《Monster Healer》 Chapter 1: Just A Bread Roll I am leaning on Caren''s massive white table. It has dark yellow stains all over it because of vegetable oil, and it¡¯s laden with baskets full of fruits, vegetables, and ground provisions. The table is pretty long, so I''m at the right end and he''s at the left. It¡¯s market day, the last day of the week, Yupochalsp. As a result, stalls and tables are lined up at every part of this town''s market square. What does that mean for me and Caren? Competition¡­ Hundreds of people are walking up and down, buying and inspecting produce. Despite that, getting a sale isn''t easy. And I have too much pride to heckle. We have only been here for a couple of hours, but I want to go home. Why? Because It''s so fucking hot! Hell, my blue blouse and wrinkled shari (a long, flowing garment that¡¯s wrapped around my waist, tucked in at the waist, then wrapped around my right shoulder) looks like it was soaked in water. I am basically DYING! And hear this, not only is the sun beating me senseless, but there are all the annoying thunder sounds. And no, they aren''t from clouds. It''s just a bunch of thunderdragons being bastards. Anyway, since I am not interacting with anyone right now, I am just looking around, seeing what others are doing, and so on. A woman is looking around for her son who must have run off when she was purchasing hulas(green T-shaped fruits) from the guy near me. Hulas taste disgusting as shit (It literally tastes like doo-doo), but it¡¯s really good for health. Have an infection? Eat Hulas. Have joint pain? Hulas. I even heard some old men mixing it with double-headed fish kidneys to make their dick rise from the dead. It''s also rich in calcium and protein. Suddenly everyone stops what they are doing, and stares at two individuals like they don''t belong. It better not be some drug lord. ¡°Yo.¡± A strong voice is directed to me. I shoot up, standing straight like a soldier waiting for an order. It¡¯s a TALL man (maybe 6¡±11) with black hair, and a couple of scars on his face. But most importantly, he¡¯s donned metal armor and has a massive sword tied to his back. Also, why the hell does he look like a fucking elite model? Standing beside him is a Tall woman(Two inches shorter than him) with pink bubble-gum-like skin. Hell, she reminds me of Kid Buu from Dragon Ball Z, save for her fluffy white hair. She too is ridiculously beautiful. Adventurers¡­ Silence hangs in the air for a while before I catch myself. I clear my throat and hid my massive grin. I can make some goddamn money today. ¡°How can I help you, my good sir,¡± I say, mimicking how the villagers said nobles speak. Like they have a fish up their ass. On second thought, perhaps I shouldn''t have done that.
¡°He gestures towards the wooden basket filled with pink-terras, placed between the largest basket brimming with yellow cabbages and another containing round loop carrots.¡± He asks, ¡°It''s ripe?" I pick up the pink-terra, a pink wrinkled apple that releases a bitter foam when bitten into. I gesture at the wrinkles with my finger, ¡°Yes." The one I have in my hand looks like a 120-year-old man''s balls. The woman says, ¡°But it''s not very pink.¡± "That doesn''t matter. ''The pinker, the riper'' thing is just bullshit. Once it has a lot of wrinkles it''s ripe.¡± The fruit industry is notorious for spraying fruits to make them shine better to appeal to people. ¡°I will have to ask my friend about that.¡± ¡°I will take ten of them,¡± the guy says, pulling out his wallet. ¡°How much will that cost?¡± ¡°Hm¡­¡± I think hard before saying, ¡°Seventeen bronze pints.¡± He arches his right eyebrow. ¡° ''Bit expensive, but okay.¡± Yes. I am overcharging you, my good sir. He picks four-inch long and one-inch wide bronze poles one by one from his wallet. While doing that, I look at the skin of the Julioes woman. She notices my gaze and asks, ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Your skin looks... Pretty,¡± I respond. Like gum. She seems taken aback. She looks at me weirdly before shaking her head like she is dealing with an annoying disrespectful kid. I think I ticked her off. Shit. ¡°Sorry, I didn''t mean to be rude," I say. ¡°You weren''t. Why isn''t your father doing the trading?¡± she asks. I turn my gaze towards my ¡®father¡¯, Caren. He is a very big man. His hair is covered with a hair scarf like every man and he has a black tunic shirt on, paired with white pants. At the moment, Caren is engaged in a bargaining match with a customer, a man with grey hair coming out of his ears. He¡¯s probably the only customer who didn¡¯t stop when those two entered the market square. Mhm. It¡¯s definitely a match. I turn back to her. "Well, he is clearly busy. I may look young, but I am smart enough to handle such things.¡± I was studying economics before I got reincarnated into this damn world. Kinda studying it. I hated everything about it and barely paid attention to class, save for when Sir Frank was looking extra fine. I can still remember those days and dreams. Sigh. She responds, ¡°Oh. You are already a well-trained farmer?" I shrug and take the seventeen bronze pints from her friend, count them, and then store them in the purse. ¡°I wouldn''t say well trained, but I am a big help to him.¡± ¡°Nice." He creates a water eclipse in the air and throws the pink-terras in it. A small white dagger slips through the water eclipse of his. I grab it so it wouldn¡¯t fall on the dirty ground. Some kind of inventory. [White sharp dagger] [+ 12% strength] Damn, this is much better than the knife I have. "Sorry," he says as he gently takes the dagger from my hand. ¡°Yeah,¡± I respond. Damn it, he could have given it to me as a gift. Sure, I already have a knife, but I always wanted to have an array of knives hidden in my clothes. Like an assassin. I blame that desire of mine on all the ninja and spy movies I watched back on Earth. The movies could be hot garbage, but if a badass chick was doing cool shit, I would be in love. He bit half of it, she takes a bite, and the two just stand there chewing, making weird facial expressions. She finally swallows what''s in her mouth and says, "Gross..." "Tastes like ass..." Did someone prank them into buying pink-terras? I notice some older people staring at them as they pass by. The woman turns towards them, causing them to immediately avert their gaze. ¡°Thanks for this... Bye,¡± he says, turning away from me. ¡°Bye.¡± I wave. A bright light comes from the ground near the woman and a blue and white snake, the size of a horse is formed. The head is made out of pure white electricity and even the air is crackling. The head on its tail is blue electricity instead. As the two individuals mount the electrifying snake creature, everyone else backs away in fear. With a swift leap, the snake takes to the skies, disappearing from sight. Huh. That''s pretty damn cool. Caren comes over and inspects the purse. ¡°Oh. They didn¡¯t steal from us?¡± he says in surprise. His voice sounds like broken glass grinding against each other. ¡°They were very nice. Also, your timing is way too perfect. As soon as they went away, you show up?¡± ¡°I was keeping my ears on the conversation. I know you are a smart girl, so I trust in you.¡± This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°Thanks.¡± ¡°Just... be careful with those vlandos.¡± Whatever. "Anyway¡­" Caren stretches his back. "It¡¯s getting dark.¡± ¡°Right... let¡¯s start packing up.¡± ¡°Yup,¡± he says as he continues stretching his back, making painful groans in the process. ¡°You might want Marvin to check your back. It seems to be getting worse,¡± I respond while helping him put all the produce into two massive bags so we can fold the plastic table. Last year, when he got into a fight with the neighbor over the guy¡¯s sexual comment on Natasha, Caren¡¯s wife, and this body¡¯s biological mother, Caren got a back injury. I was so disappointed. I expected him to beat up the guy. Like, use that fat man¡¯s strength or something, not run out of breath in just twenty seconds. ¡°When he gets a better reputation, I will think about it.¡± he replies. Hmm. He has a good point. Marvin''s reputation is pretty much in the toilet. He is a frail old physician without teeth, who likes to gamble with his wife¡¯s money. And he used to be abusive. It took him getting stabbed by his wife¡¯s brother for him to stop abusing her. Before he was stabbed, almost every weekend, you could hear shouts from their house. Caren spoke to him once, saying it was creating a bad environment for his kids and whatever, afraid to be direct since he is the village''s only physician and his friend. Marvin agreed but didn¡¯t change. But the knife did change him. Too bad it didn¡¯t get rid of the money-stealing part of his brain. After we are done packing up, Caren picks up two heavy bags of what didn''t sell today, and I carry the folded table. And so, we exit the small town of four hundred and fifty houses and make our way towards home. I have barely even started, but I am already dreading the idea of walking for nearly an hour. We scarcely come across adventurers on our way home. But every time we do, Caren stares at them. However, when they look in his direction, his hateful expression disappears and changes to anxiousness, like a child caught stealing money. ¡°Lil Verni,¡± a green-skinned man with floating hair locks says as he walks past us. Oh, him! ¡°Yo! Thanks for the gift again!¡± He waves his hand above his head, basically dismissing my gratitude. Rude. Caren raises an eyebrow, suspicious. ¡°Gift? What gift?¡± ¡°A wristband. Don¡¯t worry, I lost it.¡± A lie. ¡°Vernisha. Why do you interact with those things?¡± he asks, trying his best to suppress his anger. ¡°I don¡¯t see why I shouldn¡¯t. I have met nice vlandos, and the ones I interact with are nice.¡± ¡°This bullshit again,¡± he stops walking and shuffles the bags on his shoulders. ¡°Are you human or not?¡± ¡°What kind of r... stupid ass question is that?¡± ¡°Language. Answer the question.¡± ¡°Human, obviously.¡± ¡°Exactly. We''re humans. We don¡¯t interact with vlandos. We have nothing to do with them.¡± ¡°But--¡± He grunts, groping his back, the pain returning. ¡°Forget all that propaganda your mother tells you about vlandos,¡± he says. ¡°Those notebooks I have, a vlandos gifted me them.¡± ¡°What...?¡± ¡°Miss Apala. She says I am smart and should go to school and whatever. So, she gifted me those books.¡± ¡°And you kept that a secret from me...¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t want you to burn them. Anyway, the point is that they are not all bad. And... I think if you keep saying stuff like that, then if one of your children becomes a vlandos, it will just drive them away from you.¡± ¡°I don''t want to think about that.¡± ¡°But what if... Ulah did awaken the system?¡± He turns towards me with an unsettling glare. ¡°I will hope it¡¯s a bluff. That¡¯s my only son, I wouldn¡¯t want to lose him.¡± Lose? ¡°B-but you could just raise him to be good! He could be one of the good ones!¡± ¡°A good vlandos... is a vlandos that stays the hell away from society. Or better yet, dead.¡± ¡°You''re being absurd.¡± He sighs. ¡°Vernisha, this is a world with people that look like you, think like you, talk like you, but secretly wish for your extinction. In the blink of an eye, they could punch a hole through your head. You could be chatting with someone, falling in love with them, and maybe you hurt their feelings a little bit. The next day, against your own will, you could ¡®willingly¡¯ pick up a knife and slit your own throat.¡± I did hear stories of that happening; a lot of stories. He continues, with a tired expression, maybe thinking, ¡®What if my child did become a vlandos¡¯. ¡°I had a brother who was a vlandos, I bet you didn¡¯t know that.¡± ¡°Did your parents kill him?¡± I ask without emotion. ¡°No. They couldn¡¯t stomach killing their own child, so the village did it for them. It was a hard choice, but necessary to protect us.¡± ... ¡°Don¡¯t you think that¡¯s insane?¡± ¡°It is. But sometimes you have to make ''insane'' decisions.¡± I choose not to respond. What¡¯s there to say anyway. Nothing. If he finds out about me... I look at my bandaged palm as I think about that. He notices my cold expression and tries to lighten up the mood by asking, ¡°What do you want to eat for dinner?¡± I ask, still frowning, ¡°We can afford to have dinner? Damn, we must be rich.¡± ¡°Well... your mother caught a lot of fish last night...¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t she sell all of them? She and Palia were discussing selling it to Portrum.¡± Portrum is east of where we live, and far away from water bodies, thus they value fish a lot. ¡°She must have saved a couple.¡± I think hard about it before shaking my head. ¡°I doubt.¡± ¡°Maybe we can go out and catch some.¡± "I am tired.¡± ¡°That¡¯s... fair.¡± And so, we continue walking. No matter how much I try to not let his words bother me, I can¡¯t help it. What¡¯s worse is that I heard worse from his friends. I recall him conversing with his friends on how they would kill or torture vlandos at a campfire while drinking cheap homemade alcoholic beverages: A drunk man with a head full of white hair and a face painted with wrinkles threw his bamboo cup into the fire. ¡°I killed one one time. The little bitch was maybe eight.¡± He clenched and unclenched his fist like a man without the will to live. ¡°I strangled her. She cried for her mother or father; I think. I am not sure. It was hard to understand what she was saying behind all the crying¡­¡± One asked, ¡°How did you find out she was a vlandos?¡± The old man blinked; his expression stiff like a traumatized soldier. ¡°I think I saw an M on her shoulder. It was dark, so I am not sure. But it looked like an M.¡± If not for the popping and crackling sounds made by the campfire, there would have been a long silence. After a while, one of them said with an anxious chuckle. ¡°That''s... That''s a little fuck up for even me.¡± I think that was the day I understood how much we are hated. ** Night falls, but we are accustomed to it. However, we have to make a couple of stops because of Caren¡¯s back pains. He sits down to take deep breaths of air while I wander around. "Don¡¯t go too far," he mutters. "Yup Yup," I reply as I proceed to do the opposite. Above this small hill is a Balash temple; Natasha always tells me to never go into one, but I always wanted to know what happens in one. Also, I hear they give food to kids and those that look poor. I want food. All the leftover produce in the bags are mere fruits. In other words, they don¡¯t do shit to fend off my hunger. I take the knife from my sheath and hold the handle in my mouth. [+4% Strength] Heh. I got this from an adventurer by begging really hard. The same punchio (green-skinned guy) adventurer I met on the way here. I was on the floor, fake crying, ¡°Please sir! I need a weapon to defend myself at night! I don''t wanna be kidnapped and sold!¡± ¡°Kids don''t get sol¡ª¡± (LIES!) I quickly responded with, ¡°Tommy, Sarah, and Janx were kidnapped by their parents'' friend to pay off a gambling debt last month.¡± Although, I think he gave it to me because he was annoyed and wanted me to stop crying. After all, what adult gives a ¡®kid¡¯ a knife? I look around to see if anyone is looking at me, and once I see it is clear I make a meter-long bound and grab onto the stones poking out from the hill. I climb quickly, hopping from stone to stone like an amateur rock climber. After a minute, I finally reach the top. Damn, that¡¯s tiring... I wipe the sweat off my face and spot people dressed in long white habits entering the massive golden temple. I drop low and crawl to the side of the temple and then lean my back against it. There are people talking and I get excited. "Little boy, do you know why Balash is important to us?" "Um... so that monsters wouldn¡¯t... win?" "Yes, that¡¯s one of the important reasons. And another important reason is..." I don¡¯t care about this. When is someone going to knock and ask for food so I can join them? If Caren wasn¡¯t so anti-vlandos, we would be filling our stomachs with food right now. And Natasha doesn''t like the temple and Balash, so I never went there with her. I keep listening, hoping for food to be delivered, but that never happens. Also, I can hear Caren shouting for me. He doesn''t sound too worried. I used to run away and ignore his calls of worry a lot when I was depressed and frustrated that I had to live as a peasant in another world. No shade to my fellow peasants, but I somewhat loved the life of mediocrity (only because I must live in this bullshit). Digging up holes to shit? One meal a day?! That was hell to adapt to. I am just glad my menstruation cycle hasn¡¯t started yet. When it does start, and if the cramps are like what I had on Earth... Ugh! Just thinking about it makes me want to scream. Actually, thinking about it, it is a good damn thing only the very wealthy can afford guns because I would have blown my brain out at just age three. Imagine this: A toddler who can barely walk dragging the food stained, four legged chair to where her father keeps his gun, she climbs up the chair, pulls the gun off the small table, throws the cheap tree bark papers on the ground in the process, then adjusts the barrel to her mouth, and with a salute to the heavens, she screams before pulling the trigger, ¡°Fuinak thuhsk worfsls!¡± (translation: Fuck this world!) I am ashamed to admit it (Like hell I am), but that would have been me. I see a person putting a basket of hot bread rolls out on a table. Natasha told me to not enter the temple, not that I shouldn¡¯t take food from them. Besides, I am a vlandos too. If they see vlandos as a blessing from Balash, they should treat me... Scratch that idea. Sorry, Natasha, please forgive me, but I am starving, and the house almost never has food. I stand up and tiptoe towards the entrance. Obviously, I stick myself to the wall, moving like a thief in the middle of the night. The hot and delicious bread air wafts to my nose... Saliva is even escaping my mouth, and I envision myself biting down on the bread. I just want... three of them. Yeah, one for today, tomorrow, and... Damn, I would need to give Ulah and Natasha one. Maybe Caren too? But he has been pissing me off a lot, so I am not sure. Okay, I have made up my mind: I would steal a ton of them! But what about the other hungry people? Damn it! I stop thinking about such things and rush towards the table. As soon as I am in front of it, I take as much as I can and fit them in my shirt. My max is five. With that done, I run away at full speed. Sweet, I am not spotted! While running, I misstep and hit my head on a rock. It hurts like absolute hell, but I quickly get up and make sure the bread is in my shirt. I run towards the end of the cliff where I had climbed, and then think about the fact that I can only use three limbs since I still have the bread in my shirt. I look around for any onlookers. When I spot none, I use my healing power. It is always occupied by a red glow, so it could easily out me. After a couple of seconds, my forehead is healed. Then I climb back down and nearly fall six times. Caren complains and whatever, but I present bread to him and say I bought it by selling my knife to a merchant. It shuts him up a bit. We enter the village and say good night to a couple of villagers on our way home, a small weak shaky house that could be blown down with a powerful enough sneeze. I am still begging for a good harvest so that we can stop being so disgustingly poor. Oh, and for all the other farmers in our territory to DIE! Since they basically force us to lower our prices to compete in the market. Not going to lie, I did attempt to sabotage a couple of farmers'' carriages to lessen the competition. Don¡¯t worry, I only targeted the rich ones. Why would rich farmers live in a dirt-poor village? Uh¡­ Stop being classist. Anyway! I stopped because of moral¡ª I learned one of their fathers used to traffic little kids to Holvious Queendom. I then proceeded to have anxiety attacks, wondering if I was going to be next. It never happened. If I had access to real alcohol like red cap and vodka like back on Earth, I would have celebrated my luckyness by getting drunk as fuck. (Yes, I used to like to torture my taste buds with dog shit-tasting liquor and make my chest burn like shit.) Caren opens the door and is greeted by the light of a candle and the sounds of Ulah using my pencil to scribble bullshit in one of my notebooks. I have to stay calm... It is just a notebook, containing lined white paper(Oh wait, they cost a lot in this world!) after all, and he is just a kid. I ask him, "Where¡¯s mom?" Caren rubs his chin. "She left you here by yourself...?" "Nah, Mom fell asleep over there," he points to Natasha who is sleeping on the floor. I guess she is really tired since she is still in her stained blue shirt, which has multiple tears on the sleeves thanks to the tails of razor fishes. Ulah locks eyes on the bread rolls rolled up in my shirt. I throw him a bread roll, which he catches with his oil-burned hand, and thank me. I go over to see what he¡¯s scribbling, and realize it¡¯s another song. I ask, ¡°Going to get rich with that one?¡± ¡°Yeah and get us a huge house.¡± ¡°Wow!¡± I fake excitement. ¡°How big?¡± He stands and spreads his arm wide. ¡°Bigger than¡­ the sea?¡± ¡°Damn. That¡¯s pretty big.¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± I continue walking and put a bread roll in Natasha¡¯s sleeping hand. I am now left with only two bread rolls. I bite down on it and basically go to ''my'' room, which is super small and has no bed. There are blankets on the ground; I go over to mine and throw myself down on it and stretch my limbs wide. While eating the bread, I think about the temple. I am sure I did as Natasha requested; I didn¡¯t step into it. Hopefully, stepping near the entrance didn¡¯t count, it shouldn''t have. Hm... The bread is kinda of warm, and chewy and feels weird in my mouth, like biting down on a piece of meat. It doesn¡¯t taste like any kind of meat or bread. It¡¯s just really¡­ bland. After a while, my eyes start feeling heavy. I feel sleepy. I try to stay awake, but it¡¯s to no avail. ** Vernisha¡¯s grip on the bread roll loosens and it rolls on the blanket, stops, rolls back to Vernisha¡¯s hand, all while the shape of it squirms around like a pack of maggots working together¡­ Chapter 2: Cannibalism POV: Ulah. My stomach hurts¡­ My stomach hurts so much¡­ I roll around inside the outside bathroom, withering in pain. It doesn¡¯t only hurt, but I also feel overwhelmingly thirsty and hungry. Very hungry. I force myself up and feel the immense pain in my belly. Like something in it is moving. I lift my shirt and look at my stomach which has a couple of scars due to my falling when I was younger. I don¡¯t see anything out of the ordinary. I feel the weird movement, but I don¡¯t see anything. Is it because of the bread roll? The bread wasn¡¯t good? ¡°Mommy¡­¡± I try to shout, but it hurts too. I struggle to get on my feet and push the wooden door. It creaks loudly, gaining the attention of any nearby bugs. I stagger towards the house like an old man who¡¯s dependent on his cane. The bathroom is only two meters behind the house so it''s close. My feet drag through the low-cut grass. It¡¯s longer than usual, I guess mom forgot to cut it this week. She always uses a machete to cut it. She would grab a hold of the grass and slice and slice if the cutlass isn¡¯t too dull. I feel hungry. My breathing gets hard and I step on a small wooden toy pyramid. It looks like a pyramid communicator. I pass by it. Once my stomach stops hurting, I will ask Mister Paul if it¡¯s Jenny''s own. He made one for her that looked exactly like it. Maybe I can ask him for one too? Again? Maybe he would say yes this time. I think about it. ¡¯Tell your father to give me my damn money!¡¯ Was what he told me when I asked if he could also make me one last month. I think my dad hired him to make a cabinet for him, but didn¡¯t pay him. It was confusing, Dad usually makes everything in the house so I didn¡¯t get why he would ask for it. There was a time he came over to the house with a machete, demanding his money. The other people around were listening too. Some inquired what was going on and then shammed my dad, saying: ¡¯Caren, just give the man his bloody money.¡¯ ¡¯Paul''s too nice. If it was me, I would have fuck you up already.¡¯ ¡¯Paul is too stupid to do a job for Caren of all people.¡¯ Mom didn¡¯t say anything. Mom rarely ever said anything when there was drama. Her expression wouldn¡¯t change, she would just check on Vernisha to see if she was okay then go fish with Palia and sometimes Mary. I am hungry¡­ Mom said she didn¡¯t bring back any fish because it sold well in Portrum, but she probably lied. Maybe she saved some fish and preserved them for tomorrow. Maybe¡­ I could eat and drink anything right now¡­ I finally reach the back of the house and lean against it. With most of my weight on it, I force myself to the side of the house to get to the front so I can enter. ¡°Mom¡­¡± ** POV: Vernisha. Like usual, I float in moving darkness that moves around like fog with a life of its own. I hate this dream. I want something better, like the ones I had back on Earth. The clean ones this time. So weird. I wonder how this brain works, really. I was around 21 when I died back on Earth. Or rather, took my own life. I didn¡¯t have a good reason too, I guess. I am sure when my family and old friends found out, they would have reacted in surprise and shock. ¡¯ You¡¯re lying¡­ No way Nelle took all these pills.'' ¡®But why? She was never involved with anything weird. Had no children, no abusive boyfriend, no drugs, nothing.¡¯ Funny. I had nothing to look forward to in the future. Not even something as simple as interacting with others. You know how life goes. In high school, you are close with all your buddies, you get excited over the prospect of going to the same college. However, taking different majors leads to almost never sharing the same classes, never taking the same classes leads to spending less time with each other, and slowly, conversations on WhatsApp die. Go from friends to acquaintances. Then from acquaintances to strangers, eventually. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Make new friends, that¡¯s obvious. But I didn¡¯t have the drive for that I guess. I hated economics, and that led to me hating everything that had to deal with that fucking college. So once a class was done, I would move to the other ones. Once all my classes were done, I would get the hell out of that damn campus. I would take a taxi to get to my home, throw my clothes on the couches in the living room, maybe think about getting rid of a cool aid stain on one of the couches, then just throw myself on my bed despite being sweaty and dirty, turn on the AC, maybe sleep for a bit, wake up, do homework, scroll through Tiktok, get bored, goes on Webtoon to read my favorite series but suddenly feels no love for it, checks out royal road or ronobes or whatever fucking pirate sites there are for novels, but realize I have no energy to read anything. So I watch some Invincible, give up, try a random anime, give up, and then try rewatching a nostalgic series like Adventure Time, Teen Titans, or whatever. Nothing sticks. I get joy from nothing. Nothing makes me excited. Food I used to love now tastes bland, boring. My originally favorite youtuber(moistcritikal) now seems immensely boring. I possessed no desire to look forward to anything. I think it¡¯s probably a day thing, but my attitude continues for weeks, months. I can¡¯t think of anything worth living for and overdose on painkillers. I crack the pill cap open, down some in my hand, stare at it, get anxious over it, try to think myself out of it, give up, throw them into my mouth, lay on my bed, and wait for the effect. The slowed breathing. The slowed and weird heartbeats. The loss of consciousness then cardiac arrest. A pathetic reason to go out, I suppose. But what do you know, for some reason I get reincarnated as a baby in a fantasy world. I don¡¯t believe in just random luck, but I also don¡¯t care enough to find out why. Anyway, the dream is finally disappearing. The moving darkness fades away, and I wake up. I stare at the ceiling. I can¡¯t see it because of the darkness, but I am facing up. My stomach hurts for some reason. I get up, but when I do, the pain grows and I come to a sharp halt. It¡¯s like I am being kicked in the stomach. What the hell? I pause to look around. ¡°Ulah?