With the last remaining clover of light dropping on the tired village, rarely a sound, enchanted by the needs of life, was produced. Here and there some people drank until their minds were drowned in happiness-entwining sorrow. A drink in hand, those who couldn’t sleep sang and played like children. Unsightly for their past self, they nary cared for such obsolete ideas, as for now, they lived with their heart ablaze, singing and dreaming of how sweet their life was. Cup high in the sky, they all said they would rather wake up in their vomit than sleep down under…
One such man took a glass to his lips to numb the pain of life. But for him, it was quite literal, as the alcohol surged in his mouth to then caress his painful and damaged throat. The man was huge, not just in height but also in width. He was shaped like a barrel, not because he was overweight, but because his constitution produced a thick layer of fat to protect his organs and strong muscles from the intense heat required for his work.
ding ding ding
Taking a heavy hammer in his hand, the man struck a strange piece of metal on an anvil completely draped in flame, beads of sweat sizzling from his skin, still, the metal didn’t even care to bend. He had been working on shaping this object for a month already and barely any change could be seen. Yet, there was some change, as insignificant as they might be. In truth, he didn’t even know what the object he was working on was. His wife who was an alchemist showed up one day after failing an experiment and the result was this strange object that was able to rid itself of all heat in an instant.
“Honey, it’s getting late. Why don’t you come in? Let the neighbor rest.” said an old lady who moved behind the man with the help of a wheelchair. Both her legs were missing past her knee and her tired eyes landed on her husband still hard at work.
The man turned to look at the frail lady, responding with hand gestures. He used to work as a glassmaker but severely damaged his respiratory tract when he accidentally breathed in burning air.
“I see, I’ll have something to eat ready in a bit.”
The woman returned inside after giving one last glance at the man almost engulfed in flame.
He wanted to work until the fire died down. He couldn’t just heat the metal until it turned red as it didn’t even melt. He did want to sand it down into dust, either to shape it like a blade or to be used in another way but whenever his wife tried to recreate this failed product, she would ironically fail. For now, they wanted to bend it at an acute angle to see how much weight it could support before bending more and if it did, when cold, would return to its shape.
ding ding ding
He kept uselessly hammering the metal piece as the fire slowly calmed down. Sweat dripped from his large arms unharmed by the flame as he took a random piece of cloth to wipe his thick brown. His eyes glanced to the nightly street that a few lanterns illuminated. Not many people were out at this hour which gave a great sense of freedom almost alluring the man away from his forge. No, he had to clean his mess and head home for his meal. Turning back from the street, he noticed in the corner of his eye a short, hooded figure holding a small hand ax hiding in a dark passage between two houses.
He had a bad feeling and kept them in sight as he tidied the few things he had forged during the day. Suddenly, a cold shiver ran down his spine causing his hand to reach for a hammer close by as a reflex. Doing so made him lose sight of the shady being who was now just a few meters from him when he looked back. He didn’t move and neither did the other person as they both observed one another with fear visible in their eyes.
The hooded person backed down with their gaze focused on the man’s hammer. They then tripped on a stone and luckily for them, a backpack they were wearing cushioned the fall but the impact itself caused them to lose grip of the ax they had.
“Huwawawa! Wait wait wait wait wait.” Said the shady person, a young girlish voice coming out which devolved into painful coughing.
The man, not letting go of his hammer, took a wooden board which he used often when selling ware and showed it to the girl. [What do you want?] was written.
“Well, you see, I absolutely bought this ax from someone, but I realized only later that it doesn’t fit in my bag. I couldn’t return to the other shop… because I forgot where it was. I heard you work. Thought maybe you sold a sort of ax's scarab. Then…” Surprisingly talkative, the girl quickly spewed the reason she came to this place. She froze by the end, having difficulty saying the reason she was hiding and acting suspiciously, but the angry smile of the man scared her more and she hurriedly said everything. “But then I saw you in the fire and was scared for a moment, but you worked on something and looked like a demon and I got more scared and hide and then you found me and I got even more scared and I thought you were going to call some guards and walked to you and got scared and…”
The girl began to cry warm tears because of the stress overtaking her. It was Tsuki, and her mind was pushed to its limit with her tiredness and the stress that came from ‘buying’ her shiny new ax.
