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Announcement To comprehend more of what had happened in this story, readers are advised to first read Come As You Would Be by Trismegistus Shandy (which is a 2,830 worded short story.)   Sir Andy       “Mary? Do you think you are a bit too old for that?” Our mother referred to the teenager in a little girl's dress. I watched my big sis -- that was Mary -- look down at me with a smile and my rosy cheeked face smiled right back up at her. Then as a response to our mother, we smooshed our cheeks together to make a bigger smile. “Nope! It's Halloween and we can be as silly as we want.” Our mother shook her head as she added: “And what is Ann wearing?” My big sis laughed as she gave me a great big hug! “She's being my male chaperone tonight. Isn't that right, Sir Andy?” Before I could respond, my sis placed her hand on my short red head of hair and nudged my head down to yield an agreeable nod of confirmation for our amused mother to witness. As I always do around my big sis, I simply kept quietly smiling. ...It felt weird, though. That was, the costume felt unnatural. The knightly outfit my sis bought for me was made of a soft and thick fabric: a steel-grey outfit. But I could feel a weight to it. A warm, welcome comfort. A newborn purpose. A responsibility. And I couldn't complain: she had said it was special ordered specifically for my size. It was different, and I enjoyed mixing things up. Especially compared to the last few years of Trick-or-Treating. The armor appeared brilliant on me. Absolutely every single moment, I believed more that the knightly getup was becoming hardened steel! Ridiculous, but... I felt a lot less soft and squishy. Now I was... formidable? My big sis made a big deal about me being her protector tonight. And that had blossomed remarkably stalwart senses in me the likes of which I'd never experienced in my life! For the sake of my new sense of pride, I kept my waterworks in check and remained smiling as always. For my big sis tonight, my life would soar to any heights to be what she wished me to be. For a profound honor that my big sis forged into my heart, I would always be there for her! I honestly felt as if I was a knight in shining armor! Even the little blade buckled at my hip had a certain weight of responsibility -- my sword was only for my big sis. With my new sense of standards, my sword being drawn for any cause other than in defense of Mary would be a petty excuse for bravado. “Okay, you two.” Mom shook her head again as she looked us over in disbelief. “Be sure to be back no later than ten.” As we turned to leave, Mom yelled at us: “And don't go down any strange streets. Also none without more than one porchlight on.” That last rule struck a chord in us. “But Mom, it's already late as is. If we cut --” “No buts or cuts, or I'll smack you one across your butt.” When I heard that, my cheeks turned a brighter red! My big sis getting spanked wasn't a common occurrence at all. “Do I make myself clear? Porch lights-s. More than one light on, and walk with a crowd.” “Mom, I'm not alone. See?” Mary grabbed my sword... okay, to be honest, it was actually a letter opener. Anyways -- sis grabbed it and my hand to force me to do a strikingly gallant gesture of dignified fealty with the magnificently gleaming blade. “Sir Andy will protect me with his legendary Opener.” “And who's going to protect Sir Andy tonight?” In response to mom, Mary rapped her knuckles on my fitted 'breastplate' of steel-grey fabric. “Oh, whatever! Seriously... be careful.” “We will, Mom! Happy Halloween!” Mom waved at us as we went out into the night...         Mary didn't listen... I remembered it clearly, and forever would. We were finished down one block with a bag half full and saw the lit porches on the other -- but we would have to walk through a dark corner before we reached it. It would've been our last line of houses! When we would finish there, we'd head back. Mary had promised and I would ensure that she kept that promise. I failed my duty.  We heard a conversation, which we thought meant there were people nearby. We thought we were safe in a crowd! We didn't know it was a prowler listening to a talk show from inside a van! Once we began to walk alongside its dark and bulky silhouette, we realized what we were hearing -- -- and the trap was sprung before we could ever react! The side door slid open so fast that we froze with fright! He pulled us in and slammed the door shut. A very big and dark outline of a man hovered over us and clapped so loudly to get our attention that we submitted by fearful instinct. He brought his chubby finger up to his lips to shush us before wedging himself back into the front seat and driving us off into the long night... We had driven a far way out and for far too long. Mary was crying by the time we felt the van jerk and throw us against the back of the driver's seat. I was too frightened to say or do anything. But not my big sis! The driver had huffed and parked the van before he squeezed back to where we huddled together. His great expanse loomed dangerously over us, as if we would be crushed at any moment... but I couldn't be certain if it would be his weight or body odor that did us in first. The bullish shape of his head came down to level with us. “That's funny. I'd thought you were bigger when I saw you walk up to my humble abode.” He laughed hard and loud before he made a statement: “That's sweet! Nice and small are just the way I like my little girls.” “Let us go!” Mary's voice squeaked. At first, I thought it was because she was frightened, but no... she was smaller, younger. My big sis was a little girl! She tried to fight him... I felt so horrible, not knowing how to fulfill my new role as he grabbed my sister and tossed her around like she was nothing! When he reached for her, she kicked out at him in a last ditch effort -- -- and he grabbed her leg to savagely bite her! To have bitten my big sis, he was nothing but a rabid animal! And there I was, petrified in my protective steel cage! Not worth worrying about to the bestial man... In the eyes of that feral predator, I was a scared, rosy-cheeked, little boy in a tin can. We were subdued, but not before Mary reached out and we hugged each other closely. I felt such deep shame as I watched him tape my big sister's mouth shut just inches above my yarn-thick red hair. Again he picked us up like we were insubstantial, without care how or where he recklessly carried us, and used his monstrous bulk to force the van's side door popped open. And again with the fenced gate. And again with his broken front door. He grunted with a fetid air of satisfaction as he carried us into his filthy den. The horrid condition inside our captor's home reflected the image we had of the depraved Beast! We were set down and aside for a moment to be appraised, ogled. The beast had eyes that were too close to each other. They were the kind that never hid what he laid his eyes on. And he focused specifically on my now less developed big sister! The grotesquely fat man had zip-tied Mary's ankles together to immobilize her, but she was also tied around the arms in a way to keep her hugged to me tightly. If she were to hop up and attempt an escape with my augmented weight of real armor, I would accidentally cause us to topple over. ...prone and exposed to the beast. And it appeared that was how he preferred us. He threw us on his stained mattress and prepared for a most dishonorable night. Before he sat down, his pants came off in an excited jiffy. The dark marks on his tight briefs... The TV was already turned on, and he cranked the volume to the max. And he reached out to us with a steamy look in his eyes -- -- but his attention was grabbed by the television's breaking news, replaying a piece of footage of crazy and bizzare creatures facing off against superheroes and magicians in the streets! What followed was the announcement of a widespread outbreak of transformations! “Holy shit!” We were startled at his exclaimed curse. “No way... fuck me! Maybe I should put on my Superman costume and join in the fun? ” He removed his shirt and struck a disgustingly heroic pose in his underwear. What hair had abandoned his head had migrated all over his sagging flesh. “Nah, for the sin I'm about to commit, I should be Jesus and suggest you turn the other cheeky.” The deranged lunatic barked a note of laughter and turned his lecherous face toward us. “Cheeky. Get it?” To provocatively hint what he meant, I saw him reach out at us -- -- and Mary screeched behind the tape as she jerked us both up to escape his perverted violation! He removed his hand and stared at us from across the bed with a lewd smile. Then his face contorted in an ugly snarl as he viciously shouted: “That was supposed to be funny, you fucking bitch! Laugh!” He grabbed the unlit lamp from the TV stand and held it over his head. He was going to throw it at us! Despite the armor, Mary squeezed me so tightly that I squeaked! She was startled by the noise I made, but my face buried down on her shoulder. Carefully with her bound hands, she lifted my face from her shoulder to turned toward the light emitted from the TV to inspect me -- -- and I heard a crash met with a muffled scream! My big sis had unintentionally shielded me! That wasn't supposed to happen! I was her knight in shining armor... Tears welled up in my eyes. Within that instant, I was filled to the brim with a righteous fury! “Enough fucking bullshit!” I heard his heavy weight on the squealing mattress springs and felt our unbalanced roll toward him as he pulled Mary over onto her back. I tried to glance behind me -- -- but I heard my big sis whimper. My attention had been drawn up to see Mary's eyes, which had grown wide with terror. A massive shadow fell over us. “When I tell you something, you obey. When it is funny, you laugh.” He had to be very close because I could smell his miasmic breath pouring over my shoulder. Then I felt his meaty hand on my shoulder. “What the fuck --” Mary's muffled cries grew intense as I was pulled straight out of her tight embrace. Without me, my big sis was now entirely vulnerable... He turned me around violently, shook and rattled me, and stared directly into my face with contemptuous distaste. I was scared. But that was to be expected with my new role as protector. Courage overcame fear. And my big sister gave me what I required to be brave. It wasn't because of my armor. Not my sword. Nor the fantastic wonder the magical night had gifted me. There was someone very precious to me who was more exposed to danger than I was... and he'd hurt her! In devotion to all the big sisters I always looked up to, I would become her sworn sword! In a flash, I drew out the Opener and... well I created a contradiction and closed one of his eyes for good! He jerked back before I could do more than rupture the eyeball, however. As he screamed bloody murder, I felt the rush of air and the impact of being thrown against the wall. I dropped to the floor and remained shockingly motionless. In all my long years, I'd never felt pain before. Not when Mary's great-grandmother had sewn a lock of hair from her lost sister into me. And to complete me, she'd embroidered me with her sister's likeness from an enchanted spool of thread. To be shared and loved as I once was when I had a heartbeat. To be handed down the line over the century. Never as I gradually dried over the weeks after her grandmother's house flooded and I emerged soaked to the stuffing. Nor when Mary's mother -- our mother -- had unintentionally cut my red-yarn hair at a too-young age to understand I couldn't grow it back. As a cherished household icon, I was always proud to be the family's Raggedy Ann. Tonight was the first time I'd ever felt a swell of pride; I couldn't feel more proud for serving my family as its protector. The night was not over... Mary looked at me in shock as I stood up and approached her. With the Opener, I cut the bonds around her ankles and freed my big sis's wrists when she knelt down for me to reach. Meanwhile, that big tub of lard finally shouted a word of disbelief before he figured out the trouble he would be in when Mary escaped. I heard him charge us -- -- and luckily for us, I was in his stampeding path! I turned immediately around and braced myself for impact as I thrust and held the Opener out before me in both hands. I would slay the foul beast before he ever laid a hand on my precious big sister ever again! There was a blur of motion above me -- -- the large beast cursed as something crashed over his head as he fell forward face first -- -- and I lanced him fully in the other eye as he dropped. The dreaded beast was dead. I tugged at my sword, but I couldn't pull it out... I left it buried in the ugly man and turned to a more important matter, Mary. She looked down at the dead predator with well placed vindication in her eyes and determination in her stance; she held the lamp up high and ready to fell the horrible beast again. Just in case we were wrong about his demise by our hands. After a minute of Mary doing no more than holding the lamp high and readied for another head-bashing, we were feeling assured of our safety from the Beast's lack of activity. Not even so much as a twitch from him. To impart that there was love and security to be had, I raised my arms for my big sis and smiled like I always had and would. Her gaze shifted from the dead to the wondrous new boy in armor: me. It wasn't fear in her eyes, but disbelief in what she saw. I kept my open arms raised in welcome, which had prompted a reaction from her to slowly lower the lamp. As she drifted her attention down to where she could set the lamp, her eyes popped open wider at the thin pair of arms she had. And the rest of her magically acquired youth. “Ann...? Andy...? You're alive!” Mary sobbed. “I was always alive,” I said, testing out my new voice. “But now I can move and talk.” Trembling in shock, Mary dropped the lamp. I was frightened that I scared her, but then she slid down to her knees -- -- and when she embraced me, I added: “And hug you back.” She bawled her eyes out as we held each other. The terrible encounter was nearly over. Now all we had to do was leave it all behind us and continue on with our lives... and my new role as Sir “Raggedy” Andy.

Announcement To comprehend more of what had happened in this story, readers are advised to first read Come As You Would Be by Trismegistus Shandy (which is a 2,830 worded short story.)   One Night as the Queen         When did it start? Dunno. I supposed a long time ago. Maybe way back in school? On the high or low borders of my vision, I'd experienced bright flashes. Instantly there and gone, and I would wonder if I had imagined it. The years rolled by and they became more frequent. By then, I hadn't given it a thought. I ignored stuff like that. There was no pain or impairment, and nobody ever mentioned anything odd about me. Maybe they ignored me too if I was a regular oddball to them? ...Never thought I was odd. I looked funny, but what giant didn't? The flashes would just come and go. These were not everyday occurrences. Maybe monthly? Weekly? That was what happened when I considered my illness normal. In fact, I didn't know I was sick. Since I was a kid, I was dying and no one ever realized it -- and I included myself in that lot. How had I found out? By accident. I was a really tall guy! Nearly seven foot with a weight close to three hundred, I was a genuine giant. But I was tall, not big. That triple-digit weight sounded heavy, but pack that weight vertically and the pudge doesn't stand out nearly as much as it would've on someone normal sized. Anyways, I'd worked on machinery. I sometimes have to fit in tight spaces to stretch and flatten myself for certain out-of-reach parts. A very tight and uncomfortable squeeze. Every day, I'd leave with lined impressions in my skin from how hard I was laying or wedging myself into steely cases, pulling densely plated gears or wheels until they turned, gripping pistons and plungers before they moved again, and all manner of other machinery I was tasked to perform maintenance on. One day, I nearly got my head crushed because some asshole machine operator thought he'd come in early and run the damn hardline. All it took was for him to use a pair of snips and cut off my lockout tag. He hit the big red E-stop button when I screamed. That day was a curse and blessing. On the one hand, a very happy lawyer handed me a very nice paycheck, and an awesome disability was electronically deposited in my account on a bi-weekly basis. On the other hand... what other hand? I only have one now and that makes my living difficult. But that's getting ahead when I should've focused on what was wrong with my head. Back then, I had other injuries that required looking at. Other than the ground meat hanging off my wrist, I was evaluated on how severe the rest of my booboos were. So one of the tests the doctors conducted was on priority number one: my head. They honestly reminded me of modern art images, but they were of the inside of my head! I had to wonder if stuff like that could make a quick buck? On another note, apparently there had been something steadily growing over the years in the back of my thick skull. And it was also apparent that the mass was inside of something very squishy and delicate. Someplace I never wanted anybody to be touching. When I saw it, I heard an imaginary Arnold Schwarzenegger tell me his famous line from Kindergarten Cop: ”It's not a Toomah!” Wishful thinking... instead, I had a few doctors and specialists explain the prognosis to me and what they could do about it. So how long did I have left to live? That made me laugh because no one had any fucking idea. They gave me a range, but the width of that scope was fluctuating down around a year or up to double my age... incredible guesses. Nowadays, I tried to enjoy life however I could, but without a whole lot of wandering around due to my driving privileges being revoked. On the one hand, my driving had become impaired. On the other, now being aware that I could clonk out at any moment while on the road scared the shit out of me. Even if it was by accident, I didn't want to be responsible for ruining someone's life. No more driving for me. Unless someone was right underneath me if I fell, walking was simple and safe. So I did a lot more of that. Now onto something that was a bit odd for most folk. Back when I was a whole man, I was interested in visiting conventions and doing costume roleplay. These costumes weren't something I could purchase from a store or order online. They were handmade. Crafting the costumes I wore was a way to show off my enjoyable work. My size caused a variety of characters to really stand out. But I only won a trophy on one costume. Conventions weren't going to be a possibility for me. At least, not anymore as they distanced themselves from my location. Could anyone imagine lugging around my monstrously great costumes to those centers? That meant I should do something with my costumes. Selling them would be a nice bet. I could earn some cash. What would I have done with the money? Likely travel. If I couldn't do any countryside driving, then I'd go on a worldwide trip as a tourist! That'd be a grand way for me to get out of the house. In the meantime, I had sold a good portion of my handmade costumes. I had sentimental value in a few, but not enough for me to irrationally keep and never use. Except for my gorgeously prized possession. I had something in mind for that majestic beauty... Halloween Day! I stood and stared at my costume. Even in pieces, I gave each part a creative appreciation for how they would fit back together. These were graceful and stunning. A bit perverse too, but not because of anything I had done. A beautiful aesthetic, but weirdly intentional from the source material and from the original designer. In jest, I respectfully bowed to her majesty. It had been awhile since I'd excitedly pranced around in that thing. In the condition I was in, I had to wonder if I had what it took anymore to carry it, let alone wear it. I'd have to so single-handedly... I couldn't. Not in complete uniform. But in parts, I'd pull off one last hurrah for the Queen. The Queen? I'd imagine a lot of folk would be questioning me on that one. Thing was, I had in my hand the biggest and baddest Momma to ever rock the galaxy. At least, I had her crested head under my arm. I'd have to take the head crest outside, then the bottom half of the head. The torso would come around the front of the house in three parts: shoulders with two dominant arms, the bust with secondary shorter arms, and the waist with the spine. There were four supportive rods that the bust and then torso would slip onto the waist. The spine connected the three after each segmented piece was fitted. But I'd have to slip in first, which was easy. The hard part was lifting the pieces up over my head and carefully dropping them on. And I haven't told you about the lower half of my costume! To quote a very famous man, John Wayne, I said to myself: “Life is tough. Even tougher when you're stupid.” I needed help... When I paid my friendly neighbor a visit, we had our pleasant greetings, informal gossip, and then got down to business. I showed the neighborly man what we were dealing with and he choked. “You're gonna traumatize the kids!” I had to laugh at his observation. “I want to give them something to remember.” And I did too. With no children of my own, I wanted some legacy to leave behind. After awhile, we noticed the sky wasn't as brightly blue as it once was. And the shadowed outline of the mountains was creeping up on the big yellow sun. A very infamous concept crossed my mind, but it was spoken in so many ways that there was no one way on how to say it. To be safe, we slowed down, but hurried the Hell up to get the job done. With a little time to spare, he congratulated me on getting the suit on, but in a wary manner. “You'd never catch me in one of those. Must be heavy as the mountains and hot as Hell.” He was right, but I had an idea how to solve those two issues. The Queen had four arms. I had two, and only one was going to be working. That meant we could strap a pair of arms up, the dominant ones, and have them hung up. When he'd strung them up, the Queen would be in a pose that suggested she was ready to pounce on someone. I never saw what he tied the arms up onto, but for the time being, they held. He suggested that I sit in a chair. I wasn't sure how the suit and chair would fit together, but he pointed out that the kids wouldn't see past the doorway. So anything beyond the door would be for comfort. I still wore the leg pieces and had the tail, otherwise the spinal column wouldn't keep the full torso attached with the waist. The shoulders and bust would've rode up the rods, which could've caused damage to the four supports. So I sat and used the back of my chair to support the long tail. As for the couple of hours directly under the porchlight, also being a roasted nut in the suit, we had an idea. To keep a steady airflow, he connected a simple extension: a vent. He provided the vent from his garage -- a suped up dryer, I supposed -- and got the long connection laid and aimed at the back of the chair, but rigidly aligned beneath the tail. My tail directly pointed the vent away from the front door to the kitchen window behind me. No need for air conditioning; the Autumn breeze would be pleasantly cool enough for my sorry ass. Now the problem with those two improvisations was I would require my neighbor's help again to get out. Once our neighborhood's Halloween festivities concluded, he'd agreed to come back around and get me out of my alien prison. I had been about to let him go, but I realized I'd forgotten one of the most important props to the whole display: the bait. Why would any kid come here if there wasn't some treat? So we had a quick debate on what to do and he offered me an awesome idea. Since my theme was an Alien Queen, he'd provide an egg. One wicker laundry basket, a bit of shiny Saran wrap, and some more of that wrap to cradle the candy; we'd produced a sweet egg! After I told him where the candy was and he'd positioned the egg before me, he'd flick on the lights and my back was bathed in their glow. A very foreboding shadow fell over my egg. He'd returned to his house and prepared his own fashion of trick-or-treating by turning his own porchlight on. Pretty normal. My night was about to be far from normal... Halloween Night! For a little while, I was worried no one would show up. But then, the first kids arrived. They were considerate how they wandered up to me. These munchkins weren't toddlers, but still small compared to me. Maybe just barely teens? Anyways, they walked up my driveway and turned to keep on the stone walkway between my garden and lawn. Very considerate where they stepped. Their eyes were on the Queen, but technically on me. Then they directed their attention to the egg. My secondary alien arms were holding the shiny top of the egg protectively, but really it was to hold the Saran wrap down. As the group of kids inched closer, I hissed. The sound echoed inside of crested head above me. The brave kids reached for the candy -- -- and I pushed out the secondary pair of chompers from the Queen's mouth over their heads. A simple rod in the bottom half of the head with a handmade puppet on the end. It didn't chomp, but the appearance was menacing. All I had to do was tilt the front of the crested head down slightly for the puppet to slip out. Yarn was tied to an eyehole at the very end of the rod and kept it from falling out of the Queen's mouth. A tilt back, and the Queen would slurp her bitey tongue back in. A sudden jarring stop told me something: the back of the crest had hit the door frame... I'd have to be careful about that. Back to the kids. They jumped and at least one of the kids made a break for it back to the safety of the sidewalk. I couldn't keep myself from laughing at the sight. Unfortunately for the other kids, my laughter boomed rather than be muffled inside of the suit. They had their quick pickings of candy and ran! The next couple of hours was a bit of the same. Only a few kids laughed back at my jumpscare. We chatted some and they went on to the next house. I had fun. Then something very strange and scary went through me. My vision flashed, blinded me, and changed significantly in an instant. At that time, I was worried my condition had worsened or I'd experienced a seizure and was waking up from it. I didn't move. The fear of what had happened was overpowered by what could be the cause. If I was about to croak, I didn't want it to be in front of kids! As if my thoughts had summoned them, teenage kids turned to my house, but they stood on the sidewalk. They appeared confused and a little frightened? Had they already been to my house and seen or heard something while I was out? Had I made noises while having that epileptic episode? I watched and tried to listen, but it wasn't easy to pick up their voices from my distance across the lawn. But we all heard the screams. All the kids turned to face the direction of the screaming, but somehow I didn't have to turn to see. Oddly enough, I could see in every direction except two: directly down and behind me. We could hear the screaming, but not exactly see what was causing -- them? More screams, shouts, and a lot of yelling. Then came the alarmingly familiar sirens... An incredible disorientation came over me when I tried to wave at the kids. It was like I had fumbled at catching an imaginary ball! I gave it another go and felt a sense of vertigo. So I figured I'd actually had a seizure and maybe my brain had done something screwy with my once finely tuned motor skills. First thing was first, to test what I could do. A simple twitch of my index finger confused me. The sense of that finger curling wasn't right. I focused on it and tried again. That time, I found out what was the problem. My attempt to curl just one finger wasn't possible. Curling one wasn't, but I could grip my fingers into a fist. Something snapped around the doorway when I pulled my arm down to inspect it. I hadn't noticed what had broken, but I supposed that meant it wasn't something important. My attention shifted down to my arm... arms? The Queen's dominant and secondary arms had both come down in front of me. I had my arm slipped inside of the secondary, but the dominant one shouldn't have been capable of moving with my movements. Maybe if I had kept the rods bridged between the two, but I'd removed them since I had no need to manipulate both sets. I reached my secondary arm up -- the one I had thought my arm was still inside -- and grabbed the dominant arm. I felt that. The grip and grab. My mind was buzzed with a terrible sensation as I tried moving my arms separately. Like how everything functioned was being rewritten, rewired, reprogrammed... whatever you wanna call it. Extra limbs!? I had another pair of arms!? That realization drove me to experiment with my maimed limb. I could feel my fingers. My hand... make that hands. That was so weird, but I wasn't complaining about it. With a tug, the other dominant arm snapped the binding my neighbor had put on. And then I stretched out all four arms to only see and inspect them in front of me. I turned my palms up, made fists, and swung a punch -- or two. I'd have to work on the control of four limbs rather than the movement of two arms as if they were one. I had no idea what had happened, but I liked it. Then I tried to sit up. Of course, the crest of the Queen's head hit the doorway... except it felt like I had hit the back of my head against a wall? Turning a little, I felt the door's frame bite into my waist and hips. I felt that if I could wiggle, the attachments from the spine could come undone and I'd squirm my way out of the torso. But that wasn't the case for a couple of reasons. For one, the chair was beneath me. If I kicked it out, then I'd collapse under the weight. Especially now that the dominant arms weren't -- well, I somehow had control over them. That wasn't an issue anymore! The second problem was the vent. When I tried to wiggle, the vent felt as if it had gotten in the way. Like the chair or tail was somehow tangled around it? ...If I could move the dominant arms and feel the crest when it hit, I supposed the tail could be manipulated too? Had I become the Queen? For now, I let that thought go and prioritized the tail. If it could move, then I could perhaps be one step closer to freedom. I focused on my posterior. That was very damn strange, but didn't do the job I wanted. Instead, I felt my legs strain under my weight when I tried to lift my ass up. Before, when I had wiggled, it had felt as if the attachments to my spine could come undone. I gave that a shot and felt my tail move. That was very interesting to feel, but a bit sickening too as the attachments weren't where I thought. The tail's movement made a noise. Like I had ripped something. Then a squelched pop later, my tail flung up and I heard it smack off of the ceiling. And a crash, after the ceiling fan broke and dropped with my tail back to the floor. The back of my chair was a ruin, but I felt like my tail's freedom had given me more wiggle room. I didn't feel as stuck to the floor anymore. But I was stuck in the doorway. It didn't matter what way I turned my hips, pushed back against the door's frame, or pulled back in -- I was stuck. With a heavy sigh -- which sounded real damn weird -- I gave up on getting out. I focused my attention instead on those kids once more. While I wasn't paying attention, they'd stopped to watch me flop around in vain for freedom! I was thankful they'd stuck around, but I felt ashamed of my feeble display. If I was correct, I was an all powerful and mighty Alien Queen, but with a royal ass firmly stuck on the throne. First thing I had done was give the kids a friendly wave -- or two. One of the group of kids bravely stepped forward and came running up to me. He, or she, had a Jack-O-Lantern for a head, but spoke with its carved tooth mouth insync with the voice. “You okay? Did your -- ah, the costume, you know...?” Jack crossed a pair of fingers and implied a merge or some kind of transformation from that gesture. Since I hadn't tested my voice yet, I only nodded. Who knew if I could speak, but I was frightened of what would shoot out of my mouth if I tried. Jack told me the same thing happened to the rest of the group and apparently it wasn't an isolated occurrence. One of the kids had a cell on hand. Almost all costume goers had transformed to a degree and nearly the whole world was going bonkers. When Jack waved the rest of his crew over, I was shown what the one kid's cell could explain. Not much, but at least we knew we weren't alone. “Ah, yeah... anything we can get you?” Jack, and everyone else, took note of my predicament. There was someone who could help me, but I didn't want to speak. So I pointed at my neighbor's house. A rabbit wearing a hypnotic, swirling blend of colors hopped away to alert the neighbor of my situation. Soon enough, my neighbor had arrived and was getting the gist of what had happened from the kids -- and the cellphone helped support our claims. The kids had made a call -- I assumed their parents -- and waited by the street to be picked up. Meanwhile, my neighbor had gone around back to figure out how to get me out. I waited in silence before I heard him swear something fierce behind me. When he came back, he told me about the destruction my tail had caused and the icky mess that used to be his laundry vent. My guess was the tail had smashed it and whatever I could reach had smeared over the tubular chute. In my current scenario, I was informed the only way out would be to break the door frame. That wasn't an appealing plan. So we called and waited for authorities to arrive. And waited... it was obvious the world was turned upside down and the emergency responders were overwhelmed with all manner of chaos tonight. Some hours later, my neighbor showed me an interesting tidbit on his cell's headlined media. All of the transformed would revert back to normal come the morning. We just needed to keep whatever our costume had come with on. And not become pregnant. Both of those sounded easy to me. Nothing could come off of me and I wasn't capable of becoming pregnant. Alien Queens laid parasitic eggs that did the whole impregnating shabang. Almost all night had gone by before a response team arrived. With the new information, they recommended I rest and wait until the morning instead of breaking my house apart. That was sound advice and I had no reason not to take it. Then the sun rose its shiny yellow face up in the sky and basked me in a welcoming warmth. Despite how happy I was to have my full arm back -- and perhaps nothing wrong with my head -- I eagerly awaited the end of my one night as the Queen. And waited... When the dawn had almost passed, I panicked. What if those magicians or whatever were wrong? What if a costume that had nothing to take off was by default a permanent transformation? Then I remembered something my neighbor told me. The vent was a icky mess... I was a Queen that laid eggs. I had an ovipositor... which I'd broken free from when I lashed my tail around and off the egg layer. Looked like I'd be stuck for awhile...

  2082 Planet Earth the Fracture War, after a sudden fracture in our dimension unidentified beings with advance technology and unknown abilities invaded Earth with one desire to conquer. Due to Human beings insatiable hunger for greed and power even after many centuries Earth was still divided. Underestimating the first wave of attack which was a but a small fleet of scouts. Each power rather than joining together to fight the unknown threat, schemed against one another. Then when the 2nd attack arrived attacking from different sudden fractures around the world, each country fell one by one. Even though Earth was divided they still struggled, knowing that this war could lead to extinction to all life, finally they at last moment stood together and fought, but it was far too late. The only weapon Humans had that could do any damage was nuclear arms, and the unknown beings knew that, so all they had to do was disable them. Would you believe it or not this was how the Humans got lucky, the unknown beings thought that since every thing on earth ran on one primitive power source electricity, disabling electricity world wide would destroy their last defense. The unknown beings weren't wrong, with no advance weapons except weapons that didn't run on a electric power source the humans were defenseless, the 2nd attack ended up wiping 65% of the human population. With the victory at hand, the unknown beings finalized the last attack, but during this time whether it was the grace gods or just a coincidence this gave the humans a chance to counter attack. During that time when the unknown beings restock their ships across each fracture for the 3rd attack, the humans launch an all out attack on each fracture with old air crafts that ran on fossil fuel. Like a clockwork gear, how the humans underestimated the small wave of the 1st attack, so did the unknown beings underestimating the last attack of the humans. When they saw how the humans air crafts didn't even penetrate their energy shields they continued to restock and organize while only using a small force to handle the attack. At this very moment was their demise, when the humans realize that their atomic weapons couldn't be launched why not just self detonate it themselves, so they advise a plan, around the world each human power organization that was left will commence an attack on each fracture, no matter what means they must come close to the fracture and self detonate their nuclear arm. At that moment when the the barrage of attacks stopped for a single day, they attacked, sacrificing themselves using what ever means of vehicles and air crafts just to get close to the fracture. It started with one, then another, like a thunder of booms on a stormy night, across the world where ever you were you could hear it. The result was that the fractures on the other side couldn't contain the explosions and disappeared. For the cost of 7 billions lives, the war finally ended.

The Dire Situation   My hand dropped. I stared at the image of the battlefield and flipped it upside down to observe the stars. "A-- Is that a ship?" It was an odd vessel. Like those of the great seas, but with no sail. It had a mass that rivaled the great leviathans that slumbered deep on the ocean's floor. "How do I fight that?" I stumbled backwards and fell into my throne. Bowing my head down, I cradled the top of my flaming hair with both my hands to keep myself from screaming up at the ceiling. This was hopeless. "What if we sheltered here? The light can't touch us inside --" I paused and recalled that I had died twice inside this chamber, killed by something I’d never seen. Could the beam of light travel through my halls? For the first time, I felt the flow of hot tears streak down my face. I was in utter terror and didn't know what to do. The last of us were to be wiped out, literally. Not a trace of us would exist after that light touched us. "Death... Death, please help me?" There was no response. Of course, the living had no deals with the dead. Death included. I would have to die once more to beg for Death's assistance. Letting go of my head, I raised my gaze back to the image of the stars and that ship. Reaching out, I spread my fingers outward to expand the image to the entire cosmos. Death had said that humanity had laid claims on other worlds. They had. This one ship was a single drop of water in the torrent of rain showering the dark void. I laughed. Rubbing my eyes, I stared at it again and laughed harder. What help could I gain from Death to fight a legion that could wipe out legions with just one of their number? Standing back up, I gradually began to make my way out of my chambers. Soon I was at the same window I had jumped from last time. I leaned forward and took a single step out of it. When I landed, the fissure being replicated as last time, I stood up. Turning to face the shocked faces of my legions, I shook my head. There was no winning this. No survival. Looking away from them, I walked forward in silence towards the armies of humanity. After a little while, I could hear the footsteps of my legions following me. There was a murmur among them. It wasn't difficult to guess they were confused about my actions. Before me, I could see the brightly shining armor and flashing banners of a blended palette of colors. They would be a fair fight, but not what waited up above our heads. The true enemy was watching for the biggest and juiciest target to show itself before it dug in. I stopped walking. Looking up at the dark clouds of smoke filling the red sky, I screamed. This time, I didn't hold my head down in defeat. I knew where they were and showed them all I wasn't going to hide from it. It took a single split second for me to be nothing once more...     "Hey there! Had a goo-- Whoa, okay. I'll give ya a moment." Curling up in a ball, I cried. Burying my head between my knees, I kept my expression from the sight of this omnipotent being surrounding me. "Ah, look... You can win." Muffled, "I can't." "Sure you can. Just ask me and I'll make you a deal." Dealing with Death? That sounded like a horrible idea, but I was far beyond desperate. "What do I need to do?" "You sure? I mean --" Upset, I lifted from my knees and screamed at the empty space around me. "You offered, I'm taking it." "Okeydokey. You'll have to change. What you are now isn't enough." Letting go of my shins, I looked down at my hands as I wondered what changes I would need to make. "Do it. Whatever it takes, do it." I lifted my palm up to brush away the tears so I might face Death without the shame showing. "Please! I'll do whatever it takes!" "It will take more. Once you see the change, you'll start getting clues to how to defeat them." I nodded and waited for Death to give me another chance. "Please?" "I want you to do something this time. Instead of jumping out of windows, would you go out the front door? There are actually important people you should get to know before going kablooie." Again, I nodded in acceptance. "I will. Please, Death?" "On it! I'll catch you in a little while."

Once or Twice...   With the flick of my wrist, I gestured for my legions and garrison to sally forth. Then I became aware of what I’d done and where I was. Summoning a reflective image of myself before me, I gazed at it for a moment. Twirling my finger in the air, I gestured for my phantom to rotate and display my form. “How did you do it?” I asked myself this as I searched for any weakness this hero may have exploited. Everything about me surged with formidable power and a flame that could rival the conflagration outside my tower. Again, to myself, I asked: “What did you spot?” Long and glowing hot orange flame of hair that never touched any without scorching their flesh black. My own skin was pale, but it had the residual ash of many enemies coating me from head to toe. It made me appear oily, as if I had been working in a furnace all day and I was drenched in sooty sweat. Those inspecting eyes glared with a bright molten light. There was nothing but a disc of bursting hot ember in the center of those whites in my eyes. Bison-like horns protruded and curved out from the lower back of my head to come around my crown and hold these licking flames of hair out of my eyes. Everything else about my appearance was covered in the flowing black coat of armor that was flexible as leather and too hard for even my own strength to penetrate. It had once been the hide of another Lesser Evil. One that I could not defeat head-on, but had done so through treachery. All it took was one drink and he was devoured from the inside out. His very skin was the only token I wanted from that horrible death. How then? How did I die last time? Appraising my form for any weakness was frustrating me. Casting my image away, I brought up the image of the battlefield. The lines had shifted in favor of the humans. Somehow they had found a way to best our kind in their crusade to vanquish us. What did they have? I searched for hours before the last of my legions fell. The doors to my chambers were blown open...     "Hello again! Did you miss me?" Silently, I shook my head. There was no disrespect in my response. I simply did not have a desire to meet with Death. Who did? "That's too bad. Did you learn anything?" Thinking back, I recalled I had no obvious weaknesses and that my legions had practically been stomped out there. "No. Not that I could tell." "You do remember everything?" I nodded. "I saw how the battle went." "No. You didn't. Once again, you stayed inside." Sighing, I knew what Death was getting at. "Will you permit me to go back?" "Of course! As much as you want. See you again soon!"     Clenching my fist, I prevented myself in time before gesturing for my legions to sally forth. Turning to the doors, I stormed out of my chambers to find the nearest window. From this great height of my tower, I jumped. Upon the ground, a great fissure formed along one of the crags. Its sharp glass-like structure crackled into so many pieces that it appeared as dust beneath my feet and fist. Lifting myself up to stand, I turned about to see my own fortification and those who would do battle under my command. Many of their faces were surprised to see me. I felt it too. None had ever seen me before, but they knew who I was by my mere presence of power that I exerted in all directions. Still looking upon all of their shocked faces, I blindly pointed out at the enemy and shouted my order. "KILL THEM!" With the greatest roar I would ever hear in this life, my legions charged. I stood and watched as they closed the distance and smashed into the forces on the other side of these crags. A blinding white light beamed down from the heavens and cut through my minions like they were nothing. Again and again, scores of Demons were erased without so much as a struggle. Each time that light passed by, my legions vanished. Not even their ashes remained. Gazing up into the sky, I searched for the source of this great light. It found me instead...     "Why, hello there! Any chance you discovered something new?" I nodded, but I had no way of knowing how to fight this. "It must be a god on their side. Some Divine support that wiped us all out." "Oh, uh, no. Nothing about that was -- You know, try again and look a bit harder. You might be surprised to find out how advanced humanity has become in the last few thousand years. Did you know they’ve colonized other planets?" This confused me. "What are you talking about?" "Oh, humanity dropped some kids off and forgot about them. Now that they remembered, they came back to check and see how they were doing. Kind of like a parent watching their kid at school, but they think you are a bully. So, uhh... yeah. You're getting your ass kicked." I was dumbstruck. "Never mind. It isn't relevant to this battle. Want another go?" I nodded once more. "Please?" "Go get 'em, Tiger!"

Unexplained Changes   Involuntarily, I dropped my hand. Dropping to the floor, I screamed out in agony. Fiery flames burst from within my blackened armor to the point that the coat could not contain the rising temperature. In seconds, I wore nothing as I laid on the floor. My boiling blood pooled around me as I felt bones shift and muscle rope around my limbs and anatomy in different angles and curves. Slowly, as the pain subsided, I weakly got up onto all fours to crawl and climb into my throne. Sitting, I took a while to recover from this agonizingly gory shape shift. What had changed? Shaking like a leaf, I raised my hand to summon my reflective image. What I saw was myself, but not. I had the same qualities of my former self, but my figure was slender, curved in places that would otherwise be fit for a woman. I inspected myself more closely; I had to make sure that I was still male. My face wasn't very masculine anymore and the very skin on my body appeared softer. Only one last place to be sure I still could call myself a man. Lowering my gaze to the joining of my thighs, I saw how I was there. It took me a few seconds to register what I was seeing. Then I stared down at myself and shoved my hand down between my legs. "What the FUCK! How does this defeat mankind!?" Through deep and rapid breathing, I looked down at myself in disbelief. What did me becoming the opposite gender have to do with warfare? Did Death expect me to seduce the enemy? A Demon, no matter how attractive Death made me, would never tempt these crusaders from their path to purify all of us with that vanquishing light. Death had said I would have a clue. I had none. What would this solve? Clapping the heels of my palms up to my forehead, I sat there. It was all so very hopeless. I thought over all the possibilities that I could accomplish as either man or woman, but nothing changed. The battle would not be any different. Sobbing, I went over my last meeting with Death. There was only one other item that I had not investigated. Before I died one more time, Death wanted me to go out the front door and see someone. Wiping my face clean, I stood up from my throne and headed for the door. I stopped and gazed down at myself. Searching around, I grasped the post on the wall, that held my banner, and wrapped myself in its fiery colors like a cloak over my bare shoulders. The flames of my hair tried to burn it away, but with a simple thought I prevented its incineration. Outside my chambers, I took one glance at the window that I had been jumping from and turned from it. Descending the stairs, I viewed the spiral staircase over the rails and saw the many doorways that led to other chambers in my tower. Each one was the home of an evil like me, but I was on top then.  Now, they were empty and I was the final one for mankind to face. Down on the bottom floor, I gave the great doors to the front of my tower an appraisal. It would take a giant effort of power to budge into motion. No sweat for me. Slipping my hand out from under the makeshift cloak, I pressed my palm against the great door and gave it a single push. It moved effortlessly as I gradually walked with it until fully opened. Beyond the gates stood my legions. Many faces turned to see who had opened the gate and gave me surprised expressions. How they expressed their shock was different. The times before, they had acted surprised at my presence on the battlefield. This time, it felt like they couldn't believe I was their Master. That I was the last Lesser Evil. They all knew very well I was. Just as before, they could feel the same exertion of my power spread across them all. What shocked me into walking no further was those of my legions that stood in the rear. Children. They were not soldiers at all. Little things that wore leathers, pots and pans, and wielded their cleavers to do all they could. Real ankle-biters. I didn't know. Should have, but didn't. How else were my legions growing? They didn't spawn like mushrooms from the darkness... ... And it would be the light that would wipe them out. With trembling lips, I screamed at those little freaks. "Get in here!" None moved, frozen to their spots. Eventually, they started looking at each other in confusion. I crouched down and screamed louder this time. "GET IN HERE NOW!" Then I flapped the cloak open to point them into the tower. All of those demonic children ran in with shrieks of fright at my supposed fury. As they all fled inside, I rose back up. I didn't let one of them leave my gaze until the very last of those youngsters were inside. With a swift backward kick, I slammed the door closed behind me. The very force of the door swinging closed sent a gale to assault my back and the legions in front of me. Was what I did even going to matter? When all of these legions were gone and I was no more, the light would enter and finish what it had started outside. Even if the light didn’t erase them, those children still wouldn't stand a chance against those crusaders. It was still hopeless. Frowning, I stared at my legions. What could I do from this point? Who were the important people I was supposed to see out here? It couldn't have been those kids. There had to be someone out here that was capable of assisting me in turning the tide of battle. In the corner of my eye, I saw something I’d never recognized before. Not because I’d never noticed; I just hadn’t cared about it before now. There was a village outside my tower. No. Not just one, but several that surrounded the whole structure. Just like a keep and its surrounding community. Would I find them in one of these villages? Walking away from the legions, I took the path to the closest of the villages. Their buildings were made of the same black stone, but melted down to fuse into corners or reinforced joints. It was interesting to see this. I’d never knew they were capable without the help of a Lesser Evil. We normally had to erect structures with our imagination, like my tower. That took several Lesser Evils, but still it took a mere thought to make. Each house I visited was empty, but inside I saw all signs that lives had recently been lived there. Hard work, labors, play, and even some signs of love were in these vacant homes. Were all the villages like this one? Something was wrong with me. Placing my hand to cover half of my face, I knew these feelings were not my own self. Death had changed more than my body. My mind. What was wrong with me? Why did I care about these minions? They were below me to such a degree that they were less than dirt. I would trade them for the very soil to grow crops. We could flourish with a supply of food if this land was only richer with that fertile earth. Shaking my head, I had no idea why my thoughts were straying to the landscape like that. I was a Lesser Evil. Not some farmer! Looking back at my legions, my body dropped to the glassy crags like a doll whose strings were cut. The beam of light had begun to tear everyone apart. I waited for my turn...

Announcement To comprehend more of what had happened in this story, readers are advised to first read Come As You Would Be by Trismegistus Shandy (which is a 2,830 worded short story.)   Zodiac     A powerfully rhythmic beat played in the distance. The drumming thunder echoed through the dark alleys. Earth itself shook and the monuments of man trembled. Throughout the night sky, the darkness fled from the brilliant firestorm. Alarmed shouts and desperate screams escalated louder over the city's nightlife. With a monstrously volcanic roar, all were forewarned of the approaching danger, but none expected how menacing it would be!       A day earlier Alex stared at the collosal pile and asked: “How is this going to work?” Kneeling by the blinding collection of colorful props and costumes was Zhen. “I've friends coming,” he said. “They've practiced this sort of dance before --” “This isn't a dance! We have to scare everyone, not treat them to a fucking moonwalking Thriller!” Richy wasn't very amused. His concept of a haunted fundraiser was setting up a haunt and spooking the guests. I personally thought Zhen's idea was unique. A week ago, we'd had no idea how to pull it off and Zhen was the only one to voice a plan. All Richy wanted was a place to hang out and yell at people... kinda like what he was just doing. “What are we gonna do if they don't show?” As much as I hated Richy's smirking at that question, Alex did have a good point. Zhen smirked back. “If they don't show, what else do you all have in mind?” “A hayride across the countryside or one of those old jails would be creepy enough.” Richy stepped toward the bright colors piled on the floor and nudged the jaw of the mega-costume with his boot. “It won't fucking work. I looked it up --” “Looked what up?” Zhen offered Richy a chance to explain, but step-by-step. Not Richy's outright pessimism. “This so called 'Dance' uses poles to hold the thing up in the air, like it's flyin'.” He pointed down at the pile. “Nothing here but pretty rags.” “There's more than one variant. The one you described, that could be Shenlong. Storm, wind, and thunder... Weather. It's supposed to fly.” Zhen pointed out the pile. “This is Dilong. Earth and river. It's supposed to remain on the ground... plus this is its year.” He stood up and laid a hand on Richy's shoulder. “Trust me. We know what we are doing.” Richy brushed Zhen's hand off. “No offense, but I'm gonna laugh if this shit hits the fan.” Then he walked away and out of the warehouse. I blinked a few times when the outside light poured in. Then I turned back to Zhen and Alex. Alex squatted and lifted up the expansive fabric that made up the earth dragon. “What do we do while waiting for your party to arrive?” “We make certain that what we have here is the whole thing.” Across from Alex, Zhen knelt next to the pile. Without even glancing my way, he called out to me. “Edna, you want your credits?” Shyly, I said, “Y-yes.” “Come over here and help me with the other end.” Zhen did glance at Alex and instructed: “When we pull it up and out, I want you to run your hand over the edge. You're feeling for any tears, nicks or thinning in the hem.” “Got it. Coming, Ed?” When Alex called me over too, I couldn't refuse. I got off of the bottom of the stairs and carefully walked over to them. As I bent over to pick up the other end of the fabric, I felt a stitch in my back. I kept my mouth shut and endured the muscle pain. Bending over was all I could manage. My kneecaps had experienced a crippling accident a few years back. Only in the last year had I been walking. To be honest, I had no idea why I was with these guys. The credits were an excuse for school. I could have gained those points behind a desk. Zhen was a dark-golden, black haired, short and wiry guy with the biggest and roundest glasses I'd seen on anybody's face. He was very sure of himself. Alex had the same golden tone as Zhen, but he was Hispanic. He was thick-limbed and strong. He had a barrel chest, but his stomach was a bit more pronounced. Richy was a farm boy in the big city. He was of average build and had decent looks, but behind that face was a jerk. Then there was me: the only girl. A crippled girl with no future except as someone who sits down all day and fills out paperwork or answers phone calls. That was my goal. My only goal... We had finished inspecting one of the expansive sheets and had been about to pick up the next -- -- but as I bent over, my back seized up and I unintentionally hissed. Zhen immediately took control. “Edna, go sit down. Alex, help her and I'll be back. I'm going to the truck.” One man went one way, the other approached me and I froze. Alex gave my back a small pat with one hand and pointed to the stairwell. “Let's take you back to your corner.” “My corner?” He smirked at me in amusement and nodded. “Am I on a timeout or something?” We were walking to the stairwell as he answered: “Yes. This is a timeout for you to get better.” He shrugged. “I don't know what Zhen is up to, but I'm sure it'll help.” I grinned as I grabbed the stair rail for support and asked: “Help me or you guys?” “Maybe both?” He shook his head. “Zhen only knows.” Our curiosity didn't last long before Zhen reappeared. He carried a big box and set it down. When he opened it, he pulled out an odd article of clothing, golden-framed and with a bright red inlaid draconic decoration surrounding the midriff... It took me one second to recognize what he had in his hands. “Is that a corset?” “No. It's a back brace... a fancifully embroidered back brace.” Zhen held the brace out to me. Once I took it, he knelt back down and pulled out a strange, thick cylinder. He shook it and the bottom of it extended down to the floor. He turned it upside down and shook it until the other end reached the floor too. With a clicking noise, both ends locked in place. I asked: “What is that?” “A staff. Instead of wasting your time here, you can rely on this and come back with us to sort everything out.” I gave him a deadpan stare as he held the extension staff out to me. “Here. Take it.” I took it. “I thought we didn't have any poles?” “That's a staff. And I never said anything about not having poles. Richy was the one who mentioned not seeing any.” “That's not going to collapse on her, is it?” When Alex said that, I immediately became self-conscious of my weight. I wasn't big, but I wasn't model material. And Zhen snapped open the back brace for me. He gave me a straight-faced look and nodded for me to enter the brace. I used the staff to hold myself up and Zhen put the brace on me. I'd never worn one before, and had no idea how the thing should be secured. And that was when I realized my terrible mistake! He shifted the thing around my middle and strung together the harness on the sides -- -- and yanked! I hissed. He yanked again, eliciting another hiss. “Fucking Hell! Zhen! Take it off.” It had hurt being put on and I felt constricted by the brace... no, that was definitely a corset. He yanked on the third harness around and under my bust. “Zhen!!” In case he hadn't heard me, I put all the pain he was inflicting into the yell. “It's on. You'll be fine and now you can help us.” He laid his hand on my shoulder and stated: “No more pain. Trust me.” I mumbled and grumbled as we went back to the colorful dragon hoard. After an hour of assisting the two, I discovered Zhen was right. I felt no pain.       The next day “Jesus H. Christ. They actually showed...” Why Richy seemed pissed about Zhen's party showing up, I had no idea. On second thought, that was a lie. I knew why Richy was upset. He wanted Zhen to be wrong about something for once. I kinda did too, but not at the expense of others. On a third thought, I wound up wearing Zhen's damn corset again. I appreciated the staff, but when I looked in the mirror and saw how I appeared with the corset, I looked funny. Like I was only wearing one piece of a set. To myself, I said, “Maybe I am?” While Zhen's party was figuring out how to put on the dragon suit, I walked over to the big box by the stairwell and looked inside. Gold and red. Whatever I was wearing was a part of a set. My gaze drifted to the extension staff. It was a ruddy-red. “Zhen!?” He appeared surprised when he saw me looking through the box. With a smile on his face, he raced over. “Do you want to try it on?” My mouth partially opened, then closed. Looking back in the box, I picked up some of the pieces to inspect them.  “What is it for?” Instead of telling me what it was, he gave me a history lesson... or a mythology lesson. “Dilong is an earth dragon, but also a dragon of the river. A friend of the Sea Kingdom. The costume in there is the Sea Dragon Armor.” “Okay.” To be sure, I asked: “So it's armor?” “Yes. I told you that was a back brace.” I rolled my eyes when he said that. When I laid my eyes back on him, his smile grew. And I didn't like it! “What?” “Try it on. I'll help you.” He was quickly on his knees and taking out each piece of the gold and red set. “Zhen... please, no.” In exasperation, I tried to protest, but he pulled out everything and became assertive with sliding on certain parts. Like armbands and gloves, a big coat, shoulder guards, thigh-knee-shin pads, and more. He even put a long feathery crown on my head that had to be secured with an elastic string beneath my jaw. I stood there in silence, leaning on my staff and gazing into empty space with a mile-long stare. When I turned to look at Alex and Richy, they snickered! Then Zhen turned and waved his crew over. He spoke to them in a hushed voice before he waved back to me. Zhen's party appeared to be enthusiastic about something as their chatter escalated excitedly. When their little party broke, Zhen came back and told me: “You're going to be a part of the attraction.” “...What?” I couldn't have heard that right. “Say that again?” “You'll be fine. The role you will take is dainty, shifts back and forth, titters behind a limp wrist... oh yes, definitely hold the staff like this from now on.” He took my hands and manipulated them in an odd angle around the staff. I felt like I was giving the staff a monkey's grip. Zhen backed up and said, “Now I want to hear you laugh.” “Laugh?” He gestured for me to commence with the laughs. “Ah, okay.” For a moment, I had to work up the courage to laugh at nothing. Then I laughed. “Ed, come on. You can do better.” I narrowed my eyes at him and tried louder. “That's not what I meant. Try a real laugh. The kind that would snap you out of that corset.” My jaw dropped. “You said it was --” “Edna! Laugh for me! Show me how a King would laugh!” That was a strange request. But I did what he asked. I pulled in lungfuls of air, and laughed boisterously. He was about to speak again, but after confirming my suspicion about the corset, I didn't give him a chance to speak. I laughed in his face, loud. Laughed until my stomach really did hurt! I had to hold my side and lean on the staff at the same time by the time I finished my ruckus. Zhen's smile was absolutely genuine. “You're perfect. Young boyish face --” “Boyish?” I gave him a glare with that remark. But he continued as if he hadn't heard or paid me heed. “-- slender and small, light and clear skin, bright blue eyes, and excellent short hair... we need more hair.” “More hair?” I was more baffled at him commenting on my short hair and demanding more! He turned away from me while I caught my breath. Zhen pointed at me and I only caught one word as he spoke: “Wukong.” That name sounded familiar. I could have sworn my little brother would play an online game with a monkey character with that name. “Wait a sec... isn't he in --” “Come over here and allow them to work on you.” I stood my ground and stared at Zhen with both shock and defiance. “Or they can work on you there.” I practically screeched: “Work on me?!” And I had no opportunity to escape with my disability. His party surrounded me and began a series of applications to my hands, neck, face... they even worked between the outfit to have the costume blend in with my casual clothes beneath! As shy as I was, I kept very still while they worked on me. I didn't enjoy strangers touching me, but they'd already begun their work on me. Plus Zhen's always-right streak grounded me. “Good, good. Excellent!” While Zhen appraised and admired whatever was happening to me, Alex and Richy were besides themselves with barely contained guffaws! I don't know how long I stood there, but I began to absolutely rely on the staff to keep up. My legs began to buckle at my knees... I squared my shoulders and gripped the staff between both hands as I endured the party's administrations to my makeup. I supposed it was my posture that brought Alex rushing over to me. “Zhen, call them off.” Zhen appraised me again. “Just a minute more and she's done.” Alex squeezed past the group around me and gave me a shoulder to lean on. “...Thanks,” I whispered. “Sure... you look flushed.” I wasn't surprised, but Alex remarking on that made me conscious of the fact. I was hot in the outfit. “I should go outside. Get some air.” “Yes. That is a good idea.” Zhen nodded and quickly ran to the door. He opened it for me and elaborated. “We can get an idea how you would look in the light.” I gave him a baleful smile. He smiled back, then jerked up in a jump as I stabbed down on his toes with the bottom of my staff. My laughter rang into the evening as I walked out.       Later that night The warehouse we'd rented was transformed easily into what appeared to be a cave. We relied on Richy for the decor: black tarps and plenty of his country leftovers from before he'd moved to the city. Zhen's crew had thoroughly familiarized themselves with the dragon costume. At least four people were acting as the dragon's four two-toed-feet. The legs were like cloaks to those feet-men. The head had to be manipulated by two people. Zhen volunteered to hold up and blink the eyes, so he could coordinate where to go. Richy was to open and close the dragon's giant mouth. At first, I thought that would have been difficult with Zhen in there too, but they showed me how the head was supported on both their shoulders. Along the serpentine body, Zhen's crew crouched or raised themselves when the dragon would move about. The tail was being swung around and moved about by Alex alone. When the cars began to show up, I would greet them with a limp wave and a little titter as I saw children. “Monkeys?” I had to question that. One of the grownups informed me their school had an event. The teachers and their classes had drawn tickets on what animal to dress as. Some were kitties and doggies, others fishies and froggies, and more... and these were monkeys! I should've been collecting money, but I was distracted by the little monkeys jumping around as they saw me! They were so cute! As the kids first approached me, I discovered my costume had a tail -- one of the little tots pulled it and my pants almost exposed cheek! I shouldn't have, but by instinct, I whirled around on my staff and gave the little guy a playful snarl while comically pulling my pants back up. The kids around me laughed, but my targeted kid hadn't... So I painfully crouched down, crossed my legs, and offered him a look at my staff in offer of apology. He appeared interested and more cheerful, and that was enough for me to appreciate some triumph. I made a mental note that I had better get a decent amount of credits for tonight. The kid with my staff had his parents calling for him, so I took my staff back. Unfortunately, I had trouble standing back up. Instead of going through the ordeal, I slumped my shoulders and frowned a comically grumpy face... A moment later, my back, legs, and skin felt tingly -- -- and I heard screams! Not the scared kind I was expecting when the show would start. Real and terrible screams. I looked at the many butts of the crowd in my face and wondered what was going on. Then I saw a few of those cheeks clench just a split second before the crowd turned in all directions to flee! Without a thought, I climbed up my staff to stand and see for myself what had happened. My short stature didn't help. In a few seconds, I had no need to see to know what was going on. I heard it. A series of thunderous crushing noises. Something massive was moving around in the warehouse. Then I felt it. An earthquake of a colossal creature smashing through the warehouse wall. I didn't understand what I saw. A dragon! Our dragon. But it was real. Alive! Once that thing burst out of the warehouse, chaos followed. Everyone was running and slamming into each other. A free for all to escape. I would've been one of them too -- -- but I'd caught sight of a little monkey boy sprawled out on the ground. The kid who'd held my staff. And his parents weren't about to pick him back up. Once again, without any thought, I slipped against the flow and through the racing crowd to the kid. I had a sure grip on my staff as I climbed to sit down and cross my legs. I don't know what I was thinking. Maybe I had thought it was impossible for me to pick the kid up. But I guarded the kid and blocked the stampede with my staff held across and above my head. I was like a red guardrail! So many people... they couldn't have all come from the attraction. Something else was causing a mass panic in the streets. More and more, the flow of people came and I was barely holding onto the staff. People pushed and shoved until some fell against or over my staff. I was amazed to not have been crushed under the weight, but I supposed adrenaline gave me the strength to keep the masses away from the kid. With him in mind, I glanced behind me to check up on him -- -- and saw children had gathered behind me without my notice!? My jaw dropped and a squawk of shock escaped me as I took in how hairy they were! Monkeys. They were kid monkeys! I tried to ask them about their parents above all the shouts and screams. But the moment I made the attempt, they rushed and clung to my back as a roar silenced me and everyone. My attention went up. Wa-ay up! If my jaw had dropped at the sight of those kids, then it unhinged and hit my lap at the terrifying image of the dragon just feet away! The sky had changed color from the night blue to a fiery orange. I didn't know if the dragon had breathed fire or if there was something else in the city setting it aflame. But I didn't take a chance when the dragon opened its huge mouth! I swung the staff at it -- -- and the extension stretched further out than I'd thought possible! The dragon flinched away and shook its mighty head. Those eyes were crazy... like googly eyes. They weren't focused on a thing! And as I observed it, the dragon wasn't coordinated at all. Its legs kept stretching out in different directions, but it mostly slithered on its stomach. Like it didn't know how to walk... or had no control of its legs. Everything about the dragon appeared to be in chaos, as if it was having a seizure. I tilted my head to the side and laid my cheek on the shoulder pad in confused wonder. “Did I do that?” I lowered my staff and gave it a renewed appraisal. My attention was brought back to the dragon as I heard the warehouse crumble behind it. The incredibly long tail had aimlessly swung and smashed into the structure. “Okay. Time to go.” Over my shoulder, I saw the kids were still there. “Give me a hand, will ya?” Two of the bigger kids came to my rescue -- -- and I yowled in pain! Someone had stepped on... on... “Tail?” I reached back and yanked on my tail. I actually felt it slip out from under a kid's foot before the two helped me stand up. I quickly turned around and followed my tail before I stood still. I felt around my pants, dug into them, and -- -- my head shot straight up when I felt I had more than one head and tail down there. With a sheepishly nervous grin, I pulled out and ended my exploration. Right now was not the time to figure out what was going on with me. Not with a crazy dragon looming over our heads! I used the extension staff to keep the crowd from stomping the kids flat as we made our escape. In a couple of minutes, we managed to get far enough away from the dragon -- -- but there were other dangers nearby. I had just seen a wolfman run from one alley and into the next. A large droid of some kind bumped into a door before blasting it open. A school of little fishpeople were running and screaming after an old lady across the street. And countless characters of various kinds... with our nasty rare bird. The earth shook. I looked back and saw the dragon had come closer, but blindly collided with the nearby apartment building. It didn't stop trying to go that direction, either! The dragon was digging through the building, smashing its way through and destabilizing the whole thing. My eyes drifted up the height of the apartment building. “Uh-oh.” I immediately turned and made the kids scramble across the street! We all managed to make it across. My attention shifted to the collection of tots. I took a moment to count the little monkeys. Then my focus changed back to the sudden silence. With a yip from me, I turned and saw why as everyone and everything had quieted. We all watched the destroyed apartment building tip towards the rented warehouse. I really hoped that Alex, Richy, Zhen, and the whole crew were long gone by now. At least, I hoped they had been before the dragon appeared... our dragon... In an insane way, the uncoordinated movements of the dragon began to make sense to me. I gulped when a sickening theory entered my mind about how that dragon may be comprised of multiple people. From beyond the rubble of the building, I saw the long serpentine tail swish back and forth. That dragon was still on the move... For now, I had to get myself and these kids to safety. The only place I could think of going was a police station. As the crazy Halloween night continued, I fended off one abomination, another lunatic, a hysterical crowd, and so much more. When we made it to our destination, I took note of the huge assembly of frightened people waiting for police to take action. Some of those officers were directing a number of citizens to shelters. The night felt like it would never end, but I decided a shelter was better than out in the open with who knows what else went bump in the night. Punching my heroics out, I called it a night before I ran into something climactic. Those sort of things could be left to the superheroes I'd caught strutting their stuff out there. With my life and the kids' on the line, I decided to follow those going to the shelter. Down in the shelter, I made a more startling discovery than my inhuman transformation or gender change; I was pain free. And because of that, I welcomed those who clung to my back. All night long, I kept an entertaining vigilance up for my little monkeys...

Alex stared at the matte silver of his prison cell, no thoughts ran through his head, just the desire for all of this to end. He didn't truly care how that happened, whether he died on that blasphemous dissection table or something went wrong and caused this entire place to go up in a fiery explosion.   He didn't even know how long he had been held here for, but if they experimented on him once a day, then he had defiantly been here for over a year, but he had stopped counting after the 431st time, it was just too mentally draining to keep count. Alex raised his hand to the ceiling and spread his fingers wide, and slowly took in the sight of all the scars across his arm. This was the most he could do these days, most of his muscles atrophied by lack of use during his stay.   He remembered his first months here, where after the experiments he would complete a physical workout routine, to keep himself healthy and pass the time. That hadn't lasted long though, as his captors didn't supply him enough nutrients and food to keep up with his body's demand. It was slow, but the physical exhaustion eventually caught up and made it impossible to do the routine.   A low-pitched whine, that lasted only a second, dragged Alex out of his memories and sped up his heart for the briefest of moments. They had Pavlov's dog-ed him to what came next. He couldn't stand or walk anymore, his leg muscles deteriorated as they were, so he stayed lying down on the metal gurney that served as his bed as several robotic arms descended from the ceiling to move him to The Chamber.   Alex didn't have a clue as to what they actually did to him in The Chamber, what he did know what that whatever it was caused him tremendous pain. As the arms moved him down the hall another descended, except it had a syringe attached to a chamber filled with a transparent blue liquid. The arm proceeded to inject the serum into his thighs, biceps, abdomen, pectorals and the base of his skull.   The arms came to a stop as the wall to the left of him gave way and seemed to vanish into the floor before the arms proceeded to drop him in the middle of the room. The arms were pulled back up into the roof and the wall that had vanished was back, leaving him in a room that had no discernible exit.   The room was almost identical to his cell; the floor, walls and ceiling were made of the same matte silver alloy. The only exception is the large black horizontal rectangle that covered the majority of one of the walls. If he had to guess, Alex would say that is where they watched the experiments from. He had tried on many occasions to try to break the glass, he wasn't even sure it was glass, but had no success.   He stared at the black rectangle waiting for the experiment to start. It took longer this time, he would say he waited about 10 minutes, compared to the usual minute wait. Maybe this time would be the last, it was certainly the longest time he was left to wait.It was false hope as he felt the tingling in the back of his neck. The tingling slowly increased from goosebumps inducing to slight itch, it didn't stop there and Alex didn't expect it to. As time passed the itch grew in intensity and spread down his spine before branching off and moving down limbs.   The power of the itch increased from a slight tingle to something that might have been caused by concentrated itching powder. Alex didn't mind the itch, after having experienced it a couple hundred times on a regular basis, it was something that he had mentally adapted to. The first couple of months he had ripped open his flesh several times to scratch it, but now it barely bothered him.   The itch slowly transformed into direct pain, it was a small amount of pain, like an overworked and bruised muscle, but he knew it wouldn't stay that way for long. The pain grew slowly like the itch had, becoming concentrated and pure. Alex was struggling to keep his breathing even at this point, it was only a matter of time before he started screaming, or at least attempting to scream. He had slowly destroyed his voice box, he could use it, but his voice was low and gravely and it hurt when he spoke, he failed to produce any sound above a certain pitch, making screaming impossible and the attempts only added to the pain.   Alex couldn't keep the attempt to scream back, the pain had grown bad enough to feel like someone was hacking bis body apart with a rusty saw-blade, every inch, all at once. What little of his atrophied muscles were left, all seemed to cramp, rapidly pulling in all his limbs until he looked like a ball of skin and bones. His muscles would then do the opposite, occasionally sending one of his limbs flying in a random direction. His spine curved back as far as it could as his back muscles cramped. It was similar to having several volts run through his body.   Even through all of this they didn't stop the experiment, continuously turning up the intensity of whatever it was that was being used. The worst part though, was that Alex couldn't pass out, no matter how bad the pain got. There were times where he mentally collapsed and wouldn't respond to anything for weeks after due to how high the pain got. Alex wasn't even sure if he was the same person that was taken, but he usually avoided such philosophical questions about self. It was much easier just to fantasise about ending it all, not that he could no matter how much he wanted it.     Naroth went over the information one last time before the operation. A research ship belonging to a group of Xin't-Ther scientist, they needed 50 grams of a rare metal so they attempted to buy it from a nearby merchant and things went south. The scientist attempted to steal the metal, got caught but managed to run away without leaving any evidence besides a single witness, the merchant.   A single witness can't stand in court so the merchant put a bounty on their heads, a kill order. It seemed simple enough but it just didn't quite add up. Why would a bunch of scientists need 50 grams of Arsonium? Something about this operation seemed to set Norath's instincts off, something that wasn't taken lightly considering his species, the Misteloth, were known for their almost prophetic instincts.   Naroth left his cabin of the ship for the main helm, no doubt where he would find the rest of his team. Entering the main helm he found his group sitting on the couches, each holding a drink of their own, discussing the upcoming operation. He stopped by the mini fridge they had installed next to the main entrance and grabbed a cold glass of juice.   "Alright," He said as he joined them on the couches, the group went silent, "This mission is setting off my instincts." The moment he finished his words the group snapped to attention, preparing to barrage him with questions. He raised his hand to stop them before they even started.   "It's nothing dangerous, nothing good either. Just keep your eyes sharp, ears open and stay on your feet." That seemed to calm them down as most of them slipped back into their couches. There have been many instances where his instincts had saved the lives of the group, it was why he got the responsibility of picking jobs.   "Alright, our course is set and we're expected to arrive in 15 minutes, make sure that you have everything ready for the drop." On that note, he finished his drink and left his crew to make sure that he had everything he needed. Didn't want to make the mistake of leaving something behind after reminding your crew to pack it, it's an embarrassing situation he would rather not be in again if he could avoid it.     Kathida was merely an assistant to one of the glorious scientists aboard their research ship, furthering the intellect of species everywhere. This was supposed to be a regular research exploration testing the effects of deep space travel and trying to make it more efficient and faster, however they stumbled upon an adamantium mine, striking it rich. When they came out of deep space they had landed near a habitable planet, so they sent down a probe to test the atmosphere and check for life.   What they hadn't expected was that the prob would return with a life form, especially not a sapient creature. The creature was unconscious, probably from the teleportation of the probe, it wasn't meant to transport life after all.   They moved it to isolation to better record it. As per protocol, when they found an undiscovered sapient species an alert was sent to the council, although it would probably take them 1 cycle, or 3 years of this planet's rotations. However, before that they needed to gain as much information about them as possible. So they decided to experiment on the captured subject.   They started with giving him 9 injections of D901-34.2701, a chemical compound that allowed the D-radiation scanners to pick up more useful and specific information about the skeletal and muscular structure, as well as any other systems this creature might have. It did have a side effect of increasing the chances of a genetic mutation, however that risk is minute it's effectively ignored.   It was decided that they would start with the ESP chamber to test levels of sensitivity, control and lethality. The specimen reacted with a surprising level of ignorance, it was only once they started to increase the level that they got a reaction. First the skin broke out in what appeared to be tiny raised bumps, then it started to scratch. They had to cut the experiment once it started to rip into its flesh.   They decided then that they would operate afterwards to get better scans and practical experience, and they also healed the self-inflicted wounds.   As the days passed they were able to raise the level of ESP radiation further without getting any sort of reaction, as if he was growing immune. The scans and monthly lobotomy shows significant growth of the overall organ as well as extreme growth in specific locations.   During the dissections they removed several parts of it body and kept them out for a 24 hour period to see how it would cope when it lacked certain body parts, they did however never preform this with what they presumed were vital organs as they only had 1 test subject.   As the months passed the subject stopped scratching, that's when the screaming started as well as the convulsions, but still has time passed they needed to increase the levels of ESP radiation ever higher until it started to reach levels that would kill any of the scientists that were on board. That didn't stop them as they continued to test its limits on how much it could handle.   The creature's muscles began to deteriorate, either from a lack of use or an improper diet. They weren't certain, they needed a larger sample size. However, by the time 9 months had passed they had dissected it enough to understand how everything worked without doing a full autopsy.   Instead, what they did was instead of taking things away, they added things to the creature. They surgically removed the top sitting vertebrae and instead replaced it with a closed circuit nanite core to make sure that all it's organs were functioning properly so that it wouldn't suddenly die.   After that was the new Mk.IIX ESP Flight System that fused with the creatures skeletal and skin system. No particular reason, they had it on board for some reason, plus they got to see how the creature would react. It didn't seem to notice besides some back pain. Which Kathida supposed was a good thing, it wouldn't try to use it to escape.   They fused an ESP Thrust system down its spine about 2 months later, and just to see if would notice anything they installed Mk.V ESP Weapon Gauntlets, but it didn't seem to notice. She had to admit though, by this point they were just seeing what would happen and when it would notice, not really paying attention to what they fusing to it.   It was 14 months in when the screaming slowly stopped, the convulsions and pain didn't. A scan and dissection revealed that the strain to the sound producing organ had become too much, it just stopped producing sound anymore.   It was sometime at the 17th month when they got into a scuffle with a merchant. They needed a particular ore that could be combined with a multitude of different substances that would create clouds with specific traits. They were going to use it test trace amounts of poisons and acids in the air and see how they affected it.   Today they were going to push the limits of what it could handle in the ESP chamber, she watched as the lead scientist, Max'Drali, fiddle with a few dials and levels. She recorded the reactions of the creature as the flesh bumps broke out at ESP 11.4, a level of radiation high enough to kill her. The creature started to show irregular breathing at ESP 19.7, and the contractions started at 23.3 a level of radiation and power that was enough to kill everyone on the ship in a matter of minutes. Except the creature.   She was recording her observations at ESP 26.7 when the ship gave a little shake before the alarm sounded for intruders. All scientists were herded towards the main hall, where there was enough space for all of them and enough for the guards to do their job, limited in number as they may have been.   The screaming started a lot sooner than one should have cared about. She watched as a Thilarkian drop from the ceiling with a PSY blade before it turned three of their guards into minced meat. She watched with bated breath as it turned to face them and began to cut down all that were in her way, guard and scientist alike.   The last thing she saw was the purple blue glow of a PSY blade.

