Chapter Two.

Self hatred is a great weapon for destruction, because the moment one begins to hate one's self, havoc and chaos is being birthed. It is when the mind becomes polluted with a shadow of doom. When love is lost, and contempt, rings in. It redeems. It rules. It kills, like a slow poison.

But maybe sometimes it isn't all dreadful. After all, every bad things always have a good side. For without good, evil would not exist. Without death, life would be meaningless. 

Self hatred to Fiora, managed its way into her life to change it for the better. All her life, she had found nothing but pain. Saddening for she fears it had all been nothing but her fault. She had lost her father because of something she'd said years ago. She lost her home. She hated herself more than water repelled oil. But she knew now what she must do. Her life could still change, only if she was willing to make it better. And she did. 

Every day, for a few days now, after the sun had gone go rest, and the moon awakens to brighten up the night sky, she too would go out to the city street and cheered up the villagers. If it was food she could bless them with, she'd fetch it out for them without any hesitation. Some other times, it would be to impact her knowledge to them, whether literary or counseling. It was always exciting for her because these people fought a lot, but they still love each others endlessly. Just a few nights ago, they would assemble around a campfire just opposite the local church and party all night. They'd chat around, take turns talking about how their day was being spent, their near deaths experiences, how they'd survived. Fiora would teach some of them a little sword fighting, yet enough to protect their selves as a defense mechanism. 

If there was one thing that she enjoyed about having to sharing the same roof with Clement, it was that he was rich. Filthy rich at that. He did dirty works for some powerful people in town, and they compensated him heavily. The striking odd thing was how he would stack up all that he made and every week, dispose them at her bedroom. Maybe he still tried compensating her for the way he'd behaved years ago when he sent her off. Or maybe he was just a lunatic. The gold coins were quite useless at home there, as she couldn't spend it for Sif and his family. Clement specifically warned her against any form of attachment whatsoever with his family, listing all kinds of nightmarishly rules she had to abide to, including never having to spend a dime of her money for them. She would always complained they weren't her money, but he'd just ignore. Plenty months passed now without her taking a dime out of the money, until few nights ago when she heard the cry of a little girl, begging for just water because she and her family hadn't eaten in days. She took a few coins out and got all kinds of fresh food, blessing the poor child and her family, then decided to start feeding just more than one mouth. 

That sacred ritual had been going on for just nine nights now. And so far so good, she had not regretted anything. She was happy. The people were happy. Her people. That night, they were on female dominance topic. She tried educating them that women were worth more than just cook, wash and sew. They could be a lot more of what ever they wanted to.

"You could even be a mighty warrior, as long as you're committed to it." She assured. The air that night was cold, the fire at the center burnt so fierce but that was just about it. It didn't exactly warmed the atmosphere and Fiora couldn't quite understand the reason. It was dark because the nightfall rose against them, yet so bright as the warm smiles on the faces of the people pleased her heart.

"A warrior? Hmmmp!" A middle aged man grunted.

"And what was that all about, Fredwick?" Fiora objected.

"What do you mean what was that all about?" Bellowed another man Fiora recognized as Donn. "You go about, deceiving these women, Missy. That's a man's job and you all know that! Women weren't built for powerful tasks like that!" He barked, his voice bold and arrogant.

"Yea! Yea!" A few other of them thundered from bellow and Fiora was a bit disappointed not a single word was heard from the women. The central city lacked courageous women, unlike other villages. Fiora had seen how those women grow to becoming much more powerful leading personnel. What was wrong with her people? They coward too much. Feared their fathers and brothers and husbands, therefore always happen to find their selves last, down in the shadow.

"These women have no other purpose in their lives other than to cook, wash, sew and die! Ha!" One old man shamelessly erupted into laughter, with a few others joining him. Their voices from a peaceful talk grew loud into noises and Fiora could not stop to feel pity for these women. No wonder they feared those empty barrel brained men.

"Rupert, don't forget to mention their connection with child bearing." One of them added and the laughter bellowed more again, this time, more annoying and louder. 