She had to hide in dark and unexplored streets because some greedy people were after her. Her lantern helped her traverse the labyrinth-like town and she managed to lose her pursuers by entering an abandoned house. It was only later that the sound of metal striking metal lured her out of her secret hiding spot. But what she saw was something similar to an enraged demon of fire forging a sort of crude hook. Was it her curse that showed her this image or was it a demon? Or maybe the man needed help while it was also still possible that she was just witnessing another bloody murder. What even was going on, this she didn’t know, and this uncertainty froze her in place.
[We are closed for today. Please come back tomorrow.] The man showed Tsuki another wooden board urging the girl to leave.
“Wait, please! I’m leaving this village before you can ever open shop!” Said Tsuki in a panic. Truth was, she had asked for pricing for either guard or taking a ship south and both options were over her budget. Apparently, no one wanted to take a ship south because of beasts lurking in the sea. As for the guard, there was a bunch of nobles visiting the village who paid more than whatever Tsuki could fork out.
The man was about to reject the girl once more, but the calm voice of his wife who had just come out to see what was holding her husband interrupted him. “Cain, why don’t we listen to her?” She then looked at Tsuki, serenity in her old eyes with a hint of melancholy, she invited the girl inside. “You must be hungry right? We can talk about your little trip over a warm meal. I’ll even throw a discount for what you end up buying if you come.”
Tsuki was surprised by this invitation because she hadn’t seen how tired and malnourished she looked. After all, why would anyone invite a lost child for a meal? Her cheeks were sinking deep, showing the details of her jaw and cheekbones while her eye looked like two dark caverns each showing a deem gem of either blue or green. Those hands in front of her, old and decrepit, she took them again as she saw a way in which they may show her a path to her dear Alice. That old lady and her husband were the first people she wasn’t forced to meet or follow. It was her choice and hers alone and this made her happy.
❀
“Someone stole my family from me.” Said Tsuki sitting at a table with bread, fish, and greens on her plate. “I was told a curse will kill me in a few years. I need to find them before it happens. I will… but the road is dangerous, and everyone is mocking me when I say I want a weapon to defend myself. I’m too young they say… I have the money, so please!”
She had yet to touch anything on her plate and her words made it hard for the owners of the house to eat as well. “But the outside world is too dangerous. You’re just going to end up eaten by the first monster you met.” Said the old lady.
They had introduced themselves before sitting at the table. Cain, the large man, was a blacksmith whose clan lived in harsh lands which forced their body to separate their fat into a protective layer. It allowed them to reach impossible weight with no real increase in health issues other than the added pressure on their bone structure.
The old lady was named Lapis. She worked mostly as an apothecary but would sometimes study alchemy to try and create things she usually wasn’t able to make. She specialized in the creation of remedies and ointments. As for her alchemy skill, at most, she was able to transmute lead to copper but didn’t understand how.
Tsuki, looking a bit annoyed at her utensils, none of them was a simple spoon or fork, tried to eat a piece of the fish. ‘A twork and a mini spade…really?’ she thought before managing to take the rosy flesh in her mouth. “I won’t be able to live either way if I don’t do everything I can. Alice… My family will be sad if I do nothing. And I will die without having lived.” Responded Tsuki after savoring the fish and thinking for a bit.
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Strangely, she added Kanga and the creatures that Tsuki called friends in that word ‘family’. She did despise Kanga, but there were a lot of times that this woman acted more like a mother and protected both Alice and Tsuki. At that moment, Tsuki wondered how she was doing. She must have a lot of work on her plate since there were talks of war before Tsuki escaped with Alice.
