The Past Winter
Pyramid of Caste

Apparently not only on this floor alone, screams were also heard from the top floor. It was as if this place was a fortress consisting of several layers. The slave candidates who survive in the cell and do not want to come out will be tortured by the bad guys. They do not hesitate to kick or hit using torture devices that have been prepared beforehand.

Though those who are being tortured by them are minors who may not even have a place to live and family on the surface. And will instead have a deep trauma in his childhood as a result of this terrible event.

I who was furious to see the terrible events before my eyes rose from where I hid. But, a hand got in my way. Apparently the hand belonged to Rossie who was trying to hold me up.

“Shut up at your place you stupid boy! You want to fuck!?” Whisper's angry.

I tried hard to hold back the emotions that have been held up. How it hurts my heart to see those who are small being treated as rude and uncivilized as such. After the wicked men managed to bring their chosen children out, they left and closed the iron door again and disappeared behind the big door at the end of the hall. The wrenching moans and shouts of earlier gradually dimmed.

“Basic crazy boy! What do you think you want, ha!” Rossie who looked very upset threw the straw that wrapped my body earlier towards me.

“Don't you see what they're doing!?” I'm no less angry than Rossie.

“Hey good boy, what are you going to do? Shout at those guards to release them? They won't listen to you.” Rainar.

“At least there are things I can do and instead of just watching their treatment like earlier!” I said the one who was emotionally stirred.

“Try it! Or you'll replace them! You will be sold by those bastards and made into slaves by the rich on the surface! Don't you know!?” Hardik Rossie is upset with me.

“Allet alone you are very rare. In this world that has red eyes as beautiful as that is only you.” Said Rainar. “I'm curious you'll be appreciated how much.” Close it.

“If they do that to your family, will you accept!?” My voice started to shake.

“Just relax, I don't have that fancy thing you mean.” Sahut Rainar with his leisure. “We all here have no family. Even if there were, we wouldn't be here, would we?” Further.

Rossie took a deep breath, she tried to calm herself down before finally returning my words. “The family you mean are the ones who dumped us on the streets? Or the adults who sold us to this damned place to earn money for their lives?”

Rossie's words made the entire cell dweller stare at me. His slow voice was apparently heard by all of them who were still traumatized. My eyes are round, that's not what I meant. I just want to see myself as their family. I just don't accept the treatment of the adults who come in and force the other kids out by dragging them like that.

I was silent too. My tears are rising on my eyelids. I can't imagine what's going to happen to them on the surface. After the words of Rossie earlier, began to sound sobbing from one of the children and then spread quickly to all children in prison.

I feel guilty for what I said earlier, it is my fault that they have reopened their wounds. If I hadn't talked about family, maybe things wouldn't have gotten worse.

From Rossie's words, I can tell that it's not just the abandoned children who are here. There are children who are deliberately sold by their families for money. There are also children who are kidnapped by criminals and sold to auction.

I leaned against the corner of the cell while hugging my knee. I stared at the ground beneath my feet. I felt Rossie sitting leaning against the same iron bars that I was sanding. He breathed heavily.

“Those who were kidnapped and sold here, what family they are not looking for?” I said opening the sentence.

“Not that they didn't try to search, but they couldn't.” Answer Rossie.

Not finished I spoke, Rossie had stopped me by pounding my forehead which successfully made me grimace in pain.

“Hey, Rubi..”.

Rubi is a nickname chosen by Rainar and Rossie for me from the results of their long discussion some time ago. They made that name take from the color of my pretty eyes like ruby. From that moment on my name became Rubi.

“If you ask too much, you will not be able to grow high.”

I clenched my lips together. Rossie and Rainar who were watching from his cell chuckled.

“You lied to me!” I said bad.

“Why are you so curious?” Said Rainar to me.

“I just want to know.” My answer.

“Not that they don't want to look for us, but they can't.” Rossie.

“Indeed why?” Ask again.

“There is a caste system on the surface, an absolute level that cannot and will not be changed even by the Emperor.” Rossie explained what a caste system he meant to me.

On the surface the levels of society are divided into three levels that form a pyramid. The first and top tier were Emperors along with the Imperial family. The level that was the greatest and most respected by the entire people of this Estheria Empire.

The second level is nobility. They were divided into high and low nobles. Their existence could not be underestimated as they helped the Emperor family in managing the empire, as well as being the foundation in the empire.

The third level is the people. Although it is in the third level, the role of the people is very important. The people worked for the nobility and the Emperor's family and paid taxes for the welfare of the empire. The people helped to build the empire into a big and advanced. There would be no empire without people in it.

The final or fourth level there are slaves. Although not included in the official pyramid of the Empire, after being removed decades ago because it does not correspond to the humanitarian side, but slaves still exist in the Empire. Slaves were the most despicable group in the empire.

Those who were slaves were separated from the laws that were in effect in the empire. There were no rules governing the protection of slaves within the empire. Therefore, if a person has been given the sign of a slave by the person who bought them, then there is no more freedom for him for life.

Slaves are usually used as toys by upper class people, pets that can be spoken to, gratuities, used as gladiators, or boxing samsaks for their masters. All the slaves that had been purchased were not treated like humans, and even many cases of slave murders were covered up by the empire.

“But the ones still here have not become slaves because there is no sign, right?” My toot.

“Indeed. But the average here is just ordinary people. Those pretentious officers on the surface will not magnify the reports of a small people like us. They just pretended to listen and write reports, then burned the whole folk report in the hearth.” Rossie.

“If only the Emperor knew a small people like us were treated like that, then he would not stay silent!” Rossie who was furious about the treatment of ‘surface’ officers on him was unceasingly swearing sejapah so-so.