"What do you men do?" Fiora broke the noise as she roared in the question. "What makes you empty brained men more powerful than us?" She asked again.

"What do you mean by that, Missy?" Donn queried. 

"It was a quite simple question, Mister. Or your macho brain is finding that hard to process?" She teased. She knew Donn was the chief in their midst. The one they all worshipped and feared, she'd observed for some time now. His arrogance, his cool, the way he placed fear in the lives of others. Men like that would hate just one thing. Defeat.

"How- how can you t- talk about Sir Donn that w- way, Fiora?" A voice stammered from their midst. 

"Quiet you old hag!" Donn commanded, written all over his tone that he was boiling already. "You, Missy, uh... You-" 

"You don't seem to have an answer yet, Donn." A feathery voice inquired from behind and all eyes turned back to stop and stare, including Donn. They gathered on the ground in an arched manner, curving outwards whilst the campfire sat lowly directly in the middle like the heartbeat of the atmosphere. They held their children in their arms, some of them fast asleep already, and the others that were awake peacefully enjoyed the warm company. Although while the argument that night grew out of hand, some of the babies boomed into tears, scared of the loud noise that they heard. When the strange voice called out, they all transferred their attention towards him. Fiora's gaze fell on the young hooded man, and she was quite astonished. He looked tall, walked gracefully and as he approached further, a strikingly odd resemblance of Baron Daegal caught her attention. She pictured him to be an acquaintance. 

He also smiled a lot. "I believed she asked quite a simple question." He smirked. He walked past the few people in his path and went straight forward towards where Fiora was sitting. A young man was already beside her. "Excuse me, I'd like to sit here." His lips curled up to a warm smile and the man quietly rose up to find someplace else to sit. Fiora noticed he stood firmly still as a log of wood besides her, and waited as he observed whatever it was he was thinking. 

"Do you need a permission to sit?" She asked.

He bent low like in a bow position. "Miss, I can't sit on the plain ground." He whispered, grinning wildly like they all must had been out of their minds for getting their outfits dirty like that. Everywhere was still ghost-silent, even the crying babies all stopped to observe the angel's appearance in their midst.

"I don't understand." Her puzzled eyes remained focused on him. His face was now opposite to hers, wildly gazed that she had to move a little to avoid any form of contact.

"The floor, it's dirty." He noted. She waited for him to say more but he just stared, his eyes never faltering off. The people all still stared in total silence, making the moment even more odd and awkward.

"Okay." She shifted away from where he was standing only for him to majestically follow, his arms akimbo. "Would you like to sit on my head then?" She asked, and a few giggles was heard. Fiora guessed him to be one of those arrogant wealthy lads. She heard him sighed, then took off the hood and laid it neatly on the floor like a blanket before sitting on it. He had a bag swung around his arms. The young man was neatly dressed, well spoken, and she couldn't help but noticed his skin glowingly smooth and healthy, the exact opposite of pale. In just a minute, she knew he didn't belong in their midst. He was indeed from a wealthy home.

"Continue." He said and almost like he'd performed spell, the argument began again. Noises bubbled from the voices of the men, as they all spew things that irked Fiora. "Where's Donn?" He asked, and everywhere became silent again.

"Care to introduce yourself, young man?" Donn asked from the other end. 

"Who I am isn't necessarily important-"

"You must be a wealthy man's son, eh?" He inquired. 

"Again, not important who I am." He implored.

"Enough argument for tonight. It used to be fun here, what is happening this time?" Fiora flared up.

"You. You happened." Donn stated. "How dare you try to mislead our women?"

"Yea! Yea!" Demanded the other men.

"She asked what it was to be a man. What do you powerful men do?" Asked the young man.

"Who fights for you weakling women when at war? Huh? Who protects you from danger? Nobody except us men." Donn stated out. "The only thing you women are good at is being good wives to us, so do your jobs well." There was a loud cheering and clapping. 

"How very great of you, Donn." Aiden clapped twice and Donn's facial tone changed to anger. But also a bit of fear. Donn feared just how much power this strange man held and what he could do if he crossed him, but he still wasn't ready to loose his ground. Aiden on the other hand, had heard of the high and mighty Donn at the lower rings of the central city. More than half of the things he'd heard weren't nice, so he did not like this man.