The Price for Victory   "Welcome back!" Silently, I looked down at myself. My form remained in the female guise. Looking around me at the surrounding space, I wondered why for a moment, but dropped the thought. I didn't care anymore. "So, learn anything new this time around?" A weight lowered me down into a ball and I curled back up like I had once before. "I take it you still don't understand?" Between my knees, I buried my face and kept quiet. "Sulvon, you might want to review what all happened and take into account what all you're capable of. It isn't rocket science... Well, actually, it kinda is, but fuel isn't required." I didn't cry, but I wasn't feeling any emotion either. Lifting my face out from my legs, I sat my chin on my knees. "Death. Leave me alone." "C'mon! It was only a handful of times that you died. I know of mortals that did a Groundhog Da-- er, a time loop and never quit. They didn't have as big of a burden as you did. Your goal is to save your race from being wiped out. If you don't, there won't be anyone to step in the path of humanity from purging each world of life for their own gain." I shrugged. "Let them. They are obviously better at everything than we are." "That's the point. Their superiority will become their downfall. If they continue on this path, eventually they will make a mistake that will backfire so damn badly that they wipe themselves out... I'll be out of a job!" No more life in the universe? Sounded cold. Right now, that was exactly how I felt despite the supernatural flames. "Oh now, don't make me beg you. I can't do anything except send a champion in to fix this. If you can't do it on your own, then pick someone who can help you." Lifting my gaze up, I wondered what Death meant by that. "What do you mean?" "Pick someone of power that wouldn't balk at impossible odds." There was someone, but I had killed him. Now even his precious skin was ashes in my chamber. A memory. "I defeated him. He's dead." "Yeah, and..? I'm Death, remember?" Taking this into consideration, I still hadn't a clue how he would be capable of defeating that ship or the countless others beyond our skies. "Bosillur the -- the Undefeated." "...That's irony. On it." There was a guttural bellow behind me and I straightened to look over my shoulder at the figure emerging into my view. "Bosillur?" "Uh, why do you sound surprise? I told you I'd nab someone to help you. Just have to convince him to come back with ya." That would not be possible. He knew who had betrayed and killed him, took his skin as a trophy, and ruled his tower. At least I’d ruled until this impossible task was set before me. Black as the void surrounding him, but charged with the blue and white energies of electric fire, he appeared clear to me. His massive size was twice mine. Both of his arms were corded with wiry muscle that wrapped around a mass that could double the width of my now slim waist. Those hands would easily crush me if those crackling sparks for eyes spotted me. He shook his head, whipping around thick locks of lightning to loosen them down to his tapered waist. Those awesomely broad shoulders and thick chest expanded when he took his first breath and purred a sigh as if in relief. Bosillur spoke calmly. "Never thought I'd have a body again." A dark hand lifted in front of him, turned this and that way in appraisal. "Feels nice. Much better than being some cosmic fart." "I do take great offense to that remark! I do not fart!" Those lightning white eyes turned to search out the voice for a moment before he settled on me. "Not her. Me. Death! I'm all around you and not at the same time. She's just visiting. Oh, but do thank her. She's the reason you have a body again." Bosillur rolled his eyes around to see the void of space for what it truly was, a cosmic entity. Then he settled on looking at me and smiled. "Thank you for bringing me back my form. May I know who it is I should remember for giving me this gift?" "Hold it! Not a gift. She wants to ask your for a favor in exchange. Don't'cha, girly?" I couldn't say my name. Not to him. To take and give back wasn't going to make this a fair trade. It still bewildered me how he could possibly be of help. Yet here he was, and I had a chance to use him somehow. "Wait a minute." Bosillur tilted his head and closed his eyes. That smile dropped. "Sulvon?" Those eyes crackled back open with a great spark. "Fuck this. You -- I should consume you piece by piece in strips of flesh from the bottom up." All I did was hug my legs tighter and lean back down to my knees. He could. It was too late for this ploy to work and nothing still came to mind for how to win the day. "Bo. Can I call you Bo? Okay, Bo, here is the deal. She brought you back and intends to return life to you, but you've got to help her out." I heard the sound of Bosillur's lightning crackle closer to me. Somehow he was moving through this void. "C'mon, Bo? It's for a great cause!" "Shut it!" I didn't bother to look at Bosillur, but I heard his yell. It was right over my shoulders. He was towering over me and the charge of his static proximity caused my flesh to shiver. "Mmm... Might have some fun with you before tearing into you." His skin, nothing could penetrate it. When his great hands clapped me on both shoulders, I tightened up smaller into a ball. "Bo! Stop. If you push this, I'll send you back and be damn sure that not even your essence remains. You'll really be a venerable and stinky gas giant." Those shocking hands sent currents through me, but didn't do any more than that. "Okay, Death. You want a deal? I get this bitch, my life, tower, and Hell, the whole fucking universe in exchange." His face lowered down next to mine and generated sparks against my cheek with a single brush. "Uhhh... How about we start with the world and go from there?" "I'll take the world, but she's still mine to do with as I please. Doesn't look like Sulvon is that great anymore." That smile he gave me was all the reason I needed to bury my face down into my knees once more. "Hmmm... Hmmmm.... HMMMMMMM... Bo, may I have a word with you? In private?" That was possible? "I'm listening." Bosillur's face stopped nuzzling into the back of my neck.  Knowing he could tolerate my heat was disheartening, but if we could never survive the light, then it didn't matter. In exchange for winning against mankind, I would gladly accept whatever fate awaited me. If it was being torn to pieces, then so be it. At least it meant there would be some trace of my existence remaining. "Really?" That was Bosillur. He didn't sound angry. More surprised than anything. "Yep! If you can take it easy, I'll do it. Besides, you died once. She died... uhh -- What number are we at? Five? Six times?" I shook my head. I didn’t care how many times I was going to die. "Death, did you make her into a mute or some shit like that?" His proximity could be felt close to me again. That static jolt of each spark dancing between us was lighting up my bare body from shoulder to hip. "No. Death and Despair kind of go hand-in-hand. She's got both going on right now." He huffed and slipped his arm between my legs and waist to grab me. With one pull, I was tightly pressed to his steel-hard chest with my now pliable-soft flesh. "Despair, huh?" Looking up at him, I saw that his white eyes were lured to roam down my figure. "I'll give you something to despair of after I finish fucking mankind up." With one glance away from me, he commanded Death. "Send us back." "Nope." He blinked and stared out into the void. "Say that again?" "Nuh-uh." "Death. If you want me to be gentle with her, I expect you do as I say." His grip squeezed around me to the point that I gasped. "She's the one who made the deal. Which means it was her exchange to suffer by your hands to help me. I'm only going to listen to her, sooo... Stuff it!" With a growl, Bosillur glared down and ordered me in a very slow and low toned voice. "Tell Death to Send Us Back or Else." I opened my mouth, but Death spoke before I did. "Sulvon. If you obey him now, your suffering will never end." My lips sealed and I stared in terror at Bosillur. He flashed his long sharp teeth at me as he said, "Do It." What did I have to lose? I’d lost my life. My identity was no more. I had my power, but what was that compared to the light, let alone Bosillur? If he could win, then I would submit. Opening my mouth back up to speak, I directed a trembling voice to Bosillur instead of Death. "If you win in this life, I'll submit. If not --" "I'll win. Just tell Death to send us back!" Flinching, I recollected my resolve before resuming. "If -- If not, I'll listen to you. I'll obey, but not --" "Not as what? A slave? No, you are not worthy of that station. You're food that I just choose to play with." Clenching my teeth shut, I stared up at him and wondered how it was I’d had the courage before to poison him. It wasn't courage. I’d done it in fear and worked up that courage one day. "Bosillur. If I don't, someone else will kill you like I did. You can never trust anything you see, touch, or taste. Even if one day you decide to eat me, I'll be certain to use all that I am to be your downfall from the inside out. Just like before." After I had told him that, I had no more strength of will to fight. He was silent. His gaze flicked to the void once more. "Are we going or not?" "Up to her, not me." Those crackling eyes returned their attention onto me. "Well?" I didn't have it in me to deny him anymore. With one nod, I gave Death the gesture to send us back. "Okay! Y’all come back now, ya hear!"

Reset My race was to be mistrusted. Labeled as evil and cruel. Destruction was always our calling card wherever we visited. All those who would see us knew that there soon would be death and mayhem. It was not an existence that they could tolerate. Nor could we. We fought each other countless times for dominance. Never had there been a single one of our kind to top us all as a whole. Always, there had been a contender that would trump the lesser evil. Demons. We were called Demons. It was true that we grew horns, our flesh was of different shades that ranged from the deepest blacks to the molten bright yellows, and we had our share of features that were not always pleasant. Sharp teeth, scales, tails, claws, wings, crowns of horns, or more variations. We had so many that it was hard to discern if we were one race or a congregation of many lost tribes.  If we were a gathering of different peoples, it was a divided one. No one chose to willingly follow. It was based on threats, fears, or punishment to coerce those lesser evils into action. From across the steaming crags, to the raised heights of razor-edged stone hills, a lake of lava was kept inside a bowl made of those dangerously sharp hills. Any who approached would be swept away, leaving no trace of life as the fiery waves washed all away. And that same burning current splashed against a raised peak of one tower made entirely of obsidian, and I sat, observed, and anticipated the formation of mankind's greatest assembled army. The whole lot of them were ready to die in an effort to at last wipe us all out. Our last bastion. Me, the final lesser evil of all Demons. Being the last one, I suppose that would make me the Greater Evil by default? It made me laugh. "So be it. Let's show them Hell tonight." As I flicked my wrist to gesture for both my legion and garrison to sally forth, I laid back in my throne and watched. Waited. There would be a Hero. A final battle...     "..." Looking around in the darkness, I was a little perplexed at what had just happened. A peek down revealed that there was no floor to stand on. I was hovering in some kind of void, or this was one very deep chasm I was falling in… on second thought, I didn’t sense myself falling. Not in the natural sense. "Hello?" Swerving my head left and right, I searched for the voice. "Ah, hello? Do you speak?" Cringing in irritation and anger, I spoke. "You dare to assume I am a simpleton without a tongue!" "Whoa, okay! Sorry for the mixup there. Not a simpleton. Check." There was a silence between me and this mysterious voice. "Do you, uh, have a name?" With my sharp teeth bared, I announced myself in a righteous shout. "I'm Sulvon, the Lesser of all Evils!" "Sulvon the Lesser of all -- Hey, wait, why lesser?" In frustration, I lashed out into the darkness with a coil of flames to light this place up. Searching wildly, I tried to find the source of this voice. "Where are you! Show yourself, coward!" "Mhm, yeah, I see now why you want a humble title with that attitude. Lesser Evil, got it." I wasn't a Lesser Evil. Not after being the last of them. Enraged, I billowed out a surging inferno that had ever been present within my being. It fanned outwards in a great sphere. From a distance, I watched it wave outwards until the ball of power could no longer be maintained. It broke apart, but it had reached out so far that I could no longer depend on its illumination to see. "You like playing with fire, don't'cha?" This hunt was not over. Darkness was a friend and there was plenty of it. Tapping into a neglected vein, I entered the shadows with my senses to feel out for this voice. When I touched the darkness, the Darkness touched back. "Hey! No touching!" I choked in shock. The voice was the Darkness. This entire Void was what was speaking to me. "Sulvon, a Lesser Evil who likes to play with fire and has a real temper. Sounds like a good summary. At least, it's a start." My mouth went dry. Where was I? "Who are you?" "Well, since you gave me your name, I guess it would be polite to return the greeting. I'm Death." Seriously? This was Death? "Are you joking?" "Right now? No. Do you want to hear one?" I shook my head. "No." After hearing who this was, I didn't feel like hearing anything amusing anymore. This was Death. That meant I had died and I’d forgotten how it happened. "Oh, you'll come around. I'm sure a little joke won't hurt? For you, how about the effort you put into that final battle? That was a real hoot. Sitting on your throne doing nothing until there was just you. C'mon! What did you call that strategy? Last Man Standing? Great for a free-for-all, but you had legions under your command --" "SHUT UP!" Lowering my head, I shook it and felt true despair for the first time. What he said was what hurt. I was not just the last Lesser Evil, but the very last of my kind that had died. There were no more Demons. "You know, if you are that broken up about it. I could give you another crack at it? Maybe this time put a little effort in it?" Did I hear that right? "You will give my life back?" "More than that. I'll send you back before you sat down and awaited your demise." Nodding, I was more than willing to do something different this time around. "Please. Send me back." "Ah, wait. Before you go, there is one little catch." I quietly waited to hear what this was. When nothing was said, I closed my eyes and bowed as low as I could to my dangling feet. "Please. I beg you. Send me back. I will offer anything in return." "Oh, I'm not taking anything. It is a gift. Knowledge. Each time you fail to avert the events of this battle, I'll grant you knowledge of how to prevent this calamity." This didn't sound like a bad catch at all. Why was it that I had the impression a warning was hidden in this? "Ve-- Very well? Please, may I go?" "Sure! See you in a little bit."

Most everything I tell you from here on out's truthful. Some names've been changed and I filled the gaps in my memory with what I think happened, but aside from that, this story is the truth. As much as some of it might seem like bullshit, nothing here's an outright lie. I'd've liked to tell you more about my baby years, but ain't nobody's around who remembers anything about that anymore. Even if there was, I don't care much to ask. All you gotta know is that my name's Hosea. Hosea Fisher, born to the bravest woman I know and the man who was meant to father me in the charmingly crummy fishing village in Virginia named Menhaden Bay. Now that John guy decided to sing about our neighbors out west, but I kinda wish he sung about down here instead ‘cause nobody who ain't here to buy something ever stops by. It's a shame, really. There ain't no other smell than ocean and fish here, but it's a nice place, especially for fishing. Don't let the name fool you, menhaden ain't the only thing you're gonna catch here. There's a buncha striped bass swimming around and even some sturgeon. It really is a nice place. Anyway, you don't need to know too much about my hometown. What you gotta know though is that my good friend who told me to write this shit in the first place also told me to not reveal things until they're important ‘cause even though I wrote this for myself, he said it'd do me good to read a halfway decent story. I'm keeping things a secret, but I ain't telling no lies. He also told me to start the story at a point closest to the ending and with lotsa important things going on, so with all that in mind, I guess the best place to start would be the summer of nineteen seventy-three, when I was eight. It must've been a midday in August ‘cause it was hot as hell, at least a hundred degrees. The roads were blistering. The heat must've gotten to my head ‘cause before I even realized it, I was a hair's breadth away from drowning by the pier near home. It's all become a blur to me now, but I'd never forget drinking more river water than most anyone's ever drank in their life. It was a bitch of a feeling, but I'll never forget it as long as I live. In the first place, I shouldn't've even been in water deeper than my knees ‘cause I couldn't even swim, for Chrissake. I thought to myself that day "Shucks, since I can't swim, how 'bout I just learn to swim!" and so I tried to, without any grownups or floaties. We were all dipshits when we were kids, but I was a special brand of moron, and I still am. I thought I was just about a goner. I thought I was gonna be the haunting spirit of the river like the grownups said I'd become if I fell in with nobody around. Right as I was about to drown, a hand and a voice reached out to me. It was a girl's and she yelled "Grab on!". Most everyone in my village knew each other, but I'd never heard her before. I took a glance at my would-be rescuer once I got my head outta water and I saw the most beautiful girl I had ever seen in my life, and she still is too. She had on this adorable little sunhat over her dazzling head of red locks. In fact, I was so swept off my soaked feet by her that I didn't even think to grab the hand she reached out to me.  "Grab my hand, darnit!" she yelled once more. I finally snapped back to my senses and grabbed her hand. She struggled to pull me out of the water, even almost falling in herself at one point, but by some miracle she managed to pull me up to dry land where we both laid spread out and out of breath. "*pant* *pant* are you... all right?" she asked. "Just about... I think. Thank ya, missy. I woulda *pant* died if it wasn't fer you." "What were you doing anyway...? Can you even *pant* swim?" "W-well..." I hesitated to answer. My cheeks were more flushed than a good toilet and it ain't ‘cause of the heat, I assure you. "You don't even have *pant* to tell me. You obviously can't." "That ain't true!" I was a liar then, but I promise I ain't one now. "Rubbish!" she yelled. "You had no idea what you were doing! You were flailing all about, clear as day!" she furrowed her brow and stared straight into my eyes. Her eyes were like lil emeralds, but anyway I couldn't hold her gaze and stood up. "Yeah, yer right. I can't swim. Make funna me if ya want!" I crossed my arms and pointed my nose to the sky. "What's that you got in your hand there?" she asked as she got up. "This thing?" I held it out to her. "A necklace. Them here's pearls, from the ocean." If I remember correctly, which I ought to'cause I kept it for quite some time, my necklace was technically a pearl necklace, but it ain't like any you've ever seen before. For starters, there weren't pearls all around it. There were just a few, maybe around five, with two shiny big white seashells flanking one of the pearls while the rest of the pearls flanked them. The one in the very middle was especially gorgeous. It was the shiniest, roundest, and whitest of them all. "Hmm..." she studied my necklace real intently. "Purty, ain't it? It's one of a kin-" "I'll buy it off you!" she exclaimed as her warm, lily-white hands clasped mine. "How does eighty sound?" "Eighty..." "Yep yep yep, and it'll be all yours. Just say the word!" "I... I'll try and think about it." The girl turned away from me, took off her hat, and went to sit at the end of the pier. She looked up at the sky while swinging her feet back and forth. I finally managed to get a good look at her without getting all flustered. She was wearing an elegant white sundress with some yellow flower-shaped embroidery at the hem. She was a bit shorter than me and really skinny. She also had these rosy little kneecaps that caught my eye when she was swinging her legs back and forth. In fact, she swung them so hard I thought her sandals were gonna slip off, but thank God Almighty they didn't. I was already so head-over-heels for her that I probably would've jumped in after them. She noticed I was staring and looked back at me, so I quickly tried to think of something to say. "Say, do ya know how to swim?" I said while approaching her. "Yeah, I've been taking lessons since I was five." she pulled her legs up, probably realizing her sandals were slipping. "How 'bout we play a lil game?" I said as I took off my necklace and squatted down. I pulled the two seashells and one of the pearls off of the necklace's string and arranged them over the wooden pier. The girl watched me, much to her amusement. "I'll put this 'ere pearl under this shell over 'ere and after that, I'll start movin' 'em around real fast and you'll have to guess where the pearl is once I'm done. If ya guess right, I'll hand over my necklace for free, but if you guess wrong, you gotta give me swimmin' lessons." It looked like she was about to say "yes", but she shook the amusement off her face and frowned. "I'm not in the mood for games. I'll give you eighty-five for that necklace." "What's to lose, missy? Ya can get the necklace for free and even if ya don't get it right, all ya gotta do is teach me to swim. Or don't tell me, have ya gotten a lil yeller?” I said with a smirk. I swear I wasn't usually this provocative as a kid. Girls, especially the pretty ones, they just get to your head sometimes. They make you not yourself and ‘cause of that, you do stupid shit that you'd never do otherwise. But even so, I gotta give my child self credit where it's due ‘cause my simple provoking riled her up real good. It took her a while though. She probably didn't know I was saying yellow. "I'm not 'yeller'. Come on, I'll show you! I got good eyes, you know, and not just for jewels." Thus, the game began. I placed the pearl under one of the near-identical seashells, the one on the left to be exact, and then I swapped them around. I started swapping them slow, but I eventually went faster. At the end of it all, I gave a little bow to the girl. I guess I thought all my fanfare would've impressed her, but she was more interested in the shells. "Now, where do ya think the pearl is?" She took a moment to think. She tapped on her chin, her freckled cheeks, her temple, and finally her sweaty forehead before making her choice. She pointed her dainty finger at the shell that was to the left of her. You could see in her eyes that she knew she was right. "Final answer?" She said nothing and simply nodded. Little did she know, she fell right into my sinister trap. If I had a mustache, I'd be twirling it right about now. I slowly lifted the shell she chose up into the sky, revealing that there was nothing under it but her crushed hopes and dreams. I saw the color drain from her pretty little face as her smirk slowly flipped upside down. I probably laughed like a maniac, but I don't remember really. She tried to protest and showered me with “buts”, but the fact of the matter was that she just lost the bet and had to give me swimming lessons. Oh, Hosea, your dear old Ma didn't raise you to be this way. You were supposed to protect them little girls, not cheat and lie to them. "Well, if it isn't there, then-" she lifted up the other shell, another dud. She was completely hysterical and tears were trickling down her precious little eyes. I swear would've slapped child me in the goddamn face if I was sent back in time. No, I'd fucking throw that bastard into the river. The little asshole. I looked at her dead straight in the eye with a grin so full of shit you'd think I ate my three meals a day in a pigsty. I then did a bit of over-the-top gesturing like I was some two-bit third-rate street magician ‘cause shit, that was pretty much what I was on this fine summer day under the scorching sun. I don't know what made me act like this, the girl, my near drowning, or the damn heat. After I finished gesturing, I reached into the back pocket of my shorts and pulled out a shiny white pearl. It was a trick I learned from the few older kids that I hung around with. I ain't gonna tell you how I did it though, as even a two-bit third-rate magician never reveals his secrets. "Ta-da!" I shouted like a damn moron. I saw the girl's face regain color, but this time she was red with rage. She grabbed me by the collar of my still soaked tank-top and yanked me towards her. "Y-you... You cheated! You cheated! Cheater! Cheater! Cheater!" she cried at the top of her lungs while throttling me. My near drowning had already made me all light in the head, but her shaking straight up made me wanna hurl. She was so vicious I damn near dropped the pearl that was still in my hand. It would've bounced right off of the pier and dived straight into the river where nobody'd ever find it, even if they could swim. "Hey, I told ya to guess where the pearl was. I didn't say nothin' 'bout it bein' under a shell. It ain't cheatin'. It's a strategy. Ya gotta put yerself in a place where ya ain't likely to lose." I smirked. Maybe my sudden big-headedness came about ‘cause I wanted to talk down to a rich girl. I didn't even know if she actually had eighty-five bucks on her, but I decided to talk all big about strategies anyway. "Yeah, yeah *sniff*, whatever... Now that I look at it, those pearls aren't even that good anyway. It's worth half of my original guess." she said as she let go of my collar and used her now free hands to wipe her tears. "Hmmmm...?" my shit-eating grin somehow got even shittier "Sounds like ya got a bad case of the sour grapes, ya sore loser." "S-sour grapes?! Are you doubting my eyes? You're just a bumpkin kid, what do you know about the price of jewelry?!" likewise, her face somehow turned even redder. "Yer right, I don't know much, but what I know is that this here necklace is priceless! The string, the shells, and the pearls all cost more than ya could ever pay me. My Pa made this necklace by hisself before he left for the war in... whatistcalled? Anyway, ya could never ever forever put a price on it." I stared her dead in the eye, my grin wiped off. The color on her face slowly returned to as it was, white like the sands on a beach. She took a deep breath. "Whatever, I guess. I'll teach you to swim or whatever it is you want, but you mentioned a war? You mean in Vi... Vitami-" she chuckled to herself. "No, no, no, Elise, that's not right. Ah, Vietman." "Yeah, that's it." I nodded. "But... if he's a married man, the army wouldn't want him. Father said he avoided service because he had kids. If he wasn't drafted, then was your father already in the military?" she said while still staring at my necklace. "Nah, Pa was a fisherman. He went out once with Old Man Hawthorne once and caught a sturgeon thiiiis big!" I said as I stretched out my arms. The sturgeon was much longer than my outstretched arms though. I saw a photograph. "A sturgeon? What's that?" "It's a giant fish. You don't see 'em often 'round here anymore, but they can grow longer than a bike!" "A bike..." she paused for a bit "That's huge!" "Yeah, yeah, I always wanted to catch one, but they're real strong. They'd pull me into the river and I'd sink!" "So that's why you were out here drowning? You wanted to learn to swim so you could catch a sturgeon?" "Yep, and I also wanted to try and swim across the sea. Maybe I'd end up in Vietma-" "That's it! How about I teach you to swim and we go catch a sturgeon together. I'll be around for the rest of summer vacation, so that'll be enough time for you to learn to swim and for us to go catch ourselves a water bike!" she raised her arms in front of her, clenched her firsts, and began pretending to ride a bike. "That's right, ya ain't from around here, right? Nobody 'round here 'cept for the school teachers talk like ya, and even then, most of 'em don't." I said as I skipped a rock over the river. She applauded. "I'm here on vacation. I'm from up north." she pointed away from the pier. "It isn't quite here, but my family's got a summer home not too far from here." "That so? Then why're ya over here instead of with yer folks?" I asked while reaching for another stone. "The car broke down and I got bored while waiting for the butler to fix it. It probably would've taken a long time, the engine made an awful sound." she said as she grabbed the stone I was aiming for before chucking it into the river without so much as a bounce. "I mean, if we got time to spare, then how 'bout we get started with those swimmin' lessons right now? I can even teach ya to fish if ya want, but I ain't gonna teach ya my pearl trick though." "I’d have to pass for today. Old Maurice ought to be done with the car by now. I'll try to be back here tomorrow though, if I can remember the way." she said as she stretched her arms. "Sure, tomorrow then." I started walking away from the girl towards my home, which was not far at all from the pier. She walked in a different direction from me. I spent a lot longer on that pier than I ever imagined I would. My Ma would have hell waiting for me at home. I didn't have a watch, so I didn't know what time it was, but I knew that it was way past lunch time. This'd all be hell to explain to Ma once I get home. Not only did I almost drown, but I also made a girl cry and then promised her I'd go catch a sturgeon with her if she taught me to swim. Chrissake, if there's one thing that hasn't change since then, it'd be that girls really know how to get into my head. "Wait!" the girl hollered out in a voice that I could hardly hear. "I haven't got your name yet! I'm Elise, Elise Maxwell." I looked back at her hazy figure and took a deep breath. "Hosea! Hosea Fisher! If ya can't find me, just ask around fer me. Most everyone in this village knows each other, they'll help ya find me!" I yelled at the top of my lungs.                

~~Fearleader~~   Chem-teach Russel yelled out, "Get'yer asses ready! Ten minutes or lose the credit!" "Fuckfuckfuck, why didn't he say we had to participate?" I was more than frustrated, beyond panicking, and further from ready than anyone else here. Still in my school uniform, I’d wanted only to make sure that the props and lights were set for tonight. Instead, I learned at the last minute that we had to be here for the class Haunted School event. "Dude, chill. Just put something on real quick and your creds are in the bag." Wayne, ever relaxed, leaned back on one of the lamps. It was not screwed down or anything, so it fell, and him with it. "Ouch! Damn, uh...mind giving me a hand, Shane?" "Yeahyeah." Reaching down, I grabbed the hand he threw up at me. Immediately, I let him go when I saw the strobe lamp’s broken neck. "Hey!" "You broke—Never mind. If the bulb’s still good, we can set it up on a shelf. It's powerful enough for the whole room." Turning towards the door, I saw that the hall was clear. "Go set that on the closet shelf. Don't close the door! I'll be back after I find something to put on." "Really? You gonna go to the store with what, nine minutes left?" "Maybe eight, but no. I'm sure I'll find something in the closed-off section." "The construction site?" "De-construction site, but yeah. There may be nothing but garbage in there, but it might be garbage I could throw on." "Go for it." A class project with only two participants. That was how well Mr. Russel, our homeroom-slash-chemistry teacher, communicated with us. I wasn’t too sure how he’d react to everyone bitching at him tomorrow, but I wasn’t going to take the chance that he’d fail us all. Getting my mind off of that, I ran down the halls, down the spiraling steps, hitting the ground floor and racing for the other end of the school. It took three minutes. I had maybe a minute to find something and change. I burst through the unhinged doors, clipping my head on one of the bars holding the door shut and bruising my shoulder. I didn't care. My grades were more important than minor injuries. "Okay, thirty seconds. Wherewherewhere?" Inside the wreckage, I could see the old rooms, nothing more than cubical husks. There were a few desks, twisted and snapped in different directions from the wrecking crew. Other rooms had stationary desks for the teachers, but all that was left of them were the bolted-down legs.  Nearly every closet was absolutely destroyed. I crossed my fingers, praying that there would be a hoodie or something left behind. I could use this dust and debris to look like a zombie, or at least someone in really bad shape. I could finish it off with some of the red paint back in the classroom. But I didn’t intend to ruin my own clothes for that shit. After a minute, I still hadn’t found a thing. I was about to call it quits and head back, maybe ask Wayne to switch clothes with me, like he'd care. Besides, I felt he owed me something using my family’s cozy indoor pool almost every day. Something flashy caught my eye in a pulverized closet. Kneeling down, I uncovered it.  "Oh, you've got to be kidding me." Holding it up, I could make out what I’d found: a cheerleader outfit. It had our school’s name and mascot, but the colors were wrong: Brown and red instead of blue and yellow. There were a pair of pom-poms, too!  I didn't have time to complain. I got undressed in record time, then whipped the costume around to make sure there were no bugs or fiberglass on it, and put it on. "Holy shit, this is tight! Come on..." I tried, but the damn jersey wouldn’t go around my ribs and waist. I finally managed to get it down when I sucked in my stomach. Wiggling my hips, I got the pleated skirt to fit around my bare thighs. I nearly broke the zipper yanking the zipper up, but the whole thing fit. Barely. "Time to rock 'n' roll!" I threw my shoes on and high-tailed it back. I was late. I could already hear the doors opening and the muffled voices of the guests coming in. If anyone saw me leaving the closed-off section, I could get into serious trouble for messing with stuff back there or, like, secret drug deals, I dunno! That was what went through my mind. I had to think quickly. "Well, they came for a scare." Sucking in, puffing out my chest, and clapping my pom-poms, I ran out. Screaming! Everyone was startled to see me charging at them. They actually backed off and clustered in the front doors, preventing anyone else from coming in. I ran around the corner and raced up the spiral staircase. I raced to my room and collapsed in a huff. "Whow! Uh, hi?" Wayne looked just as startled as the neighbors. I grinned and waved a pom-pom at him. "Hey. Found something." Okay, this could give me some time to catch my breath. Then what? Do I start screaming again? No, they already got that from the front door, and I didn't like repeating the same trick twice. "Wait, Shane? That you?" I nodded. He looked me over, then shook his head. "Dude, that is some wicked costume. Where the Hell did you get all of that and the time to put it on?" I waved him off, gesturing that I still needed to recover my breath. "Okay, I get'cha. That was quick work." He was laughing as he pointed to the light on the closet shelf. "That good?" I nodded, gulping, finally relaxing a little. "Yeah." I looked around to make sure that there wasn't going to be anything obstructing the flashes. If something caught, its shadow would ruin the effect. Another minute had gone by, and we could hear the sound of voices echoing up the staircase. Beneath us, we heard other classes initiating their own chorus of scares. It would be our turn soon enough. I wondered what the rest of our hall had in store. Lifting my ass off the floor, I peeked out the classroom door. Some people came into our hall; doors popped open and students burst forth for a jump-scare. "Okay, that's ruled out." Had to think of something. I scanned the room for something that would work. Paint! Nearly forgot about that. "Wayne, grab me the paint!" "...Dude, your voice sounds funny." "We don't have time for this. They're outside! Come on, just throw it—FUCK!" Wayne threw it alright. All over me and onto the door and floor. It was pooling, a red mess on my hair and face, running down my front to puddle beneath me. I had to use the door handle to get up in fear of slipping. When I did get up, my eyes widened and my shoulders sagged at the sight of my regular clothes, splattered with the red paint. I reached down to pick them up, but decided against it. Instead, I glared at Wayne, shaking my head. He gave me this sheepish smile and shrugged. That just pissed me off more. "Turn the fucking lights on." I had something in mind now. If I was going to be a painted-red cheerleader, I might as well add a little flair. Besides, I could work out the anger by dancing it off. Maybe I could do something with Thriller. The strobe light’s first flash blinded me for a second. I turned to face the door, then stepped towards it without recollecting the little slip-hazard on the floor. My foot slid forward and kicked the bottom of the door, just as I reached for the handle to open it. The door creaked open with my weight pulling on the hinges. Keeping still, I worried that I might have ruined our first scare. There were hemispherical mirrors in the hall; I glanced to see what the grown-ups were up to. My accident had caused some people to look for the source of the creepy noise, and they apparently noticed the red pool seeping out from the classroom. "Lucky," I whispered. Watching the mirror, I waited for those people to get closer. The strobes of light found their rhythm behind me, flashing faster and stronger. They threw strange shadows onto the wall. That gave me the best idea yet. Maneuvering in front of the light, I stood still for only a second before stretching out my arms. The pom-poms in my hands looked almost like severed heads, held by their hairy scalps. I started dancing like a cheerleader at a football game. Taking a pose, I whirled one pom-pom over my head. I kinda regretted that as some of the paint began to shake and shower down on me. I threw my arms out, flicking paint off the pom-poms. Unfortunately, the guests were a little too eager to see what was going on. Flecks of red hit them, causing them to back off and look at one another. "Oh shit!" Now I was in trouble. I knew they would complain about the paint getting on them. All I could do was keep up the act and hope I got a good grade to balance out whatever punishment I had coming. I twirled around, keeping my back to them, hiding my face. I heard the folks walk in... The first person slipped on the floor, and I heard someone curse as they shuffled around. It sounded chaotic behind me. I knew the strobe-lights were flashing them blind, which could help me, but it was probably just pissing them off. I didn't like jump scares, but I needed to improvise something, and fast. When they reached me, I felt a hand touch my shoulder for a moment. They pulled away, saying: "Eww, wha–blood?" Oh, that was really good! In that moment of confusion, I jumped and faced them with a big beaming smile. That was when the disgusting paint ran down my lips into my mouth. I almost cringed, but seeing their wide-eyed, speechless response, I started laughing instead. They actually ran, slipped, and scrambled out of the door. I couldn't believe it! "We did it!" Then I spit out the paint. "Oh, fuck!” Wayne said. “Okay, Shane, we have our number. Keep this up and we'll score big time!" I ran to the sink and rinsed out my mouth. "Do you think they’ll let the paint slide?" "Who the fuck cares ma—ma'am." Glaring at him over my shoulder, I flipped him the bird before going back to shut the door. We turned the light off and readied for the next wave.           After a few hours, we finally heard the bell signal the end of the night. I collapsed on the floor, tired as fuck, my head pounding. Wayne flipped on the light switch. Despite my eyes adjusting to the strobe-lights, the overhead ones still made me flinch. I blinked to adapt, then looked around at the splattered paint.  "We need to clean this up." I gestured for Wayne to grab a rag from the sink. I restrained myself from rubbing my irritated eyes, in fear of getting paint in them. It took me a moment to realize Wayne hadn't moved. Looking up, I saw the odd expression on his face. "What?" "Shane?" "Yeah?" "Okay, just checking." He turned on the faucet to dampen the rag. I got up to wash this sticky paint from my hands. True, they’d probably get stained again when I washed the floor, door, and walls, but I just needed to feel clean, if only for now. Scooting next to Wayne, I put my hands under the faucet to rinse off the paint. I managed to clear them up well enough before applying the first couple squirts of soap. Again, I noted that Wayne was watching me, up close this time. In fact, he was inspecting my hands. "Hey, what's up?" His eyes met mine. He looked over my face for another second, then he just kept on looking at me. Like, really looking at me from head to toe. He gave me a nod, as if he’d come to some conclusion, but I hadn't a clue. "Wayne? You okay?" "Yeah, I'm fine. Hey, just hang back and get cleaned up. I'll take care of the mess. Okay?" That surprised me. He was usually more laid back. "You sure?" "Of course. You were the one prancing around for hours. I just flipped the light switch." That was very fucking true. I nodded and accepted the offer by soaping up my arms.  "Hey, use the shower," Wayne said. "What?" I nearly laughed. Looking over my shoulder, I saw the safety shower. It was designed to be pulled, so a student or teacher covered in chemicals could quickly strip and wash them off. I really didn't feel like taking a cold shower, but noticing how these clean arms felt compared to my sticky red body, I could probably tolerate it. "Don't worry, I'll lock the door so nobody comes barging in. Besides, I don't want someone slamming the door in my face while I clean up that puddle you made." Glaring back at him, I said: "You’re the one who threw it at me." "You told me to!" "I didn't mean for you to literally throw it!" "What, you wanted me to toss the can at you?" "No, I meant for you to bring it over!" "Why didn't you just say that?" He threw his hands in the air and turned around to clean that puddle with a soaked rag. His shoulders drooped; he looked back at me and said, "Sorry." I shrugged. "It's cool. It added a special effect to the whole event." I headed for the shower and yanked on the trigger. Brown and rusty, the water spurted out a few times before coming out more clear. I waited until it was pure before getting under it. I pulled the zippers down, expecting to feel relief from the constriction. Not really. I guess the outfit had stretched out to fit better. With a shrug, I took hold of the band around the skirt and pulled it off. I easily removed the jersey, too. Breathing out a little laugh, I threw the outfit into the shower drain so it could rinse off while I did. First, I leaned over and poked my head under the stream to get the paint out of my hair. I shivered when the cold water flushed down my bare back. I gritted my teeth; there was no way to get accustomed to it, so I’d have to bear it all at once. Stepping forward and straightening up to stand tall under the shower, I muttered a curse and allowed my whole body to get the freezing treatment. I scrubbed at my hair and the back of my neck before I opened my eyes again. Wayne was staring wide-eyed at me. "What?" I asked, spitting water off of my lips. "...Nothing," he said, shaking his head. He looked me up and down, then turned his bright red face away to work on the equally red floor. Now I felt a little self-conscious about being in my underwear to shower. This felt very different from showering after a dip in the pool. It was like he...was he checking me out? As if tonight didn’t give me enough of a migraine. Keeping my eyes on him, I ran my hands over one shoulder, then the other, getting the last traces of the paint off. As I did that, my hands brushed down each arm, but I also felt my chest get in the way. That caused me to glance down and stare at myself.  No amount of cold water could compare to the chill I felt at seeing a pair of breasts. I began to inspect myself and saw my figure had slimmed in an odd way. Well, it would be an odd way for a guy, but perfect for a girl. It became obvious why the cheerleader outfit slipped off more easily than when I put it on. I ran a palm over the subtle firmness of my flat stomach before reaching down around my hips. They were more flared than before. Maybe it was because my waist had tapered to my pelvis? Running my hand around, I felt a more pert tush than I recalled. Now, I wasn't a thick-set guy before, but I wasn't anywhere near this trim. I now definitely had an athletic build. Specifically, a cheerleader's attractive figure for the fans to appreciate. It took a moment before something in my head clicked. At that thought, my hand shot down into my underwear to feel around. I stood up on my toes and fell back against the slick wall, not caring about the cold water any longer. What should have been in my drawers wasn't. It wasn't there! I felt around the coarse hair, but something else was there, and I didn't have any appreciation for it. My chest seized up like I was choking. My breathing became tougher, shorter, almost down to a gasp. I removed my trembling hand and stood still. I hugged myself, trying to calm down and stop shaking. I don't know how, but a very big something had gone wrong tonight. And my greatest worry had been getting a bad grade or splashing paint on somebody. "Wa-Wayne?" He looked back up at me. For a moment, he didn't do anything. I kept shaking, not sure what to do or how I should respond to anything. Then his expression changed and he scrambled to stand and run towards me, nearly face-planting in the process. If I’d been okay, I'd probably laugh at him. I was not okay! He didn't say anything. Taking one more look at me, he hesitated for only a second before holding his palms out, as if to show he didn't mean any harm. After shutting off the water, he carefully pulled me away from the wall, then drew me into his arms and held me. He hugged me, keeping me steady, even though I felt my whole body shake like a leaf in the wind. I don't think he knew what was going on either, but his earlier interactions with me made a little more sense now. Keeping his cool, like he always did. That thought made me smile. In fact, I felt a little better, soothed, as he stroked my back. Swallowing a gulp of air and closing my eyes, I relaxed in his arms. "Sorry," I heard him say. "For what?" "I didn't know you'd freak out like that. I figured Shane...uh, you, I guess, were playing a prank."  Thinking it over, I guess it would look that way. Running out on him and coming back looking like this would be highly suspicious. Gently, I returned his hug. "I...I'm—" "Shane, yeah, I know. With the light on, I can tell. You look like you could be your sister, but I know you don't have any. Unless you’re his cousin?" I smacked the back of his head to clear that thought out. "Ouch! Okay, definitely Shane." "Awrrrright! Who's dah asswipes that threw paint on the guests!?" We both went rigid in each other's arms when we heard Mr. Russel yelling down the hall. Wayne yanked me off to the side and down onto the floor. Reaching up over our heads, he flipped the light off and shushed me. We sat still, waiting in the dark, as Mr. Russel went around asking questions. I peeked through the door window to spy on him via the mirrors in the hall. He wasn’t stopping at every classroom door. It was like he was only selecting classes with a chick participating. He completely skipped our classroom. I didn't realize I’d been holding my breath until after I gasped. Apparently Wayne had too. We both tried to keep quiet while nervously laughing. We celebrated a little too soon. The door to our classroom rattled as Russel jiggled the locked handle. He knocked a few times and tried the door again, and I watched through the mirror as he turned to probably ask the class across the hall about us. Again, we held our breath. After a minute of talking, Russel left the door alone to head off somewhere else. Our gasp was much louder this time, and my forehead sunk onto Wayne's shoulder. This was all a bit too much for me. I was exhausted from tonight's event, stressed by the trouble I was in, wet and cold, and feeling trapped and out of breath. I’d probably had a panic attack. I needed a break. And Tylenol. I felt Wayne's hand come up behind my drenched hair and smoothly rub the back of my head; my headache melted away. Closing my eyes again, I simply let him continue massaging my head. I appreciated it. His touch drove away the pain and stress besieging me. "Shane? Let me give you my shirt." I opened my eyes and nodded before pulling off of him enough to allow the space he needed. In the dark, I watched him unbutton the front of his shirt. It had never occurred to me how in shape he was, especially for someone who took it so damn easy during gym. It amazed me. Like he didn't feel like putting any effort into anything physical. It kinda made me jealous. I guess it wasn't that he lacked motivation, but rather that he didn't have to apply himself to meet the requirements. Maybe visiting my family’s pool almost every day had something to do with that? Still, I watched the faint shine of the hall light glistening on his smooth chest. He’d probably gotten wet from hugging me. Looking down, I saw how prominent his abs were. They didn't have that body-builder appearance, but I could see them tighten when he curled back against the wall, then vanish when he straightened up to loosen the shirt from his invitingly-warm torso. When he finished unbuttoning, I reached a hand out to the sleeve of his shirt—just to hold it. I didn't intend to grab his arm. Nor did I mean to pull him closer to me. In that moment, I should have said something, apologized and let him finish getting his shirt off, but I froze. My thoughts were still stuck trying to sort out what trouble I was in, what I’d become, and how much colder and more uncomfortable I felt when he stopped holding me. In the next moment, he wrapped his arms back around me and embraced me more actively. I felt better. I’d intended to lay my forehead down on his shoulder to rest. I felt his arms lift me, and I moved with his effort to straddle his lap. I asked myself what I thought we were doing. Each time I tried to answer, I felt less comfortable. When he held me, without my thoughts getting in the way, the soothing warmth and grace of his half-bared body brought the comfort back. After this troublesome night, I really wanted what he was offering me. I relaxed in his arms and leaned on him. I wasn’t really sure how long we held each other like this, but I knew something changed when I shifted over his lap. I felt him below me. It was one thing to feel comforted by him, another to have any kind of attraction... I didn't! It was obvious he found me attractive now. As for me? I wasn't feeling any kind of attraction to him. I mean, he's a guy and I certainly had been a guy. I’d had no choice in what had happened to me. Why would I choose to further this girly problem by feeling something for him? I lifted my head from his shoulder, but paused as I brushed along his jaw and cheek. His hand went over the back of my head again, and that soothing touch took away the stress of my thoughts. Instead, without trying to concentrate on it, I breathed him in and sat still. Then I inhaled more deeply when his raised hips pressed a hard length along me. All I could manage was to pull a little further back from his face. What stopped me this time was his lips pressing against mine. If I had felt warm in his arms before, now I felt hot. There was a fuzzy feeling at first, but it melted away with my yielding lips. He pressed, an assault of his tongue against my mouth, and for some strange reason I opened the gate for his entry. By reflex, I held onto him much more tightly than I ever had done to anyone before. I crushed myself against him. I’d known Wayne for so long, I didn’t even remember how we’d first met! It was like we had always been together. Now we were more attached than we had ever been. We’d never thought of something like this. Then again, I couldn’t think of anything other than what he had managed to give me: A resolve against this overwhelming night. With him, I felt free from any burdens. We went with the flow of the darkness. Whatever we had done in that classroom stayed in that room, and it wasn't until morning that we made our escape. Of course, I did wear his shirt, and we sneaked back to his home. It would take until later in the day for us to figure out what to do about my current condition, but for the moment, I enjoyed dreaming and snuggling under the covers with him. Announcement Special thanks to Trismegistus Shandy and Lenal for the amount of time and effort teaching me to become a better writer. :)

Once upon a time, there was a king and queen, strong and wise, ruling over the small kingdom of Jusinaff. They had a prince, whose strength was envied by men far and wide and a princess whose beauty was unrivaled in lands far and wide. Together with the council of nobles, they commanded respect from even kingdoms thrice their size. However, this story isn't about the king, the queen, the prince, the princess or even their dogs. This story happens far, far in the future. About 200 years roughly, or 227 years to be exact, in the reign of King Tacki the Bleeder. This story is of a merchant's boy named Albell and his betrothed Prince Cole. This is a story of how they put each other down before the date of their wedding. Good day. My name is Albell Sentnaria, 15 years old. I am a 4th generation Sentnaria, a merchant family based in A' Tartima, a port city in the southern region of Jussinaff. My great-grandfather, the great Roberys Sentnaria the First, started the family empire that spanned decades, reaching as far as the far eastern kingdoms. By the time of his death, the name Sentnaria became synonymous with silk trade in Neropa. Unfortunately, his son, my grandfather Roberys Sentnaria the Second squandered his wealth, chasing skirts across the continent. His brother, Adolphus Sentnaria wasn't any better. He took a big chunk of the family's wealth and went off chasing skirts in the opposite direction, across the great sea. The difference was, Adolphus never returned. Meanwhile, instead of trying to save the family wealth, my grandfather ignored our family's crumbling empire and gave his favourite mistress a dining set made of solid gold. That prompted my father, Josephus Sentnaria, 12 years old, to kick his own father out of the house. He sent my grandfather to the family mansion deep in the wilderness with a small annual pension, a small staff and ignored him. When my grandfather tried to escape and reach his hidden stash outside the town, my father threw him back in there and erected a tall and thick brick wall around the mansion. That wall was built as much to keep robbers out as to keep my grandfather in. That was when father truly forgot about grandfather. It didn’t seem to matter much to our family, as father was blessed with good business acumen from an early age that probably rivaled my great grandfather. He had taught me all he knew about business from the moment I could read and write as well as his personal business philosophy so I wouldn't become like my grandfather. He demonized my grandfather so much that when I was younger, I imagined him to look like a demon from hell who had a hundred naked women on each of his arms and ate ema bills for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I have never seen the old man even once in my life, father and mother seemed to think that meeting him even once would corrupt me for my entire life. That brings us to my mother. Father met her on one of his travels as he attempted to find new business opportunities to revive the family business. He first saw her beating up a pair of thieves who were trying to rob her with her parasol as he was taking a break from a stressful business negotiation. It was love at first sight, or rather, love at first heels. She kicked him, beat him up and dug her heels on the back of his head when he went to talk to her, thinking that he was another thief who was after her money. Mother was from a family of small-town crafts, making textiles and selling it in their small shop in the town of Se Alinop. It was after a short period of courtship that they got wedded in a chapel in her hometown. Father took advantage of the fact that mother's family made textiles to expand into the textiles business meant for the commoners. It was a departure from my great grandfather's business strategy that was aimed at only the rich colonial masters and the Neropan populace who grew wealthy from stealing from the natives of the colonies. His gamble worked. The family business was revived. We no longer had a monopoly on silk trade, but father's good business decisions slowly increased our capital and our reach, allowing even our cotton and flax based textiles to gain acceptance even among the wealthy. When I was born, both my father and mother stayed together at our mansion in A' Tartima until I was 6. That was about the time when Neropan economy faced a crisis from the open rebellion of their oversea colonies. Due to the rebellion, cheap goods stopped flowing in, gold stopped being shipped to Neropa and our criminals could no longer be taken away. Neropan economy suffered a depression that had not been seen for over 400 years. Our small kingdom of Jussinaff, as one of the colonial powers, suffered greatly from the rebellions. Before the open rebellion, Jassinaff controlled one of the two biggest colonial territory known to man, rivaled only by the territories of the much bigger Alton. When the rebellion started, Jussinaff had to abandon the farthest crown dependencies in favour of saving money to deal with rebellion in the more profitable colonies. Because of the economic crisis, both father and mother had to travel separately, trying to reach as many of our suppliers and retailers as possible. Father even gave mother free reign to make decisions as she saw fit without consulting him. The only time I could see them was when they came home every half-year to compare notes and arrange business planning for the next half-year. So since I was 6, I could only see them twice every year. Sure, they always spoiled me while they were home, but when I was younger, it always felt lonely as my only company were the servants. As I got older though, it started to become less and less lonely. Not having my mother constantly breathing down my neck every single time taught me to be independent and I was more mature than most children my age. Despite that, the days when father and mother came home was always the days that I looked forward to. That day is today. Mother will arrive later in the evening by carriage. Father will arrive in two more days as he had to finalize a business deal in the faraway kingdom of Rostisse. Imagine my surprise when I came home after school and saw my mother coming out of her carriage. “Mother!” I shout out as I drop my bag and run towards her. “Bell,” mother says as she smiles and takes me into her arms. At 15, I am still about a foot shorter than mother, and she has to bend down a little to hug me. “I thought you will arrive in the evening, mother. How come you’re here early?" “The train ran earlier than scheduled. I was lucky I was already on the train when they departed, otherwise I would've arrived tomorrow morning,” mother says as she turns to our house servants, “Please have these delivered to my room, if you please.” “Of course, Madam,” the servants bow as they start to pick up mother’s luggage one after another. “Not that,” mother says suddenly as she points at a box that one of the maids is carrying, “Put that in the living room.” “Ahh, I haven’t seen this place for tens of years,” an elderly man walks out of the carriage, helped by two of the coachman. “Bell, this is our distant relative from the colonies, please take him to the living room,” mother commands as she turns back and sorts out her remaining luggage. “Yes mother,” I say to mother’s back while offering to help hold the elderly distant relative by his left arm, while his other arm carries a walking cane that clicks clacks on the ancient marble floor. I help the shaking elderly distant relative sit on one of the expensive, ornately carved and generously padded wooden armchairs, a remnant of my grandfather’s womanizing ways that my father once debated selling to cover the family debts. I felt glad back then when he chose not to sell, as these chairs are very well made and comfier than any chairs I had ever sat on, despite their advanced age. When I see the old man has settled down, I call one of the maids to prepare drinks for us, including mother. Unlike other merchant families, the only indication of our wealth are our two mansions, our factories that produce silk from silk threads and a section of ports at the town’s harbour as well as the only drydock in A’ Tartima. We have no money, save for those meant for daily household expenses and the pittance we pay our servants. Our daily expenses and worker wages are paid for by rents from ships that use our docks, so if there were no merchant who would come to use our facilities, we would be in serious trouble. Our trading business, on the other hand, does not contribute to our income, as all profit are used directly to pay the businesses and to settle the enormous debts that father took to restart the company. When I was younger, whenever I asked for something fancy, father would scare me by telling me that he needed all the money to pay the debts or the moneylenders would come and sell me away as a galley slave. Maybe because of that reason, we only have two maids, one cook and two manservants, with father’s friend coming over every Monday, Wednesday and Friday to do the accounts. That friend of father’s, Mr. Jarson, always looked at me in such a way that made my skin crawl, though. “Oh good, you prepared my hot coco,” mother says as she took a seat next to me, sipping her hot coco once she is settled. “Before I forget, this is our distant relative from the colonies, Adolphus. He’s here on business with our family.” “How do you do, sir? I am Albell Sentnaria, son of Josephus Sentnaria.” “I am feeling better, young man. I never thought I would ever see this house again before I die. How do you do, Albell?” “I’m fine. Thank you, sir.” “Very good, very good. You will need your health for the coming days.” “Uncle!” my mother scolds. “Excuse me?” I ask, slightly confused by his words. “I’m sorry. I am getting ahead of myself. Please forgive this old man for being a little too excited,” Adolphus chuckles. “Mother?” I ask, wishing for an explanation. “Damned you, Adolphus. I wanted to wait for my husband before we say anything,” mother curses. “The child deserves to know, Carmina. The earlier he finds out, the more time he will have to make a decision. This concerns him greatly, Carmina.” “Mother, what’s going on?” Mother sighs, then she places her hands on mine, “This is a hard thing to say. I’d prefer if we wait until your father comes home.” “Are we bankrupt?” I ask. “No.” “We lost the silk trade entirely?” “No, we’re still in the running.” “Your family is pulling out?” “No, I would’ve beaten them up half to death if they even try to.” “Father’s dead?” I cover my cheeks with my hand as my mouth forms a long ‘O’. “No, you idiot son. I just told you he’s coming home! Weren’t you listening?” “Then what?” I shout, losing my patience. “You’re getting married!” mother shouts back. “Pardon?” I ask, not quite understanding how that came to be. “Let’s just say that someone of very high birth is asking for your hand for his child,” mother states as she brings a small jewelry box of gold and bronze from one of her luggage. “Mother, I’m not getting married to a girl I don’t even know. Are you even going to show me how she looks like at least?” “Of course,” mother says as she opens the box and takes out a photograph of a dark-haired young girl. “Ohhh, she’s beautiful. Eyes look kind of dead, though. Am I really getting married to her?” I ask, feeling a little excited at the prospect of marrying such a beauty. Of course, I will have to meet her a few times before I can decide. What if her face is her only redeeming feature? What if she has a rotten personality? What if this photograph was taken before she became fat? “That depends,” mother says as she produces another photograph, this time of a young boy with the same-coloured hair. They look quite similar in a way, that one can be forgiven to say they're twins. “Who’s this?” “Your possible husband,” she states. I look at her trying to see if she’s joking. “Sorry mother, you lost me there.” “They’re both your possible candidates. The boy is Prince Marcus Cole and the girl is Princess Mary Collette.” “Prince? Princess? Are you pulling my pants, mother?” “I am not joking. Our king himself asks for your hand to be wedded to his child.” “Our king? They are our prince and princess?!” “Correct, didn’t you know?” “I didn’t. I’ve never left this town, remember? So what, do I marry both of them? Or do I pick one?” “You will only marry one,” mother answers. “Then I choose the princess!” I say quickly. “Not so fast, I never said you will be the one to choose, didn’t I?” “Right… so they will be the ones who choose?” “Correct.” “Mother, I find it disturbing that you’re allowing a boy and a girl equal right to marry your SON!” “You don’t need to worry about it. I have thought of marrying you off to a rich old man who will help pay off our family’s debt. So marrying you off to royalty is a nice alternative,” she says with a mean smile. “Mother???” I say as I push my butt backward, inches by inches. Mother is looking very weird today. “It’s about time that you do something for the family, Bell. You don’t want to marry old men, do you? So far, I’ve got three proposals from old men, would you prefer those instead?” mother says as she makes a wicked grin. “Mother, come on. This isn’t funny anymore,” I say as I move back a little further away. Not that it was funny from the start. “I’m serious, Bell. With those men, I will have to dress you up and make you act like a girl until they die. After which, I expect you to take all their assets and money and bring them home. Of course, they know you’re not a girl, so it’s not like we’re trying to cheat them or anything, at least not before they die. But with the royalty’s offer, you at least get the chance to choose between becoming a girl full time or remaining a boy. What you do and how you manipulate matters so that you marry the princess and remain a boy will be entirely at your discretion. The only thing I care about is that you seduce them and you seduce them so well they want to marry you the next day. Do you understand me?!” “Ye-yes ma’am!” “Good, now are you going to accept this proposal or not? Don’t worry, it’s purely business. You won’t be expected to fall in love or any of that bullshit.” “Umm, okay?” “Good, now open that box,” mother points at a box of hard paper the size of a small table-top. I walk unsteadily towards the box on the other side of the coffee table and kneel down as I open it. The contents of the box make me confused. What does this mean? “Mother, is this a present for the princess?” I ask as I look at the blue jacket, plait blue short skirt and white shirt inside it. “No silly. That’s your uniform. You’ll be attending St. Carina’s School for Graceful and Elegant Ladies in the capital.” “EXCUSE ME!!!?” "You will crossdress as a girl for the duration of your school life from now on.” “Is this princess bent? Why would she marry a crossdressing boy?” “That's actually up to you!” "What do you mean, mother?” “When this prince was asked to get married, he stated that he will only marry a crossdressing boy.” “Wait, so if I crossdress, then I marry him?” “Correct.” “If I don't crossdress, then I marry her?” “Correct.” “Then I'm marrying her!” “Not that easy.” "How hard can it be???” “The prince's father also gave the prince a condition. If he wants a crossdressing bride, he must crossdress as well so that he understands what his bride goes through. Personally, I think the king was just pissed and tried to push the prince to find a bride by giving him an outrageous condition. I can’t imagine how the king must’ve looked when the prince accepted. So he'll also be crossdressing as a girl for the duration of his school year. He will graduate first though, being a year older.” I’m starting to feel something bad coming. "Wait, don't tell me... this gorgeous girl is the prince!?” “Correct. Though please call her Collette when she's in that form. It will cause a misunderstanding that we would rather not have.” "I want to commit suicide.” “Please do so only after we got the monetary reward.” "What monetary reward?” “The crown will give me, I mean us, a reward of 100,000 ema if you managed to get either Prince Marcus Cole or Princess Mary Collette to marry you before the prince turns 19.” Ema is the form of currency that is used in Jussinuff. It comes in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 50 and 100 ema banknotes. In the past, one ema equals to a gold coin which was also called ema. When the rebellions started, our king stopped using the gold standard and now one gold coin (called gold ema) equals six ema. Considering that 1 ema is enough to buy a basket of the softest loaf of white bread, even having 1,000 ema makes a man rich. Our king, who has gone broke from the rebellion, is willing to pay our family one hundred thousand ema? Why do I feel like we’re being scammed? “Does father know about this?” “He does. He gives his blessings.” “I find that hard to believe.” “You don't need to believe it. Just do it.” “What do I get from this?” “Why, you get to marry a prince... or a princess. You'll be set for life.” "Ha ha, I mean it, what do I get from all this?” "Great anal sex?" mother says with an amused smile. "Please don't joke about that, mother.” "You have to admit, it was a funny thought.” "Seriously, mother. What do I get?" "A title?" I growl at her. "I'm gonna run away from home just to spite you, mother." "Do that and I'll make sure my goons catch you and touch you all over the place. Your choice,” mother says in a tone that removes all doubt from my mind that she will actually do it. "Urgh, you don't pull any punches, do you, mother?" “I believe in tough love, dear child of mine. As you well know,” she smiles that sinister smile again, one that pretty much foretells a coming doom. “I want half of the reward, then.” "Not in your dreams.” “You're getting 100,000 ema, what's wrong with giving me, who's taking all the risks, half of it?” "You seem to misunderstand. I'm not going to use it for myself as your grandfather did. That money will be used to revive our family empire. It's not enough, but 100,000 ema will pay off all our debts.” “Half, or there won't be any wedding.” “None, and there will be a wedding whether you like it or not.” “Then you marry him, mother!” "I would have, but I'm too old for him." “You would leave father?” “He'll understand.” I don’t even want to imagine it. “Half, or I'll seduce him and we’ll commit lover's suicide the day before the wedding.” Silence... “You drive a hard bargain. 10,000 ema and not a catty more.” Catty is another currency we use in Jussinaff. It comes in denominations of 1, 5, 10 and 50. It was based on the silver catty, but it had been over a century since it had the same value as its silver counterpart. When the rebellions started, the value of gold skyrocketed while silver remained floating not much higher than its previous average. Nowadays, the value of 100 catty coins (made of tin and nickel) equals 1 ema note, though when the rebellions just started, 1 ema note was equel to 80 catty coins. “40,000 ema.” “10,000 ema.” “35,000 ema.” “11,000 ema.” “32,000 ema.” “12,000 ema.” “Mother, let's just cut the bullshit, shall we? I'm tired of arguing with you. Won’t you agree that it's better if I cooperate with this hare-brained scheme of yours? Besides, we both know the crown doesn’t have 100,000 ema to give us. So it’s a moot point, isn’t it?” “Of course they don’t. Any gold they have are being used to suppress the rebellions. It doesn’t matter if they can’t pay, we’ll still profit.” “No way, what will happen to my part of the reward?” “You won’t be getting any part of the reward, as I said earlier. However, we will be getting something better,” mother says as she throws a folded piece of paper at me. I read it silently, going over several lines over and over as my eyes go wider and wider. “They’re giving us the Karka region if they can’t pay the 100,000 ema a month before the wedding?!” “Yes, Karka region is the easternmost part of the crown overseas territory. It is the home of the spice trade and smack dab in the middle of the silk trade’s water route. If we get it, we control a hell of a lot more than 100,000 ema,” mother said, looking very satisfied. “Wait, why would the crown release such an important region to us? Unless… don’t tell me. This region is under open rebellion!?” I exclaim after realizing that possibility. The old man Adolphus chuckled after being silent for so long. “He’s a sharp one, this boy. You sure you want to sacrifice him to the crown?” “You don’t need to worry about the rebellion, dear son. Your father can sell water to dolphins while demanding them to pay in gold. Besides, haven’t I told you how your father managed to buy the ceremonial sword of the King of Arriga at a fair price before selling it back to the king for six times the price he bought it the day after? You don’t need to worry about his ability to calm the rebellion, my dear son. By the time you become the prince’s bride, people will call you the Princess of Karka. “You already have all this planned out, don’t you, mother?” “Oh yes, I have. Your acceptance of the terms of the proposal was already planned well in advance.” “Why do you even need to wait until father’s home then, mother?” “I was hoping that you'd blame him for it,” mother says with a grin. “Fine, I will be your sacrifice. But you will give me my share of 10,000 ema, mother, if you wish for me to cooperate.” “Agreed. But you will do your utmost to seduce him in whatever gender he fancies. I don't care if you do it as a boy or a girl.” “Aren't you worried that the family line will die with me?” “Not a problem. I'm carrying your little brother or sister.” “Wait, you're pregnant?” “Yes, indeed.” “Is it father's baby?” “How rude!” she smacks me on the head, “Of course it’s his child!” “But you never see each other apart from those times twice a year when you come home,” I say as I rub my head. “We met a few times the past few months. I think this one happened when we met in Dushlan.” “Well, congratulations then, mother,” I say to her, hugging her at the same time. Suddenly something clicks in my mind. “Mother, isn’t there a law that states that the prince of Jussinaff can’t marry a common girl? The bride must be of noble blood?” “I was wondering when you would ask that. Of course, such a law exists. That’s what he’s here for,” mother says while pointing at the old man Adolphus. “Hohoho, judging from your reactions and your confused expression, I assume that you have not yet guessed who I am. My name is Adolphus Sentnaria. I am your grandfather’s younger brother, who ran off with a big chunk of the family wealth. Over the years, I have made quite a name for myself. I am now the Count of Maurice, that small island colony in the south seas.” “That no good drifter is a count?!” Mother smacks me on the head. “That’s rude!” “Hahaha, that’s quite alright. To tell the truth, I am glad that I can still meet the family like this, in the house that I grew up in, no less. It is good to come home at last. I’ve been looking for an heir for my county and my title. I’m so glad I found someone worthy at last.” “But wait, what will your children think if you suddenly hand the title over to a distant relative?” The old man Adolphus gives me a sad look as he says, “I do not have any children. An accident that happened during my younger adventuring days rid me of the ability to have children. You and your father are the only two who can inherit the title. Your father refused, though. He said dealing with nobility is bad enough, becoming one of those pompous jackasses will torment his soul forever.” “Just like father to say that,” I chuckle as I extended a hand, “Well sir, if you have nobody else to inherit the title, then I will gladly take it off your hands. Albell Sentnaria, Count of Maurice, I like that.” “Unfortunately, you will become Countess of Maurice, my dear Belluca,” mother says as she writes something on a piece of telegram paper. “Who’s Belluca?” I ask, suddenly feeling cold shivers all over my back. “You, of course. Your name will be Alya Belluca Sentnaria, Countess of Maurice. When commoners address you, they must address you as My Lady the Countess of Maurice, or Countess Alya of Maurice if the one addressing you is a noble,” mother says as she writes on another piece of telegram paper. “Mother!” I whine at the injustice. “We want you to seduce the prince, so it’s only fair that you use your new title to secure a private room on the topmost floor, the same floor as the prince.” “But aren’t private rooms in private schools very expensive, mother? How can we afford it?” “Don’t worry about that,” mother raises the quill in her hand from the paper and points the feathers at Great Uncle Adolphus, who's waving his right hand at us, “He’s paying for it. About time he does something for the family after running off with our money. Your weekly allowance will also come from him. It won’t be much, so do try to limit your spending to cute accessories, affordable foods, and sexy lingerie only, will you?” “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you, mother?” “I do, very much. It's too amusing,” mother says as she puts all the telegram papers into its envelopes and hands all three envelopes to me, “Would you be a dear and make sure these reach the telegram office? Make sure they give you the stamped token. You should never trust anyone entirely.” Ai-chan So... this was one of Ai-chan's older stories that never managed to be completed because Ai-chan was stuck at the currency. So let's try this again, shall we?

“Will you be 'uhum' okay here, my lady?” my manservant cum carriage-driver, Jaxon, asks while holding a laugh. Meanwhile, my other manservant, Yornell, brings down the last of my luggage from the top of the carriage. “It’s okay, you can laugh, Jaxon,” I say as he releases tiny spurts of air from between his lips. “Uhm, uhum, I don’t, uhum, think that’s appropriate, my lady, heh, hehe,” Jaxon says as he tries to control his natural reaction. Jaxon has been with our family since before I was born, if there is one person left in this world who knows my true gender, that’s him. “Sobs, sobs. My lady, I wish you can bring me along. Who will clean your room? Who will make your tea? Who will do your makeups?” my maid, Ylny sobs into her handkerchief. “Ylny, I’m sorry, school regulations state that-“ “Not that you actually need makeups. It really pisses me off that you can look so pretty… why can’t God give me your face?” Ylny says suddenly. This again? She gave me grief about this just last night. “Umm, Ylny, do you have to say this again?” “Why?!!! Give me your beauty!!!” Ylny lunges forward, kissing and sucking my smooth youthful cheeks. “Well, I’ll miss you too, Ylny. I’ll be home during semester breaks, so take care of the house and great uncle Adolphus for me, okay?” I say to her while hugging her tight. Ylny was brought to our home to serve as my maid and playmate when she was only 8 years old. Being two years older, I always saw her as something like an older sister as we grew up together. In front of my mother, she was the perfect dutiful maid and servant. When my mother wasn’t around though, she was the big sister I never had. “Are these your entire luggage, my lady?” the head of a trio of maids speaks to me. “Yes, are you here to deliver it to my room?” I ask as Ylny bawls her eyes out on my brand new school uniform. “Yes, these maids will ensure that your luggage arrives in your room. I will be showing you to your room once you’re ready to enter,” the head of the trio of maids speaks while her coworkers lift my entire luggage onto two trolleys. The two maids bow at me and ask to be excused, to which I allow them to. Then they push the trolleys carrying my luggage and the few worldly possessions I have towards the Rose Dorm, where I will be staying for the next three years. Three god damned long years, where I will spend all my time seducing the crown prince of the kingdom. Mother had explained to me how I was supposed to satisfy him if he requested it, but for the love of my cute behind, I pray that it will never cross his mind. Suddenly Ylny raises herself and places her lips to my ear as she says, “Please be careful to avoid letting others find out that you’re a trap, Bell. I’m sure you can guess how your mother will react if she finds out that you’re kicked from school.” My body shivers as I involuntarily imagining that happening. “You don’t need to remind me.” “I hope not. Don’t let ‘him’ bully you, okay?” Ylny says as she hugs me around my shoulders since she is still about a head taller than me. By ‘him’, I think she means the prince. “Of course not. Do I look like someone easily bullied?” “To be frank, yes. You’re so darn delicate it’s so easy to bully you, Bell. If I am in a different household, I would’ve been flogged already. Well, that’s in the past. Take care, Bell. Be strong.” “You too, Ylny,” I say while hugging her around her waist, wondering when I will be taller than her. After a few seconds, she retreats before going to stand to the left of Jaxon. Together, they bow at me while wishing me good health. I turn around, open my parasol and walk behind the school’s maid under the shade of my parasol as I leave behind the only family I have ever known. When I hear the sound of the gate being shut, I know that there is no turning back now. From now until my graduation, this school will be my world. Suddenly the maid stops and turns to me with eyes downcast. “The headmistress told me to bring you to meet her right away, my lady. But do you prefer to have breakfast or freshen yourself up first, my lady?” I wipe the sweat on my forehead as I realize that my skin feels clammy. “I’ve had breakfast. Can you take me to the closest washroom?” “Of course, my lady. Please follow me,” the maid says as she takes a different route through a garden. The garden is best described as a mismatch of many different types of tall trees and flowers with a walkway paved with marble. On the school’s side, the grassy ground is covered in flowers of all kinds. Lavenders, roses, spider-lilies, gardenias and jasmines dot the grounds and the balconies of the school. On the other side of the walkway, tall trees pruned to provide shade to the walkway stands proudly. Vines of sweet-smelling wisteria hangs and wraps around its branches, providing another source of the sweet smell to the garden. For some reason, I find myself being cleansed of my worries, of having to seduce the prince and marrying a boy. God, just thinking that annoys me. “Hey, are you a new student?” a sweet voice says making me open my eyes to a girl probably about my age. She’s carrying a watering can on her gloved right hand and a trowel on her gloved left hand. She smiles sweetly as she looks me in the eyes. My first friend, yay! “Hi there, I’m-,” “Annise, what are you doing being rude to Lady Alya, Countess of Maurice?” the maid scolds. “Countess?” the girl’s face pales as she realizes who she is talking to, “I am so sorry, my lady. Please forgive my insolence.” She runs away as quickly as she appears. Seriously, I’m not mad, I try to tell her that, but she’s like a ghost. One moment she’s there, in the blink of an eye, she’s gone. “Who was that?” I ask the maid as we continue walking. “A fellow student like you, my lady.” “Do all the students here do that? Gardening, I mean.” “Oh no. No, my lady, students don’t do that here. Annise is a scholarship student. She is also our groundskeeper along with two other maids. At most, you will only learn to prune potted plants in the home economics class, my lady.” “Hum, I was wondering if gardening is a subject taught here. I’d like to learn how to care for a garden like this.” Suddenly the maid bows at me. “I beg of you, please do not mention this to the headmistress, my lady.” I am shocked a little to see her bowing so suddenly, but she probably has her own reasons. “Alright, fine. I’ll keep quiet. You’ll probably get into trouble if the headmistress hears of this, won’t you?” “I thank you very much, my lady,” the maid says as she stands straight again and leads me to a washroom. I wash my face as thoroughly as I can, then realizing that all my handkerchiefs are in my bags. I look around trying to find something to wipe my face with when the maid’s voice startles me. “Please use this, my lady,” the maid says as she hands me a white towel with the school’s coat of arms. “Thank you,” I say as I take the towel from her hands. “Are you ready to meet the headmistress now, my lady?” the maid asks with eyes downcast. “Yeah, sure,” I say to her as I hand her the towel. Might as well get this over with. The maid places the towel into a basket at the bottom of the cupboard next to the sink. She turns gracefully and she says, “Please follow me, my lady,” as she takes the lead. We walk up the stairs, across the halls until we arrive on the 3rd floor of the administration building. There, the maid walks up to the sole door along the corridor with the plaque bearing the name Arreana Fessack, Headmistress nailed on the door. She knocks it thrice, states who she is and who she’s bringing before opening the door. It’s a very big office, much bigger than my father’s office at any rate. On the left wall, there’s a long bookcase where probably a hundred thick books are kept. Opposite it, there are cupboards and another smaller, but taller bookcase which keeps many big folders upon its many shelves. A large desk with a woman is in front of me, with a large sliding window behind her. The woman stands up when she sees me enter and gestures me forward as she tells the maid to stand in wait outside. “Please have a seat,” the woman says as she takes a seat herself, “I am Headmistress Arreana Fessack of St. Carina’s School for Graceful and Elegant Ladies. I have been the headmistress here for 22 years and I know all kinds of mischief you girls can get into. So if you’re caught doing something bad, confess, because when I find out who did it, you WILL be punished.” Wow, not even an hour and I’m already being lectured. “Umm, well, I am-,” I say before she raises her hand to signal me to stop. “I am not quite finished, my dear. Let’s just say that trying to hide a misdemeanor will subject you to an even worse punishment, as your mother is well aware.” “Wait, you know my mother?” “Of course, I do. A troublesome child she was. When she came here, I was still only a new teacher teaching morals and home economics. Got into one trouble after another, that one.” “But mother graduated from the Free School of Se Alinop.” “So she did continue her studies. We haven’t heard anything from her after she ran away from St. Carina. Too stuffy, she said, humph!” “If you don’t mind me asking, headmistress, why did mother ran away?” “Did you not hear what I just said? She said this school was too stuffy. Obviously, our school didn't cater to her rebellious and free-spirited majesty. Yet she dared to come to me a few weeks ago and told me to admit her daughter into St. Carina. How shameless! One would expect that she would be too ashamed to face me, but not her, just like she was when she studied here! Shameless!” “Umm, well, mother can be pushy sometimes.” The headmistress glares at me. “I hope to God that you will not become like her. But anyway, let’s move forward to what you’re here for,” she glares at me again as she takes up a heavy folder and flips a few pages, “Countess Alya Belluca Sentnaria, Countess of Maurice, yes? Recently named as heir to Adolphus Sentnaria, Count of Maurice, acquiring the title as Count Adolphus Sentnaria retires from his position. Although the inheritance ceremony has yet to be performed, the king himself wrote a letter of assurance that the title will pass on to you. Now as for academics, apart from Home Economics, Mathematics and Swimming, all your other subjects are terrible. Don’t worry, our wonderful teaching staff at St. Carina will ensure your grades rise by any means necessary.” I don’t like the sound of ‘any means necessary’. “As a countess, you have first choice of lodging, and your mother has chosen a Duchess Suite of the Rose Garden. Payment has already been made and annual fees have already been arranged. There are two other residents on the top floor suites of Rose Garden, but one is away due to an illness and another is antisocial, so you will have plenty of time and space to concentrate on your studies without interference from others. As a resident of a Duchess Suite, your meal arrangements are different from those who stay in the dorms. This booklet gives you the details, please read it in your room later,” the headmistress says as she pushes a booklet with the title “Special Meals and Privileges of Duchess Suite Residents’ at me. I open the booklet just a peek. “I SAID LATER!” the headmistress yells in a shrill voice making me drop the booklet onto the desk. The jolt from her sudden yell jolts my brain that makes me feel a little disoriented. She glares at me as she says, “St. Carina is divided into 5 main sections: Academics, Administration, Students Center, Dorms and Field. Students Center is a section where you can find the Students Council Office, Savings Office, Procurement Office, Shops and Cafes and various clubs, which you may join as you wish. The Field section is basically split into 3 parts: the largest is the track field, tennis and volleyball courts, and the swimming pool, another is the church, which you can visit any time of day, except during classes and the last is the school ruins, which you must NEVER get close to. The old ruins have been walled off, but every year there are always girls who think that entering the ruins raise their standing among their fellow students. As for the rest, you can read it in this booklet,” she says as she pushes a booklet with the title “St. Carina’s School, Sections and School Regulations’ on its cover. Apart from the booklet, there is also something that looks like a small leather wallet. The wallet is thin and its size is a little bigger than my palm, but significantly longer. Curiosity got me and I open the wallet-like thing, expecting to be scolded. I breathe a sigh of relief when she remains quiet. On one side of the wallet is my student card, with my face, my date of birth and the date I enter school, which is today. Right under my face are my name and title, both of which are written in big bold letters. I suppose the school doesn’t want people to offend a countess or something. On the other part of the wallet are sleeves which look as if they are meant to hold cards or notes with one vertical sleeve looking like it is designed to also hold ema bills. The headmistress glares at me through squinted eyes. “Another thing that I will stress to you, and I need you to listen very closely because I am tired of saying this over and over again. DO NOT violate curfew. Curfew starts at 9 in the evening and ends at 5 in the morning. If the maids catch you loitering around after curfew, not even your mother will be able to save you.” “Umm, okay,” I say with sweat flowing down my face. I wonder who’s scarier, the headmistress or my mother. “That will be all. This is your student handbook. Read it at your leisure. You join our school a season later than the others, I hope you can cope with the lessons. If you need extra help, I’m sure you can ask for extra tutoring from your seniors or the teachers. Do you have any questions for me for now?” “Umm, no? Think not.” “Well then, I guess our meeting here is over,” the headmistress says as she rings the bell on her desk, “Before I forget, there is a letter addressed to you. Kindly pick it up at the Mail Office. Marea, please get her acquainted with her homeroom teacher, Ms. Rosecca. After that, lead her to her room. You may go.” The maid curtsies as she leads the way downstairs “Miss Rosecca,” the maid calls once the door to the staff room is open. She repeats twice more. “Maya, the maid’s calling for you!” one of the women sitting at a desk nearby calls. Still no answer. “Just go in, Marea. You know how she is,” the woman urges. “Thank you, Miss Yuorish,” Marea the maid bows as she leads me into the staff office. “Miss Rosecca,” Marea calls once she stands behind a red-headed woman. “Miss Rosecca,” she calls again without receiving any kind of reply. Is she calling the wrong person? “Ey, Maya,” the woman sitting next to Miss Rosecca taps the partition separating their desks, “The maid is calling for you.” “Huh? Really?” she turns around and stands up in front of us, “Oh sorry, I didn’t realize you’re here. You’re… you’re…” “My name is Marea. I am one of the maids in charge of student admission. I am here bringing a student who will be in your homeroom, miss,” Marea bows to the woman. “Oh, another student for my homeroom then? Fantastic!” Miss Rosecca shakes my hand as she introduces herself, or at least attempts to, “My name is… uhhh… my name is…” she turns to Marea, “Hey, what’s my name again?” “You are Miss Maya Rosecca, miss,” Marea answers without changing her expression. “Oh my, is that my name? Are you sure?” “Yes, as far as I know, miss.” “It doesn’t ring a bell at all. Well anyway, I teach… uhh… what do I teach again?” “Geometry and Algebra, miss.” “Really?” she looks at the writings on her desk and the books on the bookcase on her desk. “I suppose I am,” she laughs, as the woman sitting next to her desk mumbles something incoherent. “I’m dreadfully sorry. My brain is all muddled lately. It’s so hard to remember details. I was hit by a stagecoach when I-.” “No, you did not! You sniffed too much chemical fumes the last time you went to the chemistry lab!” the woman sitting next to her argues. “Oh my! Are you sure about that… umm… do I know you?” “It’s Lacrina! Lacrina Escha! For the last time, I teach chemistry!” “If you will excuse me, Miss Rosecca, Miss Escha, Lady Alya needs to go elsewhere for now. She will start classes tomorrow.” “Oh ok, see you later…. uhh…” “My name is Alya Belluca Sentnaria, Miss Rosecca,” I say, conveniently forgetting to include my title. “Oh, the pie maker? I’m a big fan of your pies. I go there every weekend or is it every two weekends?” Pie maker? “She is the new Countess of Maurice, miss,” the maid helpfully adds. “Ohhh, a countess, who also bakes pies!” “…” I have nothing to say to this level of ridiculousness. “This is great! I haven’t seen a princess and a countess under the same roof for some years now,” Miss Rosecca remarks, “What’s next? A baroness who builds boats? A duchess who sews dolls? A Vestal Virgin who makes iron tools?”   Ai-chan Psst! You! Yes, you! Do you want Ai-chan to release faster? If you wish to support Ai-chan and encourage Ai-chan to write faster, please visit here: https://www.patreon.com/shiinaai . Please understand that this is completely voluntary. Ai-chan will still post some chapters as Ai-chan can, but without the motivation and responsibility of money, Ai-chan can't break away from other stuff to focus on writing. Even $2 is cool. Won't you help? “The princess is already here?” I ask, a little curious. I decide to ignore everything else she says that have nothing to do with me. “Yes, she started classes last week. Though you won’t be going to the same classes as her, she’s in 5th Grade. You’re in 4th Grade, I heard,” she says, though how she can remember what grade I am is quite a mystery. It seems like not all of her memory’s gone. “If you will excuse us, Miss Rosecca, the countess needs to start unpacking her luggage,” Marea bows. “Oh of course. Have fun. Tell your father I love his pies!” “You dumb cow, the bakery’s name is Senarys. She’s Sentnaria!” Miss Escha says when we were at the door. “What bakery? Who’s Sentnaria? Do I know you?” my homeroom teacher asks. The last sound that I hear before the door is fully closed is the loud groans of the exasperated Miss Escha.    