¡± I don¡¯t want to use my healing skill only to find out that he¡¯s secretly awake. He doesn¡¯t reply back, which is expected if he is fast asleep. I lightly kick the general area that¡¯s behind me. That¡¯s where he normally sleeps. He thinks that sleeping behind me would make it so that if a monster sneaks in he will be able to escape¡­ while it eats me. A cruel child. But it was somewhat funny when he told me his reasoning. I move in the darkness like a blind person and touch his blanket. I am happy it isn¡¯t wet from either his sweat (it¡¯s also making hot) or pee. But where the hell did he go? The stomach pain grows worse. Holy shit! Maybe I shouldn¡¯t have said I was glad I didn¡¯t have my period yet. Is this karma? This is worse than what I ever felt back on Earth. And the pain was usually so bad that I always needed to use painkillers. I coat my left hand in my healing aura/skill and press it against my lower abdomen and stomach. The red aura slightly lights up the room. It¡¯s similar to a firefly in the middle of the darkness. The pain subsides to a degree. Since the pain lessens that means the source of pain is something else. Years ago, I tested this power a little bit and learned it only caused recovery, not stop muscle contractions(unless the contractions are caused because of some kind of damage/malfunction of the body, I am guessing). I leave the bedroom and move towards the kitchen part of the living room. The wooden floor creaks as I walk on it. I kick pens and my notebooks that Ulah left on the floor by accident. It¡¯s dark, so I am just relying on my memory. There are about five decent wooden chairs. One is on the right side of the living room, resting against the wall. The other one is on the opposite wall. The three others¡ª I hit the leg of the dinner table. I touch the table, feeling the red table runner that lost most of its color. A merchant from the Laskdar city came here among other villages, selling used/old stuff. So Caren bought it for cheap. I¡¯m talking two bronze pints kind of cheap. One bronze pint cheaper than a hamburger from Sundawn, the capital. I use the table as a guide to move towards the kitchen. I know I am here because I feel the oil-treated basket that contains all the dishware. I stretch to the small cabinet, which is mounted on the wall, above the basket. I touch the face of the cabinet and use that to lead my hand to the knob which is near the middle. I swing the cabinet door open and check the last shelf. I¡¯m feeling for a small air-tight wooden bottle that contains grated Hula fruits that have been dried for preservation reasons. I unscrew the cap, put a light amount of the dried Hula fruit on my hand and throw it in my mouth. Gross! I struggle to not vomit because of the filthy taste and swallow it. I even end up coughing, sending spittle all over. That bread. Some fucker must have poisoned it or it¡¯s made with shit. Hopefully its just my bread that was spoiled. There is a sudden sound of creaking. Similar to a door being opened. I turn to it and hear footsteps. Someone went outside to use the washroom? I grab bludust from the second shelf. It¡¯s on a small metal plate so I hold the edge carefully to not tip it over. I spit on the blue sand. It makes sizzling sounds like water falling into hot oil. And after a couple of sparks, it ignites and creates a small but decently bright fire for me. Blue light bounces off the room, making the room barely visible, but good enough to navigate in. The shadows behind every object is stretched and exaggerated, and I can see the person that just entered; it¡¯s Ulah. He¡¯s holding his stomach, hunched over and groaning. ¡°Your stomach hurts too?¡± I grab the container of dried grated hula fruit and walk towards him. ¡°Who¡¯s that¡­? Vernisha?¡± ¡°Yeah. I think the bread is spoiled. My stomach felt like shit too.¡± I halt, remembering how he always reacted to being forced to eat Hula. He would not simply spit it out but vomit it. ¡°Give me a second,¡± I say. I head over to the basket of fruits that¡¯s in the middle of the dinner table. I grab the biggest pink-terra which is half ripe. There are other fruits in it like moonpaes, which are C shaped grapes that taste like a mix between watermelon and cheery. ¡°What¡¯re you doing?¡± he asks. ¡°I¡¯m getting something to make you feel better.¡± He stays silent for a couple of seconds then groan in pain. ¡°I am hungry and¡ª and thirsty.¡± ¡°I know. I know. You will get something to eat soon.¡± As I walk towards him, I split the pink-terra into two. A light amount of white juices gets on my hand and drips to the ground. I am holding the dried hula container in my armpit so its steady. Once I am in front of him I put the plated fire on the floor and hold the pink-terra with my left hand. I put a thumbnail amount of grated hula fruit between the split. I close it and hand it to him. ¡°Eat this. It will make you better.¡± He grabs it like a hungry monkey then devours it. Strange, he normally would ask why it¡¯s already open and so on. Pink-terra is his favorite fruit because he wants to be different(Wow, you guys hate this? But it¡¯s so good!). Its bitter taste is good at burying other flavors, so it¡¯s good to get him to eat otherwise disgusting tasting medicines. I hear other sounds. ¡°Why are you two up?¡± Natasha. She and Caren sleeps in the living room. I respond, ¡°Ulah is a little sick so I am just¡ª¡± ¡°I am hungry¡­¡± Ulah sounds like a man shot in the throat and is desperately trying to talk. ¡°Eat everything first, and¡­ I will get something for you.¡± Obviously that¡¯s impossible. There is nothing in the house to eat but vegetables and fruits. Natasha is walking towards me. ¡°Since when is he hungry at night?¡± She ask him in the same breath, ¡°Didn¡¯t you eat all of your lunch?¡± He hugs his stomach and squats in pain. ¡°I am hungry. I am hungry¡­¡± ¡°Hey. Hey.¡± I rub his back. ¡°You will get something to eat soon.¡± ¡°Oh¡­¡± ¡°Yeah, so just wait a little.¡± He says nothing for a while, but pulls my left arm and stares at it. ¡°What is it? You like my fingernail paintings?¡± He is the one that did it for me because he was bored. Instead of answering, he sinks his teeth deep into my forearm. And it hurts! Sharp, Sharp teeth! Chapter 3: The Local Doctor I pull my hand back with all my force, resulting in my flesh being torn. The blood streams down from my wound and drips to the ground. I stare at my hand and the blood on his sharp teeth. Teeth like sharks. He breathes hard like a man who has just run an entire marathon. His tongue moves along his teeth, taking in the blood. Once again, he says, ¡°I am hungry¡­¡± What the hell is going on? I put my injured hand behind my back, wetting my shirt with blood. He turns towards me, his eyes are unsteady and threatening. ¡°I am¡­¡± ¡°Ulah, stop!¡± Like that¡¯s going to work. Whatever is happening isn¡¯t normal and I don¡¯t understand why. The only thing I can think of is a monster used a body skill on him to alter his biology. While thinking, Ulah charges at me. I jump to the side, evading him. ¡°I will break your jaw if you don¡¯t stop!¡± I shout, but my words aren¡¯t getting through to him. Is the bread somehow connected to it? But I am normal. I was in a lot of pain but I didn¡¯t have any body changes or extreme hunger. Ulah moves like a sick raging goat, but he trips on a chair at the dinner table and falls on the ground with a thud. Even the frail wooden floor shakes a little. I hope that didn¡¯t hurt him too much. Natasha has a puzzled expression. She mutters under her breath. ¡°Just what the hell is going on?¡± ¡°He¡¯s trying to eat me!¡± ¡°¡­¡± She then says, ¡°Hold him.¡± I do as she says and quickly. He manages to get on his knees, but that¡¯s the highest he reaches before I grab his neck and hold him in a neck lock. Natasha approaches us and goes on her knees to be at eye level with him. Ulah is ¡®clawing¡¯ away at my arms, trying his best to escape restraint. Natasha sees his teeth and the blood. ¡°Ulah, do you recognize my voice?¡± He groans in response. ¡°Pink-terra love bird?¡± She tries the nickname Caren gave him. He groans again. I gulp and say, ¡°I think¡­ it¡¯s something related to that bread I gave him when I came home. Maybe eating it made him a target of a monster with a body attribute?¡± ¡°He would be dead or in a monster¡¯s stomach if a monster¡ª Wait. Bread?¡± She looks at me as if to say, ¡®What the hell are you talking about?¡¯ ¡°Yes¡­ I put a bread roll in your hand too, when you were asleep.¡± ¡°Ah. I thought it was from your father.¡± She answers. ¡°Where did you get it?¡± That¡¯s the hard part to answer. Ulah groans and hits my chin with the back of his head. I endure it. I say, ¡°A¡­ Balash temple¡­¡± Her face doesn¡¯t change at all. ¡°Why were you near one?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t go inside of it. You said not to go in it and I thought¡ª¡± ¡°You thought what? Don¡¯t go inside, don¡¯t go near, don¡¯t have anything to do with it. Why did you try to play semantics with my words when you knew what I meant?¡± ¡°I know I know. I just thought it would be a different case if I didn¡¯t go into it. And I also wanted to get something to eat. I didn¡¯t think it would lead to something like this.¡± She bites her lips and shakes her head in disappointment. ¡°Whatever. How about you?¡± She arches an eyebrow, preparing a sarcastic question. ¡°You want to start eating people?¡± ¡°No¡­¡± ¡°How do you feel?¡± ¡°I woke up with a lot of pain.¡± I used my chin to point at my hand and then at my stomach. ¡°And it made the pain stop for the most part.¡± ¡°I see. What about your father? Did he eat any?¡± Shit. I nod. ¡°Yeah. I completely forgot about him.¡± I was focused on helping Ulah. ¡°I see¡­ It¡¯s weird, he has just been sleeping.¡± She stands up and looks at the corner of the room, where the mattress is. ¡°You think he is just holding in the pain?¡± She looks at me. So it was a literal question. ¡°Probably? But I doubt it. He never had a high pain tolerance.¡± She leans on her left leg like she often does. ¡°He probably thinks it¡¯s the usual gas pain.¡± ¡°Then wouldn¡¯t he be chewing down on some Kuger herbs?¡± Unlike Hulas, it tastes like normal spice. And you can always almost find him having one in his mouth at night and in the morning. ¡°Who knows what that man thinks.¡± Ulah is still trying to break free. He even tried to stand up a couple of times. I hope whatever he has can be reversed. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. Natasha sighs and I start hearing heavy movements. She quickly grabs the table runner and pulls it off the table, sending the baskets of fruits to the ground. ¡°Your father is up. Get to the door,¡± she says before balling the table runner, gagging Ulah, gesturing for me to release him then taking hold of him. ¡°I need something to drink. Fuck¡­¡± Caren¡¯s broken glass-like voice sounds worse. He is holding his throat with both hands like he is stabbed there and hunched forward, each movement of his is reflecting exhaustion. I get up, take the nearby bottle of grated dried hulas, and backpedal to the door so I can watch all his movements. I ask Natasha, ¡°If we give him water, would he¡ª¡± He dashes at us like a very big angry zombie. Shit! Natasha grabs the back of my shirt with her free hand and runs to the door at full speed. We reach on the outside steps quickly, since the house is elevated. In the next second, Caren along with his massive thuds come chasing after us. Natasha throws me ahead. I land on the dirt ground and fall. I get up quickly. ¡°I am dying of thirst!¡± he runs down the step, but he suddenly groans on the step before the last one and falls to the ground head first. That back injury must have hit him like a truck. I ask Natasha, anxious, ¡°Do you think they are different enough to survive it?¡± ¡°It?¡± ¡°Healing.¡± Her eyes are still on Caren, but she replies, ¡°What do you think?¡± Tch. It is not. Caren moves once again. His movement is slow, but it''s picking up pace. He pulls his bloodied forehead up. The blood is tinkling down his chin. His forearms are bruised but he ignores it and forces himself up. However, he quickly loses his balance and staggers backward and finds himself falling towards the stairs, and unfortunately for him, his back hits the edge of a step pretty hard. He screams, but that¡¯s all. Lucky for us. Natasha tells me, ¡°Get Marvin.¡± She pauses, then asks. ¡°You remember his house? Where it is?¡± ¡°Yeah, but I can barely see anything.¡± It¡¯s not pitch black like in the house but the only thing I can make out are the big objects. ¡°I will go for him then.¡± ¡°Oh wow. You can see in the darkness now?¡± I ask sarcastically. ¡°I have good memory.¡± She hands me Ulah. ¡°Keep an eye on them. If you have to hit your father in the head with a stone to keep him down, do it.¡± ¡°What if I accidentally kill him?¡± I ask, adjusting my arms around Ulah, who¡¯s trying to get leverage so he can chew on my flesh like a little zombie. ¡°Then you would be a father killer. My little psycho.¡± Natasha replies while walking down a grassy slope. ¡°Nice.¡± So in other words, I would be like the Queen of the Holvious Queendom. I always wanted to be part of royalty and not peasantry. ** POV: Natasha. While walking, I turn back a couple of times to see if Vernisha is safe. Her grip on Ulah is tight and I hear her trying to soothe him with songs he often sang with the neighbors. ¡¯Right now, the sky is clear. I want to fly through the sky like a bird. I want freedom. I want¡­¡¯ Of course, it¡¯s not working. I reach down the short slope and walk towards the decent size wooden house that has a garden to the right of it. A failed garden. There are supposed to be red cabbages growing in it to sell, but they are partially eaten down. Well, that¡¯s how it was earlier. Who knows, perhaps a miracle happened and the garden is back to normal. The fool should have taken my advice and used rotten pink-terra sauce to keep away those pests. I climb up Marvin¡¯s narrow and steep stairs, and once in front of the door, I knock on it. There is a stupid talisman on it. It belongs to his wife. She believes it will bring good luck and repel Darsean cultists. I can say with certainty, it¡¯s a load of bullshit. I knock on the door again, and finally, I hear a sound. ¡°What the hell¡­ Who the hell?¡± It¡¯s Palia. She sounds extremely tired. ¡°Mervin.¡± ¡°Mervin.¡± ¡°Mervin!¡± I think I heard a shove. ¡°Wh¡ª what? What the hell are you waking me up for?¡± ¡°Someone¡¯s at the door, go check who.¡± I chose to say something. ¡°It¡¯s me. Natasha. I have an emergency. My son and husband are terribly sick.¡± ¡°Natasha?¡± She is surprised. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you say that earlier?¡± Thought I would wait until you got your bearings. ¡°Good question.¡± I hear Palia footsteps. She must have got off her bed and is making her way to the door. The door handle shakes, but the door doesn¡¯t open. ¡°Shit. Give me a second.¡± She tried to open the door without the key¡­? Finally, Marvin says something, ¡°What did you say? I just woke up so my brain¡¯s tired and whatever.¡± Palia shouts like a teacher that has to explain a topic for the thousandth time, ¡°Get your lazy ass up. Her family is sick!¡± ¡°Oh give me a damn break!¡± Then I hear light footsteps dragging on the floor towards the door. ¡°You found the fucking key?¡± ¡°It¡¯s hard to find anything when you have to move in darkness.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not buying any more blu-dust. Shit¡¯s too damn expensive. I swear, when I meet ¡®Light for all¡¯ boss, they are going to hear a piece of my¡ª Oh. Palia, you dropped the key on the damn floor!¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°I stepped on it. I think I did.¡± I ask, ¡°Can you please make haste?¡± ¡°Aight aight. Give an old man a break.¡± The door lock makes a clicking sound. I go down the steps for the door to open in an arc. Marvin is partially naked but has a bed sheet to cover his privates. He looks out into the darkness before finding me. ¡°Where is your lamp? Are you trying to trip and fall?¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t have the time. Anyway, let¡¯s hurry.¡± ¡°Put this pants on.¡± His wife throws a brown pant and a big bag at him, which lands on his face. ¡°Dang face¡­¡± he puts the pants on quickly and asks me, ¡°So, what¡¯s the issue with them?¡± ¡°They ate something that made them grow fangs and attack both me and my daughter,¡± I add. ¡°They could target you next.¡± He is tiptoeing, trying to adjust the way the pants fits around him before suddenly stopping. He doesn¡¯t say anything, but Palia comes running outside, pushes him aside, almost making him trip(of course he panics), and asks, ¡°Did you just say fangs?¡± I nod. ¡°They want to eat flesh and drink blood.¡± Marvin blinks a couple of times, his expression refusing to change. He asks, ¡°Ha¡­ drink? Drink what? Drink blood¡­?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Oh for fucks sake. I want you to know, if you weren¡¯t Palia¡¯s good friend and Caren¡¯s wife, I would have shut my dang door." He mutters, ¡°Fucking scary shit. Did you piss off one of those gum skins¡ª¡± Palia elbows him. ¡°Stop being so disrespectful.¡± ¡°I am not. Didn¡¯t you just hear what she just said? Gum skin shit.¡± ¡°I did.¡± she walks down the step, nudges me, and tells him, ¡°Hurry up.¡± We reach back(I had to listen to him talk about Caren and Ulah being cursed by an angry Gum skin priest the entire time), and the first thing I hear is Vernisha singing another song for Ulah while rolling a fist-size stone around with her foot. It almost sounds like a shitty version of one she shouldn¡¯t know. Palia holds a lamp, one she borrowed from Mary a month ago. Marvin takes a deep breath and gestures at Caren. He is groaning and making weird groping movements like a dying patient trying his best to squeeze a ball. Marvin asks, ¡°Why is he bleeding in his head and acting like that?¡± You are the doctor. You are the one that¡¯s supposed to be telling me that. Of course, I don¡¯t say that. Instead, I tell him, ¡°I told Vernisha to use stones if he threatens her.¡± ¡°Hell¡­ How hard did she hit him?¡± I ask Vernisha. ¡°How hard?¡± She¡¯s practically rocking Ulah from side to side as she answers, ¡°Really hard. The first time he gained strength out of nowhere, so I went for a chest shot. The second time¡­ I thought he made a movement, but it was sharkcrow.¡± I sigh. ¡°And it hit him in the head?¡± She avoids eye contact with me, perhaps worried about punishment. ¡°Head. But that was by accident. It¡¯s dark! I had to rely on my ears.¡± ¡°Yeah, I know. I am not angry.¡± Marvin takes out a bowl, spoon, and different colored herbs from his bag. ¡°Looks like you did more than make him sit down. He¡¯s probably brain dead.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be so negative,¡± Palia says. ¡°Look at the man!¡± He points at Caren in frustration. He can¡¯t even look at him for two seconds before shaking his head. It¡¯s funny, I didn¡¯t expect him to be this affected since they stopped being friends a long time ago. Perhaps they hung out in private? I never cared to check. He mutters, ¡°Poor bastard now acts like Sonza.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you fucking dare talk about my brother like that!¡± Before the two can cut at each other throats, I say, ¡°Please try to make haste.¡± ¡°Okay okay¡­ What¡¯s their weight? I don¡¯t want to go back inside for the scale." ¡­ Okay then. I say, ¡°378 and 90 pounds.¡± Palia nudges me. ¡°You got a better memory than me.¡± I chuckle. Her smile turns serious. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Nash. Marvin is going to fix them up, somehow.¡± She nods as if she wants to convince herself. ¡°Yeah¡­ I am sure.¡± I smile at her. ¡°Certainty.¡± ¡°You are stronger than me. If it was my son in that state, I would be on the ground crying.¡± She looks at Marvin. ¡°Him though, I would be having a good laugh.¡± Marvin grumbles. He begins to mash herbs in a bowl. ¡°We will have to put them to sleep before I can try to do anything.¡± Chapter 4: Asking Trash For Help POV: Vernisha. I change my hold on Ulah into a headlock. Natasha then takes the rag out of his mouth, which results in him snapping like a wild dog, spreading his saliva and growling. ¡°Be careful,¡± Natasha says. ¡°That could hurt his neck.¡± ¡°I know, I know,¡± I say through the pain of his nails trying to tear through my skin. Thankfully, his nails aren¡¯t sharp. Marvin walks over, nervousness in his eyes. He looks at Ulah¡¯s sharp teeth and his spittle flying all over. He stutters like Ulah is about to jump at him at any minute. ¡°You¡¯re holding him good, right?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Natasha wraps the rag around her hand like a glove and moves to my side. She tells Ulah, ¡°I am going to hold your mouth open. Okay?¡± She does so, keeping it wide open, even if it means his teeth piercing through her fingers'' skin and making her bleed. Marvin moves fast, dumping all the green-brownish liquid into his mouth. Natasha removes her hand from his mouth and then clamp his mouth shut, applying pressure on his head and jaw. Her blood leaks down Ulah¡¯s head and jaw. Marvin says, ¡°He should fall asleep in a minute or two.¡± I ask, ¡°You are sure it¡¯s potent enough to work that fast?¡± ¡°I am certain. And no, it wouldn¡¯t kill him. ¡± Like he said, after a minute, Ulah becomes sluggish. And after another minute, he falls asleep. I think he is asleep. I whisper in his ears, tickling him, poking him, squeezing his shoulder, and he still doesn¡¯t wake up. He still has a heartbeat and is breathing. I ask, uncertain, ¡°You are sure it wasn¡¯t too potent? Sure, he¡¯s alive, but he seems half dead.¡± ¡°He¡¯s just really asleep.¡± Caren is next and he¡¯s done very fast. He doesn''t fight or anything. While Marvin is checking their temperatures, taking saliva and blood samples, Natasha gestures me over to the side of the house. I go over. ¡°Yes?¡± Natasha whispers to me, ¡°You weren¡¯t malicious, right?¡± I raise an eyebrow. ¡°With the stones to his head. That¡¯s what I am asking about.¡± ¡°No. I already said what happened.¡± She stares at me. Not with hate, but like she is judging me. ¡°I see.¡± She doesn¡¯t believe me. ¡°I honestly didn¡¯t. Sure, he pisses me off¡­ and says stuff to you that pisses me the hell off, and you never reacting piss me even more off, but I didn¡¯t really mean to hurt him more than I needed to.¡± She nods. ¡°Okay.¡± ¡°So¡­ do you believe me or not?¡± She casually looks into the darkness like there is a passing animal before answering me, ¡°Of course I do. Besides, his skull isn¡¯t even fractured. He must likely had a concussion, nothing more.¡± I believe that too. His head wasn¡¯t bleeding that much from the hit with the stone, so I wasn¡¯t too concerned. Natahsa puts her hand around my shoulders and we walk back to Marvin. Natasha says, ¡°Also, you shouldn¡¯t worry yourself with what your father tells me.¡± ¡°That''s bullshit.¡± ¡°If it doesn¡¯t affect me, it doesn''t matter.¡± ¡°You are just saying that. Everyone says that. But I am sure you are bothered by his words a bit, like when the fucker said,¡ª" ¡°Be quiet. I could care less what he says. As long as you are okay, I am okay, happy even.¡± I click my tongue and look away. ¡°I know.¡± ¡°Remember our promise, little missy.¡± ¡°I think it¡¯s a dumb-ass promise. The dude is abusive.¡± ¡°A couple of insults and loud rants isn¡¯t abuse. It¡¯s just annoying.¡± You poor soul. I sigh. ¡°The man once called you a ¡®vlandos cocksucker¡¯ because you didn¡¯t like how he was talking shit about vlandos.¡± And he has said far worse things than that. When it comes to being gross, you have to give it to him, that bastard is really good at it. ¡°I told you to not say that disgusting word.¡± ¡°It¡¯s two words.¡± ¡°See? You¡¯re playing semantics with my words again.¡± ¡°My bad.¡± She kisses my forehead and says, ¡°I am messing with you.¡± Being treated as a kid despite technically being over thirty mentally sure is something. It''s cringy. We go back to Marvin to see how it¡¯s going. Marvin is standing, watching Caren in bewilderment. I ask, ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°No idea. It¡¯s not like I have the right equipment to analyze his blood, see how his cells are changing and all that. The best I can do, and did is observe what I can see with the naked eye. His blood is getting darker in shades. His fingernails are getting darker too.¡± He clears his throat and says, ¡°You need to bring him to a doctor in Sundawn. Someone with the right equipment to help them out.¡± He then muttered. ¡°If they can be helped.¡± Natasha asks, ¡°How would we get to the capital? We are like¡­ over two hundred and forty miles away from it.¡± ¡°Bahmos. Ask him.¡± Natasha and I immediately show disgust in our expressions. It was the same guy that has been trying to get with Natasha and nearly broke Caren¡¯s back. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. She asks, ¡°There''s no one else?¡± ¡°You¡¯ve seen anyone else with a green lizard? Because I haven¡¯t.¡± She slowly nod. ¡°I see.¡± Palia exchanges gaze between Natasha and Marvin and then tells Natasha in somewhat of a rush, ¡°I will come with you, to him.¡± Natasha shakes her head. ¡°No. It¡¯s okay.¡± ¡°Are you sure? I know how he gets and if I am at your side, I will make sure the fucker knows his place.¡± ¡°I appreciate it, but trust me, I can handle myself. You worry too much.¡± Before going, she tells me, ¡°Get everything we would need.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ** POV: Bahmos. knock. What the hell¡­? Again, there is another knock. I grunt and take the pillow to cover my ears, frustrated. Whoever that wants something with me can go fuck themselves. There is movement on the bed. I feel Mary¡¯s knee move down my back, she¡¯s changing her sleeping position. She makes sounds like a person waking up from a deep sleep. ¡°Ain¡¯t you going to check who¡¯s at the door¡­?¡± ¡°No. They can go fuck themselves.¡± I say then press the pillow harder on my ears. ¡°You invited another woman over?¡± ¡°This late at night? The fuck do I look like, a sex maniac?¡± She laughs, the type of laugh someone makes when they hear some bullshit. ¡°I am still sore, so yeah, I would say so.¡± ¡°I didn''t. ¡± The person knocks again, pissing me even more. I throw the pillow to the side of the wall, where I keep my shoes. On the shelf at Mary¡¯s side of the bed, the lamp lights up the room. She looks over the bed, taking her bra and underwear. ¡°You¡¯re going?¡± I ask. ¡°Thought you were spending the early morning too.¡± She raises an eyebrow as she puts on her undergarments. ¡°You paid for the night, not the wife''s experience.¡± ¡°No bonuses for me?¡± ¡°Not for free.¡± She pins her bra, then tries to pat her long hair back. ¡°Maybe this one will give you that experience.¡± She stands and I see a couple of whip scars on her back. She had a crazy mother. The creep of a father started showing her a little more interest than normal. Her mother noticed that and instead of bringing it up to her husband, blamed her, saying she was trying to seduce her father by wearing light clothing in the house. She was twelve by the way. Crazy family. When my aunt was being creepy towards me, I told my mother, and, man, my mother dragged that bitch through the streets. The duality of life. She puts on her dress, sari, then the thirty bronze pints on the shelf and fit it in her chest pocket. Before taking the blu-fire lamp, she says with a crude smile, ¡°Give me twenty more, and I will stay ove¡ª¡± ¡°Good night, Mary. Sleep well and tell your husband I said hi.¡± She rolls her eyes. ¡°See you tomorrow.¡± ¡°Same time?¡± ¡°Same time.¡± She takes her fake earrings from the shelf and puts them on. Three on the right ear and two on the left, a family culture. The knocking continues. I get up, put a tunic on, and was about to make my way to the door, but stop. I take a look at Mary¡¯s ass and shake my head, smiling. I know for certain Paul (her husband) can¡¯t handle all that ass, not with his cripple ass. With everything done, she walks past me and I just have to slap her ass, feel and watch it jiggle. Like always, it''s perfect. I put my hand on my waist and watch the ceiling as it falls in darkness ¡®cause she has the lamp. I love having money. I grab a cigar from my tunic¡¯s pocket. I always keeps one in it, I spit in it, wait for the blu-dust to catch on fire for the Jile leaf in it to burn. I make my way to the front door. Mary opens it, and then says with a huge smile before hugging the individual. ¡°Holy shit. You told me you weren¡¯t interested!¡± Mary pulls back and then points at me. ¡°You better pay my friend right.¡± ¡°What the hell are you talking about?¡± I ask. I was even going for a knife, but now I am confused. Then I hear the person¡¯s voice. ¡°I am not here for anything like that.¡± Natasha¡­? Mary gives her a look, showing she doesn¡¯t buy it. ¡°Sure. I will keep your little thing a secret. What made you change your mind anyway? Ah, that fat fuck was being an asshole again, wasn¡¯t he? The audacity of these ungrateful men. He should be glad that you didn¡¯t decide to fuck some guy and make him watch. I would do it. I would have made the bastard eat the nu¡ª¡± ¡°Mary. I am here because I need to head to the capital Immediately.