.

___

I dig up food from a garbage bin, this time it looks to be a bit more than usual.

Today’s haul has been great! A half-eaten loaf of bread and a slightly overripe tomato!

I sneakily hide the food underneath my table and make my way to my secret hideout.

The hideout is about an hour worth of walking away north from my hometown.

The scenery changes. I now stand in front of a large Persia-Tree. Of course, there is a secret to

this tree. By climbing on top of one of its roots and pressing against one side of the tree’s bark

and pushing against it with all my weight, I am able to slightly sink in every moment that I let

pass like this. After what feels like an eternity but at the same time no time at all I am pushed

inside a cavity, my cavity. My secret little hole, which protects me from this world.

Normally I try to roll on the ground after falling inside in order to lessen the impact of the,

relative to my size, large fall but this time I fail to do so and land stomach to the air, back to the

ground.

‘ouch!’

I stand back up immediately, facing the cavity’s entrance and need to take a moment to reorient myself but from behind myself,

there is a weird snickering noise on an audibly loud level.

Instantly turning around, what awaits me is a boy with black hair and red eyes looking at me

while still snickering behind his hands.

‘How did you get inside this place?’, I ask.

The boy continues his incessant snickering before pointing behind me and asking me in return

‘Well, are there any other ways to come inside this place except that one?’

I turn red from anger and try to protest something but before I know it, the scenery switches.

I now sit inside my hideout and eat the food I scavenged on my own, while the two of us start

engaging in a long conversation. I don’t remember… know what exactly I am saying but

eventually he asks me the important question.

‘Where are your parents?’

Well my response is really boring. I tell the guy I just met not even a few minutes ago inside

my own home my entire life’s story in full detail.

I still can’t believe I said… say that. Something is weird... It doesn’t matter.

‘Oh, that’s rough.’

I remember his answer really well. After I empty my entire 7-year-old heart on him, the guy

comes out and says ‘oh that’s rough’.

If I remember correctly … I slap him full-force and start crying.

Inbetween my crying the boy throws some words around but I can’t really listen to them

over my own incessant wailing.

‘Well … if life is this hard for you… How about ...’

I remember looking up at him when he starts talking to me. He is silent for what feels like an eternity and then he…

he finally opened his mouth again.

‘How about you just kill yourself?’

I remember being hit with words that felt like a heavy hammer hitting against my temple.

Nobody had ever insulted me with words as heavy as these ones before.

I wanted to start crying, to curse at him for being mean to me, I wanted to slap his face…

I get it now. This is nothing more than a memory inside a dream. My pitiful self must be

exhausted from work and I feel the need to come back here again to refresh the biggest

trauma in my life for a second time.

Well, so be it. And… Action.

Immediately, I freeze up like a still lake’s surface during winter season.

It’s not like all my emotions just ceased to be and I forgave the guy, who insulted me just now.

No, no, no. I just had to take a look at that expression of his. There is not a single crease,

smirk, irritation or any other emotion depicted on that blank canvas of a face. This makes me

realize what is going on here.

‘he’s serious!’

He said these words not as an insult to me but as sincere advice.

I remember feeling starting to feel a cold and gloomy feeling inside my chest.

‘Why did you go silent just now?’

In front of me, the boy is still staring at me with these large red eyes. I do not know whether

this is an imagination or not but the entire room feels foggy and Grey, as if something sucked

all the life out of the living tree that we are inside.

I continue to remain silent; I am in a state of shock and fear.

‘I mean, let’s talk realistically. You have no parents alive, that want you. You have no money.

You have no power and no knowledge on how to survive.’

I am growing colder and colder as he is speaking, my vision is getting darker and everything

loses its color.

‘Realistically, a girl like you only has a few very small options to survive.’

The person before me no longer looks like some run-off-the-mill nice guy. I am scared.

It’s so cold…

‘Your need for food will eventually grow as you get older. Assuming you don’t just die from

illness within the next year or so, you will need more than just an apple and half a loaf of

bread to survive on.’

He is casually talking about my life and death as if watching something unbelievably trivial in

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

front of him, like observing a small insect.

It’s so unbelievably cold.

‘One option would be to work in the village and to earn money. But since you seem to be a

weak, frail, dumb and overall pretty below-average girl, I doubt that anybody would hire

you. Still, better to try than not to try. Maybe if you’re lucky, there will be a plague going

around and all the able people miraculously die making some space for you. Or maybe the

guy or girl you are going to ask for a job just lost all their errand boys and girls in an

accident with a wild animal?’

He is scary. His red eyes remind me of the shiny thing on the night’s sky. I don’t want to talk to

him but my body doesn’t move. I am scared.

I am so cold… Why am I so cold?

‘If that doesn’t work, then how about going outside of town to earn some money? If you ask

some traveling merchants nice enough, they might let you travel with them for a couple of

cities or so. Of course, the chance of you being sold as a slave and living a miserable life is

quite high but the return might be tremendous.

If you prefer that option, then I recommend Carcera as a place. I heard, that the Blueseva-

house’s master’s daughter is looking for a companion to be her friend. You seem to fit the

criteria, so with a bit of practice you might have a shot at being admitted there. If you say

something like ‘A guy named Imog sent me!’ you might have a better chance there.’

I finally know what it feels like to talk with him. This fright, this absolute coldness, this

belittlement of the concept of death. He can’t be none other than…

‘Well, if that doesn’t work then I honestly have no idea what you could do. I mean surviving

in the wild might be an option but that’s unlikely when looking at you.

