《The Journeys we Shared; Their Memories Too》 A Quiet Morning Chapter 1 A Quiet Morning ¡°Keep replacing the cloth outside and continue to make pressure, Rigel. I¡¯m almost done here...¡± ¡°Y-yes, sir. Gnh¡­ it¡¯s soaked already...¡± ¡°Just replace the top one with a clean one; I¡¯ll be there when I close this.¡± As dawn shone its light on a clinic located within a small village, a man carefully passed a needle through his patient¡¯s flesh, connecting each side of the damaged tissue and closing the wound. Countless stitches were placed across the myriads of wounds that plagued the girl¡¯s body. Given the dizzying number of wounds, he was on a countdown before she bled out. To combat it, he found it best to have Rigel, the boy next to him, maintain pressure in as many places as he could while he cleaned and closed every wound he came across like a possessed man. ¡°Marco, it stopped bleeding on the head, what do I do now?¡± ¡°Go to the lower body; repeat the same process of cleaning, pressure, and absorbing blood and replacing the towels and cloth that are drenched except for the one you use to pressure the wound. I¡¯m done here, I¡¯ll be moving to the next ones.¡± ¡°Understood!¡± ... The man sat down at the corner of the room. His back leaned against the wall as he breathed a sigh of relief. His gray clothes which are more commonly seen worn by men in the east were now repainted with patches of deep crimson thanks to the entire procedure. The emergency had taken hours to solve on its own, hours when every action counted if he were to succeed or fail. But succeed he did, as evidence that the girl in front of him still drew breath. All he had to do next was to maintain an eye on her to make sure she remained stable¡ªEven while his body screamed for a moment of rest. Rigel promptly appeared with a soft smile, ¡°I brought some water.¡± ¡°Ah, thank you. Also, thanks for helping out. Maybe you should consider being a nurse.¡± The boy with messy hair and amethyst eyes gave an incredulous look to the middle age man, hoping that he was joking. He looked at his clothes, a simple dark blue jacket made of a soft cloth and a purple shirt underneath¡­ both stained in blood from the emergency that took place. The look of his clothes made the comment even less appealing than it already was a second ago. Just the look of it made his stomach twist and churn, never mind the times he was close to vomiting when he was pressuring the girl¡¯s wounds to stop the bleeding all over her body, staring directly at the open cuts made by the edge of a blade made up his mind fairly quickly. There he gained a newfound respect for those who practiced medicine for being able to have the stomach to endure such an intense environment. ¡°I don¡¯t think I ever want to do this again.¡± ¡°You are still young! Think about it!¡± ¡°I¡¯m good.¡± The lighthearted chatter cracked a smile on both of them. As they relaxed, their eyes are redirected to the reason for their early hurry. ¡°¡­ Will she be alright?¡± Rigel asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know. Right now, she is stable, but that¡¯s about it. I need to keep an eye on her should anything happen.¡± In front of the two, a girl covered in stitches and bandages soundly slept on top of the blood-stained bed. The dizzying number of injuries sustained by her body would make any physician sweat cold. A level of damage accumulated that made it not wrong to question whether or not survival was possible for someone in such a condition. A gruesome state of affairs that gave the most terrible of public torture methods a run for their money. From the head to some parts of the face, the shoulders and the back, the arms and the torso, the abdomen, the hips, the thighs, as well as the rest of the legs. The damage was tremendous, only beaten by carriage accidents off a cliff, which made her case all the more worrying. The fact that the girl still breathed was a testament to the fortunate timing of a physician like Marco and the girl¡¯s strength to cling to life... and even then it was a close call. ¡°Well, so long as it turns out alright...¡± The boy stretched his arms wide, ¡°Aaah... I¡¯m exhausted.¡± ¡°You should go home now. I¡¯ll take over from here.¡± ¡°What about you? You seem tired too. I could keep watch for a little bit.¡± Marco stood up from his seat, he appreciated the boy¡¯s diligence, but he was not keen on asking any more of him, ¡°That¡¯s nice of you, but I know your mother, and she must be incredibly worried that you didn¡¯t come home -Ngh...!¡± At that moment, a burst of pain came from the left side of his abdomen. It made his body bend over as he clenched his teeth in an attempt to suppress the sharp pain assaulting him. While technically only a bruise, it hurts just enough to require a moment to catch his breath back. Rigel rushed to his side, moving carefully enough to not make too much noise for the girl sleeping right next to them, ¡°See? You need to rest from all that.¡± Marco gritted his teeth, ¡°I can... Take it- Mnh!¡± ¡°Sit down already. Gee, just how hard did she hit you?¡± ¡°Definitely high up the list in my experience... Ahahaha-Argh!¡± With the boy¡¯s help, Marco sat down again as he caressed the bruise with extreme care. He opened his clothes to inspect the area to reveal a semicircular, dark purplish bruise that served as the pain¡¯s origin point. Caused by the girl, it felt like the blunt force of being hit with a mace directly on his ribs. While he was certain it would heal over time with standard treatment... that didn¡¯t mean it didn¡¯t hurt like hell. The strange strength of the girl was very apparent to him, indeed. ¡°I hope she isn¡¯t as agitated when she wakes up¡­¡± He thought.Several hours ago, in the middle of the night, Marco and Rigel walked back to their homes after a long birthday party with friends of Marco and Rigel¡¯s Mother, Maya. She had been brought early home for not feeling well. Marco on the other hand decided to stay to help with the clean-up; no particular reason was given, and he was happy to lend a hand to his friends. Rigel accompanied him in order to retrieve a book he had left behind. ¡°Tell your mother to come visit me tomorrow, with all that she ate, she will surely need some medicine for that.