❀✿✿❀
I remember the day you told me something that had me worried for so long. How much of a fool was I to not understand what you were saying…
“I love your green eyes. When I close mine and dream of flying in the sky. Away from the scars of this rusted world. It’s fear that finds me first. A freedom so great that I forget how to breathe. And a loneliness that makes day and night melt into one. So, high above, I look down and see your green. Even in this barren world, there’s always a small flower blooming. Someday, its petals change color and I wonder what it might be thinking. Sometimes, the flower is destroyed by something, and I cry until morning only to find it blooming somewhere else with the same strength and it calms my heart. I love how strong this little flower is. Its petals are often just shades of gray, but having seen it so often, I can see its small hint of color. Recently, it bloomed so close to me that I can look under its petals and I’m always amazed at how colorful it is. I really really really love this flower and I wish it can stay by my side forever. It gives me courage and hope. I love its vivacious green stalk able to seemingly withstand the weight of the world and I love its petals ready to burst with pure and real colors.”
“…”
“Tsuki… Don’t you have anything to say to this?”
“… The flower sounds cursed or something. I wouldn’t touch it if it was too colorful. It can indicate that something is poisonous… Can you tell me where it is? If you touched it, it might be the reason you’re always sick an—”
“—Tsuki!”
“?”
“Come here. Sit by my side.”
“Here?”
“No closer.”
“…”
“Closer.”
“Is it good? Say, Alice, you’re acting strange.”
“It’s good and don’t worry about how I act, just answer my questions.”
“Hmm.”
“Do you know what a metaphor is?”
“Hn-Hn”
“So, you don’t know what I was really trying to say, right?”
“Hn-Hn”
“…I see… Then, can you hug me at the very least?”
“?”
“…Open your arms like that. Ok now, close them like this. Hmm yes…just like…this…”
“Alice? Are you sleeping? It’s…warm…hmm.”
I can’t crumble from a simple setback like this. If I don’t do everything I can, then Alice might not be able to see me from where she is, and she’ll be scared and lonely. If I want to be worthy of being the little gray flower Alice loved, then…
❀
Tsuki was back outside, walking alone in the sleeping village under a curtain of bright stars. She had her hood down to better let the sky melt into her dark hair and allow the cold wind to kiss her tired skin.
In the end, the couple sold her a few things. Lapis sold a small bag filled with medicine while Cain sold Tsuki a short bronze spear, a sword of mixed alloy, and a few things to pack and repair them when needed. Cain even adapted Tsuki’s bag to carry those weapons and not put a strain on the girl’s back.
Those purchases made her feel refreshed and she even wanted to sing, however, she refrained from doing so as to not wake up anyone and because she was slightly scared to sing since the last time she did, bad things happened.
But it didn’t matter as the sound and sight she was searching for reached her: the sea. The calming sound of the waves caressing the coarse and cold sand mixed together with a salty wind with thousands of secrets. Tsuki and Alice had read so many stories about the sea and the sick girl had always dreamed of seeing it.
“Alice, look! It’s the sea! It’s the… sea…”
They promised one another to go see this large and mysterious body of water after escaping their prison. Tsuki hoped to be filled with joy after seeing the sea, a sort of closure, but she only felt emptiness. How long will it take for their innocent promise to happen…
She tried to take in the calm night, breathing in and out slowly while spreading her toes in the sand, which she regretted doing since the sand was too cold. She quickly cleaned her feet off the wet sand and got into her boots to warm them back again.
Tsuki calmly walked along the beach, first looking at the boat bobbing up and down by the many docks and debating if stealing one was a good idea, to then get closer to people partying around a campfire out of curiosity. There were so many empty bottles for so few people drinking them that Tsuki was honestly impressed that a living body was able to contain that much liquid without exploding.
The girl came close to this group of drunkards, heavily judging them as they were priests she could see helping people around the village during the day. They were so far gone, singing and dancing praise for whatever god of the sea, which Tsuki cared nothing for, and they didn’t realize she wasn’t one of them. The girl used this chance to take a few untouched bottles. As she put it: ‘this is something to do that is necessary for a person of my standing to protect those fools.’ Even if she wasn’t someone of any real standing, she just hated people drinking and believed she was above them for that reason.