¡± Mary''s eyes widen in surprise. You can see the embarrassment on her face as she nervously licks her lips. She asks, ¡°Oh¡­ Money reasons? Job opportunity?¡± ¡°Doctor. Family¡¯s sick¡± ¡°Oh¡­¡± Mary turns to look at me then back at her. ¡°Sorry. When you get back, tell me everything.¡± She makes a shoulder-patting motion and then goes on her own business. Emergency huh? That¡¯s a nice lie. That Caren bastard must not have made enough money this time around. Not enough food on the table, starving kids, stress. Desperate times always call for desperate measures. That¡¯s how the world is. I smile and then enter the kitchen, and ignore the sink that¡¯s filled with dirty dishes, with red, yellow, and blue sauce on them. There is even the foul smell of monkeygoat meat in one of those metal cups. A cup my father gave me after coming home from his Holvious expenditure. Shit¡¯s light as a feather. I tried to make goaumi, a dish the lavish restaurants in Laskdar love to serve. Bake the four-horned monkeygoat, cut the meat into pieces, then put it into a spinner, let it get turned into liquid-like, and drink it. I messed it up somehow since it tastes horrible. I open the cabinet and grab some canned snailcrabs. It¡¯s preserved with a ton of salt and enough to sustain her family for about six days. Yeah, that¡¯s a good trade. I got no sex drive, but what the fuck, mind over body. If I got to stab it awake, then so be it. I show up at the door, lean on the frame, and smile at the beautiful Natasha. Her long black hair, brown eyes, and pristine white skin. Her eyes show disinterest, but I mentally shrug it off. I ask, ¡°What¡¯s a beautiful lady like you doing here in the middle of the night?¡± ¡°Get me to the capital. My family is sick, they need a doctor urgently. ¡°Please.¡± ¡­ Is that supposed to be a code word? I ask, confused, ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡± ¡°What¡¯s not to understand? I need your help. Well, transportation.¡± Oh. She¡¯s literal. Man, what the fuck? I got excited over nothing? I let out a single laugh and shake my head. It¡¯s like what Uncle Joe always said: "Never get too excited to get ya dick wet. You could invite her over, and she shows up and doesn¡¯t wanna do anything. Instead, she starts talking about her mother abusing her and shit. So you are just there with her on the couch, ¡®listening¡¯ to her rants, feeling stupid." I ask, ¡°So what? When do you need the help.¡± ¡°Now.¡± ¡°N¨Cn¨Cnow?! Are you out of your fu¡ª mind?! Now?! Do you¡­.¡± I take in a deep breath and touch my temple in frustration. Right now she hates me. If I am going to get a shot at her, I need to get on her good side. I struggle to put on a fake smile, ¡°Absolutely¡­ I would love to help a beautiful mountain fairy like you.¡± ¡°But,¡± I say, looking up and down at her fine body, her nice size tits, perfect hips, and the thighs that are trying to be shielded by her dress. I am not certain of their size, but I can imagine it. I¡¯ve no idea how the fuck she maintains all that fat(the sexy amount) on their family¡¯s diet. But her husband exists. I swear, they gotta be eating that diabetic shitty plant to maintain all that weight. She asks, annoyed, ¡°What? But what?¡± ¡°What is it for me.¡± ¡°Get us to the capital and we can decide afterwards. I don¡¯t have time now, as you can imagine.¡± I nod. ¡°That can work.¡± Yeah, that can work very well. I round my shoulders and tell her, ¡°Give me a minute. I¡¯m going to get dressed and call over my boys.¡± ¡°I see. But for what? Your boys.¡± ¡°You are not the only person that got business to do in the capital,¡± I reply. ¡°Oh. Drugs.¡± I crack a smile at her. ¡°Drug money is divine money.¡± My version of what those money-loving goblins say. ¡°All money is divine money.¡± Things move fast. I cover my hair with bright green headscarf; it matches with my pants, and then I don a simple knee-length tunic black shirt. To finish it, some white stylish gloves. Brand name, ¡®Fairy Hands.¡¯ Expensive as hell for no real reason other than gatekeeping, trying to keep the prestige. I knock on three small houses around me, waking those inside them up. They complain and crap. I just twirl my finger into a circle at the sky. ¡°Make haste. Make haste.¡± The youngest of them really annoyed me. The little shit has the nerve to come out of the door with his hand around his girl¡¯s shoulder, both half naked, trying to convince me that he¡¯s ¡®sick.¡¯ ¡°Uncle, my stomach hurts like hell. I was running in the toilet like it was my lifesaver.¡± His Julioes girlfriend adds (with her shitty, barely understandable accent) while rubbing his back, ¡°He nearly even shat himself.¡± I ignore her and tell him, ¡°We move in ten. Be by me before then.¡± ¡®Sick¡¯. As if I wasn¡¯t hearing the moaning sounds when I knocked on the door. Loud as hell. The little fuckers exaggerated it when I knocked on the door. ¡°But¡ª¡± ¡°In ten or less,¡± I say before leaving. Got stomach pain but can afford to be moaning like an ogamsing woman? My green lizard is pulled from its stable and a carriage is lined behind it. I point at it, getting Natasha¡¯s attention. ¡°You know, they don¡¯t make them no more.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± ¡°Yep. Some animal government department thingy. Apparently, their heart is too close to their lungs or something. ¡°They don¡¯t get tired like that. A damn Fermuia breed, the guy that named was actually a far away relative of mine. When my father told me that, I believed it. Genius runs in the family.¡± ¡°Good to hear. So, you are done preparing?¡± She didn¡¯t believe that relative part. Damn. I answer, ¡°Yeah.¡± Julan, the same young guy who tried lying, sat behind the carriage and look at Natasha in a confused way. He gestures at her with his finger, ¡°Yo, Miss Natasha.¡± She nods at him. ¡°Why¡¯re you so calm? If Bahmos was wasting my time and my family was dying, I think I would be livid.¡± His cousin, who¡¯s near him, elbows him. ¡°Man, shut up. You know you would be waiting patiently like a little pup.¡± ¡°Just because I play it smart doesn¡¯t mean I wouldn¡¯t get serious when I have to.¡± I look at him in the eye. He smiles and says, ¡°I mean that in a cool way.¡± Whatever. Natasha waited for them to stop talking before answering, ¡°That¡¯s just the way I am.¡± Julan and Merkerthy, both nod. Julan says, ¡°I respect that.¡± I wipe my nose and say, ¡°Let¡¯s get on board. We will go to Natasha¡¯s home, collect them then we move.¡± Chapter 5: Journey To The Capital POV: Vernisha. I have three cloth bags filled with clothes, money, and residence papers for all four of us since that¡¯s needed to enter the city. It¡¯s taking her forever to return. I find myself kicking a round stone like a football to pass the time. Every two seconds, I would take a look at Ulah to see if he¡¯s okay. He¡¯s fast asleep. I ask Marvin, who is sitting with his arms crossed, ¡°You are sure the dosage was right?¡± ¡°Well, no. I didn¡¯t use a scale. But seeing that they are still alive, I would say it was close enough.¡± Hm¡­ Palia who has been watching me for a while now says, ¡°I am sure your mom¡¯s okay.¡± Hm? ¡°Oh. Yeah, I know. I am just annoyed it¡¯s taking her so long to return.¡± ¡°Oh¡­¡± She is taken aback. I guess she thought I would be anxious or scared. Ironically, it looks like she is the one who needs the comfort. I tell her, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. There is nothing to worry about.¡± She slowly nods and then quickly changes her expression to a smile. ¡°Of course!¡± Five more minutes pass and my frustration builds. I kick the rock the hardest I can, sending it on some guy¡¯s roof. There is a loud bang because it hits a galvanized roof. Tch. I sit near Ulah and take his hand to watch his fingernails. They have a darker shade¡­ ¡°Sorry,¡± I whisper to him. But¡­ we will get him fixed. At least him. He is young and easy to influence like all kids. So because of Caren and basically everyone, he too fears and hates vlandos. There was one time when I was teaching him how to gut fish, since he prefers fishing over farming. According to him, farming is too much work, especially when the silo is so hot. Anyway, he randomly started a conversation with me while opening a small fish¡¯s belly with a knife, ¡°Do you sometimes have dreams that you are a vlandos? L-like just randomly you are very tall, super pretty, and can lift buildings?¡± Then I got excited, I thought maybe I could make him like vlandos instead of fearing them. So I excitedly lied and said, ¡°Hell yeah. All the time.¡± He frowned and asked, ¡°Do you think¡­ that means we should die? But I don¡¯t want to die and I don¡¯t want you to die.¡± It was confusing so I obviously had asked him what he meant. And he anxiously talked, like he was guilty of something: ¡°Well¡­ Dad always talks about how vlandos are evil, and why they are useless¡­ And my friend was telling me that a vlandos beat his father up for no reason. A-and his father was angry.¡± I had listen to him and understood his feelings. He was having dreams about being a vlandos because he was afraid of becoming one. Afraid that everyone would hate him, including his own family, and especially his father. He was close to him, far more than Natasha. But that was probably because Caren was much softer to him and took him everywhere to except for market days. It doesn¡¯t matter to me how nice Caren is to him, I still hate him. Perhaps I hate him more because his love for Ulah can easily switch on a dime. Not because of actions, morals, ethics, or values, but because of something he has no control over. Caren would go from seeing him as his precious star to the devil, someone he would cry for as he sends him to his death. I know why Natasha stays with him, because of me, not simply because she has a child. But because of those powers of mine, it¡¯s better for me to have an incompetent father, one who will probably never find out what I am. But I never understood why Natasha got married to him of all people. For one, he is dirt poor. What parts of your brain think it¡¯s okay to tie yourself down to someone who makes you live in a house that wouldn¡¯t be able to stand up to a category one hurricane? ¡®love¡¯ bullshit. If he was at least attractive, I could probably understand. But he isn¡¯t. Even if he was handsome and had money, it wouldn¡¯t be worth dealing with someone as hateful as him. And if his views were ever questioned, he would always get angry. I remember a time Natasha was interacting with some guy. I was there, so I know it wasn¡¯t anything flirtatious. The conversations were related to the best seasons to harvest red cucumbers and how certain farmers inflate them with water and so on. When the interaction was done and she came inside, Caren was angry. He wasn¡¯t shouting or anything like that. He sat on one of the chairs at the dinner table, arms crossed and hatred in his eyes. ¡°Who was the guy?¡± ¡°What¡¯s with you?¡± ¡°I asked who was that guy.¡± ¡°Some traveling merchant. What about it?¡± ¡°Uhuh? And what were you two talking about?¡± ¡°Not what you think,¡± she said and took a seat near the wall. ¡°And you can¡¯t say it?¡± ¡°What do you think we were talking about?¡± ¡°You must think I am some fucking retard, don¡¯t you? I saw the way that man was smiling at you, grinning like a pig.¡± The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°You have an issue with people smiling at me?¡± ¡°A-are you playing smart with me?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t know.¡± He muttered something under his breath and then stood up with fire. ¡°If you are going to be fucking other men, don¡¯t be so fucking obvious with it.¡± ¡°Well, I am not.¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ You think I don¡¯t hear what your friends say? What that fucking whore friend be saying? How she tries to get you to step out of fucking marriage?¡± ¡°What whore friend?¡± ¡°Mary!¡± ¡°Oh.¡± She shrugged. ¡°And I haven¡¯t. Not because I love you, but because I don¡¯t care too. I already told you, you can do what you want. You have already been eyeing Mary and the others, try your luck. One of them may pity you, or maybe Mary will give you a discount. If I asked her to¡­¡± That one had really bothered him. ¡°You think I am like you?! I care about this family. I want to be a good husband to a damn woman like you.¡± She looked at him and gave half a shrug. ¡°You have been trying to fuck other women, you just haven¡¯t been successful. They all told me, or a friend of mine told me. So I know. I am not stupid, I just don¡¯t really care what you do.¡± He tried denying it but gave up. He didn¡¯t stop accusing her of cheating on him. Heck, he even tried telling her to not talk to other men when he isn''t around. Obviously, she didn¡¯t care. I didn¡¯t get his point either. If she was cheating, or flirting with any men, then I could see an issue. But I am certain that was never the case. Not Natasha, she didn¡¯t care too. He tried threatening with divorce, but again, she didn¡¯t care. And he realized his threats had no weight. Unlike him, people were constantly showering her with both romantic and sexual interest. He stayed, because at the end of the day, a beautiful woman took interest in him for reasons no one knew, and she never gave a reason other than he had traits that she liked. He tried asking his friends, but they all couldn¡¯t figure it out. Except one, who suggested: ¡°Maybe she thought you were cool to talk too?¡± There were some bold assholes(some seemed pretty chill, but I mean, confessing love to a man¡¯s wife, in front of his face? That¡¯s kinda insane) that brought flowers here to her, acting like Caren was nothing but a bug. Insignificant. If she said, ¡°I already have a husband,¡± they would respond, ¡°But you hate him.¡± And if she replied with, ¡°I have two kids.¡± They would reply, ¡°I am good with kids.¡± Natasha is stunning. Beautiful enough for some to call her: A mountain fairy. A type of fairy that lures men and women deep into mountains because of how beautiful they are. Or a cloud maiden. Which are just spirit-like beings that are said to be mirages of the most beautiful people in history, returning to land. Along with Julioes folktales. All that beauty with no sort of cosmetics. Impossibly beautiful. Unnaturally beautiful. Vlandos-like beauty. And yet, she chose to be with a man who is below average in everything (except height. He¡¯s 5¡±10). There were even some people who thought she was a monster in disguise and for some reason wanted to eat Caren. The fact she has human children disproved that fear. So, people just thought she was very stupid and Caren promised her great deeds. And Caren always heard it all. From his friends, brothers, sisters, cousins, and even parents. ¡°What the hell does she see in him?¡± ¡°Does he have a rich father or something? Like, is she trying to get some of that family¡¯s money?¡± ¡°Maybe she likes her men ugly? ¡°Probably thinks he wouldn¡¯t cheat. Well, uglier men cheat more.¡± ¡°Ha. He definitely has her hostage.¡± There was a time when Natasha and I slept by the sea bay. About a year ago. There, she told me that time she met his parents for the first time. They hated her because they were convinced that she wanted to use Caren. Use him for what? They didn¡¯t know. Perhaps a ritual. The sounds of a moving carriage start coming to us, so I stand up and try to peer through the darkness to see. The lamp isn¡¯t bright enough. Palia and Marvin turned their attention to it. He says, ¡°I think that¡¯s Bahmos. Took them long.¡± Palia isn¡¯t convinced yet. ¡°I hope so.¡± It turns out it is them. A massive horse-size green lizard pulls a carriage right up to us. And from inside the carriage walks out Natasha and four men. I recognize them all. Bahmos looks around and says, ¡°Why is the blu-fire so dim? I can barely see anything.¡± Julan says, ¡°Must be Qura ones.¡± ¡°Doubt. Qura quality is okay at least, this one is absolutely trash.¡± Natasha jumps off the carriage and says, ¡°Those two that are asleep.¡± Bahmos takes a look at Caren, squinting. ¡°He¡¯s bleeding?¡± He turns to her with a sly smile. ¡°What the hell did he do to make you so angry?¡± ¡°Just get them into the carriage. Please.¡± Bahmos gestures at Caren. Julun and Merkerthy grunt while walking towards him: ¡°I already got fucking back issues.¡± ¡°Damn, same.¡± I pick up Ulah and hand him to Natasha. ¡°Why did you take so long?¡± ¡°He had to prepare some stuff.¡± ¡°I see¡­¡± ¡°What did you think?¡± ¡°No idea. Maybe you got lost or something?¡± She looks at me for a while with a blank expression. ¡°I see. Either way, did you get everything that¡¯s needed?¡± ¡°Yes. Residence papers, money for the city gate¡¯s foreign entrance, extra clothes, and¡­ a couple of fruits.¡± ¡°Fruits? Why?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. Why not?¡± She half shrugs. ¡°Step aside¡­ we are coming in.¡± Julun and the other guy holds Caren by the leg and back while moving like crabs, grinding their teeth and trying their best to get to the carriage before their intestines pop out of their ass. We did as they requested and step aside. The two changes strategy multiple times to elevate Caren into the carriage, but keeps failing. So another one, I think his name is Tom (the oldest tom in the village) came to help them. He is tall, skinny, maybe 6¡±0, and has a lot of acne scars. Unlike men in public, he doesn¡¯t have his hair covered. Instead, he has the hair scarf like a rag on his shoulders. Feels weird but whatever. He removes the cigar from his mouth and places it into his shirt pocket. ¡°Jul get in the carriage, Me and Merk will push him up.¡± Julan hastily nods. ¡°G-got it.¡± Palia is trying to get Marvin to help, but he is just saying, ¡°I am an old man, what the hell do you want me to do? Break my back trying to help?¡± The good news is that they got Caren in. Once they are done, they all basically throw themselves on the ground, gasping for air or/and wiping the sweat off their faces. Tom tries to call Natasha, but every time he gets half of her name out, he has to take another breath of air. He stops and recovers. When his breathing is normal, he says to Natasha, ¡°No disrespect and I know I am out of place for asking, but¡­¡± He takes a look inside, frustrated. ¡°But how the hell you be fucking that?¡± Julun mutters, ¡°That¡¯s rude, man.¡± Natasha replies, ¡°None of your concern.¡± ¡°Damn. Sorry.¡± Julun taps him with his feet. ¡°This one of those love don¡¯t discriminate kind of thing.¡± Tom rolls his eyes. "Sure." I think this Julun guy has a fetish for Julioes. A few times that I heard him and his pals talking, he would be telling them they should start dating Julioes. Something like: ¡°I am telling you all, Julioes women are better than what we have. They are sexier, they got that pink skin, and their skin is soft as fuck.''¡± ¡°Watch this, you ever see a human chick stretch her breast double its length? Triple her ass size at the snap of her finger? No. You. Haven¡¯t.¡± ¡°A¨Calright, y¡¯all stay outdated. Yeah, I am a gum fucker, so what? Man, I embrace that shit. I wear it like a fucking badge. I am happy as fuck while y¡¯all are stuck dealing with these nagging ass bitches.¡± Bahmos comes over and checks Caren and then nods. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± And so all of us hop on. Palia waves us bye. ¡°We will be waiting for you!¡± Natasha waves back with a smile. ¡°Stay safe.¡± As soon as we are out of their sight, her smile disappears and it¡¯s replaced with a neutral expression, like a student lock in deep focus. Natasha lays down Ulah. I also sit down near her. The guys are in front. Tom ask, ¡°What happened to them?¡± I answer, ¡°They ate a bad bread, basically.¡± He slowly nods. ¡°Did your father fall or something?¡± He ask that because of all the blood. I respond, ¡°Yeah, a lot of falls.¡± The others ask some questions and then the conversations evaporates between us. They continue chatting with each other about stuff I have no interest in. Bahmos states that the trip would take about eight hours, which is frustrating to think about. Natasha taps my shoulder. When I turn to her, she gestures at my bandaged left hand. I peek at it. ¡°Need a new round.¡± ¡°I know. That¡¯s why I pointed it out,¡± she says before pulling a roll of bandage from the backpack I packed. She takes my left hand and rip the dirty bandage out. She adjust my hand, making sure that¡¯s on my palm wasn¡¯t visible to others. Julun spot us and ask, ¡°She got hurt?¡± Natasha respond, ¡°It¡¯s just the same left hand.¡± ¡°Ah¡­ Is the disfiguring any better or the same thing?¡± ¡°Same thing.¡± Bahmos who is lying down suddenly sits up and looks at Julun with a confused expression. ¡°Did you just ask if the disfiguring got any better? The disfiguring.¡± Tom shakes his head, chuckling. ¡°That¡¯s why I tell these guys to get their asses into a school. A bunch of fucktards.¡± Julun shoots a glare at Tom, ¡°Dude, shut up. You see anyone here can afford school?¡± ¡°If you start working hard, you might be able too.¡± He ends his sentence by lighting his cigar. ¡°Fuck off.¡± Natasha finishes wrapping my hand and examines it multiple times before being satisfied. ¡°Once we are in the capital, try your absolute best to not let it get worn out.¡± ¡°Got it.¡± Chapter 6: Guilt POV: Natasha ¡°Yo Tom.¡± Julun calls him. ¡°Yeah?¡± ¡°Pass those cards. I am feeling like robbing you.¡± ¡°We¡¯re playing with silver?¡± He pulls out his wallet and draws a silver pint. ¡°Well, it can¡¯t be fucking bronze.¡± Merkerthy looks at them with raised eyebrows. ¡°Raise that shit to the onyx level.¡±(A thousand silver pints = one onyx pint) The other two look at him like he is stupid before laughing. I sit there, listening to their gambling and nonsense talk. I did that a lot when I wanted to learn as much as possible about everything. There were so many different dialects, cultures, taboos, languages, accents, animals, types of technologies, terminologies and so on that it felt frustrating at first. For example, in Retuia(On the edge of the east of Terrafall¡¯s border), apparently, it¡¯s a custom for the parents to show their children the expenses spent on them(and go into detail about it), especially when they are closer to becoming adults. The idea is basically to make them feel indebted to them, and loyal and teach them the value of money. I heard it¡¯s a tradition among Julioes. And then I also heard it¡¯s based on punchio¡¯s culture. But that¡¯s probably just racism because of the money-loving stereotype. But I don¡¯t know. Tom draws the last card, losing. ¡°One of you guys set me up.¡± ¡°Or you just suck.¡± Julun grins as he picks up all the money. ¡°But I am glad you do. I am glad indeed.¡± Merkerthy yawns. ¡°I am done. Pass one of those magazines.¡± Julun replies, ¡°Don¡¯t have any.¡± ¡°Huh? What do you mean?¡± ¡°Rets-agyi-meui made me burn them.¡± The two stare at him. ¡°Tell that girl of yours to get a proper fucking name instead of that brain-dead shit. ¡®Agyi¡­¡¯ how do you even pronounce that?¡± ¡°I think with two ¡®r¡¯s and¡­ a ¡®e¡¯ then¡­¡± Tom thinks. Julun cuts them off, ¡°It¡¯s ¡®a,g,y,i¡¯ ¡± ¡°Why the hell does it sound like it doesn¡¯t even have an ¡®a¡¯ in it?¡¯ Julun shrugs. ¡°Ask her when you see her.¡± Tom shakes his head. ¡°Whatever. Anyway, lucky for you Merk, I got the EX DEL 1536 SEXY SHOTS¡­. Give me twenty-five silver for it.¡± He flips a thick magazine with a naked blonde woman lying down on the sand with vanilla ice cream covering her nipples and neither region. ¡°Wait, 1536 sexy shots? In that small thing? They scammed your ass.¡± ¡°No, dumbness. It¡¯s a compilation of everything that came out this year¡± ¡°Oh¡­ You got the vlandos one?¡± ¡°Fuck no. Why the hell would I want to see those damn giants naked?¡± ¡°But you only bought it to sell the shit, so why would you care? And why are you reselling it for so much?¡± The original price tag of two silver pints is on it. ¡°Work smart, not hard.¡± ¡°Motherfucker, you said¡ª¡± ¡°Shut up. You only want it to resell it outside of the city anyway.¡± Bahmos says, ¡°Shut up already. You all are loud for no reason.¡± ¡°Kay kay.¡± Yeah, absolutely nonsense. Their talking goes out when a loud shriek passes over us. A sharkcrow. Vernisha who is sitting near Ulah jerks her head up and looks through the window above the carriage to watch it. A feathered winged shark that¡¯s the size of a full-grown bull. It flaps its wings and flies away. It¡¯s one of those animals that was driven to near extinction three hundred and four years ago. For food for wars on the continent and for stupid ritual purposes. Vernisha returns to holding Ulah''s hand, comforting him, saying, he is going to be okay. She even does something similar for her father. So I guess she honors our promise. Still, I am surprised she can honor it. I actually thought she probably had chosen to poison them. I didn¡¯t get why she would want to kill Ulah. Her father, I understand, it makes sense. I think it does. But it just didn¡¯t make sense with her personality. If she wanted him dead, she would have tried to make him have an accidental death, like she attempted in the past. If I was sensitive I would have done it myself. He¡¯s so descriptive and explicit with his words and so quick to anger. Everything gets his blood boiling. It¡¯s like he is always bothered by something, and if he gets a little more bothered, it sets him ablaze. But he only shows that anger in the house. He must think of me as a verbal punching bag. That really does something to my ego. Him thinking I am his. His words? Like I have said a million times, I am not affected. But whenever I think that he thinks he can treat me however because he thinks he ¡®owns¡¯ me, a type of anger boils in me. If I weren¡¯t a mother, and for other reasons, I would have definitely killed him. Sigh. I am a mother. I have been one for twelve years, but it doesn¡¯t change the weird kind of happiness I feel when I think about it. A slight cold chill down my spine and a knot in my stomach. I have carried a child for nine months, not once but twice, and given birth, and nursed those kids. And I saw them go from being incredibly stupid to learning to speak and functioning semi-independently, along with the changes in their bodies. It¡¯s an interesting thing to go through. Tch. How did Vernisha just come across some weird mutative bread in a damn Balash temple? ¡°Ma¡­¡± Ulah awakens from his sleep, but unlike before, he can communicate. I rest my hand on my chin. I wonder¡ª Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Vernisha looks at me expectantly. ¡°I think¡­ he wants you.¡± ¡­ My heart skips a beat, and I move over quickly. ¡°Yes, I was just in shock.¡± I sit near him and cradle him. He makes expressions of pain while saying random things: ¡°Two times three¡­ is five? No¡­ six.¡± ¡°Vernisha what¡¯s division¡­¡± She says, ¡°It¡¯s weird that he is thinking about such things right now.¡± ¡°Maybe it¡¯s just his custom.¡± ¡°Yeah. He was somewhat excited to learn about division.¡± ¡°I guess you will have to remember to teach him it when he recovers.¡± ¡°Yeah, for sure.¡± Caren makes slight movements and even sleep talks. ¡°Benji¡­ listen to me. If we all put our money together, we can buy it¡­¡± Benji, that¡¯s his brother. He continues, ¡°Come on¡­ Granddad meant that land for us! How can we just let someone else keep it?!¡± Oh, that. He did tell me about that. His parents sold a lot of land that was passed down in the family. He thought it wasn¡¯t fair and that the land was only meant to be held by Holinestones. Julun says, ¡°You think the head wounds made him¡­¡± he taps his head. ¡°Crazy?¡± I ask. ¡°Yeah, something so. Thought it would be rude to say it since he is your husband and all.¡± ¡°Oh. I doubt that¡¯s the case. He¡¯s probably just sleep-talking. Relieving memories,¡± I answer. Tom joins the conversation. ¡°Was he talking when they fell sick?¡± None of them knows they turned into cannibals. Vernisha answers, ¡°Somewhat. But nothing like this. It almost seems they are mentally getting better.¡± Or the opposite. Tom replies, ¡°I hope that¡¯s the case. Growing up without a father is hard. I wouldn¡¯t wish that on anyone.¡± Merkerthy nods in agreement. I ask him, ¡°You don¡¯t have one?¡± I knew him since he was a teenager, one of the annoying ones who would try their best to get with women twice their age(unlike most, he didn''t grow out of that), but I don¡¯t recall ever seeing his parents. He shrugs. ¡°You saw him a couple of times. He¡¯s just a druggie now. Only knows me when he needs money to get a fast high.¡± I don¡¯t understand it. He clearly has a father¡ª Oh. I get it. ¡°I see. Sorry to hear that." He shrugs. "It''s whatever. Little Verni did meet my mom at a market square once, though." "Oh. How''d that happen?" He starts smiling, holding back small laughter like he is remembering an embarrassing moment. He gestures at Vernisha and says, "She tried to sell her a pink-terra for triple the market price." Vernisha shrugs. "I needed the money. And I got the money" I half smile. "Interesting to hear." More time passes and I find myself staring into nothing. Vernisha gets up and sits near me. She doesn''t say anything, but I can tell she is uneasy. Then she starts taping the floor like she often did when bored or worried. After about five more minutes, she asks, ¡°Why aren¡¯t you angry with me?