It has been 1 year since I can think clearly and understand what the adults are talking about. At first I was bewildered, but as I got used to it, I realise that I was the so called genius. My name is Lili Veron K Zaranex, I am the second daughter of King Xivel Veron K Zaranex. I have always been told that I was quite mature for a child, but today, I finally understand what is going on. It seems that I have been using my Mana, to enhance my brain unconsciously since the moment I was born. I don't know about it until a Great Sage came to examine me at the request of my father.It happened two hours ago, when I awakened my Magic and Potential. The sage said that I was blessed with a limitless Mana reserve and was loved by Mana. I call that bullshit however, i of course didn't let it out of my mind. My body is filled with Mana and almost look like my body is Mana itself, or so the sage said. However, my father's and mother's expression was filled with gloominess, I don't know what they're thinking but I know that they are not happy about my condition. Even though today is my 5 years old birthday where everyone should be happy, they have a gloomy and grave expression. Today is supposed to be my first time introduced to the society, and it should be the day I get to know others. But my feeling right know is as dark and bleak like a dead fish. I don't know what a dead fish looks like, but I read in a book once that my current situation is like that of a dead fish. That being the chase, I was brought to the changing room by the maid while father, mother and the sage go somewhere else leaving me behind. Seeing that it was rather awkward, i decide that it was best to start a conversation with her. "Hey, do you think mother and father going to hate me now?" "Ah… Umm.. O-of course not princess, they will never hate you." "Hmm…" The maid gave an awkward and stiff smile as she replied to me. My current expression is that of a calm and expressionless one, I don't know what is going to happen to me from now on, but I have a feeling that it's going to be bad for me. In just this short time of one year, I could understand human nature quite well that it scares me. Thinking that I'm still 5 years old kid that should know nothing about the world, my circumstance is too scary for me to think further than this! This is not my choice to be like this you know! I don't even know that I have this kind of curse of a body! Although I was screaming and feeling down thinking about my future from now on. I did not let out a single ripple on my expressionless face. I keep standing still as I was guided by the maid to change my dress for the party. When I was in a daze thinking about my future, the door was opened by someone. So I turned my head to see who it was that opened it, seeing that it was mother, i let out a small smile on my cute lips to reassure her. "Ah Mother, you are here!? What happened to father and the sage?" "Lili, you don't need to force yourself to smile like that. I already know what you're thinking on your head right now…" It looks like my fake smile has been seen through by her, but her expression was very gentle as she stared at my eyes without blinking. After the maid's done changing my dress for the party, she then bowed and then quietly left the room. i did not move my gaze and keep staring at mother with a downcast expression. "…. Mother…. What should I do?" "…..." Hearing my question, she did not replay to me but moved her body closer and hugged me really tightly. My expression right now must be really sad and gloomy for her to hug me like this. "Don't worry Lili, mother will not let you be used by others. And I'm sure that your father will not permit it either! So don't worry, okay?!" "Mmnn…" No matter how you say it mother, the thing that has been heard by the maids and that sage will be spread outside! Even if you and father try to hide it, with me being like this, they will notice there is something strange about me… But if I said it then I'm sure that mother will be very sad and very distressed! When I tried to hug mother back, I heard a heavy and hurried footstep from outside. The footstep seems to be coming toward this room, so I'm sure that it was father. Before long, the door was opened with a strong force and father came in with a grave expression. *Bang!* "…. I am sorry Lili… Your father is incompetent… But don't worry, next month is the birthday of Emperor Julius first son, we can ask the Emperor to protect you!" "… Will the Emperor help us, Xivel?" While father was looking frantic and disappointed, mother asked him with a worried tone and sad expression. "To tell you the truth… I don't know. But I will make sure that he protect Lili. So don't worry Iralia, I will do everything I can!" At father's reply mother looked at him with a distressed look, while he is looking at me with a very serious expression that it scared me a little. Speaking about the Emperor, i suddenly remember about his first child, the first Prince of the Empire, Alexius Merga Zaxvius, I have not heard anything about him except from his name though. It would be a lie if I say that I'm not curios about this mysterious prince.Usually for every big empires and kingdoms, it was very hard to hide the existence of the prince in such secret like that! Even for me who has never gone outside of my room, however, all of my information has been spread outside and I was left with no privacy at all.... It was the same for every Kingdoms and Empires, the life of the Princes and princesses were known by every factions. So it was a bit strange that there is no leak about this kid! I was a bit frustrated… No… I am frustrated! It's not fair at all! While thinking about that mysterious prince, mother carried me into her embrace while kissing me on the cheek… Mother please stop doing this kind of stuff, I am not a child anymore you know! I'm now 5 years old already! I forgot that 5 is still nothing but a child.... curse this extra knowledge in my brain!! "Don't worry Lili, mother will always be by your side during this party!" "That's right Iralia, don't leave her side no matter what! However, I really hope that the Emperor or the Empress could attend the party…" I know that I shouldn't say this but… Mother you are too close!! And father, can you not look like a despaired wretched old man… It's disgusting… *********** Meanwhile, inside a castle in the spacious and luxurious hall, there is a man with a scar on his face that is looking at the person bellow him with a sneer on his face. He was sitting in a scary looking chair that looks like a throne and there is a dragon head on both of the armrests. The throne looked quite intimidating with its black and red color, especially the black dragon head on the armrests. He looked like a 50 or so years man, but with his fit and muscular body, he looked like he is still in his 40. "Is what you said true?! That wimp's child the second princess is actually such a treasure!?" The scarred old man said with a deep and hoarse voice. He glared at the man kneeling below him while tightening his grip on the armrests. The man kneeling on the ground trembled a little when he heard the scarred old man's deep and hoarse voice. Without raising his head, the kneeling man then said with a firm tone. "I did not dare to lie, Master." "Heh… Hahahaha… What are you waiting for?! Hurry and get that little brat here!" The scarred old man shouted with anger at the kneeling man. "…. It would not be possible…." Said the kneeling man with a firm tone. No one know how his expression looked as of right now. After saying that the kneeling man then disappeared like a smoke, leaving the scarred old man alone in the spacious and luxurious hall by himself. Seeing that the man who is kneeling disappeared, the old man was at first stunned, then his face turned green, and from green to red, it was like his head was about to explode from anger. He then stood up and then the scarred old man shouted while letting out a frightening blue aura around his body. "YOU LITTLE BASTARD!!!" His angry shout however was not heard by anyone but himself. .... "Hey, hey, hey. Do you know that today is little Xiv second princess birthday right, Theresa? Wanna go there and have a look? I heard that the child is quite interesting." "Sure, I'll go take a look. Oh, and I want to take Alex with me, is that okay?" I have been used to seeing this bastard loose expression, he was cool if he stayed silent, but when he opened his mouth… He is like a shit playboy wanting to flirt! But I cannot deny that I fell for this bastard's charm… I wonder what kind of magic did he use to make me madly in love with him. "…. I don't mind, but I will have to go with you too. If my prediction is correct then that old man will be there too. It's fine if you go alone, but it would be quite problematic if Alex came with you." "Hoho~ It was rare to see you look so serious like this~~ But I was a bit hurt, why I would be fine if I go alone? Don't you feel worried about me at all?!" It was indeed rare to see him look serious like this and I was really happy to see it… But his words displeased me, so I gave him a pout while narrowing my eyes. "Hmm~~ Whaatt is thiisss~~ My lovely Theresa is pouting! You should do this often, you look so damn cute right now!! Hahaha." "... You really love to get beaten huh, Julius! You should have said it if you want to be trashed by me. I would gladly accompany you no matter how long it is you know~~" "..." Oohh, his stiff smile is really interesting to see no matter how many times I see it. I gave him a sweet and lovely smile in return.

I know that even though mother rarely visited me, she has always been watching from somewhere using her magic. From one time when she visit me, I realized something different from her. It was her stomach, she always visited me at least once every week, unlike that stupid father who never came even once! There is a bulge on her stomach, although it's still small, there certainly is a bulge in it. At first I thought that she got fat, but I throw away that thought as there is no way an Empress like her to be fat! Where is her image if she were to be fat?! Father would be losing his face then… Joke aside, i realized that it must be a baby, she must be pregnant with my little brother or sister. And her visit has become quite frequent as of late. From once in a week to three times a week, she has always been playing with me, taught me words and show me a picture book. Her time visiting me keep increasing as the months pass by. It has been seven months since her frequent visit, and her stomach is already big enough to be noticed by others. I keep playing my part as a kid of course and ask her about almost everything. Gotta play my part right, I don't want to be called strange or being possessed or something! Mother have been staying and sleeping with me for the past 2 months now. Probably going to stay that way until my little brother or sister is born… Now I know something from my current mother in this world… Ah, I probably should not call her that. Anyway, my mother expression is almost never changing, cold and look indifferent. But, that was not true at all, she has always smiled and act cutely just to see me laugh…. Imagine a drop dead gorgeous idol girl coming to you and act cute like a kid… it almost gave me a heart attack… That contrast between a cold and indifferent beauty with this cute and always smiling one is just too great of a different! And whats more, her trying to sound like a kid is a great shock to me too, just like now… "Alee~~ Whahth ar chu dhoing~~?" "…..." This is madness… I just can't take it anymore!! I ignored her and keep playing with the picture book she brought for me. However, I underestimated her persistence!! Where is the cold and expressionless woman I met a while ago?!! Where did you hide her?!! Give my mother back you impostor!! Seeing her still trying to pester me, I pointed at the picture book to distract her from trying to carry me. "Maammaa~~ Cwordh!" "Hmm Yhes thaths a cwordh~~" What the hell!! Can you talk normally, you… Kuuhh!! Not good, not good. I almost blew up my acting… I stared at her ruby eyes while sucking my thumb. "Cwordh… Whant!" "Oh no, no, no. You can't have that! I won't let you have it! That is dangerous for you my child." Huuuhh!?? What is this, did she just revert back to her cold and cool beauty mode just now? I see, I see… Let's test it out again! "Whant! Whant! Boooo" "... Who the hell buy this kind of book… My precious child is tainted now… I need to kill the bastard!" Aren't you the one who bought it, mother… Is not something I should say, or rather, I can't say it!! And that language, it's not something you should say it in front of a child! You tainted my innocent too, dear mother! I really want to retort to her, I really do, but I need to pretend for a bit more, next month is my 3 years old birthday, so I need a few more months to talk like this… Although I can do it and act like a genius or something, but all I want is to be an ordinary guy in here. There's no need to be something amazing, probably? Like, am I not the next Emperor?! What kind of ordinary is that… But still, I don't want to have all attention on me, I leave it to the me in the future to think about being an Emperor stuff. "Aleee~~ Look to the window, there is a dragon flying in the sky." When i was lost in thought while staring at the sword in the picture book, mother then snapped me out of my reverie while pointing toward the window. "Waaahh~~ Doragoonn~~ Doragoonn~~" "Heheh… Good job Rudras!" I heard her mutter something, and Rudras? What't that?! Food? Oh well whatever, but dragon really exist in this world huh. I was using a chair as a stool to stand and look over the window. The dragon is blue in color and look really like a lizard. Albeit with a horn and wings, even if it were far away in the sky, I still could see it clearly in here. It must have been a one hell of a big dragon there, like probably Elder Dragon? Hey mom tell me what kind of dragon it is?! I asked her jokingly inside my mind. Of course i stayed true to my act as a child and started to jump about on the chair while pointing to the dragon. "Uwaaahh~ Wanth Fhly thoo!! Maammaa." "You can ride when you are a bit older okay? That is a Dragon King Rudras, your father made him into his servant. So you can order him around when you are big enough to ride it. Fufufu.." Mother said with a happy expression. Her right hand put on her cheek and there is a beautiful smile on her lips. What!!?? Dragon King!?? Seriously?? are dragon in this world so weak to the point where it was so common to have a Dragon King as a servant?! My shock was well hidden, I have been training to hide my surprise and holding back my emotion to show on my face. My so called poker face as of right now is to act as cutely as possible… Like that, we spent our time playing and me being spoiled by mother all the time. As time went on, Father sometimes come and see mother and me too, he visited once every week this time. When he visited me this time however, they were discussing about something with a serious expression. Their tone were filled with seriousness and a hint of shame could also be spotted if one were to listen properly. I heard that Urgan Kingdom is no more and what not… I don't want to hear it any further, so I distract myself by playing with a wooden block. Their talk is just too high for me, for someone who is from Earth, war and killing stuff is just too much. Although I killed myself once, it doesn't mean I could kill others too. Time wait for no one, and its already my 3 years birthday, in this happy occasion, it was so rare that I could see both father and mother together with a smile on their face. They were holding a very big cake for me, they said that my birthday this time is a bit special, so they prepared a gift and many toys for me. Whenever father or mother are around, I could not see Mira in my room, but this time she is here too while holding a crystal like object, her angelic smile is really beautiful as always. Even though I'm a Prince, I don't remember ever celebrating my birthday in a huge palace or something. I have been wondering over this for a while actually, like why they never throw a party for my birthday… If it were in a movie I saw once in Earth, a prince birthday is so damn grand and full of people! But mine is just so plain and lonely, i even thought that I was probably forgotten…. But it's looks like I was wrong. In here, at the age of 1 and 2 it is not important to celebrate the birthday, they only send gift or toys for the baby. And at the age of 3, 4 and 5, they hold a celebration being the 3 and 4 a private one and 5 the grandest and the most luxurious one. 5 years old is where the kid awakened their magic and potential or so i heard. My 3 years birthday is really a happy one, it was the first time I feel this way. Even the me from Earth is not as happy as I am today. "Happy birthday Alex~~ Here father have something good for you, look at this, a super rare Ardellin Necklace, it cost me a lot getting this. Hahahaha." Father said while holding a very cool looking Necklace on his hand. His face is full of pride and a silly yet bewitching grin plastered on his mouth. "Look at you, just because that witch is good at crafting, you requested something astronomical like that… How wasteful! Here Alex, I made this glove for you. Although it's not as good as your father's gift but I worked hard making it." After berating father for a while with a strict tone, mother then showed me a pair of black glove with a gentle expression on her beautiful face. "My prince, my gift for you is this robe. I made this using my own Mana, so I am sure that it should be durable enough to hold an attack from a Dragon King. Please accept it." My Mira is still as gentle as always, even her present is about my wellbeing rather than anything. Although, all i see is nothing but a green crystal ball on her hands rather than a robe... Their gift is really cool looking! A necklace, a glove and a crystal that turned into a black robe the next moment i blinked my eyes. All of them with black in color and the necklace is in a shape of a dragon head! And Mira, didn't you hold a crystal just now, where the hell did it go!? Don't tell me that this robe is the crystal... Well whatever, for now i need to express my happiness! "Yaaayyy~~ Thank youuu, Mama, Papa, Miraa~~" I said my gratitude in a cheerful and happy tone as I jumped up and down while running here and there to hug them. We keep laughing and playing together until I got tired and fell asleep. This time, mother and father sleep together with me. It was the very first time I sleep with a complete family like this. While I get to experience the bliss of a normal family, a month finally pass by. It was the time for mother to give birth to my little brother or sister. By the time the baby was born, Mira brought me to see them. When I saw the baby, I was a little bit… just a little bit disappointed. Well, the baby is actually a boy, when I was hoping for a girl… "Alex, you are a big brother now, so please take good care of your little brother okay?" My mother smiled weakly at me while holding the baby in her embrace. All I can do is to stare at her with a smile on my face.... Hiding the sad feeling in the depth of my heart...

It has been 2 years since I was born in this world, It seems that this world is called Ivalia, and I'm currently in a place called Zaxvius Empire. Moreover, I was their first Prince too from what i have been heard all this time. My father name is Julius Merga Zaxvius, he is the Emperor… The Emperor you know, Emperor… I was so shocked that my eyes almost popped out! What kind of luck is this, I was reborn as a Prince from some Empire! God thanks a lot! With me still have the memory of my previous life, I decided to life a fulfilling live in here! My sad and lonely life in Earth can kiss goodbye. Now I am Alexius Merga Zaxvius, the first Prince and the Crown Prince of Zaxvius Empire! And I found out something really amazing! There is Magic in this world, Mage, Witch, Sorcerer and etc. I heard the maids talking about this often when they play with me. As for the language, they were actually talking in English, so I can understand most of it. And what's more, the Swordsman in this world is crazily strong as fuck! I heard that the head Knight Turza killed a fucking Elder Dragon alone, so he should be someone with considerable might. I don't know how strong an Elder Dragon in this world, but from the name alone, I know that it must be something awesome! And in game, it was some kind of old Dragon that could destroy a city. Well it was back on Earth though, plus this is not a game! The felling of wanting to grow up faster is burning stronger and stronger in my heart! But having a two years old kid talking out of the blue seems a bit creepy. So I need to pretend to be a kid for a while and endure my burning curiosity. This is my second chance in life, and I'm not planning to ruin it a second time! So there's no way that I will do something stupid! With that in mind, I keep fooling around with the young maid in front of me, her name seems to be Mari, and I just can't look away from her emerald green hair and her gentle expression when she look at me. She was like an angel that descended from the heaven by the will of the god. Though, i most definitely like her company, and besides, i love her great figure. Her brown eyes look a bit downcast but she always smiled as she tell me her story when she was adventuring. Even now, she is telling me a story in a very gentle voice with a smile on her beautiful face. "There is a certain Kingdom called Lasfarim, it was a Kingdom of fairy that was long forgotten and disappeared from this world. The whole Kingdom disappeared into nothing and without a trace. "Some says that it went into another world, and there is some that believed that the Fairy Queen angered the God and was punished. But the truth remains a mystery up until now. "However, there is only one person that know what happened to the Kingdom of the fairy. That person name is Ulric Ra Vervi the King of the Elf. He is the only person that know what happened to the Fairy…" "Uaa~~ Aaii Aii~~" (A/N: … I don't have a kid.. so I don't know…) I cried out and interrupted her, although her story is interesting, it was too depressing for me. "Hmm? What's wrong my prince? Are you curious as to what happened to the fairy?" Mari asked while tilting her head as she looked at me with a loving gaze. "Mm… yaya~~" "Hehehe you are sooo cuutteeee~~" When I let out a confirmation sound while moving my body in a cheerful manner. But it look like I got myself into quite a trouble here!! I was hugged into her embrace and shoved into her huge breast really tightly! What the hell, I can't breathe! This is Hell! But it's soft… Still it's hell!! I was struggling to release myself from her embrace while moving my hand frantically. With no other choice, I pushed my hands into her chest and grabbed her breast while trying to move my head upward. But that was actually another mistake…. Seeing my teary eyed and red face, made her got excited again! "Kyaaaa~~ Sooo Cuuuttee~~" "…..." I was kissed all over the place, her saliva flying here and there covered almost all of my face. Knowing that struggling and running away is useless, I just stood still and let her do as she please with me. Anyhow, she is the one who will clean me again after this, so why do I bother wasting my limited energy on her. After she was done kissing me, I was placed on her lap while hugging me from behind, and continued with her story. Her right hand is caressing my head gently as she sometime kissed the back of my head. But, i didn't listen to her and just stared at the wall in a daze. It has been two year since I was born, and the time I met with my real parents could be counted using my finger. They were probably so busy that they forgot about me… But mother seems to always looking at me with her magic or something, I know this because Mira mentioned this once, when she was telling me about my father and mother. My father name is Julius Merga Zaxvius, he is the fifth Emperor of Zaxvius after his deceased father, which is my grandfather. He died because of an incurable disease ot seems. Father has an image of a kind Nii-chan next door that is very handsome and cool. His body looked slim but the muscle on his body is quite something. Hhis feature is quite well chiseled, well he's still 23 years old… He has a gorgeous dark blue hair and a pair of glaring blood red eyes just like Alexius. If it's not for his strong and gallant figure, he would be mistaken as a woman thanks to his snow white skin and beautiful face! If it were the me from Earth, I would have cursed this ikemen to go explode a thousand times over!! Well, this kind of handsome young man and is already a father is just too much for me… Not to mention that he is an Emperor with a Goddess as a wife… As for my mother, her name seems to be Theresa Ighlasia Minerva from house of Minerva and now a Zaxvius since she married father. Appearance-wise, she had a very flashy silver colored hair. Her eyes were like ruby gems. And her body is in the right place as it formed a S shaped line that would make any man to salivate! And lucky me, I was born from both of this god like people with a god like appearance! My hair is silver with a hint of dark blue. And my eyes is blood red the same color just like my father. Although I'm still a kid right now, I could guess how dangerous I would be in the future with my appearance alone. Thinking about them made me want to meet those two again. They were so drop dead gorgeous people that could put an idol group from Earth to shame! But different from father, my mother seems to be a cold and indifferent woman with her icy cold expression. I was quite scared when she carried me in her arms, her cold gaze made me trembled and peed myself… That was really shameful of me. But after getting used to her, I realized that she is actually a kind and loving mother. "My prince, it's time to drink your milk and go to bed. You need to sleep and grow up faster~~" "Yaaa~~" When I was deep in thought, I heard a gentle and loving voice of an angel from behind me. Ah, I forgot that it's this time already, looking at the sun up high in the sky, I let out a sigh as Mira carried me to the crib. "Yaaa~~ milhks~~" "Yes~ its milk time my prince, you need to drink a lot and get big faster okay~~?" Mira give a bottle of milk to me with a gentle smile on her face. I have never seen her not smiling when she was with me, is this some kind of order from my mother?! I sometimes wondered things like that, after knowing that my mother in this world seems to be a good for nothing loving mother… While thinking of that, I entered my afternoon sleep with a slight smile on my lips.

Before I know it, it's already been seven months since my little brother ruined my life… This hateful being, is really one hell of a killjoy… Fortunately for me, I still have Mari all for myself. This beauty of an Elf is still faithfully staying by my side. That's right, she's actually an elf, I was wondering why an elf have a human ears when she told me about her being an elf, but that was actually an illusion she cast on herself. I was quite surprised when I found out about it. After all, I have been pestering her that I want to meet an elf, just so that I could look a bit annoying like a kid should. However, to think that she is an actual elf is not in my predictions. "Um… Mmmm… My prince, I would be troubled if you keep insisting, and moreover the Emperor is quite busy as of late so…" Mira said with a troubled expression. Her body was fidgeting the moment i started to pester her. However, i ignored her discomfort and keep shouting at her. "Nooo~~ want see Eeelllfff~~ want~~~ want~~~" "…. But you already met one my prince…." Said Mira while pointing at herself. "What?!" For god sake, she made me stunned for a second there, lucky that I was quite quick witted or else my façade would have been blown just then! I made sure that my stunned look does not look serious at all and made it into one that of a child interested look. After seeing my expression, Mira then showed me her ears, it looked like any human ear until she brushed it with her hand and it become a long ears of an Elf that was said in the story. My eyes were so wide right now, I keep staring at her without blinking my eyes! What kind of sorcery is this?! Did she just deceive me using some kind of disguising magic?! Is that ears a decoration like the one from Earth?! "My Prince, see this? I am actually an Elf. But an Elf in this empire is not too well received, so I don't have a choice but to disguise myself… Furthermore, I am a slave of the Empress, so I need to watch my image when I raise you up… "So I disguised myself into that of a human… Well, not that you will understand, so I guess telling you this won't be a problem." She smiled weakly at me while looking a bit sad. She must've thought that I was really an ordinary child with my great acting skill… Forgive me Mira, I understand what you said just now, and seems like I can't forget it in a while too. I tried my best to look confused and look at her strangely. But I keep touching her ears afterward with an excited look on my face. So Mira is an Elf slave… Is she being forced to serve me too?! Does her kind and smiling expression just an act too!? I can't help but to think of this. When i was lost in my thoughts, i didn't realize that she is squirming her thigh like she is about to pee. With a nervous and raged breathe, she then told me with a low tone. "My Prince, I know that you are excited, but for us Elf, ears is a really sensitive part… So please don't play with it too much." "Noo~~ it good~~" Her red face told me everything about her ears being sensitive, but my desire of a 22 years old young man's soul keep urging me to tease her! Ah~! What is this sense of happiness and warm feeling?! I feel I accomplished something I couldn't do in my past life. "Mmnn... nnngghh... p-prince... aaahhnn~~" "…...." What was that?! Huh!? D-did… Did she just jerked her body just now?! Huh!? Eh? I froze for a moment when I heard her moan and jerked her body backwards while trembling. Seeing that, how could I continue it?! My inner soul complexion must be pale right now… "It hurt? Mira~~" "N-no… haa… ha… My Prince, it's not hurt but… I think it's better if you stop it…" "Okaaayy~~" Perfect!! God please don't let her notice that I was trembling right now!! I moved away from her with a dash toward the book case. I need to distract her! Let's make her read me some story again! From the corner of my eyes, I could see her looking down with a red face and breathing roughly… Her eyes look a bit dim and dazed as she stared into the floor. God what have I done?! Technically, I am still 3 years old in this world. So my action could be seen as a child curiosity... However, this guilty feeling is so heavy in my heart! I just played an Elf into an orgasm… And as a child too… This feeling of becoming a perverted child is…. I keep looking around at the book case acting as if I'm trying to find a book. But in truth I've been glancing at her trying to see if she were alright. There is a wet stain on the floor where she sat, I don't know if that were…. Or just sweat. But I hope that she sweated a lot and I mistook it for something else! To think that an elf ears were so sensitive. I need to be careful from now on… Not to mention I need to know her real age, she look like a 19 or 20 years old woman, but with her being an Elf…. That is rather questionable. Deep inside, I really have so many question I want to ask her but for now, I need to act and fix this awkward situation… "Miraaa~~ Here here here~~ hurry~~" "A-ah… Yes, please wait my Prince, i have to go change my clothes first. I sweated a lot just now ehehehe…" Hearing me start to pester her again, she then looked at me with a complicated expression, and it slowly turned into that of shame. Her face red, her eyes were glittering with guilt and joy(?), i could feel my heart beat when i saw her bewitching expression. "Nooo~~ hurryy~~~" She ignored me and rushed out of the room in a hurry… Her face is so red that it could be mistaken as a tomato. Well, I could understand her though, after all, I wouldn't want to play with a kid when my panty is wet… I let out a sigh as I dazedly look at the door where she went out just now. With a shake of my head I started to renew my acting and letting out a dazzling and cute smile. But I forgot that mother is watching somewhere with her magic…. ... This time too, I have been watching foolishly at my first child with a small smile on my lips. Even though I cannot be there for him, I at least should know what he is doing and watch him all the time. It was my duty as a mother to watch over her child. To tell the truth, I have been feeling a bit strange when I look at my first child, Alexius. He have always been obedient and never cried too much... He sometimes look at the sky over the windows with a dazed look as if he were watching something. I feel guilty that I cannot be at his side at all time as a mother, but this is something that must be done. With me and my husband hold a great power and responsibility, if we gave too much love for him, we fear that he would be spoiled! And beside, I still have to take care of our second child, it was all that man's fault for saying that he want to drink milk all the time… Good grief, I hope that Alexius and Val does not become like their father... Our second child name is Val Merga Zaxvius, born three years after Alexius and we hope that he could be a playmate for Alexius, but for now, we decide that it was not the time to put them in the same room, something about a caution and wat not... Me and my husband know that there are a lot of traitors in our ranks, but it is necessary to let them close so that we could track their movement. With that man's skill and foolish behaviour, it should be easy for him to control them. Although, we feel a bit guilty for Alexius lonely live, so I asked Mira, my best friend and also my slave to take care of our first child. Mira is an Elf that have been together with me since I was a kid, at first she is not a slave but an ordinary adventurer. But because of her foolishness, she were tricked into becoming a slave! So I don't have a choice but to beg Julius to buy her when she was sold in an auction... It was really quite shameful for me to beg… But I don't have a choice but to do so. Nevertheless, he is still my husband so begging him is still acceptable. Even right now, I am still watching both of my child using my magic <Heaven Eyes>. Although this magic is actually for killing and assassination, but using this to monitor my own child is no big deal. It enables me to watch them at a close proximity without them noticing. As long as the caster has a strong magical power, one will not be noticed when casting this skill. Although there is a counter for this skill, but it's not like my child is a master at this kind of thing, so why do i have to care? When i was thinking about those thing, i keep my attention to watching them without losing any focus. Val is doing fine since he is taken care by our trusted maid. But Alexius is a bit problematic… Why does he want to see an Elf?! Is an Elf really that great!? I can't help but to pout at him, feeling distress that he was so interested to meet an elf rather than me... The magic <Heaven Eyes> could only look and not transmit the sound. But I still understand them by reading their lips movement, so I don't have any problem understanding what they are saying. "Huh!? Alex! What are you doing!!!" I could not help but to scream out when I see what Alexius, my first child is doing to Mira right now! "What's wrong Theresa? Did Ale do something?" "Ah… Julius, I need to go see Alex for a moment!" At my sudden outburst, Julius asked me with a worried tone. I however don't have the time to care about such thing! Honestly, we are in the middle of a meeting with the minister to discuss about the matter with the Urgan Kingdom. I ignored their strange gaze at me, but who cares?! They can all go to hell for all I care… Ah, except for Julius of course! My title as a Demonic Empress is not just for show after all! I hurriedly got up from my seat and then rushed off toward the exit with a pale complexion. "Oh right… Julius, if they keep resisting. Just destroy them all! I need to scold Alex for a moment! Well then, excuse me." "......" "......" "........" What's with the silent?! Bastard, I'm going to give them a scolding after I'm done with Alex! I turned around in a hurry and then opened the door with so much force that the door cracked.

I Alexius Merga Zaxvius, formerly a 19 years old young man Jun Arvin, is now being scolded and spanked by my mother… The incident took place a while ago where i molested? the elfen maid Mira. In the first place, I didn't even know that her ears were so sensitive! But regretting it right now is just a useless thing to do… Pak! Pak! Pak! "Ith… hic… hurgth… hic… mama…" "Now you know pain huh!? How dare you do that kind of shameless thing, do you want to be like your father!? A perverted bastard!?" Her tone were filled with shame and anger as she hit my butt repeatedly. However, i was focused on her words for other reason. Eh?! My father…. Is a pervert!? That ikemen, is a pervert!? This… this is big news god damn it!! Who would have thoughts that the Emperor is a pervert!! That pretty and handsome man is actually a pervert! His reputation as a ruler will be ruined!! Shit! I can't let this be heard by anyone!! "U-uumm… Theresa~ I… I think that is enough - ? After all, he is still just a child." Said Mira with a nervous tone as she squirmed while looking down in shame. "Huh!? You want me to stop?! This is my damn child, like hell I'll let him became a bastard! I need to give him my love so that he will understand!!" Love my ass!! Damn it, my ass is as red as a monkey butt!! And you know what?! I don't even know that she become so horny just because I play with her ears!! It's not my fault, I am innocent! To tell the truth, acting crying is hard to do… I have to remember my painful memory back on Earth just to let out my tears… So I just don't want to cry a lot, since it hurt both my heart and my mind… "Alex! Listen to me! You can't play Mira's ears ever again! Understand? U.N.D.E.R.S.T.A.N.D!??" "Yesh… hic…" …. Of course I'm not going to play with her ears ever again! I fear my act will get blown if I do that! But poking is not a problem right?! Right?! After all, I'm still a kid!! She has been spanking my butt for almost an hour already. My butt is really hurting a lot right now! Although her spanking could be considered gentle, but the thousand times she did it made it hurt a lot! One or two time is fine! But a thousand times is just too much don't you think!? When mother still look at me with a cold and scary expression, the door to my room where opened with a strong force that a loud banging sound resounded. Bang! "Alex! Theresa - ! Eh…??? What's going on here?!" It was my… Perverted? Father that opened the door, there could be seen a tinge of worry and dumbfounded expression on his face as he stared at me, mother and Mira. "Julius, This child is playing with Mira's ears, so I need to punish him for what he has done!" "Uh… Why do you need to punish him?! He's just a kid Theresa…" "Shut your mouth! Do you think, I will let my child be like you?!" "....." Father's face was red from embarrassment, he was looking to the side as if he were avoiding mother's gaze. So it was true… You bastard ikemen! To think that you were such a perverted bastard!! I curse you…. I take that back… You are, without a doubt my father, so it would be bad if something bad happened. My peaceful live is at risk here! Well let me take note that I cannot play with Mira's ears again after this. Moreover, I need to focus my mind into considering my future from now on. With this incident, mother decided to visit me every day from tomorrow onward. I was a bit happy that my beautiful and sexy mother going to play with me again, but she probably won't be staying for long anyway. With my little brother existence, she will have to visit him too… After playing for a while, father then left with a silly laugh, but mother was looking at him with a worried expression on her face. I don't know what is going on, but I hope that he stay strong and always return victorious. He is able to tame a Dragon King after all, so I put a lot of trust in you, Father! ......(POV Change) "Your majesty, how is the first prince? Is he all right?" "Oh… yeah, he's okay I guess? Theresa spanked his butt…. Now it looked like a monkey butt, it was seriously hilarious hahaha." The prime minister asking about Alex condition is normal, his expression is normal too. But I could feel a bit of a malicious intention from this bastard! I don't know what you're planning Klaus, but I will not permit you to ruin my family! Even though I was laughing with a stupid expression right now. Deep inside, I was wary of this scheming bastard in front of me. Klaus Indra, this bastard is a spy from Ivadish Empire. He think that I didn't know about his dealing with those rotten bugs, it's true that I just found out about it just recently but… My wrath is not that easy to quell Klaus! All I need to do is just to squash those bugs from Ivadish and made that worm of an Emperor to regret for stepping their foot in my territory! Now that I have two sons, I can be as wild as I want and rampage around to my heart content! "Oh right Klaus! Can you go to Shalia place and get her to see me? I need to discuss about something and seeing that you're rather free anyway and it's been a long time since I order you around too Hahahahaha~" "…. Haahh… Your Majesty your really are a slave driver, aren't you? But fine, I'll go get her so please wait in the throne room for a while." "Good good good. Hahaha~" I did not want to talk to him any longer since I still have to go see my second child right now. I'm going to let those two wait for me in that place on their own Hahahaha~~! With a light foot step, I walked toward Val's room with a cheerful mood. I was thinking that, maybe a little bit tension in the palace could be good too!

This time, I was told that I'm going to go outside for the first time after I was born in this world. It seems I'm going to be brought to a princess's 5 years old birthday party. She seems to be the second princess of Zaranex Kingdom and was one of father's loyal supporters. Next month is also my 5 years old birthday too, so I was a bit excited about this. This world has 12 months and 7 days, it was the same like in earth but only the name of the month is different. The first month name is Ragus and then followed with, Terata, Irglas, God, Devil, Apolos, Winder, Haureim, Volask, Ret, Qirio, and lastly Jothun. I was born in the month of the Devil, and today is the month of the God, so this princess from Zaranex is a month older than me. The date I was born is 14 of the Devil's month. Although I have become 5 years old, I still need to act like a 5 years old kid should. Sometime I think that living like this is great too. Doing nothing but playing and sleeping is so great that my NEET soul is screaming at me saying that it was awesome. The life of a rich and powerful is so damn comfortable that I started to feel sad. It was like my struggle back on earth is nothing but a part of someone else problem. My life in here is so happy and comfortable that I almost forgot the memories from earth. The pain, sadness, furry, rage and hate that I have been feeling back then have all now turned into nothing but a part of my memory… My broken and wounded heart is now filled with bliss and happiness, I already forgot about the matter back on earth. I have a wonderful parents in here, and I hope that my little brother will not be a bastard like my previous one. Not that i have ever met with this supposed to be little brother for a long time. Since the moment he was born, i have never even once met with him again. I don't even know how is he or is he even all right at all.... Anyway, I am now dressed in all black and wearimg a long black coat that reached my feet. Although it was all black, there is some gold and dark purple colored decoration that looked like some kind of symbol on the back and around my chest area. Now that I look into the mirror, my inner chunibyo is triggered and I unconsciously moved my right hand to my face and made an evil sneer. "Hehehehe~" "My~~ Prince Alex, you are really cu-cool!!" I froze in place… I don't dare to make another move, i completely forgot that Mira is beside me! She was about to say cute there! I heard it clearly god damn it, she was about to say cute just now! Even though my heart is bleeding due to shame right now, I still cannot show it on my face! After all, I am indeed a kid right now! There is nothing strange, there is nothing to be ashamed about! With a turn of my body, i hugged her with a cute expression... Well, as cute as i could made it to be... "Hehehe~ Mira I love you~~" "Oh my, my little prince has grown up… *sob*… *sob*… Please don't leave me okay, my little prince." You know what, you might fool a kid but… Your expression is that of a stupid and idiotic shota-con… and that fake *sob* is just too ridiculous, you should go and practice more Mira. But I have to admit that this elf is just too damn adorable, no matter how much she tried to act stupid, her charm is always there! Not to mention that her boobs is huge too, I have enjoyed it for the past 5 years of my life in this world. But the regrettable thing is that, I did nothing to it except for her pushing to my face herself. It was seriously soft, fluffy and smell good. But… I don't feel anything but a feeling of happiness! There is no fucking lust at all! What do you expect from a fucking child!! Damn it, I feel accomplished but empty inside… She must be wondering why I keep staring at her without saying anything. But this time, I feel tired of acting and wanted to stay silent for a while… Seriously, I will think of something later so for now, I ignored her and walked toward the door by myself. But I know that this is going to be troublesome, so I turned my body slowly and look at her bewildered expression with a weak smile on my face. "Ah… Mira, I feel tired for some reason… Can you carry me to see father and mother?!" "What!? Are you alright Alex!?" "….Mmm… Don't know…" I can see that Mira is frowning while looking at me, her expression is that of a worried mother. Well it would be strange if she didn't feel that way, technically she is the one who raised me all this time after all. After knowing that she is mother's best friend I feel much more at east, but for now, I just don't want to talk much. I feel a bit strange, just a moment ago I was full of energy, but as of right now my motivation and energy is so low that I don't want to do anything at all. This mood swing is my old illness from back when I was still on earth… It must be because I recalled about my past a while ago… and the lack of a very important desire... Seeing that I was looking gloomier and down, Mira then carried me and then for the first time in my life in this world, I stepped outside from my room… Well rather than stepped outside, it was more like being carried.... But no matter, it was the same thing, so who cares? I have to say that the moment I look into the hall way, I was surprised at how luxurious it looked. The red fur like carpet looked so soft and comfortable, there is also a lot of painting and cool looking decoration, the blue crystal lamp that was hung on the wall is shining with a gentle light. All of it is screaming Fantasy like setting! Or rather, this is indeed a Fantasy like world where magic exist. But with my current mood, I don't feel like hyped at all, so I stayed quiet while looking around. Mira was half-running while carrying me, even though she looked slim and fragile, her body is brimming with power. She even made me a robe that could defend against a dragon king's attack… I don't know about the power system in this world but, a being that was called a dragon king must not be something weak right? However no matter how hard I tried to think about something else and improve my mood, my lack of interest is just at max and refused to go down. Even though this is the first time I got to go outside… I feel a bit regretful, just what's going on?? I should be feeling happy right now!! Mira was unusually quiet the whole time. She must be bewildered as to why I became quiet and looked so gloomy. When Mira was carrying me, I got to see many Fantasy like items and decorations on the way. The maids and servants in here is just too damn gorgeous and handsome too…. There is a knight wearing a silver armour, and there is also peoples that wear robe, and unlike the knight silver armor the peoples that wear robe have many color that different from each other. It must be the different in their elements, I have read many novels and watch many anime about this kind of things. They must be the so called Mage, Sorcerer or Wizard right?! I have been looking around for a while now, and they too are looking at me with a strange gaze… This feeling of being watched like a rare animal is a first even for me…

Have you experienced being doubted by your own family? Have you tried to explain, but deep inside, they keep doubting you? I am sure that some of you have experienced it, and I'm sure that it felt awful and painful! The saying of 'Once you lost trust, it is hard to regain it back.' Is true... But I did not give up, i keep moving forward to face it. I ignored all kind of shit talk other says to me, I keep smiling at my mother and all of my families. I hid the pain from being betrayed and misunderstood by other and even my own family. At the tender age of 19 years old, when my emotion is starting to develop into that of an adult, when my emotion is at its weak state because of stress and depression. A stupid and yet hurtful incident happened. Being stabbed by your own best friend, doubted by your own family, slandered by your so called friend. Even though I know that society is a cruel place and yet… To think that I would fall into a state of leaving no choice but to be passive and endure it silently…. Every day I keep my head down and covered both of my ears with earphone to block the whisper of the devil. But all of that just keep escalating even if I ignore it. I don't know what to do, so I let out all of my worries and said it to my families at the family gathering. And again… I was left disappointed! Their doubt intensified, their cold and mocking eyes opened a new wound on my battered heart! Their whisper and muttering made my ears bleed with hatred! Explaining my reasoning and trying to endure it is just foolish! I lost my composure and ended up blowing up all of my emotion… All of my grievance and bottled emotion came out in a flurry, I screamed, cried and cursed. However it was a mistake… I lost everything…. ........ "Hmmm… I think that should do it. If I pull this rope, the soil will pour down from above." i muttered quietly. After digging a two meters deep pit, wide enough for me to sleep in it, I made sure that the wooden board that is supporting the soil working properly. It would be quite a joke of fate if I have to dig again after this… And just like i planned, I got down in the two meters deep pit while holding a rope in my right hand. I lay down on my back and stared at the blue sky with white clouds floating in the sky, moving slowly being blown by the wind. "…. I wonder if I'm going to hell for this… I have to say that I did a good job for a suicide plan, now I just need to let my body rot and be eaten by worm… Hahaha…. Whatever, not like anyone going to worry about me anyway…" Closing my eyes slowly as if I'm going to sleep, I pulled the rope with everything I have. Guuhh! With a heavy feeling of being squashed, I can feel the dirt entering my mouth and nose, it was really uncomfortable, seriously uncomfortable… I regret for gasping when the soil poured down just now. As time moving on, my lung started to hurt quite a lot, it was as if it's going to explode. I can't open my eyes, I can't breaths nor can I speak. All I can do is just made some strange grunting sound using my throat. "Aaaauuu...." And that groan is the last sound I uttered in this world called Earth. ........ "Uuunngghh…. This… I… Uuhh… Where am i?!" Shaking my head due to dizziness that attacked by brain, I muttered with a bewildered tone. I bet that there is no one who will shout and then be happy after they committed suicide. So my feeling as of right now is just pure bewilderment and confusion. Furthermore, the place I'm currently at is just too strange, didn't I burry myself a moment ago?! This bright and completely white place is different from what I imagined for an afterlife… And i'm sure that this is not hell either, I read in a lot of religious history that hell is a place of torture, but this empty and completely white place is just… Creepy! "…. How idiotic… foolish being…" When I was staring in a daze while thinking something about hell and random stuff. Suddenly, there is a hoarse and yet gentle voice that echoed in this white and empty room. It sounded like it came from a woman and yet not. That ambiguous voice is like a hoarse voice of a female but there is this strange feeling from it. Before I was able to reply and ask some question, my vision was filled with darkness. I can feel my five sense started to dull and fade away slowly. Not only that, even my brain started to hurt like it was stabbed by countless needles. I opened my mouth wanting to scream, but there is no sound coming out from it. I was panicking like crazy, but I remembered that I killed myself once, so why do I need to panic with something like this? So I calmed down and ignored everything that is happening to my body(?), not long after that, I can feel that my consciousness started to fade and then I was completely and utterly fell into the darkness… .... …...... …......... In my hazy and blurry mind, I could hear a broken voice from male and female, they sounded happy but I don't really understand what they are saying. I tried to open my eyes, but all I could see is a blurry figures of a giant moving frantically here and there. "… Its… oy… lati… on…" "Yes… reat… truly... ha… py… n… me… his name… Alexius." What is this… What happened now!? Is this something dead people would experience upon their death?! This ridiculously random scene that keep happening to me?! White and empty room and then this?! There is also that strange and weird voice that creeped me out! When i was wondering what the hell is going on, one of the giant man(?) tried to take me with his hands. S-stop! Don't come near me! Da-damn it!! I frantically moved my heavy body trying to run away from the giant man(?) That is trying to grab me. But when I frantically moved my body, I glimpsed on something which seemed to be my own hand. Even though it was blurry, I still could see the shape of my hand. The problem is not my hand, but the shape! What's with this chubby and small hand?! I can't understand! I don't understand it! How did it become like this?! When I froze up and think about my current situation, one of the giant man? Hold me in his arms, feeling the warmth and care from the giant man, I was overwhelmed with a sense of being at ease and my chaotic mind turned calm and empty! That feeling of love was a kind of drug for my cracked heart that was filled with darkness! When I was snuggled and kissed by the blurry figure, I let out a silent tears while starring at the blurry face in front of me. "…Wha… go… ng on?! He… s… not… cr…ing!!" I could hear a broken angry voice of the man that is holding me, he was shouting about something I don't understand, but I can feel his worry and uneasiness. Seeing this, I finally understood what is going on, I turned into a baby… I was reincarnated into a baby! Is this some kind of God's whim?! Even though I was someone who doesn't believe in god, seeing is believing, me turning into a baby and that weird voice I heard in the white room is probably the God! I was happy, I am happy! I finally has the chance to start over! The overwhelming felling of happiness flooded my heart. The feeling of happiness and gratitude made me want to shout in joy! "Waaa… Waaahhh... Uwaaa!" The sound that come out from my mouth is like a wailing of a baby… I immediately became silent again after that burst of happy shout! What the hell! So embarrassing!! However, after that wailing I did a moment ago, I was then shoved into the arm of a giant that seems to be sitting. I could feel something soft and smell nice like that of a flower entered my mouth. ...… I know what is this! And I refuse to say it! GOD DAMN IT!!

When a living being touches me, it will die! I tried to touch flowers and trees, but they'll rot and then turn to dust. Deep inside, I was excited by my strange magic, I thought that it was awesome and cool. However, reality is far crueler than my imagination… Everything that I touch, all of it turned to dust in the end. All living beings died the moment I touched them. Even a dead object without life, turned to dust the moment I touched it. My strange magic became stronger and stronger day by day. Just by growing up and becoming older, my strange magic became more powerful and finally, all living things died just being near me. It was after I suppressed my Mana and controlling my emotion, I was finally able to touch something without turning them into dust. Even though it was only an object without life. I am still happy and grateful. Honestly, I was desperate, I was lonely, I wanted to get out and go on an adventure! The once Crown Prince of an Empire is now a caged bird that cannot enjoy the blue sky. My second chance in life turned out to be the same like in my previous live. Alone, without friends, without a family, lonely and gloomy. Until one day, I was given a black glove by a certain witch. That was the day I could finally set my sight outside of the darkness. I will not let my new life be like this! I am not willing to be like this!Curse you Fate, God, Destiny and Karma! This so called Prince of Death is going to get out from his dark and gloomy tower, control his overpowered magic and enjoy the blue sky once again!

Thank you so much for reading "Youngest Child of the Ducal House". This is a story that I decided to make as a sort of personal theraphy for myself. It makes me happy to know that people actually like it and are continuing to look forward for further chapter. Be that as it may, I am sorry to say that chapter releases would slow down from here on out. The reason for this is that I recently got myself a part time job at a relative's place.  I usually get home dead tired, that it becomes difficult for me to stay awake in order to type. YCotDH will still continue but not as frequent as I want it to be. Thank you again for reading and have a nice time wherever you may be.

When I finished my breakfast (and the horrible potion that somehow restored a bit of my stamina), the door was suddenly swung open with so much force that I feared that the hinges had broke. "There!" "He's up!" The culprit; or more like culprits, that suddenly barged in were two young girls. ““Yuri!”” “Oomph!?” As soon as my eyes met with the two, it quickly darkened as the two suddenly leaped on to me. "H-help!", I called out towards mother, but she simply smiled as she watched us from the side. The weight of the two was too much for a small child that had just recovered from a stab wound. “Yuriiii~” “Yuri~~” The two continued hugging me tightly, ignoring my attempt to escape them. If it was not for mother finally telling them to release me, I could have reopened my wound. Finally being able to see the two girls that jumped me, I couldn't help but switch my gaze between the two. ...Twins. Though their faces were alike, they both had unique traits that greatly differentiated them. Aside from sharing the same jade-colored eyes as me, their hair color were vastly different from each other. One was a silver haired girl with a short bobbed hairstyle. She has a somewhat taciturn expression that is slightly similar to mine. The other is blonde haired girl with long curly hair that reaches her waist. Contrary to the taciturn girl, she's very expressive of her facial expressions but like silver haired girl, she has the same face as her, showing that they are clearly twins. “We’re so glad you are alive”, said the silver haired girl. “You are now forbidden from leaving our side ever again!”, the blonde haired girl complained. I already have an idea as who these two are, but I still needed to act my part of having amnesia. Looking towards mother, she nodded and seemed to have understood what I was going to ask. “Um, Mother…these two are?” “What are you saying, Yuri?” “Do you not recognize us?” They both asked in shock. “I supposed to tell you two about Yuriel's current condition later today but I suppose telling you now is better...” Mother had a melancholic smile on her face as she spoke. “Mother?” "What's wrong with Yuri?" The two had bewildered expression as they looked towards mother. “Yuriel… Your brother had lost his memories. The doctor said that they don’t know as to how much he lost or even if his memories are going to return” After alternating their eyes between mother and I, the two's eyes became wet and tears started flowing down their cheeks. They slowly approached me, embracing me in their silent sobbing. "Yuriel...these two are your older sister. Before you lost your memories, you used to always play with them almost everyday”, said mother with a somewhat anguished expression. “Yuri... I am your beloved elder sister, Marie", said the silver haired girl while she wiped the tears from her eyes. "You...You loved how I always read you stories while we sit under the tree in the garden” “I’m Mary, you always complain about how I always braid your long hair into girly styles but you always let me do it anyway", said the blonde-haired girl. "I always make you climbed the trees in the garden with me, even when Marie and mother tells me not too”, she chuckled while trying hard to not cry. The two took both my hands and squeezed them tightly as they continued hugging me. I pushed them away, to which they separated without protest.  “Yuri?” “...Were we hurting you?” They had uneasy expressions on their faces, clearly puzzled by my actions. I shook my head before answering. “I'm sorry for not being able to remember you but it makes me happy to know that I have such caring sisters. I hope that you two could continue treating me like always even if I lost my memories” “Yuri…*sob*” “Hic Uuuuuu uwaaahh!” Without even a moment’s pass, the two let our soft cries as they collapse to the floor. Mother was borrowing Claire’s shoulder as she tried to hide her crying figure from us. Even the other servants around couldn’t help but wipe the corner of their eyes due to the current atmosphere. No one allowed their voices to leak but they still wept.     It took a while for my sisters; Marie and Mary to stop crying. After quickly cheering themselves up, the rest of my morning consisted of being pampered by the them. I was brought around the mansion on my wheelchair while they told me stories about the past. Like the places where the three of us would often play at, and about how we would sometimes get into trouble because of sister Mary's games. Listening to them, I couldn't help but chuckle at how some of the things that they told me were lies that they made to better themselves in my eyes. Every time one of them would tell fake stories, the other would speak up and complain which would then lead to the to bickering at each other. I felt warm just from watching their interactions. They truly care and love their brother to the point that they always want to be seen as someone great in Yuriel's eyes. The two continued staying by my side until it was close to sunset. It would seem that they were supposed to be learning today but was given permission by mother only for today. It was only when father arrived and called for me that the two reluctantly separated. Marie and Mary were actually very vehement in sticking close to me for the whole day but they were stopped when mother came and scolded them. Currently, I'm in front of father's office with Claire pushing my wheelchair. I reached out towards the door and knocked a couple of times. Knock knock “Father… It is Yuriel”, I called out. It was only a short moment after when I received a short “Come in” as a reply. Claire opened the door for me before bringing me inside. “Step out of the room for a moment, Claire”, ordered father, his eyes never leaving the paper in his hands. Claire simply made a bowing gesture before leaving the room. Only when Claire left the room did father looked at me and spoke. “How is your condition?”, he asked. “It is much better than how I was yesterday. It may be because of the potion that mother gave me this morning but it seems like I am still unable to lift myself up from this chair” “That is normal”, he nodded. “The doctor said that it should take you a few more days before you can properly walk around, so for now try not to force yourself to stand. Ask for assistance if you really need to” “I will do that” “How about your memories? Do you still not recall anything?”, a somewhat concerned look floated on his face. I could only shake my head in denial. “I see…I heard today that the people responsible for what happened to you had already been captured. Father will personally make sure that they will regret what they had done to you” A scary expression suddenly replaced his worried one. It was enough to even make me take a step back in fear though I couldn’t since I was sitting down. “Ehem…Forgive me” Maybe because he noticed my discomfort, Father fixed his expression before looking at me with a now gentle smile. “I'm sorry for calling for you even when you still need to recover. You can retire to your room now, I'll tell someone to bring your meal to your room later” Saying those words, Father returned his sights to the documents. He started grumbling about something while scratching his head. Since I was seated relatively close to father's work table, I noticed the words that were written on the documents spread around. I can properly read the letters on them, so I easily understood the reason for father's grumbling. “Father, may I ask something?”, I called out to him. “What is it?”, he looks away from the document. “What is that document about?” “This?… Well, it should not pose a problem if I were to tell you since you will have to deal with things like this in the future but I will have you promise me that you will tell no one about it, understood?” I nodded in reply. “Currently, a few fiefs within the kingdom are experiencing a decline in their crop yield. It has already been going on for some years now but now the decline has been increasing”, he hands me one of the documents. “It is not bad to the extent that people are starving but it is increasing the prices of goods, causing problems to families that are not that well off. Truthfully, the lords of these fiefs should be the finding the solution but His Majesty requested that I look into it just in case the decline in each fief has any similarity" “....shouldn't this be because of soil depletion?", I unconsciously muttered as I read the document. "Soil depletion? Are you saying that the soil is being reduced?”, father looked at me puzzled. "Ah! N-No. I mean...", I stumbled in my words as I didn't think that father would hear me. "What do you mean by this 'soil depletion' that you speak of?" “Um…Is it fine that you are asking a child for such things?” "Asking you shouldn't pose any problems. Just take it as us having a casual conversation", father was showing a gentle smile but his eyes were clearly showing a probing look. Even when I was uneasy about it, I explained to him what soil depletion was and the importance of letting the soil rest and regain its nutrients by planting certain crops and plants. “I see…If that is the case, what do you suggest we do?” Father’s eyes turned rather sharp as he leans on his desk with his chin resting on the back of his hands. "Is this really alright?" “I had always believe that Yuriel was a bright child even before you lost your memories. Do not mind about the trivial things and speak your mind” Though he was smiling, I was still very intimidated by him. “...I-If you are certain then…” Being urged by him, I then told him methods like crop rotation and using certain composts to revitalize the soil. He intently listened to my words, taking notes of certain things that I brought up that he did not understand. I became rather troubled since he was seriously taking advice from a child with an expression of complete seriousness. Finishing my explanation, I heaved a sigh of relief and father leaned back on his chair while crossing his arms. “...His Majesty and I had already considered requesting the Elfred Kingdom for assistance in this matter since the elves there are more knowledgeable in taking care of plants and crops... but if you’re method proves to be effective... Increasing the variety of crops that the country produces shouldn't be that difficult to achieve” When I asked him if he is sure about using my advice, he gently smiles and pats my head from across the table before saying, “Don’t worry. I’ll take the responsibility if it ends badly”. “...I understand” Though I still felt very uneasy by it. “But, Yuriel…”, his eyes became serious, “Do not tell anyone about any of the things you told me today, understood? I want you to promise me this” I nodded, wanting to finally end this conversation. “Good” Saying those words, Father calls for Claire to take me away. I said my farewell to father before telling Claire to bring me to my room’s terrace, so I could take in some fresh air. Hearing the chirping sounds of insects, I felt a wave of relief leave my body. Today was so tiring for various reasons that it once again dawned on me that I'm in another world. It slightly troubled me that I was easily accepting all of this, but then again, I can't do anything about it. Even when I heard that magic and potions that could quickly recover stamina existed in this world, I wasn’t as surprised as I thought I would be. My manner of speaking seemed to have also changed from how it original was. Was I perhaps unconsciously wishing for a life like this?  ...I don’t really know. I feel like I should just live as I wish for the real owner's stead as I felt like the real Yuriel would have wanted it to be that way. While saying sorry to the real Yuriel in my heart, I came back into the room where Claire was setting up my meal.

Feeling the sun's rays peeking in from the room's curtains, I slowly opened my eyes and scanned my surroundings. Compared to how my body felt yesterday, I feel slightly better. My limbs are moving like it should though it still felt somewhat heavy. "!!" "Bam! As soon as I tried to stand up, my legs gave out. My body felt so weak that I couldn't even muster the strength to stand up. “Are you okay, young master!?” A woman suddenly entered my room. It was Claire, my maid. It seems like she was just about to enter the room when she heard me hitting the dresser beside my bed. “Carefully now” “Thank you, Claire” “I will go grab your wheelchair” Sitting me atop the bed, Claire swiftly moved to one corner of the room, where a wheelchair was placed on stand by. “Where do you wish to go, young master?”, she asks as she helps me sit on the chair. “My body feels somewhat sticky, could you please bring me to a place where I can wash up?” The odor of my body reeks of sweat and a bit of blood, so I want to quickly fix that. “Please let me to do that〖Bubble Wash〗” With her palm facing towards me, Claire’s hand started to shine a light green glow. The disgusting feeling that clung on to my body quickly disappeared as soon the light from her palms disappeared. "...", I stared at Claire who had a calm smile on her face. “Um, young master?” “What was that!?”, I asked her excitedly. “Eh? Ah! I-It is a daily life magic called Bubble Wash. It is a basic spell that removes the dirt and sweat off of a person’s body. It is quite a useful spell for washing oneself when water is unavailable. Its only downside is that it does not give the satisfying feeling of actually getting washed” “Could I be able to do that!?” She shows me an amused smile before answering. “I believe that young master is already at the age where learning magic is possible. If young master were to request it then I will immediately inform Master Simon” “Waa~!” While was looking forward at the prospect of learning magic, Claire smiled gently and started changing my clothes for me. I was initially surprised but I pushed aside my embarrassment and simply allowed her to do it. I really can’t move my body that well right now, so her help is well appreciated. It might also be because my body is that of a child now but I don’t get sexually excited by being clothed by this beautiful grown woman. I started to wonder until when will be I clothed like this every morning. Claire may not mind it but I do. After properly dressing me up, Claire pushed me down the corridor on my wheelchair while I took in the sights outside the window. Looking at my surroundings, we seem to be living in a rather large mansion, but even then, there’s not much decorations placed around to show our wealth. Does this family prefer to keep it simple rather than being luxurious? As Claire continued to push my wheelchair, we pass by servants who would then stop what they were doing in order to bow towards my direction. I felt awkward by the actions but I buried that feeling and tried to get used to the feeling. Before long, we finally arrived at a room that seems to be the dining room. “Yuriel!” Immediately after entering the room, mother; who was having her breakfast, quickly moved to my side. My thoughts quickly halted when I properly saw mother’s appearance. I wasn’t wrong to think that she was gorgeous woman when I first saw her. With a face that look like it was sculpted by an artist, she had the aura of a high-class lady that men and women would both fawn over. I still find it hard to believe that this person is now my mother, it’s harder to believe that she is someone who’s already past her late thirties with four children. “Are you sure you are fine being out of bed?” Mother worriedly asks me as she crouches down to meet my gaze. “Please don’t worry, mother. Other than being sluggish due to being bedridden, I feel fine” I smiled gently in order to show that I was fine. “Do not push yourself, okay? Here, sit next to mother. I will feed you” Mother seems to really dote on me as she immediately placed my wheelchair next to her seat without waiting for my reply. “Here. Chew slowly, okay?” She brings a spoon close to my mouth but I refused by raising my hand. “Please let me do it myself, mother. I could at least do this much by myself” “Are you sure? Mother is fine with doing this, you know?” “Yes. I’m sorry but please let me do this” “...Very well…try not to overexert yourself, okay?”, though she was reluctant to do so, she pulled back her spoon and allowed my request. She was attentive of me while she ate, but she didn’t do anything and simply watched. Mother was being respectful of my request but the worry in her eyes wouldn’t vanish. “...” Maybe because this body was immobile for some days or maybe I didn’t have much physical strength to begin with, it was hard to even lift up my cup. I still tried my best but I grew tired after a few more times. I should really be in bed so that I can slowly recover but I wanted to find out more about the place I am in, sooner rather than later. “...” My brows furrowed as soon as I place the oatmeal-like food in my mouth. “Is there something wrong with the food, dear? The head chef made it so that your food would be easy to digest” “Um…I’m sorry. It is nothing. The food is… delicious” The food isn’t really bad... but the taste is just too bland. Is this world’s culinary level low or is it simply because my body hasn’t fully recovered yet? Is my sense of taste is distorted because I haven't eaten for three days? I guess I’ll investigate it at another date. When I finished my breakfast, mother formed a gentle smile on her face. “Well done, dear”, she said as she gently caressed my head. It was rather embarrassing to be praised just because I finished eating my breakfast by myself, but I still gave her a smile. “Your father is currently handling important matters at the castle, so it is a shame that he couldn’t see you” “I am sure that father is worried about me but he is an important person of this country. It could not be helped that father had to leave for work” Mother smiles once more before placing a hand on my cheek. “That is right” Feeling the gentle sensation of her hand caressing my cheek, I felt warm inside. This was my first time feeling such an emotion from a parent. My own parents didn’t really give any parental affection to me or my sister. At most, they showed it using monetary means or just gifts that we didn’t ask for. The only paternal affection that I felt came from the nanny that lived with us. As I warmly accepted mother’s caressing touch, she looked at one of the servant before nodding at one of them. It was only a short moment after when the servant returned with a small bottle of yellow liquid. “Now that you have finished eating, mother wants you to drink this”, she removes cork on the bottle and shows a uncomfortable expression. “Um?…” “It is a recovery potion that the doctor left for you to drink. Even though it has such an odor, I wish for you to endure it” Hearing her words, I cautiously took the bottle from her hands. The smell of the contents immediately entered my nose. “Urgh!” Immediately after I did that, the horrid smell almost made me regurgitate the meal that I just had. "Eugh…It smells like rotten fish and eggs combined with spoiled milk" "Do I really have to drink this?", is what I thought but when I look at mother, she was worriedly looking at me. Sucking in my breath, I quickly drank the disgusting medicine. "Ugh.." It tasted horrible and it felt like I was going to puke it out if I didn’t focus on it. Well it wasn't all that bad. The moment after bearing the horrid taste, I felt my body slowly become lighter. It was as if my body became lighter and healthier in just that short moment. Maybe because mother noticed my expression, she quickly placed her hand on my back then spoke. “The potion heals your body but it does not heal it completely. You will still need to take time before you are back to normal” “Un”, I nodded my head as I focused on breathing out the disgusting feeling inside my throat. Just as I was going to grab a drink to cleanse my palate, the door swung open and two pairs of footsteps quickly approached me. ““Yuri!”” And from there shouted two young girls.

“.…iel!” "…Huh?…" “Quickly call for a doctor!” "Why is it so…noisy?" Noise berates my ears...but it is acconpanied by an awful ringing...it won't stop. ...What's going on? I can't even lift my arms "…What happened?…" “Yuriel, stay with me! Don’t fall asleep!” Someone is calling out...but it shouldn't be me... "Ah… That’s right…I got run over by a truck that suddenly ignored the stoplight…I remember that my body went flying through the air but other than that… everything went dark before I even landed…but who is this Yuriel?…My name is…what was my name again?" As I try to recall memories that won’t seem to return, my eyelids slowly closed. And my mind was quickly enveloped in darkness...the last thing reflected in my eyes is an older man holding me in his arms. "Looks like the transfer was a success" Inside my cloudy mind, I could hear someone’s voice speaking… "Who are you?", I asked the disembodied voice. "Looks like you can still hear me. Since I don’t have much time left, I will say this quickly. I placed you in a different body. One that’s from a completely different world than your previous one" "What are you talking about?" "To put it bluntly, you weren’t supposed to die yet, but due to a error on my part, your physical form got caught up and died. I already got the permission of the original owner of the body that you’re in, so you will have to deal with starting off again as a 9 year old child" "Wait…Who are you…why?…" Being unable to keep my consciousness any longer, everything slowly turned foggier as seconds pass… "Looks like your soul is already settling in. That should be my cue to leave… By the way, the original owner of that body wanted me to tell you that he hopes you live in his stead. Additionally, try not to die too early. It was a pain to make that world's goddess to agree with this after all. It would just be a waste of my effort if you die from something unreasonable" "Wa-Wait!...-"

A week has passed since I woke up in the body of Yuriel Northe. My body had recovered to the point that I could now do various task on my own. I would like to think that this speed of recovery is all thanks to the medicine prescribed by the doctor, as well as the healing magic applied to me by a priest from the church. The healing magic was truly amazing though it scared me as my wound wriggled around like a dying snake right before new healthy flesh appeared after. A scar was still left behind after but my wound was basically healed. “Full marks! As expected of Master Yuriel” A light green haired woman that sat before me praised as she checked the paper in her hands. "It has only been a few days since I started teaching you but to have already grasped a majority of the subjects that I have assigned to you. I am quite impressed” The person before me is called Riona Greenwood, a tutor that father hired after understanding that I also lost my knowledge of this world. I was surprised when I first met with teacher. This is because she's the very representation of a person that lives in a fantasy world, an elf; well to be specific she's a half-elf. Aside from being my tutor, teacher is also a part-time instructor within the Academic City of Laurel, while her actual job is that of a researcher. Father personally hired her to tutor me with the promise that he will provide financial support to her research. “It is all thanks to teacher's way of teaching that it is very easy for me to understand the subjects” “That makes me happy to hear that, but there is no need to be so humble” I am not being humble, it truly is because of teacher's method that I'm quickly grasping my studies. Even though the letters and numbers of this world is fairly similar to that of earth’s, I could only do so because of how easy it was to understand teacher's teaching. If not for teacher, I couldn't have known about this world or the country that I am in. For starters, this world is called Gaia and the country that we are is one of this world's major powers, the Centura Kingdom, who's major export is the mining of special crystals called 'Mana Crystals'. These crystals can power special tools and devices that require a element called mana. Mana is something that can be found within most of the things in this world but within mana crystal the concentration is much higher and pure. “How about we end class for today? Do you not need to leave with Lord Northe soon?” “That's right. Thank you for today, Miss Riona” “Fu fu~ It is part of my job after all”, she pats my head while smiling. "Furthermore, having to teach such a bright student is quite fun as well... The rumors about you are truly not to be believed” Rumors? I have heard from Claire about my past but I didn’t think that there would be rumors about me. I was quite curious about these rumors so I decided to ask teacher. “From what I heard from the students in the academy, there are rumors that you are a frail child who is constantly sick. Rumors that you are an eccentric child that uses the lord's authority to get what you want. There is even a ridiculous rumor that you are an illegitimate child of the duke... Well that last one is clearly false seeing that you closely resemble Lady Northe. In fact, if one were to dress you up and place you next to Lady Marietta, it would be like looking at the younger and older versions of the same person" "I...I see...", I wryly smile towards teacher. I don’t know how I should take that last sentence though. “Well as it is nothing but rumors, it's best to not mind it. Let’s just tidy up now” She's right. It's not like those rumors would change anything. In fact, it just shows me how little people know that they turn to rumors to speculate who I am. "It is time to depart, young master” As soon as teacher and I finished cleaning up, Claire arrived in order to fetch me. “I'll be going now, teacher” “Take care, young master” After saying goodbye to teacher, Claire and I headed towards the carriage where father is waiting. "Ah, Yuriel. Good. We will depart soon, so climb on the carriage” As soon as I arrived, father told me to board the carriage. He was still talking to a servant so we didn't immediately part.. "Be good while I'm gone, Claire" Though she's my personal maid, I didn't have Claire join me because I needed her to do an errand for me. “Yes. Please take care as well, young master”, she replied with a swift bow. “I will make sure that the order that you have given me will immediately be taken care of” “Thank you, Claire”, I pat her head, to which she showed a pleased expression. “Yuriel, let us go” Father, who seemed to have finished speaking with one of the servants, finally climbed aboard. It didn't take long before we departed. Today's destination is the royal castle to meet with the king. For some reason, His Majesty wanted to see me as soon as I was able to move around. Father didn’t say why someone like the king would want to see me but he did mention that it wasn’t something that I should worry about. ... ...... ......... ...It's quiet... Inside the moving carriage, not a peep could be heard from either father or I. Father was quietly reading documents while I on the other-hand am enjoying the the view outside. In the past few days that I’ve been living as Yuriel Northe, I understood that Father is hardly the type to start a casual conversation. Mother said that father is the type that feels awkward talking to his children but he's still trying his best to act fatherly. Due to him usually being in the castle, he mostly ever returns home when it is dinner time. It's because of this that he worries that we are growing distant to him. Well compared to my previous parent's, father is much better as he tries his best to have time with his family. “...” From time to time, I can see father turning his gaze towards me. It would seem like he wants to strike up a conversation but is too shy to do it. In situations like this I would strike up a conversation myself, but I remember that mother had told me to refrain from it, so that he gets used to it. The whole while, the carriage was quiet until we finally came to a stop. Father tried to hide the look of disappointment on his face when the carriage door opened. He seems to really regret not being able to a start a conversation with me. Once inside the castle, I followed behind father as we headed to where the king is. I've only seen the inside of a castle on TV, seeing it myself is something else. I'm impressed that such a large place could be kept so cleanly. I couldn't even a find a speck of dust or dirt from any of the decorations and windows. "We're here"  While I was admiring the cleanliness of the castle, we finally arrived in front of a wide double door with two guards standing on both sides. ""Sir!"" When they saw father, the two guards saluted him with straightened backs. “We are entering” Father gave them a short nod right before immediately opening the door without even knocking. Doing this would be rude but since the guards that continued saluting didn’t even say anything. I imagine that father's actions is a normal occurrence here. Timidly following after father, I also entered the room closely behind him. "...Ah" Contrary to the tidy corridor outside, the room was so messy. It's to the point that I couldn’t see the floor, due to the amount of books and papers scattered around. “Yuriel, stay put for the moment”, said father with an irritated voice. I had the urge to clean this room myself, but as father told me to stay put, I didn't do anything. I watched as father swiftly moved across the room towards the desk that had piles of books on top of it. “I believe I specifically told you to never trash this office", father coldly. "Do you know how much trouble it is to find important documents under all these” Father’s face is obscured from this angle but the calm tone of his voice was colder than his normal one. “.…Muu? Ah! It’s Simon!” From the other side of the pile of books, I heard someone answering rather slovenly. “...Well…Your Majesty?” “I-I get it! I get it! I’ll tidy up, so stop using〖Intimidation〗on me!" From what I understand from this conversation, the person behind the pile of books is the king… and for some reason, father has him under his control. I guess even if you were a king, being subjected by father's icy gaze is still another matter. For a brief moment, I felt a sense of admiration towards father but at the same time I also felt bad for His Majesty. After a short moment, I could hear His Majesty saying “〖Organize〗” with reluctance in his voice. It was only a short moment after when the feeling of a slight breeze passed by my feet. The books, papers and other things that were scattered around the room were suddenly floating in the air. It didn't take long for the papers and books to stack up into neat stacks. “There!”, His Majesty declared boastfully. When I turned my face towards the desk where he sat, I was met with a man with a very youthful appearance. His crimson red hair and eyes that were flaming red were showing delight as he looked around with a smug expression on his face. His appearance was the very image of an energetic youth but from what I remember from Miss Riona classes, he is the same age as father. Even though father looks like he is in his late 20s, in reality he is already 42 years old. The king on the other-hand looks even younger compared to him. It's as though he is still in his late teens.   “...I have only been absent for a couple days due to my child's situation and yet you had already managed to make the office into such a mess. Her Grace would be rather disappointed by this” “D-Don’t tell, Paula. I'm afraid to be scolded by her again” "That is not my problem, Your Majesty" The youthful king had the look of despair on his face as he begged for father's mercy. Does the queen have a tight leash on His Majesty’s neck? Mother seems to also have some power over father...Are the women in this world that strong-willed? As I was thinking about various things, I heard father sigh before he turned towards me. “…Let us move this along,  I have brought Yuriel along as you have wished. Please make it quick, as I do not want my child to think that this is how a king should act” The youthful king finally turns his face towards me. His troubled looked from earlier was now gone, and a bright smile bloomed on his face. “Ah~ Looks like you are doing well, Yuriel. How are you feeling? Fine I hope?” He was rather friendly and positive but I can’t seem to help but think of him as someone who would do something stupid if there wasn’t anyone to monitor him. “Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty. I have recover enough that it is not difficult for me to do menial tasks”, I answered politely. “That’s good, that’s good… But stop being so formal. You are still a child. If you keep acting like that, you’ll grow up to be a grouch like your dad” “...” “Your Majesty…” The room's temperature dropped at father's words but His Majesty is ignoring him with a smile on his face. “Well?”, His Majesty urged. “.…Yes” “That’s better! Ha Ha ha!” His Majesty chuckles while father simply sighs in annoyance. “Well, I have heard that you lost all of your memories. Do you really not recall anything?” “Yes, but I am trying my best to relearn everything” I showed a childish smile to him and he continued smiling back in return. “I see~ I see~ You really have turned into a completely different child from how were before” “...Your Majesty” Though Father was already annoyed by His Majesty, his cold tone became even deeper.. “T-That is of course a joke! A joke!~”, His Majesty's shoulders trembled in fear. “A-Anyway, it is good that you are doing better now. When Charlotte learned of what happened, she was devastated” Charlotte? Hearing an unfamiliar person’s name, I quickly asked him. “Huh? Did no one tell you about her?” “I am sorry. During the last few days, I was preoccupied with relearning everything. I have yet ask about the people that I was previously acquainted with” “...Simon?” His Majesty shifts his gaze at father with a troubled smile. “It is fine if he learns of it by himself. This is a matter about the two of them, is it not?”, father answered. “W-Well yeah…but are you sure about not wanting to tell him? This is after all related to his-” “Like I have said, it is best that he learns of it by himself” “I...I see...” His expression now changed into a wry smile as he returned his gaze to me. “Well… I guess to start things off. Charlotte is my youngest daughter…”, as if finding it difficult to continue, His Majesty cut himself off then once again spoke. “You know what!? It's better that you meet with her yourself. That girl should be more than happy to see you as well” Quickly taking out a bell from a drawer, His Majesty rang it. “How may I be of service, Your Majesty?” Immediately after ringing it, a maid appeared from behind us. Wait! Where did she even come from!? I didn't even notice anyone entering! “What is Charlotte’s schedule for today?” Oblivious to my worry, His Majesty asked the maid while still wearing a troubled smile.  “Princess Charlotte had just finished her sword training and is now resting inside her room. After a short break, up next is etiquette class” “Very well. Escort Yuriel to her room. Afterwards, cancel everything in her schedule for today. If she has a meeting with another noble child then use my name to send them home. Refrain from letting them know who is meeting” “Understood” After the maid bowed, she moved and waited for me at the doorway. I on the other-hand could only look at father with a troubled expression. “I will have someone come to pick you up when we are to return home. Go play with princess Charlotte for the moment” “Try not getting yourself hurt, okay?”, said the king. Seeing that I couldn’t refuse, I reluctantly followed the maid. …Wait! What did he mean by try not to get hurt?!