¡± The boy shrugged, ¡°I¡¯ll make sure to tell her.¡± Marco wryly smiled, ¡°Thanks, I know she can be a lot.¡± Rigel sighed at the thought, but did not elaborate, choosing instead to focus on his book, ¡°It¡¯s not that bad. As long as I have anything to distract me from mom¡¯s weird ways, I¡¯m okay.¡± ¡°I take it that book is what does it, what is it about?¡± The boy¡¯s eyes lightened up at the question. Excitedly, he explained: ¡°A book about explorers I finished reading yesterday. It¡¯s really good, the main character is a total gentleman that uncovered hidden temples of lost civilizations and...¡± Rigel happily ranted about the book, talking about the adventures of daring explorers and their findings in lands that were thought just myth, ancient curses and mystic powers, tales of defiance, and camaraderie. Even Marco can¡¯t help but find a tiny bit of interest in this work of fiction. Maybe he should borrow it later. As they kept walking, however, they noticed Rigel¡¯s voice was not the only thing that could be heard on the lonely street. ¡°AAAGH!¡± A strong scream violently erupted in the near distance, coming from the local bar. From one of its windows, they saw how it completely burst open, alongside two bodies that flew out of it. ¡°Huh?!¡± Marco¡¯s eyes widened as he looked around. ¡°W-what¡¯s that?¡± The boy anxiously asked. The first one was an adult man of tall build and well-fit, yet his body torn and dyed red. What remained of his leather clothes were reduced to mere rags. His hand gripped tightly the sheath of a sword but the sword nowhere near in sight. Marco immediately recognized him as a bandit, and not any bandit. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°Aaugh...!!¡± Covered in bruises and cuts formed by blunt attacks and broken glass, his face was malformed from brutal onslaught, body plagued with black and red wounds, bruises that seemed caused by war-hammers, eyes bloodshot from hemorrhage, a broken nose beyond repair, and what remained of his teeth all broken and bloody. The man was undoubtedly at death¡¯s door. The second person stood hunched over while covered in blood and wounds in equal measure as the bandit. It was a slender, feminine figure with long, dark hair. Her breath was ragged like a beast, or perhaps a demon. Her entire presence was that of the devil itself, standing in front of them. The bandit was so disgustingly beaten it made Marco¡¯s trained eye want to look away. However, there was something that he noticed when the man landed. The bandit had an unmistakable collar made out of carved wood in the shape of a fang. It all but confirmed his suspicion of where the man belonged to. Marco bit his lip at the sight; it was a member of the Wood Fang bandits, the largest bandit group in the south of the country, having absorbed or destroyed their rivals they bolstered numbers in the hundreds. The trouble that this will cause made his blood ran cold. The Wood Fang was affiliated with this very village for a coercive protection from other bandit groups, as well as themselves, so the death of one of their members within their walls would demand an explanation at best... retribution at worst. Rigel stared at the man, unable to process what was happening. After coming to his senses, he turned his eyes to the figure that caused it in the first place and instantly regretted his decision. ¡°Haaa... Haaa... Haa...¡± A girl, or so it looked like, with injuries that dyed her body red; cuts, bruises, and even some green-colored glass piercing through, all marked the girl¡¯s body with ludicrous amounts of damage. How on earth she was still standing was beyond him. Her dark clothes were torn open to reveal even more rend flesh coated in deep crimson. The head, the chest, the abdomen, the back, the hips, the legs, no part of her body was spared. Long, dark, messy hair and a ferocious expression brought her looks closer to a rabid animal than a human. As if like Hell had broken loose and one of its demons had escaped; she stood there with an exhausted breath that was only matched in noise by the bandit¡¯s groans of pain. ¡°Rigel. Step back.¡± ¡°Huh? Uh... O-okay.¡± Doing as he was told, Rigel slowly stepped back, carefully moving away from where the woman and the bandit were. Marco was glad that the boy would so quickly attend when danger was in front of him, though he didn¡¯t know what exactly he was going to do to stop her and prevent both of them from getting hurt. He was unarmed and given the situation that lay in front of him, he could easily tell that the enemy did not lack the strength to use against her victims. He remained still just a few meters away from her and less than two meters in front of Rigel, ready to block her way with his body if she ever tried to jump on the boy. ¡°Ah... Agh... Nhg...¡± The bandit painfully tried to drag himself away as the woman right next to him is locked on Marco and Rigel just a few meters away. So long as he could escape the clutches of this monster... Following every step that he made, her gaze was locked on the boy like a starved animal looking for a meal. Yet he kept walking, each step was silently, made as if to not wake up a slumbering beast. But the beast was already awake and set on its next target. She made one step forward, not before stomping fiercely into the bandit¡¯s stomach. A hollow scream came out of his ragged throat; blood overflew tremendously from his mouth. It was her way of saying that he won¡¯t be able to pull that stunt of his, he would stay here, waiting for death to be delivered to him. Locked on Rigel, who kept moving, she takes another step forward, her target was decided and- ¡°Gagh!¡± The demon-like girl screeched. Suddenly, a rock collided with her head, big enough to at best leave a tiny bruise. Her entire head turned towards him with a blank, wide-eyed stare that sent a shiver through Marco¡¯s body. Nevertheless, he had gotten her attention. ¡°You look over here...