¡± What a weird question. ¡°Why would I¡ª" Oh right. "¡ªIt was an accident.¡± ¡°When I get into accidents you get angry. Ridiculously angry.¡± ¡°The difference is that¡­ It¡¯s different.¡± ¡°How is it different? Isn¡¯t this worse?¡± ¡°Vernisha.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Stop worrying. You will give yourself high blood pressure.¡± ¡°It¡¯s hard not to when I can remember how you always reacted when I badly injured myself. Like when that boulder crushed my legs. You were angry, angry that I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Angry for something you didn¡¯t warn me about, that I didn¡¯t know about. Something I wasn¡¯t responsible for at all. ¡°If Caren was the only one who got messed up because of me, I would understand your calmness, we don¡¯t give a fuck about him. But Ulah? You love him.¡± ¡°Do you want me to scream at you? Call you foolish? I don¡¯t understand why you are complaining. I see that it was an accident, so I accept it was an accident. What¡¯s your problem?¡± ¡°I just felt uneasy.¡± ¡°Well don¡¯t.¡± I scoff. She doesn¡¯t reply. Instead, she appears sulked, harmed by my words. I run my hand through my hair and say, ¡°Look, I understand why you did it. I can relate to it. When I was much older than you, maybe fifteen, I brought a fruit to my sister. It looked nice and smelt so too. But I didn¡¯t know those fruits held a lot of parasites. My sister died because of me, a painful death, and my parents blamed and hated me for it.¡± I look her right into her eyes. ¡°I don¡¯t want you to feel that kind of pain. To feel like you are responsible for the suffering of others because your kindness betrayed you.¡± Vernisha''s lips purse open and she finds it hard to get the right words. ¡°I didn''t know you had a sister." ¡°I don¡¯t like to talk about my family.¡± ¡°Oh, right. Sorry.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay.¡± Unfortunately, the three were listening, but all they do is offer words of comfort. After an hour, the Lizard movements become slower. Then it becomes still and is panting. The three younglings are fast asleep, but Bahmos wakes up. In his hand is a pyramid communicator. He forces his tired self up and reaches for the carriage walls for balance like a drunkard at a bar. ¡°Dreamy?¡± he calls out. The Lizard responds like a small cat. ¡°Ah...¡± I ask him, ¡°It¡¯s tired?¡± He snaps his eyes open in surprise like there is an intruder in his house. Then he realizes it¡¯s just me. He says, ¡°Damn, forgot you were there. Yeah, it¡¯s tired. Give it about twenty minutes.¡± ¡°I see.¡± He slides the carriage door open and hops out. ¡°I will be out for a while.¡± Vernisha is leaning against my shoulder. She says, ¡°I want to go outside.¡± ¡°Why?¡± I ask. ¡°I feel like my bladder is about to burst.¡± I exhale then stand up. ¡°What if the Lizard didn¡¯t stop?¡± Vernisha grabs my waist to help her stand up. ¡°I would just die holding it in.¡± ¡°You were that afraid to ask them to stop?¡± I ask as I get out of the carriage and stand on the paved dirt ground. I look at the tall grasses and white flowers among them. ¡°A bit so.¡± Vernisha jumps out and nearly trips and falls, but she catches her balance. ¡°Stop being so reckless...¡± I mutter. ¡°I am hungry, want to pee, and sleep-deprived.¡± Vernisha yawns and then walks deep into the grass field. I follow her to make sure she will be safe. She finds it annoying, saying I am treating her like a child, I ignore her comments. While walking her movements are cautious, like a blind person¡¯s. She complains. ¡°It¡¯s so damn dark¡­¡± I smirk. ¡°So you ¡®can¡¯t see¡¯.¡± I think she is trying to understand my joke since she is taking so long to respond. ¡°I don¡¯t understand. Explain.¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Whatever.¡± Once she is done doing her business we walk back. She steps on something soft and hurriedly moves her feet from it. ¡°I hope it¡¯s just a fruit¡­¡± she mutters as she aggressively drags her sandals on the grass to get rid of what she thinks can be animal shit. I stare at what she stepped on. A bloody human hand with a bite mark. A fresh one at that. I ask Vernisha, ¡°Does it smell like shit?¡± She shakes her head. ¡°But it doesn¡¯t smell like fruits either.¡± I shrug and walk forward for her to follow me. ¡°Oh well.¡± Bahmos is in a little distance, talking, ¡°You are joking, right? What do you mean she quit?¡± He waits a while for a response then ask, ¡°So you¡¯re working on fixing this? We need a vlandos by tomorrow.¡± ¡°Well work on it!¡± I guess the vlandos was to be a bodyguard while doing drug business or something so. That¡¯s the only reason he would hire a vlandos mercenary, which is very very illegal. Bahmos returns, stomping on the ground, cigar in his mouth blowing out blue smoke. He sees us and asks, ¡°Getting fresh air?¡± ¡°Something so,¡± I reply. He nods and looks at the moon. He looks down at Vernisha and says, ¡°You know, monsters originate from the moon.¡± ¡°Stop spreading such myths,¡± I tell him. ¡°It''s not a myth. I learned that in school, Brightmore school.¡± ¡°You should sue them for teaching you such lies.¡± He rolls his eyes. ¡°Let¡¯s start moving again.¡± We get on board and the Lizard starts back moving. I lean against the side of the wall and think to sleep. I don¡¯t feel tired, but I don¡¯t want to think much right now. So I close my eyes and relax. POV: Vernisha I check the map to see how far we are way from the capital. Interesting thing, we were near a small monster zone. Another hour past and I struggle to keep awake. For some reason, Bahmos is up. I think smoking is keeping him awake. He randomly starts a conversation. ¡°Why are you still up?¡± ¡°I think everyone should stay up when you are around.¡± His eyes widen a little. ¡°Must have heard rumors.¡± ¡°A lot of them.¡± Like his father trafficking kids to Holvious. Unlike Holvious, child marriage is legal here, so there isn''t much of a demand for it in Terrafall''s black market. "Is that why you tried to sabotage my carriage a while back?¡± Eh¡­ ¡°I am not going to do you anything. If you weren¡¯t a child, it would be a different story,¡± he continues. ¡°So you are not going to kill me?¡± ¡°Exactly.¡± "Because I am a ¡®child''?" "Isn¡¯t that what I just said?" he replies. I find that hard to believe. I ask, ¡°So it isn¡¯t because I am Natasha¡¯s child and you so badly want to get into her dress?¡± He blows a big puff of smoke. ¡°My fucking God, I may be a piece of shit, but I got some damn morals. Also, don''t talk like that. You are a kid." Him telling me ''don¡¯t talk like that'' and calling me a ¡®kid¡¯, really annoys me. I stare at him. He stares back and says, "What?" "Please don''t tell me how to talk. I am not a... I am not your child or a child that wants advice from you." It¡¯s annoying, but until I am twenty, I am considered a child. A big child, but a child nonetheless. He leans forward, wearing an expression like my request is absurd. "Were you never taught manners and respect?" "I was being respectful. I said ''please''. Or do you think it''s because you are an adult I should do as you say?" He looks at me like I am something hateful then shakes his head. He grumbles, "You little¡­¡± he stops himself from finishing. ¡°I swear to the stars... I am glad I no longer have a kid." He angrily pulls on his cigar and coughs. "Fucking ungrateful little shits... Always so fucking ungrateful." He says this for a while then starts saying, "If it weren''t for me, you probably wouldn''t even be with your family. Some fucking dumb fuck would have probably totted his ass here and buy you off your father when you were ten or something." He bites on the end of his cigar, crushing it. "Or maybe they would be bought you for their deformed sons or daughters. Forced to live your sad life with a fuck that can barely form words or even fucking move. Like a slave, wiping their ass every day. And you know who prevents this shit from happening to all you kids in this village? Me." He takes a deep breath before angrily whispering. "Fucking... me." I don''t say anything. I choose not to believe it. Even if it is true, it wouldn''t change how much I dislike him. He throws the cigar and goes to lie down, muttering, "Ungrateful..." That rage is definitely meant for someone else. Like pent-up frustration. I try to keep myself awake. But, I basically fall asleep on Natasha¡¯s side. Chapter 7: Monster Casualties I am awakened by the chatting of the three guys. For some reason, the carriage door is open despite the lizard still moving. I am sure one of the three is responsible for that. They are bundled together, getting a view of outside while talking bullshit. "You think you can beat a vlandos in a fight with a knife?" Merkerthy asks, "Would they be weaponless?" "Yeah. They also can''t make the first move." Tom rubs his chin, thinking deeply. "Depends. Is it a chick or a dude?" "What difference does it make?" Julun asks, confused. Tom smiles like he is proud of a secret technique. "If it''s a chick or a gay guy, all I gotta do is remove my shirt and start doing the Cha ma la dance and song. Gonna be singing like, ''She/he got my heart in her/his trap. I wanna break free. I wanna break free.'' And they are going to love that. So while I am singing, I am going to be moving to them in a sexy way. And then I will make them fall in love with me. I will spend like three weeks love bombing them, then when they are asleep, I will slit their throat, or hope it can be slit." Julun nods with a grin. "What if they kill you as soon as you start singing with your rusty ass voice?" Merkerthy laughs. "I am trying to imagine him getting those giants to find him sexy. You might as well go all out and drop on your knees and ask them if they want a free sucky sucky at that point." Julun shakes Merkerthy while laughing. "That reminds me. You ever seen that mag, Lost Fert Gets Seduced By Lost Vlandos Maiden?" Merkerthy starts smiling without even hearing the joke. "Yeah yeah?" Tom seems to know where the joke is heading and mutters, "Un-fucking-believable." "You remember when he was on his knees, locked on her crutch like it was a sacred relic? Then she dropped her panties and the smell hit him so bad he started to have vivid memories of his ancestors going to war. That''s gonna be Tom! He¡¯s going to be running away, screaming, ¡®abort mission! Abort¡­ Quaa!" Julun falls to the side laughing, slapping the ground. Merkerthy does the same thing. "I forgot about the PTSD thing. Holy..." Reminds me of the random mean jokes me and my friends made back in high school on Earth. I wipe the little saliva at the corners of my lips and dread how tired I feel. It really feels like I only got an hour or two of sleep. Anyway, the silo is rising which means it¡¯s morning. About five in the morning with how little light there is. Natasha moves on the opposite side of the carriage to get a view outside of the carriage and gestures for me to follow her. I do and ask, ¡°W''happen?¡± She points at the ruins of a former massive building in the distance, maybe a hundred meters or so. ¡°You see it?¡± ¡°The ruins? Yeah. What about it?¡± ¡°It was a factory for ether batteries.¡± ¡°So an accident happened?¡± ¡°Monsters were attracted to all the ether. So¡­ they ran out of their zone and trashed the place to absorb the sweet sweet nectar.¡± ¡°Damn. The Governing Trustees must have been fuming.¡± The Governing Trustees are basically this world version of the ¡®board of directors¡¯. ¡°Probably. Anyway, I just thought you may have found it interesting.¡± ¡°It is.¡± We are also passing by a village with around thirty small buildings, some of which have small gardens on their side or animals. The carriage pace is broken and starts moving wildly. A powerful voice bellows from ahead of us, ¡°Run!¡± What the hell is going on? Suddenly the lizard cries out and a wild sound dominates it. A monster-like sound. Claws tear through the front of the carriage and a red shark like a beast with six limbs stares at us. Eyes of pure evil. Staring at our bodies like it''s contemplating how it will make us suffer. Bahmos backs up while trembling. ¡°No fucking way¡­¡± Its mouth opens wide, and heat vibrates the air around its jaw. Then Its eyes snap on Natasha. It just stares. Does it want to kill her first? Unfortunately for it, it''s met with a massive black war hammer to the face, jerking its head to the side with a growl. A three-meter-tall crab made out of wood and grass grabs its neck with pincers. ¡°Kill it!¡± the war hammer-wielding man demands. Everyone runs out of the carriage. I pick up Ulah, and Natasha grabs Caren¡¯s hand then quickly shifts her grip on it before using all of her back to drag him out. The carriage tilts and bends as the weird shark monster struggles. The shark monster stares at the adventurer with scorn before releasing a screech that creates a burning blinding light. My eyes! I nearly instinctive drop Ulah to cover my eyes. The four guys scream in pain, but I hear nothing from Natasha. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Then I hear the man again, and I recognize his voice. ¡°SHIT!¡± It came from the war hammer guy. The voice was the same as the guy I met in the market yesterday. I hear him cussing more, his voice filled with rage, ¡°Come back! Come back and fight me!¡± He continues screaming until his voice cracks. Then he mutters with contempt like he was betrayed, ¡°What a coward¡­¡± The same voice appears closer, ¡°Give it an hour or two, it will clear out.¡± ¡°Holy shit, you are an adventurer?¡± Tom cries, rubbing his eyes. ¡°Yeah. Lucky you, right?¡± Bahmos groans about his eyes. I hear the vlandos speak again, in a surprised tone. ¡°Oh, it¡¯s you two. I didn¡¯t expect to meet you so soon.¡± He shouts but in a different direction. ¡°Jer-kal-thuli-mal, it¡¯s the farmer girl!¡± Natasha asks with passive aggression, ¡°How do you know her?¡± I try to reach for her hand to calm her. ¡°I met them in the market square. That¡¯s all.¡± ¡°Yeah, I bought some pink-terras from her and saw¡­ um, that man on the floor.¡± Then he says, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we are adventures sent to dispatch the monster here, so you can relax a bit.¡± I hold Ulah with one hand and hide behind Natasha. ¡°Damn, I guess I scared you¡­¡± the guy says. No, I am hiding behind her so I can heal my eyes without alerting you. I touch both my eyes with my glowing left hand and after a short while, the darkness disappears, and my regular vision returns. Of course that will raise questions, but what the hell kind of conclusion would he come up with? There exists no vlandos capable of using skills. Not even through the use of the system, which can offer all kinds of powers. I am an exception. So unless he is senile, he would draw another conclusion to my eye''s sudden recovery. I walk out of Natasha¡¯s protection and say while rubbing my eyes. ¡°I think my eyes are getting a bit better¡­¡± I see him in complete black iron armor and behind him is that massive tree-based giant crab monster which is standing completely still. He ask, ¡°You covered your eyes already¡­?¡± ¡°Yeah, I had closed my eyes and turned away from the flash in time.¡± He slowly nods. ¡°Quick. Anyway¡­ how are you.¡± The way he says that it¡¯s like when a student is trying to distract a teacher. But from what? ¡°Please¡­ kill me.¡± The adventurer cusses under his breath when I quickly and instinctively look behind him to see who it is. The monster did all that¡­? Corpses litter the ground. Bodies torn apart, intestines hanging out from bellies. Bodies split into two and there are some ''bodyless'' heads. I anxiously swallow the saliva in my mouth. There is the punchio guy(the one that gave me the knife) moving from corpse to corpse, covering them with a black blanket, taken from his air-water eclipse thing. And¡­ My stomach feels unsettled¡­ Oh god, why did I look at them Everything I ate came up and I vomit on the road. One of those being covered is a man burned to the skeleton, and under him, the road is black. The Julioes woman, Jer-kal¡­ Sorry, I can¡¯t remember her full name. She is basically running to every maimed or hurt person. A massive fairy-like monster is following her, healing them. The fairy monster which is my size, hand glows yellow and those with missing chunks of flesh have their flesh regenerated. She¡­ can heal. Which means¡­ She can possibly heal Ulah. And Caren. The punchio guy shouts, ¡°Jim, get your ass back to guarding!¡± Jim, the guy who was conversing with me sighs. ¡°Sorry to you all. But for¡ª¡± I ask him in a rush. ¡°Can your friend heal my brother and father? They are sick, really really sick.¡± ¡°Oh. Um, yeah, once we are done here.¡± I want to tell him its urgent. I believe it is, but¡­ what¡¯s here is more urgent. Jer-kal stands up and says, ¡°Lo¡¯jul, this one just died on me.¡± She then moves to another person who is mortally wounded. The punchio, Lu¡¯jul moves over to the dead man and covers the body. Lo¡¯jul shakes his head and says, ¡°This is going to be a lot of work for the clean up crew.¡± Jer-kal is moving towards a man, who is bleeding heavily from his lower body. His eyes are stuck on the sky. His face is stained with tears and it already seems like he is dead despite the movements of his chess and his slow eye blinks. Jer-kal tells the man, ¡°You will be okay in¡ª¡± ¡°Kill me,¡± he says. She doesn¡¯t show much of a reaction. ¡°Sorry, I can¡¯t do that.¡± He then says, ¡°Just do it¡­¡± She bites her lips and then says, ¡°Give me a second.¡± She taps a tiny pyramid communicator that¡¯s near her ears. ¡°Operator ¡®Sharcoi¡¯, answer.¡± There is a delay before she talks again, ¡°The monster victim here is a fifty to sixty-year-old human male. He is requesting assisted suicide due to the psychological harm caused by the monster¡¯s assault. He is mortally wounded, but I can save him.¡± She slowly nods. ¡°Understood.¡± She tells him, without emotions, inhuman-like, like a professional receptionist, ¡°I am sorry, but I don¡¯t have permission to assist with your suicide. However, an adventurer is on his way to erase your memories of what occurred today. You will forget it all.¡± He says nothing, and the fairy instead sings an odd song which makes the man''s eyes close, and then she heals him. Jer-kal looks around, hearing more moans of pain. Then she sees me. ¡°What are you doing here?¡± I guess she didn¡¯t hear Jim. I blink a couple of times, finding it hard to get my words across. ¡°My¡­ my¡­¡± Damn it, Vernisha. Just say it! But all I can think of is all the blood, pieces of fleshes, intestines. Jim tells her, ¡°Her family is sick apparently. I am guessing they were heading to Sundawn for professional care.¡± ¡°I will see what I can do.¡± As soon as she starts moving towards me, an injured person shouts at her, ¡°Where are you going? My leg is still fucked up.¡± She tells him, ¡°I will be with you very soon, sir.¡± ¡°What¡­? Then¡­ Then at least make your monster heal us while you go talk to your friends!¡± ¡°That¡¯s against protocols.¡± ¡°Oh shut the hell up! We are dying here! You get paid to help us! Our fucking tax money!¡± He points at his leg. ¡°It¡¯s broken, and you don¡¯t want to help me?! You know what will happen to you once I report that to the adventurers guild?¡± He breathes hard. ¡°Jail. Fucking jail.¡± Her hands clenches and behind the friendly expression she holds, hatred is boiling. Jim walks over to her, and with his arm around her shoulder, he whispers something to her. However, she doesn¡¯t react to it. She is staring at the man, and he reacts to it. ¡°Look¡­ I am speaking the truth. You are in Terrafall, and you work for our government, so you have to follow our rules. That¡¯s just how it is.¡± When in Rome, do as the Romans, huh? Lo¡¯jul tells him, ¡°Do us a favor and shut up. You don¡¯t like us, cool. We also don¡¯t like you all, that¡¯s understood. So just let us do our job. My friend here was just going to help someone who is just as much of an emergency as you all¡­ But now you went and piss her off. You pissed off a julioes of all people.¡± The man takes a deep breath. His eyes anxiously dart around before he says, ¡°Okay okay, Sorry. I went over my head.¡± Natasha mutters, ¡°Good luck with that.¡± I think she is referring to Jer-kel accepting apologies. There is a stereotype(or is it?) that Julioes don¡¯t¡¯t know forgiveness. They choose to ¡®ignore¡¯ hurt, if there is something to gain from doing so. Whether that¡¯s a biological thing or social engineering, I do not know. Or care. She brushes Jim¡¯s hand off and walks towards the man, who now is full of fear. In all fairness, she is massive, 6¡±9 and armored. ¡°Hey hey. Stop your friend!¡± he shouts. She replies, ¡°I am not going to kill you. Damn Prerfamaetgsquan.¡± ¡­ What is that? Must be Juriop. Her home language. Jim groans in disappointment. ¡°You know the operator is going to write you up on that, right?¡± ¡°I will call him one in his face too.¡± He makes multiple facial expressions as if to say, ¡®Are you senile?¡¯, but he gives up, like those in relationships who want to appease their angry partner. (¡®What the¡­ Yes dear, whatever you say¡­¡¯) Anyway, she heals the guy. Of course, he put some resistance up at first, thinking she was going to kill him. And now¡­ people are looking at her a bit weirdly. Anyway, she comes over to me. She ask, ¡°Him?¡± referring to Ulah who I currently am holding. ¡°Yes, please.¡± Without a word from her, her fairy monster draws close to me, and then¡­ nothing. The fairy''s fingers tense up and it begins groaning. So does Jer-kal, her eyes are wide like she is an incredible pain. Natasha grabs me and pulls me away quickly. Jer-kel kicks the monster and suddenly it turns into a white ¡®mass'' of light and gets absorbed into her shoes, or what''s in her shoes. She gasps and drops to her knees, face wet with sweat. ¡°Fuck¡­ me. I am tired.¡± Jim comes over to her. ¡°Take your rest. You did well.¡± ¡°I think you are going to need to carry me. My brain feels like it wants to split.¡± ¡°Yeah, I got you.¡± He picks her up on his back. ¡°Lo, how many more minutes you got left in you?¡± ¡°Maybe thirty?¡± he says as he watches the Humanoid monster,(I assume it¡¯s his) in the sky. The monster Has four faces, both facing a respective cardinal direction. Below his neck, it looks like he has a black religious habit on, but I think that¡¯s part of its body because of the way it moves. Jim then turns towards me, ¡°Sorry, kid.¡± My luck is bullshit. Chapter 8: Just A Bread Roll? Tom, Bahmos, and the two other guys'' vision returned after about an hour and a half. Bahmos has been standing near his lizard corpse for a long while. I can¡¯t tell what he''s thinking based on his expression. He looks like a teacher who is daydreaming. He then randomly tells the three guys to assist him in burying the lizard. Jim offers to get rid of it, but Bahmos turns him down. The four drag it to the grass field. The section that''s densed with trees and bushes. They don¡¯t go far since they lack the strength for it. Once they are about six meters away from the road, they basically tire out, breathing heavy. Tom asks Bahmos, ¡°You want me to ask one of those villagers for a shovel?¡± Bahmas shakes his head. ¡°After what they just experienced? No.¡± Julun then ask, confused, ¡°How¡¯re you going to bury it without a shovel?¡± ¡°In the carriage has a small one, bring it for me.¡± Julun did that and Bahmos uses it to dig up the dirt. I don¡¯t watch everything. I am too angry at the fact that we don¡¯t have a source of transportation. And that this monster could return at any time. It would be best to stick close to those adventures since the monster fears them. Jer-kel who is on top of Jim''s shoulders, looks at Natasha. ¡°I want to talk to you in private. It¡¯s related to that boy of yours.¡± ¡°Ulah? What is it?¡± I ask. She doesn¡¯t tell me, but instead says, ¡°It¡¯s¡­ Your mother will tell you if she thinks so.¡± Is he¡­ dying? I ask, anxiously, ¡°Please, tell me.¡± Natasha touches my shoulder. ¡°Vernisha, I am sure it¡¯s nothin¡ª¡± ¡°I am not stupid. Please don¡¯t treat me like I am.¡± I raise my voice at her. Natasha seems complex. She looks at Jer-kel and says, ¡°Just tell us both. She can handle it.¡± There is no way Ulah is dying¡­ We are not even at the damn capital yet. He was sleep talking. He didn¡¯t wake up, have a sudden seizure, get cold, or anything strange. And I would know, I was with him in the carriage most of the damn time. I was keeping a close eye on him. Jer-kel says, ¡°I didn''t have enough time to heal him, but I did manage to analyze his body for a couple of seconds. His body is weird, too weird, my monster¡¯s and traditional means of healing wouldn¡¯t fix it. I just thought you should know that.¡± What? I almost shout, ¡°That makes no sense! What do you mean he can¡¯t be healed?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t say he can¡¯t be healed. It¡¯s just that the normal way of how healing works just wouldn¡¯t work on him. He would need something like gene editing surgery.¡± Jesus Christ. I ask her, ¡°But why? I don¡¯t understand why. L-like why? Why can¡¯t he be healed normally?¡± She seems unsure of what to say, her eyes drift around like she is about to give her first speech in front of a crowd of hundreds. She says, ¡°It¡¯s difficult to explain. But, his body now thinks it¡¯s something else. So healing him wouldn¡¯t return his original features.¡± Her eyes then widen like she has an idea. She taps Jim¡¯s eyebrow and says, ¡°His hair is black. If I pluck it out, a black strand would replace it. But if he was born with white hair, a white one would replace it. Basically, his body is changing, not getting ¡®damage¡¯.¡± I get it. He¡¯s basically becoming different. Shit. So the more time we waste, the more changes he will experience, and the changes¡­ are going to be difficult to reverse. Natasha then pulls out the same bread roll I had put in her hand from her pocket. She asks Jer-kel, ¡°You¡¯ve seen this before?¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t that just a bread roll?¡± Jim eyes it and says, ¡°Yeah, it looks like one to me. A stale one at least.¡± ¡°It¡¯s kinda one. It¡¯s what these two ate and what¡¯s causing them to be so¡­ ¡®different.¡¯ She ask, ¡°Where did you get this?¡± ¡°In front of a Balash temple, on the hill of Vaera.¡± Jim watches it and says, ¡°Jer-kel probably wouldn¡¯t know. Lo might. He used to study Balash history and all that stuff.¡± Oh. That¡¯s good. He calls Lo, he comes over. He asks, ¡°What is it?¡± Jim tells him what Natasha asked, and what it is responsible for. Natasha gives the bread to him. He twirls it around, examining it. His hand is on his chin and he is deep in thought, ¡°But why didn¡¯t you ask one of the educators in that temple? Of all people, they would know.¡± I thought of that, but we were bolting towards Sundawn to get immediate help. Those educators and scholars only possess knowledge, no mystical power, miracles, or anything like that. But¡­ in all honesty, I was/am scared that maybe what happened to Ulah wasn¡¯t meant to happen and they may want to kill him. Maybe the bread wasn¡¯t meant to be eaten by anyone, and it is considered taboo? ¡°I did think of that, but I thought a temple that has something as suspicious as this wouldn¡¯t be willing to be honest with me.¡± Natasha splits open the bread and drops it to the ground. The two pieces hit the paved ground and try to roll. She stares at it. The three are confused. She says, ¡°Give it a minute.¡± She didn¡¯t tell me any of this. But I watch and¡­ the bread slightly moves. It''s like a rapidly dying plant in the way it shifts around. What the hell is it? Lo picks it up, and then asks her, ¡°Can I keep it?¡± Jim asks, ¡°Are you suicidal?¡± The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°No. I just want to see how my monster would react to it.¡± Nataha gives him the heads up. He thanks her and throws half of the bread high in the sky for his monster, which snaps to it, catches it, and sniffs it. It then eats it, but it doesn¡¯t swallow, it just keeps chewing. Then it swallows. The three are a bit surprised. Jer-kel ask, ¡°You made it eat it¡­?¡± Lo shakes his head. ¡°No. I only wanted it to taste it.¡± He makes a sour expression like he ate spoiled meat. ¡°It tastes like monster flesh.¡± ¡­ What the hell? Natasha doesn¡¯t show much of a reaction. Jim ask Natasha, ¡°You are sure you found this at a balash temple and not a Darsean congregation?¡± Natasha responds, ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°And how are you sure about that?¡± ¡°Because I am not stupid.¡± Lo looks at her with sudden anger. Then he shakes his head like he is dealing with an ignorant elder. ¡°I am just saying, they like to take over balash temples to mock them. It¡¯s easy to be fooled by them. I have been tricked by them.