Shards of a Glass Throne

Chapter 2

Sweat poured down my back and face, the heat was excruciating and painful, it never seemed to end. I panted as I lifted another batch of bricks, yes I was lifting bricks. Glancing to the side I can see Chi watching us like a hawk, he spots me before sending me a wink, disappearing soon after. We were doing this because we were renovating the stupid training room. 

I dropped the bricks in the pile that was across the track and sighed. The dream I had about my memory and Chi's words were still bugging me and I couldn't figure out why. Why did Chi know something and not tell me? Did he not trust me? Was I that important. Groaning, I rub hand across my face to try and rid the sweat and grime off me. 

Silently walking over to the break table, I casually grab one of the cups and water and start chugging the water down, only pausing to breathe before finishing the cup. The bell rings from inside the house and I make my way back into the refreshing cool, we have shifts to work in order to make the renovating go faster. 

Our little guild poses as a orphanage, explaining the abundance of children and lack of adults. The other kids from the city fear the orphanage because of all the brutes and twisted teens that come out of here. The city district officials also fear Chi, because he is a war hero, his tales are one to never forget, but he hates them.

He admitted to me one night in our rare bonding moments that he hates his war relics and tales, he hates them because they remind him of a past which was full of blood and death, even though he trains people to spill just that. But what Chi doesn't know is that he teaches us the way to survive in this war not to kill people when we feel like it. Plonking down in a chair in the big living room, I survey the people drafting through the room, many of the older kids were working on the new section of the Guild.

After a while shouting could be heard from the hallway leading to the rooms, coming from the direction of the dining room. Slowly rising off the chair, I make my way to the commotion, only to find that little girl again, Anan, being pushed around by some kids older than her. 

Quickly blending back into the shadows of the hallway, I watch her as she struggles to fend off her bullies. Silently I root her to fight back, but you can see by her timid shuffling that she does not have that in her blood. I know that she is being trained by a girl trainer, Masego and that she is trying hard to train her to be an assassin, but I can see Anan does not have the aggression or personality for it.

Snapping out of my thought train, my focus goes back to the fight, which now has escalated to physical terms, Anan is on the floor, blood pooling around her nose as she holds it in pain. The kid, Amadi, he is obviously the one to deliver the blow as he stands smirking over the top of her. Amadi delivers one last kick to her stomach, and she cries out in pain. Laughing, Amadi walks off and leaves Anan to cry.

Taking that as my time to step forward, I can see that I have startled Anan as she tries to get up. She cries out in pain as she tries to stand. Walking up to her I make no move to help.

"Stand up." I say calmly, trying to coax her to move. 

"I-I can't." She cries in pain clutching her stomach.

"Stand. Up." I say more forcefully, a warning behind my words.

Trembling, it takes her time to stand. She slowing leans forward before rising to her feet, wobbling on her feet with pain. She stares at me with resentment and curiosity. Turning quickly I start to walk away, only to realise she wasn't following me.

"Are you coming?"

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We sit in my room, me holding a wet cloth, cleaning Anan's nose and her watching me carefully, like I will pounce on her any minute.