Well, if none of these options seem to fit to you, then I guess that all you can do is go and

die. You could jump off a nearby cliff or something but personally, I recommend taking a

sharp object and *SWISH* run through the place right before your hand. Like this, see?

You could also try to choke yourself with a knot and a rope. If you want to, I can show you

some proper knots for that variant, I tried some of them out myself.’

He can’t be anyone else than death itself. I am speaking with death right now, there is no

other explanation for this. I am dying. Do I want to die like this?

He seems to finally notice my emotions as he says one final line to me.

‘It seems like you aren’t ready to die yet. Then in that case… I know!’, he forms a fist with

one hand and hits the open palm of the other hand.

‘You have a pair of pretty eyes and I think that among the nobility, there are some guys, who like girls like you. So…

How about selling your body?’

___

I wake up with a gasp, sweat covering my entire body. I feel a freezing cold envelop me, so

immediately after waking up, I grab the thick fur-coat, that is lying next to me for nights like

this one and throw the entire thing above my naked body.

Lying inside my bed on the ground. Repeating the motion of shaking endlessly, like a broken

doll. After a couple of minutes, the shaking finally dies down.

I relax again and look up at the room’s ceiling while letting out a tired sigh.

<

at that moment.>>

With another sigh of exasperation and a mind back to full capacity I get up from my bed.

<>

I stop mid sentence, not knowing what to say and what not.

<

of myself!>>, I proclaim proudly while holding up a fist in front of my chest.

<>, I hear Claire’s voice from outside.

<>, I shout back. Another day towards my goal. One day I will reach it without fail,

no matter what I must endure until then!

.

Not everybody experiences a story in the same way.

While Kasim experienced an action-filled story of a blade-like encounter with a creature, be it

beast or human,

Kassandra experienced an entirely different story.

It all started, when she and Kasim went out to get some fresh air and explore the city at night.

Kassandra did not really feel like going but she could tell by Kasim’s pale complexion, that his

nerves were getting to him. As his best friend she decided to accompany him and to help him

relax, everything so that he would make a good performance at the tournament.

In all honesty, she has always been a bit jealous of his friend for stealing the limelight even

though she is objectively stronger than him.

But they both know that it can’t be helped since Kassandra’s fighting style is centered entirely

for combat purposes; in other words she is far more adapt at killing than at fighting

fair and square(though she never actually killed anyone until now).

For that purpose, the girl has already resigned herself to the fate of being nothing more than

an unknown decoration for the time being. What does annoy her however is the recent

behavior Kasim’s father is throwing in her way.

She has the feeling that it might not be too long before he tries to

either separate the two of them or to marry her off to him. But everything at due time.

_________

POV of Kassandra Klefaria:

<>, I hear Kasim ask from beside my left side.

<>, I answer absentmindedly.

<>, he answers in a shy manner surprising me along the way.

While turning my head to the guy, I ask him in a surprised voice

<>

<>, he immediately responds

stay clueless or not to bring the topic of marriage up at all. Goes to show how much we really

know about each other, I guess.>

<

the moment I have been waiting for ages now, you know? Man, I couldn’t sleep at all and my

entire focus is wavering more and more! WAH!>>

Kasim lets out an exhaling sound while I simply wind up a punch against his shoulder.

*Clack*

My fist hits his armor and makes a sharp sound while Kasim holds his hurting shoulder with

the hand of his still uninjured arm.

<>, he wails out like a literal child.

Well, it’s not like I hate that quality about his. I guess, that’s why we are friends.

<

there is no need to worry with that stone-head of yours. Just charge and tackle your problems

head-on like you usually do. That’s still the best method for people like you, Kasim.>>

I throw Kasim into a choke-hold while saying that and we playfully wrestle like that for a while.

Eventually, I notice something. From the direction of the merchants’ traveling path I can see

the silhouette of a person limping towards our direction. Kasim does not seem to have realized it yet,

so I start using my nose and eyes to discern what is approaching us, while preparing a string of

Majoy-Thread in the hand, that is not holding the torch.

That’s possible. He seems to be limping, so that person might have been attacked by a beast or something.>

I decide for the best course of action to be an open discourse but suddenly my shoulder is tightly grabbed

and I hear a loud clattering sound of equipment colliding with each other.

There is no need to turn around and look for who is causing these sounds.

I briefly think about explaining the situation to Kasim but decide against it because it would just be

an unnecessary hassle for me to do that.

I hand him the torch before going up to the guy by myself thinking that Kasim will be sure to behave himself while alone.

My walking pace is slow and steady as to not alarm the other person, while my eyes are focused on making out more details about him.

Already it becomes apparent, that the person now looking at me is a he by his flat rib-cage and facial features.

He is doing the same thing with me, that I am doing so it is glaringly obvious, that this guy is a professional.

That is until I realize the actual age of the man in front of me.

More than calling him a man, it is more appropriate to call him a boy with one leg in his diapers, that’s how young he seems.

The kid would look almost cute were it not for the pair of sharp eyes staring back at me and the upright and dignified posture he was upholding

while pulling out a charming smile.

<>, the boy starts a train of dialogue with me, which quickly gets interrupted.

His pupils contract while changing his gaze from me to someone behind myself. I am slow on the uptake and thus one second too

slow to give out my warning but just as I realize, who is trying to interfere in our conversation, I yell out loudly

<>

But to no avail.

_________