¡± Her expression grew even angrier than before, distorting into a mess that would only make sense if a demon king had possessed her. Launching herself with great speed, she charged at Marco, her wounds opened far more than before, covered in blood like the juice of ripe fruit when it¡¯s crushed. Her flailing arms, which even from a glance look like they are about to fall off, came back to life with the intent to kill. ¡°Rigel! Run!!¡± ¡°Aaah!¡± ¡°I brought the ice and towel that you asked for.¡± Rigel tenderly smiled. ¡°Thanks. Is Maya coming to pick you up?¡± ¡°Not exactly... When I talked to mom about it, she came rushing here, and then said she¡¯ll be making breakfast in your kitchen.¡± Marco sighed, ¡°Never misses an opportunity to bug me...¡± After discussing matters with the boy, Marco convinced Rigel to go rest. He assisted him plenty during the treatment of the raven-haired girl, on top of being in extreme danger under his supervision. He needed to show some responsibility as an adult. Maya was an old friend of his and the moment she caught wind of the event and her friend¡¯s injury, she came immediately to lend a helping hand in any way she could. Despite Marco''s commentary, his heart felt warm as he thanked his lucky stars for being blessed with a friend like her. Rigel took an empty seat and leaned against the wall. The room was large enough to have multiple beds that the girl was using, in other words, it was spacious enough for everyone to comfortably stay without invading any personal space. He came back with a book and immediately submerged himself in it, seemingly forgetting about the rest of the room. Marco took the ice and towel that was brought to him and wrapped up the bruise. The sensation was unpleasant at first, but quickly got somewhat used to it. ¡°That punch was something, alright.¡± He thought. When Marco distracted the girl to come at him, he steeled his body to receive any attack that came at him. His only goal was to get her attention away from the boy so he could escape. Her body was badly beaten, so he figured all it needed to pass out was one more direct blow. It was a gamble on his part but one that he could be sure of, being a physician came with a general understanding of the human body and how much can it take at once. While this principle varied from person to person, at the very least, he could be sure that anyone as badly beaten as her could be at their very limit if they still moved. Seeing the state the bandit was in as he internally bled out, he mentally prepared to receive a blow that would make him grit his teeth. And indeed, that much he received. The girl landed with her bare hands a punch into the lower side of his torso that provided a sudden, intense pain that stiffened his body and slightly loosened his grip on the girl¡¯s own. As if a spear was pushing into his flesh, the pain was far beyond the expectations of a roughed-up girl in such an injured state, biting through the pain he forced himself to hold her into a clean headbutt that made her bend her head backward. The clash shook him for a second, it had been years since he had a fight with someone and on top of that, the girl¡¯s head to him felt as hard as a brick, which would probably be the reason for that stubbornness to not pass out or die. However, the attack worked, as she bent her head backward her brain must have hit its limit and after tensing the muscle in her arms, she passed out. The number of injuries combined with the lack of energy was what allowed that headbutt to work so well, and he was grateful for the luck he had been granted. It was also from looking closer at the unconscious girl that Marco noticed that she was much younger than he initially thought she was. He also noticed upon touching the watery feeling in her eyes and the same sensation of dried-up liquid from her eyes to her cheeks. ¡°Was she crying¡­? Why?¡± The sight had him think a bit differently about the situation, even if for a second: She was fighting a bandit, a criminal. Unless she started it, what would the bandits want to do with a young girl at this hour? What was a young girl doing at an inn with bandits to begin with? ¡°Even then, it¡¯s scary to think she was punching that hard on her condition. I feel a little lucky that she was about to pass out, unlike that bandit...¡± When he ran away from the scene at Marco¡¯s call, Rigel bolted away from the place and unconsciously headed to the inn for the sole reason that it was the nearest place to hide while the girl was focused on Marco. After he had subdued the girl, however, he called for him in a faint voice. ¡°M-Marco...!¡± Rigel cried. There, they both saw a scene proper from a nightmare. Multiple bodies were spread across the floor; most of them belonging to Wood Fang bandits; however, the innkeeper and an unknown man were there too. All killed without a lick of mercy by the same types of attacks: Cuts from broken glass, copious amounts of blunt force trauma, and lots of black spots caused by a relentless beating. This was the job of a beast, or a demon. They all seemed to have been fighting the same rage-driven monster, there is no way they would have gotten into an all-out brawl among themselves, and they must have been fighting something¡ªAnd that something was unconscious outside. There was a man that seemed like an outsider as Marco didn¡¯t recognize him at all, he has lived here for several years of his life he has seen most if not all the adults that live in this village. This man had to be a traveler from Gods-Knows-Where. He, too, seemed like he had some of the same injuries as the rest, but he was the one with the fewest of wounds, almost like the girl didn¡¯t touch him that much, maybe she didn¡¯t have time to go as thoroughly as the other ones, or maybe he was the reason this started, but it mattered very little. He was dead too. Marco quickly figured that a fight that went in the worst way imaginable had broken out here, the girl also