"Nobody's starring up a fight now, Mister." Aiden watched Fiora spoke with so much courage. She rose up and advanced towards where Donn was sitting. Aiden rushed up too, just in case she might need any slightest form of protection. She was fiery, bold, and something in her just pleased him so dearly. She was just like his mother. He'd only met Fiora for a few seconds, but he was already so convinced she was the type of person he'd love to associate himself with. She could come in really handy on his mission. "You think you protect us? Ha! We protect ourselves. But more importantly, we protect you."

"How, if I may ask?" He scoffed. 

"Thank you for the question, Donn." She flashed a smile to him, and he returned the gesture. Aiden noticed her beam a "you're so creepy," glance at him. Maybe he was creepy because he wouldn't stop following her everywhere. "You treat women like they're nothing."

"Because they are!" A voice screamed out from behind, and pathetic laughter followed. Aiden was disappointed in those men.

"Hmm. If you say so." She said, and bumped into Aiden who was still behind her. "Watch it you needle head!," she frowned at him and moved away. "Yet, why do you all marry? If men are so strong and mighty, do you actually need a man?"

"Well, we can't give birth. Only you women can do that." A man pointed out.

"See? And do you think child bearing is an easy task? If it is, why don't you do it yourselves?" She asked and some women giggled out. 

"Because it is nature's law. We cannot give birth!" Donn screamed.

"That alone makes you women powerful. Don't you understand? These men came from you. You are their goddesses and deserve to be respected." She scrutinized the perplexed looks on the faces of the women. "Let me ask this silly question. How weak do you think your husbands, fathers and brothers would be if they came home one night without any food provided for them?" She asked, grinning from ear to ear.

"Very pathetic." A petite girl mentioned, and a much older woman, presumably her mother, shushed her up. "What? Father would be. You know how he always is about his food." She commented and all the other women bursted out in laughter.

"But if you're all so powerful as you think, why wait for these weaklings to cook for you?"

"Because, uhh, it is their duty!" Another man stuttered immediately Fiora spoke.

She pouted and nodded like she was in deep thoughts. "Okay. What if these women didn't cook for you again?" She asked and silence overtook the atmosphere. She knew how helpless Clement usually was whenever he comes home and supper wasn't ready yet. He would almost run mad.

"Well, then we'll stop protecting women." A fat man broke the silence.

"And they don't sew your torn clothes." She added.

"Yes, we can manage." Said another man.

"And they don't wash, clean or touch any of your property." She continued.

"They wouldn't even survive it." Scoffed one woman, and Aiden was pleased to have these women finally speak up.

"Says who?" The fat man asked.

"Says me. Your wife!" The same woman proudly replied. A few of them chuckled and giggled.

"Father would never even last a day!" A young girl commented and a laughter roared up, but this time, it was the women. "What? It's true." She shrugged when her mother, as Aiden would have guessed, frowned at her.

"I guess we're a little bit powerful, aren't we?" Chuckled another woman. They all chorused in uniform, muttering and chattering till their voices overtook the men's. 

This went on for a few minutes before Donn broke it off. "What is your final outcome with all of this, missy?"

"Yea! Yea!." The crowd agreed with him. Majority of which were the men. Although the women too wanted to know what Fiora was pointing to with her statements.

Fiora then smiled with content, walked up to each women and asked what they truly would love to do. 

"I'd love to be a knight." Said a young woman.

"I want to own a bar." Replied another.

"I want my mother to be happy. My father beats her." A small girl complained and Fiora watched her mother blink back a tear. "I just want to take care of my baby." She bursted out in tears. "I cook well. I wouldn't mind selling at a the cheapest price for the needy."

"I sew well and I would love to show off my designs someday." Cried another woman.

Aiden watched all those women pour out their truest desires and he knew then that Fiora would play a big part in achieving his goal. He needed her. He would need her. She just didn't know it yet but, she would be his greatest tool for his secret ambition.