Sister Jihan falls back down on her chair, stunned by the one name she didn't expect me to mention. It was really a shot in the dark. While the surviving bloodline of King Frost had scattered to the four corners of the map, it was still possible to find two who carried the bloodline in the same city, however diluted they would be. At least, that was the case before the Doom March started.   "I have never heard of that name," the high priestess says, clearly denying her connection to both Duke Rarnwad and his heir Erlesion.   It is foolish to deny the connection. While she may have her own reasons, her reasons pale in significance to the doom of our world. There are two simple reasons why I believed the high priestess is connected to them.   "Erlesion told me he never knew his real mother. She left a month after he was born. He should be ten years old now. I also happen to know that you came to the Sanctuary ten years ago. Was I wrong?"   She gets up from her chair, her face a mix of emotions as she walks to the window and looks outside. With her back to me, she asks with a small voice, "Is he well?"   The question was almost too quiet to hear. It was as if she was trying to speak normally, but something inside her restrained it. I wonder what happened in the past. As Erlesion never met his real mother, I have no way of knowing the story behind how Sister Jihan ended up leaving her newborn child behind and seeking shelter with the Starsilver.   "He died in the ambush at Selemir Road six years from now. I was there when it happened."   "I see..." her voice flat, but the trembles in the end betray her emotions.   I still remember that day. We were accompanying the 5th Malrim Army to deliver a relic called The Migration of Spring to reinforce the recently built border fortress Whiterock. We were ambushed by blade demons and undead right after passing the split in the road that led to a small lumber cutter village in the forest.   While the number of the blade demons and undead were double our number, it wasn't too big of a problem. All the members of my party back then were battle veterans, each having felled hundreds of blade demons and even more undead for the past years. However, none of us could prepare ourselves for the attack from three lichs, each having the power to best my entire party.   The melee happened so quickly that I was not able to perform my dance. The battle was joined so quickly that our Priestess of the Holy Light, Aramantine Caludell, could not even cast her protection spell. It was so quick that our support archer, Clemindel, had his life drained within a minute of the battle. Although we won, the victory was pyrrhic at best.   We did not defeat any of the lichs. We did not drive away the undead. They simply left after they had killed many of us. It was as if they took pity on us. Imagine that, lichs taking pity on the living.   We were cautious as we travelled to the closest city. That delayed us so much that many of our injured ones lost their lives while on the road. Erlesion was one of those who lost his life after the battle, he was only sixteen summers at that time.   "Sis... ter." He called my name right after the battle.   "Sis... sister." He called me again and this time I was right beside him on my knees, the clean white silk dress I wore stained by the blood on the ground.   "Erle, don't speak. You're going to be fine."   It was a lie. He was not going to be fine. How could someone who had a gaping hole in his stomach be fine? But it was my duty.   I who could do nothing. I who had no power. I who depended on others. I who merely did what the people in power wanted. I who was the puppet of the kings, priests and nobles. What could I do apart from easing their deaths? What could I offer other than lies and empty promises that everything was going to be alright?   I had done it so many times, I no longer thought differently. It had become second nature. My second nature. To lie to people in their final moments. To sing the Call of the Dead Queen. It was my duty, a duty that I myself undertook. The only duty I was not told to do, but one that was the only thing I could do.   I was never trained in swords. I was never trained in magic. I was never trained in diplomacy. I was never trained in healing. All my life, I was trained to appease the gods, but even that education was lacking. In my previous life when I had to escape the Sanctuary of the Starsilver, I was only a priestess with the rank and position of Scribe. All I did was copy old tomes so that the Sanctuary could sell them for gold coins.   Yes, I did learn a lot from those old tomes. But without the physical strength, I could not apply the martial skills. Without the mana required, I could not cast the grand spells even if I had practiced them. Without influence or power, I could not use the knowledge of statehood and diplomacy. If Duke Rarnwad hadn't recognized my raiment when I was lying hungry and wounded from fending off the scum of society in the back streets of Kellomis, would I even have lived past the month after escaping from the Sanctuary?   Yet, four years later, I would watch the boy who came to see me as his older sister die. And there was nothing I could do but to tell him that he would be okay. It was the same lie that I had spoken so many times. Yet, why did this one feel so painful?   "Khok khok..." he coughed, spraying blood in the air. With his mouth covered in fresh blood, he said with as much coherence as he could, "Sis... sorry."   "There is nothing for you to be sorry for! It was my fault! If I could only fight, I could've at least been of some help. But without my song and dance magic, I have nothing. Nothing at all! I am useless. Useless!"   "Sis... where," he coughed again, the reddish stain on his face grew. I tried to wipe it with the sleeves of my dress, but the only thing it did was smear the blood from one cold cheek to the other.   "Sis... can't... see... where?" Erle asked as his eyes clouded over. The black in his eyes slowly turned grey, a sign of approaching parting.   "I'm here!" I quickly caught his hand with both of mine and raised it to his face. "See, I'm here. I'm right beside you, Erle. I will never leave you behind. Never, you know I won't. You'll be fine."   "Sis... not... fault... I..."   "Don't speak. It will be fine. We will be fine. We will go home."   "Take... for you..." Erle suddenly went silent. I shook his body, but it only caused more blood to drip from the hole in his stomach.   "ERLE!!! Don't go! Please Erle, don't you leave me too. Erle, please, hold on a little longer."   I buried my face in his chest. The steel plate he wore was covered in slick, drying blood, mostly his own. Hugging him by his armour, I could only blame myself. If I didn't have the grand goal of avenging my friends at the Sanctuary. If I didn't tell him I would avenge Aria. If I did not make it sound as if my vengeance was such a noble endeavour, would he have joined me in this pointless quest? If he did not follow me, wouldn't he have stayed in the castle, perfectly safe in the comfort of his own home, his maids, his knights and his parents?   "O gods, if you still have any mercy left for me, please don't take Erle away from me too. Goddess of Life Amman, please spare a speck of your power, just a little, and allow my brother to live for a little longer. Goddess of Death Halleb, please do not take my brother so soon. Please give me another chance, for this is my sin and mine alone. Must you do this to me again?"   "Do not cry, sister."   "Erle?!" I raised my head, relief washed over me. I thought the gods finally showed mercy on me. But no, the gods did no such thing. Erle was still. Erle remained dead. His body cold, freezing.   "It is not your fault, big sister. I chose this."   "Erle?"   "Yes, it is me. But I will not be here much longer."   "Erle, I'm sorry. I'm very sorry."   "I never blamed you, sister. I am happy. I died protecting the person I cared for the most. It is not a long life, but for the time I have lived. I've felt what it meant to be loved, the warmth of my father, my mother and my sister. I've gotten to know what it feels to have a sibling. I've gotten to know the feeling of adventure together with my sister."   "Erle..." I didn't know what else to say as I cried against his armour, now so cold it was like hugging a block of ice.   "I have to go, sister. This is all I can give you. I hope my power can continue to protect you even after I'm gone. Goodbye, sister."   "Erle! No!"   I cried against the sky, but as my tears froze, I noticed the strange coldness that should not have existed here, at this moment. I opened my eyes and as my tears dried into ice, his corpse under me turned as white as virgin snow. Then his corpse exploded and the snow that was his body flew outward, floating around me. The floating snow that was white and pure, just like Erle, spun fast around me like a hurricane. Just as quickly as it appeared, it disappeared, leaving a strange coldness around my body. It was the same coldness I have felt whenever I touched Erle. It was the same comforting coldness as Erle in the summer. It felt like I was being embraced by Erle.   Erle, my little brother. We did not come from the same blood, not from the same origin, nor from the same fate, but you are certainly my one and only little brother. Your big sister will do her best this time, do it differently, so that the same outcome will not happen again.   Ai-chan Psst! You! Yes, you! Do you want Ai-chan to release faster? If you wish to support Ai-chan and encourage Ai-chan to write faster, please visit here: https://www.patreon.com/shiinaai . Please understand that this is completely voluntary. Ai-chan will still post some chapters as Ai-chan can, but without the motivation and responsibility of money, Ai-chan can't break away from other stuff to focus on writing. Even $2 is cool. Won't you help?

Waking up to an unfamiliar ceiling, I find myself laying on top of a large and soft bed within a very luxurious-looking room. “Ack!” When I tried to lift my body off the bed, a sharp pain suddenly pricked through my lower abdomen. I lifted my shirt in order to take a look only to see that I was wrapped up in bandages. I could feel the traces of stitches under the bandage. "Was I perhaps stabbed?...but-" “Master!”, a voice suddenly called out. When I looked at the direction where the voice came from, a young woman wearing a maid-like uniform entered my sights. She seemed surprised to see me, as was I of her. “Um…” Though it was difficult to speak due to having a dry throat, I still tried to call out to her but before I could even say something, she immediately fled out of the room and rushed off somewhere. I was left dumbfounded for a moment but then quickly gathered my thoughts and recalled what happened. "…I remember that I was on my way home from school. That I was supposed to stop by the convenience store to buy the magazine that my sister asked me to buy. When I was crossing the street, I was suddenly struck by a truck that ignored the stoplight… Why can’t I remember useful things like the name of my sister or myself!?" Who is this sister? I can’t remember her or my own name but I can somehow still remember things that I did before or how my life was like previously. I have also a clear understanding that this is not my original body. In the one in my memories, I am a young man in my late teens with a height of 173 cm. I'm also pretty sure that I had black hair and hazel-colored eyes, but from what I can see from the hand mirror next to my bed, I have long blonde hair and jade-colored eyes. My age seems to also be that of a child's. The features of my face is very androgynous that I could pass myself off as a girl, but I am clearly a boy from the feeling between my legs. "Is this what’s called ‘transmigration’? Did I enter this body when my original one died? But what about the original owner of this body?" “Yuriel!” Just as I was inspecting my current self, the door suddenly swung open and I was suddenly embraced between two soft objects. “My dear boy! I’m so glad that you have woken up!” By the sensation that I’m feeling, I’m being hugged by a woman. I don’t recognize her voice but it does have a very calming effect on me. “Calm down, Mari. Yuriel had just woken up and is still weak” I heard another voice. It was deep and gentle-like. I think I’ve heard this voice before. “...” Being released, I was finally able to see the faces of the people in front of me. One was a very handsome man with clear silvery-white hair. He wore very formal clothing that was neither gaudy nor too plain. His sharp eyes made him look strict but also somewhat gentle as well. The one that tightly hugged me a moment ago was a very beautiful woman with long straight blonde hair, she looks really young but I have this feeling that she is not as young as she looks. There are other people in the room as well but it appears that my eyesight is not that good to properly make out their appearances. “How are you feeling, Yuriel?” The man asks me calmly, a tint of worry could be seen on his face. “Um…” Seeing me having trouble speaking, the woman handed me a cup of water. I politely take the cup and drank its contents. My throat felt better so she then asked me again to which I uneasily spoke. “Um…” “Yes? What is it, dear?” The woman asks me worriedly her hand tighly holding on to mine. “...Could I please know who you are?” I decided to ask since no memory surfaces no matter how hard I tried. “D-Doctor!” Surprised by my words, the woman suddenly made an expression of despair as she looks at the person that appears to be an elderly man standing beside the door. "Please stand aside, madam" The elderly man then approaches me while looking intently at my face. We stared at each other for a while. Even though I was confused as to why we were staring at each other, I didn’t break eye-contact with him. After staring at my face for who knows how long, he started speaking with a troubled tone. “...Forgive me, Your Graces. It would appear that the young master has lost some of his memories. The test that I have run just now had shown that there is no problem with neither his body nor his mind. This may be a factor outside of those two, so I could only provide speculations. Forgive me for being unable to give a clear answer” Hearing the elderly man’s words, the woman’s eyes started to well up with tears as she gazed towards me. “T-That cannot be”, she spoke in disbelief. “...Mari”, even the man that stood near her couldn’t help but show a bitter expression. “…If even the best healing doctor of the kingdom finds it difficult, then we have no choice but to accept it... You may return for today, doctor. We will call you again if Yuriel’s condition shows any changes” "As you wish" It seems like he doesn’t know what’s happening as well but I simply can’t say that I am not the person that they think I am. After waving his hand towards the doctor, the doctor was escorted out of the room by another woman that wore a maid-like uniform. “M-My child…My dear child… Do you not remember me!? I am your mother, Marietta, this is your father, Simon. Do you not remember us?” The woman begins to hug me tightly, as she wept and while trying to introduce herself and the man standing behind her. I don’t really understand what had happened but I ignored that for a moment and hugged her in order to calm her. “I don’t really understand but please don’t cry” I tried to voice it as gently as I could, but it simply resulted in her hug growing tighter. From what I can understand right now, this person seems to be my mother and the man that now has a very bitter look on his face, is my father. These people seem to care for me (or the person that originally owned this body) rather deeply. After a while, the woman- I mean mother, stopped crying and asked me to rest. She and father left the room shortly after while telling me to take it easy. Currently, I am alone in the room, save for the maid that first found me awake. “Do you require something, young master?”, she asks me as she assists in placing a pillow on my back. “Um…Did I wear something for my eyes? I can’t seem to be able to see properly” She seems to have immediately understood what I wanted, as she immediately walked towards the dresser beside my bed. “Here you are, young master. The master has already requested for a replacement as your previous ones broke. Please forgive me but you will have to settle for this at the moment” She hands me a pair of glasses that were slightly cracked on one of its lenses. “Thank you” She suddenly paused for a moment while staring at my face with a dumbfounded look. “...” For some reason, her eyes were now slightly moist as well and she is somewhat suppressing herself from crying. “Um, is there something wrong?” ”N-No. Forgive me for showing such a sight. I became rather emotional from suddenly being thanked by young master” “Eh?” Does she mean that this is the first time that I thanked her? “Eto…Can you tell me your name?” “You have given me the name, Claire” I gave her? More questions entered my thoughts because of her words. “Um, Claire…was it? Can you tell me about myself? Also about what happened to me? I really can't seem to remember anything” I decided to ask Claire about the identity of the person that I am now am. I need information of who I am if I’m going to be living in this person’s body after all. “Understood….” After listening to her for a while, I understood some things about me and about my family. My name is Yuriel Northe, 9 years old and the youngest child of Simon and Marietta Northe. My family is of a Duke rank nobility and father also works as this country’s prime minister. I have three other siblings, two are twin girls that are a year older than me and an elder brother who’s four years older that’s currently boarding at an academy. Apparently my sister weren’t being allowed to see me due to my condition while my elder brother still hasn’t known of what happened to me since information would take months before it arrives to him. She then explained to me about my previous personality...And I must say that Yuriel was a rather difficult child. Due to being sheltered by both my/his parents and my/his siblings, Yuriel grew to be a very shy and quiet child. Yuriel hardly separated himself from his parents or siblings and have never accepted any invitation from other noble children. Frankly speaking, Yuriel's reputation among other noble children is not that good due to his lack of socializing. Claire, who seems to be the only servant I am fine being with, is a slave that my grandfather gifted to me on my 7th birthday. The reason for why she was given to me was because of her unique trait of having reptile-like scales on her arms and cheeks that she inherited from her ancestors, the dragonkin. She seems to also be adept in combat, so aside from being my maid she is also my bodyguard. As to what happened to me to end up like this, there seems to have been an incident that endangered my life when I was out in town with father. There was an assailant that was originally aiming for father’s life but when they found that father's security was too dense, they switched their attention over to me because I was separated due to the commotion. That was the only time that Claire wasn’t with me, so I was dragged into the situation and unfortunately got harmed. Being the prime minister, father has a number of enemies that want him dead. Even if they wanted to interrogate the man that attacked us, they couldn’t do so as the person immediately committed suicide as soon as they were captured by the guards. The matter about my incident is being heavily investigated with grandfather spearheading the investigation. It seems like my grandfather is the head of this country’s knights. It has already been three days since then and I only woke up just a few moments ago. “Please try to rest now. This Claire will stay with you until you fall asleep” As soon as she finished speaking, Claire took of my glasses and helped me lay down. "La la lala la~ la la la laa~"  Hearing her melodic humming, my eyes grew heavier by tue second. I had just woken up not too long ago and yet...yawn~ As my mind drifted of to sleep, thoughts of what will happen from now on passed my mind but it then quickly faded.

LayZzz First off, I'm really REALLY sorry for this late chapter. There has been a lot of stuff at work that made it really difficult for me to find time to write (who knew!?). I don't think this will be proper atonement but here's a chapter in the point of view of Yuriel's father, Simon... Also please take note that I change the royal academy that I mentioned in chapter 4 into the Academic City of Laurel. That was a mistake that I didn't notice until a few weeks ago. Anyway! Enjoy~ :) My name is Simon Northe. I am the current head of the Northe Ducal house, as well as the kingdom of Centra's prime minister. Though some people may say that I obtained this important position due to my father being a war hero of this country, I would like to correct them by showing the achievements that I have gained in order to obtain this the position. As someone that holds the role of prime minister, I make sure that the different departments of the kingdom are functioning as they should, as well as being a council to His Majesty when important decisions must be made.  I have many other roles; officially speaking, but my actual job is making sure that His Majesty is doing his job as the king rather than squandering his time, pummeling the knights to the point that they are barely conscious, just because he wants to exercise. I received several complaints from the different knight captains, begging me to do something about His Majesty's violence. Moving on...When I do not have work, I spend my time relaxing at home with my family. I fear that they would become distant towards me; if I were to solely focus on my job, so I try to spend as much time as I can with them. My beloved wife, Marietta, says that I should not worry so much but I cannot help it. Since I have a face that one would akin to a strict and cold person, it becomes difficult for others to act normally around my presence. I heard from my subordinates that some nobles and servants have been calling me the "Prime Minister of Ice" for some time now. The title does not have anything to do with my specialty in Frost Magic, but instead, highlights my 'cold' demeanor and how I appear to be someone that is hard to approach. I do not care if they simply think that I am unapproachable but it does trouble me that my title includes unscrupulous rumors. I would have preferred if they focused on their duties more, rather than gossiping about people that they do not even talk to. Moving back to the topic of my family, I have four beautiful children that I treasure dearly, as well as a wife that I am very blessed to have been married to. Firstly, my eldest son is currently studying within the academic city of Laurel.  As he will inherit the house of Northe once he is ready, there is a need for him to be able to learn as much as he can in order to fulfill his future duties as the head. It will also do him good if he is able to create good connections with people from distinguished backgrounds in order for him to have lesser difficulties in the future. Next are my twin daughters, Mary and Marie. Mary, the eldest of the twins, is the very outgoing type of girl. She excels in swordplay due to her admiration towards her grandfather. If she continues her training in a few years time, she may even qualify as a member of the Red Dragon Knight Corp; or so that is what father says. She does not neglect her duties as a noble, especially when she is present among other aristocrats. Exuding an air of nobility and grace, Mary is quite popular among many children, but if one were to provoke her, she will not hesitate to use physical actions. On the other-hand, Marie is the kind that dislikes fighting but that is not to say that she will simply stand by idly as a fight is in front of her, she is actual quite strong in bare-handed combat, especially with the gauntlets that is her favorite weapons. Rather than an interest in the art of battle like her older twin, increasing her knowledge appeals much more. I believe that a large number of books in our house's study has already been thoroughly studied by her, it is merely a matter of time when even the royal library becomes her next target. She has potential in being a academic scholar but that is up for her to decide. As their father, I am quite pleased that they are growing up to be quite the beauties much like their mother, but it does worry me that their beauty has been attracting troublesome suitors. Just this month alone, I have received a considerable amount of letters from many noble and distinguished merchant houses, appealing for the chance of having their sons obtain their hands in marriage. That in itself should not have been a problem as it is normal for any high-ranking noble house. The troubling part is that a third of those letters are from men that are much, much older than the. Some were even old enough to be their fathers and grandfathers. Fortunately, even if those suitors were to showcase their wealth or prestige to me, it is completely useless as Mary and Marie are the ones that will make that choice.  It is our family's rule that the children are free to choose whoever they wish to marry after all. And this rule has existed since the time of the first head, so it is a much honored and protected rule. Finally, there is my youngest child, Yuriel. Prior to losing his memories, Yuriel had been quite the solitary child. He refused to leave the confines of our residence, no matter how much we try to convince him. He'd refuse any invitation sent to him by other noble families, and even loathed the idea of socializing with any other person outside our family. The only other people outside of our family that he did not have any objections interacting with are his maid, Claire, and Her Highness, Princess Charlotte. Other than those two, he would usually speak to them with eyes like that of a dead fish, right before making an excuse to leave the venue. Even if he did wish to leave the residence out of his own will, it was in order to study how I handled my work. There was always a sense wanting to prove something from him, leaving him to be quite the mysterious child that we couldn't figure out. Among my family, Yuriel has and always will be, our most treasured individual. Every one of us care for him like he was some sort of fragile object.  This may have contributed to his antisocial behavior but we have our own reasons for acting this way. When he was born, Yuriel had more mana than what a normal infant's body could contain. This excess caused his body to act erratically, to which it affected him heavily. He would frequently have high fevers that would take days to subside. His mana would sometimes discharge and cause his surroundings to be disrupted. Often times, he would even hurt himself and those around him whenever his mana goes out of control. During those times, I had considered killing the infant Yuriel to put him out of his torturous condition, but no matter how many times I try, I simply could not find the strength to take away his life. I turned to many specialists, consulted and listened to their suggestions in order to cure or at the very least; lessen his pain. It angered me whenever a suggestion of sealing him inside of a special room would come up. In the end, our family agreed on having high-class magic seal placed on Yuriel's back. The seal would transfer a considerable amount of the mana that Yuriel's body produces towards a large mana tank that is kept securely inside of the royal castle.  The fact that the mana transfered to the mana tank is being used to power the barrier that protects the royal castle while we conserve on cost of using mana crystals, is the kingdom's secret known to only a few trusted individuals. ....This past few days, Yuriel has changed drastically. The former solitary child that kept to himself was no more. It is as though, a brand new person has taken over his place. His sociability has improved greatly, his relationship with the princess has taken a positive turn, and though it is not that frequent, he is leaving the residence out of his own volition. These are not a bad changes per se, but the changed Yuriel is...... difficult to understand. One of the changes that was most noticeable is in his intellect. Though the former Yuriel was already quite the brilliant child, his current self seems to have unlocked even higher lengths of knowledge. For example; the agricultural suggestion that he had told to me before has already shown budding results. The reports mentioned that it will take some time to see physical results, but seeing how the planted crops had already budded earlier than what was initially expected, Yuriel's idea was already proving its worth. Moving onward, there is the matter of his intellect. After losing his memories, Yuriel seemed to have lost a great amount of knowledge about this world. Because it is important for a noble child to know as much as they can in order to survive in this world, I hired a tutor in order to regain the knowledge that he had lost. Surprisingly, it only took mere days for Yuriel to grasp most of his subjects. Though he had difficulty with history and etiquette subjects, his ability to learn the others was faster than how it originally was. His magic lessons has yet to show results but seeing how his tutor had energetically informed me of his talents, it would merely a matter of time. Finally; and quite surprisingly, there is his culinary knowledge. Dishes that have never been served in our family, nor in any restaurant that we have been to, were suddenly appearing on our table. When I called the head chef in order to learn as to where the new dishes came from, I was informed that all of them were suggested by Yuriel himself. Not once did Yuriel step inside our residence's kitchen and yet, dishes that we have never seen before had been popping up one after the other. It was a mystery as to where he learned such things, and even when questioned, he simply answers with an unsure tone. Because of how different Yuriel has become, I am starting to wonder what kind of future he will encounter. "Father, I made a new pastry that goes well with tea. Would you like to join us?" "Ah! It should be fine to take a break now, I will join you. Did you remember to invite your mother as well?" "Yes~" No matter. Whatever it is that Yuriel becomes in the future, I will support him with everything that I have. "Yuri~!" "Let's eat that pie that you made!" I trust my family, and those that hold him dear, to make sure that he won't stray from the right path. "Now, now, there is no need to be so excited. I am sure that Yuriel has made enough to satisfy the both of you" Looking at the smiling faces of my children, I hope in my heart that the goddess bestows her blessings upon them. To make sure that they will never face dangers in their life. In the tales of old that were passed down by the gods themselves, there was once a god that left the heavens in order to be with the mortals that walked the earth. This god originally lived his existence as one that destroys, but he did not want to be known as only as being of destruction. He believed that being an entity that destroys was wrong as observing fits his hobbies more. He hated the thought of taking the lives of innocent mortals, so he cast aside his duties and lowered himself to be with mortals. He did not care what others thought of him. He did not care that he threw away his status in order to be among those who's lifespan was far shorter than his own. He was content on simply being among the mortals, watching how they lived their lives out of their own free will. The other gods simply looked at him like he was some sort of fool, but he did not care for their mockery. His joy lied not in being worshiped or by feeling the he was of the superior race, but by simply witnessing how those with fleeting lives lived on their own. As thousands of years passed and many civilizations come and gone, the god left the world of mortals that he originally resided in, but he did not return to the plane of gods. The god decided that he wanted to travel to the distant worlds were other mortals lived. He had met, loved, and even hated many people throughout all of his travels, but he still enjoyed his experiences nonetheless. He also befriended and acquainted himself with many of the gods of those different worlds. Eventually, the god grew tired of living an ageless life. Seeing the deaths of those he loved took too much of a toll to his mind. He pleaded to the god of death and the god of creation; the two gods that existed even before any of the other gods did, to take away his godhood, to make his being a mortal that knows death. The two gods contemplated on the god's unusual wish, but in the end, they granted his desire. His immortality was no more. His essence turned into that of a mortals spec in the vast sea of souls. The former god lived his life, in a world far from the world that he first attained consciousness. He married a woman that captivated his heart, had children that he treasured dearly, grew old as a mere farmer who owned a small plot of land, and died as a beloved husband, father, and grandfather. Though life was not as easy as a mortal, he did not regret his choice, he thanked the two gods that gave to him what he desired. Even as his eyes slowly closed, a smiled spread across his face. Only in living a mortal life, did he truly feel like he was complete. One could only imagine what sort of life this former god is living now.... but knowing him, that idiot is having fun in whatever kind of life he is currently living.

Entering a certain shop, a young woman placed a stack of papers on the shops counter. "Hn? What's this, young missy?", the shop owner asked. "I have come on the orders of my master. He wishes for these items to be made. Today, if possible" Hearing the girls words, he eyes the paper and closely inspected it. The shop owner made a few grumbling noises before nodding his head. "Well...It's not that's it impossible for me to finish it today but considering the design and the quantity, you'll be getting all of them by tomorrow. You fine with that?" The shop owner gave his honest thoughts to which the girl nodded in acceptance. "Very well. I expect to receive it tomorrow. Will this be enough as payment?" The girl places a bag that is filled with silver coins on to the counter. "Five is more than enough. I'm a craftsman not a greedy merchant", the shop owner snorted. "Forgive me", the girl apologized. "Is fine...Really now. Your master's real interesting to want this to be made. What's the use of it? My craftsman's curiosity is itching to know" To the shop owner's words, the girl couldn't help but show a faint smile before answering. "My master explained that it is a strategic game that is played by two people. I did not understand it very well, so pardon me for being unable to tell more" "So it's a game? To design such pieces. I wonder what kind of imagination does he have?" Looking at the drawn image on the piece of paper, the shop owner couldn't help but admire the designs. He became interested in meeting with the person that made such drawings. As a craftsman, he had seen various designs from various people, but not once had he been commissioned to create a game. Seeing the shop owner admiring the papers, the girl couldn't help but chuckle in her heart. An image of the master that she swore to protect appeared in her mind. Though she saw her absence by his side as a failure as his guard, she could not help but answer to his wishes. She swore that she would train herself to be able to quickly get to his side, even if they were far apart. She vowed in her heart that never again would she let him face any danger. For he were to disappear, she would as well. After accepting His Majesty’s request, I arrive in front of what I assume to be the princess's room. Knock Knock Knock The maid that guided me here, knocked before introducing my arrival. “Princess, master Yuriel has come to see you” There was no reply for a whole minute before the sudden clamor of someone hurrying could be heard coming from the other side of the door. “Yuri!!!” A soon as the door was swung open, a girl tackled me to the floor. I felt winded by the sudden charge, but I still had strength to look at my attacker. Straddling on top of me, is a girl about my age. This person should be Princess Charlotte Centra Demure, the youngest daughter of His Majesty, King Kelvin Centra Demure…right? The girl’s small arms wrapped around my body, holding herself close to me. The smell of flowers entered my nose due to how close her crimson-colored hair was to my face. I was momentarily enraptured by her scent but I quickly pushed those thoughts aside. “Princess, you are troubling master Yuriel” A maid that came from inside her room went out to tried to pry her off of me. Sadly, it was no use as she was holding on strongly. “How dare you make me worry! I forbid you from dying without my permission!”, she scolded while continuously gripping on to me. Her maid was still trying to separate her from me but the small girl refused with all her might. Seeing that it was useless, I raised my hand to signal the maid to stop. I was hopeless as was to do in this situation, so I could only place my hand on her back and slowly caressed her head. “I’m sorry”, were the words that I spoke. It was clear that this girl deeply worried over me, over Yuriel. Supporting her weight, I raised my body in order to get a better look at her face. Also, no matter how clean this corridor is, it’s still wrong to lay here. She raises her face to meet mine, silently looking at me with her deep blue eyes that were clouded with tears. I smiled at her then took out a handkerchief from my pocket. Wiping her cheeks that had tears dripping down her face, I smiled and spoke. “Better?”, I asked her. “Un…”, she nodded meekly. I felt an unconscious smile crept on my face when I saw her adorable expression. Seeing that she calmed down, I cast my eyes to her maid to which she understood as she immediately moved to help the princess stand up. For a moment, I felt as though she was rather reluctant to separate from me but in the end, she stood up. “...” As she stood, she just quietly looked with her hands stretched out. She waiting for me to take her hand. Smile~ I, of course, accepted her offer that which made her form a radiant smile. She once again hugged me when I stood up. “It is better that princess and master Yuriel enter the room. Doing such acts in this corridor will be quite troubling in someone were to see it” The princess’s maid beckons us inside. Looking around, the maid that accompanied me here seems to have also left some time ago. “Come inside, Yuri!” Pulling my arm, I was made to enter her room by force. “Um…princess?” “Yes~?” “This position is kinda…” As soon I was inside, I was made to sit on a soft cushion on the floor by the princess. That in itself wouldn’t have been a problem but the princess also sat between my legs with her back comfortably leaning against me. “Do you dislike it?”, she looks at me with puppy eyes. My heart tightened from seeing her make that face, so I quickly corrected myself. “What? O-Of course not!", I hastily answered. "It’s just that… don’t you think that this position is improper?” “That is true but I haven’t seen Yuri a whole week! I was lonely!” Hearing her words, I couldn't help but be troubled about my current situation. How I 'lost' my memories because of the incident and that I am still relearning everything. “I know that face", the princess suddenly said. "I know that you are feeling troubled that Yuri doesn't really remember me” “...How?”, I asked rather surprised. “Well firstly, old Yuri wouldn't let me sit in this position” “I guess…” Even the me right now is having trouble being in this position right now. “But even if new Yuri doesn’t remember his old self, Yuri will always be my Yuri...but” “But?” “I like the new Yuri more. You are kinder than old Yuri” I could only smile wryly at her words. “I am glad to hear that, princ-” “Charlotte” “Nn?” I tilted my head in confusion but she turned bright red in return. “Just call me Charlotte!”, she yelled. “We are e-engaged after all?” “...Eh?” My thoughts suddenly halted. 'What did she say? Engaged? Does that mean that she and I are…Eh?' “Pr-” “Char~lotte~”, she inflated her cheeks in annoyance. “...C-Charlotte…what was it that you said again? I think I misheard you” “You misheard nothing! Father and Uncle already agreed that I will marry Yuri when we grow up! You will become my husband after we graduate from the academy!” She hugged me tightly, burying her face on to my chest. I looked towards her maid in the hopes of better understanding what she said but her maid only made a nodding gesture towards me. “...Do you not want to?” Charlotte's face looked as if was on the verge of tears. Her fingers tightly gripped on to my shirt. “N-No! That's not it!", I quickly answered. "…It’s just…I didn’t think I would be in a relationship so soon. And being betrothed to such a beautiful girl” My face felt my face turn ablaze as I continued my words. I unconsciously turned my head away due to my embarrassment.  'God... Why am I feeling so much embarrassment from a 9 year old girl!? Is it because I am now a child that I'm being so flustered?' “Me? Yuri called me beautiful!?”, she shouted joyfully. “...” I simply nodded with my head turned as I couldn't really meet eye-contact with her. “Ehehe~", chuckled with her cheeks turned rose pink. "Yuri is embarrassed” Charlotte's grin widens before she opens up her arms to give me a tight embrace. “Kkrk!!? Char-!!!” My embarrassment quickly vanished as it was now replaced by an excruciating pain. I was already conscious of it a moment ago but now I was truly made aware how this girl was someone that contradicts her appearance. “C-Char...lotte…” My insides felt like they were being squeezed out of my body as the strength of her embrace increased by the second. “P-Princess, I believe that you should stop now!”, the maid called out in worry. “Master Yuriel had just recovered. It will be troubling if he were to be injured again” “Ah! I-I’m sorry, Yuri”, she quickly released me from her grip. “A-Are you okay? Does it hurt?” She proceeds to caress my back out of worry. “N-No…I’m fine”, I replied. I took deep breaths to recover that which was squeezed out of me. 'Is this what His Majesty meant by trying not get myself hurt?! From just where exactly does this girl get her strength from!?' Just as I was finally able to catch my breath, Charlotte took hold of my hand and said. "Y-Yuri...I'm sorry...but I still want you to know that no matter what. I will always be yours, so I hope that you also stay by my side" We stared at each other in silence for sometimes before she quickly let go of my hand and ran off towards her bead, burying herself under a pile of cushions and pillows. Is it bad that I find her actions to be charming?…Well no matter. If I am now going to live as Yuriel Northe, I might as well follow what my feelings are telling me. Approaching her bed, I sat on the edge of it and spoke. “...Let us catch up on the time that I have forgotten, Charlotte” “...Un” Peeking under the mountain of pillows, she shows a bashful look as she accepted my offer. Her bright red cheeks showed her loveliness that shined brightly in my eyes. After a while of catching up, Charlotte decided that she wanted the two of us to play a game. I fully expected us to play with dolls or something a princess would want to play. Instead, Charlotte took out two wooden sword from a chest that laid at the corner of the room, throwing one towards me. And with a wide grin on her face, she quickly dashed off and struck me without warning. Regardless to say, I lost rather miserably. It wasn't even once but multiple times. Each time I was painfully struck by her without an ounce of mercy. I really just wanted us to spend a leisurely time together. Even though her maid was trying to stop her at first, but she eventually gave up and brought out a medical kit while seemingly sending me an apologetic gaze. “Yuri became weak~?”, said Charlotte, as she rested her wooden sword against her shoulders. “I can’t help it. I don’t remember how to use the sword after all”, I replied with a tired voice. I tried to play it off it being caused by my ‘amnesia’, to which she seems to have accepted as a reason. Even before dying, I never picked up a weapon to fight with someone, even as a form of playing. The only time that I ever fought during my time on earth was when an idiot tried to mess with my sister, even then I barely managed to win against him. “Well that’s fine! I’ll be the one to protect Yuri instead of the other way around. So Yuri should just go and focus on something different” She puffs up her chest as she swings her prided wooden sword. “If that’s the case, you won’t mind if I learned magic, right?” “Yup! But I’m the one to protect Yuri so don’t bother learning how to fight with it” “But I want to protect you too though?… Don’t you want me to?”, this time it was my turn to show a teary expression. It seemed to have worked as she replied, “T-Then it’s fine, I guess”, with a bright red face. I patted her head and thanked her. “Nnn....It's unfair when Yuri uses his looks” We continued the rest of our time chatting with each other. We talked about various things about her and she even told me about the things that the former Yuriel did. I found out that the original Yuriel was deeply afraid of her. He often cried due to Charlotte’s ‘games’. There were often times when he would call Charlotte a ‘brute’ or ‘muscle-headed woman’ because he couldn’t stand her and her abnormal strength. In spite of this, Yuriel didn’t seem to hate her, since if he did, father and His Majesty wouldn’t have let me meet with her. It may just be because Yuriel couldn't handle her rough playing. “Lord Northe has ordered me to come get you” Maybe because I was enjoying my time with Charlotte too much, I didn’t notice that it was nearing sunset. A maid had come to inform me that father and I will be leaving soon. “I want you to visit me soon, okay?”, Charlotte asks me after hugging me one last time. This time it was much gentler than the last. “I’ll come as soon as I am free” With our simple exchanges, I left Charlotte’s room to meet up with father. When I arrived, father was already inside of the carriage, seemingly tired. “Good work today, father”, I said as I entered the carriage. “...Ah, Yuriel. Thank you…Father just needs to rest his eyes, okay? Because of His Majesty's careless use of magic, many of the documents became mixed with other documents” Father didn’t seem to have the energy to speak anymore. Looks like his work today was more hectic than it usually was. As the carriage moved down the capital’s streets, I heard father coughing to catch my attention. “Yes, father?” “...So? How was the princess?” “She was nice. Quite free-spirited though but at least she knows when to be gentle” “I see…then did you find out?” “That the two of us were engaged? Yes. It was quite the surprise but I thought that it would not be so bad be marrying such a cute girl”, I gave him my honest thought. Hearing my words, father smiled gently with his eyes closing in satisfaction. “That’s good, that’s good. Though publicly, you are only known as a marriage candidate, His Majesty and I had already decided that the two of you will officially be engaged once both of you have reached your coming-of-age ceremonies next year. I had simply thought that you would once again request me to cancel your engagement with the princess” “I refused the engagement?”, I asked. “Before, yes. You kept insisting that you did not want a wife that was a ‘muscle-head’”, he showed a troubled smile while he scratched his cheek. “...Ah…Father”, seeing his expression, I decided to say to him what I wanted to say for some time now. “Hmm?” “I’m sorry for being a such a difficult child before”, I bowed at him. “.…..Well we know that we are also at fault for sheltering you too much, but that is now a thing of the past… Since your reputation is not that well, you will need to work hard in fixing it by yourself” “I understand” Father patted my head as he smiled. “...Father, may I request something of you?” “What is it?” “I want to learn how to use magic. I want to be able to learn how to protect Charlotte and those who are important to me. I do not know what the future has in store for me but whatever it is that happens, I least want to be able to have the ability to protect those that I hold dear” His eyes slightly widened. He couldn’t believe the words that a 9 year old child said, but after a short moment he once again smiled and caressed my head. “As you wish. Luckily, Miss Riona is also a skilled magic instructor. I will inform her tomorrow and make it so that magic studies will be a part of your subjects” “Thank you, father” “But remember this. Learning magic is not an easy task and if you were to fail, it could result in injuring yourself. Are you still sure about it?” “Yes. There is nothing in this world that comes without risk. I need to be able to endure at least that much if I wish to obtain my goals” Nodding at my words, father once again rested his back against his seat. “Hah…You are only 9 years old and yet you are already saying such mature words. It is as if losing your memory changed you into a completely different person” I could only smile at father, who now had closed his eye to rest. I couldn’t exactly tell him that I really was a different person after all.

On the surface, the forces of General Uleb, The Kin of Champions are pressed to its last man by the rampaging forces of Airu The Plague Bearer. Knowing no other path of retreat, General Uleb raises his hammer, the Heaven’s Boulder, that stands the full height of a grown man and slams it down against the ground. The ground cracks, creating a wide rift that separates the armies of the allied nations and the plague monsters. It is unfortunate that he is on the side with the plague monsters, for he could not control how the cracks would form. He could not foresee what would happen in the future. Yet he stands firm. A man against many, his blows throwing monsters twice his height to the sky, his hammer smashing the skulls, bones and flesh of the plague monsters to mush. The blood of the plague monsters falls on his face, burning him with their corrosive substance. Yet he stands firm before the thousands of plague beasts, each the match of a hundred men. Alas, not even he can stand against so many. For he is only one man. A single man who bought the allied armies precious time to retreat and reorganize at what would be the last line of the defense just outside the city of Gralnika. It is the same on the high grounds of the mountain pass. While the long-eared soldiers of the Lost Woods stand their ground better than the others, they are about to face their greatest adversary. The black dragons, long thought to have died off, appeared at the battlefield right after the sun reached midday. Despite the power of their long bows made of the sacred oaks nurtured until a spirit resided inside them, they were no match for the scalding breaths of the black dragons. As the flames with the heat and substance of volcanic magma burn their soldiers, the venerable soldiers of the Lost Woods are routed. These legendary soldiers thought to be mere myths passed down from parents to children, lost their will to fight against the unstoppable might of the black dragon flight. None of them were alive during the battle that saw the annihilation of the black dragons a millennia ago, as all those who fought died during the battle or during the march home. What they knew of the black dragons prowess were second hand stories passed down to the folks who went to look for the survivors before being passed down to the rest. How did our ancestors defeat them at the height of their power? That same thought plays in each of their minds. Despite their pride of being the most powerful warriors in the world, they now understand that it was mere arrogance. Facing a true foe, their power is found wanting. Yet one among them stands firm. Slapping the banner bearers and trumpeters to their senses, she urges them to their feet. Sounding the rallying call for perhaps the final time, High Commander Restini stands firm. With her armour broken, her helm missing and her body still suffering numerous bloody wounds, she raises the legendary spear Hal’geris in the air with one good hand and charges alone. She knows her army’s morale is at its lowest point, yet she is unwilling to give up. She realizes that she can no longer urge her army to fight, not with the powerful black dragons as the enemy’s vanguard. But she must fight, for this must not be the end. She swore to live and die with Selenia, so how can she run away now and allow Selenia to fight alone? “Great ancestors, I am Restini, daughter of Sayol and Ileas, descendant of Aharis, who fought the black dragons at the valley of death. Grant me the strength with which my ancestor slew the foul black dragons. Take my blood and give me the strength to annihilate them again!” Restini can feel the ancestors answering her call. Her power surges, her wounds close and her broken right arm heals itself. The ancestors have responded to her wish, to turn her blood into pure power. The same power that the long ears once relied on in the same battle thousands of years before. She jumps ahead at the face of a vile black dragon. Seeing the lone long ear warrior approaching them, the black dragons together pour forth a torrent of fire and magma at Restini. As Restini is still in the air, she has no way to avoid the rush of fire and magma. Thus she calls to the spirits, “Spirits of air, I beg for wings!” Mere seconds before the flames devour her, she appears above the torrent of flames, seemingly lifted up by the very wind itself. Concentrating her wild magic into the spear, she makes a wide slash downwards towards the three black dragons that released their breaths at her just a moment before. The force of the slash makes a blade of wind and magic, carving deep into the backs of the dragons, cutting their tough bodies into twos. Seeing her resolve, the other soldiers of the Lost Woods turn back toward the dragons. Firming their hold against their spears, swords and bows, they take a step forward. And then they take another step. And another. Until in the end it becomes a thunderous charge. “Great ancestors, I, Murle son of Yum and Sarla offer my blood, my life. Grant me the power to fight besides my lord.” “Great ancestors, Arin of Ayn and Mare pays my respect. Give me the power to defeat our ancient enemies, no matter what the cost.” “Great ancestors, great spirits, I am Felmor. Take my everything, let me fight again for the last time!” “Great ancestors, grant this child your blessing. Let our blood never be remembered as the blood of cowards.” And so they fight again. Not with weapons made by mortal hands, but with weapons made of blood and nature. Their own bodies become the weapons by which they cut and stab hundreds of black dragons. What was once a hopeless fight has become a fair battle, with thousands of long ears fighting together to defeat hundreds of their ancient enemies, the black dragons. Yet still, they fail. The power received by exchanging their blood was a temporary and final measure. Had it only been a couple hundred black dragons, they might’ve won. But they were too many. As the long ears skin pales and their movements stiffen, one by one they are ripped apart by the black dragons’ claws or burned to cinders with their magma breath. As for Restini, she already fell long before the first of the other long ears start to fall. Not even able to utter a single word as she breathed her last, her spirit uttered, “I go first, Selenia.”

A boy no older than 17 summers walks along a rough, dark tunnel. With no light to show his way, all he can do is walk carefully, holding the walls for guidance, and sometimes crawling to feel the ground beneath his feet. Twice had he fallen to holes too dark for him to see. Twice he had fallen farther beneath the surface. The chaos of battle above when he fell is now a distant memory. How long had he walked underneath the earth? How long ago did he fall? Is the battle over? He can’t know for sure. Under the earth, in the darkness with no source of light, it is impossible for one to tell the time. In the darkness, even the counting of seconds becomes difficult. How long is a second? How long should he wait before one second is complete? Does a single step take a second, or does it take two? For all he knew, the battle above could’ve been over. For all he knew, the world had ended. For all he knew, he was probably the last life in this world. Yet, his feet keep moving. Why is he still walking, he wonders. Perhaps he still has hopes. Perhaps he believes he can still find a way up to the surface. Or perhaps, he simply has to walk. Perhaps, stopping will end everything. Is there any hope? As he walks, he yells into the darkness, no longer caring who or what can hear him, “Oi you gods of the world. You who allowed this to happen! For what purpose do we worship you all our lives if you can’t even stop one of your own from destroying our world? You bastards who took our worship for granted. Where are you now?!” He falls to his knees, his tears no longer can be stopped, nor does he want to stop it. He has lost all strength. What purpose does he have now? When he fell into the deep hole, the allied armies were already in full rout. Despite the order to hold the line, despite knowing that they were the last hope of all who live, despite how many thousands lost their lives creating the power stones with which to charge their grand spells, the army fled. The last hope, the final defensive line on which all the wishes of living beings rested was no more. He tried to deny it at first, but deep inside him, he knew even then that there was no longer any hope. He doesn’t even know if he is still alive. Perhaps this is his Hell, to forever walk in this darkness for not being there to stand beside his mistress, the Priestess of the Holy Song, Selenia the Saint of Starsilver. “Gods! Answer me! Punish me if you wish! My mistress! Save my mistress!” He closes his eyes, his eyes flowing with tears and his nose blocked with snot. Regardless, he kneels in the position of worship, and asks the gods with as clear a voice he can. In his mind, this is perhaps his last prayer. “You gods! If any of you are still listening. Listen to my voice! Punish me if you wish. Burn me in fire. Bury me in this tunnel. Drown me a thousand times if it will be enough. Exchange my suffering for my mistress’s life. I beg you. If a thousand times is not enough, drown me a million times. She deserves a chance. Our mistakes, let it not be her burden!” The moment he speaks the last words, he feels a bright light shining through his pupils. He opens his eyes and quickly closes his eyes again. After walking in the darkness for who knows how long, his eyes are completely blinded by the light. Yet it is for naught. He can no longer see, for mortals who see the bright light of this presence will be forever blinded by its brilliance. “Child, what is it you desire?” A voice echoes inside the light. “What - who are you?” the boy asks. “The gods of your world call us The Anchor of the World. Of any human names, we know not. You may call us the same.” “Gods? Are you a god?” “God ... we are not aware of being called this. We do not exist in the same plane as the gods of your existence. We are merely The Anchor, who watch everything that ever was, is and will.” “Can you bring me up to the surface?” “We can, it is easier than building the stars. But is that what you wish? Do you wish to return to the surface?” “No...” the boy clenches his fists, recalling his powerlessness in the last battle, “I wish to be of use to my mistress, but I did my best ... and I still fell short.” “We understand. Mere mortals cannot stand against such might.” “But the gods. If the gods will help, won’t it be possible to win? After all, Halleb is only one woman even if she is a goddess. Surely the combined might of all the gods can easily defeat her.” “That is no longer possible. Your gods are no longer in your world.” “What? Where did they go?” “To the place where dead gods go, a place not even we are privy of.” “Dead? The gods ... dead? What ... I ... how...” The boy breaks down in a babble of senseless words, unable to form even one coherent sentence. Too many thoughts flood his mind. Too many that he can’t even decide which should go first. “Child, we are aware this may be hard for you to swallow. In place of your gods, we shall give you one last assistance. Speak, what is your wish, child?” “I-I wish for the gods to be revived!” “That is impossible. You cannot pay the price.” “Price?” “Of course, everything has a price. You know this, no?” “Then ... give us victory over the forces of doom.” “Victory at this point requires a miracle. It is a miracle for which you cannot pay.” “Then, take my life, take my body, take my soul, take everything of me. Just save my mistress, for she is our final hope.” “If hope is all you wish for, then step forward and touch the light. Hope is all that we can give you.” The boy gets back on unsteady feet. He stumbles in the darkness of his sight, unaware that his eyes were already burned black in its socket. Despite the darkness in his sight, he takes one weak step after another, guided by the warmth of the light that touches his skin. After he has taken twenty steps forward, he reaches forward with both his hands. He doesn’t know why he feels as if he has arrived, but he has. His faith is rewarded when he feels something solid, yet he can no longer feel the flames that burn away his clothes, his skin and even his flesh. For he has touched a power beyond comprehension, that his mortal shell cannot withstand its greatness. Without pain or suffering, his body, his soul, the entire existence that makes up the boy are undone. To the world, he never existed.   Announcement There are three prologues, each tells the story of what happen before the time shift. In the visual novel, these are the intro animation.

"So do I have this right? You can see the future?" The head priestess narrows her eyes, her cheekbones move a fraction of an inch higher with her hands clasped in front of her lips. Her eyes pierce through me, as if trying to see any falsehood, any lies in my words. But there is no lie. I have not uttered a single lie nor misled her into believing something not true. My words have been the truth and nothing but the truth, to my knowledge. And I know, very well, that seven years from now, the world will meet its doom. If we, the sentient creatures of this world continue to bicker among each other, that future will come true again. Humans enslaving long ears. Long ears killing humans who enter their forests. Mountain folks isolating themselves from the other races. Short folks who steal, rob and murder. The fae folks and their mischievous tricks. The forest maidens who jealously guard and propagate their sacred trees. The bird folks who look down on the land dwellers. The merfolks who prey on fishermen and sailors. And the red and gold dragons who constantly fight each other for dominance. This must all come to an end. If we are to stop the end of the world, all the races must work together. We cannot afford to lose any of the sentient races again. But before all that can happen, I must first convince the head priestess, Sister Jihan the Unforgiving, that our future is bleak unless we do something about it. "I do not see the future. I am from the future, Sister Jihan." It is amusing to see her left eyebrow tick upward upon hearing me speak her name so casually. I actually forgot that as a mere Listener, it was rude of me to speak her name so casually. It's because I've been at the top of the clergy for several years that I forgot that right now, I'm only at the second lowest tier of the ordained priestesses of the Starsilver. In comparison, Sister Jihan is at the highest rank, a Keeper, as only a Keeper may lead the sanctuary. She is a Starkeeper, one who foretells the coming events by watching the stars. It is at this point that I hope that Aria, who is standing beside me will stop fidgeting at everything. I don't remember much about the Aria of this time, but has she always been this nervous? Or is it because we are in front of the High Priestess? Regardless, if she is this nervous, it's like she's admitting that everything is our fault. Instead of making an fuss about my transgression, the head priestess decides to drop the issue. "Am I supposed to believe the predictions of a Listener without any evidence?" "What kind of evidence would you like to see, High Priestess?" "Anything that proves you are from the future, of course." I say nothing as I look back into my past trying my best to find evidence that cannot be doubted. I have no items from my seven years of wandering. I have no friends to vouch for me, for I have not met any of them as of yet. I have no wealth to show. What can I provide as evidence other than my own knowledge? And therefore, I look into my memories to find the answer - a prayer that I had sung hundreds, thousands of times, that I now know by heart. Every word, every syllable, every note, every single meaning, I knew them all. I knew the Call of the Dead Queen more than I knew the Path of Starsilver, the sendoff prayer for the faithful of the Starsilver. Since the Starsilver was lost, what reason would I have for praying to a lost god? And so I sang, just like I had done hundreds, thousands of times before. Pleading for the Queen of Death, Halleb, to honour the ancient covenant and provide safe passage for the souls to their final destination. To never corrupt. To never mislead. To never refuse. Listen to my callOh wandering soulMy voiceshall guide you home The light in your eyesYour shadows undoneThe day is pastAnd night has come The clock has struckAnd time is outThis is the timeto celebrateAll you have donein memory Was it regretor pride indeed? Oh my childcan you hear?The voice of the crowscalling for a feast? Now or neverYour world has endedAnother world awaitsA new journeyFollow my voiceCome to me. Oh dear childBe naught afraidThose left behindshall be just fine Listen to my voiceI'm calling youFollow my voiceCome to me Worry not my childThe darkness before youIs yours aloneYour darkest heart Face the darknessAnd you shall be freeLet not your fear guide your wayYour heart shall be the answer Come forth my childFear not the darkness inside The taint in your soulThe burden you holdLeave all behindCome home to me The gate is now openYour path is now clearLeave your pastAnd don't look back Leaving this worldEternally "I see," the head priestess looks at me with a glare, "Is that a challenge, brat?" "What? What do you-" My blood goes cold as I feel the atmosphere change with my own skin. My body shivers, and my breath comes out as fog. Her blood fills with magic, carrying the mana around her body to complete a magic circuit. I know what this is. She wants to kill me! The thought appears in my head as the blade of ice in her hand becomes longer and longer before my eyes.   Announcement Kill! Kill! Kill!

The spell completed, Sister Jihan activates the magic, causing a large magic circle to appear under our feet. I know this magic, I was right when I deduced that the magic is remote casting and area effect. If the caster were just another person, this might be complicated. Thankfully, Sister Jihan is a descendant of a certain distinguished bloodline, and those people can only use ice magic. While strong, their magic is predictable by someone of my experience. As I cast my magic, an orb the size of a fist forms above my head. This is not my magic, it is Sister Jihan's magic. This is Frost Nova, a fairly high ranked magic, but pretty useless in a melee. I've never seen this used in battle, and the only one I know from my past life who could use this used it only once when he was angry about failing to catch fish and decided to freeze the whole lake in revenge. It can create a whole field of ice, but it takes time to do it. If this were a battle situation, interrupting the caster's concentration would break the spell being cast. Unfortunately, descendants of this special bloodline use their magic differently. Even if the caster is killed, the magic will continue to drain remnant magic and mass from the dead body, effectively exchanging the corpse for the completion of the magic. That's not a problem for me. My counter is perfect. As the orb of Frost Nova pulses with the terrifying sound of a hail storm, releasing a wave of frost that freezes the water in the fishbowl on Sister Jihan's desk, my spell completes. I push Aria down on the floor feeling the first pulse of the Frost Nova hitting my body and covering my back in ice. The cold makes me wince, but this is nothing compared to falling into a frozen lake when I went to search for the gold dragons. I press Aria down with my own body, and in this position, I can feel how close we are, her breasts pressing against mine, her arms up on the sides of her head as she looks up at me. Her face is framed by the curls of her silver tresses, emphasizing her oval-shaped face, her long eyelashes that partially cover her wide open eyes, her small nose free from any blemish and her red lips that seduce and tease. Instead of an angel, perhaps Aria can best be described as a devilish temptation. But I have no time to indulge in her beauty. I push my own silver hair aside with my right hand, get up on my knees and thrust my left hand up a few inches above my head. "Protect us, Dome of Winter!" From my palms, a bluish barrier spreads out. It forms a dome above us as the second pulse of Frost Nova releases more cold air into the room. The surface of the barrier immediately becomes covered in ice but the effects of the Frost Nova miss us this time and once the Dome of Winter comes into contact with the floor, we are no longer in danger. Ice is a terrible conductor of heat and therefore, it is possible to defend against the heat-robbing effects of ice magic with another ice magic. The Frost Nova pulses seven more times before the orb in the air disappears. When the sound of hail storm stops and the waves of frost stop hitting the dome, I release the magic that holds the dome in existence. But despite cancelling the spell, the dome remains in place, which puzzles me as it should have already been dispelled. "Ah! I see!" As I look at the smooth dome of ice above us, I realize the reason the dome is still up. The answer is that this is not my spell. I can remove the barrier, but I can't remove the ice that accumulated before I removed the barrier. So with this knowledge, I brace myself beside Aria and kick the ice with my right leg to break out. "How did you do that?" Sister Jihan asks without even caring that her body is covered in fragments of ice. Apparently not even the caster who should have had complete immunity to ice is spared from the spell. "This is not the first ice magic I've seen. Were you trying to kill me, High Priestess?" "That is impossible!" "Impossible, yes, if you consider that everything I have said was a lie. But it is a fact that I came from the future and I saw the exact same thing many times in the last two years of my other life. The bloodlust, the mana buildup, the magic circuit that your blood completes, I have seen it a hundred times. I knew you were going to cast the ice magic before you could cast them. One grows up quickly in the middle of war, especially if it is a war of genocide." "Even if you've seen it a hundred times, even a thousand times, you still shouldn't be able to see my magic and have enough time to prepare a counterspell to deflect it. No mage can rival my ice magic even if they were to train for half a century!" "Bloodline of King Frost, isn't it?" I ask as her eyes widen in shock. "Yes, I know of that. While I do not have that blood, I do have the same blessing, you see." To prove my point, I conjure a blade of ice from my right hand in a single breath. It is a small blade, no bigger than a very short dagger, but this is all I can do with my current mana capacity. Despite draining a lot of mana from Aria, I have used up most of it to form the Dome of Winter. I'm not a real descendant of King Frost after all. "How... the previous High Priestess examined your family bloodline. Apart from the Blessing of Starsilver, there was nothing of note in your bloodline. How can you have the power of King Frost?" Blessing of Starsilver is actually a misleading term. There is actually no real blessing, except for the families who are able to get a lot of money from selling their daughters. You're said to have the Blessing of Starsilver if you have silver hair. When a baby is found to have silver hair, a Watcher of Starsilver will be sent to monitor the child until she completes six years of summer. If after six summers she retains her silver hair, the Starsilver Sanctuary shall then buy the child and have her brought to the Sanctuary to be raised as a priestess of Starsilver. Initiates of Starsilver are forbidden from cutting off their silver hair until they achieve the qualifications to be a Watcher of Starsilver. For that reason, all the priestesses of Starsilver have silver hair and almost all of them have hair that reaches their waists. If an initiate of Starsilver were to cut off her hair, she would be chained atop the Tower of Repentance until her hair grew back. The faith of Starsilver teaches respect towards silver hair, which by itself is the Blessing of Starsilver. It is different for the Knights of Starsilver. While some of them do have silver hair, they are treated no different from knights with different coloured hair. In the faith of Starsilver, men cannot become priests of Starsilver as they are impure and vulnerable to greed and lust. Despite that, their position is indispensable as the knights protect the sanctuary and the priestresses and even conduct deals with outsiders in place of the keepers. "I can assure you that I am not your relative, High Priestess. But I know someone who is. His name is Erlesion, the first son of Duke Rarnwad. I believe you know him, High Priestess?"   Announcement Ai-chan finally caved into previous suggestions and made a patreon now. If you wish to support Ai-chan and encourage Ai-chan to write faster, please visit here: https://www.patreon.com/shiinaai . Please understand that this is completely voluntary. Ai-chan will still post some chapters as Ai-chan can, but without the motivation and responsibility of money, Ai-chan can't break away from other stuff to focus on writing.

The tip of the spear of ice approaches at a speed too fast for the eyes to catch. It would've been too fast for even my eyes to catch if it were the old me. But I am not the old me. I have fought monsters the size of a castle, dragons that breathed poisonous acids and even fiends that charged out of the shadows. A familiar coldness spreads around my right hand. There is no moment of hesitation as I raise my right hand and smacks aside the approaching tip of the ice spear to my left. The bookshelf on the wall beside me breaks as the seven-foot long ice spear crashes against it, throwing the leatherbound books and numerous trinkets on the floor. It was an impressive ice spear. Indeed, there was nothing to complain about the power, shape, size or toughness of the ice spear. It was solid and merely being stabbed with the tip could've frozen the victim if one didn't have any resistance to frost. However, it was still merely an ice spear. If she had any hope of killing me with it, she'd have to cast Ice Chains and Flight of the Polar Birds as well or employ some other similar strategy. But that is something someone who is familiar with the battlefield will do. I have nothing to fear from someone who lives her life in peace and sits in a comfy chair behind an ornate desk made out of holy oak. Sister Jihan looks at me in disbelief. Her right hand is extended towards me, still covered in a mist of frost but without the ice spear she sent my way earlier. The moment lasts mere seconds and her blood quickly forms another spell. "Who sent you?" she asks while the magic circuit circulates around her body. "I don't know! One moment I was on our final battlefield, and the next I was in the Hall of Stellar Radiance." "Still playing dumb, huh? Alright, I will make it easier for you. Crimson Crusade or Temple of Flames, which one?" "What? I don't even know who those are!" "Oh? You don't sound like you're lying. There is another group of thugs out for my blood? Well, it doesn't matter. I survived four cullings, I will survive another. Say hello to your bosses in Halla." She won't even listen! It seems like she has it set that I'm here to kill her. "Won't you please stop and listen?!" I ask for the last time. "No. Your friends didn't listen when they cut off my mother's head. They didn't listen when they stabbed me twice and left me bleeding on the ground. Why would I give you that benefit?" She refuses as her magic gets nearer to completion. With diplomacy failing, there was nothing else I can do but to survive long enough and hopefully show her that she was wrong about me. The pattern of her spell suggests something remote casting and area effect with high damage, which means either Frost Field or Icicle Nova, two of the spells that Erle used quite often. Neither of which is good. Both can be countered, but the counterspell requires a lot of mana, which I in my current form do not have. What I do have, is knowledge. "Aria!" I grab Aria's hand and pulls her close to me. "Ah, eh, what... what just happened?" she asks as she recovers from her shock. Holding her right hand in my left with my right hand on her back pulling her against me, I close her lips with my own. She struggles, flustered at the sudden kiss, but I hope she stops misunderstanding this. This is not anything romantic. Back in my previous life, there was one time when I arrived at a hidden castle deep in the woods. The residents were friendly and looked just like normal people, but they weren't normal people. They were vampires. On the very first night, my whole party was feasted on. As for me, I attracted the attention of the vampire lord and she attempted to turn me into one of them. Thankfully, all initiates of Starsilver were imbued with a small amount of Starsilver dust. The head priestess back then told us it was so that we would never lose our way. The real purpose was to keep our bodies pure to prevent all transformations that defile the purity of life. For that reason, my body rejected vampirification, but I pretended that I was turned with incomplete transformation, and there I learned their secret art of life feeding. Life Feeding is a shameful method of consuming life and mana from another person to nourish the life and mana of the one feeding. It is shameful even for vampires, for a different reason. After escaping from the vampire castle, I swore to never use this technique again. Now there is no other choice. If I do not do this, we will both die. I am sorry, Aria. And so I start feeding on Aria, my beloved, my cherished, my only one. I am aware that this may turn bad, but as long as I consume only her mana, she should be fine. It is difficult, particularly since I haven't done this for years, but as long as I stay in the region of 'energy' and stay away from 'life', and not touching the blurry boundary that separates the two, there should be little chance of consuming her life. While feeding on my dear, sweet Aria, I start preparing the magic circuit to defend myself from Sister Jihan's attack.   Announcement Ai-chan finally caved into previous requests and made a patreon now. If you wish to support Ai-chan and encourage Ai-chan to write faster, please visit here: https://www.patreon.com/shiinaai . Please understand that this is completely voluntary. Ai-chan will still post some chapters as Ai-chan can, but without the motivation and responsibility of money, Ai-chan can't break away from other stuff to focus on writing.

"Sister Selenia! Sister Selenia!" The loud voice in my ears along with the shaking of my shoulders wake me from the fog in my mind. As I open my eyes, a soft blue light enters my eyes reminding me of what we once lost. It is a familiar light, one I've seen probably a thousand times, even tens of thousands of times. It is the light of the Holy Starsilver, spinning slowly above the magical altar made by the now extinct azure mountain people. "What - where..." I look around the room, recognizing a chamber that I haven't seen for years. It is a chamber that I haven't entered for at least six years. This chamber shouldn't exist anymore. Six years ago, this place was attacked and ransacked by the demons of fire and the demons of blades that killed all the priestesses and burned the entire temple complex down. Even the Holy Starsilver that had adorned this chamber for the past 600 years was taken away to gods know where. Only a handful of priestesses and Knights of the Holy Starsilver survived the sudden attack. I was one of those who survived and had to escape alone. The sister breathes a sigh of relief. "I'm so glad you are awake. You suddenly lost consciousness during dawn worship. Are you alright?" "Sister Eryes?" I ask in disbelief. Sister Eryes was one of those who sat in worship during the attack on the Hall of Stellar Radiance. She should be the first to die. How can she still be alive? "Yes, Sister Selenia. Greetings of dawn. If you are feeling unwell, you should've told me. It is not good to pray with an ill body." "No... no, I am fine. Is this a dream?" "A dream?" Sister Eryes seems to fall into deep thought before she hit the palm of her left hand with her other fist, "Indeed! Life is a dream. A dream that speaks of our worth before the stars. I have finally found the answer!" "Uh? What?" Sister Eryes falls to her knees facing the giant crystal of the Holy Starsilver. She closes her eyes, clasps her hands at her chest and says, "Oh Radiance of the Night, I thank thee for thine guidance. Please continue to guide this humble self forever more, until this dream ends and this humble self returns to the stars." A door behind me opens. "Sister, I heard you collapsed. What happened? Are you alright?" It is the voice of someone who should not exist anymore. It is the voice of someone I have missed so very much. Someone who should already be dead, long, long ago. "Kal-Kaldar?" I turn around, looking at the face that I haven't seen for six long years. "Yes, it is me. Is something wrong, sister?" Kaldar answers as he gets on his knees with a face full of worry. "Kaldar!" I cry aloud, my feet push me toward him in a sudden jump. Caught off guard by my sudden move, he instinctively opens his arms, allowing me to jump into his embrace. His body covered in chain mail is hard and cold, but this... knowing that behind it Kaldar still breathes and his blood still courses through his veins, is such a great comfort that my tears can no longer be stopped. "Kaldar! Kaldar!" This Kaldar who followed me when I was chosen as a trainee priestess of the Holy Starsilver. This Kaldar who said he would protect me from the mean senior priestesses. This Kaldar who pledged he would protect my chastity and purity. This Kaldar who swore that he would be my knight once he passed the selection ceremony for the Knights of Starsilver. This Kaldar who trained alone in the woods, fighting wolves, imps and kobolds from the age of 5 to the day he turned 13. This Kaldar who did everything for my good and supported me throughout my whole life. This Kaldar who I remember more than my own parents. This Kaldar who swore to protect me for as long as I live. This Kaldar... who said he would protect me, but he lied. He swore to be my shield, promised to be my sword for as long as I lived, but he lied. His promises were empty. His vows were unfulfilled. Despite swearing to be my knight, he perished right after swearing the oath. With his own strength nurtured for years in the wilderness, he alone took me out of the burning temple complex into the hidden path under the Hall of Repentance. He alone fought off the pursuing demons of blades, dozens of them, against his single might. Yet he did not complain, he did not tire. He simply fought them one after another. And in the end, he sent me off with a smile as his broken body spilled its lifeblood on the ground. Kaldar, what was the use of saving me, if you were not there to walk with me? What was the use of saving me, if you perished soon after? What was the use of saving me, this useless me, if you died in my stead? Why was I the one alive? I who was useless, and always useless to the end of days. It was you who should live. You who were called The Shield of the Stars. Had it been you, instead of me, Entou would not have fallen in vain. Had it been you, Erle would not have died that day. Had it been you... if it was you... if you only you were alive... "Kaldar! Kaldar! Kaldar!" There is no other word to say. My mind can no longer form any words. Kaldar is alive. Kaldar is alive! The feeling of helplessness when Kaldar gave his life for me. The regret of not being able to do anything when Kaldar could only smile to sooth my heart despite the pain in his body. The despair of seeing him hacked into pieces and beheaded by the blade demons. The feeling of being unworthy of such a sacrifice. It is now undone. If this is a dream, this is a wonderful dream. Now Kaldar is alive again! That is all that matters! Kaldar is alive!   Announcement This is the first chapter after the time shift. This is your start as a player in the visual novel.