looked like an outsider and the bandits, being the lovely contributions to the world that they were, might have tried to do something to them both. The stench of alcohol and the sight of used-up cups for drinking also made him realize that his little hypothesis could at least have some ground to stand on. However, what was important to him was something that dawned the moment he saw all those bandits, the thought crossed him when he saw her up close, but now it was something he was willing to bet on. This situation was awfully familiar. A scenario he was deeply familiar with. It was not the same of course, but the fight, the girl, the outcome; he was all too intimate with the type of event that had transpired. It all came reverberating back as the echoes of the past of both painful and precious memories, and a promise that he made one ordinary afternoon... He had no time to think about it that much, the more he thought about it, the quicker that girl would come to her death. He still had something to do, and he wouldn¡¯t be able to hear the end of it for as long as he lived, this one chance to uphold a promise to his cherished Teacher was something he would not let slip by. Marco muttered to himself as he looked at the girl sleeping soundly, her body was completely covered in bandages but at least she was breathing steadily, she would wake up, and he would be there, just like she was for him. ¡°Finally, I can-¡± ¡°Hey! Marco! Can you come here for a bit? I can¡¯t find where you put the eggs!¡± Suddenly, the voice of an old friend destroyed the silence. Maya, Rigel¡¯s mother, loudly called for him. ¡°Ah? What is she...?¡± Rigel kept reading, ¡°Better go before she keeps screaming and wakes up that girl.¡± ¡°Uh, right, I¡¯ll be back in a bit, keep an eye on her.¡± ¡°Leave it to me.¡± Rigel replied in a monotone way, not taking his eyes away from the book for a second. Marco then hurried to calm his friend before her screams would wake up the only person who needed to rest the most here. ¡°Marco!!¡± ¡°Shut it already, Maya!¡± The moment Marco closed the sliding door behind him; Rigel immediately put his book down and stared at the sleeping girl, curious in a way, like seeing a specimen undiscovered by human eyes until this point. As he saw her body covered in injuries, he had only one question in his mind: ¡°How...?¡± He wondered. How did she manage to survive that? He was no medic of any kind, and certainly, he had no interest in the career. His studies in magic had a more alluring call to the boy. Yet despite that, the sight of it was astonishing to him. It didn¡¯t take an expert to tell that many injuries even if superficial should pose a threat to one¡¯s life, if not kill outright. Anyone normal would have perished at best along the night. What kind of devilish luck there was at play? Four Great Divine Beings watched over life in this world. The Four Cardinal Lords that guided all living beings, they were children of the Great Star God and Void Goddess that filled the infinite sky. Their works and teachings had shaped the very world and protected all from evil... ...If any of them was truly watching over humanity, then they must have been watching only this girl alone when tragedy struck. ¡°Why would the Gods watch over someone who... Did all that...? She killed them all, didn¡¯t she? Even if self-defense... to go that far...¡± The sight of the bodies was now burned into his brain. Granted, most of them weren¡¯t good people, they were horrible bandits that most certainly did regular bandit things. They stole, kidnapped, and killed. However, reminding himself of that wouldn¡¯t shake the feeling of unrest. And yet, despite that... As Marco explained to him what he thought could have happened for things to end up like this, he also felt a little sorry for the girl, if only a little. If Marco¡¯s hypothesis about the bandits starting the fight for any reason was correct, then this girl was, at least in a way, a victim who had gone out of control and now had lost everything. To him, that didn¡¯t take away what she did, not in the slightest, but at least he found some relief in the thought that he could at least see the result of circumstances, rather than unbound maliciousness. He took a closer look and what he saw was indeed a young girl who was older than him for only a few years and nothing else. She had fair skin, and raven hair, as dark as the night. The more he confirmed her more mundane features, a strange sense of melancholy started to form inside of him; it twisted his stomach and made his muscles stiff. ¡°Could she be an adventurer? One so young¡­¡± He thought. Being this young and ending it up like this. Even he could understand that wasn¡¯t something fair for anyone to happen anywhere in the world. To be potentially driven to the point of fighting until you lose sight of everything and even yourself, blinded with rage and blood lust, regardless of how or why it happened, just didn¡¯t feel right for any human to behave, much less to live. He had no way of knowing how much she had before, but he knew she now had nothing left. He couldn¡¯t fully comprehend what happened to her, and part of him felt still scared of that monster fueled by rage that locked into him with the intent of ripping him apart. But more than that; seeing the poor state of her entire body, of her rather beautiful face still visible through the bandage contorted so terribly by pain during the night, and all the damage deep inside that he couldn''t see nor treat. He just¡­ ¡­Felt sorry for her. Conversations Chapter 2 Conversations That very morning, in a room where only the sound fr the pages of a book could be heard, her eyelids slowly opened. They felt heavy, never before had she had this much difficulty opening her eyes. Her entire body felt heavy too, not being able to move a finger as if her body was made of solid rock. What happened? She wasn¡¯t entirely sure of what happened, how she ended up like this, or where she even was. Her memories were completely messed up, the very act of thinking felt like as much of an endeavor as pushing a giant boulder up a hill, only for it to fall to the bottom before reaching the top. It felt surreal, the exhaustion wasn¡¯t like anything else she had ever felt, but at the same time her brain was wide awake and attempting with every part of itself to understand the situation. It more closely resembled being paralyzed than just ''tired''. She wasn¡¯t asleep, that much she could make out, and after agonizingly getting to open her own eyes she caught a glimpse of a wooden room, from her right there was the sound of paper every once in a while. Nothing else could be heard. She could barely distinguish some pieces of furniture like shelves, tables, chairs, and the like. Then finally, she noticed her body covered in bandages from head to her toe. ¡°... What happened?