Stopping every now and then to take breaks, the boy transversed through the forest for what felt like hours. Occasionally he’d try to communicate with the mysterious voice. This, however, bore no fruit, only working to infuriate the boy.
After a short break, the boy decided to continue his journey through the forest. It was at this moment when he saw puffs of smoke clearing the treeline.
“See, I told you I'd guide you.” the voice said with a hint of smugness.
The boy, annoyed that the voice chose now as the time to speak up, ignored the smug remark and began towards the direction of the smoke.
In about twenty minutes he arrived at the source. It was a cabin secluded in the middle of the woods. It was one of the fanciest houses the boy had seen since moving to the rundown shack.
Not wanting to scare the owners of the house, the boy decided to hide his axe and the bag with his parents' heads in a bush next to a nearby tree. Walking up to a stable that was next to the cabin, the boy noticed what seemed to be a middle aged woman tending to the horses.
The woman was around her mid thirties wearing a nice, clean, blue dress and leather boots, the opposite of what his mother used to wear. The boy, hungry and tired, decided to walk up to the woman to ask if she had any spare food.
Arriving at the entrance of the stables, the boy realized he was still covered in blood and half his face still scared and blistered from the boiling water. Panicking, he decided to turn away in fear that the woman would react like his mother did, but before he could, it was already too late as the woman had noticed him.
“Hey you!” she called out, “What are you doing in my yard!? You're not a thief, are you?”
The boy, not wanting to show her his face, simply stood still in silence.
“You know that my husband is a famous huntsman, right?”
The woman, annoyed by his lack of response, marched over and grabbed him by his arm and turned him around.
“By the Gods, are you alright!? That doesn't look okay! Come inside, I'll tend to your wounds to the best of my abilities.” The woman said in a panicked voice, already pulling the boy in the direction of the cabin.
The boy, shocked by the woman's generosity, just followed her inside the cabin. Inside was just as beautiful as the outside, with a huge kitchen the size of his old living room. The whole room was cleaner than he could ever make his old kitchen look.
The woman pulled up a chair for the boy to sit on while she examined him. Hesitant to sit down since he was covered in blood, the woman assured him it was okay.
“This chair has seen worse. Myles always brings back dead animals dripping in blood. This is nothing new.”
Once the boy sat down, the woman called out to another room.
“Lilly sweety, can you bring me my healing potions please!?”
From the other room a small, timid voice yelled back “Is daddy hurt again!?”
“No sweety, we have a guest.” the mom yelled back.
About ten seconds later, a little girl ran into the room holding a small vial filled with red liquid.
The little girl stared at the boy, confused at his random appearance in the middle of nowhere. She was even more startled at his damaged face.
“You're not daddy. What happened to your face?”
The mom quickly hushed her daughter and apologized before taking the potion from her hands.
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“Sorry.” she said awkwardly.
“She's only five, six in a couple months. I guess I still need to teach her some manners”
The woman saw the boy looking at the potion curiously and almost afraid of what was inside.
“My husband works as a hunter for the nearby town and has a knack for getting hurt while showing off to his little hunting buddies, so I eventually started to dabble in alchemy to make my own healing potions. I swear if I hadn't, we'd go broke from all the potions we'd have to buy.”
The boy felt genuinely depressed that she was using something of such quality on him.
“Sorry you have to waste it on someone as useless as me…”
The woman, stunned by the depressing words, chuckled before continuing.
“So he can speak, huh? Well now that I know that, can I also know how old you are and how you got these wounds?”
“My pare-”
“Don't tell her about your parents.” The voice suddenly whispered.
“I'm sixteen!” the boy quickly said instead. And right in this moment, the entrance door opened revealing a giant burly man with a giant beard and a beaming smile.
“BAHAHA. Honey, come look what I managed to-”, the big man stopped once he noticed the boy just sitting there.
“Oh… I didn't know you would have a guest over when I returned.” He turned to the boy, meeting his eyes.
“And who might you be?”
“I-Im…”, the boy looked down. “I can't really remember my name, but my parents would always just call me ‘Useless’”
“I see… And where are your parents right now?”. The boy just looked down on the floor, trying to avoid any eye contact.