Announcement This is the last of the prologues. The time shift happens after this chapter. "Hold the line!" General Falrus, the grand commander of all allied armies bellows his order. His voice loud and powerful, enhanced by his personal charisma and command magic making even the front line troops two miles in front of him able to hear him clearly. "Hold the line! You are humanity's last line of defense. Do not falter. We must delay them here! Now!" General Falrus looks at the four lines of defense before him stretching throughout the wheat fields east of Gralnika. Their numbers are great, but this is all that is left. There is nothing else to deploy, no one else to conscript. These men who stand before the city of Gralnika are truly the last line of defense. Not only for humanity, they are the last line of defense for all who live. After all, the mountain people were eaten to the last man by strange monsters that came out of the shadows of their caves two seasons earlier. The short folks succumbed to a mysterious plague that wiped them out the year before. The fae folks disappeared so mysteriously that not one scholar could offer a theory. The bird folks escaped in fear to the west, hoping that the rumoured continent of Naksa existed. The merfolks were eaten by monsters that rose from the deep oceans. And the most powerful creatures, the red and gold dragons were wiped out by who knows what and who knows when. If not for the Saint of Starsilver journeying to their nests and finding only bones, none would've known that the good dragons were all dead. As for the soldiers, they know in their hearts that they are all that's left. They toughen their resolve, hoping that with their sacrifice, there will be a future for those they left behind. Despite the increasing casualties, they stand firm, unmoving, awaiting the last battle of their lives. To some, it is for their families who are being transported through a magical portal to gods know where, far in the western part of the continent. To some, it is a matter of national pride, for they will not admit that their nations are weaker than mere monsters. To some, it is their belief that their commanders will stand with them through thick and thin. To some, it is their faith that the Priestess of the Holy Song will be able to sway the gods to join their struggle. For those who fight for their families, they fight only to buy time for the Twelve Heavenly Maidens. For these maidens are the only help granted by the gods. These maidens, blessed by the gods and ordained by the Saint of Starsilver are the only ones left who can protect their families and loved ones. The only reason for them to stay and fight is to delay the forces of doom for as long as they can. The longer they can hold the enemy off, the more time the Twelve Heavenly Maidens will have to gather the survivors and escape through the portal. Praises to Grexia The Sailor, may she forever guide the sailors and merchants. Praises to Illumia of The Dawn, may she protect our children and future. Praises to Allyn Who Perseveres, who rewards hard work and blesses diligence. Praises to Miol The Shield, may our homes be forever protected. Praises to Amarita of Desire, who blesses those who pursue their goals. Praises to Unar Who Is Passionate, who blesses families to be fruitful. Praises to Lenya Who Entertains, may she give hope to those without. Praises to Nuei the Guide of Souls, may she bring the dead to eternal peace. Praises to Maika The Crafter, may she guide their prosperity. Praises to Irua The Guard, may she forever protect their lives. Praises to Nila of the Dusk, may she continue to protect their souls. Praises to Ya of Abundance, may she feed them always. This chant is repeated over and over, as these men can only pray that the Twelve Heavenly Maidens will succeed. To most, this chant is the only thing preventing them from deserting. It is a constant reminder that if they desert here, not only they, but their families will also perish. As for the rest, their only hope is that they will not fight alone. For this is the last hour of all who live and it is this last hour that they must fight, even to the last blood. Doom has come to their world, and they shall fight so that those they are protecting can prosper, or die doing their best. To these men and women, they are aware that they will die today, and they have resolved to fight their hardest to bring down as many of the enemy as possible and buy as much time that their lives can exchange. "Your excellency, how is it? Will the gods offer assistance?" General Falrus asks Selenia, the Priestess of the Holy Song. Throughout the battle that saw the annihilation of the long ears and the death of General Uleb, Selenia was dancing following the tune of the Staff of Melodies. It was a ritual meant to summon the gods to appear in their physical forms. However, it did not work. With every dance, her moves became increasingly erratic, her feelings increasingly desperate. Finally, her stamina gone, she fell to the blighted ground, its grass long consumed by the taint of the demons, plague monsters and undead that press against their combined armies. "Your excellency, please, will the gods help us? It is now or never. Look, our front lines are already massacred. It is only a matter of time before they break through our rear defensive line as well. We cannot hold the ground!" Without looking up at the general, Selenia mutters in a voice so soft it can barely be heard over the chaos. "... silent." "What?" the general asks as he kneels on leg beside Selenia. "The gods... THEY ARE SILENT!" Selenia cries aloud. If her voice does not betray her despair, her droplets falling from her face certainly do. For a priestess most favoured by the gods to no longer be able to hear the gods, it can only mean one thing. "What? The gods are silent?" A nearby officer asks. "The gods are silent?" These words spread like wildfire among the ranking officers. "Have we been abandoned?" This thought plays among the soldiers, increasing their anxiety the more they repeat it in their minds. "Are we now truly alone?" This sentiment grows with every word spoken. These thoughts finally become the breaking point for the allied army. As word spreads that the gods no longer respond to the dances of the Saint of Starsilver, the hopelessness of the situation sets in. Although they didn't truly count on the gods to turn their fates around before, they were comfortable with the hope that, perchance, the gods would lend a hand. Now that they know with certainty that the gods will not do so, the resolve in their hearts wavers. As more of their fellow soldiers fall by their sides, the fear that took root in their hearts becomes a monster that claws from the deep corner of their hearts, persistent and unyielding. As they see the terrain covered entirely in the mass of enemy monsters, undead and demons, one man turns around to flee. Then another follows, and another, and another. In mere moments the entire remainder of the front lines as well as half of the rear lines deserted the battlefield. "No! Stop running! We are the last line of defense! Stand your ground!" General Falrus cries his commands to deaf ears. He knows now that not even his voice can persuade the routing soldiers. Despite his usual polite demeanor, he grabs Selenia's hand, still weak from the despair of being abandoned and throws her to the single remaining officer by his side. The Duke of Marlis catches the young priestess in his arms and receives the general's order to take her away through the portal. The duke gives a single bow of respect, the last of its kind before he puts Selenia on his horse and flees in the direction of the portal. The duke himself is unsure if he will be able to reach the portal that is five days distance from Gralnika. As General Falrus looks at the prone form of the priestess, he says so quietly that none can hear even if the battlefield is silent, "The gods may have abandoned us in this world, but perhaps the gods of this new world will still listen to your songs, Your Excellency. You are our last hope." Then he looks up at the sky, raises his broadsword up high and yells aloud, "You gods who reign above, this is my final prayer. Let my life be the payment for hers. Protect her as you have protected her before. My life, I offer it to you." And so General Falrus, first of the allied armies, the Hero of Canrad Pass, charges into his final battle with the misguided hope that he alone can delay the approaching mass.

Arcfield and Amelia were surprised at Rei's sudden declaration. They didn't expect that their ancestors were... Weird. "Big bro, your great gramps was like so... Close to me while sniffing my hair and being so clingy. Drana said that gramps was into younger boys and even plans to build a harem of males." As he said that, Arcfield quickly glance at Drana as she nodded in approval. "Fortunately, your great grandmother of yours was very forceful and even hid from the fact that her husband was gay. She pass the message to all the other queen's knowledge and ended up forcing all heirs to be close to the opposite sex so they don't develop the attraction to the same sex." "I-i see..." After revealing the dark truth of his ancestor's secret, he fell to the ground in shocked as he finally realised the reason. "No wonder my mother forbid me and my brothers to be friends with guys and had this weird attraction to Kyon..." "O-oi! I'm not into that okay?!" Kyon felt a cold sensation on his back as he back off from Arcfield and hid behind Amelia. She finally snapped from the shocked as she glared at Rei. "My great grandfather was a noble and civilized man! I dare say that you speak of false words." "But i'm not lying though. He even said that 'My bloodline shall not wear protective clothing and only wear revealing outfits to show our might and prowlness' or something like that." "Thats wrong Rei. He said that he wanted to pass on the joy of being stared at by the people with disgusted gazes from his revealing outfit to his children." "........" Even Drana had corrected Rei's mistake as to prove how much of a pervert her great grandfather was. Then, she recalled all those times where she had to endure wearing those revealing clothings due to traditions and even the perverted looks from her people because of his great grandfather's tastes... "So, its inherited that fact that my bloodline is gay... So i'm not weird... Ahahaha..." "Ahahaha... I could just burn my great grandfather's legacy and choose the clothings i wear instead of following that sick parent of mine... Ahaha...." Having both royalty broken, the two returnees who were uninvolved from the bloodline turned to Rei as Kiriku talked to him. "Rei?" "Yeah?" "Um..." "Fight me Rei!" Having been cut off by Kyou, Kuriko felt agitated from him yet having the same thoughts, she also spoke to Rei about it as well. "Rei, can you let us fight and test ourselves how strong you are?" "Drana told me herself that she wants you guys to know more about me... Okay. Since your friends with her and i want to be close to you guys as well." Rei agreed to their favor as Kyon grinned. "Great! I don't need to use Drana since you know how she works right?" "...No. Because i don't actually use her." ""........"" Both of them felt surprised since they know how powerful Drana was when used. Kiriku couldn't handle her power while the only person was Kyon. So, they didn't expect for him to not be able to use drana. "So you can't use her since she's too powerful for you? Heh, guess that means your weak." 'Guess him and those old folks aren't as strong as i thought' that was what Kyon had thought. Though, he got rebuked by Drana. "That means he didn't use me at all to settle his fights. Unlike you did." "Hah?" Kyon glared at Drana since she only thought of him as a user to her and not his own strength. "Its because i want to settle my own fights without any help and if i used Drana, it means i'm weak. I want to settle any fights using my bare hands." Rei looked at both of his hands as clenches both his fist and raised one hand towards Kyon. He gave him a determined look as prepared his stance. "Now, give it everything you got." "You don't have to tell me twice brat!" Kyon whom felt Rei's seriousness, also prepared his stance as ge made the first move. Giving the dirt a good kick, he launch himself forward. 'I should not hold back since he might be different from last time.' Learning from his first contact with his body, he had to enhance his body to its outmost limit. He didn't judge Rei as any normal fighters he faced on that world and strengthed his fist to penetrate him. Through Rei felt surprised, he didn't stop his stance but something unexpected happened. 'H-he disappear-' before his thoughts could finished, he was already sent backwards without any warning as the impact left a strong blow that sent hin from afar. Luckily that they faught in a plain field outside the city since Kyon was forced to fly backwards in a large distance from where he stood. He flew towards the forest as he began to hit many trees and rocks until he slowly stopped due to the environment slowing him down. The 3 people had a shocked expression as they didn't believed what they just witness. Drana was the only one who was calm as she remembered something. "Oh right. I forgot to warn him that Rei doesn't hold back. Though he's lucky that Rei has a policy to not kill his opponents." They all look back at Drana with confused looks as then... "AAARRRGGGGHHHH!!!" Kyon's painful scream was heard though all of them while they look back and saw him holding on his arm which was broken and hanging like a broken twig. "It hurts! Fck! My arm hurts so much!" "Bro, don't be such a crybaby since i wasn't serious yet. You need to take this seriously." Then, Rei suddenly disappeared and Kyon flew again but this time, it was 1/3 of the distance from the first blow. He screamed again but this time was holding on to his broken leg. Drana continued her words. "Oh, i forgot that since he doesn't kill, he usually breaks his opponents until they are unable to fight..." Rei who felt disappointed, looked at Kiriku with a smile. "Wanna try next?" "Oh, Rei doesn't hold back on girls. So try your best!" "..... No thanks...." Realizing that Kyon was no match for him, Kiriku shake her head rapidly in denial as she thought that they aren't a match against Rei.

"Sht, sht, sht!!" A certain person was currently panicking while looking at his mistake. "Jesus Christ Kyon! You just killed someone!" "Fck you! I didn't think that he died like that!" The White hair man and the black haired woman argued of the scene they created. The students who were praising about them began to feel terrified as Rei's classmates headed to him. "Rei! Rei! Com'on Rei..." Tears begin to drop on some of the boys while the girls began to hug him in a desperate manner. One of the students near Rei picked up a stone from the debris and threw them towards the white haired man. "Ow." "Get away from us monster!" "Yeah, your just a monster!" "Scary monster!" As one student began shouting at the man, the rest began to shout with him and started throwing stones at them. The four felt bewildered at the current circumstances as something they didn't expect and the black haired girl tried to reason with them. "W-wait! I can heal him!" "No! Stay away from us!" But the students were too scared from the white haired guy did. Thinking that they might get killed for being witnesses for murder, they began to throw even more stones. The black haired continued to reason but was stopped by the man who tends to laze around. "We're leaving." "B-but..." "Now." Finally opening his eyes, the girl felt that the man became serious as she decided to agree and began to drag the white haired man with her. 'Besides...' The man beings to have cold sweat as he focus his sight to Rei. He saw that Rei stared at them and gave off a fiendish smile while still unconscious... Or pretending to be one... 'I don't know why but you really are something...' Maybe Rei wanted to cause a scene for them or that he knew what their intentions where but one things for sure, they took the bait. ****** 'I heard those Returnees were subjected to lots of nasty things in some dark room.'Rei's classmate said those words before separating to Rei. He wasn't the type to easily mistrust people even to those whom he haven't met yet but he felt a complex since he can't feel the trust in those returnees once he saw them. The two who were the front(the white haired man and armored girl) felt like he had a bit of a connection yet he sense something amiss. In the world he got transported into, he is sensitive to change due to being trained by a dragon. Sensing magical output from people to telling their magical wavelength, his eyes are sharper than any magicians in the past and could tell that those returnee's mana has a faint string attached to them. He didn't know what it was but he felt that his classmate said was right. As he came outside to observed the returnees up close, the white haired man spotted him and instantly dash towards him. Noticing the killing intent of the white hair man, Rei accepts the invitation due to the students behind him. 'Those strings....' Rei noticed that all four strings were approaching him as he forego his defenses and block them but was sent clashing into a wall due to ignoring the white haired guy's blow. Using this opportunity, he cough up red liquid using some tomato juice he bought in advance and put it onto his mouth and even faking his death by rolling his eyes upwards and looking like he was blown away by the punch. 'Luckily i prepared this in advance since i'm not the type to easily trust people.' He decided to lay unconscious until he heard the returnees leaving before waking up. ****** "I'm sorry!" Rei bowed to his classmates sincerely due to how he tried to fake his death as he was being pummeled down by his classmates. The girls kept shouting 'idiot' while the guys beat him up. "Do you even have common sense?! Why do all those things just to piss them off?!" "Ugh..." After realizing what he did, he felt despair as he knew what he did would cause so many problems not for him but also his classmates. Its kinda true that the returnees are suspicious yet they saved the world so many times while he wasn't here. But not only did he tried to fake a murder, he cause unnecessary troubles to the heroes of this world. He might not get away with everything and might ended up in jail for all he knew. "At least be thankful that they instigated the bout but next time be more mature in handling these situation next time." "Yes..." Noticing his downward look, the boys stopped beating him and pull him up. "Anyways, how about we head back at the arcade after class?" "Hey! Rei should hang out with us! You boys keeping Rei for himself." Even though they met him yesterday, he felt happy due to how his classmate cared for him and act like older siblings to him. He slowly teared in happiness while not minding the bout of his classmates. ****** "Realize what you did idiot!" "Ow." Currently being smacked in the head by the armored girl, Kyouno Minase(white haired guy) was unsarisfied with the development that happened this morning. After meeting with Rei, he knew the strength of the kid and suddenly rush at him. What he didn't realised was how Rei easily been blown away by his strength. 'I don't get why he had to conceal his strength but.... He's strong.' He looked at the fist he used on Rei as it was still red from the impact. It was like hitting a brick wall or something even stronger. Even if he was known as the strongest in that planet and here, he was fired up that he met someone as strong or even might be stronger than him. "It seems the school disclosed what happened at this morning due to your reputation so we are thankful for that." The the sexy woman and the lazy guy walked inside the room as the woman smack Kyouno's head. "Ow.... What was that fo-" "Luckily for you Kyon that master didn't faught back or you might be in the hospital right now." Following behind them was a little girl with crimson hair with goldlike pipils. They were shocked at the unexpected reveal of the young girl. """"M-MASTER?!""""

"Ugh... Why did i stuck with being the guardian for this brat?" A revealing yet erotic way of laying on the bed, a woman who was currently eating some chips from the bowl had a scowl look on her face while watching TV. Angella Hubrey became a guardian to a certain boy who was supposed to be missing for five years, suddenly popped out of nowhere and cause a scene on two places. The commercial district where he take on a huge B-class monster and an incident at the arcade. Luckily, the chief bailed him out(though he had to suffer some headaches) and were quickly brought back here as Rei was currently bathing. She didn't like this boy who has no common sense and acts like a child(well, technically he is a child not physically) but because of his looks and his strength, not because that she couldn't snag a hottie on her... "Haah?" W-welp..... Uh.... Oh, look! Rei just came out of the bath. 'Ohh...' Angella couldn't help but be surprised at his well-developed body which was carefully toned in each corner of his body. Combining with his looks, he could be like one of those models that have been trying to achieve the ideal body. "Ah, Big Sis! You can now use the bathroom." Rei saw Angella currently oogling at him. He called out to her as he headed to his room happily. She continue to gaze at him until he went to his room as she had determined look on her face. 'I just need to wait for 6 more years...' Like a hungry wolf waiting for her prey to grow big, Angella stands up and heads to the bathroom with a joy on her face without wiping her drool. ****** 3 years ago, monsters suddenly pour out of nowhere and cause major destruction on earth. There were some that were killed with modern weaponry while some monsters having thicker skins were needed to be damaged by using specialized ballistic weaponry such as missiles. Though, as months passes by, these monsters grew powerful enough and almost have wiped out humanity, if not for their arrival. [Returnees] These people who just returned after their disappearances were like a miracle to the current humanity who were facing these dangerous monsters. Bringing hope to humanity. Brought some people from a world who has the same troubles as earth, they both helped out on each other as they mixed science from the earth and magic from their world, they invented strong weapons and armors to face off monsters as both world became stable and made an alliance on both sides. Now, recreating modern earth into a sci-fi mixed with fantasy. Tools such as truth orb and the basic equipment on the soldiers(barrier armors, plasma swords and guns), humanity began to prosper into the near futuristic age. "So, that kid is also a returnee?" 4 people gathered at one place, begining to discuss on a certain individual whom taken their interest. A young girl that wears revealing clothing while beside a young boy who had a cold yet lazy attitude. The young girl with a sexy attire stares at a report of Rei headbutting a certain beast as she had a confused look. "Why is he different than both of you?" She then stares at the two people whom sitted together. One with a black clothing and a glare that matches with his look, having pure white hair that was basically giving off a otherworldly vibe and eyes that was tainted with blood. The other was a pure black hair girl, wearing a white armor but wears a skirt beneath it and having a the same look as the man yet more serious and just having confusion. The first to speak was the white haired man. "Tch. Never heard of this guy. First off, do you think we know this returnee other than us? Secondly, his strength might be on par with mine while using 'Draconia'. Heh, probally that i'll win in a full on confrontation." "Hey! Don't do something stupid and challenge him out in a streets. We have to focus on the threat here than some challenge on a kid. Think about your age difference first!" "Tch." The white haired man clicked his tongue after getting rebuked by the girl beside him. Having a serious look, she begins to suspect something. "Hey, you said your ancestors once said that they also summon a person from their world and that person was sent back after five years right?" ".... Could it be?" The sexy girl thought about it as the lazy man beside her open his eyes and surprise the girl beside him. He had a complex look after hearing that and Given look, the girl's hunch was right as the white haired man gave a grinned and stomped both of his feet on the ground. "Now this is gonna be interesting..." ****** At Rei's school... "H-hey! I heard that the returnees are comming over here." "Woah, are we gonna meet those famous people?" "Maybe they are here for Rei. Noo! I heard that there's a sexy big sister that is beautiful and might take Rei!" The school became chaotic after hearing some rumour that the returnees are comming over here as the boys began to gather around Rei. "Rei! I think one of those Returnees might challenge you to a duel." "......" 'I might had attracted too much attention' Rei had a mix feelings about the Returnees comming here. He woundn't mind challenging one of the Returnees since he didn't care if he got attention as he stand up and walk towards the entrance of the school where the Returnees would walk to. But he was stopped by one of his classmates as he whispered into Rei's ear. ******Everyone was shocked at what took place. The white haired man had a surprised look on his face as his pose was frozen and too dumbstruck to realised what happened. The three people who were with him awestruck as well at what happened. Behind the debris of what the white haired man had created, there was Rei who had a terrible look on his face. His eyes became white, his tongue sticking out and blood exploded on his mouth. All things considered, the first to speak up is a classmate of Rei. "OMG, THEY KILLED REI!"

Akuto who once again broke free from Kyumi's grasp, ran again. He knew that his fate was sealed. The girl who desperately love him was one thing he didn't expect to happen in his otaku life. Was he happy that a girl had taken time to love someone like him? Nay, he knew that this girl was obsessed with him that she fed him with a part of her body. He would be happy if it was just a simple love and whatnot. But he knew that the girl was crazy and he needed to get away from her. "Kyaah!" Desperate to get away, he didn't once look in front as he crashed into a girl. The girl probally didn't expect someone to run in the corner as she had a surprised look on her face. "Aku?" "Huh?" His story that started out from a crazy girl chasing him, to a fate that would lead hin to meet girls that fall left and right. A harem filled with flowers in his hands... ****** Many hours before Akuto's encounter... "And... There. Does it still hurt?" "Hmn? Woah, i can't feel the pain anymore." Rei was currently treating Kyouno's broken limbs as he tried to move them. Surprise arose from his look as he gave a sharp look at Rei. "Hey. Your really skilled at using recovery magic." "Well, since thats the only magic that i know how to use." All of them(except Drana) had a surprised look on their faces when Rei told them that he can only use one magic. Drana replied to them to relieve their confusion. "The elder had a scared look on Rei when he noticed his immense physical capabilities. Knowing that he also has high magical capacity, he only taught him recovery magic out of fear that he might try to destroy the world." ""......"" Knowing Drana who was a powerful foe which Kyouno had lost so many times until she gave up and let him win, he felt Rei was far more powerful than her and knowing how he had been toyed with him, he felt the urge to get stronger. "Rei-" "Well, since i'm now a long forgotten hero, i should just enjoy being that and live the rest of the days being a regular student." """!!!!"""" Having said that, all of them felt surprised at his words. Arcfield and Amelia were the first to rebuke him. "Why?! With your immense strength, you can help us in defeating those monsters!" "Why should i go back in being a hero when there's these two who will replace me?" "Reyun Alfonso! You have the capabilities to end this conflict. As the demon king's daughter, would you help us in driving back the beast?" "Big sis, i have long faught not only them, but your people as well. Even though i had return from the past in your world, i finally have gone back here as promised by the goddess after i have ended the conflict, she would send me back and let me do as i please. Can i live my life as i please without having to fight all the time?" """"........."""" "Guys." Having refused by Rei, they tried to reason to him but Drana intervene. "Rei has been fighting all alone, ending all the conflict in the past. If you guys didn't notice, the past was something that no child should have gone to. The kid had been begging the goddess to return here so we should respect his wishes." "I guess so Ms. Drana." "Yeah, we shouldn't let this kid do our jobs. The kid save the world in the past by himself, we shouldn't rely on this brat all the time." Arcfield had agreed to Drana's words while Kyouno smack his hand on Rei's head while talking. He was still pissed about how he broke his bones but he felt that it was his fault to challenge him. Kiriku held a complex look. She knew that having Rei in their side would greatly benefit them. She knew that having Rei was a must. But knowing that he's fighting all alone for a long time and comming home to just fight again sounds so pitiful. "C-can you at least teach us?" "Sure!" Leading to a compromise, she held a relieved expression as he would still help them even if it doesn't apply as a powerful ally who would come all the time. "Then..." After finishing to heal Kyouno, he both touch him and Kiriku as he injects them with an unusual white light comming out from his body. "Eh?" "What the-" "I'll be giving you my magic power since i don't plan on using them anymore..." Kiriku had a pain expression while Kyouno tolerate the pain to the extent as he recieved more magic than Kiriku. Rei continued to pour more magic as Kiriku finally collapse. "Kiri!" "Well, i think thats the extent of what she can recieve. You don't plan on giving up right?" "Kuh.... No way in hell brat...." Arcfield ran close to kiriku as he tried to check if she was okay. He felt relieved as she only fell unconscious due to magic exceeded her capacity. Kyouno was the same yet he still stood up from the overflowling magic Rei had given him. Rei gave a smile. "Okay. I'm going full overdrive then. Try your best that you don't die...." "Yeah.... Wait, wha-" Never would Kyouno had imagine that just giving mana would nearly cost him his life as Rei speed up the flowing of his mana to Kyouno as bright light surrounds them and everyone but Drana had a shocked expression. "GAAAHHHH!!!" Having exceed his expectations, Kyouno screamed as the light faded and came to adrupt surprise of Kyouno collapsed into the ground as he began to foam. Rei let out a surprised look as he gave a discourage look. "I made have overdone it a little...." "You damn right Rei!" Drana smack his head hard as she looked Kyouno in a pitied look. She had expected this due to Rei's lack of common sense but luckily enough that Kyouno barely escaped death. But then, a small explosion occured near her as she turned around and saw Rei becoming a child. She knew what would happened and turned back to the two whom are still confused about what had happened. "Anyways, lets go back to our place and talk this out first..."

Morning. A young boy suddenly rush behind Rei as he held a console in his hand. "Rei! Lets play Beast Brawl!" "Alright!" This boy is one of Rei's classmate and friend, Akuto. He was just a regular otaku whom would rarely have friends but due to Rei making friendly with all his classmates, he became friendly instead of being isolated and was really grateful for Rei making this happen in his life. He wasn't the type to share his interest with others due to being laughed at but Rei did not only make fun at his otaku interest, he was more interested in the things Akuto hobby was like. Akuto felt glad that he had met Rei and willing to be good friends with him. "Even though your movements are bad but you really know how to fight against the beast." "Well, maybe i just have good instincts..." Rei's character in the game moved in a very weird pose due to not know how to control his character but he was good at dodging and even counterattacking the beast with some basic attacks. Akuto whom was free due to Rei aggravated the beast, used this opportunity to build up high damage attacks and finished off the monster. Rei having defeated the beast was happy that this game became a challenge for him. "I still can't move properly..." "Don't worry about that. At least we won right?" Akuto patted Rei. Rei felt warm since he liked getting patted by people. He then focus his sight at the door as there was a tall girl whom was gazing at their direction. When she noticed Rei was looking at her and ran off. He tilted his head in confusion as Akuto called out to him. "Rei! Wanna play again?" "Ah, yeah." ****** The girl began to breathe properly as she finally relaxed. She was scared about Rei finding out yet since he didn't pry onto her, she was relieved for that. After finally calming herself, she opened her notepad as she began to write on it. "He's still dreamy as ever and have fun hanging out with his friend. Haah... How i wish that..." "'Akuto would hang out with me.' Is that you wanna say next?" What she didn't realised that Rei was behind her. "W-why are you here and why do you-" "Well, since i was just gonna head to the bathroom but then i saw you running over... I basically took a shortcut and jump off the window." "Wait, isn't your class on... Nevermind." Ignoring what she was about to say next since common sense doesn't work on Rei, she pressed on to the question on the latter one. "Because i knew your gaze was fully on Akuto and had this longing look, i guess you want to be with him right?" "W-w-w-w-wha..." Having red on her face, she tried to rebuke that statement but Rei having a serious look on his face so she gave up and bow her head in embarrasment. "Uuu... I like him..." "Okay, how about i let you guys meet alone?" "Eeeeehhhh?????!!!" ****** Behind the back of the school where there was rarely people around, there were two people who are currently alone. Followed by many guys gazing from afar at Akuto in jealousy. "Tch. I always knew i hate that otaku but having a cute girl confessing to him... I just wanna kill him." "Thanks for telling us this Rei, now we have to mur-silence this popular guy." The boys are currently releasing their killer intent while Rei casually just gaze at them with anticipation. 'Good Luck.' Going back to the two people, Akuto couldn't believe that a cute girl called out to him but after looking at her, he finally noticed that this girl was the same person whom she met last time. "You were the girl from last time right?" "Ah, Y-yes! My name's Kyumi" It was the same girl whom they saved after being harassed by delinquents from last time. After Akuto stood up for her(and Rei beating up the delinquents), she felt indebted to them and wanted to thanked them properly. Little did Akuto know that Kyumi had develop feelings for him(though Rei knew about that). "Um... Thank you for that time..." "Well, i mostly did nothing anyways..." Akuto look back as Rei gave a thumbs up and the guys made a slide thumb on their throats. Then the girl continued her words. "I wanna say..." 'Is she gonna confess?' Multiple hearts beat faster. The guy whom anticipated to have Akuto getting rejected, Rei getting excited and the two getting heated up... "I like you and want to lock you up in my basement!" "...................." """".................."""" "Yay! She confessed!" Kyumi who finally let her feelings out and Rei who was relieved that the confession was a success, the only people confused are Akuto and the boys with Rei... "Um.... Wha..." "I like you so much but am too afraid that some girls would try to take you away from me...." "But... I'm not..." "So i decided that i should lock you up in some place where there's no one who will steal you away from me because i love you, love you, loveyouloveyouloveyouloveyou...." Having the girl repeat the lines 'love you' like a psychopath, Akuto tried to ask for help but was gazed at by the boys who had lost their rage and replaced with clarity. """"We support your love..."""" Hidden from those saintly looks was the people who are currently holding their laughter and was lucky that it didn't happen to them. Having betrayed by the guys, he gazed Rei for help but didn't realized he was put on a choker by Kyumi. "Come now my love, our home awaits~" "..... Guys! Rei! Please help me!" ****** "Youth really have interesting romance life..." "Yeah, how i wish to bind my love like that as well..." ""........"" The usual four people continue to spy on the daily life of Rei as they felt jealous of the girl for finding her love while the guys pity on the boy being dragged away like rag while calling for help. That day, Akuto escaped from the girl's grasp as he continues to run away from her...

One week later... "Wow..." Rei had an excited look while gazing at the huge building that takes a lot of land. After a long ordeal with his identity and age to consider, he was still placed as a minor and tasked to go to a school which he became excited while the woman behind him had a suspicious look towards Rei. 'A middle school uniform doesn't suit him but we can't deny what his birth certificate has in him...' After digging info on him, they found out about his identity as it matches with his description. Reyun Alfonso, age 7, missing for 5 years. Parents were killed in an accident and was sent at the orphanage at 4. Then, the orphange got burned down 2 years later which had many children and the caretakers died except a young boy missing. That young boy was Rei. 'Its like this kid is from a fairytail or something. It was also unvelievable to even witness his might that my head hurts after the way he beat that monster.' After seeing a footage of the fight between Rei and the monster, she began to massaged her head while trying to forgot the incident. 'Still...' Her gaze pondered on his back while looking forward to going to school. 'I wondered how he lived for 5 years?' ****** "Ah.... Um.... Hello." Inside the classroom full of students, filled with curious gazes from him. He became nervous from the attention he got. It wasn't that he's used of people, he's never been directed to this many gazes and being tasked to accommodate with the student's questioning looks. (Oi. Why is Big brother here? Shouldn't he be in college right now?) (Is big brother gonna be our new classmate? I think he's a bit too old to be a middle schooler.) "Now, you all are wondering why this person here is wearing the same uniform as you. To be honest, i'm also shocked as well since he's younger than all of you." """"............ EEEHHH???!!!"""" The teacher began to explain Rei's circumstances while the students haven't recovered from their shock. When he's 7, he lost his parents in an accident and is currently living by himself with a guardian. The students became more touched that he also has circumstances that led to him unable to go to school for 5 years but the teacher didn't them that due to being confidential. Though, the students, especially the girls became entranced by Rei's looks while the guys gave a bit of suspicion. ****** After class... "Hey Rei, how about hanging out with us to the arcade later on?" "Arcade? Sure!" The guys whom taught Rei was a study maniac where kinda surpised by his excitement when they told him to hang out to an arcade. When class started, he listen to the teacher's discussions and answer the questions which the boy's fear that he's smart. Even on PE, he did awesome feats that even normal people couldn't do yet he happily bowed when he got praised by the teacher. So, the guys felt that Rei was down to earth, normal boy when he easily agreed to play with them. The boy's felt that since they couldn't beat him in a fight, they should challenged him in a game. "Hey Rei, how about you hang out with us instead. Those boys are just jealous since your popular." The girls came and one of them grab hold one of Rei's arms while glaring at the boys whom had dispeased looks when they saw Rei being surrounded by girls. But Rei smiled at them while pulling out the girls arms off him. "I also want to hang out at the arcade anyways since its been too long since i gone there." Rei walked outside the classrooms as the guys followed him. The boys felt surprised that Rei wasn't a ladykiller and more enjoyed to hang out with them instead. The boy's respect for Rei has risen. ****** "Oh, you must be a returnee then." "Returnee?" On the arcade, Rei is currently fighting against his fifth classmate as the other four felt defeated when playing a fighthing game. Even barely played any games, Rei was natural when it comes to fighting games as the four students who specialize in different fighting games felt ashamed to lose to him. Currently, they are playing a shooting game while Rei had hit every target without wasting a single bullet. His classmate felt scared as he begins to lose against him. The student felt like saving their classmate from being decimated by Rei as they ask some questions about where was he gone for the last 5 years. After being surprised that he was actually transported to by another world, they would have doubts about Rei's story since it was way too bizarre. Yet... "My big bro told me that there are other people who were transported to another world as well and they are currently enrolled at his school right now. Sometimes they were amazed about the stories of the returnees that they felt jealous about their lives there." The classmates of Rei began to narrate the stories they were told to by their brothers that Rei felt distracted and lose on the game. "Oh, i won!" "Ah, i lost..." Rei felt awoken after being startled by his classmate winning. He didn't feel defeated, instead was happy that he got into the game and played for a long time that wasn't dangerous. "Hey, lets play again." ".... Uhh... Sure." They felt surprised at Joyful expression as they began their rematch. But, a group of men that were older than them began to approached them. "Oi. How about us big bros play on the game instead?" They were startled that these guys were bothering them yet felt scared that they were scary and might be dangerous that they were used to fights. Rei wasn't scared by them. Instead, began to act like them to scare them off. "Haah? You want us to leave? We maybe younger than you but i faced off monsters compared to you." All of them turned to Rei as he gave off a Yakuza like look to the delinquents. They were confused as why he was younger than them when he look like a college student. But they were suddenly surprised at what he did. He lifted out an arcade machine as he raised them without any effort while glaring at them in anger. "You wanna go?!" Then, a certain chief from a police station got a report of a young boy causing a scene at the arcade as he head to a nearby pharmacy to buy headache reliever.

I, a normal child, suddenly been sent to a world where it was harsh for a young boy to live, yet, i was saved by a legendary creature known as a dragon in my world. Raising me as his own child, i began to train mindlessly for 5 whole years as my body began to change and my outlook unbefitting for a child. Then, a goddess came forth to me and tasked to defeat a mighty foe and reward me a trip back home. After countless trials and events from wavering me to return back home, i faced the mighty foe and defeat him. Hesitating to deliver the final blow, i put my weapon down and shook hands with my enemy that i rather stay than to draw blood on an enemy that was accepting his death instead. The goddess praised my righteousness and conviction to not take a life, she grant my wish to send me back home. My journey had begun. Not traveling to a different world, but my adventures in my old world...

"Selenia? I could hear you from the hall - oh dung, Sister Eryes!" This voice... "Umm, greetings of dawn, Sister Eryes." Aria? Is it truly Aria? Aria is alive? Aria... Will I be forgiven for embracing this dream? "Greetings of dawn, Sister Aria," Sister Eryes greets back making a small bow just like Aria probably did. "Aria? Is that really you?" I speak as softly as I can, afraid of my voice shattering her image like it has so my times before. My eyes grasp at Aria's fleeting figure, afraid it will fade away again. This Aria who kept running away from me in my dreams. No matter how hard I chased, no matter how much I begged, no matter how many tears I shed, I was never able to catch her. Aria makes that teasing grin that I have already started to forget. That same grin that I kept clawing through my memory just to remember but failing increasingly often. "Silly Nia. Of course it's me. It's only been a few hours and you can't recognize me anymore?" Aria! I slacken my arms that are wrapped around Kaldar. Getting on my feet, I take a step slowly in Aria's direction. I do not want my steps to disturb her image. I do not want the sound of my movements to scare her away. I do not want her to disappear again. I can't bear it anymore. Please don't disappear, Aria. Please don't disappear. Please don't disappear. Please don't disappear. Please I beg you, stay where you are. Just this once. Please don't leave me again. Just this once. Please gods who reign in Heaven, allow me this one selfishness. Just this one. You have never allowed me any. "Wait, what are you doing?" "Aria!" I throw myself at her. My arms wrap around her waist, expecting her to turn into butterflies again. It doesn't happen. She doesn't disappear. She doesn't fade away. She doesn't shatter. She doesn't run away. Aria is here, in my arms. She feels real, this feeling that I have already started to forget. Oh gods, thank you for letting me hold her one last time. "Nia, why are you crying?" She asks as she wipes the tears from my eyes with a jasmine scented handkerchief. I bury my face in her voluminous breasts covered in a particularly revealing fashion common among the divine dancers of the Starsilver. I remember this raiment from long ago. She used to wear it on every special day. And in this raiment, she would dance for me, just for me. On the Day of the Silver Sun, she danced and sang the Hymn of Guiding Light. On the Night of Endless Stars, she danced with a hum following the song Light of A Thousand Lights. On the day we kissed for the first time, she danced to the silent tune of Eternally, Passionately. And on the day of my first foray into the cursed forests to study the demon monsters, she danced the steps for The Way Home, as if praying to the gods for my return. I only learned later that she danced The Way Home for the whole night until she fell exhausted at ghost hour. I look up at her face as I tell her, "I miss you." I do not know how I look like to her with all my crying, but it doesn't matter. I miss her. For the whole six years we've been apart, I've missed her. My dear, dear Aria. My first love. "Umm, it's only been a couple of hours. Are you that excited for today?" She looks embarrassed as she looks to the side. Then her face goes pale and cold sweat appears on her forehead. "Selenia, get off me! We'll both get in trouble. Look! Sister Eryes is looking! And her mouth and eyes are wide open! Get off!" I tune out her words. Nothing else seems to matter anymore. Aria is here, in my arms, her face only inches from mine. Aria, I miss you. For the past six years, I have longed for you. Your face that I saw every night as we slept. Your hands that stroked me softly while you told me how I've been doing a good job. Your scent that calmed me and made everything felt right. Your kiss that made me feel alive and cherished. Your voice that sang me to sleep. Your voice. Aria, for these six years, I kept replaying your voice in my head. As I did good deeds, I would play your words, "That's my girl." When I failed, your "You've done your best" would always bring me back up. When I was about to do something wrong, your "I don't like this Nia" would always stay my hand. Your voice in my memories have always been the only thing that kept me on the right path. Aria, your beauty that radiates like the full moon. Aria, your voice that is like the songs of angels. Aria, your dances that move heaven and earth. Aria, your smile that lights up even the darkest of days. I miss all of those. You have always been the only one I longed for. You and only you. When King Garan forced me to be Gods' Chosen Saint, I wished you were there to tell him off. When I had to fight for my life and my purity in the back streets of Kellomis, I wished you were there to pull me away. When I had to beg for food to fill my belly, I imagined that you were there pulling my hand to the dining halls again. If I wasn't at the library at that time, would I have been able to save you? Would I have had your company while I walk through that path alone? Would you stay with me through thick and thin, penniless, hungry and at the mercy of people who only had their own self-interest in mind? Aria, what a wonderful world it would have been if only you had been there to walk it with me. I will say this now, so that I will not regret it again. Even if this is a dream. Even if this is an illusion I'm seeing at the end of the doom of our world. Even if this is the illusion I'm seeing at the end of my life, I will say it. The words that I couldn't say six years ago. The words I couldn't say before that. The words I had tried to keep secret in my heart, afraid of the punishment I would receive for saying it aloud. I hold the back of her head in my right hand and say it aloud, clearly, without pretense, without hesitation, without any doubt, "I love you, Aria." Aria, if I have only one regret in this world, it is that I never said these words until it was too late. I will not make the same mistake again. And with that, I give her the kiss that I had been dreaming about for the past six years. The same kiss I was afraid of initiating. The same kiss that I have been afraid of savouring. It is the kiss and passion that I have kept bottled up for the past six years. For this moment, there are only the two of us in the world. A world of our own. A world with no one else. A world we belong. Nothing matters to me in this world other than Aria.   Announcement Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!

"Finally! I'm back!" In the middle of the sidewalk, a young man shout with an energy while never minding his surroundings. His clothes were ragged like it came from the dumpster and his looks were muddy like he was working at some digging site. Though, his looks gave out the feeling of being cute, contrast his rugged clothings. He survey the area with joy as he began inspecting each and every part of the streets like a tourist visiting a new land. "The asphalt road... Tall, concrete buildings.... Is this a dream...?" Shedding tears while begining to look at everything around him, he wasn't conscious of the people giving weird looks at him. A sole little girl got curious about this young man as she slowly walked up to him. "Are you okay Big Brother?" Innocence without any malicious intent, the girl gave a wondered look at the young man as he turned toward her in suspicion. Inspecting each and every corner of the girl, he rose her upwards while the girl became teary. A smile rose on the man as he began to twirl around, along with the girl. "Its a real life Elementary school girl! I'm really back!" "Ueeh!!" Without minding his surroundings, he just continue being cheerful while toying with a girl, ignoring two policemen surrounding him. ""...."" ******* After beating him up, cuffing him and brought him to the nearest station, one of the policemen slapped a baton to the guy's face. "You sick fk! Do you know what you have done you crazy bastard?!" "Wow, its a TV! And there's a computer! Hi Miss!" "Um... Hello?" Even getting wacked with a baton, he still didn't feel any pain whatsoever as the perpetrator became complex and weirded out by this guy's craziness. Then, the chief stepped in before the policeman became even more enraged because of this guy. "Hey, what's your name?" "Um... Its Reyun but its fine to call me Rei." "Oh, i gonna ask a few questions for you, its that fine?" "Sure." When Rei became cooperative, the chief began to grab his coffee in a relaxed manner due to how cooperative this person was. "So, how old are you?" "12." "Pffft!" After asking the question, the chief who was sipping his coffee began spitting out his coffee in shocked as he began to stare deeply into the boy, doubting his age. Even the guy who was beating Len with a baton turned to look at him with a surprised face as if he didn't believe his age, contrast to his looks. "*Cough* A-anyways, do you have any parents or relatives to contact you with?" "Um... My parents are dead and i've been living in an orphange until it got burned down so i'm pretty much homeless." "Pffffft!!!" After the discovery of his age thats contrast to his current outlook, the heavy delivery of a deep back story while giving a smile, made the chief choked out his drink twice in a row. Even the cop beating him felt pity and regret beating this poor innocent boy. The boy however continued smiling as he stared at a cop playing a game on his phone. "Mister, what that game?" "O-oh, its just a simple tower defense game..." As he began to discuss the game mechanics to Rey, one of the policemen draw near to the chief as he gaze the boy in suspicion. "Are you sure that this person is telling the truth? He's probably one of those terrorist that snuck in and got lost here." "Or one of those Returnees. It would explain much on his clothings and garments." "...." The cop felt worried about the chief's statement yet the chief pat his shoulders in reassurance. "After talking a bit with that boy, even looking at those eyes while gazing at that person, playing the game. You know that he's just a young boy without minding his outlook." The chief sips his coffee, ignoring the fact that it was almost empty due to spitting some of it. He glares at his subordinate. "Or, you want to use the truth orb on this kid?" "No sir!" "Alright then." He gazes at his coffee as it seems that this was an abnormal event... ****** "He really left the world?" "Yeah, even though he left his sword behind, his legacy on this world had save not only the humans, but every creature living here." Two men stands at the forest, gazing over a giant sword thats stuck on a stone as they both reminisce over a certain person. "Sparing his enemy and even help united both races. He's really a convicing child isn't he... 'King of the humans'?" "Hahaha. You can say he's really out of this world with his overwhelming strength and honesty that brought us both in peace 'Lord of the Demons'." "Just call me Memiren." "Alright but call me Demier as well. Also, since were both at peace, how about a toast to celebrate this moment." "Hohoho, i wonder how you human's taste would satisfy us demons?" "Well see..." Pulling out a bottle from his back, both of them made a toast to celebrate their unity while gazing at the sword, whose weilder brought them peace. ****** "Ugh... Anymore of those stomach medicine in the cabinet?" "Chief! Whats wrong?!" Morning, after the whole ordeal with the mysterious boy. The chief decided that he'll let the boy stay at his place for the moment while waiting for the government handle the kid's future. After cleaning him up, he became more and more good looking. His daughter(college student) became interested in him that the chief was currently having stomach pains while watching his daughter feeding the kid. "Morning everyone!" "Wait, is that you brat?!" "Woah, if i didn't know your 12, i'd probally try to invite you out on a date. "Hey! He's 12 and your at the police station. How about us hang out instead? " "Go hang out by yourself instead!" The once serious workplace became chaotic due to the appearance of these kid, made the chief want to leave work early. *Siren ringing* "Sir! A monster has appeared west from here. We are requested to dispatch and defend the area." It seems that the chief won't be taking a break today...

"Your saying that because Rei ended up transfering all his mana to Kyouno that he ended up becoming a child?" "Uhh... Its not like that Big bro...." After the incident at the now destroyed field where they faught, they are now at a hotel where usually the heroes stay at. It was a luxury hotel which gave out a commoner's view would look at with awe due to the seer expensive items, electronics and etc. that was displayed here and there. A hotel this magnitude would cost a lot of money due to taking most of the floor and with the interior design giving a hole in some money but thanks to them becoming famous as being heroes, plus earning money earning from fighting high class bosses, this kind of luxury was not much for them. "Because i usually store and rarely use mana that it tends to clogged in and could lead by reshaping my body." "I see....So, the physical outlook is made by mana?" "Yup." "...Anyways, like the place?" "Well..." Rei isn't interested in worldly materials due to him raised in a kind enviroment but he was much more interested in simple stuff like sweets and books. Having known about that, the girls brought in some cake which was delivered by a maid. Rei enjoy eating them. Especially, the coffee cake which was something he like eating the most. Arcfield gave some novels to let Rei read but Kyouno notice something was amiss, so he look at one of the books and threw them back at Arcfield with intensity. Sweat poured from his pale face as Arcfield almost plan to let Rei to become like him. He decided to give Rei some of his manga that he planned to return since he finished reading them. He didn't expect Rei to like them since its just a generic hero story which wasn't popular anymore since people prefer to read a anti-hero or plain evil protagonist who only seeks indulgement and living in a lazy life. Kyouno was telling Rei where to buy those kinds of things when Rei's phone began to ring and he answer the call. [Rei? Where are you?] "Ah, i'm at a friend's place. I plan to head home after a brief chat." [I see... Well, because there's someone who would like to meet you...] "?" ****** Rei went home with Drana and the gang as they were curious as to who was someone that wanted to meet with Rei. He didn't try to stop them since it was their decision and he wouldn't mind them because of drana whom he known for a long time since he was in other world. As he opened the door to the apartment, they were greeted with a mature and a beautiful woman. "Welcome back Rei." "Ah, i'm back big Sis Angella." They didn't expect that there was someone whom was with Rei but Angella was the first one to be surprised at the current Rei. "Rei, did you get shrunk or something?" "Ah, the thing is..." He started to explain to her about the events that lay around as she was at first surprised, then shocked and then even more shock as she finally realized it.... "I'm so confused right now." Angella couldn't figure it how as it seem impossible to believe. The other guys felt the same as they agreed with her while Rei and Drana both tilted their heads. "Haah....I guess the blood still runs in the family..." Hearing the unexpected voice, everyone turned around as they saw a beautiful black haired woman standing behind them. Giving a cold, expressionless look while mostly giving all that stares to a single person surrounding him. "Its been a long time... Reyun..." "Aunt Claire..." Rei knowing who she was, felt relieved yet at the same time, having his legs tremble while Claire returned to stare at the people who had become even standing still. She gave a sigh. "Anyways, how about we head on to the living room and explain all this confusion you guys have. Its not like you guys have any say in this since i plan on asking you more about Rei..." ****** "I see...." Angella began to serve them tea while also listening to their discussion as Claire began to listen to them talking about Rei. She was Rei's Aunt and his mother's sister from Philippines as she had lost contact with her sister for the past 8 years. She had been in college at that time and was busy studying when she heard that her sister had died and tried to head to Japan to find out. But because it was she had exams at that time and had many things to do and was delayed for a long time that it took her 2 years before she came to japan but found out that her sister's child was missing. Overcome with grief, she continue to put that into her work. Then, after five years have passed, she was called by the government here to report about Rei being found and immediately came to here. "I have no reason nor anyway to apologize as it seem that i'm unworthy to be forgive by you due to how neglective i was. But please, let me apologize...." "Aunt Claire..." She felt relieved when she saw her sister's child looking healthy but was struck with pain when she know that Rei's been living in a dangerous world for 5 years. She wasn't cold-hearted. Because of how her family was, she became like this. Who would believe that when their father who was just going to fish at sea, brought a dead alligator home, the mom who hides guns in every hidden locations on the house and the sister who at first brought 4 handsome guys home while acting like some dense character in a novel to marry some guy from Japan and ended up disappearing and leaving their child alone. Heck, she wasn't even worried for her since after living with the way-out-of-common-sense-of-a-family, she just might popped out from out of nowhere and say 'Hi Claire! Me and hubby just went from another world and came back as Heroes. Thanks for looking out for our son while we are gone!' *Breaks Cup* """.........""" Having scared them off when she broke the cup with her grip(except Rei and Drana), she had a shocked look on her face and cough. "Anyways, Rei." "Y-yes!" "I plan on bringing you back to Philippines until either your parents ever return or you can become independent by yourself. And Miss Hubry." "Yes!" Having been called at by Rei's Aunt, she straighten herself like having to listen to her Relatives. Claire was surprised at her demeanor, she held up a bit of respect at the same time suspicion around her. "I would like to thank you and you guys as well for taking care of my nephew's well-being until now. Also, can i ask you to bring this to the chief who was the first to take care of him?" She gave Angella a bottle filled with pills as she understands how the chief had to deal with Rei comming to their home. Angella was confused but just nodded. Then, claire look back at the rest as she focus her gaze at Drana. "I don't mind you guys taking care of Rei but thats until he could take care of himself. I plan on bringing him back since my parents are worried about him." "But he's..." "And what if he's some kind of powerful hero or some kind of special being?" Kiriku tried to protest but was met with Claire's glare that even she, who face against strong monsters, couldn't help but break into sweat. "I have been holding my patience, tolerating my out of ordinary family who i believe was just some average joes. Even Reyun, who is still just a child, became some kind of powerful individual who can, i imagine, destroy the whole world if he wishes it to be." She gaze at Rei who had a confused look on his face as she gave a sigh and turn back to them. "So, Can you teach common sense to a person who, i can guess due to you being here, plan to let him fight in some dangerous place?" Nailing through their heads, the three people who plan to bring Rei into a dangerous situation held their breaths as Claire had guess what their intentions are. She gave a sigh once more and she continue her words again. "I plan to stay here until then and not let any of you bring him to trouble. After that, i would bring him home to let him see his grandparents. So Rei." "Yes Aunt Claire?" He, who was silent until now, gave claire a complex yet determined look. "Its time to teach you Common sense!" ****** "Hubby..." "Yeah?" "Do you think that our son is fine?" "Well, i think he's going to be fine." "Why is that?" "Because honey, he's our lovely Rei. I don't think hr's going to have trouble. Plus, there's your little sister Claire who i think would care for our child." "Guess so." Two couples where talking in plain field, who sat at a huge boulder while gazing at the countless monster corpses that were lying around. But even that, they are still surrounded by countless more as they didn't have any fear from them. They just look like some average couple going on a picnic if ignoring the monsters around them. The wife snuggled closer to the husband as they stood up from their seats. "Anyways, i think we should cuddle later after dealing with them." "Guess so darling." And so.... The story of a young boy who lacks any common sense, returns back to his homeworld after saving the other world as a hero. Now, begins as he tries to become an ordinary human boy that is guided by his Aunt who had dealt with with their out of common sense of a family... [End]

In the middle of the commercial area, a monster the size of a truck began rampaging the area. The civilians began to evacuate while the nearby men, wearing protective plates, began to fight the monster. These men felt shaken by the unknown beast that suddenly popped out of nowhere. "Fck. It seems that this guy's tough." "Quit your whining and block this monster's path." Armed with their blades made out white light, one of the men swung his weapon at the monster. The monster felt danger at his back, whips out its tail, knocking the man out, leaving him unconscious. "Sht!" "I'm... *Cough* fine... Just a bit of a scratch." "No sht your not! We need reinforcements right fcking now!" The man begins to panic as he glares at the monster growing at them while worried about his subordinate thats bleeding out. Even though his armor was strong, the opponent pierced through their defenses and manage to cut deeply into his ally. Luckily, the policemen finally arrives as the chief orders his men. "Secure that man whose bleeding out there first. As for the rest, use those guns and bombard that monster down." """YES SIR!!""" Following the chief, 5 people came running towards the injured personel while the rest pulled out their weapons from the backs as different lights bombard the monster down. The man felt relieved as he ran towards the chief. "Give me a status report ASAP!" "Sir! It seems this monster came out of the cracked warp and cause mayhem two kilometers from here. It seems this monster's a B-rank." "Damn. I didn't think this could get wor-" Before the chief could finished his words, the monster broke into a frenzy as the men were tossed like ragdoll and the monster headed to a nearby civilian that was a girl crying. "Mama... Mama... Where are you?" A berserk monster heading towards the girl, the chief and his men broke out cold sweat as they began to shoot the monster while some are rushing towards it. 'Sht! We can't made it!' Realising that a tragedy would occur, the chief closes his eyes, avoiding a cruel incident. *Boom* Yet, a palm had actually blocked the monster's fist as the chief opens his eyes and stares deeply at the savior of the girl. "R-rei?" Rei didn't stand there while waiting for the monster to move as he grab the girl and ran. Heading to the chief and handing the girl over. "Can i handle this monster?" "O-oh sure..." While his mind is in a state of confusion, he mindlessly agreed to Rei as he glances at the man next to him. "I wanna borrow that." "...." He didn't wait for the man to respond as he took the plasma sword from him and ran back to the monster. "I thought that this place was more peaceful than that world. Guess its changed huh..." He didn't continue on talking as the monster wasn't the type to listen to talk. He began to fiddle with the sword while the monster didn't wait for him to use that weapon properly. "Hey! Watch out!" "Wait!" As the monster pounced on Rei, he got mad as the monster didn't wait and headbutted it. He headbutt it. """"........"""" "....." Everyone became speechless and even the monster looked stunned at what Rei did as the monster took some steps backward while Rei ignored everyone's confusion. "Ugh... This is hard to use. I should've ask that mister..." The monster regains its sanity as it begins its charged again. Rei was still busy fiddling with the sword as the monster opens his jaws, planning to eat Rei. "I said wait!!" But not only its attacked missed, it got headbutt again but this time, it was pushed downwards, causing a huge crater at the road. The people couldn't stop jawdropping as the chief facepalmed in pure confusion as he begins to take out another stomach reliever. ****** The incident became something like a comedic show that came straight out from a cartoon as Rei returns the sword from the man. The man laughs dryly from the confusion while ignoring the fact that the dangerous monster slowly runs back to the portal in fear. It was something that was never seen before but they decided to ignore it for their safety of their sanity. When they return back from the station, they were welcomed by a woman wearing a buisiness attire while greeting the chief. "It seems that the monster at the commercial district cause heavy damages. Though, we are at fault for not responding fast enough..." "No need. We just need to get our head together first..." Confused of what the chief said, the woman ask the question on the tired men. "What happened exactly?" "Well..." As it was something unbelievable to be said, the chief had a hard time explaining things. "This kid helped us." Then, one of the crew pushed a Rei while he tilt his head in confusion. The woman began to observe this young man as she was surprised by his looks. "He's cute and why did he-" "He use his head to beat the monster." "Oh, so he's has skills to fight a B-rank monster now..." The woman became amazed as this guy's fighting capabilities as she saw him in a new light apart from his looks. "No, he literally use his head to scare off the beast." "......" But the man rebuked her in disappointment as he continued to explain. "Apart from having the strength to stand off a strong blow from the beast while enraged, he use his head to push the monster back. He kept doing that until the beast ran off, scared out of its wits." "H-hey, that sounds a lot of bullsht if you ask me. Chief, is what your subordinate saying the truth?" Shaken off by the unbelievable feat that this guy did as she seek a sane person to agree with. Yet, the people look away in hesitation while the chief began to grab more stomach medicine from the cabinet in a pained expression. The woman became more confused when Rei... "Um... I-i'm.... Sorry..." Rei had broken one of the combat Mechs that followed the woman behind. Its arm was torned off while Rei had grabbed a piece of metal that was once the Mech's arm and crushed it like it was made of jello. The woman felt down, freaked out while laughing hysterically... "Hahahaha..... Haha..."

Going back a two days ago... "You mean that person who united both humans and demons together is him?! Thats Impossible!" The first to freaked out was Kyouno. He had heard the legends of that person whom was a legendary hero and the cornerstone of demons and humans. He was even described as a noble and righteous person and not as childish as Rei. "But his looks and his strength are alike. I can't even mistake that person is my master." The young girl had a sour look on her face as she wasn't mistaken of Rei but Kyouno and the rest was still hesitating until the black haired girl spoke. "Um... How about we ask him?" ****** "Rei! I-i'm so glad that you saved me..." "But i feel wrong about seperating you guys." The day after the confession. Akuto deeply bowed to Rei as he felt guilty about what he had done. This morning, Rei was just got outside of the candy store, holding a bag full of candies with a wide grin as he spotted Akuto in ragged clothing. Worried as something happened to him, he rushed in as Akuto quickly embraced Rei and quickly dash to a nearby store. After thanking him, his instincts kicked in as he covered Rei's mouth while focusing his ears outside. "Aku! Where are you?" *Heartbeat Accelerates* Akuto felt his heart speeding up. Like having being stalked by a dangerous monster or... "I brought some food for you." Kyumi raisen on her hands as it was cookies. Even without seeing what she held, Akuto remembered what happened at her house last time while holding out his vomit. "I filled it up with my fingernails, blood and a special liquid. So this time, i'll always be inside you..." *Vomits* 'This is why 2D girls are best!' Akuto swore himself as he forgot Rei was with him. "......" Rei was confused. He didn't know why the girl love the boy so much, the boy who looked like he was suffering from the girl but he believed... 'I think they are suited for each other.' After a few minutes of hiding from an obsessed woman, Akuto felt that Kyumi must've left the area and begun to look at somewhere else. He pokes his head outside as a woman was smiling at him. "I found you." His instincts told him to run inside the store as his leg was grabbed and was dragged outside. He tried to grab hold of Rei but he held his bag instead as it was pulled away. Rei was quickly surprised at the development that he noticed too late that his bag full of candies was taken. Before he could go outside, he was grabbed by someone as he turned around and surprised at what he saw. "Draconia....?" It was a young girl with red hair, reaching down to her neck. A smile formed on her face as he had remembered her.(Outside the store, Akuto tried to break free from the girl as two officers[same peeps who mistook Rei as Pedophile] approached them) "Drana, h-how..." "I guess its been like... A thousand years?" "T-thousand years?!" Rei felt surprised at Drana had said. It had meant that she's over a thou- "I'm forever 17!" Well, anyways. She looked Rei with a longing gaze and gave an embrace witch was filled with deep longing for the person whom she missed so much.(Akuto tried to explain to the situation as his mouth got held and Kyumi began to talk to the two officers with a sad story. The policemen began to tear up as Akuto tried to protest, only to be held with cold gazes from the policemen.) "Before that Rei, how about a duel with my current master?" Rei had assumptions as to who her master was but he smiled at her and accepted his request. He can apologize and be friends with them if it was necessary since he knows that Drana's friends must be good people.(Akuto whose only hope was Rei as he tried to call him out but due to being too far, his plea for help was only in vain...) ****** "I'm sorry for what i did last time." Rei bowed to his head at the four people whom he met last time. He mistook them as villians cause them troubles. Kyouno was still angry at him since this kid was hiding his strength from him while the others held forgiving looks. "Its fine Rei. I mean we just came to your school out of nowhere and this idiot here tried to challenge you without knowing." "Ow." The black haired girl spoke to Rei as she gave a bump on Kyuno's head. She held a dignified look and was impressed at Rei's formal apology. The one who spoke next was the lazy guy next to her. "I'm Prince Arcfield Reus Serverunia from the human kingdom. I would like to deeply thank the former hero whom united both humans and demons from our world." He bowed to his head in a dignified manner as he looked at Rei in Gratitude. After being explained by Drana, he had realized that Rei was actually the former hero of the past. Then, he began to introduce the girl next to him. "And this girl here is the humanity's hero and is a returnee like you." "Kiriku Ichigo. I never knew that there's a Returnee from the past. But most of all, you look far older than your actual age." Kiriku gave a warm smile as she pinched Rei's cheeks. He felt awkward but at the same time relieved since this girl was nice to him. The next to introduce was the girl with a revealing outfit. "I'm Amelia Evia Roshmail. The leader of the demons and this guy here is my hero on the demon sides, Kyouno Minase." "Tch. I want an actual match with you and this time its serious." After being introduced by Amelia, Kyouno began to provoke Rei as he glared at him. Rei was just oranizing his thoughts as he began to remember that he knew those two names of the people whom were part of his memory. "Ah, you two must be the descendants of the two uncles right?" "Yes." "You got that right boy." "So you must be that gay uncle's child and you are that perverted uncle's child right?" "........" He began to point at the prince and then the princess as he said those words with no hesitation. The two felt dumbstruck with surprise as the other person who knew was the loli behind them. Who was currently holding her laugher....

It was my third year on Crimson Moon’s payroll when I was summoned to the Seoul office. This was an odd request as my hunting grounds were generally the Eastern Coast of North America. As I walked into the office, the head of Korean operations stood and shook my hand, ‘Welcome, Moonlight Dagger, to Korea.’ I nodded in return. ‘Your excellent results in North America have caught the attention of the higher-ups who want to test to see if your skills are transferable’. I hate to say it, but during the previous three years, I expanded the North American talent acquisition business by over 200%, slowly expanding the number of staff under me to almost 10. I guess this management expertise is why they decided to promote me to middle management. But Seoul? My Korean was worse than my Japanese, while I understood it, speaking it was like talking to a first-grader. The Korean Branch Head nodded his head as he continued, ‘As you may know, the Korean office has many functions, however our most important is the talent. Talent is where our operating funds come from and you will be managing a team that records our talent’s deeds.’ he patted my shoulder like an old pervert, but with the fearsome reputation I have built up over the past three years as the Moonlight Dagger, he dared not take it any further. Yeah, that name, Moonlight Dagger. I asked someone later why they called me that. She said, ‘Its because Truck-kun noticed you were staring at the moon and you tend to use a dagger more often than not.’ That made me query this entire organisation, how can a code name be created from just a single moment, long ago? It made me feel sorry for Truck-kun who was given a name with such a stupid reference. I shook my head at the thought and followed the Korean head out of his office into the workspace. It was a very unique location, tens of people, clustered around a group of central monitors, typing on their laptops what they saw. You see, while there were many different authors who publish stories under the Crimson Moon brand, three years in the organisation let me in on some secrets. Zhao Lucheng, Yu Hachiyama, all these famous authors are made up; played by actors who sign books but couldn’t write to save their own lives. Those who really wrote these novels were poorly paid interns, with dreams of making it big as an author and would do anything to achieve this goal, even as far as to work at a shady company like this. I glanced at a screen I was walking by and noticed a familiar face; it was that Yuki kid who I saw on my first day of work, I recall his novel was called travelling A New World with Elven Slaves, despite the sick contents, it was a rather popular novel. You see, while many people call what I did assassination, I would rather call it talent acquisition. After all, those who are killed are pulled into another world and are forced to live out a story. At this point, the exact how Isekai Inc. did this eluded me, and this was one of the reasons why I came to this place; to learn how. The Korean head gestured me towards a group of monitors, and said; ‘Headquarters have their eye on you, you will be managing this team. Do well, and good things will come.’ I simply nodded in reply, in the past three years, I found that I talked less and less as I fell deeper into my shell as the Moonlight Dagger. Maybe, I thought, this will be a good chance to unwind, to get back a sense of normality, rather than going from city to city, killing teenagers and youths for what seemed like no real purpose. The boss clapped his hands, getting the attention of the fifteen or so writers who were staring at the monitors while typing out their stories in various different languages, before introducing me, ‘This is Moonlight-sunbae, she will be your boss for the next few weeks.’ I was surprised at being called a sunbae by the Korean head as my new team greeted me in bad English. I noticed authors from Korea, from Japan, from China, and even from Malaysia, and English was the language they all used to communicate. To their greetings, I released a menacing aura, the type you only get after you have walked the bloodthirsty path before sitting down, glaring at the team to get back to work. The truth is, I didn’t know what to say. It had been a very long time since I was around normal people. I picked up a nearby clipboard and read over the novel stats. The teams which I was to manage were in charge of four books, the Villainess must die, Romancing the Black Bellied Fox King, Realistic Martial Lands and Black Hearted Demoness. While I hadn’t read these books, I knew that they were once-popular novels which had lost popularity in the past couple of months, and they were close to the point of being dropped. I glanced at one of the screens, the one showing the Black Hearted Demoness, seeing the girl on screen battling the demons, a tear formed at the edge of my eye. Wiping the tear away, I turned to the Korean head and asked, ‘What happens to the talent when they are cancelled?’ The Korean head shook his head sadly, ‘Their systems are turned off, and the talent will be exterminated. Systems are expensive to maintain, so we don’t want them running on unprofitable novels.’ I knew a bit about these systems, but not much. I knew this was how they recorded the talent’s life in the other world, it had functions that could help the talent and could somehow bend time so that what amounts to a year could be viewed in as little as a day. I looked at the screen showing Black Hearted Demoness again and sighed, speaking softly enough that no one could hear, ‘I promised you your isekai would be better than your current life,’ the girl on the screen slew the demon, absorbing some of her power, ‘I will make sure you’re not cancelled, Sakura-chan.’ I placed down the stats, and clapped my hands, summoning my team, who apart from the current scribe, circled around me I sat on a nearby chair and turned to them, ‘Tell me why, the novels you were given have gone down-hill so fast?’ I tapped the armrest as I waited for their response… no response, ‘You should know that our company is not very… forgiving. You may be poorly paid interns, but you still know a bit too much to simply fire… maybe we need new talent?’, I tapped my fingers against the armrest and smiled sinisterly, ‘There are, after all, always hordes of kids who want to be paid to write, it would be easy to find… replacements.’ Still, no response. But the interns where shivering. Maybe I went too far. Maybe I should offer them a carrot? I withdrew my murderous aura and sighed, ‘but it would be too much effort training them up, which means I am stuck with you. Now, tell me. How are you going to improve the quality of your writing?’ I tilted my head as I waited for them to answer. One of the young writers nervously opened his mouth, ‘We could increase the shifts, and work harder?’ Another writer replied, ‘idiot, just working harder will not improve the writing, I think it would make it worse. I think...’ the band of writers huddled together and began to discuss how to improve their writing. After all, their lives may not be precious to the company, but they are precious to themselves. I nodded my head to this. After all, while I am a reporter, I know little about writing quality fiction. They were the experts, many of whom fresh out of college into this black company. They would know how to improve their work the best, not me who has spent the past three years killing. I turned to look at the screen that was showing Sakura-chan, and glanced over the synopsis, ‘Facing the demons of her life, she must save the galaxy and cut the strings of fate’. I shook my head, wondering who writes these awful synopses. I later found out that they were written by a separate device called the fate engine, which gazes deep into the potential future of the talent’s story and producing a short paragraph explaining it, hence why they could be so vague at times. I continued watching the screen as the screen changed perspective. I wondered, if I were to see her again, would she thank me? Would she despise me? Is her Isekai better than her current world? Stuck in a hospital bed or out killing demons, what was better? I glanced at the interns who seem to have finished their discussion and had gathered around me once more, ‘well you worked it out yourself. See? You are talented if you put your mind to it. Get out there and write!’ A week later, I was called into the Korean manager’s office and given the good news. I succeeded in my trial, the quality and quantity of the work from my team had increased and the ratings of the novels from the team I was managing had a significant increase. I was to be congratulated, I was moving to Shanghai to join the R&D team. This was the chance I needed; to see what exactly was up in Isekai Inc. Incidentally, Black Hearted Demoness became one of the most popular novels from Crimson Moon Publishing, and the story is currently being used to create a live action television series. To tell you a bit of inside gossip, the live action television series is being produced from the footage captured by the system. It is after all footage they already have, and they can save significant money on actors, cast and crew.

The two girls walked through familiar streets as Mei'er let out a gentle sigh, 'It's all familiar, the sights, the sounds. That's where I purchased candy for Young Miss whenever she was bullied, Mr Zhou's shop sold the best silk,' she sighed pensively, 'I have been wondering, why were there five names on that list? I thought it was supposed to be one true love?' Yuese sighed, looking at the sky and replied, 'Master knows more than me. From what I understand, unlike most people I have three fate lines. Mine, Yuese's and binding them together like a piece of rope is the fate devised by the plot. These are all a source of fate; and the one I need to cut is the one connected to the plot. Unfortunately, my level in the fate binding technique is far too low to see my own fate lines, I can only infer based on divination. Each of the five names is connected to one of my three fates. And they may not necessarily be lovers! After all you're on it. Enemies, Sworn Brothers, other people that have a significant impact on your life. These are the things that connect two people with fate, at least that's what Master said.' 'But if you are connected to these people by fate, doesn't that mean there is an irreplaceable connection between you and them? If you break your fate, doesn't that mean what is destined will never be?' Mei'er asked, so caught up in the discussion she forgot to reminisce about the past. 'I don't want some person controlling my fate! Besides, Master said "Fate and Destiny are two different things", so my fate has no impact on what I am destined to do. Fate is controlled by the Fate Witches, while Destiny is controlled by the true gods. As I am on the path to become a Fate Witch, it means I will have to cut all my strings of fate!' Mei'er had a complex look in her eyes as she heard this, if she had to cut all her strings of fate, did that mean she had to sever their connection as well? Such thoughts ran through her head as they reached the gates of the Bi mansion. 'We're finally here,' Yuese drew her ancient blade, 'Lets go pay the family a visit.' *** 'Dead in a single strike?' the fourth prince asked, his attractive and soul stealing eyes raising behind his platinum mask. 'Not even that Your Majesty, the sword didn't even touch him, and a genius of the soul creation stage, dead. Just like that.' the aide replied, 'It was two girls. One coarse and drunk, the other refined but plain looking' 'Haha, no fairy who can behead someone with a sword without touching the victims body would be plain looking. Judging by the ease at which the two escaped my men, it was most likely a disguise.' beneath the mask, the fourth prince frowned and thought, 'Has the Sima clan finally found where my mother hid me, to send two such skilled assassins after me? Or could it just be a coincidence?' He turned to his aide and said, 'I want as much information on these two girls as possible. Keep an eye out for other murders and follow them up...' but the prince was disturbed by another man barging into the room. 'Your Highness! Two girls have barged into General Bi's residence and are slaughtering everyone within!' as the newcomer finished his report, the fourth prince's eyes brightened.  'Summon my Crimson Guard! Lets head there immediately and arrest this foul-doer!' he had a good opportunity to capture these two Sima clan assassins. *** Prime Minister Zhu looked through the latest reports from his agents. After twenty years, she still hadn't been found. Disappearing mysteriously, her mother's family hired the then young but promising scholar to lead an investigation as to what her fate was. Even now, as the mighty Prime Minister with the entire power of the empire behind him, he continued this case, the one blot on his career. But something caught his eye, a report from the guards, interviewing the witness of the brutal murder of Peng Hua. Two girls, one called 'Young Miss', the other called Mei'er. This sparked a memory, Sima Mei'er was her maid and vanished at the same time. It was surprising that a youngster from the mighty Sima clan would stoop to being a maid. But then he remembered who the client was... Could this 'Young Miss' that this Mei'er talked to be her? Prime Minister Zhu rang the bell by his desk, summoning his adjutant who rushed in in a matter of seconds, 'Get me all the papers on the Peng Hua murder, and identify if anyone else has had interest in this case!' 'Apologies Your Excellency, minions of the fourth prince have taken our records on his orders.' the adjutant kowtowed in apology. 'Why would that waste be interested in the murder?' though unlike most people, Prime Minister Zhu knew that the fourth prince was no waste at all, 'Track his movements, and report them to me immediately!' The adjutant kowtowed yet again before rushing out. Prime Minister Zhu tapped his brush against the paper with the hope in his mind, that this case that had stumped him for nearly twenty years was about to be solved. *** While the room was painted in blood, the ancient sword was sparkling clean, as if it was too proud to have a speck of blood upon it. The girl controlling this flying sword was standing in a circle of cleanliness as the blade pointed towards the man and his wife; 'Sister, it is good to see you again' Yuese grinned as she used her power to wave the sword menacingly at the two. 'Yuese? I thought you were dead!' shock was in Bi Mingning's eyes as she saw someone she thought was dead in a gutter, some twenty years back. She thought she won; Yuese was the daughter of the first wife, Yusei had the arranged marriage with Duke Mi's son, Mi Jiao, and by her being gone, then it was all hers. The position, the marriage, the love, the inheritance, was all hers. She and her mother bullied and poisoned their way to the top, and finally, twenty years ago, achieved their ultimate goal: wiping out the bloodline of the first wife! But now, she was back. And she was powerful! 'Just went for a wander, dear sister, a wander to think about life, fate, and what I should do with my predecessors murderer. Anyway you are not the reason I am here,' Yuese's eyes turned towards Mi Jiao, 'Mi Jiao, 41. Inheritor of the Bi family, low stage soul building. My former fiancée. Its not surprising that you were one of the names on my list,' Bi Mingning's eyes opened wide, as if a fire was burning within them, the shock from the blood soaked room dropping from her in anger 'He's my husband now! The Bi manor is mine, your position is mine! Everything is mine!' 'Oh dear sister. While achieving all that was Yuese's dream, it was never mine. My dream is to kill your husband!' with a thought of her mind, the sword thrusted towards Mi Jiao's throat, the sword qi beheading him almost instantly. As her eyes turned to Bi Mingning, Mei'er, a grin on her face, rushed into the room.  'The fourth prince is here and he brought his hidden guard.' Mei'er, who had been busy slaughtering the servants and other family members said in a panicked tone. While her Young Miss was strong, against an ascending divinity cultivator and his private army, it would be a tough fight. Yuese's eyes still stared at her sister, the sword pointing at her, before she sighed, willing the blade back into its sheath; 'Okay, lets go. We will take him another day.'  With those two words, the two girls vanished, just before the fourth prince and his guard entered the room. Searching through the manor, they were shocked at the violence and slaughter, and Madame Bi was the only person still alive that they found.