¡± She thought. Her head was foggy, and could barely make out her situation. Was she injured? How? She couldn¡¯t remember anything of what happened, and it hurt to even think about. The last she remembered was arriving at a village with her uncle to spend the night and... No use, nothing was coming into her mind. Her head only felt heavier and heavier the more she tried. What¡¯s more, the sound of paper still rustling to her right had become slightly annoying. At the very least, she would like complete silence to fall asleep again. Moving her neck to the side felt incredibly difficult, just how tired her body was? She couldn¡¯t exactly tell but, maybe, this served as a good example of her how much she needed to rest. Forcing her eyelids to open allowed her to get a glimpse of whoever was reading, maybe if she could muster a few words, it could get it out of the room and enjoy some sweet silence. There, she saw a small boy. He was holding a book with undivided attention, reading page after page while roughly pushing the pages with noticeable speed. His hair was messy, his skin fair, his clothes simple and lacking in any soft of extravagances. He was rather cute boy... With great difficulty, Ellyn opened her mouth to try to muster any sound she could. If she can get herself going, she could at the very least communicate with him what she needs. ¡°... Ah.¡± Her voice was hoarse and strained. Talking was even harder than she thought. Thankfully, the room was silent, so much so that the slightest of sounds wouldn¡¯t go unnoticed, and the boy looked up in her direction at the mere hint of her voice leaking. His dark-amethyst eyes seem full of surprise when they look directly into hers. Despite all the difficulty, she was able to muster the words out of her mouth with all the little strength she had. ¡°You¡¯re... noisy.¡± Those were the first words she ever spoke to him. ¡°Ngh...¡± Two weeks had passed, and Ellyn now was capable of walking, albeit very slowly. It was early in the morning and only the raven-haired girl was awake. While carefully making her way to the entrance, she opened the door and silently got out of the house. She had a better grasp of the situation now, the two people that saved her life and what transpired that night. However, only she and a few others knew about it, and Marco asked her discretion if she happened to be asked about it by someone else. She agreed, though, not exactly knowing the full extent as to why she should, thinking that it was the least she could do as a way of gratitude. Her body was still in a great deal of pain, and Ellyn was told to not move as much during, or it would take longer to recover, but certainly, she can¡¯t start the morning without doing going outside for the sunrise. The grass made a soft tickling sensation on her feet as she walked towards an old bench next to a tree, in front of it: The entire village. Marco¡¯s home was built in a slight elevation, nearing the backside of the remote village she was in, it allowed for a sight of the entirety of it. Having heard about it from Marco and the boy, the village was nearing the size of at least a very small town, she didn¡¯t know why they insisted on calling it a village when it no longer was, but it wasn¡¯t that big of a deal, maybe she could ask later. All that mattered to her was that it was there to see. Towns and villages had their particular type of attraction to her, if she had to put it into words, it¡¯ll be the blending of architecture and the natural landscape into an image of something only capable by human hands; People living day by day while only being bothered by issues that aren''t too complex to handle. Human society flourishing while not trampling over the land and nature not dominating in such a way that it came across as an unforgiving place where people are constantly in the fight for survival¡ªa balance where both can prosper. That was why the place in front of her looked so oddly comforting. It was quiet, very quiet. The village had at four giant mountains far into the distance that looked almost out of place considering everything aorund was grassland and small hills, but she knew nothing of the studies of the land. Still, captivating for sure, they loomed over like guardians that filtered anything that came from the outside. All the while, the lush foliage painted the base of the stone-gray titans into the same as the grass beneath. The houses looked like there wasn¡¯t one exactly like the other, varying in shape and size but rarely going into a two-story house, neatly divided by a humbly made road. It wasn¡¯t exactly wide, but it spoke to how the people who lived here inevitably were on their way towards more complex infrastructure. Ellyn¡¯s gaze, however, remained lost on the houses, and how close together they were, like a group of oddly shaped squares put together on relatively flat terrain, to be only separated by the main road or the smaller walkways meant to lead to more houses deeper inside. The small pond of homes seamlessly blending with the grasslands and sea at the end of it all it looked straight out of a painting. She didn¡¯t know the idea behind having small homes sitting on below larger ones as if the bigger house was an extension, her only guess was that some families could just be large enough that they required more space and so they built their homes like that both necessity and display of wealth¡ªwhatever wealth that could be had for a village in a remote place. Either way, the multiple houses put together as a whole in this infinite green and blue struck her as a mesmerizingly beautiful aesthetic. ¡°Aah¡±, She breathed, ¡°...Haa.