Dried twigs crackle and pop from the intense heat of the fire.

The orange light of the campfire illuminates the faces of a black haired man and a red haired woman.

It was Ramza and Abby.

There was wooden make shift spit above the campfire.

It is cooking a hare meat, it was already skinned and gutted.

The smell of the meat enters their noses making them more and more hungry everytime the spit rotates.

Abby is staring intensely at the glistening meat already craving for it.

"Even if you stare at it like that it wont cook faster"

"Oh, and what ever happened to 'Why did you kill it, you monster!' "

Ramza said while mocking and imitating Abby.

Abby did not like that one bit and starts to cross her arms and gives him a gold glare.

"Shut up"

He laughed and continues to add twigs to the fire.

She then decides to lay down on the green soft grass.

Her long scarlet hair unfurls and the sky reflects on her blue eyes.

The dark sky illuminated by stars made her feel like she was not in another world.

The pleasant breeze, the scenery and the smell of cooking meat made her feel euphoric.

It made her feel like she was at her hometown again.

"Hey Ramza"

"Yeah"

"Do you miss your family?"

The sudden question made him divert his attention from the meat to Abby.

He was a bit taken aback from Abby's personal question.

"Well, i haven't seen them in 7 years. So, yeah pretty much"

"They send letters from time to time but.." Ramza drifts off

Sadness can be seen from his emerald eyes.

"I miss my father's bread and my mothers terrible homecooking"

A laugh escapes from Abby and Ramzas mouth.

"How about you? You have a family back at your world?"

"Yeah, I have a mom and three sibilings"

"My father.." A tear starts to fall down her cheek

She felt a lump in her throat.

After a few second of silence Abby clears her throat.

"Well my father died in a war 3 years ago."

"War?" Ramza asked as he was spinning the spit

"A pointless war really, you see our worlds resources and lands started to dwindle "

"So the leaders of two superpowered nation decided to take each others wealth"

"One thing lead to another, and then an all out war broke lose"

"They tried throwing nukes at each other, to see who surrenders first"

"Failing to realize that their war is killing the resources they are fighting for."

Abby grips a tuff of grass tightly in her hands.

"Millions of people die, and before they even realized it the world itself was dying"

"Luckily the remaining surviving nations the one who didn't want any part of the war decided to unite and tries to stop the two nation"

"But, the damage was already done, they were many place that was unhabitable"

"Our people was starving and dying from the radiaton, we thought it was the end for humanity"

"Thankfully a miracle came, a son of a famous inventor discovered a new world, this world"

Abby wipes her tear, gets up and looks at Ramza.

"So, thats basically, why we are here"

Silence came, the sound of the burning wood and the sizzling of meat was the only thing they hear.

"Alright, I think it ready, lets eat" Ramza said.

He then takes out the skewered hare cuts it into two with his knife and give the other half to Abby.

"Thanks"

As Abby takes a bite her tongue is immediately filled with meaty and smoky taste.

The taste made her smile and starts to continue gorging the meat with animalistic haste.

"It's so delicious, I havent had proper meat in a long time, all we had was MRE" she said with her cheeks full of hare meat.

Ramza just chuckles and starts eating his hare too.

"Hey Ramza"

"Yeah"

"Why, do you hate women"

The sudden question almost made Ramza choke. He then starts coughing violently and tries to find his water canteen.

He drinks a big gulp and then looks at Abby.

" What do you mean? "

" I mean the 'not trusting another women again' thing"

"Are you sure you don't like men?"

Ramza gives Abby a cold glare then he takes a big bite of meat. The question made him uncomfortable.

It feels like she is trying to peel off a mask he is hiding for years.

Maybe I should just tell her, we wont be seeing each other again, so what the hell, he thought.

He takes a deep breath inhaling the delectable meaty aroma.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

"No, i dont like men and the reason i hate woman is.. " he suddenly stops mid sentence and looks at her in the eyes.

"Are you sure you want to know?"

Abby just nods and continue eating her meat.

"Alright, let me take you back when i was still 17 years old"

" I was traveling Marblewood forest, trying to get to Riverglade for their Army recruitment"

"Suddenly I hear this ominous squeal, the squeal was so loud that the birds and tiny monster around me tries to flee."

"I ready my staff and look around trying to find the source of the sound"

Ramza bites on the meat again, drinks a gulp of water and then continues his story.

"All of a sudden a petite black haired girl burst out from the bushes with a giant boar hot on her heels."

"She was coming straight towards me"

"She then suddenly halts and throws something at the boar's eyes making it stop and struggles to remove it"

"That bitch immediately run for cover on the nearby rocks leaving me and the boar face to face"

"After the boar finish shaking of the weird substance it started to glare at me"

"Stomping and blowing it's nose indicating that it is about to charge at me"

"Thinking quickly I readied a barrier in front of me and ready to cast a lightning spell"

He points the meat infront of him trying to relive the memory.

"As soon as his tusk hits my barrier it crackled and break, the impact was so great that the boar shakes his head, it was disoriented "

"I fire my lightning spell at it, it squealed and shake but the boar was reselient , so I tried hitting it with a fire spell"

"The fire only made it more angry so i run over on a nearby tree"

"It starts charging after me the ground shakes more intensily as it goes closer and closer"

"Then i suddenly thought of an idea, first I conjured large ice spikes on the tree making them stick outward."

"Then i freezed the ground making it slippery"

Abby finished her meal, she throws the bones into the fire and then focus her attention to Ramza.

"Did it work?"

"Ofcourse it did I wouldnt be her if it didnt" he said with a grin

"Where was I? Oh yeah, the boar slipped and starts barreling towards the spikes impaling it"

"After the boar died the girls starts running towards me and starts complimenting me"

"Saying i was so cool, and smart that he finds me very attractive"

"I was so naive at that time that I fell for her charm that I completely forgot that it was her fault to begin with"

"Who was I to blame she was the first woman who was all clingy to me and gave me attention"

"For a teenager filled with lust, I couldnt do anything, she had me at the palm of her hands"

"Her crimson eyes, her small yet elegant body and her tender red lips"

Abby clears her throat

"Uhmm, Ramza your story?"

"Oh yeah, yeah"

"She was Esmeralda, she was a necromancer"

"Necromancer?"

"She uses spells that associates with death and decay"

"Oh"

"From there we traveled for weeks together and in those times I fell inlove with her"

Ramza then grips the meat tightly in his hands

"Then one day i woke up naked, all my things were gone. My staff, my clothes, my spell books, even my rations, all gone"

"All i found was a note saying - Thank you for the stuff R, you are the stupidest person I met Very Happy [https://www.royalroadcdn.com/public/smilies/biggrin.png] xoxo- Esmeralda"

Abby burst's in laughter she starts rolling on the ground, her laugh echoes throughout the meadows.

"Thats it?"

"What do you mean thats it? I almost died, I almost got eaten, and almost froze to death"

"Let me get this straight, you hate women because a pretty necromancer tricked you and then left you for dead?"

"Y-yeah"

Abby continues to laugh again

"She deals with death and decay what did you expect true love?"

Ramza just eats his meal and stares angrily at the fire.

After a few minutes she stops laughing and wipes the tear on the side of her eyes.

"Listen Ramza it's just one women who tricked you, dont expect all of us to be like that"

"Not all of us are like that, are we her? her are we?"

Abby then sit's beside Ramza and give his shoulder a light punch and gives him a grin.

"Try opening your heart again, maybe this time you'll find the right one"

Ramza looks at Abby her words slowly mending his wounded heart.

It doesn't hurt to try again right Ramza thought.