‘Contact has been lost Director Hua!’ the chief technician said depressingly, ‘it seems Moonlight Dagger knew the master password.’ ‘Darn it!’ Director Hua slammed his fist into the console as he stared at the chief technician; ‘can’t we regain access?’ The chief technician shook his head, ‘the system link was cut locally. She has the most up-to-date and feature rich system, and knows how to use it. The cut was total.’ ‘I need a list of options to present to the boss, he will be here in minutes. You know how much of a risk it is for him to come out’ Director Hua tapped the console impatiently. ‘The fate engine has retained its connection as it doesn’t work off system software. While we cannot physically interact with her, we can use the engine to at the very least, estimate what her plot is. We should have a full synopsis in five minutes, and we can plan from there.’ *** ‘Hahaha! Freedom! No longer am I held back by family, the assassins or that dark company; I am free to live my life how I want!’ Yuese spun happily in a circle in the alleyway smiling brightly while the confused Mei’er looked on. ‘Young miss… I’m worried, are you okay?’ ‘Haha Mei’er I have never been better!’ Yuese switched languages, ‘System, can you identify the synopsis?’ ‘Warning, since the connection was cut, only a partial synopsis has been downloaded. Displaying now… “She was a waste, abandoned by her mother, hated by her father, drowned by her sister. She was a reporter, working to bring down a dark company. He was...” synopsis was cut there.’ Yuese’s face became serious; ‘That was the most important part! I will need to figure out a way to break this plot, I don’t want to be hooked to a guy...’ Mei’er looked on, thinking her young miss had definitely been possessed by something… or someone. Although she was a little timid, she wasn’t dumb; in fact, she was quite quick... *** ‘"… and together destroy Isekai Inc.” That’s the synopsis, boss’ the chief technician read out. ‘How much of the synopsis did she download?’ Director Hua asked. ‘Only the first two or three lines, boss’ the chief technician looked out as the CEO walked into the control room. Everyone stood up at attention until he waved them to be seated. ‘I have the general picture, no need to repeat,’ CEO Rohani sat at an empty console, ‘Do you have any options?’ the room remained quiet, no one daring to speak as Rohani tapped his fingers against the console, ‘no one? What do I pay you for! Hua, this is your problem, I expect you will be point in the investigation. Don’t worry, I have a plan.’ *** Mei’er held her young miss by the shoulders, and stared into her eyes, ‘Who are you, what have you done to Young Miss!’ Yuese, who was consulting the system as to what type of world this was shocked out of her zone at this sudden interruption; despite her timidness, this girl was quick! ‘What do you mean, Mei’er, aren’t I your precious young miss?’ ‘Liar!’ using spurring amount of strength, the young maid pushed her young miss against the wall, ‘Yuese would never do something like this, she would always stay in her house, always obey the family, would be easily exploited and would happily walk into any fatal trap! Who are you!’ Yuese’s eyes narrowed as she stared down at Mei’er, ‘Mei’er, didn’t that girl make you feel trapped and disgusted? You care so much for her safety, but she does nothing; even walking into death itself with a smile. Were you happy with that life?’ Tears streamed down Mei’er’s face as she replied, ‘I was not happy with that life, but I was happy with my duty her deceased mother gave me, to protect her!’ ‘Well,’ Yuese lifted her hand and gently stroked Mei’er’s face, ‘You failed. Your Young Miss died; drowned to death. And now you are left with me, a moonlight dagger replacing your Bi Yuesei.’ she continued to stroke her cheek as the system ran a scan on Mei’er’s body, her eyes lighting up, ‘Will you come with me? I am not overly familiar with this world, and I will make it worth your effort.’ Mei’er was shocked by this overly intimate action as Yuese said in her mind, ‘System, do an internal scan of me. Identify cultivation capability and methods to gain power,’ this was after all a cultivation world. If she was not strong, then she would be eaten alive by the male lead without having a chance to break this chain! As Mei’er remained conflicted, the system replied, ‘You have a Dark Yin spirit root, The system has scanned that there are three possible individuals within one years travel distance who can successfully train your rare root. They are: Zhou Linzi, Master of the Grand Blade sect. The system calculates there is a 95% chance that you will gain success. Jian Zi, Master of the Dark Root sect. The system calculates 75% chance you will gain success. Anna Valora, the Fate Witch. The system calculates a 0.05% chance of success.’ ‘One of these things is not like the other’ Yuese thought as she thought over the three options, 'wait, Dark Yin? Isn't that like a furnace root or something?' 'Correction, that is a Pure Yin spirit root. A Dark Yin spirit root is considered waste by the majority of cultivators as it cannot hold qi and is only useful for a small number of niche cultivation techniques' the system replied. Yuese pondered on this as she thought about the three people who could successfully train a Dark Yin spirit root, ‘Anna Valora, that is definitely a western name. So this world isn’t mono-culture? Most of these novels are mono-culture. Then why did I end up looking like this?’ she pondered before her thoughts were interrupted by Mei’er. ‘I will go with you’ she said, ‘Though you are no longer the Yuese I swore madam to protect, you are still Yuese. And I have a feeling, following you will be far more interesting than staying in that horrible manor’ there was a twinkle in her eye. *** ‘The fate engine predicts she will go to the Grand Blade Sect and study under Master Zhou Linzi. Identify potential isekai candidates in that school and send someone we trust down to take her out. Using the fate engine, we can calculate when she will be at her weakest, and strike then.’ CEO Rohani turned to Director Hua; ‘Hua, you are responsible for this mess. You will go into that world and disable her system manually! We cannot take her out as long as she still has her system, that’s what the fate engine predicts. I will pass on further details to you shortly; you have a month to sort out any remaining business’ A bitter looking Director Hua balled his fists up in anger, ‘yes sir.’ He had failed big time and put the big boss’s long held plans at risk. *** ‘Why are we hunting down this Fate Witch?’ Mei’er tilted her head and asked as she and Yuese left the capital. ‘I don’t believe in fate. So who better to break it than a fate witch’ Yuese smiled as she walked down the dirt path, ‘Hey, Mei’er, let me tell you a story...’ and so she began recounting everything that had happened to her, in both worlds, to the young maid who followed.

‘It’s been twenty years...’ the girl looked from the hill over the capital city before her. Despite her beautiful face, her once white skin had been tanned brown, her long, black hair tied in a swordsmans ponytail, her once round innocent eyes narrowed with the realities of life and twenty years of painful training, though anyone who could sense it would be surprised that she was a soul creation cultivator at 35! This sort of talent was unheard of, even in the big sects. Clad in leather armour, with a curved sabre sheathed across her back, Mei’er turned to face her not-so-young-anymore Miss. The young woman before her looked not a day over 18 and gave off no cultivation aura. Dressed in ceremonial silk armour, she held an ornate sword covered in strange characters similar to the characters used in this world but somewhat more ancient, parallel to the ground. Before her lay five green bones, hovering in the air in a pentagram. The same strange characters covered the stones, while a black void had formed in the pentagon that made up the centre of the pentagram. Five lines of words in the same strange script appeared. Swiping her sword to the left before sheathing it on her back, the stones dropped to the ground and the black void dissipated. As the young woman bent down and swiped up the bones and storing them in her spatial ring, she turned to Mei’er and replied, ‘twenty years of practice, and finally I have come to break the plot and earn my freedom’ As her Young Miss walked beside her, Mei’er asked, ‘Did you discover who it is we must kill?’ Yuese nodded her head in agreement, ‘I am nowhere near as strong as Master but I have identified at five candidates, four removing you, who have some fate with me. If I kill each of them, I will not be entrapped by the plot.’ ‘Eh Miss? You plan to kill me too?’ Mei’er looked shocked. Yuese laughed and patted her dear friends shoulder, ‘You are not a male, you are not a target, unless there's been something you've hidden from me and Master these past twenty years! Of course we have some fate, we have been together for so long, I consider you my dearest friend, my sworn sister, closer than even Master. Anyway, the male lead must die, I am not being caught up in his plot! Let me hide my looks and then we can head into town.’ ‘Why must Miss hide her looks? Miss is as beautiful as a fairy!’ ‘As a poor man with a jade is committing a crime, so is a beauty wandering though a town. Its like attracting trouble! It shouldn’t be the case, but I know this type of story well. I want to lay low, not attract the male lead,’ Yuese stated as she used makeup to reduce her looks, before changing into a set of combat leathers, carefully packing her ceremonial armour in her spatial ring, ‘lets head into town and scout out the four candidates. We can then organise a kill order’ Mei’er nodded her head as she lead the way into town. *** Sitting in a near empty restaurant, Yuese wrote on a piece of paper the four names which where the possible candidate for the male lead, ‘Should you ask the system for more information on these people?’ Mei’er, sitting opposite with five empty plates before her thin body, asked. ‘Yes, this system is really an overpowered cheat. I have information on all four, and have identified the most likely candidate: Zhou Jin, fourth son of the Emperor’ ‘What makes him special?’ Mei’er asked as she called the waitress over to bring some wine to the table. ‘Waste prince, wears a mask, cultivation level ascending divinity. Even I would have trouble against him in a one-on-one fight. It is generally these types of characters that end up being the Male Lead.’ Yuese said as the waitress brought over a jug of fruity wine. Mei’er didn’t hesitate to break the seal and drink from the jug directly in a most unladylike way, ‘Why would a waste prince be at ascending divinity level?’ she asked after taking a deep drink of the wine. Yuese smiled gently at her friends actions, her eyes gentle as she continued, ‘From previous plots, he would be planning revenge on some member of the family, or is actually a hidden prince from a large cultivation family. Something along those lines. The next one is pretty interesting, Zhu Fen, Prime Minister of the Zhou Dynasty. He is younger than both of us, and is already at the peak of soul creation stage. He would be the primary candidate if he wasn’t so young. This person needs to be at least older than me, there is no way a kid in swaddling clothes would be the rock the plot expects me to rely upon. But because he’s so excellent, and his name turned up in my divination, he definitely must die.’ ‘Haha Young Miss, you are definitely ruthless, killing someone with even the smallest possibility of being your lover’ the tipsy Mei’er replied before a thick and hairy fist struck the table with a loud thwack. ‘The Young Master as reserved this entire restaurant! You two ugly girls… while your faces may be ordinary, your bodies are still plump in all the right places. The Young Master may give you the honour of bedding you!’ a boorish man who had just stormed into the restaurant  yelled threateningly towards the two girls. ‘Cliché’ Yuese said under her breath as Mei’er, in a single movement, pulled her sabre out of its sheath and cut the boorish man in two. ‘Waste belongs to waste. There are so many empty seats out there.’ she swiped her sabre down, flicking off the blood as the upper torso of the boorish man gently slid down his lower torso and the two halves of his body splattered on the ground in a bloody mess. As the waitress screamed in terror, Mei’er said ‘It seems you were wrong. They don’t just go for pretty faces, but also breasts as well. Ha ha!’ Yuese waved her hand, and the blood splatters were removed from both of their bodies, ‘The third one…’ she glanced at the door after hearing a commotion, ‘well the third one has just arrived!’ A handsome man dressed in black silk suit ran over to their table and yelled, ‘What did you do to my man! Do you know who I am?’ Yuese gestured to the man, her eyes not leaving Mei’er’s face, ‘Peng Hua, son of the General who Subdues the Elephants, Peng Zi. 37 years of age, cultivation level high soul creation. Skilled in the Flaming Nimbus Spear technique, single since your fiancee was murdered by you twelve years ago. Called the curse of the Imperial City and one of the Four Geniuses of the Imperial City.’ Yuese clicked her fingers, ‘Time to die’ the ancient sword sheathed to her back rose from its sheath by itself and with a rapid thrust struck before Peng Hua’s throat, before stopping suddenly just before breaking the skin. ‘Why did you stop?’ Mei’er took another swig from her jug of wine. ‘Don’t want to get Master’s gift dirty with stinking Male Lead blood.’ but despite this, Peng Hua’s head slowly rolled off his torso, blood splattering all over the restaurant, however avoiding the two girls, the ancient sword, and Mei’er’s wine jug, ‘One down. Now there are only three to deal with. We should rush to the hills and change our disguises. And you should change your manners while you’re at it Mei’er, while I don’t mind how you can eat five plates of meat by yourself and drink directly from the jug, I don’t think there would be another girl in the entire Imperial City who would do that!’ They both got up and headed for the exit, as Mei’er chuckled at her Young Miss's comment, she snatched another jug of wine from behind the bar, leaving a whole silver tael behind, ‘That’s part of the disguise, Young Miss!’ Yuese rolled her eyes as Mei’er continued, ‘You never said who the fourth one was.’ Yuese chuckled as the two exited the restaurant, ‘the last one… is my good Brother-in-law. Mei’er, would you like to go home and clean up the old ancestral manor?’ Mei’er didn’t reply, but grinned viciously. While her new Young Miss did not care about that family, Mei’er still held a grudge from the old Young Miss and her mother. They murdered her mother, bullied her, starved her and eventually killed her. These debts... they would have to be paid. Nyanko For those interested, I do not plan to fully elaborate on the cultivation realms. All you need to know is the fifth realm is soul creation and the sixth realm is ascending divinity. So the prince is the next level up from Mei'er.

Crimson Moon Publishing. In the past ten years, it has expanded massively, monopolising the light literature market in East Asia, with its tentacles digging deep into the European and North American markets thanks to fan translations. It has build its reputation on high quality isekai, or different world novels; novels about people whom are transported to another world, usually after their death; and because of which, the company is generally called Isekai Inc. Crimson Moon’s novels are renowned for their real characters, interesting and believable worlds and the twists of their stories; in such a way that it is impossible for the authors to be so consistent. Something was fishy in Isekai Inc., and someone needed to find out. This five part series will dig deep into the dirty truth of Isekai Inc. through my five year deep cover investigation. Starting at the very bottom of the organisation, I worked my way up through the organisation and finally found the truth. I shall publish this exposé in five parts to show the world that this is no mere publishing company; but rather a global criminal enterprise with sinister plots for the future of this world and its people. *** The full moon lit the empty car park of a Lawson's convenience store on the road to Nagano. This is where my first lead took me, to a convenience store in rural Japan, where I would meet my first contact, and my way into the organisation. It was 4am when he came, his nondescript, unmarked, white truck pulling into the car park. As I saw him exit the cabin, I noticed that he, like his truck, was very nondescript. A white tee-shirt with no markings, plain unbranded jeans and a face that you could not pick out of a crowd, he was the very image of nondescript. I guess, that’s why he made the perfect assassin. I only ever knew his code name—Truck-kun. When I was talking to a colleague after the fact, she laughed and said that he didn’t get the reference. Very dull, and very focused on his job, that was Truck-kun. He walked into the convenience store while giving me a look that seemed to say ‘follow’. Following him in as he made his way to the bento section, I walked and retrieved a can of hot coffee. No matter how many times I come here, the fact they sell hot coffee in a can always shocks me. As I followed behind him to the register, he spoke in what seemed to be perfect English, with a bit of a British accent, ‘you must be the new gal,’ he gazed at me up and down, ‘you definitely don’t look like the type. Too easy to pick out of a crowd.’It was true, why would a white, Caucasian female dare become an assassin in East Asia of all places? Though I had my alibi, ‘The company is looking to expand into the North American market and they sent me here to learn from the best.’Paying for the bento, he grunted and gestured me to follow. I quickly paid for my drink and chased him out the store, ‘well all you need to know is you have to follow the schedule. Be at the right place at the right time and do what they tell you to do. As long as you remember that, you should do fine,’ he opened the door to the cabin of his light truck and said, ‘well, get in.’Following him in, I notice the truck is spotless. I’ve known a lot of truckers in my time, and this must be the cleanest one I have seen. As I sipped my coffee and gazed at the moon, he ate his bento, an eye on his phone. It was close to half an hour before the email came through. I had long finished my coffee, while he was still picking at his bento. He reached over to his phone and opened the email, ‘We have three today, newbie. Two in Tokyo and one in Chiba. While the schedule is pretty full at least they’re all in the general area.’As we drove down the highway to Tokyo, he filled me in on some of his previous work, ‘Sometimes I’ve had one in Tokyo in the morning, one in Nagoya in the Afternoon and another in Tokyo for the evening. Its tough meeting those deadlines, sometimes I wonder who comes up with these schedules.’I gazed at the changing scenery as the sun rose, bringing brightness to this day that would change me forever, ‘have you ever wondered why?’ I asked.He was quiet for a moment as he pondered the question; after a while, he spoke, ‘Sometimes,’ he paused, trying to think of the right words, ‘sometimes its best not to know. It makes things harder. It always seems to be the same sort of person. A looser, a non-achiever, never someone I would have hit before I started with the company. If I start wondering why then it would stop making sense.’He rolled down the window and lit a cigarette, drawing deeply in the smoke before breathing it out the window. Without turning to me, he said, ‘It’s your first day, but I am the sort of person who believes in practical experience. The Chiba job, that's yours.’A shiver went down my spine as he said it, I knew after today, I could never go back. Even after I finished, I would have to live with what I’ve done. These thoughts muddled my mind as we entered the outer suburbs, slowly making our way to the first target. The GPS with the coordinates beeped, as be pulled into a narrow alleyway between two houses. The morning fog was deep, meaning we were close to the river. Putting on a set of work gloves, he pulled out a toolbox from the back of his seat. Opening it, I noticed an electric screwdriver, a collection of knives, and tens of licence plates, each for a different location. As he pulled the electric screwdriver and a Saitama plate from his box, he said, ‘get out. In the back of the truck are some Lawson’s decals. Apply them to the truck while I fix the plates. We need to be at our target in 15 minutes, so don’t dawdle.’ I nodded somewhat numbly as I opened the back of the truck and found a collection of neatly ordered decals and covers. It was easy to find the Lawson’s items, and within five minutes, the decals were on the doors of the truck and the plates were on. Glancing at both the GPS and the clock, I could see him take a deep breath, and as the clock slowly ticked down towards the scheduled time, 7:46:29am, he slowly started the truck and pulled out of the alley. As he sped up and the clock slowly ticked down, he said to me, ‘Timing is critical. In my last job, it was being clean that was important,’ he continued driving as the clock ticked, 7:46:20, 7:46:21, 7:46:22, ‘but here, it is if you can keep the schedule. If you can,’ as the clock ticked over to 7:46:29, a loud thump was heard as the truck slammed into a young male crossing the road, ‘you can get away without ever being caught,’ he pulled over to the side of the road, his nondescript face slowly showing feigned panic. Me though, I was shocked. My hands were shaking as I started to feel dizzy. I had just participated in a premeditated murder, and now, now we were pretending it was an accident? I looked in the side mirror at the corpse that was once a child. I later learned that his name was Yoshiro Yuki, a 16 year old hikineet who was living off his parents inheritance. Rarely leaving home, on this day he needed to go pick up his little sister from her friends place. It was the first time he left his home in over a year. But that was something I learned later. I didn’t know it at the time.After the police had taken the statements and Truck-kun had agreed to attend the police station at a later date, we slowly moved off to the next location, ‘I don’t know why,’ he said, shaking his head, ‘so long as I follow the schedule, nothing bad happens.’ as we entered the urban areas around Shinjuku he sighed and continued, ‘Actually, I don’t like it that much, back in Afghanistan, there was a certain level of skill needed. You needed to be perfect to make the hit and get out safely, it was like an art. This,’ he took his hands off the wheel and made a wide gesture, ‘this is like a colouring book. No skill required, just colour where they tell you and everything works out.’ He was quiet after that for a while, as he found a park on a side street lined by restaurants and nightclubs, ‘get out and take of the decals and change the plates to something else,’ he pulled out his toolbox and shoved it on my lap, before he pulled out a long, serrated combat knife from the top draw of the toolbox. Putting a bandanna over his face and gazing at his watch, he said, ‘you have 20 minutes. I will do this one alone. Make sure the truck is clean by the time I get back.’Twenty minutes later, he returned to the truck, blood splatters all over his clothes. He ripped off his tee-shirt showing a fabulous set of abs and muscles and pulled out another from a backpack he stored behind his seat. Plain white, just as before. I had already ‘cleaned’ the truck, and before long, we were on the expressway, heading to Chiba. I later learned that the man who was stabbed was a regular businessman, the same you would see anywhere. He protected his kohai’s girl and took the knife instead of her. But rather, he was the target. Truck-kun sighed as we drove down the expressway, nearing the final target, ‘the first one is always the hardest’ he said, eyes fixed on the road, ‘Yamamoto Sakura, aged 16. She has been hospitalised since she was young,’ as we waited at traffic lights, he took off his watch and handed it to me, ‘The hit is, go to her room in the hospital, and at exactly 4:34:21, inject her IV with this fluid,’ he handed a case to me before the lights changed green; opening it I found a long steel syringe, with a green liquid inside ‘remember, keep to the schedule and you will be fine,’ he finished as we pulled up to the loading bay of the hospital. Stunned, I stumbled out of the truck, ‘There is a nurses uniform in the back. Get changed. You have ten minutes!’Ten minutes later, I was walking through the corridors looking for room 302. That was the room she had been in for the past 10 years, all alone, abandoned by her family with only books to keep her company. I stood at the door of the room and a tear dripped down my eyes. I looked down at my watch and saw the time tick over to 4;34:00. I took a deep breath and walked in the room.‘You are new’ a clear voice spoke to me in Japanese. Thankfully I understand the language, ‘such a pretty onee-san, why are you crying?’‘I am here to change your IV, Sakura-chan’ I replied back. While I understand the language, I cannot speak it fluently. I looked down at his watch as tears trickled down my face, ‘Sakura-chan, everything will be all right’ I placed the needle in the IV tube, as his clock struck 4:34:21. Pushing in the plunger, I looked at her clear, innocent face as the poison entered her body, ‘Onee-san...’ she struggled to say as the poison took effect, ‘why?’Unable to face her pure eyes, I turned, sobbing into my arm, I said ‘I hope your isekai is much better than this one.’ I didn’t look and see what happened, I rushed out of the room crying my heart out. That day changed me. I sat in Truck-kun’s truck, unable to dry my eyes. The serious assassin patted my back in an effort to calm me, ‘The first one is always the hardest,’ he said, ‘it will get easier.’I hate to say it but it did. But even to this day, I still see her pure eyes, looking at me with a sense of betrayal, an innocent girl murdered at the behest of Isekai Inc. I will remember her for as long as I live, and maybe I will have the chance to read her novel. I only hope her new life is better than her last.

In a café near Central Park, a young woman was typing on her computer. Her hair was dyed bright pink and she was dressed in a gothic style, with chunky boots, fishnet stockings and a short but torn skirt, with a black, cat-eared hoodie. Her make-up was done so she looked ten years younger. No one would recognise this Moonlight Dagger. The past four parts of her investigative report had been published in the New York Times to critical acclaim. While there were calls for her to surrender herself to the authorities for over twenty separate murders, investigations had commenced into Crimson Moon Publishing and its CEO had gone into hiding. She typed the final paragraph of her report before reading it over to check for mistakes. Smiling, she inserted a USB stick into her computer and transferred over the final document. While the first four articles outlined her experiences working in Isekai Inc., the final article provided the proof of their wrongdoing, their crimes and their overarching scheme. She had discovered the truth behind the Technomancer, and what he wanted to achieve. When she read the story, her heart was touched. It was very romantic; however it was no excuse for doing what we was planning. While his plan would take many centuries to complete, the Technomancer was immortal, and had the time to wait till it was done. After all, her soul wouldn’t be going anywhere. The cycle of reincarnation was broken, and the fate engine predicted that they would meet again. Pulling out the USB, she pocketed it, packing her laptop into her black, cat eared backpack and left the café. She thought about catching a cab to the drop-off point but thought better of it, her savings were not much, and there was no way she could access any of her bank accounts; it would let both Isekai Inc. and the cops know where she was. She walked down the path, keeping an eye on those who passed her by towards the subway station across the road, her left hand always in her pocket, around the finished product. She knew that she was number one on the hit-list and many people were out for her life. Once the final part was out though, Crimson Moon would be finished and she would no longer need fear from being assassinated. And based on what she researched, this would be one of the last times that Crimson Moon could be taken down before it was too late. By then, she would not need to worry about her life, as they would be scrambling for safety. She could spend the rest of her life relaxing in a prison cell, knowing that she saved the world. ‘Is this what its like to sacrifice yourself for the greater good?’ she thought to herself as she waited for the little red man to turn green. As the red man turned green, she started to walk across the road. But… she felt something. Something that she had not felt in a while, something learned from her three years as Isekai Inc’s assassin; killing intent… turning her head, the world slowed down as if in slow motion… she knew her mistake as she looked to the truck’s driver seat, seeing a familiar face, she should have destroyed the fate engine no matter what. She didn’t even have time to press the button, just try to leap out of the way. But alas, Truck-kun was a professional, even with her years of experience, she could never match up to her teacher. Pain. She felt tremendous pain as the truck hit her lower body, crushing her legs and pelvis. As the truck pulled to a stop, she battled through the pain to reach into her pocket, her life was fading, she couldn’t let them win. She must stop Isekai Inc. no matter what. Those where the thoughts that went through her head as she pressed the button of the device. It was if the world has stopped as he left the truck, taking a step down, looking at the dying girl before him. The world wasn’t moving, no one was paying attention, this was the benefits of a murder arranged through the fate engine. As he reached the girl, he bent down, and fumbled through the pockets of her cat-eared hoodie. He pulled out a USB stick, but couldn’t find what he was looking for. A disturbed look on his face, he grabbed her backpack, leaving the dead girl on the side of the road. Pulling out his mobile phone as he climbed back into the truck, he spoke, ‘it wasn’t there.’ ‘Did she use it?’ the voice on the other end, somewhat irritated. ‘Does it disappear if she uses it?’ Truck-kun asked as he started the truck, his free hand looking through the backpack. ‘We will soon find out’ *** It was a quiet day in the Shanghai office as a young intern looked over the operations screen for the master computer. Noticing an odd error, he turned to his supervisor and asked, ‘Boss, what is a 921 error?’ The supervisor looked at him, and pulled out a manual, ‘I don’t know, we’ve never had it before. Let me check,’ he flipped through to the last page of the technical manual for the master computer and his face paled, turning to an operator beside him ‘Call Director Hua in immediately! I don’t care if he is in hiding, this is vitally important!’ he turned to the intern and asked, ‘What is the code of the system?’ The young intern was flustered, he had never seen the supervisor loose his cool like this as he struggled to find the system code on his monitor, ‘551Z-002’ he replied. ‘Put that into the Fate Engine. I want a title and a synopsis immediately!’ he turned to the chief technical officer who had just barged into the room, ‘Did you know there was such a thing as the 551Z series?’ ‘Isn’t that the final product Director Hua has been developing? What happened?’ the technical officer asked. ‘We have had an unauthorised use of the system. Location, New York City. Were there any operations going on there?’ The operator of the fate engine was looking at the screen as the title was calculated, ‘I recall the fate engine calculating something to go on in New York today, but there was no system use attached to it. This must be an independent use’ ‘Then how did they use it?’ the supervisor was loosing his cool. ‘Boss, I’ve contacted Director Hua, he is coming in right away!’ the operator said. ‘Boss the fate engine has calculated the name of the story.’ the fate engine operator stated, though he said no more, as if frozen by the revelation of the title. The supervisor rushed down to the monitor, ‘well what does it say?’ but he paused in shock as he read the words on the screen: ‘The War Against Isekai Inc.’ Nyanko Welcome to my story! Originally, this was only meant to be four chapters long when I first thought about it, a short story on a company that is secretly producing all the Isekai novels and the nefarious deeds surrounding it. Then I thought, maybe there is more story to tell. As you can guess, the first four chapters are the prologue, and introduce the antagonists, and our nameless heroine. And so, she dies. But is that the end of her war? Find out, tomorrow (maybe) when 1.2 is released!

With a sudden shock, she opened her eyes and sat upright from her bed. Her memories a blur, she could remember the train, and then… waking up here. She looked around the dark, candle-lit room to notice that other than a set of tattered curtains surrounding her bed and the room in a general state of disrepair. She thought a moment as she collected her memories and the memories of the person she took over, Bi Yuese. She laughed, it looked like the name Moonlight Dagger was stuck to her forever, but this form of Bi (匕) was not in the list of a thousand names. It was like this was made just for her. Quickly she outlined the past of this body through her head, it was the classic past of an Isekai novel. Neglected waste daughter, bullied by her step-mother, pushed into a lake to be killed. Even without inquiring the system, she could understand where the plot would go. This was a black-bellied young master story, the type of story she hated the most. Thoughts went through her head as she recalled the functionality of the finished product, it would take you into the body of the person most suitable to achieving her goal... and then she thought of her last thoughts before she died.  But there was no time to wonder how the two were connected, the minute she had spent reorganising her memories was a minute of time that they would have to isolate her and use the kill code to terminate her existence. She had no time to spare. Pushing herself out of bed, she found her white, tattered nightclothes were heavy and restrained her movements. Adding to the dizziness of the transfer, she stumbled onto a young girl who had just walked through the door. ‘Young Miss! You’re up!’ she said in a language that was not English, a language that was not Chinese, but a language she could understand as if she had spoken it her whole life. Was that a feature of the System? She didn't know. The girl was young and pretty with bright round eyes shining enthusiasm and loyalty for her Mistress. ‘Mei’er’ a name came to Yuese’s head as she used the young maid’s body to steady herself. Reaching for a brass mirror, she turned to her maid and said, ‘We must go now.’ Mei’er looked confused as her young miss walked out of the barren door she patted after her, ‘but you are still unwell, its only been a day since I pulled you from the lake!’ Mei’er tried to drag the sleeve of her young miss to stop her but Yuese’s momentum was unstoppable as she started to speak in a language that Mei’er could not understand. ‘System, activate administrative mode’ she spoke in English… ‘Please enter in administrative user name’ the mechanical voice of the system replied. ‘MD-00123Z’ she entered in her employee code. She knew it had yet to be wiped from the system. ‘Sufficient access for administrative mode. Please enter your password.’ *** ‘Director Hua, you’re here!’ the supervisor yelled in relief as the Director walked into the control room. ‘What Code 9 emergency was important enough for me to risk capture and come here?’ Director Hua said sternly ‘There has been an unauthorised use of the System. It is the 551Z series’ the supervisor said. ‘So it did disappear when she used it’ Director Hua looked perplexed, ‘The Mage Lord got given defective materials, and we tried our hardest to clean things up. But it seems like we just made things worse. The war against Isekai Inc. How goes the synopsis?’ ‘Synopsis is still a while off; however we have established visuals with the other world, putting it on screen!’ the chief technician yelled. As an image of an ancient path with two women walking down it came on screen, Director Hua pulled out his phone to call his boss. *** ‘Administrative privileges granted’ the systems mechanical voice stated. ‘Block all inputs from the master computer and scan for outputs’ Yuese stated as the confused Mei’er pattered behind her young misses long strides. Mei’er thought that since she woke up, her young miss had been acting very strange. Not only speaking to herself in a weird language, but walking seemingly so healthily down the path to the front gates; this was very suspicious! Doubt started to enter the young maid's eyes. It was a good thing that the dilapidated courtyard they lived in was so isolated and they did not run into any other servants until they reached the gates otherwise young miss would get another beating from the Master. In this world, it was unvirtuous for an unmarried girl to leave her family home without a male escort. The short time that the system was scanning gave Yuese a chance to examine her looks in the bronze mirror. White skin, phoenix eyes, beauty that would launch a thousand ships once she had improved her nutrition. Yes this was a protagonist’s body. She would need to use the system to examine the world and identify how she would become stronger, but for now she needed to flee to avoid being caught in the net of the male lead, and cut all monitoring of her actions by the master computer. And turn off the Kill Switch. The two guards that were protecting the open gateway to the Ying manor were facing the street, and did not expect the whack to their pressure points from behind that knocked them out. Mei’er looked on shocked as her young miss pulled the sword sheaths off the unconscious guards, throwing one to her as the system chimed in, ‘twelve outputs found.’ ‘Sever all access to the master computer.’ ‘Please enter in master password.’ Yuese grinned and looked towards a seemingly random point in the sky... *** ‘She’s blocked our inputs! We need the master pass-code to override her permissions!’ the chief technical officer panicked. ‘There are few people in the world who know the system better than her’ Director Hua sighed. ‘I will try the boss again to get the master code,’ he stated as he tapped a message in the encrypted messaging app on his phone, immediately getting a reply from the boss. ‘Enter in the following password’ Director Hua yelled, as he looked at the screen, the young girl seemingly staring at where the system was monitoring, gently raising her hand towards it and giving the monitor the middle finger. *** ‘Password Accepted. All access to master computer has been severed. Kill switch is being uninstalled from the System’s programming’ the system chimed. Yuese smiled as she gave the finger to where they were watching. Still in front of the Bi family manor, Yuese grabbed Mei’er and disappeared into an alley dragging her maid behind her. Nyanko I think its a good time to explain our protagonists name in her Isekai. Bi Yuese is spelt like 匕 月色. While 月色 isn't the most traditional way of saying Moonlight, its more like Moon Colour, it felt like it was a more feminine name than the more traditional Yueguang. Bi (匕) was the best single character definition of dagger I could find. Even if its meaning is not a real dagger. Her original name was going to be Moonlight Blade, but a certain snake told me there was already a game called that. So it was changed. Thoughts on if I should go back and rename her are welcome~ its still early in the story after all; I am not that attached to her current name

I stood as the elevator slowly rose to the 97th floor of the Crimson Tower in Dubai, recalling the events earlier in the week in Shanghai. The final product was done. I looked down at the briefcase that was chained around my arm and felt a small cylindrical object that I had hidden in my pocket. I was asked to deliver the product to the boss for him to deliver to the client. This would also give me a chance to dig into the real secrets behind Isekai Inc. Darush Rohani had a Persian background who fled the country during the Islamic Revolution and my research indicated that his family has run Crimson Moon or its predecessors since the 13th century. Even I could not believe the company had such a long background. While photographs of the family members was rare throughout the ages, I noticed that the CEOs of the conglomerate shared very distinct features. As the elevator door opened and the secretary gestured me into his office, I looked him over and felt that he looked very similar to his father, his grandfather and his great-grandfather. Eerily similar, enough to draw a few shocking conclusions. While my mind ran through the possibilities, he greeted me, ‘Oh, I have heard many things about you, Miss Moonlight, please, take a seat’ I sat, putting my thought process on hold and responded to his greeting, ‘Thank you CEO Rohani for your greeting. I have brought the finished product from Director Hua,’ I placed the briefcase on the table and unlocked the cuff around my wrist with a key I had well hidden. I took this opportunity to gaze around the room. Wooden panels and mahogany furniture covered the office, giving it a distinct nineteenth century feel. The walls were adorned by landscape paintings with one exception; a painting of a woman. She was not stunning, but her eyes seemed to be as deep as the ocean. The picture itself seemed very old, with a name inscribed in the old Arabic script beneath it. I took these symbols into my mind with the view to translate it when I had the time. I turned my attention back to the boss, ‘It’s a beautiful office you have here.’ ‘Thank you. You have been a real aid in the development of the final product. Director Hua said that he doubted that he would have been done in time if it weren’t for your assistance.’ he smiled as his secretary brought in some fresh tea, ‘we even finished it with several months to spare before the loophole closes, this is excellent and we will receive a bonus from our client because of it.’ He unlocked the briefcase with the pass-code and examined the single object within. It was a long, cylindrical object, a trigger at the top. It was amazing that such a small item could be the accumulation of decades of work. While I outwardly kept my cool, my mind worried that he would notice something. Fortunately he nodded before closing the case, sealing it back up. ‘I do my best to achieve the goals of the company’ I replied mechanically, my hand slipping under the desk and placing an almost invisible bug. It was microscopic and was swiped from Director Hua’s lab. It not only took notes of conversations, but also hacked into the local network to download vital data. It was a real risk doing this in front of the boss, however to confirm my suspicions, it needed to be done. I was, after all at the point of no return. ‘There is another reason why I called you here,’ a shiver ran down my spine as he continued, ‘I need someone I trust to deliver the product to the client. You have proven your loyalty to the company over the past five years with blood, and I feel you are the best to deliver the product.’ Feeling relieved that my cover wasn’t blown, I asked, ‘Why doesn’t CEO Rohani do it?’ He sighed, gazing at the picture of the woman for a moment, just a moment, but I still caught it, ‘The transfer must take place in a certain location, and that is a place I cannot easily visit myself. This is why I need someone trustworthy to deliver the product for me. The location is Long Island, New York,’ he passed over a card, ‘this is the coordinates of the transfer location, and the local time of the transfer. You cannot be late and you must transfer the finished device on time’ I didn’t dare question why he couldn’t go to the United States, but I had some suspicions. Crimson Moon was a large conglomerate and had many diverse business dealings, even within Iran itself. I looked at the coordinates and felt they were devised by the fate engine. Just remembering that dreadful machine and what was trapped inside it made me shiver in terror, despite being an assassin for three years, I had never seen anything as cruel as that. I had hoped to destroy that infernal machine and put that woman out of her misery, however I was summoned here before I had a chance to sabotage it. I decided that once this delivery was done, I would vanish and write up my experiences for publication. The horrors that I’ve seen would send shivers down anyone's spine. After a bit of small-talk, I was escorted out of the building and provided with a passport, a suitcase and an airline ticket. Three days later, on Long Island, New York I waited in a corn field. I had opened up the suitcase and set up the piece of technomancy I was given, an array to facilitate the transfer of physical objects through dimensions. Like Director Hua said, I had no idea how this worked, though I had my suspicions that all this technomancy was developed by the boss himself. Technomancy was a kind of law, a way to subvert reality. It was a type of magic, and only the Technomancer; the CEO of the Crimson Moon Conglomerate; could use it. This is what I had learned on my flight to the United States from hacking into CEO Rohani’s private diaries. As I placed the prototype of the product in the centre of the array, my hand touched the finished product, which I had been keeping in my pocket since I left Shanghai a week ago. The client would get his product; but it would be a prototype, and his evil plans would be thwarted; whatever it was. And when the fifth part of this expose is published, the Technomancer will be unmasked as the villain he is and the world will stop his evil schemes.

As I walked into the lab in the distant suburbs of Shanghai, I gazed around at the strange objects that was strewn around the lab. The young man working at a desk looked up, and smiled brightly, ‘You must be Moonlight Dagger, I have been looking forward to meeting you! Sit, Sit!’ he gestured towards a chair opposite his desk, after sitting, he continued, ‘I cannot thank you enough for taking this position. I, after all am an inventor, I don’t know the first thing about managing people.’ This man was Hua Chung, head of Research and Development for the Crimson Moon Conglomerate. The chief mind behind the system. After pleasantries, he took me for a tour of the lab, ‘The system is what drive our entire process. The system is made up of three pieces of over-technology, or technomancy as the boss likes to call it. That is, the receiver, which allows us to monitor the isekai despite them residing in a different reality; the soul catcher, which allows us to capture the soul at a certain period of time and the dimensional corridor, which allows certain objects to travel between dimensions.’ I picked up a strange cylindrical object with a trigger on the top, looking at it with interest, before replying, ‘So the system refers to the receiver, and monitors the effects of the soul transfers. But then why do we monitor them consistently and write have authors write stories about them?’ ‘There are two reasons. The first is to test different aspects of the system to make sure they work correctly. The second is that the over-technology our client has ordered eats up a lot of resources; especially as it is payment on delivery, and releasing these novels is a way to recoup some of our losses.’ he gestured to the object in my hands, ‘You should put that down. That is a prototype of the product we will be delivering to our client. Instead of the generated realities that our current system implements, it intends to push a person into an actual reality. While the model you hold has some features installed, many of the powerful features that make up the majority of our systems, such as the luck generator, the soul reaper and the world scanner have not been installed as the testing on these items has not been completed, its simply a test of the basic over-technology. ‘But it still works, if you pull the trigger at the top at the moment of your death, you will be pulled into an actual reality, which best suits the desire you are thinking of at the time of your death. For example, if you wanted to be the greatest mage in existence, you would be put in the body of the person with the greatest potential to become the greatest mage in existence. The features of the system are to help that individual achieve that potential. ‘Why you have been called here is because the deadline on delivering this project is approaching. This is a hard deadline, as our intelligence indicates that the loophole we are using to transfer souls to other worlds is about to be closed, and I must focus all my attention on creating the perfect system to attach to this project. I need someone to manage the lab while I focus on completing the product. Someone we could trust. Someone who could not return to normal life and knows many of our secrets already. That is why we chose you. The KPI’s from the North American Talent Acquisition branch have been amazing and has really helped the publishing arm in penetrating the North American market. The test in Korea was to see if you could manage normies, people who are not cold-blooded murders.’ I put the device down and decided to leverage that so-called trust I had earned and asked a question that had been stuck in my mind since Korea, ‘The amount of interaction the talent have towards their systems is different depending on the story, how is this controlled?’ Director Hua laughed as we sat on a sofa, an assistant bringing in coffee, ‘Every talent has the same System, its just different features are locked behind different walls. Some may get full access, others may get limited access, it all depends on what aspects and combinations of the system we want to test. ‘In this regard, the system can manifest itself as different aspects. In some cases, its an old man in a ring, in others, its some sort of space. The system could be disguised as another system, such as a scheming system, an ultimate system or my favourite joke, a gourmet system or it could just activate the luck generator and otherwise leave the person alone. However! My most impressive work is the system world, or the game as which people like to call it. This is when the system encapsulates the entire created reality and creates a system of levels and skills and the like.’ ‘Then there is a way to override control of the system if a talent gets out of control?’ I fished for answers. ‘Of course. We need to have back-doors in place in case one of the talent becomes too powerful and turns against us. There are several fail-safes which allow us to eliminate a target both here and in proximity. This is all hidden behind the actual system itself, and requires a password to access.’ ‘Oh? What's the password?’ I asked. ‘Don’t know. Only the boss knows. He said it was his greatest regret’ Director Hua shrugged, 'while it would be useful for us to know, I doubt he wants his subordinates to know his greatest regret.' My eyes glimmered as I noted this, sipping my coffee as I mentally decided to do some deep background research on the boss. I easily slipped back into the investigative journalist role I had locked behind three years of murder easily and continued, ‘So how did you develop this over-technology?’ ‘Develop? Oh no no no. The over-technology is well beyond me. I don’t get how the physics work, how it creates realities, how it communicates with the master computer. I was simply given the technology. My job is to develop the software that runs over-top of this over-technology, the features that make up the system. I don’t know where the boss got this technology from, I think the client helped with some of the theory, but I don’t know.’ Director Hua gazed out the window, ‘not knowing how the over-technology works is perhaps the biggest regret in my life. I hope once the project is finished and the product is shipped to the client I can have a chance to study these items.’ his gaze looked distant, hopeful. What he said was interesting. I would need to investigate further as to how Crimson Moon acquired this over-technology. I suspect it has something to do with their mysterious boss. He calls it over-technology while his boss calls it technomancy; magic of technology. I was reminded of that Arthur C. Clark quote, “significantly advanced technology is akin to magic” but the ability to capture and force a soul through dimensions and monitor it remotely seems far beyond any advanced technology we have today. It made me think, is it aliens, is it someone from the future? Was this technomancy supplied by this mysterious client? Somehow I doubted it, or else they would have done all the work themselves. Finishing his coffee, he stood and gestured, ‘lets tour the facilities and introduce you to the team.’ I nodded and followed him out to a room that resembled a control room. Monitors covered the walls as workers typed at their computers, and he explained, ‘The team here monitors the various aspects of the master computer and the fate engine,’ he saw my look of blankness and explained, ‘You worked in the talent acquisition area. Did you ever wonder why the timing was such an important aspect of the acquisition? The fate engine calculates who should be targeted and the precise local time as to when and most importantly where they should be targeted that will both capture their soul and provide the most opportune chance for escape for the talent acquisition officer.’ ‘This is another piece of over-technology?’ I asked. He shook his head, ‘While it is a type of over-technology, it is not a type of technomancy according to the boss. This is another piece of tech I would like to crack open and have a look at how its run. To be able to predict to such a high degree the fate of a person...’ he shrugged and continued, ‘When a soul is captured and placed in a new reality, the fate engine calculates a title and a synopsis for the story. These synopses can be pretty prophetic or very vague, which is why the synopsis of many stories on our website are pretty bad. That's what you get for machine generated titles.’ He laughed, ‘Come let me introduce you to the team!’

[Just what is that?!] Liam, who rarely gets shocked, spoke with panic. [Master, immediately get away from there!] It is only right that Liam fears for the life of his Master. After all, the four-legged creature in front of them is a horned beast that is over three meters tall. It has a resemblance to a wolf but its claws are much sharper and its eyes are more ferocious. Currently, the beast is growling savagely towards the person standing in front of it - Eu Jin. “I-I can’t!”, Eu Jin managed to mumble despite his shaking spirit. “Can’t you s-see that there’s a person right there?” Indeed, the creature was dragging a bloodied body with its mouth. Its razor-edged fans seem to be embedded deeply into the body’s shoulders. [You can’t even protect yourself and you want to save that person?!], Liam shouted exasperatedly. [Besides, we don’t even know if that person is still alive. Please, Master, I beg you! Just run!] “No!”, he stubbornly replied. “If that person is still alive, we may still be able to save him!” [Master!] Liam was rendered silent as the creature let go of the body in its mouth and gave a loud roar. Following that, Eu Jin felt wind pressure accumulating just in front of its opened mouth, as if it is charging for an attack. Eu Jin dodged to the side as soon as the creature released the attack with another loud roar. Although he managed to dodge, he still received a few wounds on his right arm as it was hit by a few stray wind blades. [Master, pick up the sword to your left!] He immediately rolled to the left and agilely picked up the sword lying on the ground. It was a bit heavy for him to lift but having a weapon is better than nothing. He stood up, intending to face off with the wolf-life beast but the latter was already set on another attack. [Duck!] On instinct, he followed Liam’s words and squatted. It ultimately saved his life as the beast swiped past over his head with its three sharp claws. He didn’t let himself rest. As soon as he felt the beast swipe on top of his head, he immediately escaped to the side. The beast, upon knowing that its prey has escaped, growled angrily and turned his head, but what greeted him was a swung sword almost arriving at its neck. Eu Jin held his breath as he anticipated wounding the beast. He gave all his strength into this one attack. However, his hopes were dashed when the sound of metal clashing rang throughout the vicinity. Looking closely, the sword that Eu Jin expected to draw the beast’s blood was blocked by the latter’s fur which seems to be as durable as metal. The beast gave out a low growl as if warn the prey that fought back that it made the wrong choice. As Eu Jin was close to the beast, it immediately sprung into action and attempted to bite his sides. But Eu Jin was faster, drawing his sword back and parrying the beast’s face away. It may not look like it but Eu Jin actually has great strength and self-defense martial art. All of them were cultivated by the hard work he put on while he was working on the fields and taming the spiritual and farm beasts inside the space. Of course, Eu Jin was still having a hard time protecting himself as this was the first time he’s facing off this beast. This wolf-like beast is also emitting a very dense killing intent.

Eu Jin doesn’t know how long he passed out. When he slowly opened his eyes, it was almost the same as when he first came here. “Liam?”, he groggily asked into the air. [Master, you’ve finally awakened! Why didn’t you return to the space as I’ve told you?] “S-sorry…”, Eu Jin guiltily apologized after remembering what happened. He didn’t want to let Liam know that he hesitated at the last minute. [Are you feeling okay now?] Hearing the question, Eu Jin remembered that his mana may go haywire any second and thus panicked. [No need to panic, Master.], seemingly able to feel his emotions, Liam consoled him. [Your mana has been depleted to zero three days ago. For now, you barely have any mana. There should be no risk of your mana erupting like before.] “Is that so?”, Eu Jin tried to wrap his head on Liam’s words. “Wait, three days ago?” [Yes, you’ve been unconscious for that long.] “T-that’s…”, Eu Jin was flabbergasted. “Exactly what happened?” [I tried talking to the Spirit of the Earth. Although I am unable to hear as much as I want to due to me being cut off from where you are, I am still able to get some key information.] [The world has gone through some changes which affected the placement of your seal markers, which led to the seal being completely broken.] “The seal has been broken?” [Yes, Master. It has become a normal space that you can get into and out without any problems. But you can’t get inside now as you don’t have enough mana to utilize for the transfer.] Deep inside, Eu Jin was happy to hear that. “Does that mean that as long as I maintain my mana to be at this current level, I can stay here outside?” [That’s correct, Master. We don’t know yet what exactly caused your massive mana to be depleted to zero but I guess this is the miracle that the Old Master has been waiting for. Congratulations, Master.] “That’s great! That’s so great!”, Eric, although a bit weak, was quite happy with what he learned. “As long as my mana remains at a tolerable level, I can stay in the outside world! Although it is still an unknown world for us, I have a feeling that we can have fun and play here!” [I hate to burst your bubble, Master, but I am unable to leave the space myself.] “Huh?” [I am just a lump of mana, after all. It would be difficult to hold my form outside of the space because there’s no mana there. My essence would just dissipate into the atmosphere.] [Think about it this way… Master is a balloon that expands and contracts according to how much mana you have inside you. When placed in an environment where the atmosphere’s mana is as abundant as your inner mana, you won’t have to worry about any external pressure that will burst the balloon. I, on the other hand, is like a drop of water in a vast sea. When placed in a sea of mana, I can still hold my individuality. However, when placed in an environment where there is no mana, my essence itself will try to compensate to the surroundings, thin out until I completely dissipate. Do you understand?] Eu Jin was silent for a while before he nodded and then shook his head. “I seem to understand yet it seems that I don’t.” [Bottom line is that, it would be impossible for me to live in the outside world when there is no mana there.] Eu Jin once again fell silent. He did not expect that he would be leaving his only companion behind after gaining his freedom. After a while, Eu Jin heaved out a heavy sigh. With a determined look on his face, he spoke to Liam. “I can’t leave you behind.”, he said. “I know very well the loneliness that comes with being confined alone in that space. I’ll just gather enough mana and go back.”

The first thing that Eu Jin did is to inspect the person that was lying seemingly lifeless beside him. As he had fed him healing pills earlier, his shallow wounds have started to scab over while the deeper ones are still healing. Eu Jin the pulled out the blood replenishing pill and popped one into the boy’s mouth. Slowly, the color returned to the boy’s pale face. “Good.”, Eu Jin said smilingly, “It seems that it is your fate not to die.” The boy in front of him has jet black hair and fair complexion, seems about sixteen to seventeen years old. If basing on appearances, Eu Jin and this boy will seem like to be of the same age. But of course, Eu Jin is already many years older than his appearance may suggest. Although some parts of the boy’s clothes were torn, Eu Jin can still see the tight-fitting shirt underneath the chest plate and pants that were probably made of different material to his robes. “Liam, people’s clothes nowadays are completely different from the fashion that Master told me.” [...] [Master, instead of inspecting his clothes, it’ll be better if you find shelter before the sun goes down today. You are quite expose to the elements now.] “Oh, yeah, you are right.”, Eu Jin said. “I’ll wait for this boy to wake up. I don’t know anything in this place so it’s better to have someone who knows to rely on.” While waiting for the boy to wake up, Eu Jin decided to meditate. He wants to see just how much mana he can generate in the moment. It took almost two hours for the boy to wake up. Even though his pills are of great quality and should have helped the boy heal faster than normal, him taking that long to wake up is a testament that his wounds were really life-threatening. The boy’s eyelids fluttered open, allowing Eu Jin to notice the boy’s brownish black eyes. There were fear initially in them, but as time passed by, the fear diminished. It may be that the boy no longer thought that he is in danger. “Hey, you awake?”, Eu Jin tried to get his attention. Hearing his voice, the boy looked at him and scrambled to get up. Eu Jin didn’t help him get up. Just how heavy does this boy think he is! Hmph! Besides, his pills had already did their wonders. “Who are you? Where am I?” “I’m Eu Jin.”, he replied. “I don’t know where we are. What’s your name?” “My name’s Ye Han.” “Ye Han, huh.”, Eu Jin nodded. “I saved you. Do you remember what happened to you?” The boy scrunched up his brows, trying to remember what happened. Then, as if realization dawned on him, his face paled and he trembled. He hugged himself to stop the fear from making him break down. “Hey, are you all right?”, Eu Jin drew closer to the boy when he saw that the latter was trembling. “It was a level 3 horned wolf! The master of this zone was a level 3 horned wolf!”, the boy was ‘Master? Zone?’

“Master, why can’t I go with you whenever you leave?”, the ten-year-old looking boy in white tunic and black trousers asked the old man wearing a black robe in front of him. “Eu Jin, you have to stay here and make as much potion as you can.”, the old man responded. “After all, master needs to sell them.” With a confused look, Eu Jin looked at the hundreds of potion vials that his master is storing in his storage ring. The hundreds of potions are all the ones he had created for a week. Eu Jin has never been to the outside world. Ever since he can remember, he has been in this wide space with no one else but him. Every week though, his master would come back and bring him some goods - alchemical books, magical plants’ seeds, and so on. Sometimes, his master would also bring other daily essentials or books that can help him with his daily chores. However, no matter how many excellent or rare things his master brings him, it never curbed his curiosity on what it is like outside of the space. From the books he read, he surmised that the outside world can be really fun. But no matter how much he pestered his master, he wouldn’t be given the permission to go out. Even if he wanted to go out by himself, he doesn’t know how to break the seal of this space. Probably understanding his thoughts, his master reached out and patted his head. “Eu Jin, ah, you should understand.” his master said with a look of regret and pity in his eyes. “The outside world cannot accommodate your massive mana. With one wrong move, you can cause danger to the people around you.” He had heard that excuse many times. Before, he always felt wronged that he was the only one placed in this space, with no one to talk to nor play with. Over time, he understood why. Indeed, his massive mana is incongruent with the world outside. According to the books he read, there needs to be harmony between one’s surrounding and one’s inner mana. This principle is what allows people to safely practice magic, after all. His mana reservoir, on the other hand, is far greater than the mana in the atmosphere. If he is unable to control his mana, he can cause a calamity. At first, he wasn’t convinced that his mana could be that massive. Only when his master showed him a mana measuring stone did he fully accept the situation. Of course, just because he accepted doesn’t mean that he was willing to stay in the space forever. “Making the potions here in this space was the only solution we thought of for you.”, his master continued. “By making potions, your mana will deplete to a safe level. Even if you are unable to control your mana, as long as you are practicing in this space, you don’t have to worry about hurting anyone. Being an alchemist is the safest for you to live.” “But this is not living.”, Eu Jin murmured in a small voice. His old master may not have heard his words as he continued to pack away the potions Eu Jin created. Or maybe he heard but doesn’t know how to respond. Such a conversation happened multiple times. A hundred weeks. A thousand. Before Eu Jin noticed, there came a time when his master would be unable to visit him according to schedule. “My lifespan is nearing its end, Eu Jin.”, his master told him one day as he sipped his tea. He didn’t seem to be someone who’s lifespan is nearing as he sat there in front of the river near his house. Eu Jin, who was tending to the magical beasts and animals in the stable nearby, was startled. Before he knew it, he ran toward master and asked again. “What did you say?” His master sighed before putting down his tea. He gestured for his disciple to sit down on the chair next to him. “I’ve already reached the maximum lifespan of an alchemist.”, his master gazed at him as if reminiscing the past. “But I haven’t grown yet!”, the boy replied in disbelief. Hearing his master say that he reached the end of his lifespan caused him to panic. After all, everyone will eventually reach the end of their lifespan and there are no potions or spells that can prevent that. Reaching the end of one’s lifespan only means that one’s mana is about to run out. Mana is connected to a person’s vitality. His master had already lived a lifetime that is far beyond what normal alchemists can live. On the other hand, he, who was taken in by his master during the latter’s half of a lifetime, only looked like he is thirteen years of age. “Yes, indeed, you haven’t grown yet.”, his master lightly laughed. The two settled on a heavy silence. In a while, his master gave a melancholic sigh before facing him. “Eu Jin, this master of yours will have to apologize in advance.”

“Eu Jin, this master of yours will have to apologize in advance.” Eu Jin looked at the old man with a white beard in front of him with a bewildered expression. “Why would you apologize to me?” “In a couple of years, I won’t be able to come here in this space to bring you anything good from the outside world anymore.”, his master said sadly. “Knowing that I’m about to die, yet I am still unable to let you out of this space. This is your master’s greatest regret.” “I regret that despite living for a long time I’m still unable to find a solution for you to live in harmony with the outside world. I regret that until the end of my time, you’ll have to stay in this world, alone, without end.”, his master muttered softly with glistening eyes. Eu Jin didn’t like hearing those words from his master. It feels like words of a dying man, which only made Eu Jin even more aware of his master’s impending death. “Master, don’t say that!”, Eu Jin frantically said. “No matter what, Master was the one who kept me safe until now. You taught me a lot of things. Although I’m the only one here, I’m still grateful to master. You have no need to apologize to me!” “How about my mana? Reaching the end of your lifespan means that you’ll run out of mana, right? Why don’t you take my mana then?” Eu Jin’s master shook his head. In theory, this should be possible. But a person’s mana can only be generated inside one’s own body. Mana transfusion is only a theory that has never been proven successful in all these years. “When I’m gone, I’ll find someone else to take care of you.”, his master said as he stood up, indicating that he will be leaving soon. “But master-!” His master smiled at him and patted his head. “You’ll be fine even without me here, Eu Jin. We’ve created this space so that you can live a sufficient life, after all.” Eu Jin and his master looked at the scenery in front of him. Indeed, this wide space is enough for a single person to live. He had a house that is complete with everything that he needs. He had a large field with all the plants he can think of. There’s a clear freshwater river that provides safe drinking water and even marine animals. His stable is filled with a multitude of magical beasts and farm animals too. The shack right beside the stable contains all kinds of tools that his master brought before as well. The space indeed has all the things Eu Jin needs - except for company. “Here.”, his master handed down a jade pendant to Eu Jin. “This is my memento to you.”“Master.” He patted Eu Jin’s head once again before he left. For the next couple of weeks, there will be times when his master would come and times when he wouldn’t. Over time, Master didn’t return anymore. Week after week after week, yet no matter how long Eu Jin waited, his master no longer visited him.

As soon as he was able to parry the beast’s bite, Eu Jin evaded to far away from its reach. He took the small interval between the beast’s attack to quickly survey the surrounding. He realized that he won’t be able to defeat the beast as it has an impenetrable hide. Eu Jin easily commits to memory the landscape as well as his, the beast’s position, and the bloodied body’s position. He then tried to inspect his body if he can circulate mana. His eyes lit up when he can feel a little thread of mana inside his reservoir. He drafted his escape plan and went ahead with it without hesitation. He dashed straight to where the bloodied body is while the beast was hot on his heels. In that short distance, he gathered enough mana to summon a bottle of potion from his space. The beast was obviously faster than him. Four of Eu Jin’s running steps was just one of the beast’s. Thus, it would seem like Eu Jin and the beast would arrive at the bloodied body at the same time. Right when he was near the body, he made a dive for the body while breaking the potion bottle in his hand. The potion’s liquid burst all over. As for the beast who was also lunging at them, as it anticipates burying its sharp fangs into its prey’s body, it only felt its upper and lower jaws clashing together and biting through the air. Its prey has disappeared right in front of its eyes! It looked left and right trying to see where the human had ducked away, yet to no avail. He circled in place once, and another time counterclockwise, yet he is unable to see, hear, or smell the prey that it was fighting earlier. As for the bloodied prey that it has caught earlier, it has long been forgotten inside its fickle mind. The beast, who was unable to get its claws on its prey, let out a loud growl filled with rage into the air. Once it released its anger, it slowly moved forward and went straight into the woods. A short while after the beast has been long gone, two human silhouettes lying on the ground where the beast was circling earlier slowly appeared into view. “Goodness!”, Eu Jin exclaimed as he let out a pained sigh. “I thought I will die without an intact corpse!” [Master, congratulations on surviving your first life-and-death battle.]

“So what should I do first now that I am out?”, Eu Jin excitedly consulted with Liam. He had already decided to go back to his space. Thus, he would make use of the time he has outside while he’s regaining his mana to fully immerse in the outside world. [Why are you asking me?] Liam’s childish voice replied in a deadpan manner. “Tsk.”, he clicked his tongue. “Liam is still Liam.” He decided to ignore Liam and looked around. He was excited with what he was seeing for the first time. The space doesn’t have this much scenery nor foreign objects. The unknown world fascinated him, even though what he was seeing right now seems to be a chaotic mess. Before trying to figure out where he is or what happened, Eu Jin decided to inspect his surroundings first. “The sky is so blue, Liam!” Like a child, Eu Jin twitted nonstop. “There are clouds!” [Indeed.] “Can you see what I am seeing?”, Eu Jin asked as he slowly got down from the elevated earth he was sprawled on earlier. [Clearly.] “What’s this?”, he asked again as he came near a piece of rubble with a brownish rod sticking out of it. [Hmm.] Liam hummed like he usually does when he is inspecting something. [It seems like a rock of some sort?] “There are quite a lot of this around.” [It must be a common material nowadays.] “This is glass, right? This is similar to what we put our potions on.” [Yes, looks like it.] “How about this? Do you know what this is?” [Hmm. I wonder.] “Whoa! Look at this!” [Be careful with what you are touching, Mas-] “Ouch!” [And I just cautioned you to be careful.] “It’s okay. It’s okay.” [If you are wounded severely because you were carelessly touching things you are not familiar with, you won’t be able to save yourself. Your mana isn’t even enough to retrieve a small bottle of health potion.] “I’ll be careful.” [Hmm.] “I wonder if we’ll be able to get some rare materials for alchemy here.” [You can collect materials then and experiment once you come back.] “That’s a great idea.” The two talked back and forth like this as they inspected their surrounding. They circled around the area until they came to a place a bit away from where they came from. From where Eu Jin woke up, he was unable to see the area. “W-what is this?”, Eu Jin said in a voice mixed with shock and disbelief. [Master, that seems to be field of blood.] Technically, the wide area in front of them is littered with puddles of blood. [Perhaps a massacre happened here?] “But there aren’t any bodies!” Eu Jin moved forward to look closer. “Just what happened here?” [Master, look to your left.] Eu Jin followed Liam’s words. At first, he wasn't able to find anything out of place. It was then when his eyes was drawn to a part of a ruined wall. It has three long and deep gash on it. [It seems to be claw marks.] Eu Jin shivered upon hearing what Liam said. Such long and deep gnash, just how powerful could the creature that left it be? In a situation where Eu Jin doesn’t know what it is that left the mark in this unknown world and his mana tank has been depleted to the bottom, it is certainly reasonable for him to feel scared. “Liam, do you know of any creatures that could leave this kind of mark?” [I am not sure, Master.] Liam responded pensively. [There are many creatures during Old Master’s time that could leave vicious claw marks. It may be an Ironhide Wolf or something close to that. These creatures travel in pack and are known to rip their preys into shreds.] Eu Jin gulped audibly as he imagined a bipedal werewolf about to swing his sharpened claws down at him. “Do you think the creature is nearby? It won’t pounce on me while I’m off guard, right?” [Naive.] Liam admonished Eu Jin, who is physically older yet mentally younger than him. [A predator will naturally pounce on a prey once you show an opening.] “Don’t scare me, okay?”, Eu Jin weakly pleaded. “I’m defenseless right now.” [Then, good luck to you, Master.]

“W-wha-?!”, Eu Jin got panicky when he saw the pendant broke into pieces. “This is master’s memento!” However, he soon was unable to think of it any longer as white mist started to ooze out of the broken pieces lying on the ground. This mist slowly spread out thickly in front of Eu Jin. It took a while before the mist thinned out. His eyes almost popped out of their socket when the mist completely dissipated. Right in front of him was a small silver-haired boy looking to be about four years old. He was draped in black robes and was looking straight at him with black eyes. He seemed familiar yet unfamiliar at the same time to Eu Jin. “I presume you are Eu Jin.”, the boy spoke first in a cold yet childish tone. “W-wha? W-who?”, he let out an incomprehensible stutter, not knowing exactly what was going on. “The Old Master has created me to be your companion in the event of his death.”, the boy explained. “I wasn’t supposed to come out at this time, though. The mana I’ve gathered from this space is not yet enough for me to assume an adult form. However, since the jade pendant came in contact with your blood, which shouldn’t have happened unless you were in danger, I was released. Thus, Master, forgive me if I am in this juvenile form.” Eu Jin was silent for a while before he was able to form words. “Master created you?” “Yes.” “Truly?” “Truly.” “To be my companion?” “That is correct.” Silence ensued. The four-year-old boy remained staring at the fourteen-year-old looking boy bleeding in front of him. “Wooohooo!”, Eu Jin suddenly screamed in glee. “Finally! I have a companion!” “Master, before you celebrate, it is better if we treat your wound.”, the boy grabbed Eu Jin’s arm holding his shirt and pressed it on the latter’s wound. “Stay here. I will get a healing potion. Where can they be found?” “They’re downstairs, on the storage room to the left of the staircase.”, Eu Jin happily told the new companion he’d made who just nodded at his words. Once the latter helped Eu Jin sit down with his back to the shelf, he then proceeded to walk away with wobbly steps. “Are you okay?”, Eu Jin asked concernedly as he noticed that. “Don’t worry, I am fine.”, the silver-haired boy replied without looking back. “Before I was born, I was formless. As this is the first time I am assuming this form, it will take a while for me to get used to walking.” Without waiting for Eu Jin to respond, the boy soon disappeared down the staircase. It took a few minutes before the boy returned holding two potion bottles. He put one bottle down on the floor as he squatted in front of Eu Jin before opening the other bottle. “Here, drink this first.”, the boy stuffed the opened blue-colored bottle into his hands. “This healing potion you’ve created is really of good quality. I’ve appraised it earlier. The wound on your forehead should be healed in seconds.” After hearing his words, Eu Jin felt happy as he was hearing a compliment from someone other than his master for the first time. He happily nodded before drinking the healing potion. Once Eu Jin emptied the bottle, the boy then gave the red-colored bottle to him. “I found this blood replenishing potion too. This will help your body replace the blood you’ve lost.” Of course, Eu Jin already knew the effects of his own potions. He knew what they were in a glance too. Despite that, he appreciated the thoughtfulness of the boy in front of him. Without further ado, he drank the second bottle. After drinking the two potions, Eu Jin felt better. He no longer felt dizzy. His cheeks and lips have returned to a healthy pinkish color. Now that Eu Jin felt better, he had the time to carefully look at the little boy sitting in front of him. “You said that master created you?” “Yes.”, the little boy offered a more thorough answer. “I was created from Old Master’s mana. He had been nurturing me since he knew of your mana reservoir. Old Master wanted me to be your companion from the start. However, since nurturing an artificially created spirit like me requires tremendous amounts of mana, it took a while before my consciousness sprouted out.” “Although I was already conscious, my body wasn’t ready yet. But Old Master’s lifespan was nearing its end and he cannot support my growth anymore. Thus, he left me here inside this space with you. It may be because he wants to make sure that I am already beside you when he dies or maybe it is so that I can absorb more mana. Either way, you dripping blood on the jade pendant where my spirit lies wasn’t in the calculation. I’ve been born way too early.” “Oh, I apologize.”, Eu Jin felt guilty when he heard that. “No need to feel guilty, Master”, the boy replied. “I am also glad to be born anyway.” “By the way, why do you call me ‘Master’?” “Although I am your companion, I am still Master’s subordinate. I was created by the Old Master this way.” “Can’t you just call me by my name?” “Nope, Master is master.” Sensing that he can’t change the boy’s mind, he reluctantly acquiesced. “So what do I call you?” “I have no name.”, the boy said. “Master can give me a name yourself.” “Hmmm, okay, then should I call you Liam?” “As you wish.”

‘Master? Zone?’ Eu Jin was about to ask more questions but Ye Han struggled to get up. Although his wounds are mostly cured, he is still feeling some of the aftereffects of the battle. His sore muscles and strained inner organs are just simply yelling at him to stay still. However, he seems to be too focused on something that he ignored what his body is telling him to do. “I need to go back. I need to tell everyone that the monster is stronger than we thought.”, Ye Han muttered to himself as if he was crazed. His eyes were glazed over with worry and panic. “Hey, calm down!”, Eu Jin slapped him in the back to bring him back to reality. “The sun’s about to go down. No matter how hurried you are, you should treasure the life that I saved. If you go when it’s dark, it will be dangerous for you. Moreover, I just barely got away from the beast that attacked you earlier. It is still out there, you know. It is better to leave tomorrow.” With his words, Ye Han finally calmed down. Indeed, it will just be suicide if he were to go now when it is about to get dark. “I’m sorry.”, Ye Han bowed his head in apology. “And thank you for saving my life. In my moment of panic, I forgot to express my gratitude first.” “Don’t mention it.”, Eu Jin smilingly said. “Instead, it’s better for us to find food and shelter for the night. I’m hungry.” “You don’t have a place to stay?”, Ye Han scrunched up his brows. Only then did he notice that they were in an open space. Moreover, there isn’t a single soul aside from the two of them there. “Nope.”, Eu Jin said. “I just arrived here so I don’t have a place to stay nor food to eat.” “Is that so?”, Ye Han still can’t believe what he heard. After all, in the current world, who would be able to survive without a place of shelter? However, he soon remembered that this was the person who saved him from the level 3 horned wolf. If he was as strong as or stronger than that mad beast, then it shouldn’t be impossible for him to survive all this time. “Well…”, Ye Han looked around to try to get a feel on where they are. “I think we are still on a dead zone. It’s a miracle we haven’t encountered a monster while we are here.” “Dead zone? What’s that?” “Huh?”, the boy turned towards Eu Jin in utter disbelief. “You don’t know what a dead zone is?” “I-I’m not quite too sure about that.”, Eu Jin replied honestly. There is no point in trying to hide this fact nor pretend so, although reluctant, he gave himself away. Besides, seeing how the boy wanted to go and warn his companions about the strong wolf, Eu Jin had a feeling that he is a good person. Ye Han looked at him closely, as if examining what kind of person Eu Jin is before answering. “The dead zone are those areas that humanity has not claimed back. It is usually teeming with monsters that are difficult to kill. We have to set up a team of high-leveled ability holders to reclaim a dead zone.” “I don’t understand, though.”, Eu Jin tilted his head in contemplation. “Why and since when did dead zone appear in this world?” “Huh?”, for the nth time that day, Ye Han was surprised at how disjointed from reality Eu Jin is. “Isn’t it because it’s the apocalypse already?”

Eu Jin can no longer remember the last time since his master visited. How many hundreds of weeks ago it was, Eu Jin can longer count. He went on his daily life as usual, just like when his master was still here. He’d water the plants and harvest them when they are ripe. Some of his harvest will be processed for food while others become alchemy materials. The river remained crystal clear and the marine life abundant. Perhaps it was due to this space’s magic but the water has never become polluted. Where it flows from or flows to is unknown even to Master and Eu Jin no longer cared. The magical beasts and farm animals remained healthy. Some of them were butchered to become food, though. Of course, Eu Jin made sure to breed them well to ensure a steady supply of meat. He knows that he can’t live on vegetables alone, after all. As for potions, he would sometimes make it. When he realized that perhaps master has already reached his lifespan, he slowed them in making them. After all, he already has a large pile of potions in the storage room. He doesn’t know how to get rid of them nor can he dispose of them within his space. If he makes new potions according to his previous speed, he may no longer be able to have any more space to store them at. Of course, no longer making potions can be deadly for Eu Jin as that would mean that his mana reservoir would overflow with mana. Thus, Eu Jin decided to create advanced-level elixirs, potions that would require high amounts of mana to create. That way, he can prevent his mana from accumulating to the point that it would endanger his life. Eu Jin kept himself busy day in and day out, yet he can’t help himself from feeling lonely. He had no one to talk to, after all. Sometimes, Eu Jin would end up talking to himself or to the animals in the stable just to get no response. However, things took a sudden pleasant turn for Eu Jin one day. During his daily cleaning routine, he accidentally stumbled into one of the drawers where he kept the jade pendant his master left him. Although he knows that he’ll just be sad when he sees the pendant as it reminds him of his master, he can’t help but pick it up and gaze at with a faraway look in his eyes. When he came to himself, he decided that he’d just wear the pendant as it served as his master’s memento. He then carried on to cleaning the entire room.Once he was done with the room, he proceeded to go upstairs. The house has two floors, with the entire second floor dedicated to the books that his master brought him. Looking at the several rows of books in front of him, Eu Jin decided to dust off all the books one by one. He took a ladder and started at the topmost shelf of the first row. He sat at the top and was surprised to see a thick layer of dust there. “How long has it been since I last cleaned this place up?”, Eu Jin was baffled. He picked up a rag and started dusting off the books. However, it seems that Eu Jin underestimated the dustiness of the shelf. He felt like his nose has slowly started to become irritated, he can’t hold back a sneeze. “Haaa.. haaa… haacho!” Eu Jin let out a powerful sneeze. It was then that he felt himself lose balance from where he was sitting. He tried to grasp the shelf in front of him but his grip slipped because of sweat. Eu jin closed his eyes and felt his head the floor first. Gritting his teeth, Eu Jin endured the pain on his head and whole body. Perhaps, his body is just too resilient so he can still retain his consciousness despite hitting his head. Enduring the dizziness that was slowly taking over him, he slowly picked himself up from the floor. “What’s this?”, Eu Jin unconsciously asked when he felt something wet on his forehead as he tried to feel it for bumps. When he looked at his hand, he saw that it was blood. “I’m bleeding.” Without a trace of panic, Eu Jin touched the wound again as if trying to gauge how severe the bleeding is. “I need to stop the bleeding first then go downstairs for some healing potion.” Looking around, Eu Jin can only see the dirty rag so he opted to take his shirt off. At least, it is cleaner than the rag he used to dust the shelf earlier. By some stroke of luck, a small amount of blood from Eu Jin’s knuckles was smeared on the pendant as he was taking his clothes off. Just as he was applying pressure on the wound, he was shocked when the pendant broke into pieces. “W-wha-?!”