“Ho, praise Scylla with me!” said an overweight priest who saw Tsuki and thought she was with them drinking.
“…”
“Scylla, our mother, is coming back. From the sea, she loves us as her child! Sing with me! Our praise to our mother!”
“Yay…Scylla.”
Tsuki was starting to despise this priest who was fluent in his words but couldn’t even get up from his bed of sand.
“Fush up Bo---By. Ya shay that *hic* ehy days. She ain’’ ever coming bash. Buhuhuhu.” Said a stick-shaped priest, maybe even leaner than the underfed Tsuki, bawling his eyes out like a river filled with alcohol going back to the sea. And going back to the sea is exactly what this man tried to do by going straight into the sea. “I’m Shorry, is all my fault. *hic* *cough* *cough* HO mother of the sea, I feed you my sinful flesh as amend for our sins! Take me into your---”
Tsuki had enough of those drunkards and left them to their misery, the few still able to move tackled the stick-like priest before he could drown himself. In total, Tsuki was able to reclaim one expensive bottle of wine, two strong liquor, and a strange book made by a kid. As for the book, she had no intention of reading it, she felt as if someone would have been sad if it got damaged by the waves or all the alcohol. She was planning to give it back the next day before leaving.
❀
Tsuki had walked quite a distance and finally found a calm place, where the forest met the sea over a small rocky cliff. She wanted to sleep close to the sea in the hope that Alice might hear the breaking waves when the girl slept.
She took out the music box from her bag, opened it, and let its music calm her mind. The melody was simple and looking at the lyrics on the lid, Tsuki realized it was a song any mother could sing to their children. It was simple and lacked anything that made a song good but instead, it was filled with words of love that could warm a kid’s heart.
As she listened to the melody in an improvised bed, she lightly sang the lyrics until her eyes became too heavy and sleep took her.
❀
When she opened her eyes again, she was in the world of dreams with the large tree in which Yuu would often meet her. The girl’s mind was overly tired and only wanted to rest and so she looked around for the strange spirit to call off her lesson, but her mind froze when she saw her, bloody and dirty, armed with a scary halberd in her right hand. This girl’s left side was missing its arm and a large chunk of flesh as blood pour on the clear liquid they walked atop.
“Tsuki…Something terrible is going to happen in a few months.” Said the wounded spirit crestfallen. “I’ll have to accelerate your lesson, so you don’t just die. I also contacted someone from your past who is also ready to help you. I think he will meet you tomorrow.”
“Yuu! What do you mean by something terrible? What’s going on?! Are you ok?!”
“Girl, starting now until the end of this lesson, I won’t really be able to talk with you. I have to focus somewhere else. For this lesson, I will attack you with the intent of killing you. If you die, you revive. If you wound me, such that a person like you would die from the same wound, then the lesson ends and you will wake up. I’ll allow a question before we start.”
Tsuki was terrified by the sudden event and didn’t know what to ask. In her fear, she asked Yuu if she was fine which the spirit answered by saying that she was: “Something like that will never kill me. I’m good. Thanks for asking.”
After answering, Yuu demanded that Tsuki take out a weapon and get ready. Tsuki clumsily wielded her spear in front of her hoping that her stance was passable. She said that she was ready, her voice trembling. Regret drowned her as she saw the spirit dashing toward her with her long halberd shaft below her armpit to better hold it with only one arm.
Tsuki tried to push the large weapon coming at her with her spear, but she was far too weak, and the halberd long tip pierced her neck. Pain and fear jolting up in her brain she tried to land a hit on the spirit, but her opponent acted faster by removing the trusted weapon and following her movement into a downward strike with the ax part of the weapon aimed at the girl’s skull, which it shattered on impact, scattering bones and brain matters on the floor.
She was killed and a new body for a terrified Tsuki to control was created a few meters from the bloody spirit. A painful stage was created in which she was forced to dance atop not even knowing the first step needed.