[author]

Check THIS out. I made a masterlist of content warnings for all the chapters... Although I've only gotten around to doing the first dozen chapters. If this is something that you need or want, then feel free to check it out. This series will generally be on the fun side I believe, although my definition of that is also kind of skewed, but there would also be big spikes of distressing content every now and then. That's just life. To live is to be in conflict, and conflict can very quickly become fucked up.

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I toddled down the hill with explosive enthusiasm, and my parents were only content to watch my inspiring marathon. Today was my birthday, and we were going to celebrate it at the orphanage, one that was run by another pair of Mom and Dad's adventuring buddies. But before all of that, we had to pick up Fiya and Baston first. Their house and store was just down the hill.

I fell.

I tripped and fell on my face, after a particularly bad step that my balance could not recover from.

Mom and Dad immediately rushed over to help, but I pushed myself up before they could.

A demon never gives up! They always get back up!

"Dear…" Mom choked. "Our baby is so brave…"

"I know… I think she's braver than any of us. No matter how much we've risked our lives."

"True. So true…"

They began bawling, and I looked back at them, unsure if I was being made fun of. But I took the compliment. I certainly deserved it given how I gave my life to save my friends before!

Wow. I actually do deserve it, kinda. I was making a joke…

Eventually, we made it to our destination, just below our hill. It was a beautiful and large building made only of wood, with an expansive garden growing around it. The architecture was wonderfully made, a perfect marriage between nature and craftsmanship.

I was sure that it had to be maintained by Baston regularly, lest it gets overgrown or worse. It was a lot of effort for a home, and I admired them for it. The house also served as their store.

I face-planted on the ground a couple more times before I finally made it to the front door. The garden was conspiring against me, tripping my little toddler feet with its wile roots and vines. I vowed for vengeance at a later date.

My parents did try to help me during the long journey, but it was important that I learn how to walk by myself. So it was with a heavy but resolute heart that I had to decline their offers to carry me the whole way.

I dusted myself off and did not allow the experience to bring me down. Above the door was a plaque decorated with countless flowers that read 'Plants & Healing.'

This place also served as their store.

I knocked upon their home.

"You're here!" I heard Fiya's greeting before the door even opened.

"Aunt Fiya!" I jumped her leg and squeezed. She patted me with her prosthetic. There were flowers growing on it, and they smelled lovely.

"Well, aren't you a cute little thing. Happy Birthday Haell!"

"Hapi Birtgay!" I echoed with my baby voice.

"It's not my birthday, silly! It's yours!" She picked me up and booped me in the nose. Aunt Fiya walked on inside, and my parents followed, making us a party of four.

The inside of the house was enchanting as always, with small spotlights of sunlight streaming in from the open parts of the roof, and straight towards the plants they kept inside. They were arranged in neat but freeform quadrants, forming twists and corridors out of their leaves.

Uncle Baston was further beyond in the space, and he was currently tending to a customer or a patient. It was a man with an annoyed and badly constipated look on his face, along with a terribly damaged arm.

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Baston pointed his wand at the injury, with a potted plant underneath. The vines and flowers made their way up, and so did the injury begin healing. Flesh mended itself, and the broken bone realigned.

The guest looked relieved as he tested out his newly healed hand. He looked at Baston, with what I could only describe as scorn, and then left a couple of silver for the healing.

Baston blinked, as the customer turned to leave. "Excuse me, sir. Your payment is a couple silvers short."

The man clicked his tongue and looked back. "It's enough."

"Uh, no it's not?” He scratched his head. “I believe we talked about the price beforehand, and it's a gold in total…"

"Well, that's clearly too much. That's why I'm giving you this advice, to not overcharge your patients."

"Oh…" Baston actually looked thoughtful for a second. "I do certainly agree that the cost of healing could be prohibitively expensive. If you're going through hard times, then I don't mind letting today go…"

"NO!" The man shouted, enraged. "I am not on hard times! Business is doing just great! Especially this run, I managed to get some goblin parts for cheap because the Thornrock Village got attacked by a massive wave!" It appeared that he was a merchant, and he took offense at the implication of being poor.

Baston blinked. "Well, then if that's the case then there is no problem, right?"