“Let’s calm ourselves down and think this through okay.”, Eu Jin tried to hide his fear by calmly talking. “Surely the creature that left this mark is no longer here. After all, he had already wiped out his prey.” [But there’s still you as prey, Master.] “Shush!”, Eu Jin harshly retorted. “You are absolutely not helping.” […] Eu Jin looked around some more. However, this time, his steps are careful and always wary that something might jump at him from somewhere. Upon closer inspection of the 'scene of the crime', Eu Jin noticed a few other things aside from blood. There are also some torn off flesh and clothes. Just imagining how the scene in front of him came about sent a shiver down Eu Jin's back. It further bolsters the idea in his head that there are some vicious creatures in this outside world. After all, the scene in front of him is not something a human can do. [Master, what do we do now?], Liam asked when he saw that Eu Jin fell into deep thoughts for a while. “I don't know. It isn't as if I can go and hunt down the predator who caused this scene.”, Eu Jin frustratingly said. “All I want to do is to find some people. I want to know where this place is and what exactly is the current state of the world.” [That's a good idea.] Liam agreed. “But the problem is how do we find people? Do you have any idea?” […] After not hearing a response from his companion, Eu Jin heaved a sigh. It seems that Liam, who was more knowledgeable of worldly affairs compared to him, have no idea how they should proceed from this point. “I guess all that we can do is to move forward.” Eu Jin said. He sidestepped the puddle of torn flesh and blood in front of him, trying to find a place that may seem to lead him somewhere. Since he didn't know where he should go, he plans to aimlessly walk around until he finds something that may resemble like human civilization. Suddenly, Eu Jin perked up and alertly surveyed his surroundings. [Master, what happened?], Liam's confused voice suddenly rang in his head. He was unable to understand why his master suddenly went on alert mode. “I sense a sharp aura cutting through the air and it seems to be directed at me.” 'Sharp aura?', Liam thought to himself. “It's like something is pricking me with needles, making my hairs stand on their ends.”, he continued to look around to see just what it is that's emitting that kind of hostile feeling toward him. [Is it killing intent?], Liam blurted suddenly as if a bulb has been switched on inside his head. “This is killing intent?” [It is probably that, Master. Be careful, an attack might be coming next!] Just as he heard Liam's words, he felt something coming closer to him fast from the back. A hot ball of energy with high destructive power whizzed past him as he minutely dodged to the side at the last minute. The large, sturdy tree a bit farther away was hit by the energy ball which caused it to have a gaping hole, evidence of the destructive power of the assailant's attack. Eu Jin turned back to look at where the attack came from. As soon as he turned back, he heard Liam gasp before his brain could register what he is seeing. His eyes then widened in shock, not noticing that his body has automatically tensed up in defense mode.

“I’ll gather enough mana and go back.” [...] “It’s decided then.”, Eu Jin stood up and patted his dirtied clothes. It might take a while though as he needs to wait for his natural mana to fill up his reservoir. [Master, there is no need to go back now that you’ve been released, you know?] “I thought about it.” [In this short period of time?], Liam retorted. “No, seriously.”, Eu Jin flusteredly replied. “Earlier, I wasn’t given a time to think so I wasn’t able to make a prompt decision. But now that everything’s laid out in front of me, I’ve decided to go back, okay?” [Master, this is the wish that the Old Master have always wanted to fulfill when he was still alive.] “I know.”, Eu Jin nodded. “This short time of freedom is enough for me.” [Opportunity comes knocking only once. You may not have this miracle again, you know?] “En.” [You are letting go of the chance to meet other people and see a much wider world, okay?] “Having Liam is enough for me.” After a short silence, Liam left a sigh. [There really is no need for you to reconsider because of me, Master. But do what you want.] Although Liam is happy that his master has obtained his freedom after many years of imprisonment, he also has concerns in his heart. The outside world is already unfamiliar even to him who had inherited a portion of the Old Master’s knowledge. He is worried about what Eu Jin would face; he won’t be nearby to help him in case of emergency. They also don’t know the condition of mana outside. Going back inside the space is, without any doubt, still the safest option for Eu Jin. However, Liam also know the weight of Eu Jin’s freedom. It is what both his Master and Old Master have wished all their life. If there is even a glimpse of hope for that, he, as Master and Old Master’s loyal creation, will find a way to hold on to that. Yet, he cannot promise anything to his Master. For now. [For now, Master, it would be better to go around and enjoy your freedom for a bit. I also want to know what happened, why there is no mana there, and why we haven’t seen any living being since you’ve come out.] “Okay.”, Eu Jin agreed, though he had to stop in his tracks after realizing something. “How did you know that there weren’t any living being around since I’ve come out? I was passed out for three days.” [Master, my existence is essentially tied to yours. What you see and hear, I can experience them too. But I can’t feel what you are feeling or smell what you are smelling.] “Is that so? I wasn’t aware of that.”, Eu Jin spoke. It seems there are still things about Liam that he has yet to know about.

[Master, congratulations on surviving your first life-and-death battle.] Liam, who was quite panicked earlier, was now calmly congratulating his master. Indeed, surviving this battle, for his master, is worth the celebration as this was his first face-off with a foe who is overwhelmingly powerful and filled with killer intent. “Kukuku..”, a low chuckle escaped from Eu Jin’s throat as he lied on his back on the ground. The low chuckle eventually became louder and turned to a hearty laugh. “That was exciting! I really thought I would die. That was the first time I’ve been in a battle. I feel awesome!” [Master, that creature wasn’t all that intelligent and was just following its instinct of attacking a prey in sight. I hope that Master would run away the next time you encounter such situations in the future.] “Yeah, yeah.”, Eu Jin carelessly replied while cooling down his excited heartbeat. “Anyway, thanks Liam for helping me out in the fight earlier. If it wasn’t for you shouting out instructions on how to dodge in my head, my body would have been frozen stiff.” [I’m glad to be of help, Master.] When Eu Jin felt that his heart isn’t beating that fast anymore, he slowly sat up to look at the bloodied body right beside him. Upon closer look, the body belonged to a male youth with a physique close to him. Eu Jin brushed away the hair, sticky with blood, covering the person’s face. “Around 16-17 years old, huh?”, Eu Jin noticed. [Master, if you don’t treat that person quickly, he’ll die of blood loss.] “Oh right!”, as if just remembering that fact, Eu Jin slapped his forehead. “I’ll try to see if I can pull out another potion.” After saying that, Eu Jin closed his eyes to feel his remaining mana. He frowned slightly when he felt that he only have a sliver of mana left. “I don’t have enough to pull out a bottle.” [If a bottle is not possible, how about a mix of pill and ointment?] Space transference follows the world law of “value weight”. This means that the more “valuable” an item is, the more mana required to transfer it in and out of the space. For alchemists with the ability to take items out from a space, the most valuable item for them would start with elixirs, followed by potions, draughts, brews, pills, and ointments, in decreasing order. Eu Jin nodded and concentrated on a few pills that can help cure the youth beside him. ‘Let’s take out a healing pill first, and if I still have mana left, a blood replenishing pill as well.’ When a small glass vial filled with three blue marbled pills appeared in his hand, Eu Jin smiled. He concentrated once again and another vial, this time filled with three blood-red pills, appeared. This time, he felt that his reservoir has almost gone empty, as if there are only a few drops left in a large lake, making him feel so uncomfortable. Eu Jin first confirmed that he had the right vials before he popped one of the three healing pills into the youth’s mouth. Even if the youth doesn’t swallow the pill, it should slowly melt and integrate into his body to heal his wounds without problems. He then stood up and slung the arm of the unconscious person over his shoulder. With much difficulty, he pulled him up and started dragging him away from the place. Eu Jin was worried that the beast might return. They need to leave there and look for a safe place. The only place that Eu Jin can think of though is the elevated platform that he had woken up at earlier. After all, even when he was unconscious for three days, nothing bad happened to him. As Eu Jin was carrying the weight of the youth by his side on his own, it took a while before he was able to arrive at the platform. He successfully placed the person down and wiped his sweat. “Goodness, why are you so heavy?”, Eu Jin complained to the unconscious youth. “Although I am used to heavy labor, carrying you is too much, you know!” He rubbed his sore shoulders and stretched out his body. Today’s events have really depleted him a lot so he is actually quite tired. But he can’t rest yet as he needs to ensure that the youth won’t die on him.

Having a new companion is a source of happiness for Eu Jin. For someone who has lived his entire life alone, with only his master’s occasional visit to look forward to, Liam’s existence is a novel experience. It was the first time that Eu Jin had someone he can talk to for a long period of time. Liam helps him with his work too - feeding the animals, cooking, planting in the field. The two usually play together too with the games he read on Master’s books, though most of the time Liam looks way too serious to be playing a child’s game. “Master, you should not cheat.”, Liam grunted with a pout as he looked at the chessboard spread out in between them. “I didn’t cheat!”, he laughingly replied to Liam’s accusation. One thing that he noticed with Liam is that he hates to lose. Thus, the two often keep a record of wins and losses. Usually, they use the games to decide certain tasks. Life is easier and more fun with Liam around. Day in and day out, Eu Jin and Liam lived a peaceful life in the wide space. At one point, he even tried to teach Liam how to make potions but the boy seems to have no affinity to alchemy. They didn’t force it anymore, lest the younger boy wastes their materials. Many more weeks passed and Eu Jin has grown to look more like a sixteen-year-old boy. On the other hand, Liam still retained his four-year-old look. When Eu Jin asked Liam about it, the latter replied that he probably no longer has room to grow as he is a lump of mana and not a real human being. His form has already been decided upon his birth. This made Eu Jin guilty for a few days as there are a lot of things that are inconvenient to do in a child’s body. Liam comforted him in saying that despite his child form, he is far stronger and faster than Eu Jin, to which Eu Jin had no choice but to angrily agree to. Although there’s only the two of them in the space, Eu Jin blissfully lived his life. Compared to when he was alone in the space, having Liam around is far better. He thought that they will continue living this kind of life until the end of time. “Liam, can you cook mutton soup for me today?”, Eu Jin lazily yawned out the words as soon as he went out of his bedroom. He peeked at Liam from one of his half-opened eyes to see the latter in meditation in the living room. This has been Liam’s routine ever since he came to this space. Instead of sleeping, he would meditate and slowly absorb mana during his rest time. Sleeping won’t really matter to Liam as he is just a lump of mana. Liam opened his eyes in response and grunted a positive reply. He stretched his body first before getting up to go to the kitchen to cook. Ever since they found out that Liam doesn’t have any affinity to alchemy yet have an unusually high level of cooking, it has become his job to cook for the two of them. As for eating, Liam can go without it but since he can cook a tasty meal, he would no doubt eat what he cooked. After pouring a heat potion into a compartment underneath the magical stove, Liam prepared the ingredients while waiting for the heat potion to reach its peak temperature. Once ready, he placed the pot on top of the stove and returned to preparing the ingredients. The whole cooking process was simple but it took quite a while as Liam made sure that the mutton soup is creamy and nutritious. An hour has passed before Liam finished cooking. “Master, the food is ready.”, Liam called out to Eu Jin. The two sat down and eat together. Eu Jin really appreciated Liam’s cooking, to the point that every meal he’ll quietly savor every bite. Of course, as it was Liam who cooked, it became Eu Jin’s responsibility to clean up the kitchen after their meal. After eating, the two would usually tend to the animals and the fields. Only when they are done with their work will they play games and compete with each other. Today, it was Liam’s turn at the stable and Eu Jin’s turn at the fields. Holding on to a scooper, Eu Jin squatted down to tend to the soil. “You guys have grown quite well.”, Eu Jin happily admired the well-grown tomatoes near him. He picked one that’s ripe for the picking and took a delicious bite, juice overflowing his mouth and trickling down the side of his lips. He hurriedly tried to wipe it with the back of his gloved hands. Before he can complete his action though, he noticed the surrounding slowly turning dark, as if a huge shadow had cast upon them. From afar, he can hear Liam shouting but he doesn’t have the luxury to turn back. In front of him is a dark warp hole that seems to be sucking his soul out. “-ster!” He can hear Liam again. “Master, the seal has been broken!”

"Isn't it because it's the apocalypse already?" If Ye Han didn't sound so serious, Eu Jin almost wanted to have him repeat his words as if he wouldn't dare believe that he truly heard it. Ye Han's answer was beyond Eu Jin's expectations. "Wait, huh? What's that? The apocalypse?" Ye Han suspiciously nodded at Eu Jin to confirm his words. He finds it odd that someone doesn't know it is already the apocalypse now, given that, as far as he knows, there is nowhere in the entire world that is safe from the onslaught of monsters. "That can't be! Is that the reason why there isn't any mana in the atmosphere?", it seems that it was Eu Jin's turn to panic this time around. "What exactly do you mean by its the apocalypse?" "Mana? What do you mean by mana?", Ye Han asked back. It seems that the two of them are not on the same page at all. "Mana, the one that governs the laws of this world!", Eu Jin said hysterically. "The one that allows humans to create potions, divine blades, and all that?" "Do you mean inner qi? That can only be found in fiction novels! Are you delusional?", Ye Han chortled. 'Do you have chuunibyou?' Ye Han didn't voice out that last question, though. [Master, ask this Ye Han boy if this is still Earth.] Liam, who has been silent all these while, finally voiced out a question. "Is this still Earth?", complying to Liam's questions, Eu Jin asked. "Yes, this is still Earth.", Ye Han nodded in response. [How many years of history does this Earth has?] Even though he doesn't know where the conversation was going, Eu Jin still echoed Liam's words to Ye Han. "You mean, since its existence?", Ye Han clarified. "If I remember correctly, the Earth's age is 4.5 billion years but history's first record of life is 4 billion years ago." "What now?", Eu Jin can't help voicing out to Liam even when Ye Han was there. He didn't notice Ye Han's wary look on him. Liam, on the other hand, was silently analyzing the boy's words before he replied to his master. [Master, perhaps the cultivation era has long ended? I don't know what happened for mana to have been erased completely from the atmosphere, but it may be due to this that the cultivation era ended and a new era was ushered in.] Eu Jin scratched his head in frustration. [Moreover, perhaps the records of cultivation and mana have long been erased in the passage of time. We didn't keep track of time while we were sealed in the space so that may be what happened.] "That's not fair! If that's true then… Four billion years! That's four billion years of human history I've missed out on! And now, even before I can enjoy the new era, it's even the apocalypse!", Eu Jin can't help but scream his frustration out loud. [It may be thanks to the apocalypse coming that the seal weakened and you are able to go out, Master.] Liam calmly analyzed the situation. "Even if that is the case, that is still not fair!", Eu Jin can't help but stomp his feet angrily. [Master, before you throw a tantrum there, it would be good to decide whether you'll explain the truth to the boy or act crazy. He's looking at you suspiciously right now.] "Huh?", Eu Jin finally remembered that there's another person around him. He turned to look at the boy who had inched a bit away from him and smiled gingerly. "Well, you see.." When Ye Han saw that Eu Jin finally returned back to his senses, he inched a few steps away once again, afraid that Eu Jin will go crazy and hurt him. "We may have a lot of things to talk about." skycasamerano Hello! I'm the author of The Alchemist in the Apocalypse. I have been fascinated with the apocalypse and kingdom building stories so please expect that this story will be written with that kind of concept in mind. I am bad at romance stories (unless its BL!) so this will probably have no romance in it, only friendship (it depends on how the story will flow in the future though). I hope you'd come to love this story. Chapter 16 is the last released chapter for today but I will be striving for a stable release schedule from hereon out. Let's have a good year ahead of us!

“Master, the seal has been broken!” As soon as he heard Liam’s words, Eu Jin looked straight into the warp hole with a frenzied look. Who would be capable of breaking the seal? Why would the seal break? What’s going to happen? Although Eu Jin had long desired to go out of the space, the unknown still terrified him. He tried to fight the suction power of the warp hole and looked back, trying to stretch out his hands toward Liam who was running toward him. “Master!” Liam’s voice sounded so far away as Eu Jin’s body was sucked into the hole. He felt like he was traveling inside a dead zone, with no sense of bearing. He can’t grasp the direction nor can he determine whether he is standing or upside down. Eu Jin closed his eyes and tried to hold back the nausea he’s feeling. In his head, he worried about Liam. He worried about what would happen once he reaches the end of the warp hole or if ever there’s an end to it. His master had never told him what would happen when the seal breaks. His master didn’t go through a warp hole whenever he comes in or goes out of the space. With such messy thoughts, Eu Jin finally felt his surrounding calming down. Feeling a solid hard surface underneath his body, Eu Jin reluctantly opened his eyes, only to see a slab of earth in front of him. He clutched a lump and the rough texture fully awakened him from his stupor. “Ugh!”, Eu Jin grunted in pain as he tried to get up from lying face down on the ground. His whole body was aching, as if he just did a very laborious thing. When he successfully pulled himself up to a sitting position, it was then that he noticed his surroundings. The first thing he noticed was that he was sitting on an elevated slab of earth. Right next to it were ruins of rocks, glass, steel, and other materials he was unable to determine. He was amazed to see trees a distance away as well as clouds in the sky. It must be known that there are no clouds in the space, only the white ceiling that darkens or lightens according to the time of the day. “Where is this place?”, he asked himself. [-aster!] A familiar voice rang inside his head. Eu Jin looked around to see where the voice came from. However, he can’t see any living being around him. [Master!] “Liam!”, Eu Jin called out when he realized that the voice was his companion’s. “Where are you?!” [Master, I am still inside the space.] Liam answered cautiously. [I am still trying to find out what happened to the seal. Are you okay?] “Yeah, I-”, Eu Jin gasped. He felt dizzy all of a sudden. “I just felt a little dizzy. Perhaps, due to traveling on the warp hole.” Eu Jin didn’t receive a response from him. “Liam?” [Master, how’s the density of mana there?] “Now that you asked…”, Eu Jin carefully felt his surrounding and was shocked to feel no mana around. As soon as he tried to circulate mana, a wave of dizziness soon hit him again. After that, he felt a force so strong trying to get out his body. “Agh!!”, Eu Jin screamed helplessly, bending over as if that would stop the force from ripping his body apart. [Master! Your mana is going out of control! Return to the space at once!] “I can return?”, Eu Jin breathed hard. The force was becoming stronger and stronger. [Yes! Just remember the space and you should be able to get back!] ‘But can I get out again if I return?’, he thought to himself and hesitated. What if the seal repairs itself while he is inside? What if he can’t get out again? In that moment of hesitation, dense mana burst out of every pore of his body, causing him to scream of pain at the top of his lungs. [Master!] At the critical moment though, there seemed to be a sucking force below him that sucked away all of the mana that burst out of Eu Jin. Not only the excess mana exuding out of his body, but the force also seemed to suck out the mana inside of him as well. When Eu Jin felt that his reservoir is almost sucked dry, he felt the suction force slowly becoming weaker. At the moment when the force stopped, his body was too weak to even keep his consciousness. Liam’s panicked voice was the last thing he heard before he passed out.

Strangely enough, Alec ‘Jackson’, who was never a ‘Jackson’, got on well with his new, but ‘old’ future father in law easily now. For the rest of his days, he continues to call his future father in law ‘old grump’…Just like he did when he was young. ‘Fox’ was also a nickname that had started when Claire was three, when she had first gotten him into trouble, which continued throughout the years as well. Alec, having stopped his strange ‘kidnapping’ had actually been asked continuously to take his old habit back up again, but this time…He did it legally and now there was no way that he could go to jail. It leaned a lot more towards 'boarding' instead of 'kidnapping' though. Of course, there was the issue of Alec shooting someone that never came to light. His father never would have said anything if Alec didn't have nightmares about it. Having guilt in his eyes, Alec had quietly asked if he should go to the police. Having sat down to say a few words, his father took him into a manly hug and just stated that if he was willing to deal with his nightmares, considering that no one blames him for what he had done, then it would be fine to continue this way...Because...His father had already gotten rid of any type of evidence that would lead Alec to being the murderer of that nasty man...Not only that, Allan didn’t want to only get back with his son, to only lose him once again. For his own selfish desire, Allan talked Alec out of going to the police... Most of the time, nightmares never came, perhaps it was because he had his fox in his arms...But, on the rare days that the nightmares did return, it made Alec wonder if he still hadn't paid enough for taking another's life. Even though he lost his memories and had been beaten and taken hostage, had it been enough? Should he confess to his crime? Coming to terms to what he did after awhile, Alec had changed his mind several times, before realising that he was not going to do something like that ever again and probably has done his time already...This was the choice that he made...   On the other hand, it was when Claire was eight months pregnant, with their daughter ‘Susan’, when her old thief boss’s men came searching for her and she had to give her ‘precious’ to them, for them to go away. The usual time limit and ‘holding onto Claire’ while Alec rushed to find the long-lost item, was in play. With time to spare, Alec had come to get his fox in exchange for the 'precious', making the thief’s happy in return. ‘Precious’ was indeed quite precious, as it was a national, newly formed weapon that she had stolen but had never given it to the people who had wanted it. Since it had taken a year to obtain…They did not give her any of the money that she would have originally gotten and declared that…She was also fat…Well, Alec hit one of them for that… As time went on though, a new family was made, and both Claire and Alec were finally feeling blessed and happy.   Since their families were friends and since the past had become known, life was different but yet…Alec had gone back to his natural self when he knew that Claire was going to stay by his side. Within the short time of three years, Alec was used to having his new, yet ‘old’ father back in his life and on the rare occasion did spend quality alone time with his father. But…His want to be with his fox never waned and with still being indecisive, there were a few mishaps… They had lived in Claire’s family home, then they tried to live at Alec’s father’s home but still ended up living at the warehouse, but had to knock down a wall for the kids… That’s right, at an indecisive and ohmygod I love it ‘raw’ moment, another pregnancy had happened. A family had indeed formed from that of a ‘Chilling Fox’, that was now only rarely chilly, and an ‘Indecisive Bastard’ that…Still was an ‘Indecisive Bastard’…Just a lovable one.

Claire’s Pov   Having heard Alec fall asleep, I sighed and had fallen asleep as well. Upon hearing my name, I was woken up, having no idea on what time it was or anything…All I knew, was that Alec was trying to wake me up with not just his voice. His hand was gently rubbing my nipples, but the touch was quite sensitive, and I was sure that if he rubbed any harder it would hurt…But…It was like he knew that, as he didn’t go harder. Then I felt my ear was wet, as his breath made it tickle and then I felt him thrust inside me…Waking me up completely! Moving my hips to match his stride, Alec groaned and said my name again. Turning my head to his, he started to kiss me, and I fell into daze. My only thoughts were of him… I had only been with him a few months, then away from him for a few months...One day...That was all it was, one day, to not even be alarmed to finding him beside me. His voice, his hugs and kisses...And to my own shame, I had felt extra horny since becoming pregnant and felt like I was finally finding some cure to that! To a strange sense, we still weren’t close in the terms of knowing one another but…My heart was already gone to him… It wasn’t like we couldn’t get to know each other after today, and it wasn’t like my feelings would suddenly disappear either. My life, it seems, felt like it was coming together. The pieces of the puzzle were all fitting in and there were only a few pieces left to make the picture. That now, I had another reason to be happy...   Since I already knew this man’s bad features, I felt like that was enough to take this step forward and plunge into the unknown of being with him. He was unrelenting and indecisive…But he was also quite warm hearted and playful. He seems to make honest mistakes and try to look as though they were ‘manly’ or ‘known’ instead. Then, above all, I’ve noticed how he has treated me…I had not seen other women here in his embrace, besides myself, and that he would stalk me and have pictures of me throughout a whole room! He treated me different and I could see that he might have fought it at the beginning, but now that he was let loose, he did not come across as overly obsessive to me…Instead…He was rather cute and made me feel utterly special… I must be crazy to have fallen in love with such a man! So…Fucking crazy! How could I have stayed mad and played ‘hard to get’ with this man!? I knew it all happened too fast yesterday, but what was I to do!? With much embarrassment to myself, I was already climaxing within just a few minutes…Again, it was straight after Alec released his hot wetness inside of me. Why does he always cum before me? It wasn’t the biggest deal, as I seem to cum very soon after him, but…It seemed to happen at least half the time!   Hearing his groan and feeling him tighten his arms around me, I couldn’t help but smirk. It was really funny… I suddenly laughed, because I had finally realized that he could hardly bare it when this happened! It serves him right though, for cumming before I do! Alec would already be thrusting into me and I would start to tremble and in turn, he would start to tremble. Ah...It made me feel all wicked! Turning my head to face him, I couldn’t see his face yet, as he was still hiding it in my shoulder. “It’s not funny.” I heard him say. Letting out a small ‘Pfft’, I turn back around and say, “I need to go to the toilet.” “…Oh, Ok!” Actually, he was being very…Good… He pulled out of me and sat up, then helped bring me up too. Yeah, I didn’t expect that at all… Looking at him, I couldn’t help but wonder what has gotten into him. He blinked at me in pure innocence, “What!?” I shook my head and turned to get off the bed, “Nothing.” Hearing him do the same, we fell into an old habit of having a shower together…In fact, I really liked it! It really had to be a dream, because…He was here, he was like he was before he stated that I was nothing to him. He was even nice to me, helping me with everything, like washing my hair for me and my…Body. He always liked washing my body…Well, most of the time he got distracted or he would interrupt himself by poking me with his dick… Seems like…Not too much has changed in these last few months… Feeling his ‘forever hard on’ poke one of my bum cheeks, I let out a smirk… “It’s hard to get used to…You, laughing and smiling so much…”   I turned back to him and then looked down at our growing child, “I felt like I had to change…I can’t have the kid thinking it’s ok to never smile. You know? I don’t…Want…” Feeling his hand roam over my growing belly, I stopped talking. “Claire. You will be a fine mother. Thinking of something that might effect our child is very satisfying to me for the mother of my child.” Finally looking up at him, it seems that we had both somewhat changed. We had slightly matured and were thinking of responsibility, thinking of the dependent that was on its way. Nodding at him, I simply replied with, “Thank you.” “Baby! Seriously, all you’ve done is smile and look how good I am! Your ganna stay, right!? This is our home, right!?” There’s that childish behaviour again! He looked like a kid asking for an ice-cream! Rolling my eyes, I got out of the shower, “We need to talk.” Hearing a loud noise behind me, I saw that Alec had fallen over and was on the ground. He wasn’t looking at me as he got up and I watched him nod slowly. “…Right.” As we dried ourselves and got dressed, I felt a strange atmosphere and couldn’t help but eye him out every now and again…What was wrong with him now!?   Alec sat down at the desk, when he was done with the bathroom, and simply sat there quietly, making me wonder if I should freak out to his strange behavior… …He looked like a little boy that was ready to be punished… Blinking and letting out a sigh, I tried to hold back from getting frustrated! “Alec?” Just as I finished calling him, he got up in a rush and picked up his jacket and keys, “Come on. I’ll take you home.” Then he was out the door... What the hell!? When did I say that I wanted to leave to go ‘home’? Taking a deep breath in, I followed behind him and wondered why he still didn’t look at me. He obviously went strange after I had said, ‘We need to talk.’ Does he think that we won’t be together now? Does he… Thinking back to…Yesterday morning…Holy crap! It’s been nearly a whole day!   “Claire?” Looking up, I saw him stare at me with questions in his eyes. What? “Are you…Getting in?” Looking at the car, I realized that we had already gone outside, and I was just standing there by the door. Mmm, that’s right he’s in a strange mood! Again! Will I ever figure him out! Perhaps I just won’t bother figuring him out and just let him tag me along every time…Because…That would be so much easier! It really did sound good though…Not only because I was lazy, but why should I figure him out in the first place? I know he’s strange, I’ve accepted it! Yep, sounds like a plan…I felt like this entire time I’ve known him…He’s always been weird…I mean who locks people up and treats them to washed clothes, good meals and a roof over their heads? Yeah…I guess I never thought about it before...That he’s always been weird! Crazy! Strange! “Claire?” Alright! I opened the car door and sat down in it. Maybe he has a reason to go to my place. Maybe… Maybe what? Does he want to fight with my dad again? Does he want to pick up my clothes? He was so unpredictable…Or was he just… I couldn’t figure out the reason we were going back to my parent’s place, so I put my head back and tried to relax. …Whatever he wants to do, don’t worry…Just watch him act the strange person that he is! It should be fun!   “Can I see you again?” Uh? Opening my eyes, I looked at him and wondered what he meant. “Of course!” I saw him smile quickly and look back at the road. “When?” Ok, was he really thinking that we were going to be separated? Didn’t we declare our love yesterday? What is this!? To be totally honest, declaring my love wasn't an easy process for me to do! Why does he act this way afterwards!? ...This was an attitude that didn't help me say that kind of scary stuff again in the future! Snap out of it, you bastard! Sigh… Mmm, should I…Play along with him then? Well, playing along would be a hell of a lot better than getting into a crappy mood! Feeling myself a little happy to play, I tried to revert back to my thieving self and wondered how I used to act to this. “When do you want to see me?” I asked, looking out the window. He wants a play, I’ll play! “I want…Whenever you are free.” Finally, I think I figured out his game. It seems he wants to make me happy and not think that it was like before, where I was somewhat taken as a captive. “Well, I sleep more now.” Haha, my poor darling, how are you going to fend me off!? "I will see you when you are awake then." He answered. Did he realize that I was just making up excuses? …Wait…Who’s playing who here!? Whatever, I’ll continue… "I take time to jot down stuff in a diary now too, and I talk to my mum." It was the truth... "As long as...Well...Then after that..." He answered. I could tell his enthusiasm had deteriorated quite a lot and I couldn't help but think that he had only himself to blame for acting like a lunatic! “Then, can I call you, so we…Can…May I take you on a date?” Date? Looking at him, I felt the want to really do that! I wanted to very much! “I want to go on a date!” “Great!”   The drive went on in the strange concept of me being the leader. I got to choose where we would go on our date and what time and day. But, after that conversation, we went into silence and after a minute or two, I looked back at him and saw him frown. This…Was not working! “Stop the car!” “Are you sick?” Even though he asked that, he still slowed down and stopped the car on the side of the road. Getting out of the car, I took a deep breath and did a small stretch. He hovered over me then and asked repeatedly if I was alright. “Stop it!” I yelled in frustration. I breathed out in a huff and looked away from him. Looks like he wins, bloody bastard! “Why are you acting like this?” Looking at him, he was back to not looking at me again and I was getting angry! “Why!?” “…I’m sorry.” His small whispered word was hardly heard by me and I sighed heavily, putting a hand to my head. “Look, Alec. Did you not remember yesterday at all?” Didn’t we basically say that we loved each other, which would mean we want to be with each other!? Why…Why be so formal with me now!? Isn’t he a bit too late for that!? Seeing him look away with a pained face, I waited for him to say…Anything!

Claire’s Pov *…*   After Alec had left that day, it had taken me a week of silence, before I had the nerve to ask about him. I know his silence only meant that I had meant nothing to him, but… I was…Frustrated…I wanted to talk to him about his parents, I wanted to know that he was fine…Seeing him as he left haunts my dreams and once, I was completely wet with sweat… I couldn’t control my wants and needs, and just rang up Jordan’s number…Only to find that he was gone… … I was told I could get emotional when I was pregnant, so I tried to stay calm. I listened to everyone, sure that I wasn’t going to run away and glad to be with family again… I was walking outside in the yard and going with mum to the shops. I even helped water the garden and cook… “Claire!” What? “Stop it!” What’s wrong? Why is my mother looking at me like…Like… “If you are having trouble, say it!” She yelled at me and even took the knife out of my hands. I saw her let out a sob and frowned. What’s wrong?   “I know, you haven’t had it easy, the doctor told us not to force what happened out of you!” I take a sharp breath in as I see her going to the cupboard, still talking, “But, honey, please just don’t stop talking altogether ok, please…Tell me if you don’t want to do something or…Just…Say or do something!” I look away from her and wonder what she’s talking about. I was doing things… I shook my head, not understanding. Then a pain suddenly made me cringe and pull my hand back from my mother. Looking at my hand, I was shocked, I not only cut myself once, but twice…When did that happen? “You…Please, Claire, please, can we move on a little bit? For me?” I bit my lip and suddenly felt like I woke up from sleeping…Looking around, I noticed my brother was gone, that dad was nowhere to be seen and we were making something that might be a soup. My clothes were sort of daggy and my shirt was even put on backwards… Looking at my hand, that my mum was now trying to clean, I realized that I had been a bit out of it lately. “She didn’t even know she cut her hand, how did she live?” Hearing my mother’s words, I felt a rush of some kind of emotion. It made me relax and want to hug her. “I’m sorry mum.” I said, unable to help but feel guilty.   To be honest, I had no idea how long I had been like this…Until I looked down and saw the bump… Right…I was pregnant… Putting my free hand to my growing womb, I too wondered how this little one will live. I wanted to make sure that they will get seen to if they cut themselves just like me, if they run away, just like me… Hell, I wouldn’t want it to happen in the first place! Prevention! I let out a chuckle, seeing mum look at me in surprise still from apologizing earlier. “I am feeling better now, thanks.” I smiled at her and she dropped the scissors in her hands. “Claire! Oh, it’s so good to hear you talk! You were like a robot! Nod or shake, that’s all we got from you!” I took a deep breath in and nodded, “I will pay more attention.”   Three months…Three months had disappeared from my life just like that. Never again… I had missed my child’s development and with knowing that, made a diary to make sure I make the best out of every day from now on. I called it my emotional book, because if I didn’t show them on my face or actions, it didn’t mean I never felt them and I would try my hardest to write them all down. I wanted to learn how to show that I was happy, so that my child was not going to be like me. I wanted to also learn more about bringing a child up and read some books and attended some strange classes. By the time I was six months pregnant, I had completely accepted this child and had already gotten their first crib and their first rattle. I got a photo album ready and I had been looking at children’s books. When I was young, I was given a book from someone that I couldn’t remember, but the story was what I remembered… I hadn’t read much in life, but this book was familiar to me till this day, and I could not help but have it for my child! I had tried to get over my embarrassment of not only being pregnant but being in stores and buying stuff. So many times, I had nearly just walked out without paying, having to catch myself and stop! The thief in me is bad… So…Now…I feel weird and strange buying things…I was using money! It was like a part of me had curled up and died…I didn’t know whether to mourn for it or laugh…   My mother told me that I didn’t have to work, so I happily didn’t…I didn’t want too…I felt like I had been working all my life! She thought I would fight her, but after a few days of me letting her read my diary, she started to understand my life having been away from home and she would cry a lot. I would hug her to make her feel better, only having told her recently, that it wasn’t her fault…That it was mine… She had shaken her head at me, but I also shook mine, “You are a good mother and had tried to teach me, I did not listen to why it was ok to come back. Even if I wanted to get something, I should not have stayed out like that.” I felt ashamed, really…I never want to think about how stupid I’ve been. We have been closer lately and mum has been my ‘partner’, coming to the doctor’s with me when needed and to those strange classes… But…There are times, that she even knows about, that I am thinking about someone else. I never thought I had so much to say about that person. My diary…I mention him at least once every time, sometimes I hadn’t even realized that I had mentioned him, until the words were already written. At first, I had written a lot, probably a good paragraph or two, about him. Now it is a sentence or two. And most of the time, it’s the same sentence, ‘Why does his face break my heart?’   I had tried horribly at not calling and finding out about him, but, even when I did, no one had seen him around…That man…The father of this child… Every time I hung up the phone, it was like a heavier burden came upon me. I felt like he was too far away, that if he stays so far away, something bad might happen. I worried about this, I worried that much that my mother told me to try not to think about it… How could I not? He had left the place he had called home, he hadn’t even stayed at his farm…I couldn’t believe how scared that made me. I easily left my thieving place, because it was not my home. I left strip joints easily and the streets… Why…Why has he not come back home!? It really was hurting me so much…   When my mother next read my diary…She couldn’t help but take me there… I hate to hurt her feelings…But…My heart…Was still at home… I still wanted mum, and I was going to continue to see her. But…Even for just one day, I wanted to go home. Getting out of the car, I breathed out in relief and shut the door determinedly. Smiling, I started to walk and let my feet take me where I wanted to go. I vaguely knew my mum was following me, to make sure they wouldn’t kidnap me again, but I didn’t care about any kind of potential danger that my mum was watching out for! Rushing inside, getting the attention of those at the desk, I walked forwards, not answering any of their questions. Going to the back of the building and then in the side door, I walked to the end of the hall and then up the stairs and barged straight into the door. I looked around and my breathing got heavy…I was very quickly put on the verge of crying… He really was a dirty bastard… He had pictures of me everywhere… Then some pictures had stickers on them, or a piece of paper taped to the picture that said something. But…   I couldn’t help but let a tear escape, as I see the ultrasound picture. I knew it was obviously of our baby, as it said so…A picture of me reading outside to our baby, me going…Shopping…Just the other day! Dirty…Rotten…Bastard! “Where are you!” I yelled angrily. Why isn’t he here!? “Miss, you can’t be here, this is off limits.” The receptionist had followed me all the way here, making me surprised. Turning around, I look at her and try to calm down… How the fuck can I calm down, he has been watching and staying away all this time? Why!? Why didn’t he just come to me!? Why didn’t he pick up my calls!? Why!? I closed my eyes, but god dammit, I just started to cry. He cares…Yet… Putting a hand to my mouth, I wondered if he stayed away because we were the Peterson’s. Suddenly…I stopped crying and walked back out, not looking back… Maybe…Or…Maybe it’s just the child… Whatever… Whatever… Dammit! Grasping onto the railing of the stairs, I stopped and just sat down.   “Claire, are you ok? Should I call the police?” Uh? Police? “No!” “Then…” Oh right… “Mum…Could I have a moment please.” I gave mum a strange small gesture and then said, “I’ll meet you back at the front.” “I…I am worried for your safety.” My mum said, looking around, making me notice she was relatively close to me. I smiled and said, “Mum, do you really think all those pictures is being kept by someone who is going to harm me or this child?” Silence…My mum took a couple of breaths before answering, while searching her bag. “Take this and never let it go, if you do not return in five minutes, that is…10:52…I will come back here ready to call the police, do you understand!” I couldn’t help it, I smiled. “Yes.” Getting up, I leave before another word is spoken and go back inside the room, much to the receptionist displeasure. Going straight to the door that went into the shower, I tried to open it, seeing it locked. He had been here… He had hidden… “Do you really think a locked door is going to stop me, you bastard?”

Alec’s Pov   My heart…Please be good… Man, I felt like I was on the verge of a heart attack! I’m trying so desperately to be someone she deserves! The problem was...I had absolutely no idea what I was doing! I spilled my shit yesterday...In more ways than one...Then I thought I should hold back, but then I got excited and totally asked her to stay with me! I decided to hold back again, especially since I had treated her so badly in the past but, my god! A few times already I wanted to not give a shit and state, 'Fine, you're with me now and that's that!'. Be cool man...Be cool... I don’t want to hold her against her will or take her for granted but…She was already getting mad…She was mad and hot and sexy… My heart…Not only loved her angry look but it was also very worried, very worried. I was sure that things couldn’t be achieved so easily. That my fox coming to me and staying with me for a day was just the beginning of a big war to win her back! I had to be charming and make sure I treated her very, very good! But…I was having troubles with this! I hadn’t wanted her to get in the car, hell, we shouldn’t have left that room but…Hearing her ‘We need to talk’… It still hurts! Rubbing my leg absentmindedly, I then hear her beautiful yell once again, “Talk to me Alec!” Oh man, she so hot when she’s angry! But, no way did I think she would walk to be right in front of me and take my shirt into her hands...Just like a bloody gangster! “You perverted bastard! What are you sorry for!? Why did you want me to leave so quickly? Uh!? Your being weird, Alec!” Fuck yeah! Yell at me some more, you hot, sexy mumma! God she was…So damned sexy! My fox… “Alec!”   “I’m sorry! I did plan to use you, but ever since I met you…I…I…I don’t think you are a piece of shit!” She let go of me then and I watched her take a step back and sigh, “I know.” Everything stopped then, “…What?” Looking at me and rolling her eyes, she then said, “You told me you loved me, right? How can you think I’m a piece of shit, if you loved me?” Dumbfounded, I suddenly remembered yesterday…It really was real. She really said it!? I can think of it as real!? “You love me too.” I blurted out. “I told you that!” “It was real?” I asked…Yeah, seriously…How awesome is this! “Yes!” “I didn’t dream…” Just to confirm!“Alec…Just shut up!” In seconds she got into my arms, forced my head down and I found her kissing me... Hell yeah! I embraced her back quickly, not wanting to let her go! Pushing her against the car, I found that it was an automatic reaction to lift her legs too…Since, suddenly, they were around me... Man, I loved this fox! And god dam, her making the first move like a bloody gangster was just…So fucking hot!   Breaking away from her, I had to say, “So, you really do love me?” “…Yes.” I first started with one spurt of laughter, but followed through with unstoppable giggles afterwards… I twirled my princess fox around in circles, feeling like I was on top of the world! No…I was already on top of the world, I was more in the sky, in the clouds…Flying free… She really loved me! Holy fuckin shit! How lucky am I, uh!? That’s right! I’m the man. I’ve got the hottest chick on earth and she’s pregnant with my kid! Suck my dick all you guys out there! You lose! Fuck yeah! “Oi!” Looking back at her, I found my thoughts became obedient as well. “Quick, put me down.” I noticed she had unhooked her legs around me and was waiting for me to remove my hands off her precious ass… I really didn’t want to… “Alec.” Uh? Looking at the voice, I realized we weren’t alone…Now it made sense! Letting go of my fox, I grab her hand and looked back again at the person walking towards us, “You know me?” “Yes…I have already tried to speak with…” “It’s you…” That’s right, this annoying bastard was the opposite to those other people I take captive! He was one of the ones who wanted to come and board for free, even coming to the property on his own! “Ah…I don’t do that anymore sir, if you need somewhere to board, I could ask the farm and see if they need more people.” “I had never wanted to board, son. You had misunderstood me right from the beginning. But…I think it is time to finally set the record straight!” The man in front of me didn’t look like he had other plans…Because there was no way I was putting my precious fox in any kind of danger!   But, what did the person want then, if not board? “It was heard…Not board…” The older man said. A man of little words I see… Actually, there wasn’t much to him, he wasn’t as handsome as me and he wore normal clothes…But why…Does his strange actions and voice seem slightly familiar? Now, he had walked to be in front of me and he looked at me…Gently… I swear…I don’t know this guy hey! Why would he look at me like that!? Especially when I thought he was going to break me with his face being…Indifferent. But I was getting completely confused hey…This man…I don’t think he’s fully there, hey…The sudden, gentle eyes and voice didn’t match his look at all! …Perhaps…He’s gay? Whoa, I know I’m great and all, but it was like I had already invited him in my house after all and feed him, when I’m pretty bloody sure that I hadn’t! I’m taken bucko! I looked at my fox and silently stated to the gay man that I was straight and with the love of my life! “I…It seems that fate had led me to see you here…I…” I what? Turning back to him, I was confused once again… The older man changed his weight and looked around. What’s wrong with him? “…Could we…Would you like to come in for tea or something? A cold drink?” Seeing beyond his hand, that he was pointing in the direction of a house, and suddenly… What the hell? Why did he want free food, when he had this? I glared at him! This was probably not a good idea! But…The older man started to laugh, and he put down his hand, “Ah, I see the resemblance. It’s…Very nice to see…” Uh? “Resemblance?” Hearing my fox’s voice, I turn to her but stay in front of her, even though she wanted to come to my side…But I still didn’t trust this man! “Yes, your mother was a bit of a…” Seeing the older man look in the distance and let out a small, sad looking smile, I was struck by lightning…Not literally, obviously, but finally…I was…Slightly eager to hear more! “What about my mother?” I asked. “Please, let’s go inside, I’ll get you a drink.”   After a silent, weirded out walk, we sat down at a veranda and waiting for the old man to get us some drinks. My fox didn’t want to sit on my lap, so I made sure that she sat closer to me then the chair had originally been. Not letting go of her hand, I see her in a thinking state and wondered if she were lost in thoughts of our time together. That would be great. She can want me all she likes! Hell, that idea of her writing in a diary...If it's all about me, I say go for it! While lost in my own thoughts, waiting for the gay, old man to return, I take the chance to look around… The place wasn’t huge, just a nice wooden, olden dayish type of hut or house. It was…To admit it, it was nice…And somewhat familiar… “My boy, Claire, here.” There was that voice again…Strangely familiar… “Yes, you have been here. This…Was our home…” …Uh? “I had talked to several people and believe that you, Alec, had actually forgotten about your real past…That you, actually belong here instead of…” …What… Getting up, because…I felt strangely scared, I pulled at my fox’s arm, and then stated, “I’m sorry old man…I’m…Not thirsty.” Walking away, wanting to go faster, but unable to because of my delicate fox, it wasn’t long until the old man’s voice sounded behind me, “Get your butt back here, boy!” That’s when a flash hit me…Those words…That voice…This place. Stopping in my tracks, I put a hand to my head and flinch. What the hell!?   I had to admit, I had troubles remembering my youth, but I was certain of a few things and thought that not remembering was normal…But…Apparently…I was wrong. As far back to when I was six…I… Feeling the ground beneath me, but unable to see anything but my forgotten past, I could hardly hear my fox’s voice in the background… My mother… Seeing her alive in my memories, made me sad and happy, all at the same time. In a particular memory, she was giving me food and carrying around a little brat of a girl in her arms. “I want to carry her! Give her to me!” “You said only a minute ago that you didn’t want to hold her! Besides, not only are you going to eat instead but you are too little to carry little Fox! Now sit down!” “Honey, put her down too, both of the kids can eat together…” It was strange…How suddenly everything fit together… That small girl had been Claire… I played with her and gave her gifts…Most of them where mud piles that I was proud of making...Yet, she never liked any of them…One of them, a book…I had…Completely forgotten!   As memories of my past flooded into me, I found that I was seven when a big lot of drama happened. My mother…My mother was forcefully taken, and I followed her…To see her… Before I blacked out when I was young, I remembered that I was hit heavily over the head and that was when I felt like things had been changed, now, before that…I’ve finally remembered! I… Seeing a distant memory that perhaps I hadn’t wanted to remember, I not only had seen my mother get raped, by what I had called my father all these years, but he had threatened my mother with my own life! He had raised his voice at us many times…It wasn’t hard to miss the times that he had threatened mum, but at that age I had no idea on what he had meant, I just didn’t like the way he abused my mum! The next memories made me want to cry… …He had been the one to kill my unborn brother and sister and he… …Why? Why had I forgotten? Why did I think he was my father? “…He’s coming too.” “Alec?” That lovely voice helped wake me up, but I couldn’t open my eyes, “Little fox…” “Fox?” “Mmm.” Hearing laughter, I opened my eyes slightly and groaned, “What’s going on?” “You fainted…And cried while you were asleep…” Reaching out, to grab the hand the was on my face, I felt better, “I’m ok…” “…Did you remember?” Hearing that voice, I sighed… “Yes…I remember…Dad…” “…That’s my boy…”

Stella’s Pov My woman!   I could feel it, I was getting so dizzy that I could barely see properly. I stubbornly drove further, away from the area that Alec worked at, and as soon as I was sure I was far enough away, I quickly opened the door, stumbling forward and let out what had been wanting to be let out for quite a few minutes. Falling to my knees and putting a hand to the close by tree trunk, I waited until my stomach was emptied…Well, emptier then it already was… It wasn’t something I could hide anymore… At first, I thought I was just sick, but vomiting started to become more often and realizing that I hadn’t received my last period, I was sure that I was pregnant. Luckily, I hadn’t showed any of the symptoms in front of Alec…But, they are getting a lot harder to keep under control now. If I was right, I’d only be a month or so into the pregnancy, but… Wiping my mouth, I slowly got up and thought to stand still for a moment, before moving. I didn’t like the dizziness, I didn’t like the vomiting…But I couldn’t help but notice, all this time, that this would happen at some stage, if there was no type of contraceptive! I had questioned it lightly before, but as usual, I hadn’t wanted to ‘care’…I was an idiot… This was something important and I had needed to question this type of thing!   I was sure about a week ago, and for that week, I had thought of many, many things… I had also thought that I was also very immature. Not questioning and now having a responsibility as grand as this…How could I be ready for it? Nonetheless, it is done. I had to mature up and no longer cry…Not that I had cried much about it… A week ago, I had asked for this very day, knowing I will have to seek a doctor and find out for sure if I was right or not… But…I really don’t need the doctor’s tests, I was sure of it. I know my ‘precious’ was now being held hostage, but it didn’t matter, over this week, I had come to the conclusion that I needed space…And…I wanted my mum. I felt like…I needed someone…Someone else. I needed to understand this responsibility more and I just felt like the best person to do that, would be my mum…And the best possible supporter… Of course, deep down I was scared about this, but…I needed to go to her! I needed to do this! Whether I come back later or not, was still a mystery to me, but right now, I just wanted to go back home and get my mum! It was so strange, because I felt that I was weak, yet I also felt like I could be a hell of a lot more stronger, if she was with me! So, with exchange for my freedom, I have given away my ‘precious’…   Once I made it to a place that had a supermarket, I got out of the car and locked it up. I put the keys under the car and near a tire and got out a wallet that I had stolen two days ago. Calling a cab, from around the side of the supermarket and away from camera’s, I rode that for as long as I could, with the money I had. With gratitude, I said my thanks and walked the extra half an hour back to…Where I used to live…A long time ago! Walking up to the gate, I was scared. What if they had moved? What if they didn’t want to see me? Would they had forgotten me entirely? I was worried and anxious, and I had never felt scared of my own emotions before, but I couldn’t stop them from making me feel like this! Actually, ever since leaving Alec and his warehouse…I felt like I was shaking. That…My thoughts over the last three months that had been stopped by him, were somehow refreshing themselves and… Well…I wasn’t out in the big sea anymore, I was closer to the beach, but the waves were still coming! Putting my slightly shaking hand on the intercom, I pressed the button and waited. What was I doing? “Hello?” I stood there, not saying anything. My breathing started to become heavy and I put my hands through my hair. What was I doing? Didn’t I accept that I was never going to return back here? Why is it that a baby should change such a decision? I stayed away when I had been beaten so much I was in bed for two weeks! I stayed away when I had done my first job as a stripper, seeing all those scary men looking at me with crazy eyes…Why now!? “Hello?”   I couldn’t believe that I was just standing there like an idiot…Yet, I was…Because I had no idea on what to do! So many emotions rapidly flowed through me, making me feel hot and cold. Questions filled my head, making me think that they were giving me a headache… Putting a hand to my forehead and a hand to the fence, I tried to steady myself, but found myself falling to the ground. I…Don’t think I ever felt so lost before! I don’t know how long passed but someone came walking out, as I could hear their footsteps on the drive way. I just…Couldn’t move, I felt so light headed that I could faint… “Hello? Do you need help?” Help? Yes…Yes, I need help… I put my head against the fence, finding it’s cool surface nice against my forehead. “Would you like us to ring an ambulance?” “No.” My voice crocked, and I cleared my throat. “Is…Is a Kathleen Peterson still living here?” I didn’t want to be rude, but I couldn’t look up, as it was I was fighting a losing fight to fainting. “Yes, Kathleen Peterson lives here? Do you know her?” Hearing that, seemed to be the enough to put me out for some reason. Had I been that worried that they had moved? Feeling myself black out and not even feeling myself fall the rest of the way to the ground, I strangely still felt ok…   Lifting my eyelids, I found myself…In my old room… The same posters of my olden day idols, my dolls and barbies, my little girl dresses and table top and dresser. I put my hand up to my forehead and tried to stop myself from feeling this rush of emotions going through me. After a good minute, I put my hand down and uncovered myself from the familiar blanket. Not being able to stand properly after one go, I waited a short time before trying a second time. I was really, already…So sick of this dizziness! Finally, able to walk slowly, I walk out of the room and down the familiar hallway. The pictures were changed or added, but it still felt familiar to me. Then I saw my brother, Collin, playing the Xbox and my father talking to somebody as my mum seemed to be sitting there, dazing out into space. “Mum…” My mum rushed up and ran towards me, scaring me out of my wits and took me into her arms. I breathed out in a hurry, as I was worried that she was going to make me fall over. “Mum…” “Claire! Ohmigod, Claire, I have been looking everywhere for you!” My mother’s mumbles only made me feel worse. “I’m sorry.” “Claire.” I heard my father say, or was it a question? “Mmm.” I state, not sure on what else to do. “Claire!” Collin ran over as well. Ah, a hug, a nonsexual hug…Both feel pretty good…I suppose. I tried with all my might to comfortably hug them in return, but it was very difficult. As, all these years…This is something I had gone without…   “Come, the doctor said that we should get some toast or crackers into you, even if you vomit them back up again.” I look at my mother and gave a small nod, following after her as she held my hand. It was a secret for a whole week, only me knowing…Now…It looked like it was known throughout this whole house, without even me telling them! To be honest, I was sorta glad. I had no idea how I was going to tell them…None at all! But…Now that they already knew, I let out a silent breath in relief. “Makes me wonder if she would come back at all, if she wasn’t pregnant though.” My dad said, having been the only one not to hug me. I looked at him and lost all the nerves I had tried to organize myself but felt like I was a big bundle of problems. “If I am not welcome here, I will go.” My words were emotionless, as was my face. I had always thought that I could never return back home anyway. Perhaps I was being utterly stupid for returning, hell even thinking about it would be stupid! “No! Stop it, Joe!” I heard my mum say. I didn’t know how much I needed her, with her words and dedication for me to stay though, I finally burst into tears! “Oh, look at what you’ve done!” My mum said, taking me into her arms once again. I took hold of her clothes and clenched them into my hands, like they were my last lifeline. I should have come back sooner, I shouldn’t have thought that staying away was my best option! All the grievances that I had gone through just seeped into my tear ducts and came out as tears, making my mother’s clothes wet. Having been kidnapped when I was coming back home years ago, to having been threatened with a knife. Having been taken to the police, scolded, hurt, stolen, been a stripper…Him…Whether I was upset, angry, hurt, mad or whatever, it seemed to come out as tears…And for the first time, in…A long time…I felt like crying was making me feel a little better. The whole reason why I had stopped, was because it didn’t accomplish anything and made you look weak, but right now…That was not put into play at all! It felt like I was destined to cry right at this minute in my mother’s arms… It was a weird feeling, that’s for sure!   Somehow, she had got us on the couch, even while I was still clenching her clothes and crying. When I pulled away and wiped my eyes, I saw this and stayed quiet. I never thought that my mum would make me cry like that…I’ve never cried like that! Either way, I was very tired now. I was so tired, that I put my head onto the couch and closed my eyes. Upon hearing voices in the background and feeling the couch’s absence of my mother’s body, I still didn’t move. I felt completely bushed, like I had run miles and miles and could not run anymore! I let the darkness over take me and I couldn’t remember the last time that I was feeling so empty. Empty from worries or feelings… It was like my full bucket of life had been emptied… It was a weird feeling…I felt…Strange.

Alec’s Pov Just call me the crazy mother fucker that…Fuck! Forget it…*Walks away*   “Do you deny it!? You did this on purpose didn’t you!?” With the old grumps words, I followed his pointed finger to my fox’s body. How dare he point at her, that’s just fucking rude! But… Right… It’s exactly what I did! “…So what, it’s not like I’ve thrown her away, she came here by herself! I came here to bring her back home!” “Pfft, home!? And you wonder why your father was shot!” My father said. Father was shot…Father was shot… The past ended up flowing into my head so quickly, I felt all the anger that seemed to have accumulated all these years. I felt myself start to shake with my fury and with my heartache of both my mother and father…My life! “You know what, fine!” Weren’t they all the same!? Why would I want someone from the Peterson’s family!? What a fucking idiot! I suddenly felt dirty… I spat on the ground, after looking at what I had taken to bed all this time, feeling even more crazier than before, “I did plan this from the start, I was even going to ransom you. Exactly like my mother!” Do you feel my heart breaking!? That is because my mother was gang raped! Do you feel my heart shattering into a million fucking pieces!? That’s because I saw my father with a bullet in his head! “You never listen you little shit! I hope you grow up real soon and understand what really went down!”   Grow up? How could I, when you guys killed my parents uh!? Who can grow up properly in that kind of forced fucked up situation! These…These Peterson’s were all fuckin trouble! “Ha! The Peterson’s would probably understand better than the Jackson’s!” I spat out, willing to show the old grump how angry I was! I wanted to punch him so hard that I was shaking. I clenched my hands and jaw, wondering why I was holding back from doing whatever I fuckin pleased! “I know a person tried to tell you what happened, but you always didn’t want to listen!” Dammit, how can you be so fucking angry at me! What did I fucking do!? This is just so stupid! Do they not know anything!? Will they deny this to the end!? Will I never get retribution!? After thinking of this, I couldn’t help but rush up to him and take his shirt, as he had done to mine. I was so fucking angry that I was losing my mind! How the hell had a been happy with this man’s daughter!? Just moments ago, it felt…It’s all lies! Their whole fucked up family are lies! And when I see…Her…Move to stop me, it hurt me more, it made me feel more fuckin crazy! “Oh! So…After all this time, now you’re a happy little family uh?” I said this, yet…Her face… For a moment I completely forget what’s going on, as I see her face showed something…My sweet, little fox, why are you looking so sad?   “We know what you do, you mongrel! You’ll go to prison sometime soon!” Prison? I smirked…Yeah, that’s right…I’m a bad man. “Then why am I not in prison now?” Then I saw him smirk back at me and say, “Just you wait!” Right…Yeah…Prison… I steal people and have even ransomed some of them off… Suddenly…My life…It was hilariously funny! Those kids coming back, even though I’m a bad man. I take people who are starving and feed them… What the fuck was I doing!? What am I fuckin doing!? I…Was… I looked at…Her…And felt so much loss that I didn’t know how to deal with it. “I’m gone! Fuck standing here with you two pieces of shit!” I never understood… I still sort of don’t… But, at this moment, I felt completely worthless… Perhaps…I was the piece of shit… Ha! Who cares, I was gone from this dirty place! Let her stay here and rot, like hell I want her. A Peterson! Ha… ...Yet, why did I feel so bloody empty now…   Three days later, I finally leave the room, not sure how I had even made it home that day…Or even what happened in the last three days… But, what I did know…I was done. I had no idea why I did the things I did. It didn’t have anything to do with my mother or father’s death did it? So, I shut everything down and let everyone go. What was the fuckin point of it all!? Putting someone on to look after the warehouse, I pack up my things and go to my farm… But… Three days after being at the farm…I was done… The people were nice to me…Why were they nice to me? Hadn’t I captured them and taken away their fucking freedom, are they fucking nuts!? Everything was just fucked up! I was sure it wasn’t just me, it was everything! Every dream, every want, every desire, every stupid fucking thought! Staying at the farm didn’t work…So, I’ll try the city…   In the city, the murder of my father had become a cold case. Whether they forgot or couldn’t find evidence, the reason they stopped and never found the murderer or not, I had no idea. When I walked in, remembering the first time I had come here in a blank state, I suddenly found myself completely lost… Didn’t I want retribution? Didn’t I want to bring the Peterson’s to their knees and having them begging for forgiveness? What…What is it that I want? I knew I looked like a wreck, I hadn’t shaved or slept well at all, but it seemed enough for the police there not to take me seriously and I was told to leave. Upon walking aimlessly down the street, I suddenly felt like laughing and found myself falling to ground and taking big gulps of air. Crawling to sit against some building, I put my head in my hands and finally felt it…Lonely… I was so fuckin lonely…   Without my mum and dad, I had felt like I had lost the world. I had gotten a few buddies and even found a few interesting people amongst the people I had captured. My life had started…In getting revenge… Why had I travelled down the path of becoming friends with those people I’d captured? Why did… I swallowed, feeling how dry my throat is, but not caring that I was thirsty. What does it all matter? I all but completely forgot my first plan! I forgot! Had I…Been moving on from my parent’s death? Had I actually accepted it!? I harshly put my head against the brick wall and closed my eyes… Did I even hate the Peterson’s now? Had I forgiven them? When…How… I let out a deep breath and pull my knees up and rest my head on them uncaringly… …Why do I feel like my heart is ripped out of me then, if I was already moved on from my parent’s death? Was all this because I was lonely?   I knew though, a small part of me knew all this time. All the dreams I had were of her, all the wishes I had were of her, my desire and needs…Thoughts… And…I had told her that what I had originally planned…I had told her that she was a piece of shit! I had…Gotten angry because of my parents, but…I had also gotten angry and sad…Because she wasn’t with me anymore! She had hardly said or shown any kind of interest towards me that went beyond sex… Oh god…I wanted her to want me and was that why I just let it out, the plan, the name calling and leaving. Because I was upset that she didn’t want me!? She…Ha…I had run after her for ages and then to capture her and detained her to a room for three months! I had then detained her in another room for another three months! Pulling slightly on my hair…I felt like I had absolutely no right to even see her! Even if it was on camera’s, I didn’t deserve her! I should have treated her like a princess! I shouldn’t have forced her into anything! I forced her to eat, I never got her clothes, I made sure she was in my arms when we went to sleep, even when she pushed me off the bed!   Shaking my head, with the anger I had inside myself, I couldn’t believe that every other problem I had, they didn’t seem to mean anything to me now. As…The only problem I had, was not being with my fox…All I had…Was a strange type of wire that had not left my wrist… Oh right…It’s her ‘precious’…And that’s the only thing I have of her. Touching it…I slightly smiled, feeling like I’ve won a small lottery. I did have something…It wasn’t much, and it’s probably all I deserved… Putting a whole hand over it and putting my head back against the bricks in a sigh, I felt a strange feeling of acceptance…I guess I had changed over time but had never realized it. My beautiful fox became the most important thing to me and I had blown any kind of future with her into smithereens! Well… I got up and felt a strange type of refreshing feeling overcome me… Since I know my problem…I guess I better deal with it now… It was time to go back home. I’ll put her back in that room, just, the only way to do that would be with pictures…Oh and recordings… Scratching my head, I knew it might be difficult to obtain her beauty on only photos and videos of her, but, I suddenly got a goal again and I felt like I desperately needed this goal!

The Bastards Pov Do you know what to do when you fall in love with someone? …Again, this is a subheading. So, what’s that got to do with my question, I’m talking about that stupid word here!   I hadn’t known that over three months, I had slowly increase the value in my heart of my little fox as much as I had. Slowly, I started thinking that a month with her wasn’t enough, then two months wouldn’t be enough…Now…I’m starting to think that even a year wouldn’t be enough! That my desire wouldn’t be sedated, I had completely never known that I had already started to fall in love with her. Suddenly, having grown to know my feelings, I started to panic! What the hell, she was my captive! Such a sweet, hot, sexy captive…But still a bloody captive! Shit!   I looked at the sleeping fox beside me and realized we had missed dinner again. But, I hadn’t the heart to wake her, especially since I had not been able to stop myself for the third time, again. I knew things had changed slightly in the past couple of weeks, as at first, I had wanted to make the sex last, then, I wanted to be gentle, then, I liked how she reacted while I was gentle…But the last time, I knew I was cherishing her like a first time. She was just so damned perfect! I felt so great in this room, but then, I felt great outside when she was with me out there too! I guess I had, for some time now, been making love to her…It wasn’t just sex anymore…I… When I looked at her sometimes, I just couldn’t help but show that I was valuing her more and more and suddenly, bam! Now everything makes utter and complete sense! Probably as early as seeing her for the first time, I was infatuated with her! What an idiot I’ve been, to not even know until now! Well fuck me! Looking at her again, I felt that normal feeling I’ve had for awhile now. My heart was beating radically, and I had the simple urge to reach out and touch her… I, for some time, had sorta forgotten about my plans uh… That’s right! I was going to impregnate her and send her back like what happened to my mum…How could I forget!? And all this time…I’ve been walking raw inside her…Hell, she’s probably already pregnant! With all the sex we’ve had…It would be more surprising if she wasn’t pregnant… What am I going to do now!?   I already knew, that I didn’t want to send her away. I wanted her by my side! I want her pussy here every day! With my feelings the way the where…How could I get over that in a month, what a dickhead! What would be the best way to keep her? Well, since we hadn’t talked about kids…Hey, what if she…Right now… If there was someone tiny, already there… I looked at her exposed stomach and desperately wanted to touch it. Prior to this moment, I hadn’t given kids a thought. Not that I didn’t care, but more so because I had made the choice that I didn’t want too…I wore condoms, so I didn’t have to think about that kind of future yet. But now…If there was a little one there, what would I do? I just felt like she would hate me if she ever found out that I had done this on purpose as it was a part of one of my plans… Right, from now on, no more awesome rawness…I must use condoms…But…What if she asks why I suddenly started… Putting both my hands to my face, I rubbed my tired eyes.   After I tried to calm my thoughts, I couldn’t help but think and feel for what her thoughts were about children. If she were to want one, then hadn’t we already started that journey then… But what if she said no. I sighed, knowing two lots of ‘no’s’ that she does. I know a few ‘yes’s’ too! Ah! She filled my head way too much! Work, ever since my fox has been in this room, had been more of a hindrance then normal. I couldn’t wait to return, I couldn’t wait to bury myself inside her! Nowadays, I’ve added a few more ‘can’t wait’s’ but it’s just way too embarrassing to admit! How could a guy freely admit that even just eating and watching a movie with their woman seemed to be satisfying!? Enough of that! Sighing, once again, I just didn’t know what to do. All I knew, was that right now, I wanted her in my arms and to fall sleep. So, I did exactly what I wanted…   Upon waking, I felt the absence of the bed beside me and slowly looked around. Where was she? Rubbing my head, while sitting up on the side of the bed, I heard the toilet flush and then the shower running. Smiling, I couldn’t help but be happy that she was awake before I had to go to work. On the rare, selfish occasion, I would wake her up before work, but most of the time I would let her sleep. This time, she had gotten up all by herself. Wasn’t that a good sign? Was I on her thoughts as much as she was on mine!? Could it be…That we wreck each other’s day? That would be great, right? If she was in love with me, then she should just stay here! Despite myself, I couldn’t help but be happy with the idea of her willingly staying with me, but, how was I to know? Do I really have enough balls to just pop the question? Are you freaking kidding me!? Hell no…Why can’t she do it? That would ruin my pride, wouldn’t it!? Well, shit…   Breathing out a deep breath, I couldn’t believe I was having this type of conversation in my head when I was still half asleep! Ok, time to take a shower with my woman! I let out a small chuckle to my inner words. I liked the sound of that, my woman! Walking into the bathroom, I stepped straight into the shower and planted a big kiss on her exposed, naked shoulder. Encircling my arms around her, I sighed. I felt her bend over and my god, she was so damned hot! Desire, in the form of blood, started to show itself in my prized possession and I banged it against her hip. “Do you remember?” “…Uh?” I looked at her, having been completely transfixed to the idea of having sex with her. “Remember what?” “I wanted to go out today. You said I could.” How could I forget…Now that I knew that I was in love with her, it only made sense that I wanted to make her happy. See! It’s this kind of embarrassing shit that should never get out! “Yeah.” “Then here.” She said, handing out to me, to what she calls her ‘precious’. It was all her idea. This thing was so that she meant that she was coming back. It was an exchange of hostages… The ‘precious’ always made me curious and now that I had it in my hands, I didn’t want to give it back! Haha! I have the power now! “Right!”   I saw her look then, it seemed like she was not calm, not like her usual self… “What’s wrong baby?” I had to admit, I was worried, because she hardly ever showed any other expression while they weren’t having sex…Hehe, but she showed a hell of a lot more while they were having sex! She smiled lightly at me then and got out of the shower. I frowned and grumbled, knowing I should finish before I followed her out. But dam, she was so tempting! Quickly, I soaped myself and got out to dry myself, seeing her getting dressed next to the bed. I didn’t know what it was, but something weird was going on. Was she going to leave this early? Why did she have her back to me? So not cool! I rushed to finish, only to see her leave and get stopped by a man outside the door. Yeah, I did remove one of the guards, but… She turned back to me, as I was putting on my watch and I nodded at the ‘guard’. I quickly picked up my jacket and rushed out to meet back up with her again. “Which car can I take?” She asked me. I don’t want you to take a car, I want you upstairs, in that bed, naked! I coughed back my thoughts and pointed, “…That one. What time will you be back?” She shrugged, “I was just going to have a picnic and then come back, maybe go for a walk or something.” Dam, even though that sounded a bit boring…Why did I wanna go with her!? “Ok.” I gave her a kiss on the forehead and stepped back. Watching her drive off slowly…Was it ok for me to regret? Regret letting her leave that room, or was it regret because of not going with her? Or both? I sighed and then turned towards the reception desk…

Stella’s Pov I guess it’s Claire now…No more Stella…   After my tear fest, I had been ok. I had more freedom here, but there wasn’t much I wanted to do anyway. My mother had wanted me to go and shop with her for new clothes, so I had gone with her, but it was still awkward. I guess there’s still something strange between us…Especially since I haven’t said much about where I went and what I’ve been through since I was twelve. Since the doctor comes here instead, we hadn’t had to go to the medical centre yet…Not for another month for an ultra sound. I was right though, I was only just over a month into the pregnancy and was already taking some small tablets that don’t look like they can do anything for me… Instead of staying in my room, I have come out and tried to think about what I was going to do. I knew I had to grow up, but...I still had a choice…So, the question was…Will I keep this child? My dad hasn’t said much, but my mum was already excited about her grandchild…And child… I suppose if I got an abortion, it would hurt her, as this child was what brought me back to her. Yet, if I bring this child into the world, knowing that Alec was a Jefferson, who seemed to hate the Peterson’s… The more I thought about it, the more I was becoming clear that Alec may have done this on purpose and that perhaps he had never liked me as I thought he may have. It would all make sense if that was his plan, but, I really didn’t want that to be so…If this child was his plan, then would he be forcing this child to get entwined into his circle of hate? Like I said, I really wish that this wasn’t done on purpose… I know that I already missed him, that I had never thought to stay away from him permanently. Yet, if this was all orchestrated to happen because he hated us, perhaps I was better to never return to him… “Claire.” I turned suddenly and found him right there, Alec…It’s him!   He rushed up to me and held me steady, but I really hadn’t needed it…I wasn’t dizzy at the moment, as it seems to come and go…But, I guessed it was because I hadn’t been laying down… “When will you be home?” He asked me, pulling me into him. I never realized how much I go used to this…Perhaps…That was why things happened the way they did… Being in his arms again, was like a rush of relief, like I had already come ‘home’… “…I want to stay here for a while.” I quietly responded. I just wanted to calm down. Think things through maturely, know what I want…Even though…Even though I felt so good in his arms right now! As it was, I was already giving in to him and didn’t know how to respond to his question for a while! “They lied to me and said that you weren’t here! That old grump of a father was mean to me!” I frowned, sometimes he did go as low as acting like a child, but today…It was just uncalled for! This was my father’s house and your complaining! Rubbing himself into my head, I was starting to get angry. Why was he here? Suddenly, that question really mattered… “Why are you here?” I asked, pulling away from him. “I came to pick you up. Can we go home now?” He was really acting like a spoilt child! He put his forehead against mine and claimed my waist in his arms. “What’s wrong with you!?” I asked in irritation. Then, as he looked at me in the eyes, I saw him become serious. His eyes were somehow captivating to me, and I stared back at him… Feeling a hand softly touch my face, he smiled at me, “Why is the doctor here?”   I tried to stay calm… “…He’s here for my mum.” “…Liar.” I looked back to him, just now noticing that I had looked away.I used to be so good at lying! What had happened to that!? I knew about looking away and acting suspicious! I scolded myself severely inside my head and frowned. “Woman, don’t frown!” Yeah, that’s ganna help! I have a name you bastard! I glare back up at him, still frowning. “Why are you here!?” “To pick up my woman! Come, let’s go home!” He took my hand and started to walk towards the front of the house, I started to panic, I wasn’t ready! I didn’t want to go back yet! “Stop it!” I said angrily and getting out of his grasp, then rushed to have a few steps between us, “Leave, I’ll be fine here.” Then I turned and walked away, towards the back of the house. In seconds, arms snaked themselves around me and stopped me, “You’re pregnant, aren’t you?” …Right now…I was angry…So, I didn’t say anything.   Staring out into the distance, I stood there, not showing any type of affection or emotion. This was the usual me…But, inside, I was hopeless…What if he really is here to take me back ‘home’? The idea that he could really care about me couldn’t be stopped and it crept inside my heart. But me trying to not show any emotion hadn’t mattered, he moved in behind me and cuddled me tighter, “Is that why you suddenly wanted to come home? Because pregnant women are strange, and I understand that.” “I am not…” As much as I wanted to disagree with him, I couldn’t help but realize that was exactly what I did! I had come back here because this was just too much to handle! “My lovely fox, you can’t continue to lie to me…” I frowned again and realized that he had taken my words as a response to the pregnancy, instead of being called strange and wanting to deny it. Not knowing what to do, I just stayed silent. I felt his hand go to across my womb and I let out a breath, hoping, that perhaps he wants me and this child. Even though at the moment, I don’t know what I want, but he wanting me and this child might make my decision easier. “My baby.” Was all I heard from behind me.   After his words, we both went silent and stood there… I couldn’t help but think that he was cute right now, we shared more time being engrossed with sex and silence, then having proper conversations. Sometimes we would not say a word to each other easily for two hours, but he could still act cute. He would seem to protect me from thoughts, even if I never voiced them out…Suddenly, after watching a show about some hot woman, he would say that I was hotter…Or if a show entitled a woman being treated unfairly, he would go get me some chocolates or flowers…It was like he was telling me that I shouldn’t worry about needless things, even though I had never said anything in the first place! Then, the silent but sweet moments we shared…That still seemed to happen even now, was that because we were comfortable with each other? I really started to believe that this was real, that…He and we, and this child, us…Family. I had started in a normal family…But the family after that was a pack of thieves… Does he really want someone like that? What if… More silence came over us, as he lightly started to kiss my neck. This is why I left! My thoughts…Disappeared when he was like this!   Now, it was like three months of thoughts and feelings rushed into me and I don’t know what to do! How could someone want to moan in pleasure and yell in anger at the same time!? Why do I want to turn around to be even closer but also want to push him away at the same time!? This was ridiculous! “You! Get out! Or I’ll call the police!” I looked up in shock… My dad was rushing towards me and didn’t stop as he pulled Alec away from me and pushed him. “Don’t anger me old grump!” I looked from one man to the other and wondered why my dad was suddenly so…Different… “Anger you! I know what you are doing! I know your last name now Alec…Jackson! No, you cannot see my daughter, no you are not welcome in my property, now get out!” I went to walk up to them, but my dad got Alec’s collar and started to pull him directly towards the fence gates and I tried to keep up. My dad, he was…So angry!   Upon reaching them, just before the gate, my father’s voice sternly said, “Do you deny it!? You did this on purpose didn’t you!?” It was obvious to what he was pointing at…As my father pointed at my body… I looked at Alec and saw him glare at my father, after looking at me, “…So what, it’s not like I’ve thrown her away, she came here by herself! I came here to bring her back home!” “Pfft, home!? And you wonder why your father was shot!” My father said. I may have been quiet, but I really was curious about these words…I looked back at Alec, who was getting a lot more angrier now. I wanted to do something, but didn’t know what, as I now know something else about him. Something else that seemed…To make him tremble… “You know what, fine!” He looked at me and spat on the ground, “I did plan this from the start, I was even going to ransom you. Exactly like my mother!” “You never listen you little shit! I hope you grow up real soon and understand what really went down!” My father said.   “Ha! The Peterson’s would probably understand better then the Jackson’s!” Alec spat out angrily. “I know a person tried to tell you what had happened, but you always didn’t want to listen!” My father spat back at him. I frowned and felt like the history with Alec’s parents must be quite the story… I hadn’t ever heard much about it, I had been too young when it had all happened… Alec stormed up to my father and took his shirt into a grip, making me widen my eyes and want to stop him. He put his hand out, glaring at me, “Oh! So…After all this time, now you’re a happy little family uh?” “We know what you do, you mongrel! You’ll go to prison sometime soon!” Alec moved closer to my father and I bit my lip… “Prison?” Alec smirked, “Then why am I not in prison now?” My father smirked back to him, “Just you wait!” Alec let go of my father and laughed loudly… He then…Looked at me and his eyes gave me pain… “I’m gone! Fuck standing here with you two pieces of shit!” My world suddenly shifted, in what I thought was a slow motion picture, was what became real. Breathing became hard for some reason, as I watched Alec slowly walking away…