¡± The sun had just begun to rise, and the village still remained asleep. No sound could be heard except for the chirp of birds, the fluttering of tree leaves, and the surrounding wind that almost lulled her back to sleep. She had made a habit of this ever since she became capable of walking again, and while she should only move in case of pure necessity like going to the bathroom, washing her body, or changing her bandages; staying inside that room had begun to feel suffocating. So, she sought any way to feel the fresh air on her face. This was the solution she found. The atmosphere brought her a sense of peace, ever since she woke up in his house, there hasn¡¯t been a moment where her mind didn¡¯t feel like a mess. When she started taking those mornings of fresh air she could feel as if the wind blew away all the troubled thoughts in her mind the same way it blew all the fallen leaves, scattering them across endless grassland. ¡°... Uncle.¡± She whispered. Whenever she thought about it, a nasty sensation swelled up in her stomach, pulling her insides with great force, and making her feel like vomiting on the spot. Her wounds covered in bandages and stitches would ache in reaction. An ever present sensation of pain sweeping throughout her entire body¡ªan overwhelming sensation that threatened to get her this time around, as it failed the last time... over and over again. It made her clench her teeth. The raw carnage of that night, the inhuman side that belonged to something more in line with a demon than it did to a person. No, it did belong to a person, many horrible people are well capable of doing just as much if not more, and it was something completely possible within the wide realm of human cruelty. That was exactly what made her so nauseous about it, so terrified. If she really was to think about it, then it was only natural that it¡¯ll come to that. Ellyn took a look at her right hand. That not-so-lady-like hand of hers covered in a bandage. Sure, it still retained the aesthetic of a girl¡¯s hand, the slenderness, softness of the skin; she was a girl after all, and a beautiful one at that. She was told as much by both her uncle and some of the people she encountered while traveling with him. And yet, she saw clearly every callus on it, between the fingers, the knuckles, the unmistakable sensation of arid, hardened skin that had been built on every occasion she drove her fist into someone else. Just thinking about it made her nauseous; her injured body ached once again. Her head became more and more cloudy. ¡°Breath... in... and out... Haa.¡± She tried to suppress her rapidly declining state of mind by taking deep breaths. Taking as much air as possible for a couple of seconds, holding the air for a little bit, and then letting it out in a long exhalation before breathing again, as if forcefully removing the thoughts out of her mind with each cycle completed. Ellyn was taught of it recently after her mind almost crashed completely, just a day after the incident. All those events came rushing violently in an instant, like a twig succumbing to pressure, Ellyn wasn¡¯t capable of withstanding the thought of it. And her screams were heard loudly across and even outside Marco¡¯s home. ¡°AaAAahAahAaaAHH!! NgHG!¡± She wailed from the top of her lungs. ¡°What¡¯s going on?!¡± Marco came rushing in, ¡°Are you alright?!¡± ¡°Aah... U-Uncle... Aaah!!¡± Her voice cracked with an ear splitting screech , ¡°What have I-!¡± Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°Calm down, calm down! Don¡¯t move so much, or you¡¯ll open up your wounds again... Take a moment to breathe, follow my lead, okay?¡± In that usually quiet room, a cracked, high-pitched voice wailed desperately over the horrible realization of her actions. Ellyn continued doing deep breaths for several more minutes, combined with the soothing atmosphere she was surrounded by; she slowly started to feel better. For something as simple as breathing at specific timings, it really did a lot to soothe the mind; maybe it was because she had to concentrate on her breathing to do the exercise properly, so it kept her distracted. It didn¡¯t really matter to her why it was, though. She was happy that it helped her as much as it did. Now, she could go back to enjoying- ¡°Yo! Good morning.¡± Ellyn thought she could go back to enjoy the scenery. ¡°Out here again? You really have no intention of listening to Marco, do you?¡± His voice was a bit groggy, like he hadn¡¯t woken up fully yet. Also, a tinge of disappointment could be felt within his youthful voice. Ellyn didn¡¯t want to look at him; she knew what he would say to her for being outside like this. However, noticing her lack of intent of looking at him directly, the boy moved his body in front of her. He was short, or at least shorter than her by about a head, he was of a thin body and his face gave away how relatively young he was, particularly to Ellyn who could easily guess she was a at least 3 to 4 years older than him. He wore dark blue pants and jacket on top of a dark purple shirt. Long boots to endure long walks, fingerless black gloves and a thick book on his hand. Ellyn was already familiar with the look of that boy as he was the other person that saved her life alongside Marco. Someone with whom she was grateful too, yes¡­ ¡­But still hated the earfuls he gave her. ¡°Rigel...¡± She grumbled, ¡°What are you doing here?¡± ¡°I could ask you the same thing, Ellyn.¡± Rigel had his hands on his hips. After taking a deep breath, he began to scold her in a tone of voice slightly deeper than he was naturally capable of. ¡°Listen you!