¡± ¡°I understand what you are saying, but I am certain it wasn¡¯t one.¡± He sighs, giving up. ¡°Sure whatever. When you get into the capital, go to a vlanods doctor and a balash scholar. The scholars may know something.¡± She nods. He takes a deep breath and says, ¡°I hope it works out well. Losing a kid and a partner hurts like hell.¡± Natasha looks at me as she answers. ¡°I imagine so.¡± Jer-kel looks at us and claps her hand. ¡°Anyway, we still have a monster to catch, so we can¡¯t be just here talking about your family conditions.¡± Lo responds, ¡°You want to take a more direct approach?¡± ¡°I think so. If we stick with your method, we will be waiting for hours.¡± Lo clicks his tongue. ¡°I will switch monsters. I want to get the hell out of here in an hour.¡± Jer-kel responds, ¡°I think you should just tell your wife you would be late.¡± ¡°Or I could just say, ¡°K chertu etu missiyu.¡± Jer-kel shrugs, ¡°Nub¡¯ol wouldn¡¯t want you going jail. Not over a date.¡± ¡°But I wouldn¡¯t mind.¡± he smiles, getting an eye roll from her. ** I was told what occurred here by Jim. A monster left one of the monster zones for an unknown reason and just ran to where had the most life to kill and eat. The three of them were sent to kill it two days ago. But they originally gave up and thought it returned to a monster zone after failing to find it. But this happened. The monster attacked a couple of houses, making the others flee from their homes, and it hunted them down. They believed the monster knew they were on their tail, so it focused on killing and eating to grow stronger as fast as possible. He didn¡¯t tell me this part, but with it being on the loose for so long, it most likely ''mated'' with many to have offspring, so sooner or later, they may have to deal with more than just one of its kind on the loose. But fortunately, all the baby ones would start at level 1, making them easy targets, but annoying nonetheless. I sit in the grass, waiting for good news. Which doesn¡¯t seem like it will be coming any time soon. Lo reaches his time/stamina limit with his monster and makes its return. The others aren¡¯t as trained with tracking as him. So he has to use other methods to search for the monster. Jer-kel and Jim are guarding the villagers and helping them in ways they can. Jer-kel has been carrying lots of them to a single house, not inside but outside on the dry grass. But many of them are being pains in the ass. ¡°That¡¯s not my house. Bring me to my home!¡± a middle-aged woman who is being carried by Jer-kel complains. Jer-kel is clearly fed up with them since she has been repeating the same thing to them: ¡°Once it is safe to, I will.¡± If she returns all of them to their homes, protecting them from another monster attack would be difficult. Of course, many tried to flee once she set them down. Jim made sure that wouldn¡¯t happen. He would move ridiculously fast and just block them with his chest. Of course, that just pissed them off even more. People hate being forced to do something; coupled with their dislike for vlandos already¡­ yeah. ¡°This isn¡¯t fucking right!¡± a skinny man in ragged clothes shouts. ¡°If the monster comes back, we will be easier targets! You know that. You fucking know that!¡± Jim shakes his head and says, ¡°You all being in one area means we wouldn¡¯t need to worry about everyone being everywhere.¡± I also think it¡¯s probably meant to be bait. Like, ¡®monster, here is a massive plate of food and levels for you.¡¯ ¡°And you don¡¯t think we being in one place means that it will be more eager to come back to kill us?¡± ¡°If we are here, no.¡± A woman glares at him. ¡°When the guild hears about this, I just hope you know you will suffer for it.¡± His lips curl, and I see his fist clench. He takes a deep breath and asks her, ¡°Would you like me to inform my operator about this?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± He takes his pyramid communicator and does as she says. Once done, he tells her, ¡°He said, make sure you all are safe.¡± ¡°That¡¯s bullshit. Let me talk to him!" She steps forward. He puts a hand forward, making it clear that her approach is unwanted. ¡°No.¡± ¡°You fucking valuzaaa.¡± Jer-kel who is moving about comes to a sudden stop and Jim starts staring at the lady. He asks her, ¡°Can you repeat that?¡± ¡°Rarthar,¡± a young man, perhaps her son tries to calm her down. ¡°She didn¡¯t mean that, sir. It just¡­¡± ¡°No no. She definitely meant that.¡± He steps forward. ¡°I just want to make sure I heard it properly.¡± unfortunately, she isn¡¯t very smart and starts screaming, ¡°Valuzaa! Go meet Valuzaa. Die like Valuzaa!¡± Valuzaa is one of the most popular historical figures in vlandos history. A vlandos that¡­ didn¡¯t leave a mark in history during his life. He was just a regular man who supported Yer-oli-pon, like all vlandos that wanted a better life under the rules of humans. Valuzaa was seen as an easy target, so he was tricked by a couple of humans, tortured, killed, and his body was paraded around. It was a message to all vlandos. That wasn¡¯t really his name. It was a twisted and mocked version of his real name. (His real name was forgotten). Obviously, calling a vlandos, a person who knows of valuzaa and the events that took place during his time will take those words as a threat or an insult. Because that single name still conveys a message: ''You and all your kind will have the same fate as Valuzaa'' Jim is standing directly in front of the lady. She is looking at him in fear. He touches her shoulder and¡­ smiles. ¡°Please be careful with your words.¡± He keeps his hand on her shoulder for a little while before releasing. Makes me wonder what he would have done to her if he didn¡¯t have his communicator on. Natasha is still just looking at the people, particularly the couples and those with kids. While there are those complaining about their freedom, there are those who are clinging to the corpses of their children, crying and begging Jer-kel to somehow resurrect them. It¡¯s like the sick and poor begging god for something to eat and medicine. ¡°Please just heal him again! Just try again!¡± the lady is holding a boy who is no older than five years. The boy is missing half of his body, the left side which contains his heart is gone. Jer-kel is sympathetic to their plea, but all she can do is tell them sorry and try to walk around them. However, they almost make it impossible for her to move about. It¡¯s probably over thirty around her. And the one with the body seems old. ¡°Please try again! You saved so many people here, you can try again. Please!¡± Her husband says. Jer-kel shakes her head. ¡°He is dead. There is literally nothing I can do.¡± The husband, voice breaking, asks her, ¡°Can¡¯t you exchange lives? Take my life for his!¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t have that skill yet. I am sorry.¡± ¡°You just don¡¯t want to!¡± he points at her. ¡°If you try! At least just fucking try, he can be healed. He can come back to us!¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t work like that¡ª¡± ¡°Fucking hell¡­ what does it take from you to try¡­ huh?¡± He is breathing heavily like he ran a marathon. ¡°Nothing. It takes¡­ nothing. But, you probably like this. Like seeing us humans suffering.¡± ¡°I do not take joy from this.¡± ¡°T-then.. Do you have a kid?¡± ¡°And what if I do?¡± ¡°If something like this happens to him, wouldn¡¯t you want the healer to try everything she can to heal him?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t have to say that to make me understand your situation¡ª¡± ¡°Then how the hell are we supposed to make you sympathize?!¡± ¡°He is already DEAD!¡± She points at the missing part of his body. ¡°I told you I can¡¯t bring back the dead. Why the hell wouldn¡¯t you listen? Do you just want the other half back? Body intact but without life?¡± ¡°That would be better than nothing¡­¡± She looks over at Jim. He shakes his head. She replies, ¡°Regrowing half of that body would require too much ether. My monster used up almost everything it had today. I just can¡¯t. Why do you think no one is fully healed? They just just had their fatal or life-altering wounds fixed. It was for me to be able to take care of everyone. Now, when the monster attacks again, I have no damn clue how I will be able to heal anyone, so, no, I can¡¯t waste¡ª I can¡¯t use it on a dead kid.¡± The parents look at her like they were betrayed by someone who promised them the world. The man says, ¡°I hope to the future that this happens to your fucking child.¡± She gives them a mocking smile and walks forward, pushing them aside without hands. Natasha asks me, ¡°What do you think about all this?¡± ¡°It¡¯s sad.¡± It makes me think of Ulah dying. ¡°I think so too.¡± ¡°Do you think you would react like this?¡± She takes a while to respond, ¡°If Ulah died? Yeah, maybe. What mother wouldn¡¯t.¡± She looks at him with a complex expression. ¡°And I am afraid of how you would react.¡± ¡°What about Caren?¡± ¡°If Caren dies, imagine how heartbroken Ulah would be.¡± ¡°He would hate me¡­¡± ¡°Yeah. That boy only sees the good in his father. Perhaps, I am also at fault for telling him the same thing I tell you about your father. Unlike you, he believes it.¡± ¡°Just so you know, when he gets older, he is going to treat the people in his life the same as Caren.¡± ¡°What?¡± she is confused about my statement. Like it came out of nowhere. ¡°He sees and learns that this behavior is acceptable, that¡¯s why. His father did this that and his mother never complained about it, so clearly there was nothing wrong about it.¡± ¡°I think you are being¡­ ridiculous.¡± ¡°No. Hell, I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if all your learned behavior is because of how your parents interacted.¡± She just looks at me, surprised. ¡°I never saw my father, so no. I just realized you and my mom are a tiny bit similar. You both would kill their fathers if given the chance.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°He abandoned her in the time of need. At least Caren isn¡¯t like that, I guess.¡± I twirl my left hand. ¡°I take that back.¡± Then I look at Ulah. ¡°I really hope we can save him. And when we do, please give him more attention. Please love him like you love me. Even if he loves you, I don¡¯t want him to grow up and realize how much you favored me.¡± Chapter 9: That Song Ulah sings while deep in sleep. It¡¯s not a song I understand. But It¡¯s a song I always heard him practicing in private. He always practiced songs of all kinds, but that one, he always approached it differently. Like it¡¯s the most precious thing in the world. Like for the world to hear it, he must have it perfected. It¡¯s one Natasha always whispered in private, or when she thought she was in private. Her eyes shoot wide open like she can¡¯t believe what¡¯s she is hearing. I don¡¯t think it''s good enough to get that kind of reaction. She asks me, ¡°Where did he hear that?¡± ¡°From you? I heard it from you a long time ago.¡± Back in the village, when she was returning with Marvin, I was somewhat singing a trash version of it. ¡°Oh. I see.¡± ¡°Is it a bad song?¡± ¡°It just isn¡¯t one others should sing.¡± ¡°Does it cast curses¡­ or talk to demons?¡± ¡°I am not some witch.¡± She sighs. ¡°Is he just saying whatever that comes up in his mind?¡± ¡°I think he is thinking of you. He always practiced it. I think he wanted to show it to you when he perfected it. Maybe to impress you.¡± Or make you show him more attention. I can¡¯t understand her reaction, but it¡¯s complicated. She ends up looking at Ulah with exasperation like she can¡¯t believe him. ¡°I am surprised.¡± Favoring a child is one thing, but finding out that the less favored child desperately seeks more love from you, must hit differently. But, it doesn¡¯t seem she is too impacted by hearing that. She gazes at Ulah. I stand up and tell her, ¡°I am going to interact with those adventurers, see how close they are to stopping that monster, and so on.¡± She grabs my left hand, the bandaged one and says, ¡°Be careful.¡± ¡°I know.¡± She nods and then says, ¡°I am going to rest in that carriage then. It¡¯s too noisy here.¡± ¡°Stay safe.¡± ¡°That¡¯s for me to say.¡± POV: Ulah. I stand in a field of wheat. The wind bends them left and right, making them brush against my skin. The strangest thing is that on top of the wheat are bread, like as it¡¯s a bread plant. ¡®I can finally get something to eat.¡¯ That¡¯s what I thought. But every time I broke one of the wheat plants to get the bread and bite on it, it would burst into brown smoke. I have been trying to eat for over an hour. It¡¯s so painful. My stomach hurts so much. It feels like a rat is chewing its way around my stomach. It¡¯s sick. It¡¯s painful¡­ It¡¯s¡­ Ugh. I hunch forward and vomit brown and white paste on the ground. My eyes water and I desperately try to lick the tears. But it does nothing to quench my thirst! I am going to die. But I don¡¯t want to die. I want to play with Jake and Gola. I want to learn division. I want to become smart, smarter like Vernisha. I want¡­ It hurts so much. I bit my lips and fold my trembling hands. Then I sing. I sing to distract myself from the hunger. It¡¯s not perfect, but I sing it: ¡°Balash wed filaen. Swe wjurden schweien, ske windan wyanen, jber iah wuide ihee Tr?ebeu gopie?en. Iah weyude iur Lad genuiken, da¨¹r, wve sa mah vuten hin.¡± It makes me think of Mom. I wish I could hear her sing it more. I only heard it twice, but when she sings it, it sounds so beautiful. I heard it maybe when I was eight, two years ago. She always had Vernisha with her on her lap, sitting or standing near her. Obviously, I wanted that too. So I left the blanket of mine and wandered to her. She didn¡¯t see me and was singing quietly while staring at the ceiling. It was like she was remembering good memories or tragic ones. Ones that made her completely immersed. When she did notice I was looking at her, she suddenly stopped singing, almost startled, and asked, ¡°What do you want?¡± I was shocked. But at that time, I thought, ¡®to sit on you, hug you, be by you¡¯. But before I could say any of that she seemed even more surprised at herself, like she did something wrong. Mom apologized and smiled gently while moving to pick me up. ¡°Sorry, I was having bad thoughts¡­ You look like you have grown taller!¡± I liked the song even if I didn¡¯t hear much about it. Even when she acted like she was singing something else when I asked about it. I wanted to learn about it. I want to make her proud. I wonder what her reaction would be when I can sing it. I wonder how surprised she would be. How proud she would be. I swallow the saliva in my mouth, but it makes me thirstier. The only thing I can do is try to sing that song to comfort me. I will get better at it. I will. I will¡­ ¡°Hi." I hear an unfamiliar voice behind me and turn towards it. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. The field of wheat that was behind me is gone, and a dry ground has replaced it. Sitting on it, looking at me is a black cat. The cat has blue eyes and clean black fur. The fur is so clean. It probably has a servant to always tend to it. There are no scratches or bruises from hunting, or escaping from predators. Is it the one that¡­ No, that sounds silly. What am I thinking? A cat? Really? ¡­ Can I eat it? I want to eat it. It smiles. ¡°No, you can¡¯t eat me.¡± I blink in surprise. ¡°But I didn¡¯t¡­ Did I say that out loud?¡± It replies, ¡°No. Did you?¡± ¡°You are weird¡­¡± ¡°I think you are weirder.¡± ¡°What do you want?¡± ¡°Who do you think I am?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. I don¡¯t want to know too.¡± I back away and start to flee. I only heard of legendary monsters being able to talk which means it must be one! ¡°I want to know. Do you want to live?¡± I stop running almost immediately and turn to the cat. Is that a trick question? It asks the same question again. I answer, ¡°Yes. I just want something to eat and drink. I feel like I am starving. I am starving." ¡°I wish I could soothe your hunger, but I can¡¯t.¡± ¡°Are you¡­ a monster?¡± I ask. ¡°Do I look like a monster?¡± ¡°No, but you can talk. So you must be one.¡± ¡°Perhaps I am just a ¡®moon cat¡¯, you know, that¡¯s a popular Julioes folklore.¡± ¡°Oh. I didn¡¯t know that.¡± ¡°Yes yes. So, no need to fear me.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. What do you want?¡± ¡°I am curious about a lot of stuff in the world, especially the people of it.¡± ¡°What does that even mean? You are curious about me?¡± ¡°Yes¡± ¡°¡­Am I dying?¡± ¡°Are you dying?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. I am asking you.¡± ¡°I also don¡¯t know. That¡¯s why I asked you.¡± I don¡¯t think I like the cat. It continues, ¡°If you were to live, what do you plan to do with your life? Why should you live? What grand purpose does your life have?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡± ¡°What don¡¯t you understand?¡± ¡°The questions¡­ I want to live because I want to live.¡± ¡°Well, what do you plan to do if you were to live?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know!¡± ¡°Then do know. So, what do you plan to do in the future?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think I want to answer your questions. You are creepy. So go away. Go!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to go.¡± I rush and kick it, but my leg passes through it like a stone through smoke. It ignores my kick and says, ¡°Does that song have something to do with your purpose?¡± ¡°I am not answering your questions!¡± I keep trying to kick it, hoping to get lucky. It¡¯s scary. The hunger comes back and worse. It¡­ hurts. I drop to my knees, holding my stomach in agony. It hurts so badly that I begin to sob harshly. I want Dad to comfort me. Tell me everything is going to be okay. But he isn¡¯t here. Why isn¡¯t he here? Whenever I need him, he comes running to me¡­ Like how Mom always runs to Vernisha. Like how Mom always comforts her and treats her like she is a star, the most precious thing. I want Dad to come to me like that now, because¡­ Mom wouldn¡¯t. She wouldn¡¯t do it the same way. The cat stares at me and I ask, ¡°Am I going to die?¡± ¡°You could or something worse could happen to you?¡± ¡°Like what?¡± ¡°Becoming a threat to your family.¡± ¡°Why would I hurt my family?¡± ¡°Because you are hungry and thirsty. And perhaps because this is the fault of your sister.¡± ¡°No¡­ I wouldn¡¯t and stop lying! It isn¡¯t her fault!¡± ¡°But she gave you that bread. She isn¡¯t sick, but you are.¡± ¡°It must have been an accident.¡± ¡°And what if it wasn¡¯t?¡± ¡°It was. Vernisha loves me! Why would she ever hurt me?!¡± The cat blinks at me a couple of times, then says, ¡°I see.¡± ** POV: Village Chief. The chattering and worrying of everyone echoes around me. Many are mute and staring into nothing because of what they have seen and heard today. I should be planning with them on how we would recover, but¡­ I don¡¯t think anyone wants to move on right now, not while they are processing their trauma. Even I¡­ I don¡¯t want to do nothing but dig a hole and hide in it, never to reveal myself to the silo again. I have seen things I would kill my only child to forget. Before the monster attacked, my assistants and I were discussing how we would use 10% of the village¡¯s budget to get better materials to build walls to protect us from bandits. The idea of a monster attack was foreign to us. Through my fifty-six years of living here, this is my first time experiencing a monster attack here. Many of us only knew the dangers of monsters through stories, but that was all. Three hours ago, at 6:30 in the morning, it began. There was a sudden weird voice, barely human: ¡®Hana¡­ where¡­ are you¡­?¡¯ It was like when twin-tailed cats try mimicking the chirping of birds to lure them, and the echoing of burnnight flowers, which repeats whatever they hear. That monster clearly had no idea what those words meant, it was simply something it heard and tried its best to repeat. When I heard it along with the three men in my office, we all were frozen and confused. Staying frozen didn¡¯t mean anything. The first victim was Daren¡¯s daughter. His eldest son told me what happened. The family was planting red cabbages in the garden. Daren''s hands were deep in the dirt, setting the seeds. That was when half of his daughter¡¯s body was suddenly ripped apart by the fangs of a red shark-like creature that had the feline legs of a tiger. Six legs. Blood spurted everywhere. The screams of the eldest son and wife were drowned out by the sounds of his daughter¡¯s flesh and bones being eaten. Daren tried to make his family run away, and he attempted to retrieve half of his daughter¡¯s body. Daren was targeted next. The monster''s claws ripped his legs off their joints. He screamed in pain, and the monster mimicked that sound with a cruel laugh. It wasn¡¯t just eating them, it seemed like it was enjoying their suffering, but not enough to let them stay alive for long. It ripped his stomach open, exposing his guts and stomach to his wife. And she couldn¡¯t shake her eyes off her husband¡¯s body. Then it ate him alive and once Daren stopped making sounds, a fire from its mouth turned his body into ash. Then his wife was spit into two, vertically with its aquatic tail. Her sides fell to the side with a thud. Her body waste followed suit, painting the ground brown and yellow. The monster didn¡¯t care. Her left side was devoured first, then the right followed next. The only thing left behind was half of her jaw. The daughter wasn¡¯t even eaten. By then, everyone was already in an uproar, running away. Of course me too. I¡­ tried to take the only green lizard in the village and leave alone. The monster screamed loudly, and that was it. It moved like a blur. Instantaneously, a man¡¯s face would turn into paste and his eyes would go flying all over. The next moment, a beam of fire would turn someone into dust. It was a torrent of blood, flesh, brain matter, broken bone fragments. Even the lizard couldn¡¯t handle it, which led to me falling off it. And for some strange reason, it ripped off the genitalia of Jackson. I was confused, but then I remembered monsters were also capable of reproducing with anything, and when short on time, female monsters would use different methods to harvest reproductive organs. Well¡­ What a fucking way to die, I nearly started to cry. At least, the pain would knock me out of consciousness, and I would die from the blood loss. I would take that over being fucking violated by a monster. That was what I thought. I did nothing. I wanted to run away. I thought: I just want to live. How the hell am I going to survive this? Fucking hell¡­ I don¡¯t want to die. I I And I. That¡¯s all I thought. And that¡¯s when those giant armored individuals fell from the sky. They were like heroes. Legends. And I saw them summon monsters that seemed connected to them on a supernatural level. Without a word from them, their monsters would attack, defend the villages, and function as a third hand to them. They overwhelmed the wild monster so quickly. These memories¡­ I fold my hands together and mutter. ¡°May the stars bless me.¡± May the future be kind to us. May the request I am about to make be agreed to. May they not think I am trying to trick them. I exhale, feeling like I just gave a speech explaining why fathers and mothers should be happy to gift their children to wealthy men and women for a ¡®gift¡¯ of money. I take in a deep breath and lick my lips, also tasting my white beard. Tastes like blood. Then I walk over to the man. By him is the little girl and Julioes woman. It appears they knew her before. He notices and I can hear him clicking his tongue. ¡°What do you want?¡± he ask. \The Julioes woman says something in her home language. By the tone of it, I feel like it¡¯s a threat. I stand before them. Holy shit are they big. Calm down. Calm down. I force a professional smile on and ask, ¡°I want to say I appreciate your hard work and sacrifice, first. If it wasn¡¯t for you all, all of us would be dead.¡± The man says, ¡°Sure, but we get paid for it.¡± ¡°Yes, but¡ª¡± ¡°Cut the bullshit and get to the point,¡± the woman says. This is hell itself. Why the hell do I have to be the village chief at times like this? Nothing is scarier than talking to a pissed-off adventurer. I say, ¡°I am sorry. I request permission for us to get to our houses¡ª¡± I notice the anger in his eyes. Maybe pissed off that someone is once again asking him a stupid question. So I finish what I am going to say before he can respond. ¡°¡ªSo-that-we-can-gather-food ingredients-to-make-something-to-eat.¡± Shit. I talked way too fast. The man¡¯s anger dissipates and he says, ¡°Oh. Yeah, I guess.¡± He¡­ AGREED! My heartbeating cools down and I slope to my knees in satisfaction. ¡°Thank you¡­ sir.¡± Chapter 10: Nighttime Discussions Jer-kal-thuli-mal entire group of people if you are dating someone who belongs in the group, make friends that belong in them, and sympathize with some that belong in them. ¡®Look! I am one of the good ones! You want me to lick your boots too?¡¯ They would probably suck off a homeless man¡¯s dirty dick to prove it too. Chapter 11: Run. POV: Vernisha. Jim shoots up with a serious look. He draws his war hammer and without saying anything to Jerk-kel, he summons a pink shark ray monster that has a turtle shell and teeth layered all over its skin. Jim hops on its back. "I will keep it away from here." he sends Jer-kel a look. "You know what." "Yes," she replies. He flies to the sound. I wonder if Lo is also going after the monster. ¡°It¡¯s¡­ It¡¯s coming back!¡± ¡°Oh, we are going to die. We are going to die.¡± The crowd cries and starts running away. Jer-kel clicks her tongue. "Don''t run!" Of course, they don''t listen. Jer-kel stomps the ground with a single foot, sending a monster out, a man-sized cockroach with lobster-like pinchers. It gets to working immediately. The pinchers shine a very brown glow as they plunge into the ground. The ground starts crying around the mass of people, and the dirt rises to form a wall around everyone. ¡°Let us out!¡± ¡°You are going to get us killed!¡± The dirt wall is thin but thick enough to be impossible for them to break through. Jer-kel tells me, ¡°You too should¡ª¡± She grabs my hand in a rush and jumps back. The air is suddenly hot and where I was standing a minute ago is scorched. The same monster, it''s here?! Jer-kel is also confused. "Why is it here...? The Shafeline shouldn''t be..." The monster makes a weird sound, ¡°Get¡­ the shovel for the¡­ apples¡­ bathe the apples¡­¡± What? Jer-kel tells me, "Stay by my side. If you run away, it will be harder for me to protect you." "Got it." Jer-kel throws a spear at it, which moves in the air like an arrow. Seemingly with ease, the monster dodges it by jumping several meters in the sky. Jer-kel grabs my hand and runs towards her cockroach monster. The cockroach monster is creating soccer ball-sized rocks and shooting them at the Sharfeline. Some hit and when they do, the Sharfeline roars in response. But it does more than that. it''s also responding with fireballs. Once we are near her monster, she kicks it, causing it to return to her foot. A vertical mouth with shark-like teeth splits open on the Sharfeline''s legs, and from it a disgusting smell erupts. It¡¯s so bad that I immediately vomit, and my eyes feel watery. Is that some skill?! Jer-kel stomps the ground and, with a flash of white, a weird humanoid woman with the lower body of a giant black spider is formed. Her upper body is exposed and she is strangely beautiful, save for her hair, which is a bunch of blue tongues overlapping each other. Correction, blue bleeding tongues that are dancing in the air in a perverted manner. The humanoid spider monster grins. Half of all its spider legs dramatically increase in size and aim at the sharfeline. They are like spears given consciousness. The sharfeline gets hit in the shoulder and stomach. Its head grows threefold and its neck elongates, whipping at us in an attempt to turn us into a paste. It''s using its damn neck like a bloody wrecking ball. Staying near her will get me killed. The humanoid spider moves towards us to block the attacks with its arms. Each neck slam causes a loud thud. Jer-kel grits her teeth and her arm trembles at each impact. Damage sharing... The humanoid spider''s arms starts to shake, and the sharfeline is grinning. Jer-kel moves her hand to grab thin air. But a second before her fist was closed, the humanoid spider had cut out one of its legs at a low joint and kicked it toward Jer-kel, so the spider leg ended up in her hand. She sends the spider leg into the sharfeline eyes. Since it was so focused on pounding the humanoid spider''s arms away, it didn''t see the attack. It goes on its hind legs, roaring. The humanoid spider hits the ground with both hands and from her fingernails, a swarm of spiders floods towards the sharfeline. The sharfeline quickly stops panicking. Its front legs hit the ground and it releases a breath of fire in our direction. It doesn''t only burn the spiders away, but the fire is also coming at us like a speeding truck. "Stay behind me!" Jer-kel shouts while moving in front of me. The humanoid spider attempts to stop the assault by using its hair as a shield. It blocks it. We can''t see anything but fire in front of us-- From the fire came the sharfeline, jumping at Jer-kel. The spider''s legs aim at its head, but the sharfeline''s leg reaches Jer-kel. Her body is sent in the air. She then hits the ground, skipping like stones in a body of water until she hits a tree. Dangerous. I try my best to gain distance so I won''t be instantly killed. "That hurt, barely." She gets up quickly. The surrounding ground erupts in fire, while she remains in the middle of it. