That guard was cruelly gripping the rope, which hurt Ulric, and he was already traumatised. He'd heard the words he never thought he would hear. That Lord on the throne looked familiar, but he couldn't recall how. The castle was even more horrifying as they were passing bizarre corridors. They were dark and were filthier. Ulric was helpless and was relying on his fate. Actually, doom he considered it because no a good thing had happened after the sight of shadow. He was wailing inside his mind, not outside, because he felt even frail when he did that.
There, in one of the corridors, he saw a hooded figure, very tall, and its cloak was down, covering most of the ground. A weird type of cold aura was coming from it, and Ulric felt more anxious. They were Nobel in his opinion, but he knew nothing about there. He didn't even know if that man had the great hall was Lord or something else. Nevertheless, that guess was still making so much sense to him. He couldn't even press his hand on his forehead, as he was bound. He knew he was sickening more and more and needed to drink or eat. He could hear the noises from his belly and was intentionally ignoring it. He wanted himself to feel not sick but resistant to his own self. He understood he couldn't resist these people, but if he couldn't even resist his own self, it was certain that he'd die.
Those hooded figures were all over the castle, and some were with weird, long sticks, and some were empty-handed. When they were in a passageway, he saw some people passing with trolleys, covered in meats and other foods. When he tried to remember, there were many more people in the great hall who were not hooded or cloaked, and they looked normally as him. He didn't know if they were of that castle or of the place outside of that castle. Yet, he had no idea if there was even a place outside of that castle — a city or other thing. These questions were irritating him and were very overwhelming as he'd been sick already. At one moment in one of the corridors, he even tumbled down because of starvation, but that guard didn't even hesitate to tug the rope to rise Ulric up.
He tumbled again and again, and he was still wondering when they would reach their destination. That Lord only said site, but where? He didn't know that. He wasn't sure he should, but his curiosity insisted him that he ask that guard about where they were going to. He didn't consider himself as a coward, but not so courageous, too. He had sweat all over his face, and the back of his tunic was dirty. Eventually, after so much walking, the guard stopped before a door in one of the corridors. He pushed it open and tugged Ulric inside.
That sight was horrifying, cruel, and disturbing.
His mouth widened, and his sweat was even more then. There were boys of his age, sitting and groaning at the chamber, and there was another wall with a door. Their were other doors in that chamber, but the guard led him to one on the left side. When he was tugging him there, Ulric noticed all boys were thirteen or eleven or that age. He was even more worried. He felt these boys held a grudge against him and were glaring. He could feel their anger towards him, and he didn't know why. He didn't even do anything in his life, so why was this happening to him? That wasn't his fault, but he looked at the boys and felt it was his fault, but didn't know the reason.
When he entered the chamber, there was a large window in one of the walls, and there was a bed with chain and knifes, a bucket, and that guard sat him down on the ground. He went out of the chamber. Ulric gulped and was very disturbed by all that, and he felt his eyes leaving tears. One at the beginning, and the rest followed it. He sat helplessly, wailing in his shoulder like a baby.
Some minutes passed with a mixture of silence and the groans of other boy, and the guard returned, but this time, he was with two hooded and cloaked figures. One held knife and other held a bucket, though some were already there. One of them came to pick Ulric up, as that guard left the chamber, and Ulric felt a wind, even though the window was glassed. The chamber was increasing his anxiety. What were they going to do to him? Cut him? Kill him? His teats weren't stopping. As one of them grabbed him, he felt a weird presence of someone other than those two.
"W — wait . . . No! No! Stop!"
He tried to cry and resist, but he couldn't. Those figures were more powerful than himself. He didn't want to die so early. Surely, no one would want to. He was just a child, a child of twelve, and he couldn't just withstand so much cruelty. Children were harmed because of him, and he didn't know why. They were gonna harm him, and he didn't know why. He had no chance.
Until . . .
Another figure who stood near the one who grabbed Ulric began to groan, Ulric noticed, and his heartbeats stopped. The one who held Ulric began to groan, too, and dropped Ulric. He heard some splitting, like a tomato being squeezed, and that noise only happened a second before one of them groaned. Nevertheless, when that hooded figure dropped Ulric, he didn't touch the ground, but the arms of someone, someone very dark and pitch black. He felt his eyes closing and was moving towards the window. They touched it fast, and it shattered, and they fell down.
Down and down, and Ulric closed his eyes, tears dried and fainted peacefully than before.