Fiya placed me back down on the ground, as we continued to watch the interaction unfold. She glanced warily at her pregnant belly, before exchanging her prosthetic for one meant for war.

The new prosthetic implement was shaped like a spiked mace, complete with enchantments and flowers growing across its surface. I caught a glance of the pulsing mana organ kept hidden underneath. It looked kinda like those fart bags that people used for juvenile pranks.

"No. There is a problem," the merchant stated, as if his wisdom was God's gift on Varyala. "This is borderline robbery! In broad daylight, I might add!"

“Eh? I’m not robbing you. You would know if I was.”

We, on the sidelines, chuckled. Baston was strong in all the ways that the merchant was not.

The violent kind.

“Besides,” Baston continued, our guest did not quite get the joke. “I actually offer the cheapest healing in town!”

"And that's exactly the problem!" The merchant spat with a victorious expression upon his ugly average mug. "They are professionals. Humans. It is only right that a scout gets paid less for subpar healing work!"

"Ishkawtan." Baston corrected the slur, showing anger for the first time in this interaction, but the merchant paid him no mind.

The stupid stooge had noticed our arrival earlier, and twirled around to face my parents. "I am giving a charity here for even choosing to patronize this place, do you not agree!?"

“Nope.”

“Not at all.”

“Nuh-uh-uh!” I also chimed in like a good baby.

The merchant stumbled over himself a little. His face shifted rapidly between fear, and anger, beforeultimately settling into a sickeningly fake smile. "Please. This whole shop is an abomination! I thought, maybe, perhaps there could be some greater purpose planned for this unnecessary establishment. But the wisdom of Angelic God and His Angels prove true once more! A scout should scout! That is exactly what you were made for!"

There was a beat of silence. The world went still.

The merchant huffed, completely unable to read the room, and utterly satisfied by his speech.

The guy was just being so open and confident about his hatred and prejudices. Like everyone thought the same way as him. And the worst part was that he was right, based on what I'd seen of this world. This kind of thinking was normal here, and I just wanted to punch them all in the face and tear it all down!

A palpable pressure descended upon the room. Not from me, unfortunately. But from my mother, my father, Fiya, and Baston. They battled to remain calm, but I could feel the tension in the air.

Perhaps it was true what they say. That a baby has beastial instincts that an adult lacks. Because I could very clearly feel this massive shift in the atmosphere, yet the merchant remained oh so blissfully ignorant. He even began moving, presumably marching triumphantly towards the exit. Everyone else was frowning, me especially. How could he still think that he convinced anyone!?

“No…” Someone lost control, and it was me. I should have known better, I did know better, but perhaps my new-found youth had made me more impulsive. A lot more impulsive.

"NO!"

I shouted from the top of my lungs and ran with the fury of a thousand demons. I crossed my hands in front of my face and brought to bear the depths of hell with one massive tackle.

Bam!

The blow connected, and the hateful man stumbled. I smiled, excited, like a piranha that had tasted blood in the water. I pulled my arms back for another heavy slam, and the attack… never arrived.

The same leg that I attacked kicked me across the store before I could press the advantage. I was tossed across the ground, and I rolled painfully for a couple of meters. I saw for a brief moment, the contempt in the merchant's eyes, directed straight towards me.

And then I could perceive nothing anymore, for my vision became clouded and imprecise. The pain I felt before was only the precursor, as it came back in greater force the moment I tried to move. The damage was severe, my ribs were broken, and my lungs hurt like hell. I coughed up blood, and soon my vision was overwhelmed by an even more veritable flood of red.

I blinked. I took a deep breath, in and out. I wiped away the blood and sweat, without regard for the pain and the disorientation.

And then I raised my head, and took in the chaotic scene before me.

There was shouting, there was cursing, but not a single sound came from the previously noisy merchant. Uncle Baston was holding a wand, so I presumed he had cast the magic binding the visitor's legs. Aunt Fiya had her mace prosthetic buried in his back, and my father had plunged his massive sword through our guest's heart. The merchant could not even utter his final words, for Mom had blown away his head, sending it splattering into the far wall.

It took a few moments for my sluggish thoughts to catch up, but I felt relief once I understood.

I wasn't sure if what happened was for the best, but what I knew for certain was that I had utmost faith in this family that I finally found.