A stone as big as a man’s fist is thrown and it hit the girl directly on the head. She winced in pain but didn’t dare produce any sound. She is not mute, she can even verse well and read, but producing even the slightest sound in her current situation, she knows that she will experience even more terrifying consequences. She curled her body as much as she could, still trying to protect her bony structure from receiving any harm although her effort is already like pouring water into the drain: useless.

For a while, the beating would subside as people left her to suffer the wounds she gained, but it wouldn’t even last for a minute as those people come back and start beating her again with something else.

“DAMN YOU! YOU BRING BAD LUCK FOR US!”

No! I did nothing wrong to deserve this!

She cried in silence because she knows her voice will never reach anyone.

“CURSED CHILD! YOU BRING NOTHING BUT MISERY!”

She flinched upon listening to the endless accusations of her being.

Why are things turning out like this?

She wondered as stones hit her left rib and firewood rained on her back.

Her life was a lot better before; but since she turned fifteen and those incidents occurred, it had changed 180 degrees. She can’t walk out of her home without receiving curses from her neighbors. Her once adored smile is now interpreted as a death threat. The kids who loved playing with her and listening to her funny stories, feared her as much as the elders did. Not even one of them can stand looking into her eyes for a second and would dash off to their homes and lock the doors and windows. Then moments later, the parents would march out the door with things that they willingly use to hurt her together with the other villagers who thought of her as a menace.

People only left when they saw her unmoving and almost as if she were half dead. Not a single pair of eyes showed sympathy for the poor girl.

When people had gone back to their own businesses, she slowly forced herself to move. She sobbed while checking every single wound she attained. The pain is there, yes, but the amount of pain swelling in her heart is incomparable with the physical one. She picked up herself, fully aware that nobody would dare to come and tend her injuries.

It is a big fat lie if she said she isn’t affected at all with the people's treatment towards her. As she drowned in her own thoughts, a thunderous rumble was heard from her stomach, snapping her into reality again. She just realized that the reason she stepped out from her shack was to find something to fill her tummy. Despite the pain she feels with every move, she helplessly rubbed it while limping towards the forest, hoping that she can pick something and eat.

Her parents were long gone since she was a mere little kid. Back then, people showered her with love, sympathizing her for her loss. She was left alone when her parents died due to a monster mob going berserk while they were collecting some herbs in the forest. All they could find back then was a ruby necklace that her mother wore as a charm which she inherited. It is the one and only memorial she could keep just to remind her of all those lovely moments she once felt.

She rubbed her nose, trying to hold her tears as she reminisce her past.

It’s no use.

She whispered.

Dead people will not be coming back even if I pray my hardest.

She closed her eyes as she sat at the bark of a tree.

Just keep living. I am sure there will be some rainbow after this rainstorm passes by.

She bit her lip and began moving again. Fortunately, she managed to scavenge some fruits and collected a few herbs to help her treat her fresh and old wounds. She went back to the village wary of how people looked at her from a distance. The villagers wouldn’t dare to approach her, not even her closest relatives ever since those incidents occurred. She heaved a sigh and went back to her shack, not wanting to bump into other villager who will take away her food by force for sure.

Just before she stepped into her shelter, she heard rustling sounds coming from the bushes just a few steps away from her shack. She was stunned in her place, contemplating whether to turn her head and check the sources of the sound or not. She bit her lip and braced herself to turn her head rather quickly only to find nothing lurking in the bush.

Must be my imagination.

She sighed in relief before entering her shack while carrying her food stock for the week. She is totally unaware of a pair of glimmering red eyes that watched her silently from a tree branch, monitoring her moves before slowly blending into the shadow.

***

“You are late.”

A cold voice filled with authority greeted the person who just returned from the forest. She nodded while offering her charming smile as she kneeled in front of the owner of the voice.

“I am sorry, the situation at that place is rather… interesting.”

She chose her words carefully before pouring out her thoughts, conveying the information she had gathered earlier. Her answer seemed to have piqued up some interest from her fellows. They stepped nearer towards those two, wanting to know more of what is going on at the village.

“So she already transformed?”

The question is answered with a nod which made all of them murmuring.

“It can’t be. It is too early, isn’t it?”

One of them flashed a worried look.

“No, she is the bearer of the Ruby. Maybe she had circumstances that made her transform earlier.”

Another reasoning came out.

“But still, it is amazing how she can survive those ordeals without killing anyone. If it is me…”

Someone snickered, her eyes gleamed in red.

