why he didn't even see the attack, he must have been hiding around a building waiting for this to happen. How long had they been waiting for this? Were they followed? Even if they were, what use does it have to think about those things. He would most likely be beaten within an inch of his life.

  Max'Sall looked as he saw Dormion struggling to get out of the grapple that Barlow had him in. Max'Sall finally could see without the hard vision impairment as he looked towards Rylander who was simply laughing at this situation. Dormion would be hurt too, maybe that's why he was struggling.

  Dormion was his only friend, the only person he could trust and that believed in him. They were the same, yet different. They were both trying to swim in this ceaseless sea of sharks. If he was going to die anyway from being pulled down, he would at least push someone up when he goes.

  "Let him go! Take whatever we have, just let Dormion go!" This was as stupid as he figured it would be.

  "Oh? The little thief Dull boys want to barter now, eh? Where was that fire when Yokan whacked you upside the head?" Rylander looked towards Yokan who was still watching, still holding the metal pipe, probably in case they got away.

  "Let's just give em' what they deserve Rylander!" The grunt Barlow shouted as he pushed Dormion back into the ground. Barlow was starting to push harder as tears began to well inside Dormion's eyes. He was only two years younger than him, but Dormion was more of a man than anyone Max'Sall ever knew. He wouldn't let that man get hurt here.

  "Take our money, just leave him alone!" Max'Sall shouted with an urgency and a tinge of desperation.

  "What? Your 18 red bits?! That won't even count as a snack. No, I don't want your money. But, you've got spirit for a Dull, so I'll do something else for you." Rylander grabbed his metal pipe and squeezed it hard in his hand as he stared at Max'Sall.

  "Ten blows, that's it. I'll hit you ten times and then I'll hit him ten times. It was going to be more, but since you're offering your money anyway, I might as well reduce your sentence." Rylander a hideous smile, the kind that showed all of his disgusting barely washed teeth and told a person that whatever good was left, has been shredded.

  "Fine!" Max'Sall shouted with little hesitation.

  "No! Please don't!" Dormion shouted, there was a lot more desperation in his voice than before. The others didn't listen as Rylander set him down and rounded up his metal pipe.

  "Good. Just remember you asked for this." Max'Sall barely had the time to stand up after being dropped from Rylander before he felt a heavy swing crack into his side. The pain was unbearable, he felt every single fiber in his body rise up in an instinct to protect himself.

  "Hey! You said you would take the hits, so take them like a man! One!"

  Rylander landed a second blow against the same side, the damage almost collapsing Max'Sall's entire side as he laid down into the stone floor as he gritted his teeth in pain. The pain kept coming, the first blows pulsing power still lingered into his left side. It was throbbing, as if he had been set on fire and hit by an anvil.

  "Two!"

  Every blow was worse, Rylander changed up where they would go every time, giving the pain an equal opportunity to spread everywhere. One to his side, another to his forearm, one to his knee, the other to his left shin, a swiping crack to his shoulder, A blow across the head, a sudden jab to his stomach, and a hard knockdown swing to his back. By the time that tenth blow came, Max'Sall fell to the ground. His body was beaten up and bruised in every possible place. His vision was wrecked, seeing doubles and blurry visions of everyone. He could barely hear the winces from the two others and the screams of Dormion. There was a ringing in his ear that wouldn't go away, maybe it was permanent.

  His mind was in shambles as he could hear the soft laughter of all three of the other men.

  "That's the first ten, ready to go again?!" Rylander laughed, a maniacal laugh that told you that there was nothing left that was good in his soul. Barlow and Yokan laughed as well, guttural laughs that made everyone uncomfortable.

  Max'Sall felt very little, he could only see the stone street and some of his own blood drip past his skin. It felt like there was something crushing his entire body taking away everything. He was sure everything was broken, but there were still ten more hits.

  "Why should I get up? Maybe I should just stay down, let Life take me away" Max'Sall's thoughts felt jumbled and broken like his body, trying to piece together any shred of will power he had. He wanted to lay down, keep to the ground and let them kill him.

