While Reyansh was entering his 8th dungeon today, his sister was walking down the road, towards her home. There was quickness in her steps, her thoughts were occupied with the list of things she had to when she gets home.

’Brother hasn’t even told me his channel’s name, but he was confident in his strength, should I check for top 10 new channels of this week?’ She wondered.

’But it’s only has been three days since he awakened. He may not be much popular, I will try asking again, later.’

’I want to see him in action and find, why he is called Elite of the elites.’ She hoped, thinking she may find something that help her in finding her courage.

At the same moment, few meters behind her, a man in his early twenties was following her, trying to appear inconspicuous with a hoodie over his head. As Vanya stepped on a quiet road, the boy increased pace in his steps.

"This is one of the quietest area, this is the best moment. Bring the van in front of her." The man spoke in a communication device.

"Okay, you position yourself behind her," came the reply from other side.

"Yes, I am moving ahead," the man answered as they agreed on the location.

Vanya was walking down the street, half focused on road ahead and half lost in thoughts.

Just then a grey colored van stopped with a screeching sound, few inches away in front of her.

She was alarmed instantly, her steps halted mid-air as a sense of danger flooded her mind. She stepped back to turn around, when a hand from behind covered her mouth and pushed her into the van.

The moment her mouth was covered my an unknown hand, panic surged but before she could take any action, she was thrown into the van with the man sliding the gate shut behind them.

The van sped up without wasting a moment, making a clean getaway.

"Hell Yes!" the driver exclaimed.

"This was easy," the other man agreed, their joy was through the roof.

"Do you think Guildmaster Jai will really promote our channels?" the driver asked in disbelief as he sped through the streets.

’What? Why is this happening? How?’ Vanya’s thought were mess as she tried to sit up and understand her situation.

But before she could stabilize herself properly, out of nowhere a punch connected with her jaw, causing her to smash her head to the van’s flooring.

Her mouth turned bloody as she smelled rubber of the flooring of van. She felt her jaw was just a touch away from dislocating as it buzzed from the pain.

"Stay down bitch, we were told to not hurt you too much but little bit of tap should be fine, haha..." he laughed as he straightened his knuckles.

"Hey, do you think maybe we should help ourselves with a bit of advance payment before Guildmaster pays us," the driver spoke as he gave a lecherous gaze at Vanya.

The buzzing sensation hadn’t even stopped when words dripped with malice reached Vanya’s ears, stupefying her in the position she fell.

"No man, we shouldn’t take chances. What if Guildmaster gets angry?" the man replied though he too looked at the young girl with regret in his eyes as she was laying there with most of her face covered by her hairs.

The jaw-rattling punch and these disgusting words almost broke Vanya’s resistance, as tears ran down her cheeks. She curled up her body, bringing her knees closer to her chest.

"The bitch is smart, I thought I would get to punch one more time," the spoke almost with regret as he grinned.

’Why is this happening to me?’ she wondered.

"Why?" she whispered, fearing if she raised her voice, she would get punched again.

"Is she saying something?" the driver asked.

"I don’t know what she is mumbling," the man replied.

"Why are you doing this? Please leave me, my family is not rich, we have nothing to give you." She pleaded in a sobbing voice with whatever came to her mind.

"Aww...don’t worry we don’t need anything from your family, you are just insurance..." as the man was answering, his phone rang.

"Hello, Guildmaster," he addressed as he picked up the call.

"Yes Guildmaster...As you say...We will keep that in mind," he answered to the person on phone.

"Did he say something else?" the driver asked as the call ended. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

"No, he was praising us, saying we are real brave to do this work," the man answered with a smug grin.

While her resistance hit rock bottom, something else happened in result. The panic flooding her mind finally settled down as the man talked on phone.

’He said I am insurance...No...not my brother,’ she panicked again like she remembered something important while the tear line on her face thickened.

’My brother will be devastated if something happened to me. He is already shouldering everything, I can’t be the person who pushes him to brink.’ Her mind reeled.

For a moment, she almost forget that she was in a precarious condition as she thought about her brother.

’No...No...you can’t be pathetic again Vanya. He just told me today that he trusts me, believes in me. But here I am again, weeping like a helpless kid.’ She cursed herself for her situation.

While both man talked about future benefits, her mind went blank. She tuned out her thoughts, not focusing on lecherous talks of the men, neither on the cold rubber of van’s floor touching her face.

Slowly she curled up her fingers into a fist near her chest in anger, ’Again, I couldn’t do anything and now my brother has to suffer for it.’

’Mom, just why I am so weak,’ she sobbed quietly as tears streamed down her cheeks.

Vanya felt like she was in a dark tunnel with no light to guide her. Before her thoughts could turn to self hate, a gentle tug at her thoughts made her remember the words she had heard today.

"And how can you be not courageous, you are challenging The Best Hunter."

"But everyone has to start somewhere, you just have to take your first steps and then the path will be clear for you. Don’t worry about that."

Her brother’s words replayed in her mind on a loop, which felt more hurtful for a moment. She was betraying her brother’s trust and she was too scared to take the first step.

’My brother believes in me even when I did nothing to earn that trust. I am too scared that I will get punched again.’ She thought as she felt blood pooling in her mouth.

’I am frightened that I will get hurt more if I tried to retaliate. I am too terrified to even think about resisting them.’

Her fingers turned white as she clenched her fist harder, almost piercing her palm, as a punishment for herself.

"You just have to take your first steps and then the path will be clear for you." As her brother’s words repeated in her mind, she felt a sense strength welling up inside her.

’Just take the first step, Vanya. You can do that much for yourself, for your brother who thinks the world of you.’ She tried to motivate herself.

For a moment, all the memories of hardship that her brother had went through, flashed in her mind. The late night jobs, missing on lunches and dinner for days, sacrificing his dreams to take care of them for three years.

’There must me much more that I didn’t even know. I can’t be the weakness of our family.’ Her resolve strengthened a bit.

’I am not weak, I can protect myself. Even if I can’t, I can’t go down without any resistance.’

She lifted her head as she both men focused on road, she slowly pushed herself as she thought of the way she can do most damage.

"I AM NOT WEAK!" she shouted as she lunged straight for the driver.