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Shit. I''m sure she is alive. No way she would go out like that. She''s an adventurer! ¡°Get¡­ pints¡­ food¡­ dying¡­¡± the sharfeline says with the mouth on its stomach. ¡°How¡­ are you here¡­?¡± It looks at me. I back away. Fear is caressing my entire body. Out of nowhere, the humanoid spider''s mouth shakes horrifically and its eyes roll back. Its face splits and turns into a giant grotesque mouth. And it bites down on half of the sharkfeline''s body. The erupting fire fades away, and I see Jer-kel on her knee. Her face is horribly burned. She looks around before rushing at the sharfelinine. It grabs its abdomen, which already has a little tear, and then it literally rips it open. Blood pours out from the wound. Blood and heavy soft bags of liquid¡­ Over thirteen of them. The bags of liquid start being pushed and pulled by something inside them. And it takes only two seconds for small and alternate versions of the sharfeline to break free from their¡­ Let¡¯s say eggs. They are probably at max, one-sixth of the sharfeline height and mass(They are the size of a dog, a husky). They don''t possess a tail and lack a mouth on their faces. As matter of a fact¡­ I dare say they look like charming animals. ¡°Drink¡­ sky¡­ dirt!¡± the sharfeline roars before charging at Jer-kel. Twelve of those newborns also dash towards the wall Jer-kel made to protect the villagers. They glow a white aura before slamming into it, one after the other. The wall shakes, and it seems the monsters are the ones getting harmed by their charges. That¡¯s what I thought at first. A crack appeared in the corner of the front wall, and each monster prioritized on it. Ten charges made the crack cover half of the front wall. Five more attacks the front wall. Then they all charge at it at once. And with a loud crack, the wall falls. The villagers look at them in fear. The monsters move slowly, like hyenas. Despite being so small, they are ridiculously strong. Even if I want to help¡ª In the corner of my eyes, I spot a newborn staring at me. Oh fuck. I prepare my knife. It lunges. It¡¯s like a damn arrow. Too fast for me. I realize I made a mistake and try to run, but the moment I even make a turn I feel a sudden weight on my shoulder. Then pain, blood, and PAIN. The monster clawed off a large chunk of my shoulder. I struck at its face, however it paraded my knife with its claws and cut halfway into my wrist. It moves for my neck, but lucky for me, Jer-kel humanoid spider catches the monster with one of her legs. It tries to resist her, scratching at her leg. She slowly brings it to her mouth, fits the monster¡¯s entire head into her mouth, and rips its head off. Then it proceeds to chew on it. Thank god¡­ Wait, something is weird. Why did Jer-kal make it take so much time to kill a single lowly monster when she could have killed it in a split second? The newborn monster goes limp and falls to the ground. The humanoid-spider is hunched forward, staring at the ground like a zombie that has suddenly gained consciousness. This is bad! I give my shoulder a healing touch and run away from it. The confusing thing is that Jim and Lo aren¡¯t here. Does it have deceiving tricks or¡­ did the tear in its abdomen mean it spawned some children to keep the two busy? I look over at Jer-kel and it¡¯s looking bad for her. Maybe that¡¯s why her monster is behaving so weirdly. I don¡¯t know. But at least it¡¯s not going on a rampage. I want to help, but how the hell am I supposed? Healing her would kill her since she isn¡¯t a monster. A barrage of spider legs shoots towards the sharfeline. Okay, it seems back to normal. However, one of the leg stakes hit Jer-kel in her chest, slightly denting her chest armor. But the force knocked her back pretty far. Screams pierces the air, not from her but from the crowd of villagers who are being brutalized by those newborns. They are not eating them, but killing them in a rush. Their claws ignite with fire as they rupture heads, tear stomachs apart, bite off necks, and so on. Heck¡­ they are even backstabbing each other to secure kills or for no real reason. They are really¡­ monsters, embodiments of fucking evil! Natasha never spoke of them like that. She said I should avoid them, but she always talked about monsters like natural disasters specifically for humans, saying it was justice against the sins we have committed. She must have lost her damn mind! Two of the monsters right now are fighting over the body of a toddler. They are pulling her body at opposite ends like it¡¯s a game of tug. Then there is a tear and there is no one to cry over her for her parents who tried to defend her lay defenseless by her side, headless. I feel sick. And I feel even grosser because not only can¡¯t I help, I don¡¯t want to. While all that was going on, I didn¡¯t stand and watch, I had sneaked into an open house, watching through the window. My heart is beating hard, harder than it ever did. My hands are sweaty and blood isn¡¯t the only thing that has wet my clothes. I am sweating that much. I didn¡¯t pee myself, but with how scared I am, I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if I lose control over my bladder. Fuck my life¡­ I have the knife in my hand but what does it matter if I can¡¯t even tag one of those monsters? If I stay here¡­ One of the monsters stops chasing after the people and begins sniffing around, moving closer to the house I am in. Shit! I drop to the ground, covers my nose and start to breath through my mouth. It didn¡¯t see me. It didn¡¯t see me. But¡­ it can smell me. I am trembling. I am hearing it talking, ¡°My¡­ daughter¡­ Dad! San¡­ I am¡­ Mammy¡­¡± No, it is fusing words it heard. It¡¯s getting closer. Fuck¡­ The only special thing I have is healing. But, I am still a vlandos. Maybe now would be the best time to exploit everything that comes with being one. Augment speed. Inefficient modification points. Please gain more levels to gain modification points. Please bind with a monster to gain levels Fuck! I hold my knife tightly and crawl my way to the kitchen. I see pots. I slowly move and take a frying pan. I will use it as a shield of some sort, even though it may only endure one attack. I can hear Jer-kel fighting the sharfeline outside. The noise they are making is drowning out the footsteps of the newborn that''s coming here. I am anxious and terrified. I need to think of a way to beat it. I don¡¯t need to kill it, I just need to¡ª The wooden walls are shattered. ¡°Don¡¯t¡­ kill¡­ see!¡± Shit! The newborn rushes after me, the stomach tongue wagging wildly combined with its stomach¡¯s twisted smile. Too fast¡­ Too fast! I want to shut my eyes close, but¡­ I also don¡¯t want to die. I move the frying pan to protect my neck. The newborn claws breaks through it with ease, but that wasn¡¯t the only thing I was doing. My knife was moving at the same pace but at a low angle to make him miss it. It hits its stomach. It''s surprised and looks down at the knife that¡¯s halfway into its stomach, near the mouth. It¡¯s angry. ¡°QUA!¡± It rips my chest open with its claws, and so much blood¡­ Its tail wraps around my arm and swings me around before throwing me at the ceiling. My nose fractures. Hurts¡­ I fall back on the ground. Then the same claw it used to rip my chest open and is soaking red with my blood starts heating up and turns into fire. I release the pan and clutch my chest, trying to regenerate the flesh that was stripped of the bone. I am pouring almost everything into it, and that everything is making me so damn tired. The monster leaps at me and its mouth and stomach stretch out like a hungry lion. I bring up my arm to shield my face but fuck that. I slap its face at the same moment my arm meets its dirty tongue. Its tongue moves swiftly to my shoulders and tightens like a goddamn snake! It wants to rip my arm off! Well whatever. It¡¯s not like I chose to slap it instead of stabbing it for no reason. There is a flash similar to those used by vlandos when they send out a monster. The difference is that it¡¯s black. And it came from me! The monster turns into black energy and is sucked into my left palm. I breathe hard. Ha¡­ It worked. Hahaha IT FUCKING WORKE¡ª My hand HURTS! It feels like lava is in my hand. Shit shit shit! Against my will, there is another black flash. The monster takes back its form. That hurt even more¡­ The monster twitches. I can¡¯t let it kill me. I move fast, taking advantage of its disorientation. I grab the monster by the neck and throw my entire weight on it. It falls on its back and I hover over it. I stab it with all my strength. Not one stab, but repeatedly and rapidly. Die. Die Die! It squeals, and claws at me, sending flesh from my back and sides all over. I bleed a lot. But I don¡¯t stop stabbing it. However, if I continue, I will die first. So¡­ I grab it with my left hand, and there is a black flash. I breathe hard, feeling blood running down my backbone, and legs and dripping to the ground. I feel all that before the horrible bone-crunching pain comes and the monster launches back outside, but just like before, I take advantage of it, and stab it. I stab and stab because my life depends on it. And it rips at me because its life also depends on it. It violently wriggles around like a chicken that lost its head. Then finally, its movements get weak¡­ almost as weak as mine. Then it stops moving. Chapter 12: Monster Enslavement I grab its face with my left hand. I don¡¯t want it to die. My hands glow red and the little healing I can offer prevents it from dying. With my hand still on it, it turns into black energy and gets sucked into my hand. It hurts like hell, but this time¡­ It''s bearable¡­ I am guessing it¡¯s because it has no more fight in it. But goodness me, I am tired¡­ So tired. It¡¯s a weird tiredness, one I only feel when I use my healing skill. I fall forward. I don¡¯t think I can use my healing anymore. I¡¯m that low on energy. If I even try to heal a little more, I will run out of ether, faint, and risk dying. I know from experience, from when I was trying to regenerate my legs after losing them to a boulder. I tried to do it in a single go and that resulted in me experiencing cardiac rest for the second time. This time, I got lucky. But damn it, It hurts so much. My ribs are exposed and I am sure many of them were ripped off. I need more ether and Jer-kel can¡¯t help. I¡¯m in so much pain. I don¡¯t want to do anything, but I can¡¯t stay here. Walking isn¡¯t an option. Crawling is nearly impossible. Oh wait. I have a monster now. I send it out, and with a flash of black, it''s formed. That isn¡¯t all. I can see what it sees, hears, smells. Everything! That also means I can ¡®hear¡¯ its thoughts. Kill¡­ Plunder, take devour, Rip the guts, feast on the muscles, drink on the blood, play with the brain parts, breed, have a million descendants, grow stronger, become strongest. Over and over those thoughts repeat. It¡¯s making me nauseous. The monster¡¯s thoughts is so damn immersive it feels like I have a second brain. If I am not careful, I will think its thoughts are mine. Guh¡­ With the amount of blood I am losing perhaps that¡¯s the least of my concerns. The monster''s thoughts are present, but the will behind them is currently very weak. The red and purple blood that I am lying in is getting blurrier by the second. What can I do? Think. Think. I need more ether. I am going to do something insane. Bring me the corpse of your brethren. Or the ether organ in it. The monster near me forces its body to move, and¡­ it hurts. Every time it moves I feel the stab wounds in its neck. It hurts so much. I breathe heavily. I can¡¯t even make any more movements. I¡¯m too weak to. I am so weak that my control of the monster feels weak, but the monster is also weak so I guess that negates the difference. Jer-kel is still fighting. Ah, I can see her through ¡®my¡¯ monster eyes. She is bloodied but the Shafeline is in a worse state than her. Its tail is cut, half of its face gone and most of its body has spider legs in it like a bunch of spears. Yet it¡¯s moving, still trying to kill her. Breathing is getting hard. I am struggling to pull in air. I¡¯m making weird gurgling sounds. I think I have blood in my mouth. I guess my sense of taste and touch must also be dull if I didn¡¯t realize that. The monster under my command exhaustively tears through its sibling¡¯s abdomen until it finds a wrinkly ball-like organ that¡¯s beating like a heart. The ether processing organ, EPO. Mon (Its temporary nickname) brings it to me. With my own eyes, I can¡¯t really make it out. I just know it¡¯s still covered in blood and fat. I waste no time and bite down on it. Lucky for me, I can¡¯t taste shit. I use all my power to chew what¡¯s in my mouth, but it¡¯s like a toddler biting down on a rubber toy. The meat is too tough, so I give up on the chewing part and try to swallow it. I also can¡¯t swallow it! Shit! I make my monster push the garbage down my throat with its claw. With that method, I swallow everything. There is just one thing, I don¡¯t know if I will be able to absorb the ether from the organ before I die. But¡­ Oh¡­ things are dark. Very dark. I try to move my arm, but it has no force. Put my left hand on my back. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. The monster does so. I coat the hand with my healing skill. I am going to hope that the aura stays active while I fall asleep, and hopefully, it gets powered by the ether in the EPO. Hope¡­ It must work¡­ It must¡­ Everything goes black. ** POV: Jim I jump to the side as Treecra¡¯s leg, the giant crab made out of trees, pierce through the Shafeline head with ease. The body drops to the ground and a pool of purple blood leaves its head. I don¡¯t understand this. I ask Lo¡¯jul, ¡°Are they just weak clones?¡± It isn¡¯t the only one we¡¯ve killed so far. All around us are exact copies of the Shafeline. Lo¡¯jul responds on top of his three meter tall four legged creature, which has the body of a dog, but gorilla arms and a shark head, ¡°Since when are clones this weak? It¡¯s like we are fighting level 1 monsters.¡± ¡°So what¡¯s all this then?¡± He hops off his monster and walks over to a corpse. His monster moves to it too, most likely via a mental command. It eyes glow green and Lo¡¯jul immediately makes an annoyed sound. ¡°It has an active skill over it, but I have no idea what¡¯s it about.¡± ¡°I am starting to think this is all just a distraction.¡± ¡°Yeah, me too. To make it target those villagers easier.¡± ¡°And we fell for it.¡± It wants to level up as quickly as possible, but it knows it can¡¯t take us all on. God, I hate monsters. I hope Jer-kel-thuli-mal is okay. She should be. Yeah, I¡¯m sure she is. ¡°Let¡¯s head back now.¡± ** POV: Bahmos. Me, Julus, Merkerthy, and Tom lay on the dirt, not making a single sound. We heard everything that went on, but lucky for us, we were sitting near Dreamy¡¯s burial, far from where the chaos is going on. The amount of screaming from the villagers has depleted a lot. There¡¯s still some screaming, there and then, but it most likely means that the monsters are running out of easy targets. We would be next. I am so anxious it''s insane. Breathing is hard, it''s on manual now, and I can¡¯t stop myself from trembling. I wonder about Natasha, I heard some sounds from the carriage, hums maybe, but when the screams began, I heard nothing. But I am sure she didn¡¯t leave the carriage either. Am I going to die here? There are suddenly leaves crunching sounds. ¡°Don¡¯t¡­ my¡­ run¡­¡± ** POV: Vernisha Gasp! I subconsciously take in a deep breath of air and cough up blood. I am alive? It worked. It worked! I want to laugh but I crack a crooked smile instead. I didn¡¯t think about it, but there was a high chance the other monsters could have come after me while I was unconscious. Lucky me, am I right? I feel my back, it feels rough, but there is flesh on it. I can move about, although weakly. It seems I am mostly in a good condition. That EPO I ate must have contained a lot of ether. I wonder if there was a chance my own EPO could have burst. Well whatever. Now¡­ now what? I need to get to Natasha so we can get the hell out of here. But running out in the open is asking to get killed. What even are the chances of her being alive? No idea. I have to hope it''s high. I move slowly and peek out of a hole through the wall and see Jer-kel still fighting with the shafeline Her monster is badly hurt, just like her. There are newborn monster corpses near them. I am wondering if Jer-kel is responsible for it or¡­ if the shafeline killed her kids to power herself up. If Jer-kel dies, well, I¡¯ll be next. If I can quickly heal her monster and run¡­ But if I am spotted, I am dead in an instant. No amount of healing is going to fix a missing head. I call over my monster who strains to move, then I heal it. Not a significant amount of healing, but enough for it to move like a tired soldier. Better than one near death. I need to save everything else for Jel-kel¡¯s monster¡­ but I don¡¯t think I have enough for that. ... Never mind, I can get enough. I fix my grip on my knife and mutter, ¡°Go.¡± Mon quickly and silently runs on the battlefield. It moves from one monster corpse to the other, ripping their abdomen open and swallowing their EPOs. Then it runs over to me. System, what are its skills? It feels like a weird kind of electricity raced across my mind and for some reason, I have immediate knowledge. [Flame claws] [Strong charge] [Fire spit] It¡¯s also level 8. Mon gets back in the house, through the same huge hole in the wall it made when it tried to kill me. I¡¯m on the other side of the wall to maintain stealth, so it comes over and vomits all the EPOs it ate. I can¡¯t believe what I¡¯m about to do. I know the gods of this world don¡¯t do prays and all that, but, ¡®Gods, please bless my stomach with the will of a rat.¡¯ I hold my breath, pick two EPOs up, and starts eating them like they are meat balls. It''s so bad. The texture, the taste, it¡¯s like I¡¯m eating a rotting dog! It¡¯s so bad I¡¯m holding in the urge to vomit. My eyes are watering and my hands are trembling. The shafeline roars loudly and swings its claws down at Jer-kel. The humanoid spider jumps in the way of the attack. The claws tear deeply into the humanoid spider. Both the spider and Jer-kel grunt in pain. Shit. Distract your mother! Mon dashes forward. Just as the shafeline is about to breathe fire on Jer-kel, Mon slashes its legs with [flame claws]. Of course, it normally would have only scratched it, but lucky for me, it had wounds all over its legs already. The shafeline kicks back in response, but since it wasn¡¯t aware of the enemy it assumed the target was bigger, so it missed. I run out as fast I can while my monster distracts it. I¡¯m guessing it¡¯s confused as to why its child is attacking it and no longer sees Jer-kel as a threat. It¡¯s kinda right. She is struggling to stand right now. Why doesn¡¯t she use her fairy monster to heal¡ª Oh right, it ran out of ether when it was healing everyone. The EPO, ether processing organ only absorbs ether in the air, then processes and stores it for the monster to use. The air does have ether but it¡¯s low dog shit quality. Jer-kel sees me, and her expression is clearly: ¡®What the hell is she doing here?!¡¯ Then it turns into: ¡®Oh my god, this dumb kid is going to get herself killed.¡¯ She is pointing away with aggression, trying to tell me to get out of here. I plan to, once I am sure you are not going to die. I reach near her. She grabs my shoulders, maybe to whisper ¡®Get out¡¯, but I quickly drop three EPOs. ¡°Use these for the fairy.¡± Even at times like this, attempting to heal her Humanoid-spider with her being aware of it wouldn¡¯t end well for me, base on what Natasha has told me. So no, this isn¡¯t a situation where I can say, ''I have the power to heal monsters! I am here to heal your monster!'' Perhaps I can take the risk, thinking Natasha was exaggerating. But I have no reason to believe she was. If my chance of survival is at 0%, I will say fuck the secrets, but it¡¯s not at 0% yet! Jer-kel takes the EPOs and nods. Jer-kel points at her humanoid spider and says, ¡°Bring me to Shtyui, and quickly.¡± So that¡¯s the name. I pull her, moving fast. She seems surprised, ¡°You are unnaturally strong¡­¡± Please be stupid and assume it''s a coincidence. ¡°Thank you. It''s from working out a lot. Are your friends coming soon?¡± I should have made my monster level us up. Damn it. Fortunately for it, it''s able to evade the heavily injured shafeline. ¡°I assume they are busy fighting its kids. But I am calling them over now.¡± She says that, but I don¡¯t notice the pyramid communicator on her. She is just silent. Perhaps its one of those monster skills. We reach Shtyui. It barely can keep itself standing. Jer-kel approaches it and says, ¡°You did well.¡± She taps it with her right foot. There is a flash of white, and through my monster eyes, I see the Shafeline come to a halt and turn towards us. Jer-kel sends the fairy out, and immediately it goes from having no signs of harm to bleeding through its nose, and mouth and being in horrible pain. Yikes. Jer-kel apologizes to the fairy for the harm it has to take on because of her and gives it the EPOs. ¡°Harve...st run!¡± the shafeline runs at us. Its noise catches Jer-kel attention, giving me time to grab her monster back(away from the shared vision) and heal as much as I can in a second. It¡¯s enough healing to stop the fairy¡¯s nosebleed and have it stand up properly. ¡°Shit!¡± Jer-kel panics and turns towards me like a worried mother. The air makes a whistle sound and I see the shafeline claws suddenly in front of me, directed at my neck. Oh. I am dead. Chapter 13: Heroism or Extreme prejudice Oh, I am dead. Before the claws can reach my throat Jer-kel basically throws herself in the way. Her chest plate cracks and she flies back. I get caught by her moving body and also fly back and tumble on the ground. Instead of crying in pain, she adjusts her hands on my ears to block it. Wha¡ª I get an answer immediately. Her monster flies high in the air and screams. The sound is so powerful the very ground trembles and makes the shafeline wail in pain. Good. If she keeps that up for long enough, she could make it faint. However, I notice the fairy''s ears are also bleeding, and not her alone, but also Jer-kel. Maybe because of the pain, the fairy stops her sonic attack. The air and ground trembling goes from intense to nothing in a short time. Jer-kel mutters something. It¡¯s frustration. I think there is a high chance the fairy didn''t have enough time to absorb enough ether from those organs. I am not sure how much time it needs, but most definitely less than me. Jer-kel tries to stand up but can''t. She moves like a drunkard, having no sense of balance due to her destroyed eardrums. The shafeline coats its body in fire and pounces at the fairy, like a cat. The fairy barely evades. It becomes a game of tag, and with every passing second, the shafeline seems to be getting closer in catching up. During that, I make Mon [fire spit] at it. Of course, the small fireballs are too slow to even touch the shafeline which isn¡¯t paying attention to it. I try to pick up Jer-kel to run(since the little recovery she got disappeared from that last attack). But holy shit is she heavy. Maybe over four hundred pounds(the armor surely adds to it). I can''t do that! But I have to¡­ My muscles strain and my leg trembles under the weight like I am having a nervous breakdown. Come on¡­ Come¡­ I skid on a pebble and fall in front. My chin hits the hard ground and it feels like my skull is shaken. That hurt... Oh god, that hurts so much. Jer-kel ears stop bleeding and many of her wounds suddenly start closing up. I snap towards the fairy whose body is coated in white energy. I am wondering why it doesn''t just fly very high in the sky to make it impossible for the shafeline to even get close to it, but I am guessing if it does that the shafeline would just target us. Well whatever, the healer is back online, that''s good news. Jer-kel pushes herself up and says, "Go get cover¡­" "What about you?" "Don''t worry." "And the villagers?" "There should be some alive. I made sure of that..." She doesn''t sound cold, but somewhat worried. I guess on the surface she puts on a tough act. Honestly, probably not. I think there is a difference between hating someone and thinking they deserve a painful death. And there are most definitely other monsters alive. There could be a monster lurking at any corner. I have a way to fix that issue. I focus on Mon¡¯s senses: hearing and sniffing. I mainly smell blood, feces, piss, perspiration, and so on. Then I hear the low growlings of monsters that are inaudible to my human ears. About three of them. They¡¯re probably looking for villagers to kill. I know what I am going to do. I make Mon lead the way towards the monsters and I follow it. The first time I fought a monster, I nearly died. So to any normal person, my actions are purely irrational or heroic. It''s neither. I am not foolish enough to take on suicide missions for heroic reasons. I once killed myself because I had no interest in what the future held for me. That ultimate disinterest in life made me not value life. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. However, I am excited and concerned about what my future holds in this world. The reason I am taking this risk is because I am going to be careful with my safety, and because¡­ I hate these monsters. I want to kill them. I want to brutally torture them. I want to see them suffering. Of course, I also want to save these people. I spot a monster on a house rooftop. It¡¯s looking down at a little boy hiding behind a house with his father and another. The monster launches at the boy. *Go!* Mon dashes at max speed, kicking up dust in the process. Our eyes are stuck on the monster moving closer to the boy and just as it gets in the meter range, a [fire spit], the size of a tennis ball hits it in the face. ¡°Quaa!¡± it screeches as its pouncing form collapses and it falls on the ground in front of the three hiding individuals. ¡°What the hell?!