93 THIS IS MY STORY - RAIGON

Raigon drew in a deep breath and looked at everybody. Zoe was still staring at him with her dagger eyes.

He closed his eyes and made a decision. Then he opened his mouth and shared his resolution to every eye on him.

"I grew up in a remote country. We were living peacefully when raiders from other islands plundered the land of our fathers and killed our families; men, women, and children alike. It was of good fortune that my family and some others were spared."

A sudden hush swept through the group that only the lapping beach waves could be heard as the Prince of Terra told the chronicles of long ago.

They seemed to grieve for the lost souls of the City as they hum a melancholic sound which could pierce the heart of anyone paying attention.

Everyone was speechless as they never heard of a close encounter who had experienced such a horrible catastrophe before. Even Zoe.

Shocked by the narration that she was just listening, she cupped her mouth with both of her hands in horror. 

'Is this real? Or he was just making things up?'

She wanted to believe that he was only making up a myth, that he was only joking around to lighten things up.

But as she observed his glistening eyes, his clenched jaw, and how he bit his lips and cracked his knuckles to control his emotions, she realized she was listening to a depiction of a true record. 

One managed to stand up as he stuttered, "Y-you mean, you are a victim of a terrorist attack?" 

"I guess so," Raigon responded as his eyes reddened in flashes of pain and anger. It didn't escape Zoe's keen observation. 

"They ravished our motherland, setting fire to everything they lay their hands on. They murdered anyone who tried to stop them from having their way."

"They are bloodthirsty savages that even innocent children were slain. Our green environment became red with our own blood,"

Raigon continued in a heavy growling voice as he clenched his fist and punched it on the sand while recalling the scenario that happened fifteen years ago.

Everyone was startled at his actions but they understood where he was coming from.

They just allowed him to express his pent-up anger as they listened to him unfold an expose that was hidden for decades.

Meanwhile, Zoe was clutching her chest as the scenes that Raigon laid out came flashing through her mind.

'Am I just visualizing his tale? Or did I really see them with my own two eyes?'

She inhaled a lungful of air and tried to get good ventilation as she stood up and moved away from the group. But she was still in an area where she could listen to Raigon as he carried on.

As he was cooling down, Clay the eldest in the tribe tried to talk to him.

"Why didn't you report it to the police? Or the media? Someone must have taken a video. If you put it on social media, I'm sure it will go viral. Someone would surely take action against those evil beasts."

"I know. But exposing the situation to the world would cause greater harm to our native soil. Even though they have ripped us apart, they didn't get what they were after. We made sure they won't so that our inhabitants will not die for nothing."

Raigon explained on. "But if we exposed this feature with the world, our location will be in greater danger. Other greedy leeches will eye our homeland and we don't know if we could handle them any longer." 

Clay seemed satisfied as he rubbed his chin. "You have a point there. You must have a very rich hometown. Or the Yamashita treasure must be under it!"

Raigon snickered lightly at his comment, but he did not answer him. That part of the picture is what he couldn't divulge even though they point a knife at his throat.

"Please continue with your story, Mr. Gao," Kristie spoke up as she wiped the last trace of tears from her eyes with her handkerchief. They were now bulging in puffiness as she was crying silently while Raigon was describing his past. 

"How is your region now?" She asked as she sobbed. 

"We lost many lives. After that, we managed to recover somehow but the wound that scarred our hearts was never healed. We still had nightmares until now and live in fear that something like that will happen again anytime."

"You must have felt responsible for their safety," Kristie thought aloud.

"Yes. That is why I trust that all of you here will also protect the land of my birth by keeping this exposition between us. We couldn't bear to see blood again. I don't know how we could survive another one," He said to the Norfolks Tribe.

"Sure, dude," Clay answered him, he held out his fist and cheered Raigon. "You're one tough human. Guard your old country at all costs. We're rooting for you."

"And if you need help, just contact us. We will not harm you in any way." He added as he zipped his mouth, motioning the tribe to zipped theirs as well, which they did.

"Yes, Mr. Gao. We will support you!" They gave him a lift in unison.

Raigon smiled as he saw them. It felt like a heavy weight was lifted off his chest. He didn't know how pleasant it is to have someone to share your heart with and be supported at the same time.

Surprisingly, they were not natives of Terra. Not all of them are covetous after all. He heaved a sigh of relief as he realized that he didn't make a bad decision of sharing his private life with these foreign people at all.

He peeked at Zoe to see her reaction, but her back was on him. His prominent eyebrows furrowed as he didn't know what she was thinking.

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For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed,

and nothing concealed that will not be known

or brought out into the open.

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