¡± He explained, pointing a finger at her, ¡°You are still recovering! Your injuries are still fresh, and they will take months to heal! To the point reckless movement puts you at risk of them opening up and bleeding you out!¡± Ellyn avoided eye contact. She had heard him say that same line several times already, so she will give him the same response as usual: ¡°... I need fresh air, Rigel. It helps me calm down.¡± She spoke in a deadpan tone. ¡°Then why do you insist on going out on your own? You know you can ask Marco to help move you outside without as much risk as you go through by wandering off on your own.¡± ¡°It¡¯s just a few meters outside.¡± ¡°And what if you trip, fell, and some of your wounds reopen and start bleeding?¡± At that moment, Ellyn went silent, ¡°... I¡¯ll manage.¡± ¡°What¡¯s with the pause...?¡± Their exchange proceeded as usual, with Ellyn enduring the earful that Rigel gave her for her lack of self-care. In truth, she knew Rigel was correct, she could indeed just ask Marco for help to get outside, he had taken up the role of her caretaker voluntarily after all, with the help of a woman she hadn¡¯t met yet that often came to the house, a woman of who she only knew by a particularly loud voice, and Rigel who often came along with her, they were there to oversee her recovery from the incident. That being said... to her... they were strangers. Kind strangers, yes, strangers that saved her life... but strangers nonetheless. The very idea of asking these strangers for anything unless it was unbearable or of absolute necessity felt alien to Ellyn. As if the idea itself didn¡¯t even enter her mind¡ªand so, her first and most commonly chosen option for something like this was: ¡®I should try to do it myself instead.¡¯ Rigel sighed and dropped his shoulders before speaking. ¡°Look, we don¡¯t mind, okay? If you feel as if you were suffocating in your room, then ask us to take you out until you feel better. Just ask us and we¡¯ll do it.¡± Ellyn looked at him with doubt on her face. Her eyes went from his feet up to his face and locked in his amethyst-colored eyes that looked at her so amicably that she scanned them thouroughly as if she were looking to know what was the catch. She didn''t had her suspicions confirmed. ¡°...I don¡¯t think your delicate body could carry me outside.¡± She said as she gave a quick gaze towards his thin arms that barely had any muscle to them. ¡°That¡¯s it. I¡¯m taking you inside.¡± His eyes, which were filled with the genuine feeling of helping out, instantly switched to animosity. His eyebrow twitched several times, and his attempts to keep his smile in place were clearly falling apart. ¡°...With what muscle, though?¡± She joked with a plain voice. Rigel¡¯s cute and youthful appearance contorted as he moved one step foward, raising his arms and then giving up and dropping his shoulders once again. ¡°You!¡± He clenched his teeth, ¡°I swear to...! Haa... Whatever, recover soon, so I can give you a smack in revenge.¡± ¡°Mnh~¡± She replied partially amused. He really wanted to at least pull her hair once, but he restrained his urges due solely to the fact that he was talking to an injured girl still in recovery. He wouldn¡¯t lay a finger on her during such a state, but he silently decided that she would repay him with interests when she eventually recovered. Ellyn chuckled with a faint smile as she looked at him with a tinge of mischievousness. Rigel, however, remained silent, and his expression became calm and curious, confused even, not so much by her actions but by what he was looking at. The girl was Ellyn; he had learned her name the day after she remembered the events of the night and suffered a breakdown. Rigel had already seen her awake and had spoken to her several times, but it was mostly about anything she might need while bedridden. They were short exchanges that weren¡¯t that impactful to him as they didn¡¯t leave any room to learn anything personal about her. But what was noticeable... was the girl¡¯s behavior. It was deadpan, lacking in any significant surge of emotion, as if the emotional toll from the day after that night drained everything out of her and left a walking husk at the end. She hadn¡¯t lost her emotions or her ability to feel. She still reacted to things around her, made jokes with Rigel, laugh, albeit painfully, and overall, still showed that her mind still worked properly. But they were all... drained. Lacking in any energy, as if she was¡­ tired of everything. A week later, she started going outside of her own, much against Marco¡¯s complaints as a physician. She stood on the bench outside his home and stared into the landscape that was in front of her. When confronted, she gave the excuse of the room feeling suffocated, and she needed fresh air. Despite still returning to that same room on her own, even when Marco moved her from the special room where he treated patients into a bedroom with wide windows that could deal with the issue of needing fresh air. She did it on a nearly daily basis. Rigel was first to notice her behavior. When he asked her about it, she gave the same replies, at first in a deadpan tone, lacking in interest and emotion, but after that, her replies became ever so slightly livelier, as if the act of watching the sunrise or getting fresh air slowly lifted her spirits. To him, however, what made him the most intrigued about the peculiarity of this girl was the contrast of what he had seen. Right now, she felt no different from a normal countryside girl who just had a very unlucky accident, and to an extent, she was just a girl who suffered a very unlucky accident... that was of her own doing. Back then, he saw what looked like nothing but a demon¡­ But now that was... nowhere to be seen. At the very least, he would like to keep it that way. After her soft laughter died down, two remained still on that old bench that was practically an extension of the tree above them, silently reading his book. Ellyn tilted her head and took a peek at the cover: ¡®The Fundamentals of Star Magic; Guide into the core principles of the forces that rule the cosmos. By Etlan G?tting & Angelika vom Schnee¡¯ ¡°What are you reading?