“Now, now. We can’t possibly make a move just yet. Dig deeper into this matter and confirm that she is indeed the owner of that Ruby. We only have Violeta and Sapphire for now.”

Their leader, who is the eldest of the group, gave out her command. All of them bowed in acknowledgment of her order, crossing their left hand on the chest and muttered,

“Yes, my lord.”

The leader sighed. She had already told them countless time to not address her like that but they seem to not heed her words well. She shifted her gaze outside of the window and whispered, “Wait up young one. We will come and save you soon.”

When she looked back into the room, her subordinates were already gone, executing their job of gathering information regarding the girl in discussion.

“Ruby possessor. I wonder what kind of change will you bring into this tangled destiny.”

She closed her eyes and kept pondering about their journey so far.

***

The girl jolted awake from her dream as her wounds began pounding again. She winced while trying to suppress the pain and reaching out for the ointment stored in a small beaker that she made herself earlier.

“Ouch, this is worse than before.”

She grimaced while changing her bandage made from a wooly lamb’s ear and noticed that the salve applied is not enough to cover her wounds. She sighed and started to change the dressings of her wounds and groaned in pain in doing so.

Isn’t it better to finish them off? You will never suffer again.

She flinched when she heard a whisper again. This is apparently not the first time such soft voice is enticing her to slaughter the whole village, to teach them some lesson where they could suffer together in hell.

No, I won’t listen to you.

The girl repeated those same words over and over again, trying her best to not fall into those whispering temptation.

Tch, so stubborn. You are experiencing all of this because you don’t listen!

The voice seemed annoyed at her unusual level of stubborness.

They are just confused. They are all good people. The surrounding environment changes them but I always know that they are nice human beings.

She tried reasoning with the whispering voice but in the end, she is left alone. She forced a weak smile as the whispers vanished once again without any warning. Even though there are nothing but sinister words coming from the mysterious whisperer, the voice is the only one that is still communicating with her.

She proceeded to change her dressings as she reminisced the bitter moments that forced her into this kind of situation where the villagers treatment towards her changed drastically.

***

Flashback

“Let’s go and hunt some boar near the spring of the forest.”

A bubbly and charismatic girl suggested in the middle of her friends. She is such an insider as people are naturally attracted towards her even when she didn’t do anything special. Her friends quickly agreed to her suggestion and they ran off to take their weapons and equipped themselves before gathering back.

“My parents said to be extra cautious because there have been sightings of unusual monsters around the spring last month.”

A friend relayed what her parents had told her and that made the girl furrowed her eyebrows. She has never heard about this matter even if she often goes into the forest to hunt.

Well, I guess I am the only one who didn’t know about this?

She glanced at her other friends and they also seemed surprised. The leader heaved a sigh and started wondering how in the world other people didn’t know about the issue whereas the girl’s parents seemed to have known it but kept the secret to themselves for quite some time now.

“I need to go and warn the Head Chief first about this new piece of information. I’ll meet you all at the spring.”

They parted ways as the girl jogged towards their Head Chief house and inform him about the matter. After telling him, she was about to leave and join her friends but suddenly, there was a tug on her sleeve. She didn’t have to turn her head to see the girl who pulling her cloth.

“Not today, I promised my friends to go hunting.”

She tried to suppress her annoyance by slowly releasing her breath. She had to prevent it from creeping into her voice and expression or else it will be too obvious. Her hands clenched the handle of the silver sword dangling on her hip.

However, the other party seemed to be trying to test her limit. The girl crept closer and whispered into her ear, intentionally letting her breath tickle the taller girl’s lobe.

The taller one gritted her teeth, suppressing her anger from erupting. She snatched her hand by force and hurriedly moved away from the Head Chief’s daughter, leaving her behind.

What happened is nothing new between the two and almost everyone knows that the Head Chief’s daughter had a thing for the orphan girl. She always gets what she wants. All but that dignified taller girl who once again have escaped her grasp.

The Head Chief’s daughter snickered at the figure that slowly vanished from her sight.  She went back into her house while whispering to herself, “Soon you will be mine and only mine.”

***

“Is the snake bothering you again?”

One of her friends when he noticed that his friend is flushing red. They are well aware of the Head Chief’s daughter's infatuation towards their friend but they can do nothing about it. The girl just shook her head, not wanting to discuss about that matter and proceeded to hunt.

“Hey, go around the spring. Divide into three teams and surround the place. Don’t let our prey escape.”

She sk