¡± The father(I assume he¡¯s the father) freaks out. The monster claws at the ground to bury its head in it in the attempt to out the fire. I don''t waste time and make Mon bite down on the monster¡¯s throat with all its force. There is a cracking and panicking sound. I''m currently making my way to them. But I¡¯m running around the building to get to its blind spot. My ribs hurt! The monster''s claws are deep in Mon''s. I move quickly, and finally, I arrive at the back of it. It has no idea I am here. With both of my hands on the hilt of my blade, I strike its spine, aiming to paralyze it. I can¡¯t go for the throat cut because Mon is blocking me. My blade goes deep into its back, but the bone is hard, so while the monster struggles and tries to break free, I keep stabbing it in the same place. Well, I try anyway. My aim isn''t so good. Just die! After a couple more stabs, its lower back stops moving. And finally, my monster rips its brother''s throat open. Personal Level: 4 Shuralene, Level: 9 It''s my first time ''feeling'' this. I just suddenly know I have gained levels. My entire body feels much stronger. I guess that''s the result of gaining three levels at once. I look at the family, they seem slightly terrified of me, like I didn¡¯t just save their life. Maybe it¡¯s because of how violent I was? Or maybe it¡¯s because I am covered in blood. Both new blood and old blood from eating raw monster organs. Or the reason is much simpler, I am working with a monster, the same kind of monster that most definitely killed many of their friends and families. I leave without saying a word. Keeping my identity as a vlandos would have been preferred, but it''s whatever. I move again and quickly. Now I can upgrade my body, but I am not sure of the negatives it could have, like making me tired because of the energy required to make the changes. I should only use what I am confident in. I make my monster rip open its brother''s abdomen and take its EPO. I take it, hold my breath, and eat it. The texture and taste are still revolting¡­ My stomach hurts terribly and my eyes tear up again. It¡¯s whatever. I can handle this. We find another monster in a house. It¡¯s sniffing the ground, moving to a room like a hungry doctor. This time we didn''t catch it off guard. It turns to us and gives chase. Mon rushes forward to confront it. The two clash against each other. Both their claws are on fire and deep into each other chest and back. I move fast, much faster than I ever did. Probably double my previous speed(which isn¡¯t that impressive since my body is twelve). I dig my blade into its hind legs, making them useless, and then its neck. Level: 5 Hm. That one must have just been low in level. It¡¯s impossible to tell anyway. I heal my monster, making it completely healthy and¡­ Kill... kill... SLAUGHTER. Ugh... The monster''s thoughts are getting loud. Like the barrier between my thoughts and it is also breaking. But I can handle it. I know what my thoughts are and what Mon¡¯s. It is putting a strain on my mind though. I feel tired and like a headache is starting to form. I leave the house and start moving to the next target. However, that doesn''t seem necessary. I suddenly can no longer smell the third monster via Mon''s nose. That means the last thing to do is to see if I can help Jer-kel. Ah who am I kidding, I can''t really help. I look at her fight and just like before, it looks pretty bad. Shafeline¡¯s tail is wrapped around the fairy¡¯s leg. He''s swinging it around. The air is whistling. That¡¯s affecting Jer-kel, her footing is unsteady. Even if it looks like I can¡¯t help, I have to somehow. A distraction is good enough. *Mon, [fire spit]¡ª* A massive cone-shaped rock hit shafeline in the chest. Its body contorts to the force and is thrown to the ground with a loud thud. Lo, Lo¡¯jul, and Jim arrived on top of their monsters. A giant tree-crab-like one and a four-meter-tall dog with gorilla and shark features, but not in a Frankenstein way. Jim tells Lo¡¯jul, ¡°Nice shot.¡± ¡°Always.¡± It took them forever. The shafeline confidence is gone. It doesn¡¯t attack but raises its head to the sky. Its mouth glows white. ¡°It¡¯s going to use that flash again!¡± I shout. The tree crab monster swings its pinches up, causing massive vines to explode from the ground and strike the Shafeline in its jaw with enough force to make a big, ''bang!'' It screams and tries to leap back, but Lo¡¯jul¡¯s monster hits the ground with its gorilla fist, and the ground under the Shafeline disappears, and it falls into the hole. It tries to leap out of it, but the ground at the monster''s side closes in on it like speeding cars crashing at each other. Jim gets off his monster and approaches Jer-kel. ¡°How bad is the bleeding?¡± ¡°Bad, but I¡¯m okay for the most part. But damn, I almost thought you wanted me to die.¡± ¡°I was thinking about it,¡± he smiles. She rolls her eyes. ¡°I¡¯ll make sure my death traumatizes for life.¡± Her fairy flies above the shafeline that¡¯s trying to breath free and sings a sound. It¡¯s somewhat chaotic but not ugly. It¡¯s boiling rage in me. A weird rage. I am unsure what its purpose is, but seeing how the shafeline is suddenly eyeing it and raging at it, like its only enemy. I am guessing a taunt. It breaks through the rock walls and once again tries to attack the fairy, but as soon as it jumps in the air the gorilla-dog jumps after it, catches its leg, and flings it to the ground. The tree crab ejects its open pincer which pins the shafeline¡¯s neck to the ground. It pins its waist with its other pincer. Jer-kel clasp her ears and says, "Blow its head off." The other two also block their ears. So do I, after making my monster return to my seal. The shafeline is struggling against its restraints. The ground is cracking and the pincers are quickly being forced off the ground. However, it''s not fast enough. The fairy is taking a huge breath in like it''s charging up a deep exhale. And when the pinches do pop off the ground, it''s hit with a sonic boom with the fairy. This time the force is so strong that the air is violently vibrating, the ground is cracking, and houses are breaking down. It¡¯s too damn much! My hand gets warm with blood. ¡­ I feel¡­ shaky like the world is spinning. Oh, This is¡­ I fall forward, unable to move at all. My ears hurt, they hurt¡­ they¡­ hurt. Chapter 14: Strange sighting POV: Lo¡¯jul The shafeline lays on the ground, half dead, bloodied. It¡¯s making screeches like a dying bird trying its best to hang onto life, but they are so weak that anyone except for us probably can¡¯t hear it. Jer pulls a spear from her pocket space (watery air eclipse¡ªinventory) and drives it into its throat. Jim tells her, ¡°Sorry we came so late.¡± She spits on the ground and responds, "There are still little monsters around." I ask her, "What about survivors?" "Check." She says as she looks around for something. "You lost something?¡± "Help me look for the kid. She¡¯s a vlandos," she says before walking off. Jim asks, ¡°She is¡­? Oh¡­ that makes sense. But what about the survivors and the little monsters?¡± She dashes away before she can verbally answer him. Before I follow her, I turn back and tell him, ¡°Look around, man!¡± He shakes his head, annoyed, and takes out a mark-stone, a rectangular device, basically a portable touch interactive computer. He takes a picture of the monster''s corpse to send to the operator to confirm the mission''s completion. I forgot about that. It¡¯s a good thing he remembered since I was appointed team captain for this mission. I barely functioned as the captain anyway. Jer-kal-thuli-mal fairy is soaring high in the sky, scouting. I too send out my Goryu(the dog-gorilla-shark-like monster) to look for her, while also paying attention to any monsters. Goryu makes a map of everything around it in a large range. I can smell everyone here, not a single monster is alive. Wait¡­ There is a foreign smell. Not human, nothing I can recognize *You¡¯re familiar with it?* The growl Goryu makes shows it isn¡¯t sure. Damn¡­ I stop moving and make my monster get a better hang on that smell. It¡¯s strong, but it¡¯s like it only appeared for a second then disappeared. But I can¡¯t even determine where¡ª ¡°Oh, she is safe. T-that¡¯s good to see. I am glad she is safe.¡± I turn to see Jer talking to Natasha who has a sleeping but very bloodied Vernisha in her hands. She is unharmed and doesn¡¯t even seem fazed, despite all the killings that were going on here. Maybe she has experience with this kind of gore? ¡®Move your fucking ass! These survivors ain¡¯t going to help themselves!¡¯ I get Jim¡¯s loud ass system¡¯s call. ¡®Give me a break,'' I reply. I guess it''s a waste of my time and thoughts to care about whatever strange thing that¡¯s going on here. I have more important things to deal with, like giving Nub¡¯ol an excuse for why the hell I couldn¡¯t make it for the date. Fucking hell. Things were supposed to be different. Everything I had planned for tonight is all gone. Whatever. Time to look for survivors. ** POV: Lo¡¯jul partner, Nub¡¯ol Men and women move up and down in the luxurious restaurant, guided by employees dressed in all white. Of course, almost everyone here is a human, except for two elf employees. I respect their ability to adapt. They are hard workers. You can always see an elf at almost every job. Anyway, I have spent most of my time requesting wine whenever the waiter showed up to ask if I was ready to order. The green beverage that sits in my glass right now is hot garbage compared to the alcohol back at home. Even if I drank a barrel of this ¡®Jumbie¡¯, I wouldn¡¯t feel tipsy. These guys need to start ordering some Mal¡¯quisha. Probably would kill lots of them, but the taste would feel like godhood to them. Or plain poison. I don¡¯t know. ¡­ I tap on the edge of the glass. I think I have reached the limit of entertaining myself. Ugh¡­ Where the hell is that man? I look at my watch, it¡¯s thirty minutes to 14:00 in the day. Sigh. On the day I took a work leave... I guess he got caught up with work again, like always. Sometimes work is slow for him. Those days are the best. Even if we don¡¯t fuck like rabbits like when we were younger, it feels good to cook breakfast and lunch together. Go in the garden and get disappointed that the birds stole the fruits that were ripening and¡­ just being around each other. Not talking, not doing anything. Just sitting near each other, with my legs resting on his chest or lap of course. But when work is busy, work is busy. He¡¯ll be gone for days. When he is extra unlucky, weeks. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. It isn¡¯t any better when you hear how many cheating scandals these adventurers get into. You don''t hear, ¡®Hey, your man might cheat on you when he¡¯s deployed.¡¯ It¡¯s: ¡®Oh, what does he do for a living?¡¯ ¡®He¡¯s an adventurer.¡¯ They would appear surprised and have a look of pity. Then they would say in the nicest way, ¡®From a woman to another:¡¯ - ¡®He¡¯s definitely going to cheat on you.¡¯ - ¡®Think about it, they are gone for days, weeks, sometimes months, with only four people. At least one of them is going to be a woman, and you know no one *really* is turning down a goddamn vlandos. So, it¡¯s going to be some flirting. Some joking. Some bonding moments, then¡­ oops, some fucking.¡¯ - ''There are stats on it. They fuck a lot, all the time. Shit, even more than those in the military.¡¯ It¡¯s enough shit to drive you insane. To make you double-think everything. But sometimes, you just gotta say, ¡®No, my man is different.¡¯ Despite being insecure as FUCK on the inside. It feels worse I remember vlandos women are all insanely beautiful and oftentimes, fucking bitches¡­ If you are regular and your partner is a vlandos, it¡¯s like a hot target is placed on their head, and the reason for the sexual attempts(and pictures of them on the bed, naked, with the guy/gyal(target) being asleep) is to break the relationship, not because they want the individual but because: ¡®He¡¯s messing with a regular person.¡¯ Like, sorry, I believe in him. But even diamonds can crack under pressure. I miss when I was in my teens---before I saw how common such behaviors were. Before I understood why people did it. But damn, here I go overthinking again. A waiter comes to my table. ¡°Miss, I think an hour has passed¡­¡± I sit up. ¡°You are right. Sorry for wasting your time.¡± ¡°Hopefully you will again. Maybe buying an extra hour will be to your husband¡¯s better interest.¡± I adjust the gem-spotted white fur coat around my shoulders and tell her. ¡°I will tell him that.¡± I am pissed, annoyed and embarrassed. Everyone just saw me sitting there, waiting forever, like an elderly lady who lost her husband and visits their old favorite spot to reminisce. But it¡¯s whatever. it¡¯s not like he is at fault. I know if he could, he would be there. I am sure he¡¯s thinking of ways to make it up to me. There are the thoughts of, ¡®What if he is with another woman right now¡¯, but I kick those thoughts away.
¡°As I make my way towards the exit, some people¡¯s attention is drawn to my unique piece of jewelry - a nose chain. This is a gold chain that encircles the crown of my head, and at its center, it features the part of the chain that extends to my nose and holds an emerald. Hm. I take in a deep breath and ignore all the thoughts people have tried to put in my head, and my own insecurities that I try to keep buried as deep in my heart as possible. I hope he¡¯s alive and the mission is going smoothly. ** POV: Lo¡¯jul Me and Jim found all the survivors. Just twenty of them. Five men, eight kids, and remaining women. Only one of them didn¡¯t have a family. The kids explained that their fathers were often first to die because he would try to give them time to run, then the mother would die, then the older siblings. It was a total shit show. These guys will need their minds wiped, all of them. I wonder how many would be against that. What choice do they have anyway? Go to a therapist instead? With what money? The hospitals wouldn¡¯t pay for it if mind erasing is still on the table, especially when the guild is paying for it. There is a little boy who is no older than eight, his fingers can¡¯t help but tremble. But they are not as bad as his father¡¯s. He¡¯s frightened by the sounds of everything. I feel for him. Trauma isn¡¯t anythin¡¯ to play about with. I never experienced anything traumatic as a kid, or as a teen, so I guess I got lucky. Maybe my parents divorce? Or how my mother¡¯s mother always treated my father because he wasn¡¯t wealthy? I had a good enough upbringing for those things to be the most ¡®traumatizing¡¯ things I have experienced. The first time I saw shit like this¡ªthe first time I fought a monster as an adventurer I concluded that there surely existed devils, evil gods, whatever you want to call it. I just knew it. Because as cruel as nature is, it never could have birthed monsters. I said it before, and I will always say it, every time I see shit like this, I start to believe in that mother of monsters myth. It had to be some truly nefarious person that thought, ¡®I am going to create these evil fucks because I just hate people with a passion.¡¯ I get it, it¡¯s punishment for the sins humans have committed, but get off my fucking dick. Every living being had to pay for what humans did? Isn¡¯t that, I don¡¯t know, fucking crazy? These monsters can know when you are new to the job and will target you. Dismember you, eat you alive, just for the fuck of it. Being an adventurer either gives you balls of steel or sends you to an early grave, or a shell of your former self. Sometimes the fear can¡¯t be wiped out. The body remembers it. Probably because of some monster skill, I don¡¯t know. I know when I met a monster for the first time, I immediately wanted to run. I knew no amount of money was worth that shit. Anyway, I leave Jim to attend to the survivors. I did the best I could, but I am a punchio, it¡¯s better for them to get ¡®comfort¡¯ from someone they can relate more to. Once I reach Natasha, I see Vernisha. There are blood marks on the sides of her face. Her ears must have been bleeding. I ask, ¡°How¡¯s she doing?¡± ¡°Alive,¡± she says without much expression or emotion. She is definitely stressed. Nub¡¯ol always acts the same way when she¡¯s bothered. ¡°Sorry we couldn¡¯t keep her safe,¡± I tell her. ¡°As long as she is alive, I am happy.¡± She turns towards Jer. ¡°Thank you, again.¡± ¡°Yes, of course. I am grateful to Vernisha too. She saved my life.¡± ¡°She did, huh? That¡¯s good to hear.¡± I leave the two to continue talking. Then I remember they came with others. ¡°Where are your other friends?¡± I ask her. She looks in the distance, where the dense grass and trees are. ¡°One is alive.¡± I go to it. The foreign smell was mainly there. Damn, I was planning on avoiding it, but whatever. I walk between the massive trees and step over wild vines and random dead branches. Then¡­ I come across¡­ What the hell? The trees in one direction are completely gone. The soil doesn¡¯t have any leaves on them, or anything to make it seem aged. It¡¯s like something blew it all out and replaced it. I see a person unconscious, but alive. I approach him and wake him up. He seems confused and tired. I want to ask, ¡®What the hell happened here?¡¯ But then I think, do I really want to deal with this shit? To get less time to spend with my wife? To get less time to just¡­ do nothing. Fuck off or whatever. I don¡¯t want to deal with it, but leaving this unchecked could come back to bite the asses of others. I am already here, anyway. I ask him what went on. He tried to form words, but he couldn¡¯t. He gives up, seeming incapable of remembering anything, ¡°I don¡¯t know. Can¡¯t remember anything. Julus!¡± He forces himself and looks around, worried. ¡°Julus!¡± I am guessing that¡¯s one of his dead friends. Maybe his son since he seems a bit up in age. I gesture at the three corpses. Their stomachs are hanging out, and half of the body has been eaten. When the man sees it, he is shocked. I don¡¯t say anything to him. He doesn¡¯t break down and cry or anything. He just stares. How strange, he just miraculously can¡¯t remember what went on. And somehow this strange activity only happened here. Since he¡¯s alive and three ain¡¯t. Whatever it was must want to protect him, or he got saved by the unknown thing killing the monster for unknown reasons. I try to gain any kind of clues, but there isn¡¯t any. Asking him questions is pointless. My monster can¡¯t detect anything else related to the unknown smell or the strangeness here. Maybe I really shouldn¡¯t press further in this matter. This is¡­ kinda risky. I will report it to the guild. I return to the others. I brought the man with me of course. Jer is still standing near the woman and the little girl, and Jim isn¡¯t talking to the survivors. Honestly, they probably don¡¯t want to talk at all. The wind blows and the air whistles. The mission is done. Usually, I would call Nub¡¯ol and tell her I would be home in a certain amount of hours. But I forgot my personal pyramid communicator at home. So for a while, I just stood there. Then Jer looks up at me. ¡®Take the family to the capital,¡¯ she tells me without moving her lips. Chapter 15: Sundawn POV: Lo¡¯ju ¡¯And what about you?¡¯ ''I will stay with Jim. It doesn¡¯t make sense to leave him here alone.'' ¡¯Got it.¡¯ I don¡¯t waste time and basically get them up to speed on what¡¯s going to happen. The man, who I come to learn is Bahmos, agrees. Natasha of course agrees too. I point at the ground, sending out my triver. A massive bird monster, which has two heads, and black feathers. It has eyes that start from the front of its face and s to the chin, like orderly stacked books. I help them on board. I get her son and husband on too. Once all that is done, and they all have a grip on my monster, or ** POV: Vernisha. Everything is dark. And once again the darkness is moving around me like it has a life of its own. I float around in the space for what feels like forever. I know this isn¡¯t death. Unless dying in this world means that I experience the same thing I dream. Things start to clear up, and soon I see the bright sky. Nice. I am really alive. I have no idea what I am lying on but it feels¡­ animal-like. I turn my head to the side to get a better look at what I am on. It¡¯s feathers¡­? And we are high in the sky? ¡°You are finally awake,¡± Natasha says. She''slooking at me. ¡°That¡¯s good.¡± ¡°Yeah¡­¡± I try to move, but my body hurts! I cough up a black thick liquid. I wipe my chin and stare at it. Lo¡¯jul says, ¡°You¡­ were eating monster flesh?¡± ¡°No¡­¡± "And you contracted Malertaria? You need to get to a doctor.¡± ¡°A healing elixir wouldn¡¯t fix it?¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t kill parasites.¡± Ah shit. I guess that¡¯s what I get for going on a monster organ eating feast. I will survive though. Natasha asks him, ¡°How dangerous is it?¡± ¡°It depends. If she ate a lot of monster flesh it can kill her in a week or two.¡± Oh. That doesn¡¯t sound too bad. And here I thought it would be urgent. ¡°Is the medicine for it cheap or does it require surgery?¡± ¡°Medicine. A bit¡­ Yeah, it¡¯s expensive.¡± I mutter, ¡°We pay taxes and we can¡¯t get medicines for cheap. Garbage ass country.¡± He smiles. ¡°You¡¯re a vlandos and below the working age, a child. If you say that, you will get it for free.¡± Why the hell? He notices the shift in my and Natasha gazes. "Jer-kel told me. I will keep your secret a, well, secret." Tch. I say, ¡°Then you know that I wouldn¡¯t be telling anyone that I am a vlandos. Especially someone that works for or is partnered to the state.¡± He frowns. ¡°I will ask my wife for a favor.¡± I ask, ¡°She¡¯s a doctor?¡± ¡°Works at a drug store. ¡± ¡°Oh¡­ I wouldn¡¯t need a prescription?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t that very illegal?¡± ¡°Yes. You¡¯d rather go to a doctor? Honestly, you should since we don¡¯t know the strength of the geio tablets you are going to need.¡± ¡°No, drug store.¡± I''m not taking a risk with them testing my blood and discovering I''m a vlandos. He shrugs. I watch the air blow his hair back and forth. I ask him, ¡°D''you have some control over your hair? Or does it move on its own?¡± ¡°Control. Like moving your fingers.¡± ¡°Pretty cool. When you make those short dreadlocks, do you control your hair to get the style or do you use your hand or you use both?¡± ¡°Both kinda. And it''s braids. My wife braids it for me.¡± Could have fooled me. Perhaps it''s the hair texture. ¡°She¡¯s better at it?¡± ¡°Yeah. She used to be a hair stylist.¡± ¡°Oh, that¡¯s cool. Does she do her own hair or you?¡± ¡°Me. Gets tiring doing it yourself, you see.¡± ¡°Yeah, for sure.¡± I look down at the bird. ¡°How many minutes does it have?" This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. He raises an eyebrow. I expand on what I meant. ¡°Until you lose control over it.¡± ¡°Long.¡± ¡°How long is that long?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t know. When the time is up I will tell you.¡± No way in hell he wouldn¡¯t know. When the monster thoughts are getting stronger, you can feel it. If he has been an adventurer for a long time, he most definitely have enough experience to know how long his control can last. But he is keeping it secret. Because¡­ Because that¡¯s vital information. What the hell would I do with it though? I would need to know for how long his monster had also been out. ¡°How fast are we moving? In miles an hour,¡± I ask. ¡°Not sure. Maybe 150?¡± Oh¡­ With that, we will reach the capital in no time! I sit up and look at the lands. There are villages, towns, rivers, and a damn lot of green mountains. Oh, there is this white river. Two guys are in it. I think they are dancing together, naked. Wait. Oh. Never mind. I look elsewhere, observing a group of people working on a small house, nailing galvanize. In another spot, some are carrying buckets of water. Others are hiking. It¡¯s cool to see all this. Extra cool I didn¡¯t see any grim shit, kidnapping, murdering and whatnot. Emphasis on ¡®didn¡¯t see.¡¯ ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­¡± Caren is talking in his sleep. I wonder what nightmare he is having this time. ¡°Sorry¡­¡± ¡°Sorry. I am sorry.¡± He goes on repeating the same thing. Lp¡¯jul points ahead. ¡°Check it out. We''ve reached.¡± I look ahead and in the center of a three massive mountains, two at the sides which look like¡­ it doesn¡¯t belong(lacks a mountain range), and one at the back that looks naturally placed. I am guessing the capital was built there for defensive reasons. On the mountain to its right has a monster zone. But damn, that¡¯s a massive city, surrounded by black walls too (maybe twelve meters tall). I heard it was made by Eren Starworth after the original ones were destroyed when Falsker invaded. On those walls are a lot of watch towers. I ask Lo, ¡°In those watch towers¡ªthey are all vlandos?¡± ¡°No. not enough of us for that.¡± ¡°So¡­ just ordinary guys?¡± ¡°Most are. Only got two knights stationed there, and they at the entrance gate.¡± Interesting. We descended a short distance away from the gates. Apparently, that¡¯s the law. Lo helps us get to the gate, easily carrying Caren like he weighs less than fifty pounds. The knights have different armor than adventurers. They quite literally look like knights, but ones that go down in legends. Their armor is gold and red. They also both have swords at their waist and a shield at their back. The two men are huge, both definitely above 6¡¯9. One of them asks, ¡°What is it?¡± I take out our residence papers, and Lo shows them his adventurer¡¯s license. One of them moves forward, scanning our papers and his license with a mark-stone, aka this world''s version of a tablet(kinda). It takes a while, but he basically gives us both a nod. They ask why we are here. We say medical reasons, pointing at Caren and Ulah. The other knight ask, ¡°What kind of sickness do they have? Is it transmittable?¡± ¡°No, they ate a bread which made them very sick and seems to be having a weird mutative effect on them. And Vernisha has Malertaria, she has spitting up black liquid,¡± Natasha explains, leaving out the violent outbursts they had. The two check for obvious proof. I spit up black bloody vomit for them. Then they take some blood from us, run it through their mark-stone. Obviously, I am worried about my blood being taken. But they discard the blood as soon as they get the results, which I assume was to verify if we truly didn''t have any transmittable diseases. They then ask how long we plan to stay here? Then if we have a place of residence? If it wasn¡¯t for Lo, that would have been a problem for us. He came in clutch, saying that we reside by him until our family members are treated. We pay entrance fees, fifty bronze pints for Natasha and Caren, but half of that for Ulah and me. Oh. Lo doesn¡¯t have to pay since he is an adventurer. I¡¯m also not sure why, but it doesn¡¯t seem like they like each other. They are just professional. Anyway, one of the knights knocks on the gate, and soon after the double gates open for us. Oh, random thing, the residence papers have a part that is supposed to identify the citizen as a vlandos or regular. As we enter the city, the knights tell us: ¡°We hope your experience in Sundawn is great.¡± ¡°May the stars shine on your family''s future.¡± They seem cool. When I step inside, what I see surprises me. The place is beautiful. There are massive concrete buildings on both sides of the roads, commercial ones, it seems. There are many elves, punchios, very few Julioes, and other human races moving up and down. Oh, that¡¯s a silyuk. They all got big ass foreheads, half-white and ginger hair and blessed with a high disposition of fats in their lower body. Aka, big butts and the like but no breasts. Reminds me of my high school principal from Earth. Even the guys have it. Which¡­ from what I have heard, makes them get seek out a lot in prison. I look around and see a mulvar. Dark skin, sharp jawline. But no goddamn eyebrows. His long brown hair and eyebrow-less combination remind me of Super Saiyan Three. Nearby on the other street is a balash temple with three holograms in front of it. The first hologram depicts a yellow-haired woman with yellow eyes, her gaze fixed on the distant light of a star. The other is an orange-haired man covered in the intense light of a star, and the last, the biggest of them all, a blood-red-haired man with hundreds of stars looking at him. The three mortal gods. Lo notices my gaze and says, ¡°The universe sure has its favorites.¡± All of them are humans. Kinda feels awkward. I clear my throat and say, ¡°There might be another mortal god who¡¯s a punchio, but hidden.¡± ¡°In our legends, there used to be. Anyway, let''s get your family to a doctor. I will get the medication for you. ¡± ¡°Yeah, thanks a lot again.¡± We walk for a while and get a taxi. A lizard driven carriage. However, Bahmos who has been silent the entire time, takes another taxi. I tell Lo''jul, ¡°You are much nicer than I thought.¡± ¡°Oh. Well, Jer-kel requested me to help you all. So she must like you a lot.¡± ¡°Ah. That¡¯s good to hear. She saved me too.¡± He slowly nods and seems somewhat surprise. Not sure why it surprised him. Anyway, it takes about ten minutes and driving over a bridge, where a river runs under it for us to reach a private doctor''s building/office. Lo says, ¡°It should be better than a regular hospital.¡± He then takes a card from his pocket, then stops, and asks, ¡°You guys don¡¯t have a pyramid communicator?¡± Natasha says, "No." He clicks his tongue, then looks me straight in the eyes. ¡¯Lo¡¯Jul sons''ver¡¯mol¡¯yu is trying to form a communication line with you.¡¯ Oh! telepathy! I confirm the request. Once it''s done, he acts normal and faces front. ¡¯Give me a thought if you need something.¡¯ I hear his thoughts. ¡®How close do I need to be?'' ¡¯A mile, maybe.¡¯ ¡°Thanks,¡± I say out-loud. ¡°Yeah.¡± He looks out of the carriage and tells the security at the closed office door, ¡°When the person inside is done, help them in.¡± ¡°Of course, Lo¡¯jun¡± And he disappears. Maybe people don''t have adventurers as much in the city? Or Lo has a lot of connections. The security offers us benches, which we gladly take. The only issue with dropping us at a private doctor office is the fact we don¡¯t have an appointment and its going to cost a lot more than a state funded hospital. But I am hoping he knows all this and chose this office for a reason. I look at Natasha who glares at a tall boy, a vlandos based on his height, 6''5, and looks at max, fifteen years. He has blood red and blonde hair, yellow eyes, clearly good skin and is ridiculously handsome, enough to be a model that would capture the attention of all, even a bit more than regular vlandos men(not by much, but a noticeable amount). I wonder if it¡¯s just lucky genes or the power of being a vlandos and being able to afford beauty products. I wonder if he dyed his hair or... belongs in those star families, I ask Natasha, ¡°You know him?