“How unfortunate. May Anubis guide their souls”
“No, I hope he doesn't”, the voice said quieter than usual.
Breaking the silence, everyone in the room heard a loud but tiny voice.
“Mooooooom i'm hungry”. It was Lilly, who just saved everyone from this very awkward situation.
“Lilly you just ate. Go to bed, i'll make something for you in the morning”, said the mother.
“Awwww ok, but it better be yummy”. The mother just responded with a slight giggle, watching her daughter walk back to her room.
“You can also stay the night.”, the mother said, turning her attention back to the boy.
The boy, not wanting to overstay his welcome, just shook his head. “It's okay. I'm sure I can find somewhere in town to stay.”
“Not with those clothes you can't,” said the big burly man. “They're all torn up and soaked in blood. Not to mention the giant burn on your face. The front guards will assume your either a murderer, or some type of undead.”
“Stay the night.”, whispered the voice. “You need a proper night's rest, not to mention you need to eat something.”
Defeated, the boy just nodded his head. “Good.”, said the dad. “I didn’t wanna have to force you. There's a spare room down the hall, last door to your left, the bath is just across.”
The boy started to get up, but as soon as he did, the woman remembered she was still holding the healing potion.
“Oh that's right! We still need to get you healed.”, The woman uncapped the vial and gave it to the boy, who proceeded to gulp it down. As the boy got it all down, he felt a burning sensation in his body, almost like something was rejecting the potion. Before he knew it, the boy was kneeling on the floor, hurling back up the potion and splashes of blood.
The woman, shocked, knelt down next to him for support. She looked up to her husband, who only gave her a shocked expression of his own.
“D-did Lilly bring me the wrong potion? She shouldn't be able to reach any of your poisons, should she?” the mom asked in a shaky tone.
After about five minutes of panic and confusion, the boy sat up straight and assured them he's fine; but looking at him, it was obvious he wasn't fine at all. The potion had no effect on him for some reason.
The burn on his face was still there, along with all the bruises, scrapes, and blisters. In Fact it almost seemed like the potion made him worse considering he looks more sickly than when he arrived.
The boy started to feel dizzy and nauseous. Looking up, he saw the worried looks on their faces… and then darkness.
The next morning the kid woke up with a jolt, remembering where he was he just decided to lay back down and enjoy the momentary peace. That was, until he got a smell of something cooking from the other room.
Getting out of bed, he scanned the small but cozy room, and on the other side was a nightstand with a fresh set of clothes and a note that read “You passed out after you drank the potion so I carried you back to the spare room. Here's some old clothes that used to belong to our son. They might be a little big, but looking at your body size, this is what'll fit best. You can wash up in the room across the hallway”. Picking up the clothes, he went to take a bath and clean out any open wounds he had.
Walking into the kitchen the boy smelt foods he hadn't smelt since his family went into poverty. Noticing the boy just standing there, the mom offered him a seat at the table while she was still busy cooking the food.
The mom was dressed in a simple white gown, with an apron tied around her waist. The boy noticed how clean the kitchen was; everything was put away neatly, the counters were clean, not a speck of dirt on the floor, a complete contrast from his home. Noticing the boy just staring into nothingness, the mom decided to make conversation.
“What kind of foods do you like? Right now I'm whipping up some eggs, sausage, and some woodland bear meat. Some people say they don't like woodland bear because it's too rough and tastes like wood chips, but if you know how to cook it juuuust right then it'll taste just like any other meat.”
“I've never had woodland bear meat before, and I can't remember the last time I had some eggs or sausage.” said the boy curiously.
“What? Never had woodland bear before? Can't remember the last time you had eggs and sausage? What did your family feed you?”
The boy just shrugged and casually said “I would usually get to eat the bread on the table when it got too stale for my parents, or whatever scraps of meat they didn't want”
The mother, shocked with how bluntly he said that, felt bad and decided to make a couple more plates worth of food in case he wanted more. Suddenly her husband came through the door looking strangely serious.
“Honey, can I talk to you outside…privately please.” Glaring at the boy, the dad walked back outside with his wife.
“Shit” was all the voice had to say about the situation.