¡± Ellyn asked. ¡°Star Magic, I study and practice it to become a proper mage in the future.¡± He replied without looking, his eyes locked in on the contents. Ellyn made a single ¡®Huh.¡¯ noise before continuing her inquiry. ¡°I see, but don¡¯t you need an instructor for it?¡± ¡°Not really,¡± He explained, ¡°it fastens the learning process, yes, but the schools of magic have been around for a long time-¡± The boy lifted his face as he began his explanation, seemingly eager to talk about his interest in the ways of magic. He did not look at Ellyn, instead, he fixed his gaze into the landscape before them and potentially the great beyond. ¡°Easy ways to pick up on your own, shortcuts into the spells, experimentation of its limits, and detailed explanations of how it works and how to do it are in most books nowadays thanks to years of research done by many generations of mages-¡± He casually smiled at her; a friendly gesture that felt a bit odd to her given how he is usually with her in the few exchanges that they made. However, talking about this topic immediately seemed to have put him in a good mood. ¡°They made it so even I can learn Magic over here, in a nowhere village¡ª even if slowly, y¡¯know?¡± Disciples of the school of star magic aren¡¯t uncommon across the world, being one of the most researched schools due to their application in multiple areas of the workforce due to the nature of what it does: Miniature reconstruction of the great energy giants that make up the sky. As knowledge gifted by the Great Star God, the earliest mages learned how to mimic his celestial craft in a matter their bodies could handle, in turn, much research was done over generations to understand the powers bestowed to them. Originally made for use in the military due to the potential of the sheer destructive power of a star colliding with an object, only to be found unsuitable due to it being outclassed by the War God¡¯s power as a force multiplier, so its usage was shifted to open possibility within the rise of alchemy, it¡¯s the ability to form elements thanks to the massive concentration of mana within the artificial star in a process of fusion. It was like the perfect marriage for the schools of magic and alchemy. The light of possibility shining bright within the stars. However, despite generations of books and experiments, its ability to produce materials such as iron that allowed multiple areas of whole nations to develop, as well as being functional light sources for major developed cities to lit up during the night. It''s output remained rather... conservative. The metal produce was impressive yes, but it would take much, much longer before it was used to create entire cities of it, as well as the infrastructure requiered to light the night of the world just wasn''t there for everyone to wield. For reasons like those, many experts believed that the potential of Star Magic remained very much untapped. Like a child being given a book too advanced for their young minds, many experts considered that the power of Star Magic was limited by the human mind and its idea of how the world works and that such narrow-mindedness is what prevented human society from catapulting into a future as bright as the cosmos itself. She tilted her head like a curious owl. She had seen practitioners before but only at a distance, it was a good chance to see this magic in action, ¡°I see... Can you do any spells?¡± Rigel lifted an eyebrow, but after a few seconds, he faintly smiled and put his hand in front of him. Faint sparks of light started to appear in front of his fingers. They appeared, pop! Then disappeared, collided and roamed around the tiny designated area at increasing speeds, like minuscule detonations of white light that celebrate the coming of a minuscule, brown and red sphere, the size of a ball and enough to fit into the boy¡¯s hand. Once it the wild energy subsided, it was there¡ªa star had been born. A Red Dwarf, the smallest type of star that existed beyond the skies, and the most common, at least from what is detailed in ancient texts that claimed word from the Star God himself. Its form was stable and when thrown with sufficient energy it could pack quite a punch. As far as academia was concerned, however, its heat was insufficient to perform a large variety of processes and experiments, more akin to a hot ball of dirt and mud concentrated than the mighty sun that rules over all, and could do it all. Still, it was the required first step into the path of a mage that wished to pursue this kind of knowledge. Rigel furrowed his eyebrows and his forehead started to sweat. His hand moved in a singular motion and the star followed, like an instrument moving at the guidance of its conductor. Up and down, left and right, then in circles like dancing a rapid song the tiny star left a red trail behind; small sparks of white light trailed around it as it went, matching each movement with the boy''s finger. Ellyn followed it with her eyes wherever it went, never losing track of it like a hypnotized cat. But after five minutes of the small spectacle, the star faded, reduced to nothing in a second. Ellyn turned around towards the boy to ask what happened, however she stopped herself after seeing Rigel already tired, sweat falling down his forehead, and his breathing being considerably louder than before. ¡°I can¡¯t really do much more than a Red Dwarf. Neither do I have the stamina to keep up with, lest I want to hurt myself, sorry.¡± Ellyn smiled, ¡°Mn. Don¡¯t worry about it. Thank you for showing me.¡± She shook her head and gave him a faint smile, to which he smiled back in response. Silence fell upon them, letting the wind soothe their minds into relaxation. The beauty of the land in front of them was all they looked at as the morning continued. They would remain there, enjoying the view of a closed-off land, where time moves slowly, gently, untouched by the outside world... ...At least until Marco woke up and forced Ellyn back into her room.