¡± Her closed fist relaxes. ¡°No.¡± That¡¯s so weird. This is the same woman who doesn¡¯t even get angry at Caren when he is in a bullshit phase. I ask, ¡°You sure? It definitely seem like you know him.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure.¡± On his finger is an emerald ring. Hm¡­ That guy is most definitely rich, perhaps nobility? Or a big job. I should probably avoid him since even Natasha doesn¡¯t like him. But, if I can make friends or acquaintances with someone who has influence or lots of wealth, that will be beneficial. Because of me making a connection with Jim and Jer-kel, I got Lo to help me in a time of need. I don''t know when this will pay off, or if it will even work, but making friends in high places will be beneficial. I walk up to him, ¡°Hello.¡± Chapter 16: Networking To my surprise, things played out well. I had expected him to be egotistical or overly cautious around strangers, but he was relatively friendly. ¡°And that is¡­ a toy store, got some cool stuff, remote control dolls and so on.¡± He was being friendly because he thought I was a lost kid. ¡°Oh, I don¡¯t really like dolls.¡± ¡°Oh. Why?¡± ¡°I prefer fake swords, for play sword fighting.¡± I didn¡¯t know much about him¡ªbarely knew his interests. But he was probably around fifteen years old, so there was a high chance he liked action, swords. Was that a stereotype? Yeah. But I didn¡¯t care. There was a damn high chance it was accurate. ¡°But why? Doesn¡¯t that hurt?¡± ¡°What¡¯s a little scratch or two? You scared of swords?¡± ¡°Fake ones? I¡¯m not scared, I just don¡¯t like sword play.¡± ¡°You messed with real ones?¡± ¡°Yeah¡­?¡± ¡°You plan to become an adventurer?¡± He stopped walking and asked, ¡°Where are you from? It¡¯s nowhere close.¡± ¡°What made you assume that?¡± ¡°You said something weird, and you talk like you¡¯re stringing all your words together. I have to think for three seconds to understand what you¡¯re saying.¡± And you talk like a fucking old man with dementia, taking forever to say a single word. For a second, I considered backing out, but if I was right about him having influence, most people would back down to show respect. So I needed to stand out. ¡°I¡¯m from a far village, that¡¯s why I talk fast, like I¡¯m not here to bore someone by taking ten minutes to finish a sentence.¡± His eyebrows furrowed, went back to normal, and then furrowed again. ¡°You¡¯re talking about me?¡± ¡°Yeah, but not in a rude way. Just being honest, choosing what¡¯s best.¡± ¡°Oh¡­ You think your accent is better?¡± ¡°By a lot.¡± He smiled. ¡°You are something else. Who put that idea in your head?¡± ¡°You think the way you Sundawn guys talk is better?¡± ¡°I mean, it¡¯s not a matter of better or worse¡ª¡± ¡°Be honest, dude.¡± ¡°Obviously. Anyone with half a brain would think so.¡± ¡°You¡¯re nicer than I thought. I thought you¡¯d say it¡¯s cavemen talk, or like a child¡¯s gibberish.¡± He chuckled. ¡°I held my tongue back. How old are you?¡± ¡°Twelve.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± ¡°What? You¡¯re acting like I said I was a zombie.¡±Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. ¡°My reaction wasn¡¯t anything like that.¡± ¡°Close enough.¡± ¡°Younger than I thought, that¡¯s all. You sure your mom is okay with you just walking around?¡± ¡°You going to kidnap me?¡± ¡°How much would you even sell for? Four bronzes?¡± ¡°That¡¯s three more than you would go for.¡± ¡°My ass.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t that illegal?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°You said ¡®your ass.¡¯¡± It took him a couple of seconds to realize my implication. He chuckled like he was embarrassed. ¡°Oh¡­ You got some jokes.¡± ¡°I¡¯m talented.¡± ¡°You should monetize it.¡± ¡°Definitely. Get rich that way.¡± ¡°Rich¡­ I don¡¯t think you¡¯re that funny.¡± ¡°How would you know? I¡¯ve only made a joke or two with you.¡± ¡°Because there aren¡¯t many rich comedians.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll just be one of the few.¡± He smiled. ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± ¡°Vernisha Holinstone. You?¡± ¡°Ferzan Starworth. How long do you plan to stay here for?¡± Starworth. Big, big shots. ¡°Until my family recovers. Medical reasons.¡± ¡°Oh. Cancer?¡± ¡°Christ, why¡¯d you jump to that?¡± ¡°No idea.¡± ¡°It¡¯s probably worse. Just something shitty they ate.¡± ¡°Oh. How¡¯s that worse than cancer?¡± ¡°Hm¡­ It¡¯s complicated. But hopefully things will get better.¡± POV: Lo¡¯jul I entered the adventurer''s guild, climbed the stairs, filed my report on what had occurred that day, and once finished, changed into a simple outfit and left. Now¡­ Lu¡¯mat. I didn¡¯t bother checking the restaurant I had planned for our dinner; there was no way she would still be there. But... I did check. Outside, sitting on a bench near the flowers, was her. She was playing some dice game on her tablet, her face showing she was bored out of her mind. I sat next to her. She didn¡¯t turn to me or say anything. I said, ¡°Sorry.¡± ¡°How was the quest?¡± she asked, still flicking her finger lazily across the screen. ¡°Lots of¡­ um, deaths. Most of the village got wiped out.¡± That caught her attention. She stopped flicking her finger against the screen, turned it off, and looked at me. ¡°You¡­ how are you feeling?¡± ¡°Disappointed. It¡¯s one thing if it¡¯s a lot of death, but, Lu, there are only seventeen survivors.¡± ¡°Damn¡­ Sorry to hear that. I¡¯m sure you did your best.¡± ¡°Yeah. But seriously, sorry for not being able to make it. I really wanted to. And then I didn¡¯t have my communicator on me.¡± ¡°I understand. You were out here fighting monsters, doing your mission.¡± ¡°Yeah, but I would¡¯ve rather been here, smiling with you.¡± ¡°You¡¯re here now.¡± ¡°I¡¯m complaining, not smiling.¡± She stood up. ¡°Let¡¯s change that.¡± I stood up too, towering over her. ¡°What do you want to do?¡± ¡°Read my mind.¡± ¡°I wish I could.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s make this night great. That¡¯s what I¡¯m thinking.¡± ¡°You mean¡­ like.¡± ¡°No, I mean something that goes on for long.¡± I looked up at the stars. ¡°Want to¡­ walk home?¡± ¡°You want to kill my legs? I¡¯m fit, but not that fit.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s just try it. We used to always do it. Walking in the darkness, under the moonlight, talking and talking.¡± She smiled at me, but there was a proud look in her eyes. Like any doubt she had in me was gone. ¡°Sure, I¡¯d love that. And carry me if my legs give out.¡± And so we walked along the sidewalk home. We, of course, passed by an ice cream mini-store. ¡°Haven¡¯t seen a damn Pink-terra flavor in a while,¡± she mentioned. ¡°Thought they stopped making it,¡± I said. ¡°I want to taste it.¡± ¡°You hate it.¡± ¡°I probably like it now.¡± ¡°I doubt it.¡± We went inside, and I got a Pink-terra ice cream in a cone. She took chocolate. Even the server had to remind her twice that it was chocolate and she was a punchio. As we walked, I asked, ¡°Feeling suicidal today?¡± ¡°Yeah, why not? ¡®Death tastes like tits covered in honey.¡¯¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you forget anything?¡± I had said that a couple of times when I was hospitalized from a monster battle. Sounded cool and edgy in my mind as a young adult. What? I have brain damage, broken ribs, and half of my leg is gone? Pft. Should¡¯ve seen me when my girl tried to put her finger up my ass. ¡°No.¡± ¡°On a serious note, you¡¯re really gonna eat it?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll just vomit it when I¡¯m done. It just tastes too good.¡± ¡°No food is worth playing with your life for.¡± ¡°You¡¯re just a pussy.¡± ¡°No food except that.¡± She laughed. It was an ugly laugh, but I found it charming. I always did. An hour passed. For half of that time, we talked, laughed, and so on. The other half was just silence, walking side by side. Of course, she vomited the ice cream and took some pills. We reached our home, small but perfect for us. She opened the door with the key, and we entered. I reached for the lights, but she took my hand. ¡°Let¡¯s keep it off,¡± she said. ¡°Oh. Here?¡± ¡°Why not?¡± She pulled me onto her, and I felt her breast against my chest as we kissed. We slowly backed up, our memory of the couch in our minds. My shirt came off, and so did hers. I felt the couch and we got onto it. Then she stopped kissing me, but I felt her breath on my face. ¡°I fucking love you.¡± ¡°I love you too,¡± I said, kissing her again. My hands slid up her back until I reached her bra, unpinned it, and heard the small sound of it hitting the ground. Oh. ¡°Wait, wait,¡± I said. ¡°I kinda need geio for this kid who was feasting on monster flesh.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll worry about that afterward.¡± Her hands caressed my stomach, slowly making their way down. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m sure she can wait.¡± I became one with her, like salt and water, dissolving until it was only water. Chapter 17: Uncurable It turned out that in the short time I spent building a friendship with Ferzan, the doctor finally opened his door, allowing us to step inside. The office wasn¡¯t at all what I expected. I had assumed it would resemble a doctor¡¯s office back on Earth. Instead, there was a narrow corridor leading to a door, behind which a person waited. Now, we were in the doctor¡¯s room, sitting on a bench as he asked us questions. ¡°And the bread you found was from a table outside the Balash temple?¡± he asked, sitting on his red chair, tablet in hand, writing on the screen. To spare the boring details, I explained everything about the bread and the situation surrounding it. He asked if I had eaten the bread. I lied and said no. I didn¡¯t want him poking around my biology, trying to figure out why I wasn¡¯t ¡°affected.¡± Huh. Now that I think about it, it¡¯s strange that I wasn¡¯t affected. I had stomach pains, but once I applied my healing aura, it stopped almost immediately. That doesn¡¯t make sense. I had gotten Perstu before¡ªa disease spread by sharkcrow feces. My body healed each time, but the condition worsened quickly until my immune system could kill off the disease. So, it¡¯s odd that my healing aura negated the mutation effect of the bread. Maybe it was the reaction caused by the ether in the healing aura or the properties of the bread itself. Or maybe I just didn¡¯t get one of the bad batches. Once the questioning ended, the doctor flicked his finger, summoning a monster¡ªa giant brain the size of a rhino, with a single red ¡°eye¡± in the center, likely non-functional due to its placement. He said it was to analyze our bodies. The doctor sat there, taking notes every few minutes. Sometimes, he would go a full ten minutes without writing anything down. It took me a moment to realize what was going on. Shared senses. He was seeing or sensing whatever the monster perceived from us. He placed the tablet on the table, his face grim. ¡°All of their cells are corrupted. The mutation is slow in their bodies, but not in their brains. I¡¯ll do my best to maintain some sense of their former selves.¡± ¡°So, they can¡¯t be fixed?¡± I asked. ¡°They will never be the same,¡± he replied. My gut felt empty, like a sudden black hole had opened inside me, and a chill ran down my spine. I crossed my fingers and asked, ¡°But he¡¯ll survive? The child?¡± He raised an eyebrow, his confusion apparent. ¡°Yes... your brother will survive.¡± Natasha, who hadn¡¯t shown any emotion, asked, ¡°And how much will that cost?¡± ¡°To stop the mutation for twenty-four hours? Two silvers. I¡¯m offering a fifty percent discount.¡± We didn¡¯t have enough for that. Outside, Natasha and I stood in silence. I asked her, ¡°How is it going to be paid?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± Don¡¯t worry about it? Then she asked, ¡°How would you feel if they died?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Never mind. Ignore the question.¡±If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°No. You can¡¯t just ask that out of nowhere and say never mind. What do you mean by that? Why would you even ask that?¡± ¡°It¡¯s nothing.¡± ¡°Oh for... Is the idea to just give up? That Punchio guy said he would help us. Sure, it¡¯s embarrassing as hell to ask strangers for money, but he offered.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to be in debt¡ª¡± ¡°We can worry about that later.¡± ¡°Child... you¡¯re getting too close to them.¡± ¡°What? What do you mean by that?¡± She gestured to my left hand. ¡°You know what I mean. I want you to not hate them, but I don¡¯t want you getting too friendly with them.¡± ¡°You were okay with me interacting with Jer-kel and the others?¡± ¡°Is your memory short? You know why I agreed to that. The fact that you did it got us a lot of help.¡± I stared at her. ¡°I¡¯m careful. Always.¡± ¡°No, you¡¯re not always.¡± ¡°Forget that. What did you mean by your question? You went from wanting to save them, especially Caren, to now¡ª¡± I threw my hands up in defeat. ¡°That sucks. Too bad?¡± ¡°Of course not. I just wanted to know... how you would feel. That¡¯s all. Asking it now was bad timing on my part. Sorry.¡± ¡°Well, how do you think I¡¯d feel?¡± ¡°Very hurt.¡± I took a few steps back while facing her. ¡°Yeah. So I¡¯m going to get in contact with Lu¡¯jul. You¡¯re welcome.¡± Natasha turned away and walked back into the office. What the hell is going on in that woman¡¯s head? Whatever. Now to contact Lu¡¯jul... But there¡¯s the issue of me not having a manual on all the system features. ''Contact Lu¡¯jul.'' I wasn¡¯t sure how I would be alerted that it worked. ''Can you hear me?'' One second. Two seconds. Three¡­ Lu¡¯jul is not awake Oh. You¡¯ve got to be kidding me... I tried again, but the response was the same. I waited five minutes, then tried again, repeating this for the next hour. The result never changed. Fucking hell, Lu¡¯jul, did you drink yourself to sleep after everything that happened today? My fist tightened, and my toes curled and uncured with tension. I was so angry, I cussed under my breath, my mouth clenched shut. Something my father used to do¡­ I must¡¯ve inherited it. Tch. If Lu¡¯jul isn¡¯t available, I guess I¡¯ll have to use other options. I just met Ferzan, so I don¡¯t want to ask him for money. But if my first choice doesn¡¯t work out, well, I¡¯ll have to swallow my pride and ask someone I barely know for help. I ran my fingers through my brown hair and exhaled sharply. Bahmos. He was on a call earlier, talking about a Vlandos quitting. Hopefully, he hadn''t found a replacement yet. But that means I need to reveal my identity¡ªand worse, my seal. He¡¯ll definitely want proof, and my seal¡¯s not the usual white ¡®M¡¯. Mine¡¯s a black spider. I thought through the challenges: Finding Bahmos. Proving myself, without exposing the black spider. Hmm¡­ Maybe I don¡¯t have to show the seal. There are other ways to prove I¡¯m a Vlandos¡ªsuperhuman. I began moving, looking for him, but I had no idea where he might be. The city was so vast, covering all the ground would be impossible in a day or two. I asked random people if they¡¯d seen him, describing his appearance. Every time, I got a no. Where would someone like him go? I wondered. I¡¯d guess shady business, but with the deaths of those three, he¡¯s probably shaken up. He might not head straight for his usual goal. So, where would someone go if they were stressed about the deaths of those close to them? To family, maybe? Or to a house of relief. But being in a city meant there were a lot of houses of relief. Fuck. I ended up just walking around, scanning every man¡¯s face, asking if they had seen him. Eventually, I stumbled upon a house of relief¡ªa long, yellow building with double doors wide open for anyone to walk in or out. And there, standing in front of it, was Bahmos. He was lost in thought, like he was waiting for a long-lost daughter to suddenly appear. I walked up beside him and said, ¡°You¡¯re not going in?¡± Inside, it looked like a church with benches, but that didn¡¯t seem to matter to him. He looked at me, unbothered. ¡°What are you doing here?¡± ¡°Something important. I want to discuss it with you in private.¡± ¡°You lost?¡± ¡°No. It¡¯s about your job. You need a Vlandos. I know one.¡± ¡°Who told you that?¡± ¡°I heard you on the phone.¡± ¡°When?¡± ¡°When we were traveling on your lizard.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± He barely reacted. ¡°Don¡¯t you need a Vlandos?¡± ¡°What¡¯s that got to do with you? Why do you care?¡± ¡°You helped my family a lot. If it weren¡¯t for you, my brother and father would be dead.¡± I worked hard to sound emotional but not too much. Too much would be suspicious. ¡°That¡¯s something else.¡± I wanted to pressure him into moving faster, but that would be insensitive. I didn¡¯t care about him, but I was the one asking for something. He didn¡¯t know that yet. I said nothing and just stood there, my impatience eating away at me, though I kept a calm exterior. People came and went. Bahmos broke the silence and randomly asked, ¡°How are you holding up?¡± ¡°Um¡­ Okay, mostly.¡± ¡°You¡¯re tough. Tougher than me.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure my family will survive, so I¡¯m not too worried.¡± Obviously, that¡¯s a lie. ¡°I was thinking about what you saw back at that village.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± ¡°When I first saw something like that, I couldn¡¯t sleep by myself for days. Didn¡¯t leave my brother¡¯s side until he forced me to come here.¡± ¡°Why didn¡¯t you just get your memory wiped?¡± ¡°Bad experiences desensitize you to future bad ones.¡± ¡°And someone like you needs to be very desensitized.¡± ¡°Got that right.¡± ¡°So, are you going to go inside or not?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think I have time. This Vlandos¡ªtake me to them.¡±
¡°¡­ Is this some joke?¡± Bahmos asked me. We were behind a cheap restaurant. I had told him I was the Vlandos, and as you can imagine, he didn¡¯t take it well, thinking I was joking. He shook his head, angry, then turned to walk away. I grabbed his hand. ¡°I¡¯m not lying.¡± He tried to jerk his hand away, but it didn¡¯t budge. He was confused and tried again. ¡°What the hell¡­¡± he muttered. I asked, ¡°Do you still think I¡¯m just a regular child?¡± Chapter 18: Level Requirement Bahmos just stared at me, disbelief written across his face. He asked, ¡°Is that some trick?¡± Let¡¯s see how much stronger I am after those level-ups. I grabbed him and pulled him toward me swiftly, then tossed him into the air. His body felt like a heavy backpack as I lifted him. He didn¡¯t go very high¡ªmaybe two meters at best¡ªbut I was still surprised when he didn¡¯t scream. His fear was palpable, though. As I caught him, I buckled under the weight slightly. ¡°Put me down!¡± he demanded. I did, and he nearly dropped onto his backside, but he used his hands to steady himself, scrambling to regain his footing. His chest heaved as he gasped for air, and he swallowed hard. ¡°Since when have you been one of them?¡± ¡°A week ago,¡± I lied. ¡°Oh. That doesn¡¯t sound too bad¡­¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I wouldn¡¯t have killed you in your sleep.¡± ¡°I find that hard to believe, but thanks.¡± ¡°I thought you weren¡¯t afraid of vlandos, since you hire them.¡± ¡°If a vlandos hates me, of course I¡¯m going to be afraid.¡± ¡°What do you need the money for?¡± he asked ¡°You already know, or at least have guessed.¡± ¡°I can borrow from your mother¡ª¡± ¡°No.¡± He stared at me for a few moments, then replied, ¡°Too much debt is always a bad thing. Anyway, do you even have a monster?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Your level?¡± ¡°Currently, 10.¡± I was lying, of course¡ªdivided by two. ¡°No way. I felt the strength you used to throw me. You¡¯re maybe level four or six. But there¡¯s no way you¡¯re level ten.¡± ¡°How would you know?¡± ¡°I have a lot of experience with vlandos. Don¡¯t bother lying, but... if you actually are level 10, I¡¯ll hire you.¡± ¡°But I have a monster.¡± ¡°So do the people I do business with. Most likely stronger ones.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t have time for it. I¡¯m strong enough.¡± ¡°Level 10 or nothing.¡± ¡°Where... would I meet you once I¡¯m done?¡± ¡°Back at that house of relief, most likely.¡± I had to fight monsters. I wanted to avoid them as much as possible. I felt my back, tracing the wounds where it had been torn apart. My fingers trembled, and I bit down on my lip to stop myself from remembering how close I had come to dying. I walked away and approached a random person, asking, ¡°Where¡¯s the nearest monster zone?¡± The old woman, leaning on her cane, turned toward me with mild surprise. ¡°Oh dear child, why do you want to know? Shouldn''t you be with your parents?¡± ¡°I just want to know for a geography map assignment I was given by my teacher. I¡¯m supposed to go around asking people questions and build a map of Terrafall based on the information I get.¡± ¡°Oh... Hm. Then maybe the Great Monster Forest. It¡¯s...¡± She pointed ahead. ¡°A couple miles into the Bellot Forest.¡± Asking random people didn¡¯t seem like the best option anymore. I needed the precise details, so I could find the place with 99% accuracy instead of risking getting lost. I walked away. Maybe I should just hunt animals to level up. But monsters would obviously give me more experience. To reach level 10, I¡¯d need to take on powerful beasts in large quantities. I guessed monsters far outclassed animals, and the last monster I killed had only given me two level-ups. Animals like wild lizards would probably give me a tenth of a level at my current strength. Not bad, but not good enough. A few adventurers passed by, walking up and down the street. I could ask them about the monster zone and see if they¡¯d be willing to team up.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! Except, it was illegal to enter monster zones without working for a defense government agency¡ªKnights, Vanquishers, or Adventurers. Out of the corner of my eye, something caught my attention. A child, much taller than me, but still with a child¡¯s face, was armored and walking alongside a much bigger adventurer. So adventurers don¡¯t need to be adults? That shouldn¡¯t surprise me. Whatever, it didn¡¯t change anything for me. Who can I get to help me out? I tried calling Ju¡¯lus through the system, but got the same response. The bastard was asleep. Who else could I rely on? Oh... Ferzan. I had no idea where he was, but someone like him probably lived on an estate. Hopefully, he hadn¡¯t left the city yet. I took a deep breath and made my way toward a likely place. I just had to hope it would be soon¡ªnot next week. And, of course, I had to hope he had a white-knighting bone in his body.
POV: Ferzan I stared into nothing, waiting for the girl to pick her earrings. I shouldn¡¯t be here, but here I was. It¡¯s not like I even knew her. She was just persistent about me taking her out on a date. I didn¡¯t want to be an asshole, so I went along with it. But now it felt like this was happening every damn moment I was in this city, and it was annoying. One of the workers at this jewelry shop had been staring at me anxiously for a while now. I turned and waved at him. ¡°How¡¯s your day?¡± ¡°G-good. And you? See anything you like for yourself?¡± He wasn¡¯t the only one looking at me like I was royalty¡ªbasically, the entire shop was. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if the shop owner was on his way over. ¡°I think this one¡¯s perfect,¡± the lady said, holding up gold earrings shaped like two small swords, forming a ¡®t¡¯. ¡°Looks nice on you,¡± I said before walking out, practically escaping. I came to this city to get some caffeine since the stock at home was gone. I was honestly shocked when I checked the cabinets and the warehouse, which contained enough supplies to sustain us for years. My sister was always experimenting and studying, so she was probably the one responsible for this. ¡°Hey, Young Star!¡± A random construction worker waved at me. As his crew turned to face me, they all smiled and waved. ¡°How¡¯s your day?¡± one of them asked. It wasn¡¯t unusual for them to try and get me to meet their daughters, no matter their age. Even those with only sons tried the same. ¡°Young God, can I take a picture with you for my daughter?¡± I quickly muttered that I was busy and speed-walked away. I used to hide my identity, but my grandmother absolutely hated it. I still remembered that one dinner in Yellowbrim Country, the land of the Starlights. When she found out that every time I left my dad¡¯s estate, I dyed my hair and wore a mask, she looked at me as though I had killed my sister in cold blood. My grandmother, a beautiful blonde woman who looked no older than thirty, sat at the end of the long black table. A plate of green ice cream, so cold it chilled the air around it, sat in front of her. She set down her spoon, which was filled with ice cream, and said firmly: ¡°You will not hide from others. You will allow yourself to be seen, heard, loved, desired, and hated by all.¡± If it had been anyone else telling me such an absurd thing, I would¡¯ve scoffed. (Except for my grandfather, parents, and trainer.) I had already gotten what I wanted, so all I needed now was to hit my level-up quota for the day. I started running, hoping to avoid anyone trying to stop me for greetings. When I reached the gates, to my surprise, the brown-haired little girl was standing there, seemingly waiting for someone. Or maybe for me. She went from calmly looking around to locking eyes with me, sighing in relief. Is she lost? I walked up to her. ¡°Waiting for someone?¡± ¡°Yeah, you.¡± ... Eh? ¡°Oh, why¡¯s that?¡± ¡°Can we talk in private?¡± I placed a hand on her shoulder and spoke with sympathy. ¡°Did your parents tell you to do this? Or someone who''s taking care of you?¡± She looked confused, almost offended. ¡°My mother doesn¡¯t believe in child marriage, and I¡¯m not being trafficked.¡± ...Oh. I pulled my hand back and assessed her. ¡°So... what do you want?¡± ¡°Private¡ª Oh wait. I know something. I want to tell you something, but I need you to guarantee you won¡¯t tell anyone.¡± ¡°Yeah, sure.¡± She balled her hand into a fist, her voice strong. ¡°Because if you do tell anyone, me and my family will be skinned alive, tortured, then killed.¡± What the hell? I quickly scanned the area. ¡°Are they watching right now?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure.¡± I wanted to just finish my quota, but things had changed. To make matters worse, she was coming to me with this, despite not seeming to know who I was. She probably recognized me because of my hair and eye color. I was from Starlight and the Starworth family, after all. ¡°Okay, maybe you can just whisper it to me.¡± She met my eyes, and then a sudden, alien thought popped into my mind. Vernisha Holinestone is trying to connect to you. Oh. ¡°You are short for a¡ª¡± ¡°Don¡¯t say that.¡± Vlandos? So that¡¯s what she was trying to keep secret. I accepted the connection. ''You are short for a vlandos.'' I sent telepathically. ¡®Damn me for not getting the giant genes.¡¯ ''Giant genes...? You haven¡¯t tried modifying your growth rates?'' ¡®No? Am I supposed to?¡¯ ¡°Basically, yeah. Haha. Ever seen a regular height vlandos?¡± ¡®I didn¡¯t know there were regular-sized ones. Wait, why would anyone get bigger if it would just out them as a vlandos? That doesn¡¯t make sense. Are you messing with me?¡¯ I couldn¡¯t help but smile. ''Somewhat. It¡¯s complicated. But let¡¯s focus on the important stuff. Did you only want to tell me you¡¯re a vlandos?'' ¡¯It¡¯s related to it. Basically, I want to level up so I can protect myself.¡¯ ¡®That could be troublesome. Killing animals and leaving their carcasses is very illegal.¡¯ ¡¯Killing monsters should be fine then.¡¯ ¡®Are you an adventurer?¡¯ ¡®I mean this respectfully, and not sarcastically at all: what do you think?¡¯ ¡®No. That¡¯s why you came to me?¡¯ ¡®Yes.¡¯ This was getting stressful. I looked at her hard, my thoughts a tangled mess. ¡®What about those who threaten you? I could just kill them. That would be easier.¡¯ She looked surprised as if struck by something unexpected. Was it because I was willing to put myself at risk? I elaborated. ¡®I¡¯m strong, very strong, so I wouldn¡¯t be at risk.¡¯ ¡®Oh. I¡­ just want to learn to protect myself. I don¡¯t want to grow up relying on others.¡¯ ¡®But this is different. Your family¡¯s life is at risk.¡¯ ¡®You¡¯re right, but what happens when you kill them, and their families and friends come after you¡ªor me¡ªfor revenge, thinking I did something to provoke it?¡¯ She had a point. I clicked my tongue. ¡°You must follow my rules, though.¡± ¡®Telepathy, please. I don¡¯t want you to say something wrong. But, thank you! And yes, I will do my best to not get you in trouble for your generosity.¡¯ ¡®Of course.¡¯