  What was the point anyway? He was always drowning, why didn't anyone bless him? What was so horrible about his life that it was determined he would suffer for the rest of his life. The sharks finally came to chew on the corpse of his body floating at sea, he would leave it be, let them take him away towards something better. Maybe he would be chosen to go to the Final Paradise. Maybe his mother would be there with him. Max'Sall felt his eyes close, trying to shut out the world, letting himself fall to into the sea.

  Yet, he didn't.

  Max'Sall's eyes wouldn't close and his body wouldn't stop moving, even slightly. He didn't understand why, he didn't want to know why. His life was nothing more than a mess, so why wouldn't he just let these sharks take him? A part of him felt like he knew, something inside of him kept that fire going. Max'Sall remembered Caelen's words, those words that kept his rage boiling within.

  "That fire in your stomach, nothing else. You are not stronger than anyone, not faster, not smarter. You can't even read, you are as much a liability as you are as a thief and a Dull." Caelen's voice rang out before him. That fire that he described still beated with him, like the heart of a dragon he began to scrape his fingernails against the cold stone of the street.

  Rylander looked down to see that Max'Sall was pushing himself up against the stone, his legs pushing with what little strength they had to propel him upward. He did not laugh, he did not speak. He was confused. How could anyone been beat this hard and still stand? Was he really going to take another ten?

  Max'Sall stood up. He was leaning on his right leg for the support, but he stood up as his back hunched in pain. His was swollen and beaten with large grey bruises that it look like he had just rolled through ash. Blood leaked from the top of his head in a small trail from his left temple. He was beaten, bruised and sorry looking...yet he stood.

  "Max'Sall?" Dormion said nothing, maybe he couldn't have said much else. Max'Sall felt the night's cold begin to set in. It was getting dark, which meant curfew would set in soon. He would have take these blows quickly or else he would get in more trouble.

  "Y-you, are going to take the other ten?" Rylander didn't know what to say. He assumed he would rough him up, take their money and use it to buy a few pieces of fruit before the curfew...Why did this boy still stand? How did he still stand?

  "Ten more....right?" Max'Sall said, his words slightly slurred from the cracking hit he took to his head. Rylander looked at the others, as if he was looking for some more confirmation to continue. They were just as bewildered as he was, trying understand what kept him up.

  Rylander took a wild swing that slammed into Max'Sall's left hit. The strike left in leaning on his right leg in quick stumble, but he didn't go down. Rylander raised the pipe as he slammed it into his left arm in a diagonal swing. That powerful bludgeon made his arm feel like it was almost numb, but he didn't go down. Rylander went for a strong horizontal swing into his abdomen as he slammed it with as much force as he could. There was a strong gong that ran out as the pipe hit his ribs. Max'Sall felt every single part of his body being numbed by pain, he could barely move....but he didn't go down.

  "What...what in the Final Paradise are you!?" Rylander pointed the pipe towards Max'Sall as if he was trying to declare something. Max'Sall opened his right eye, as the other one wouldn't move and bore into him with everything he had.

  "I'm a useless Dull. A useless Dull...that won't fall."

  Rylander put down his arm from his pointed pose and dropped the metal pipe onto the ground. He clicked his teeth in frustration as he began to walk away. The other two looked at him incredulously as Dormion was still struggling to leave Barlow's grab.

  "Rylander?! What about the--"

  "Let's go! There's no fun in beating a dead horse. Plus, what in Life's name are we going to buy with 18 red bits. Let's go!" Rylander interrupted Barlow as he spoke up. Barlow let go of Dormion as he began to walk away, it didn't take long for Yokan to get the hint as well as the three them left down the street.

  "Max'Sall!" Dormion spoke up quickly as he got up off the ground and moved to Max'Sall's right. Max'Sall looked to his friend, keeping that one eye open before breathing heavily.

  "Why....Why even do this?! We could have just given him the money. I would have taken those hits! Why?!" Max'Sall looked at his friend, the only thing visible on his face was that desperation of trying to help. Max'Sall looked back towards the darkening sky.

  The sky was getting dark, colors of black and white sprinkled the sky in a sea of stars. The moon began to beat down on their bodies as it gave them a soft glow. The night was beautiful to Max'Sall. Nothing would ever change that. He looked back at Dormion once before.

  " I....I won't let you drown...."

  Then, Max'Sall fell unconsciousness take him over.