The Bastards Pov "I really don't think it would be too much to ask if we could just have sex." This is a subheading... "Why can't she just let me have a damned shower with her!?" ...   That fucking fox! I hate her! Giving me that look like I’m not even worthy, or that she wouldn’t even care! I’ve had it! Walking into my own room, I pick up the phone and immediately called a girl that I hadn’t seen in a month or two. Hell, I can’t even remember what we did when I last saw her! I probably fucked her so hard that she’ll never forget me! All I know is, I was horny as fuck and I wanted to release myself from holding it in! That damned, hot, sexy fox! From all the times I held in my anger at her, I want to let it out! She’s driving me crazy! Perhaps, I should just force her. I’m a bad man, and I do bad stuff, so it’s not like it would ruin my image… “Honey!” Ah, a woman that wants me! “Stephanie! Where are you!?” “I’m home baby, come over!” I smile, yep, I’m coming! “Be there soon!”   Ducking into the shower and quickly dressing myself, I’m out in a jiffy, unable to stop myself. I needed some hot, sweltering pussy, to make me think properly again! Just as I was opening the garage and ready to get into the car, my man Jordan came running to me and I frowned. Nothing in particular should be happening, they had no special plans until the next week… “Boss! She’s gone!” I felt my heart skip a beat. ‘She’ could be anyone, yet, automatically a sweet, sexy image floated into my mind and I had to remind myself to stay cool. “I was just going to…” Jordan started, then stopped suddenly, I realized he was about to admit he was going to play before he was supposed to…But I wasn’t in the mood, wanting to immediately know who is ‘She’? “Spit it out!” I yelled, showing my terrible mood. “I was going to play but found one of the men guarding her room was unconscious and half way down the stairs. Who else could it be but that fox!? ‘She’ was Claire, the fox I trapped into that room! Hitting the wall, I grimaced, and wondered why it had taken her so long to make a move. It wasn’t like I didn’t known that she could get out, but now that she had and having two people close by to stop her if she did… “Alert everyone and look!” I said, running out of the garage and towards the room that would have footage about where she may be.   Looking at all the camera’s, it wasn’t hard to see her casually walking around. From one close up shot, to a camera that showed her again in the distance, then another where she was going to turn around the corner… She should show up in just one or two seconds… Four seconds…Ten seconds… “Last seen travelling near dock 23, coming from the South.” I watched as the team where running towards what the man beside him said and my impatience grew higher as the time of not seeing my fox anywhere grew as well. Where was she!? “Boss! She’s not here!” “Tch, tell them that she was seen there last and isn’t seen elsewhere!” I yelled. If she got away… Dammit! I forcefully hit the desk in front of me with both of my hands in anger. How dare she! A captive shouldn’t run away! “She’s not here boss!” Spreading out, the men were slowing going through the immediate area, then spreading further again, there was still no spotting of my fox! “Keep on looking!” I pointed and walked out, “Stay online and watch the exits!” I rushed down to the docks of locked spaces for people to put in items so that I could get their money, and saw a few people still looking…Obviously they hadn’t found her yet! This was just getting ridiculous!   Running straight towards where she suddenly disappeared, I look around and see nothing that others hadn’t seen. Where could someone hide here!? “Boss, the truck that was here to unload in dock ten is at the exit…” Picking up my walkie talkie, I sneer my words through it, “Start searching it! I’m on my way!” I ran the whole way towards the exit and came to see my fox being roughly pulled away from the truck…The damned, sneaky… She really had…If we hadn’t had stopped the truck, she would have been long gone… Never being this angry in my life, I take hold of her arm and leave. My men should know what to do, I didn’t raise a bunch of idiots, so I left without saying a word. My tight hold was not something that she was able to get out of and it gave me an ounce of pride. What seemed to ruin my pride though, was that once she accepted the fact that she couldn’t get away, she walked along side me as though she wasn’t taken captive. I didn’t like her like this, so easily accepting such things. What if she was taken by someone else, would she freely stay there too!? This question freaked me out a bit…Honestly, this fox was going to be the death of me if she was taken by someone else… She probably…Wouldn’t come back…   Did that mean I didn’t want to let her go? But wasn’t she a hindrance, someone that I was going to ransom off? I swear it! My head was playing up on me and going strange! Having silently walked all the way back to the room, I closed the door and pushed her against it. It was now time for punishment! Pushing myself into her soft flesh, I lifted one of her legs and kissed her angrily. She moved her head twice, but as I didn’t stop kissing her, she then stopped moving. Moving my hands to her bum I lifted her up and pushed even more against her, trapping her against the door. Forcing my tongue into her mouth, I didn’t get too much of a response as I sought out her sweet taste. Before I could help myself, I started to undress her, touching her sweet moulds and tasting them as well. As my kissing hardly stopped on a few parts of her body, neither did my stripping of her and myself. Seeing her buds look a cherry red and poking out like they couldn’t wait for me to suck on them again, I bent down to do just that. That’s when I heard it! I heard her moan. That was it, I was ecstatic and wild…It was such a beautiful sound to me, that I felt like I could pop my pants off me with my hard on!   (Author: Warning: Incoming sex scene) Having been already bare chested, only my pants remaining, it was probably one of the fastest times I had stripped them off! Picking her up once again, I rushed to feel her insides around my prized possession so much that I stood there afterwards in a strange fulfilment. Looking at her, she wasn’t smiling, but she was looking right back at me now. This sexy, little fox looked at me, like it was the first time. I felt like I had all of her attention, it was great! Pushing myself into her, I kissed her eagerly and found that she had locked her legs around my waist, making me even happier. It was…The biggest amount of reactions I’d seen from her so far! But that didn’t mind me at all…If sex was something that showed me all these reactions, then we’ll just have lots and lots of it! I felt her hands hold onto my hair and I pushed deeper into that hot, flesh that felt so bloody good… Having always used condoms while having sex, I never knew that being raw was such a huge difference…Although, I had to admit, her sweet flesh down there felt perfect…I wasn’t sure if it was because I was raw or because her pussy was made for my dick, that I felt so fucking good!   She moved her hips, after a few more thrusts and I growled out my pleasure. Pushing myself into her as much as I could, I heard her sweet moan once again! God, I wanted more! I tried to control myself, knowing it wouldn’t take long for me to finish, so I kissed her neck, took her earlobe into my mouth and played with one of her buds, to make her moan even more… I got that carried away with wanting to make her moan, that I suddenly released inside her, unable to hold it back in the slightest. Feeling her flesh tickle around me, as it became tighter, I used a lot of effort to bring her to her own climax, even though I had already achieved mine. My god! It was like my prized possession had found his one and only, as I could feel like I could keep going! I wasn’t normally one to cum so quick and be able to keep going afterwards. I could easily normally last two hours, cum and leave. But…My god! I pushed her against me, holding her tight, and went to the bed and continued to thrust myself inside her precious essence, not seeing any end to my desire…

Alec’s Pov I think I’m dying, tell her to calm down…No tell her to calm me down!   Putting my hand to the door, I heard noises. My heart was bounding so much that I felt my blood going throughout my whole body! I couldn’t even breath properly! This…Fox… She was still so fuckin gorgeous! How could I not take photos and steal footage of her!? What I hadn’t thought of, is that she would even come here! Didn’t she hate me? The door opened way before I was ready for it too and I suddenly had her in my arms! I took a deep breath and hugged her back. I didn’t care that I was determined to stay away from her right now! She was here! She came to this room! She saw…Well, who wouldn’t want to see all these pictures of them uh!? Feeling the bump between us, I pulled back and slowly fall to my knees. It wasn’t a picture, this was fuckin real! This was my baby! Looking up at her, I see her bit her lip but still look relatively emotionless. “Woman…Can I kidnap you and my child?”   That just sorta slipped out… I thought about it all the time! I want them with me! I never meant to say it, so I quickly got up and stood back, “It…Don’t…Ha…” But having been interrupted by her lips on mine, I totally kissed her back! Was it because I didn’t know what to say and this was the better option or was it because I absolutely love these lips!? I love these hips, this sexy ass, perfect breasts! Without even knowing, I had turned her around and put her onto the basin, kissing her all over like there was no tomorrow! “Alec.” My god, her voice saying my name was so fuckin hot! “Mmm?” “Alec.” On the verge of removing her top, she pushed her top back down, bringing me back to Earth, “What is it baby?” “I have to tell mum that I’m fine here.” I nearly stopped breathing, but, I let her words sink in and nodded really fast, “…Yes…Yes, tell mum.” Watching her like a hawk, she quickly kissed me and then went to the veranda, I somehow followed her like there was an invisible rope that connected us together. I wasn’t really listening to what was said, as I took her into my hands, feeling like I could breathe once again. After a while, she pushed me back inside the room and closed the veranda door. When I sat down on the bed, I watched with greedy eyes, how she sat on my lap and cuddled me as close as possible.   My sweet fox! Glady hugging her back, I couldn’t help my wandering hands and making me realize that she was here… She really was here! We were back home! Feeling her in my hands, in this room! Taking her lips with mine, I felt her kiss me back and it felt like heaven… All these months without her real self was harsh, all these days without her foxy self in my grasp! How many times I had wanted to kidnap these two! Removing her top completely this time, I felt like I was in a rush to get as much as I can, just in case she suddenly disappears again! But, I came to notice that she undressed me in the exact same manner…Was she… “Alec.” Dammit woman! Relieving my hard, prized possession from my pants, I hurriedly moved her undies aside, inserted myself inside her, unable to wait any further. And there it was, her moan… That moan came into my dreams all the time! Sometimes it had felt like a nightmare, showing me what I was going without, but sometimes it was…Much better! But, right now, it was real! I wasn’t using my hand! Her heat and slightly moisture pussy was around my prized possession…Ah! Fuck yes!   Even though my baby was in my way, I never wanted it out of my way either... Making love with her like this, made me even hotter for her, knowing that the child was mine! Leaning back now against the wall of the bed, I pushed her into me and then placed a hand over her enchanting body. Pride filled me up, making me feel like I hadn’t been a man before now…That was how different it felt. I never thought having sex with a woman who was impregnated with your child would be so fuckin brilliant! That is all it took for me to release inside her, having her moan her pleasure from it…But, dammit, I felt like all that pride for being man that I just gained, fucked off because it had only been a couple of minutes! Taking her off me, I made her go on her side and pushed myself into her from behind, feeling her hot, tightness around my prized possession once again…God dam! It was only ever this woman that would make me go on and on like there was no end to my desire! Only my sweet, loveable fox! “Claire.” I muttered into her ear, thrusting into her and feel her begin to tighten even more then she already was. I knew already, that she had not been with anyone, as I watched her nearly every day. But now, that I was inside her, it was like more evidence that I was her last and god, my thickness just grew even more! She was mine!   Hearing her say my name and feel her climax, I groaned and thrust as deep as I could into her, trying to make her tremble and never to forget! That I was her man! Her hand had gone around mine, and after some time she relaxed her grip on it and I slowed down. Taking her hand with mine, I put it onto our child and I kissed her neck. She moved her face to mine and I thrust into her as I took her lips with mine… Kissing her, tasting her, even biting her lip, I felt like I could do this all day…Yet…I also wanted more… My greedy hand went to her higher leg and I moved it higher towards her, although I couldn’t go too far. But…It was still good! Then I put my hand to her clit and gently rubbed it…Ah, there… Her moans floated with wings towards my ears and I was eager to get her to cum once again… I hadn’t waited for her last time…But this time… Come on baby, I already want to cum again! Trying hard to hold it in, I trust deeply into her to bring her closer, but it was really taking its toll on me! “Claire.” I whispered to her ear. I was supposed to come out as a question or whatever, but that was all that came out…Besides that of my cum…As I was unable to wait any longer!   Just as I groaned out, I felt her also climax and I tensed up, feeling even more fuckin amazing… As I finished, and she was still in the middle of hers, I kissed her and forced myself to continue, shuddering with every small movement… Fuck! Feeling her finally stop, I stopped too…Not moving at all! Both of us breathing heavily, I slumped my head beside hers and before I put her leg down, I put my leg in between hers. I wasn’t going to let her get away! Putting my free hand to our baby, I snuggled further into her. “I’m not letting you go.” I mumbled quietly. “…I don’t want to go…” Uh? Really? “What?” I looked up at her, seeing her looking straight back at me. Fuck! Pictures were nothing compared to the real thing! “I love you.” I widen my eyes to realizing my own words, I looked away, completely mortified to what I just did! …Did I just say that!? Leaning over her slightly, I feel her not moving. Should I look at her…But what if she… Yeah, I’m fucked now!   As I was in hell, wondering if she had heard my words or how to take them back, I felt her hand go to my face and I looked at her then. She…Smiled… I let out a strange, quick word, “…Uh…” She…Smiled! What a great smile! All the pride that I lost, returned at full force! I got her to smile! Yes! I couldn’t help it, I smiled back like a goof ball. What a mission! I hadn’t ever really seen her smile and…Ahh, my fox! She then moved her head, pushing my head down to her and I thought she was going to kiss me, but she went to my ears instead. “…I love you too.” The world completely stopped, I swear! I let out a quick breath and blinked…Several times… Did that really happen!   I looked at her, to see her go back to showing her normal face, but her eyes were skittering around. Again…A strange noise escaped, “…Uh…” So…Was she nervous or embarrassed right now? I smiled once again, then cuddled into her. Actually, I don’t know if I did this for her or me, but we were silent and we just fiddling with each other’s hands. I felt like I was on top of the world. I had my woman and my kid. I was still inside her heat and on my bed… I couldn’t help it, the happiness that I felt made me feel so tired. Having been so used to not having her around, and not getting a good sleep. It was like all my worries were put to rest and so was I! All I could manage, was one more soft kiss against her neck, before I fell into a deep, happy sleep. My fox is back!

The Bastards Pov *He’s too busy to care about what he is called*   I glared at her, not wanting her to take this power feeling off me, but…She glared right back! She was so gorgeous! How could I be so mad and excited at the same time!? I couldn’t decide on whether I was more mad or more excited… “I have abandoned my family, I am of no use to you.” I beg to differ little fox, you are of great use to me! Yet, even though I was excited about her 'usefulness', I narrowed my eyes at her, still not liking how she glared at me and thinking she could try to change her situation by words…She was mine already! Her glare and words were nothing! Yet, her glare was so dam hot! I walked up to her, knowing I had to show her who was boss, and said, “It’s not your choice!” I heard her cute, little yelp and held my satisfied smile in, until we had passed both of my men still in the room. I couldn’t show her how satisfied I was, so I made sure I stayed ahead of her, but my plan was already in motion! I took her to an empty room and put her in it, already liking her new title of mistress! This was going to be her room, until I’ve had enough of her, then she could venture back to mummy and daddy! How great would it be if they found out their daughter had been played with by their enemy!?   I couldn’t wait to fulfil this newly formed idea…The idea of her making my dreams a reality sounded great! She looked so cute, looking around, that I couldn’t hold it in any longer, I made her turn to me and put my lips where they burned to be! Even though she didn’t let me put my tongue in her mouth, I was still enjoying myself. My hands seemed to have a mind of their own, like they also had this primal need of having her in them… I bit her lip, wanting more, needing more and heard her grunt, only making me take her more freely. I explored her mouth and pushed her into me more. It just wasn’t enough, I put my hand into her clothes, sighing to feeling her flesh and she took that moment to get out of my hold. Suddenly, I felt a certain pain on my cheek, startling me out of my desire and need. She slapped me!   I put a hand up to my chin, then narrowed my eyes at her. “You bastard…You take me hostage for three months and think you can just continue to have your way with me?” Staring at her, I found myself a little upset to her not being angry…Her voice didn’t show any kind of anger at all, the only anger I had gotten, was the slap…And the name calling… What was wrong with little fox? I fully expected her to have her hands on her hips, but she ended up walking away in a leisurely manner, like the kiss was nothing… What the hell! She was so different to the eleven-year-old her, that I met years ago. I had already wanted to start getting revenge when I was fourteen, having learnt how to use a gun and Martial Arts. But…When I had walked right up to the little girl, she was just so innocent that I couldn’t lay one hand on her. I hadn’t been ready to touch another person and snuff out their life…So, I had to take a step back and figure out what I was going to do…Since then, I hadn’t really ended anyone’s life, all I do is take them and give them back, and most of the time in a better position then they were when they were taken…It really did surprise me that she was a Peterson and yet all I wanted to do was roll around in bed with her. Didn’t I want revenge? Wait, instead of the plan of just taking her and sending her back with having been laid by the enemy, how about I take revenge to how they had treated my mother and impregnate the fox instead!? There, revenge and rolling around in bed in one! Sounds great!   I was silent, as I watch her walk into the bathroom and nod at the toothbrush. Then she took her clothes off… I hungrily took in her naked body, before it disappeared into the shower. I swallowed and wanted to join her, desperately… I took two steps, then heard her voice, as she started to sing… A smile showed itself on my face, without me realizing, and I stood there for a moment, listening to a voice that could not pass as a singer at all. Strangely, I didn’t care, her voice was fearless, like she hadn’t been captured three months ago, like she hadn’t just been forcibly kissed by me…She sounded fine… I took a deep breath in, feeling like something was wrong with her. Was this an act? How does she expect me to act in return? I smiled, as I came up with what she might be thinking… I guessed she wanted me to leave, by pretending I wasn’t around, instead…I went into the bathroom and took of my clothes off too! I wasn’t going anywhere! As it was, something hard and wanting to penetrate, was still ever so keen to stay!   When I got into the shower with her, she had momentarily gone still, staring at me like she had no idea why I would be there… I put my hands up to her hair and helped her wash the shampoo already in it. Actually, I was really grateful that she was already used to this. I wanted her to feel comfortable here, I wanted her nice and clean…After all, she would taste better that way! After I had put my hands to her head, she had turned away from me, but I had seen her front for a good few seconds…Ah! Woman! Let me take you! I pushed her under the water and helped take out the shampoo and while she did the conditioner, I got the soap and excitedly went over her body, ‘washing’ her all over. Geez! I don’t think I could get much harder! I nudged myself into her, wanting her to take notice, I want her to shower me with a look of want…Yes, I want her to want me! But…She just continued to wash her hair and then rinse out the conditioner… The taps stopped suddenly, and then she attempted to get out, but I didn’t want to let her! Taking her naked body in my arms, I kissed her shoulder, slowly making my way to her neck. Come on baby, can you feel how much I want you?   “I’m getting cold.” Her voice was the same, like she was not phased in the least. She was…Cold. Literally and emotionally, she was cold… I let her go and saw that she took a towel and started to dry herself off. Why did I let her go? Dammit! I put a hand through my wet hair and wondered what was wrong with me…I had the biggest hard on I’ve ever had, and I let the naked girl in my arms go!? What the fuck is that!? Bloody, freaking, stupid idiot! When she finished trying herself, I stamped out of the shower and then demanded, “Now dry me!” She looked amused at my behaviour and just throw the towel at me instead, in which the towel fell to the floor. “If you will deny me sex, then at least dry me off!” I couldn’t believe it! Just take her, what the fuck are you waiting for!? But, she was like the bridge I had to jump over, or the problem I couldn’t solve, I somehow felt I needed her approval… It was so much easier with other girls, they wanted my hot body! This one didn’t seem to show anything! I didn’t know what to do! Fuck! I want her so damned much! “Fine!”   I widened my eyes and looked at her, while she picked up the towel and started to roughly dry me. Haha, she was missing some areas!   What got to me the most, was how she was taking this, she didn’t show a good or bad face. She just did as she was told…What the hell!? Looks like I might have to work hard to coax this little fox into showing something. I found myself eager in wanting to see her angry and sad, I wanted to see her cry and laugh. I didn’t know I was that much of a sadist! What will I do? Perhaps I could get her some flowers or chocolate, the girls love that! But wait, shouldn’t I make her mad first? Perhaps I could…Dam, what is ganna make her mad though? She didn’t even care much that she had been confined in a room for three months, she hadn’t run away when she could have… I had to admit, I was completely lost on what would make her mad… Fine! I’ll just be extremely annoying!

Alec’s Pov “No! He’s the bastard!” …The Bastard’s Pov   “Get them back!” I yelled, obviously letting them know I was angry over people escaping from my hands! It wasn't like I treated the imbecile's terribly...Why are they in such a rush to get away from here!? Half of the people within that room, that I'd locked them into, were bad news or low life's! As it was, I wanted to get something out of them to keep my hatred at bay...But end up finding jobs for them instead! Do they not hear any of the news of others getting out of there? ...Suppose not... Dammit, that little fox! That little thief wanted to run away uh!? I put a hand through my hair and waited for the man to rewind the recording to when all of the people had vacated the huge room that I kept them all in. I knew I could have ransomed her off ages ago, knowing that she was Claire Peterson…But, I remembered her hair and how she flipped it, when she had attempted to steal my wallet…Her cheeky smile… Upon her capture and seeing her take off her hoodie, I had been captured instead. I had been looking for this fox since she escaped the strippers joint!   I had looked around, upon finding out that she had worked at many strip joints and that in two of them, she had been fired for stealing, but never was told that she was fired! Because she would leave on her own accord! I didn't know whether I was madder at either the potential of other men seeing her like a prostitute or that I hadn't found her! The fire in her eyes invaded my dreams, making me have to relieve myself or douse myself in cold water! I can’t decide whether I should just stay up or sleep all day! No woman had ever had so much power over me! I just wanted to take that power and make it my own instead. Make her my sex slave and instead of using my hand, another woman or cold water to get rid of my desire, I wanted her to do it instead! Sometimes, I absolutely love it, remembering how she had looked so sexy and heating me up like I was standing on burning, hot coals! Then...Sometimes I hated it! She made me fuck up sometimes with my work and it made me angry! I can't seem to decide whether I should let her remain or leave...So, I let her stay in that room! Ah! For three months, I was unable to ransom her off, just cowardly watching her from time to time on the recorded or real-time video…   I watched, as she magnificently did something to the door and stood there, preoccupied with something other than her freedom. She took my whole attention, everything…I already wanted to ask her how she did it, what was it she had, why didn’t she just run off straight away!? Why did she act like a servant, showing the rest of the people the way out!? I was practically drowning in my questions and want for her, that I had forgotten I’d lost her… When she went out of the camera’s eyes, I abruptly stood up, breaking out of my thoughts, and went down to the room without saying a word. “Stella?” I heard Craig say, but I continued, walking past the now locked room with people they had caught once again. Strangely, half of them hadn’t really gone far, like they finally noticed that they had nowhere to go…And the other half thought their freedom had come, after so long, and they ran like the wind. …I checked the first door, not finding the little fox. “Nah, doesn’t ring a bell mate.” I heard Craig say, as I tried the next door, checking behind the weights and some gym equipment. I continued checking each and every room, as Craig followed me. “He’s picking up the rest of the people that have tried to get away, but I’ll come and check it out. Just keep an eye on her, just in case!” Craig simply states, “I’ll just be going to the entertainment room, boss.” I grunt and check the next door, which happens to lead towards the entertainment room. For crying out loud, where was she!? She didn’t know this place at all, how could she find her way out!?   I was 27 and the owner of a warehouse, but I also had a farm out in the middle of nowhere. I didn't spend a lot of time in the city, unless I had too. My business was fine, even though the farm end of things were getting harder to endure with all the raising costs and changes going on in the world. But my warehouse was a storage place for the people out of the city and that seemed to help me keep a float and 'look' like I was financially satisfied... But...I had gotten two lots of ransoms...Yeah, I felt bad afterwards...And the kids were great to hang around. Sometimes...I didn't know whether I was bad or good... I treated the people I kidnapped more closer to guests then people who should be completely confined like that of jail, making sure they ate and bathed properly every day. I give some of them jobs, especially on the farm, and with some of the storage that had been left behind years ago, that I now owned but didn't want, I was able to give it to them to help em out. …I want to think, ‘Yo, the Peterson’s killed your father and raped ya mum, you have every right to kidnap them!’ But…They weren’t all Peterson’s…Some were homeless, young or jobless people, who were totally unrelated to the Peterson’s whom also have a farm, but instead of a warehouse, they had an old restaurant… So…Why are they here!? Yeah, I ask myself that a lot! It’s practically become my full-time job to give others full time…Whatever…   I’d say it’s because of vengeance for my mother being kidnapped and gang raped. Or the sadness that I had to my mother’s suicide when I was nine and the loss of my father, because of a bullet in his head, when I was ten…But... Perhaps it’s my ego…Nah…Maybe it’s because I’m such a good bloke! I remember someone I’d kidnapped, who I had eventually helped, had stated it was just a strange way of looking after people…I went mad and punched him, but he put his hands up stating he wasn’t being nasty about it! Yeah, I still didn’t like it, so before I left him, I punched him once more just because… The two kids I ransomed, had come back secretly once or twice and we had lunch or dinner together and I caught up on what they were doing. I was taking one of the kids to the farm, during their next school holidays, because they wanted to play with the animals... I wanted to say no, but she seemed to like me, giving me a whole new level of feeling like a man! Of course, I let her! I've already told the farm she was going and that they better be bloody nice to her! The warehouse, where I was now, was pretty big, and mostly where I worked from. It was closer to Newcastle, as the farm was more in land...   When I finally made it to the entertainment room, I was angered more into seeing my men just standing there when the little fox was still missing, “What’s going on!? I know they aren’t all caught yet and your standing here like worthless shits!” “Boss!” “Boss.” Then I finally set my eyes inside the room to see her, I became relaxed immediately. Not wanting to show how much better I felt, I scoffed, remembering my anger... “Ah! There you are!” I said, walking up to her, this cheeky little thing. She was here all this time uh? Didn’t she want to run away? Was she happy eating biscuits? “She says her name is Stella.” One of the guys said, but I wasn’t really paying much attention. I was just glad she hadn’t gotten away. But what was I to do now!? She had already been locked up and I knew I didn’t want her to leave just yet… Right…I can’t get her to leave until I have her. I need to taste her! I can’t send her away without taking her at least once! And, I felt pretty good, seeing her making herself at home, in my warehouse. I was pretty proud of this place, having it like a gathering place for my pals and a few others that stop by from time to time... Having decided on a different, but same type of plan of detaining the little fox, I felt better, like I’d found some kind of power! And I needed her to know I had power! That I knew who she was and that I was the boss! “Her name is Claire Peterson…Eldest child of Joe Peterson and Kathleen Peterson, sister of Collin Peterson, who is now fifteen years old, nine years younger than his elder sister. Born on March 18th, ran away at twelve years of age and her parents couldn’t find her…” “Ok, ok, I get it. You have some kind of quarrel with Peterson’s and you want to use me?” …Cheeky…

Alec’s Pov   Man, I felt like the biggest idiot in the world! I had forgotten my father, my home and had not been able to protect my mother…I had even tried to get justice for the man who had killed my unborn sibling… Shock…I was in shock… I was also disappointed in myself… How the hell had I thought that arsehole was my father and that he deserves justice, was completely beyond me! But I could no longer hide the scary part that was hidden inside of me… …It had been me! I had shot him! I vaguely remember that night now. It was raining and scary. I was blaming him, crying loudly, and I was so angry…So angry! Having had a nightmare about the past of my mother, I think I had been somewhat still half asleep, and in my memories, because I had already forgotten the past, not long after my mum died. I knew where the gun was, because he had threatened us with it. I hadn’t known how to use it and when he had laughed at me and went to stand up, that was when it worked, and I had shot him. I couldn’t even see properly, not only was I crying, but I felt like it was just a dream. To be honest, I don’t even think much happened after that, I’m pretty sure I fainted or something… The next thing I knew, I was back to thinking I was that man’s kid and thinking someone had shot him from the Peterson’s… …It was no wonder that everything was wrong and that I had wanted to forget…   Seeing my mum’s body in so much blood…That had been enough to set me off and rage against the so-called father and that had been when I was hit over the head, losing my memories. All this time, I had blamed the Peterson’s because of my so-called father, who had continuously berated them all the time and even stated that his life could be taken, and I had somehow believed that too be true when I had lost my memories. But that was not how it went at all! My mother was forced to be with my so-called father, having me as a hostage, because I had followed her all the way to that villain's house! My mother tried to save me as best as she could, but when she lost her unborn child, she fell into depression and the villain had used that to say that she had suicided…When in fact, he had killed her! I had been so scared and frightened after that. He hit me and abused me! He yelled at me and treated me like crap…No wonder I forgot it! No wonder…I took his life… Not long after this, I do find out that the so called father had a disorder that could have helped explain his actions but I do not change my mind from thinking that he was cruel…My real dad was really my saviour, having to have come save me from being the suspect of the murder, by cleaning up after my young self…But, again, I don’t hear of this yet and my shock leads me into guilt and that of just feeling overwhelmed… All these thoughts led me to also think of why I never shot my fox in the past, when she had been eleven… Perhaps in the depths of my mind, I had already known that the girl was someone I knew and would never actually want to ever shoot her in my wildest dreams!   Bringing my fox to me, I cuddled her silently and was so very glad that I had never taken her life. She was someone that I never wanted to do without now and I tightened my arms around her because of these thoughts. Feeling her arms around me helped me too, but I couldn’t help letting out a tear to my own fortune and misfortune. My mother, my unborn brother or sister, my…Father… How had he lived all these years? Not wanting to move from this position of being in my fox’s arms, I still wondered if he was here, “Dad?” “Yeah, son?” “…Did you…” “Did I try to save you? Of course…Do you remember when your mother lost…Our child?” Oh… “And he sent pictures to me of your bruises…Son, I wanted you all back desperately, but I was not going to gamble your lives…As it was…” The short huff and steps walking away, only made me sadder. Our family had forever changed when that man came and took mum. Our family… Tightening my arms around my fox, I couldn’t help but let out a sob. Why couldn’t he had let mum go when she had fallen into depression? Because she had lost her charisma, or whatever it was that he had yelled at her, he didn’t even think of returning us to where we belonged…No…He just killed her instead, stating that if he can’t have her, then no one was going to… Feeling hands stroke my back and feeling myself rock slightly from side to side, only made things worse and I felt a tear go down my cheek… Man…I wasn’t a person that cried but… Right now…I wasn’t able to hold them back… Finally, I knew the truth…And once again, I was mourning for my dead mother and unborn sister or brother. Cruel! That man was so cruel!     Opening my eyes, I see…The most beautiful thing that I had ever laid my eyes on. Stretching out my hand, I lightly move some hair out of my fox’s face. A small smile reached my lips as I couldn’t believe that I had already known of Claire, even before she was eleven. She was a brat back then too, a real snot nosed shithead! She was a nasty bitch, but fuck, I seemed to still have liked her even back then! Why!? Moving closer to her and pushing her towards me more, I felt like that perhaps we were fated. Fated to have met when little kids, then big kids and then as adults. That maybe, she had always been mine and I had always been hers. Hang on just a second! Opening my eyes wide, I suddenly remembered that…When she was eleven…She had no idea who I was! Even several months ago! She hadn’t remembered me! Why you little shit! How could you forget about me! Pinching my fox’s nose, I see her flinch and I let go, unable to bare seeing her in discomfort. Glaring at her, I also added a few silent curses to her memory! But dam…She’s so…Cute when she’s sleeping…   “Your awake?” My own father’s voice…My dad… “Shh!” I stare at my fox, seeing if she had woken up…But…It looks like she continued to sleep… Hang on…Shouldn’t I wake her! She forgot about me! How about I forget she’s there and accidentally stretch and oops! Oh sorry! Haha! Sighing, all I could do is let her be. Very carefully, I got out of her embrace and looked around. I picked a direction, pretty sure that the toilet was that way and to my surprise and happiness, I found it! Awesome!   Being there two days, the days had passed so quick that we didn’t realize that we had no clothes and had things that we should be doing. Claire had called her mother and the warehouse, but I should have been there today for some supplies for the farm… Oh well… It’s not everyday that you met your father, that hadn’t been thought of as a father for over ten years… Actually, I came to realize that my dad was a bit like my fox…And I was apparently much like my mum…Well, when she wasn’t kidnapped and all. Even though we hadn’t spent much time together, and he didn’t talk too much, I knew I was very much invited to stay from then on. That he, my real father, did want to spend time with me once again. Well...He always had wanted to spend time with me, but me, a fuckwit, had misheard him and then found him strange and things led to thinking that he was not fully there in the head and that he was gay...Whatever...It's in the past... I’ll never tell him and he doesn’t need to know! Yet, if it wasn’t for getting used to my fox’s way of not showing much emotions, I may never had realized this with my father’s behavior the way it was. What a bloody coincidence! The other problem was…I didn’t like that we were on a sofa bed and in a small loundroom area…So we couldn’t…You know…Get it on like fucking rabbits or whatever… It got annoying actually, my hard on’s were not easily satisfied! Why…Why did she have to look so fucking gorgeous!?   Upon leaving my father’s house, in which was also my house…Yet…Anyway! My father came with me to Claire’s house and we all were getting out of the car when the old grump came out and glared at me. Rolling my eyes, I walked over to my fox and towards him. “Joe.” “Alec.” Staring at each other, I never lowered my guard. That’s right, this old grump was a foe that I had to defeat… Not only do I have to apologize and say I was wrong, but…He was my fox’s father! And…I have to do it in the best, most manly way possible! “Alec…” Seeing my fox stand in front of the old grump, I was diverted and lost my glare, which turned into a happy, flirtatious smile. Hearing a car door shut behind us, I then heard my father’s voice again, “Joe.” My daddy…I gained a dad…Thank god he wasn’t mad at me! Actually, maybe I should be mad at him! But…He probably did try to save us… Snuggling into my fox’s neck, I sighed and tried not to think of the past. “Allan…I…Take this as he finally remembers, uh?” I don't like this old grump’s voice! “Mmm.” I swear I heard the old grump hiss, “Well you weren’t ganna tell him, you coward!” Uh? I was completely surprised with how the old grump talked to my father. “Hey! Lighten up pal, I was getting the courage!” Grumbling was heard from both of the older men, yet they were both walking towards the shed. “So, they are still friends.” “Have they been friends for a long time?” My fox asked. I nodded, “You, you little fox, I knew you when you were three!” Tapping her on her nose, she looked away, “I was a brat.” “Yes…You were!” “Wait! Do you remember a book I used to have, about a cute, little fox…I remember the story, but I can’t remember the title, I wanted to read it to the baby. But I can’t find it…” I smiled, yeah…I remember. I was the one that gave her a book about a cute, little fox! Right, when I had seen it, it was like it was already hers...That the book was made specifically for my fox!

For Mature Audiences only!   Stella’s Pov And what exactly is my point of view! Fuck, what am I doing!?   I couldn’t believe it…Everyday…That is my thoughts…I can’t believe it. But do I do anything? No…I stay here, I stay here in this room. Had I lost it completely? Two more months had gone by and I am even able to use a computer now, but there were other changes as well. That damned…Bastard…Takes me every day…And I let him. I can’t help it! After attempting to run away and he taking me that first time, my swirling emotions were confusing and I didn’t know the way up anymore. I felt like I was in the sea, getting smashed upon waves, upon waves, endless fucking waves, and unable to get to the top of the water to take a breather! He seemed to soak up any kind of rationality about me, that may come, and slam me back into the ocean full of big waves! I was trying to understand how going this far with someone seemed to be like an ice breaker…Was it the same with other people too? But…That’s what it had become…   After that day, we have had several conversations and had even spent time together watching normal movies…And…How did I get as far as telling him a bit of my past? …How had it gone so far? Yet, as soon as I start to question things, he would be back, and we would continue like this was our own little island. We were by ourselves, with no interruptions, and civilization was far off into the distance. His smile was itched into my memory now, hell even his low gruff laughter was as sexy as hell! Even the times he had actually taken me out and we had done something outside, I had thought of running away, but had never made the move to put thoughts into action! What the hell was wrong with me?“Hey baby! Miss me?” I turned to see him come through the door, smiling, making me forget my rational thoughts once again. I showed a light smile and didn’t look away from him as he took off his business suit. I’ve grown very accustomed to his body…It really was something that now truly turned me on, just by looking at it. “Come here.” I heard him order…Yet, I did as he said and got up. I knew what he wanted, he also seemed to know what I wanted. I liked undressing him and then going for a shower with him. It’s what we did most of the time when he first came back from work…   I knew what foreplay was, and I believed that our foreplay was as easy as undressing someone and taking a shower. It was hard accepting this part of myself, on how easy I was for him to take me upon that bed and thrust himself inside me so many times that it nearly hurt…But I had no choice… I felt good to undress such a man, one that desired me for who I was, one that showed me that I was someone he seemed unable to get enough of… Having seen this part of myself, I was astounded, but again, there was nothing I could do about it. I wanted him to continue to show me how much he desired me, and I wanted that to continue because it made me feel good… “Mmm.” He grunted as I put my hands against his bare chest. He put his hands on my waist and pushed me into him, making me already happy to know he wanted me. I now answered his kisses, and he even kisses me often even if we weren’t having sex. This time, he bent down, and I got on my tippy toes to met up with him, as he pushed my head towards him too. Suddenly, I was moved against the door and he pushed me up to him and continued to kiss me while undressing both of us. A few times now, we hadn’t even made it to the shower…It looked like we wouldn’t make it this time either…   “Baby, you feel so good.” I heard him say. I slightly nodded my head, but was unable to talk, still captured by how much pleasure that I was feeling already. Sex had never played a role in my life, but now that I knew how great it felt, I wondered how I’d lived without it for so long! He slowly pulled back, then thrust himself inside of me once again and I let out a moan and did something that had become somewhat of a habit now…I bit his ear a bit. Only twice had I made his ear bleed, but every time, he doesn’t seem to mind… Our breathing started to become more rapid as our bodies started to feel the sensation crawling up on us. I knew when he was close, I knew how to make it even more pleasurable for him as well. He liked it when I grabbed his balls, nearly making him shudder too much that he would come close to falling to the ground! I felt great that I seemed to have so much power over him, something that helped myself climax even quicker in return. As he stood there, breathing heavy, I clung to him in my heavily breathing state as well. He’d only been back about twenty minutes and they had already had a round… Two months and they were still as they were the first few times that they had sex! Was there a time that we would slow down, like old people? Or were we never to get enough of each other? “Baby…” “Mmm…”   I looked at him and he looked back at me, staring right into the depths, like he wanted to reach the very core of my soul. The silence surrounding us felt a little different then usual, but this wasn’t the first time I had found him suddenly do this…It was just becoming more often… What does he want? I put a hand to his face and try to figure it out. He leaned into me then, lightly kissing me, gently caressing my cheeks and making me feel different. Most of the time, he had hard, rough sex…But recently, he had gone to be gentle sometimes, and it was…Different. I wasn’t too sure why it was different, but it was. For some reason, I liked both types. The rush of rough, hard sex was really great, yet, the slow way was more intense. When I climaxed…It was earth shuddering! He took a tight hold of me and carried me to the bed, then started to touch me gently, along with his kisses. It was a great tease, as now he had separated our lower halves, I knew he would not reunite us back together again until I begged him for it. I was putty in his hands!   And again, over an hour or two later, another supreme type of climax over took me, making me tremble nearly everywhere. When he released shortly afterwards, I was still trembling and dazed… “Baby…” I mumbled something, not too sure what it was, as I looked back at him. His stare was starting to become more intense, and again he caressed my cheek. What did that look actually mean? He lowered himself down and kissed me then and I was becoming even more curious to what he was thinking. When he mumbled something himself, after he laid himself down and cuddled into me, I was starting to wish I had heard what he had said. From when I had first met him, to when I had seen him the second time…To now…He was different. Was this good or bad? Should…Should I be worried? Feeling him start to kiss my neck, I tightened my arms around him and turned to look at him. He put a hand around my waist and another to the back of my head as he pushed himself into me once again and started to gently kiss me. I forgot any kind of questions I had, as sweet sensations ran through me once again. But, I knew, things were starting to be different, that things were changing, I just didn’t understand what it was!

Stella’s Pov *Too bored to say anything*   I had been in this room for a week now…A week and normally it’s fine, but when that bastard comes in, he’s all…Clingy and stuff. He has dinner with me every night and makes a big deal that I eat everything on my plate! He had showers with me, but I ended up waiting until he is gone now, to shower instead. He sleeps with me, even though I randomly push him off the bed…But, having done that several times now, and all he does is scramble back up and take me tightly into his arms, so...I gave up. Ok, whatever… He buys me chocolates and demands me to eat them straight away, he puts on porn and winks at me… Ah, if he wants it so bad, then just do it! To be honest, I’m starting to go crazy, even though he was only with me for about twelve hours a day, and that included sleeping! But, isn’t that what he wants? To sleep with me? I really did wonder if that was all it took for him to fuck off! It was that much of an idea that I was wondering if I should try to ‘flirt’ with him, to get it under way…   So, I was trying to decide whether to get it over and done with or not… Feeling a strange urge to go through with it and do that flirting thing a go...But...I’m waiting for him to return to me, as he normally comes around six in the evening. But, as six rolled by, and my dinner not yet served. I tried not to care that I was getting hungry. They only leave in some fruit and one packet of chips daily, otherwise, main meals were sent at allocated times. The main meals were actually quite impressive! Not in the five-star restaurant type of impressive, but homely. I’ve had the easy bangers and mash, then the potato bake or macaroni with chicken snitzel, veges and then a good decent steak on the side… To be honest, I was getting slightly used to it now, I have had it for over three months and wondered if I should go and see this ‘cook’ and steal their cookbook… But, I hated this at the same time, that this has gotten to me. I was used to eating one meal a day, and at one point, that one meal a day was stolen from the streets. I had gotten to a point where I hadn’t gotten much, so anything extra was just greatly appreciated. But now…I was getting used to it… My tummy made noises and I cringed…Starting to really think that I should get out of here. Perhaps I’ve already been here too long!   I didn’t like the idea that people could control my life. I know I was captured and detained and all. But I wanted to feel like I let them… It was coming to a point where…If I felt like I could leave, where the fuck would I go? I eat well here, I sleep…Well, ok I don’t sleep all that well with a such a sexy man beside me…But…I am not getting hurt, I don’t need money… Sighing, I went out into the very small veranda and watched over the whole heap of storage areas that people used. Only one lot of people were there at the moment, which made me wonder if this type of business was even worth doing. Did he really not have to worry about things financially? I knew that he must spend a lot of money on food…Where did he get it all from!? Holding onto my arms, I felt a slight breeze make my hair slightly tickle my shoulders. It was getting colder, and I had no extra clothes. Having been able to use a clean pair of jail type grey clothing and having the clothes I came with get washed magically nearly every day, I pondered over a conversation that I had with the bastard earlier that week.   I had asked for some other clothing, because it was getting cold and I didn’t like the cold. But all he said in return, was to use the grey clothing to keep me warm. Fair enough I could…I had too much pride to go more in-depth about it. I didn’t want to care…Or...I didn't want to show that I cared. He ended up saying that he doesn’t want to spend heaps of cash on clothes unless they are given to him for free or cheaply. Was he really such a hard ass with money? Just one or two long sleeve shirts would be great…But, like hell I’m ganna ask for them. No…What I should be doing is getting out of here…This place seems to start looking a little different and it even started to scare me. Before staying here, I was running, and I told myself that if I liked it here, it was because I wasn’t running anymore and now I could lazily do nothing. But…I had the strangest feeling that I was making excuses. That, even though I was detained, I felt safe and secure here. I felt…Fine… What the hell! I’ve never had a home, really, yet this place! This is getting ridiculous! Sighing again, I started to play with my precious and wondered if I should get out tomorrow, take another look around. Perhaps then I can come to some kind of idea on what I’m feeling… ...Feeling arms go around me suddenly, I had the strange urge to lean into this embrace…I was starting to want it, desire it…Need it. Right…I’m losing it! I have to go do some play tomorrow, before I really do follow through with this idea!   "Miss me?" I heard his manly voice through my ears and felt like this voice was not as annoying as I had thought previously…Was that yet another thing that I had made up as an excuse? "No." I said. Why would I miss him? I just want food... "You’re a nasty bitch." But even though his words were nasty, he gently took my earlobe into his mouth and I got slightly caught up in the feeling. It was starting to get harder and harder to act like my usual self around him. I didn't want to be different, yet, I knew I felt different and it was starting to be something I couldn't control! It was someone I wasn’t used to, how could it be me? How could I like it here? How do I not want to leave? I was turning into… Since coming here, I may have showered with him, but I know I stopped for another reason...I was starting to feel self conscious about myself... Did I look pretty? Should I do something to make myself look sexier, like walk differently or pop out my hip? I had never really thought of myself like that, and when those questions started entering into my mind, I felt strange, so I couldn't do anything but stop showering with him from then onwards. Now, having him touch me in a slightly ticklish spot and having the cooler air go over where his mouth went, nearly made me let out a noise... Why couldn't I just continue to be my usual self!? Why was I changing!? I didn't want to understand! I didn't want to care! ...But, some deep place inside of me knew, that this person was becoming someone important and it was scaring the hell out of me!   I slapped him away and walked around him to go back inside. I see the time, seeing it only being ten past six now...I couldn't even wait ten minutes anymore... There were just way too many reasons to get away from here... When I felt hands around me, they were undressing me, and I stopped them. "What baby? I just want to shower with you. We hadn't had a shower together for two days." The bastard’s words were not only cute because he was pouting, but I felt slightly shaken to the fact that he had been counting. Two days, so much can happen in two days. One time I got a job and two days later I was getting scars because I had gotten caught by the police. I was still young back then and they had gotten someone that had no 'relation' to the boss to come and get me out of lockup. Luckily, they found out that I hadn't said anything about them, so they hadn't killed me. I knew this...Because they rammed that into me so hard that I was lying in bed for two weeks, practically unable to move. Never tell anyone about the boss... Just in two days... Sighing, I felt like I was getting a bit of my normal self back, when I had this short thought. I don't care if it's been two days, I don't care if he's counting. I don't...Want to care...   "Come and have a shower with me." I looked straight at him, not showing any of the conflicted thoughts that I've had in the last couple of days and simply said, "No." I watched him narrow his eyes at me, then push me into the wall. "Then...I will just go elsewhere!" Suddenly, he grabbed his jacket and left, and I stood there in a daze... I calmed my breathing and tried to calm my thoughts...I didn't want to know where he went instead...I didn't want to know what he was going to do or if he was going to come back... I don't want to know...I don't want to know! Before I knew it, I was taking out my precious and getting out of that room!

Claire’s Pov “I said it’s Stella for…” …Stella’s Pov   Click! Awesome, bout bloody time! I grab out my precious and put it around my wrist. It was a strange, small metal that could revert from being a long piece that was about a ruler long, to something that could go around someone’s wrist. It was my precious…And it was a little too tight… I fixed it up, so that it wasn’t stopping the blood going into my hands, and then finally looked up again. About thirty people that had been trapped into this room for about three months, had rapidly run out, upon my opening the door. Such a rush… Putting my hands out, as to show them the way out, I waited until they were done. I leisurely walked out, seeing most of them travel together and decided to take the opposite way. I was pretty sure we were only going to get caught, but I was already bored. I had memorized ten people’s security numbers and home addresses and heard enough stories for now. I just wanted to have a different scenery for a change. As I walked with my hands in my oversized hoodie, I saw someone race towards me. I take out a hand and wave at him, and he looked at me in confusion. I raised my eyebrows and he gave a slight nod as he continued on. What an idiot…He’s probably looking for people like me…   People like me…I mean people that had practically been put in a huge room for three months, like that of a jail. I didn’t have much problem with the food and being able to shower and all, but really, why was I there in the first place!? My last name came up often enough, but I hadn’t been home in…Forever. Yeah, three months was about all I could take without games or whatnot. So, it had been time to get outta there, you know, see where the hell I was. When I had been picked up, I was put to sleep, gagged and then found myself in this place…Never knowing were exactly it was. Was I still in Australia? Or did I get to go on an aeroplane ride!? If I had gone on a plane, I’d rather be awake, I’d never been on a plane before! Would have been able to scrap that of my bucket list! I hadn’t done much travelling in Australia after I had turned twelve. I originally lived in Sydney, then ended up in Brisbane, don’t ask…But that was all... Mmm, maybe I shouldn’t had started to make my way back down south, uh. If I had run away to Perth or Darwin, maybe I wouldn’t be here…Who knows…   To be honest, I was sorta sick of running, even though I hardly run. I was more of the twiddle my thumbs, walk and look at the scenery kind of chick. So, to a certain aspect, I let them capture me. It was getting annoying, so why not… I guess I looked at the ‘running away’ aspect as, is it living? Then figured that even if I was to die, I’ll try to pick his pocket first and see who kills me…Or, I thought that killing someone was against the law, so it shouldn’t happen…Something like that... And, if I wasn’t going to die, bargain, I’ll get my sweet little ass out of trouble…Yeah…That’s it…That's all I thought, before I let them catch me... Luckily, I had learned the basics of being able to get out of people’s holds and places, when I had learnt how to steal. I'd also learnt how to be flexible and pick locks, which is relatively sweet…Because otherwise I’d be so bored, being trapped, that I’d go nuts! Pretty sure that who was behind this, really had nothing to do with me, even though I was a Peterson, I still couldn’t help but smirk at those who ran as fast as they could to get away from here. For some reason, I just wasn’t scared right now…I was scared a day after I left home, I was scared when I was starving, I was scared when I was punished and scared when I had first run away from my boss…But, I think I’ve gone through enough shit to not be so scared anymore…If I get caught, the worst thing to happen, was to die right? Well, isn’t death easier? Bring it! It's not like I hadn’t blacked out before because I was nearly strangled to death...And well, I had endured torture before...Uh...I guess I'd prefer not to get tortured, I suppose. This was…My life. Like I shouldn’t be here, like I was on borrowed time or something. It really makes me wonder who the fuck I angered in my last life!   Still walking leisurely, I continued to go the way the dude who passed me came from and walked past several doors that held no interest to me. I did pick up an apple that said, ‘Take me’, from a bowl, but otherwise I didn’t feel any need to venture further into the rooms… No, I’m not going here to do laundry, no, I’m not here to get fit…Oh…Great, Xbox sounds good! I walked into a room, where a game on the big flat screen was paused and threw the rest of the uneaten apple into a bin to the side. I sat down comfortably, picked up the controller and started to play it, as though I had been there all along. I had played this stupid game before, I wasn’t all that good though, I guess I hadn’t improved over time either. I started to swear at the tv and wanted to through my remote, so I wondered if there was another game I could play. “Hey, you! What are you doing here!?” Do I really have to state the obvious? It had come to a point in my life where I don’t care too much for lying…Not that I always state the truth either… I mean, when one lies to the boss of thieves, they are punished pretty badly. Yet, I found a strange concept of playing around the truth… For some reason that I don’t quite understand, some people get angry sometimes when they hear the truth, so I don’t mind dancing around it, just to stay outta trouble… I turned to the voice and looked innocently at him, “Playing a game…”   He looked in his thirties, a bit rugged with stubble on his chin, and he had on cheap clothes. I saw him walk briskly up to me and forcefully take the controller out of my hand, “I’ve never seen you here before.” I shrugged, “I’ve been here for three months.” He raised his eyebrows, “Three months?” I bit my lip, “Ah! I got in trouble three times already.” Seriously, it’s no lie! I did get in trouble three times! The people trapped in that room with me knew I was stealing, not like I kept it secret because I would give whatever I took back to them when I was done with it… Three times, they’d taken me out of there and put me in a small cubicle room and made me stay there for about six hours without anything…So not cool…But come on! I was bored out of my mind! Taking other people’s things was a natural thing for me now...You put me in a place with all those wallets...What am I supposed to do!? But yeah, that cubicle place sucked... Every time, all I could do was wave at the camera and drum my fingers and hands to make music…Boring! But, hell, like I was ganna let them get the best of me, I didn’t say a word of complaint and even felt like this kind of punishment was pretty good. I mean, my ex boss’s punishment gave me scars to last a lifetime, so I just had to wait impatiently to get back out. Nonetheless, it was still boring as fuck!   But, seriously, what was I to think about in that tiny, little shithole? I could get out of there if I wanted to…But that would create even more trouble! I could wallow in my self-pity, but that would be wasting my time! I could think about life in general, you know, maybe about how my parents seemed to forget how I ever existed, but…Again, I didn’t want to waste my time. My family aren’t my family anymore, I know I regret my choice of leaving there when I was twelve. But I was a spoilt, little brat and I've changed since then! The first night away from home, I had enough, and I wanted to return...But, I had been kidnapped a few blocks on the way back home and ended up a thief. Now I’d be just too damned embarrassed if I went back and I have too much pride to do that now… With everything I’ve been through, why would I think about a family that I have abandoned… I didn’t know what other people did in this type of predicament, as I didn’t think much of it, but that was what I did… So, again, I didn't waste my time thinking about family, I kept my mouth shut, played some human made music and waved at the camera…My mind somewhat completely free and calm. I did that, exactly…Three times…

Stella’s Pov “No, she's a thief! No...She's a little Fox!" …Little Fox’s Pov   “No wonder, are you even supposed to be here?” The guy asked me, while sitting down on the couch. Getting in trouble three times would probably mean she’s going to be casted out. Hell, getting in trouble twice wasn’t looked upon well with the boss… I sat down again too, figuring that he wasn’t going to change the game, then replied, “Probably not.” He got into a game and started to play, “Who do you have to report too? Tim or Craig?” I had no idea who Tim or Craig were, so I shrugged, as far as I was aware, I didn’t have to report to anyone. I was my own boss… “Who?” He finally looked at me, not having heard my answer, because I had shrugged. “I dunno.” I said, while shrugging once again and putting my feet up next to me. “Can’t we play two players?” He narrowed his eyes at me, looking like he was thinking at the same time. I sighed…Why can’t we just play? “What’s your name?” He asked, putting the controller down and getting out his phone. “Stella.” I answered, picking up the remote and continuing on from where he left off. I came up with Stella quite a few years back. I had been sixteen and tried out a strip joint for the first time. Of course, I lied about my age. When they had asked what name I had wanted to use, I spent two minutes and came up with Stella. Stealer and Chiller... Yeah, I liked it too much and just made people call me Stella from then onwards. Luckily, I wasn’t staying in one area and had travelled north, so people wouldn’t be finding this ‘Stella’ that steals money from customers pockets. But hey, I danced for them and I’m not cheap…   “Put it down!” He yelled. Making me sigh, does this dude want to hog the controller!? He then put his phone back into his pocket, then took the controller off me, seeing as I didn’t put it down myself. “Geez, woman!” He glared at me, then put the controller on the other side of him. Yep...He wants to hog the controller...Nasty. I took his wallet then, while he was distracted… “…Hey man, there’s someone by the name of Stella here, is she one of you?” I heard him talk into the phone, which was once again out of his pocket. I leisurely looked through his wallet, finding out his name was Jordan and that he was 33 years old…Anyone older then my age of 24, was an old fart... “Is Tim with you then, ask him if he knows a Stella.” This Jordan said, putting a hand through his hair. I took out the money and put it into my pocket, then returned his wallet, right before he turned to me, “What’s your last name?” Knowing they were looking for people to do with the Peterson’s, I wasn’t going to tell the truth, “Jackson.” He looked at me with wide eyes, “Jackson?” I nodded, then sighed, I was getting hungry. “Got any food?”   Jordan nodded and pointed in a certain direction but started to look questionable about my answers. I heard his voice continue into the phone about what he knew about me so far, while I got up and went to the small food counter. I grabbed some biscuits and a can of soft drink, then sat back down on the couch. This wasn't the first time I've made myself at home in somebody else's place. Normally it didn't last long, but obviously I never get killed because of it. I act very similar to this, and they ask any others around about who I am. At one place they ended up letting me stay, but...Another place they called the cops. Haha, there was another place they literally used the hose on me! Yeah, I don't feel like I'm doing anything wrong...I have to admit though, I understand them a little, because I knew how much food costed and all. But do they have to push me out and scream at me? “You have to stay here, Craig is on his way.” Jordan said, putting his phone away. I nod and look at the tv, taking another bite of a biscuit. Waiting for nearly a minute, I look back at him impatiently, “You’re not playing?” “I have to keep an eye on you.” He stated, staring at me…I guess he’s been staring at me this whole time…Freaky. I’m assuming that I’ve been found out then, uh…Sigh. I was pretty sure these guys won't use a hose...   “This is Stella?” Someone said, walking in towards the couch. I turned around, while taking the last bite of the biscuit and saw someone in their forties, that looked muscly and fit. “Yes, sir, she was here when I came back, after looking for any of the people who escaped.” Jordan said, having gotten up and formally stood. “Mmm, I think she’s lying. The boss doesn’t have many relatives and I’m sure one isn’t called Stella.” This man must be Craig, and I was already bored...They were taking their sweetass time figuring out I was one of the ones inside that room… I turned back around, taking a sip of my drink and sighed…Couldn’t we at least play, while we wait for you guys to come to some sort of an arrangement? I want to make the best of my time here, you know!? “What’s going on!? I know they aren’t all caught yet and your standing here like worthless shits!” “Boss!” “Boss.” I turned once again and found another person…Oh! It’s the glare, it’s that bastard! What the hell!   I met him in a strip joint, just doing my usual...Besides casino's, strip joints were a pretty good place for my work. Sadly, because of my work, I couldn't stay long though and that sorta sucked...I mean, I didn't mind the dancing and hanging off a guy’s arm, putting my breast against his body to distract him... But, a thief is a thief, and they have a job that makes them get kicked out of places a lot...Where's the love? I was positive he had money, well he had the cash sign above his head...But, I failed. I wasn't some thieving god, I did sometimes get caught...And this bastard indeed not just caught my actions, but glared at me, like he was going to show me hell... When his eyes landed on me as I casually was sitting on the couch, he was surprised, and then he scoffed. “Ah! There you are!” He said, walking up to me. This guy somehow made me want to panic, but when I asked why, I had no answer…So, I tried not to panic…   “She says her name is Stella.” Jordan said, looking at me like I was prey. “Her name is Claire Peterson…Eldest child of Joe Peterson and Kathleen Peterson, sister of Collin Peterson, who is now fifteen years old, nine years younger than his elder sister. She was born on March 18th, ran away at twelve years of age and her parents couldn’t find her…” I interrupted the glaring bastard, “Ok, ok, I get it. You have some kind of quarrel with the Peterson’s and you want to use me?” This was her only idea about all this, with having so many people related in some way to the Peterson’s, and having them all stuck in an area like that…There was something going on…I had vaguely heard about how much the Jackson’s hated the Peterson’s and even visa versa, but never knew how much of it was true…And didn’t particularly care… The glaring bastard showed me his true glare and I glared back at him, “I have abandoned my family, I am of no use to you.” Narrowing his eyes at me, he pursed his lips and then walked up to me, “It’s not your choice!” He took my wrist in his hand and yanked me over the couch, making me let out a surprised yelp.   Walking past Jordan and then Craig, I saw that they were surprised and then we were gone. I stumbled and nearly tripped, because his steps were so much bigger then mine! Bloody bastard, why don’t you slow down! But no, we walked up some steps and then straight to a room, where he shoved me into it and then closed the door after he entered the room himself. I put my other hand to my sore wrist and looked around. It was like a hotel room, having a bed and table, then a bathroom… Before I could look further around, he moved my head and suddenly our lips were connected… I was confused at first, I mean, wasn’t I a hostage? By the way this guy was acting, he wanted me to finally have a room and kiss me like…Like a date? Did he like me? Hang on...Aren't I a hostage...Or am I supposed to be a mistress! What the hell!? I had not much knowledge when it came to feelings of romance and wasn’t sure how to respond. It’s not like I hadn’t kissed before, but I just didn’t feel anything. Kissing is just one part of a body touching someone else's part of their body. I don't understand the craze to it really...Slobber and teeth…Is it really so great? This guy, though, seemed to have attached himself onto me and put his hands over my body like it was his… I was quite confused and distracted, so when he bit my lower lip, I let out a grunt in pain. But when I tried to talk, he took that moment to plunge his tongue into my mouth! Why you dirty, rotten bastard!

Alec’s Pov You mean, the father of my child’s pov? What happened to ‘bastard’? Oh…Right…I’ve been calling him Alec recently haven’t I…   Slumping down upon the bed, that my fox slept on, I felt exhaustion go through me. It had been such a long dramatic day. After five pm came yesterday afternoon, and my sly fox had not returned, I personally went into town and found out that the car that she had borrowed had been abandoned for god knows how long… The engine was cold, and the keys were hiding near the tire, making me think that she’d left me. I wasn’t completely ignorant of not thinking she would do this, so I had already put a Gps into her pocket. But…I had wanted to trust her. I’d sorta preferred the idea that she had gotten into trouble instead, that maybe she was mugged and on her way home without shoes and ripped marks on her dress or something…No… Perhaps she forgot where the car was and was still close by and really hungry. To be honest, I wanted her to come back and I wanted to never have to look at the Gps…I had even felt guilty putting it on her when I had! What a stupid dick! But, it had come to that time…So, at six, being back at my warehouse, I finally found out where she was, and I was completely shocked… I sat heavily afterwards and couldn’t believe the outcome of what had happened that day. I wished she hadn’t ruined the trust I had for her, yet, I knew that I shouldn’t lock her up in the first place. I wished that she hadn’t lied to me to my face, knowing beforehand that she wasn’t returning…I wished, for her to have not gone to that one place! Anywhere else, anywhere! But, now that she had gone home… I was completely defeated. That fucking fox!   After finding out where she was, there was nothing to tell my men, there was nothing they could do, but I felt angry. After another hour, I felt upset and sad. It was completely and utterly ridiculous and I hated it. It was so not cool and so not me! I don’t get upset and sad, that…That’s for the good guys! I’m a bad guy dammit! She wasn’t here! She was gone! Having walked around, not able to eat or sleep, now, I find myself in our room feeling everything all over again! Why did it have to be her!? She was my enemy! Yet, I ached for her so badly! Laying down, I looked at the empty place she was supposed to be and sighed. Ever since I met her, my life had turned upside down. Wouldn’t it be better if I just let her go? Forget about her! Move on! Dammit, I wanted too! I could see other women again! I could do work without a hinderance! Yes… After these thoughts, even though I got a small sliver of happiness, the rest of me was unwilling completely.   After having not shown up at Stephanie’s place months ago, when she had rung up, I’d completely dissed her! I was pretty nasty because she kept wanting me to come over, or she come to where I was! Dammit! Why didn’t women listen!? I didn’t want her! I wanted my fox! I had told my fox that I wanted her here! She didn’t fucking listen either! Fuckin women! Even now, with Stephanie probably easy to coax and be with me again, I just didn’t feel at all wanting to do that… What the hell!? I’m a horny bastard and she’s got a hot bod! I can dig that! But…Why don’t I wanna do that!? I…Was I broken!? Ah! I could feel it…I was different… The happiness I had felt while my fox was here was making me strange! I silently just laid there and pretended she was there instead, making me eventually fall asleep…   The next day, a note written by Claire was found and I couldn’t help but want to both treasure it and rip it to shreds! It was meant to be found after she was gone, simply stating that she may come back later and to think that she’s just on vacation or something. The nerve! With all the time I’ve locked her up, she did deserve a holiday…But…Couldn’t she have invited me along as well!? I was upset at myself and at her. At me because I still obviously wanted to be with her, and mad at her because she wasn’t with me! Do I rip it this note or kiss it!? I knew life could probably be easier if I lived on without her, but getting this note now, seeing that she probably just needed some time, I didn’t want to move on. I want to go on vacation too! I’ll give her a week!   Two days later, I was in front of the Peterson driveway. Yeah, I will capture her back! What kind of way are they holding her hostage, I’ll make my proposal better! Yeah, she can come with me to work, she can be my secretary! Perfect! A hot, sexy fox as my secretary! Oh, I’ll pay her too and let her spend it online! I’ll take her on a real vacation! This…How could this even be considered a vacation, going back to your parent’s place without my approval… How did I fall for such a silly girl! Taking a deep breath in, I pressed the bell determinedly and waited. “Hello?” “Hi, is Claire there?” I asked. I am a gentleman! I am a gentleman! Silence… I moved my eyes from side to side, then turn around. Oh…So they aren’t going to attack me? Keep it cool bro, keep it cool, you’re losing it again… “Please let me see Claire.” I said, hearing the pled in my voice…I never intended for that. “Sir, may I ask for your name?” Rude! Just take me to my woman dammit! “Alec.” I huffed out. Silence overcame the area again and I started to lose my enthusiasm, I suppose I didn’t treat her too well, and if she was getting on well with her parents… I was becoming more and more nervous, yet…I couldn’t bloody leave! She was right there, inside that house! So close to me! Woman! Look, I’m going nuts! Save me!   “Sir, I have been told to ask you to leave.” I glared at the intercom, “This is not very nice! I only want to talk to Claire, why are you making it difficult!?” Feeling anger wash over me, I continued to glare at the intercom, like it was my worst enemy. Just open the gate, open the gate and let me in! Honestly, I never knew how crazy I was until she left! I can hardly think straight without her now! I was…Broken! Then, I heard steps come towards me, a man that from the distance, looked like the picture I had of Joe Peterson… “Alec.” He stated. “Joe.” I said, ready to negotiate. Joe stopped in an instant and stared at me… “What?” I asked. Perhaps this negotiation will take longer than I thought… “You know me?” I let out a small laugh, “Of course, why wouldn’t I know you?” Joe went into thought and I watched as he continued to look as though he had no idea who I was…Weird…Don’t they hate me too!? “…I’m sorry, but you don’t look familiar.” I shook my head to the sudden uncertainty I had over my whole life! I didn’t dream it up! It’s real! But, perhaps it was better this way, I can fight with him after Claire is out of there. “It’s alright, I have come to talk to Claire.” “Claire is not here right now.” Both of us men were trying to be discrete, not wanting to give too much information away to the unknown. I must know thy enemy! …Save me sweetheart! “Then when will she return?” I asked, trying hard to stay patient…It wasn’t easy, I can tell that now! Anger from what felt from a thousand years ago, was starting to boil in a big huge pot! I wanted to let it lose on the old, grumpy man! “…I am not sure.” Joe said, giving me a good stare. Was he…Was he sizing me up!?   Go ahead then, see the man that I am, you old grump! Silence went across the battlefield of the driveway, as both of us stared at each other. Not ganna loss to you! But…Really, let’s start the negotiation now…I want to see my fox…I’m sure if I could just hold her for a minute, I won’t be broken anymore! “Come back another time! She is not here!” I stamped my foot in irritation, “I will not leave until I see her!” “Then stand there like the dumbass that you are then!” I heard Joe state as he turned and began to walk away. “Uh!” I let out in surprise… Dammit, that old grump! The fence was high, but…I was…Strong…Right? I walked a few steps back and wondered how to jump the fence. Or where… Joe was already out of sight now, but I did see an old car coming towards me, so I hid and smiled sneakily. Rubbing my hands together, I wanted to laugh out evilly to complete the show… Dammit, dammit, dammit! Look at how I am you damned fox! …Once the person asked to come in, I realized that it was a doctor. That doctor won’t be seeing my fox, right? She was well when she left…I fed her food and made her clean… Falling into my memories, I completely forgot my plan and before I knew it, the fence was once again shut.   Even though I saw this, the last memory did peak my interest…My fox had been pale…Why had I not realized? Was she sick? Sick? Is that what that smell was? When we had that last shower together, I thought it smelt weird… Nothing else had come to mind besides her being pale and that strange smell…And I was starting to worry. What does that mean!? Has she gone crazy like me too! Is that why she left? Because she has cancer or something? Maybe she was running back home before she dies! But…She seemed fine… Shaking my head to reorganize my thoughts, I decided that she was…Fine? She has to be, because when she comes back to me, she will have certain duties to perform! Not sick, not sick, not sick! Wait a minute…Why am I thinking of cancer, what a bloody idiot! Could she be…Pregnant!? I widened my eyes to how awesome I was, that had to be it! They can’t get rid of me now! She’s mine! Haha! So…What am I ganna do? Of course, there was nothing else to do but force my way in! Looking back at the fence, I found a lowered area in the distance and rushed over to it.   Landing on the other side, I cringed…I’m fine… Then I limped a few steps and finally was able to walk properly towards the house in the small distance. Discretely looking around, I saw Collin playing the Xbox and the old grump talking to the doctor. Where was she? Hiding myself in amongst the bushes, near the window, I finally heard a little bit of the conversation between the doctor and the old grump, but it didn’t mean it made any sense. Feeling down in the dumps…Literally…I sighed and started to think that perhaps she wasn’t actually here… Deciding that if she wasn’t here, I just had to stay until she returned, so I went further around the house, trying to stay out of sight from the minimal people around. I don’t get it, why did she want to run away from here when she was twelve? It was pretty cool in my eyes… Looking around the big yard, I then saw her…Looking as perfect as ever, sitting on a low tree trunk… Before I knew it, I was on my way towards her…

The fights between the packs continued but as two days went passed, I was already so much better than I was before. I could see again, and my wound was practically gone. Isilesah had not spoken much to me as she had been busy this entire time. She had said though, that once she was finished healing, that she was going to sleep for a while, to regain all her strength back once again. I could only accept this, which was alright I suppose. She had been working so hard, she deserved a break!   Otherwise, after two days, I was able to leave Rexxie’s arms, as he had gotten better. He had taken me everywhere with him and we were practically connected at the hip! I would obviously need to do personal business but if you don’t include that, Rexxie’s arms had become my bed, my room and my pillow! I had no complaints though, I felt the need to let him do as he pleased anyway because if he felt better, then I did too! And when I finally was able to get hugs from my mum and dad, my mum ended up crying and complaining, checking me over and over again and it was a tad bit annoying! I could only sigh and try not to get mad!   Now having guards that were now forever by my side, I didn’t have to bother too much about where I went or what I did anymore. I ran from my mum, to my Rexxie. I skipped to my room, to that of my ‘toys’ in Rexxie’s study. I laughed at the guards, annoying them like crazy and went to see my dad at random times. For some reason, I didn’t pay much attention to the fights, I don’t know why but it felt like it was something out of reach for me at the moment and so I had no idea on what was going on.   It was when Isilesah woke up from a long sleep that I wondered if she were the reason that I was just happy being a ‘kid’. Was it because I felt unprotected and stayed within the confinements of what I knew was safe? Whatever it was, I felt so much better after Isilesah was awake and back to normal! By then, a year had passed and nothing bad had happened to me…Well except that of my mum finding more excuses of me not able to be with Rexxie! ‘You need to do your schooling, just like every other child!’ Ah…I have already lived and done school…Hang on! That’s beside the point! I’m only three! Honestly…I think there’s something wrong with my mum… Maybe it was that time when I took over her body or something, but I think she was going extra crazy or something!   Only to make my mother feel better, and get to Rexxie sooner, I would get her to give me what I need to do and did it as fast as possible. Otherwise, she was nag, nag and then…Nag some more! Ohmigod! So annoying! ‘You need to try some sports, keep fit and train your wolf!’ Ah…I don’t like sports, I run around like crazy and my wolf is already experienced… Why oh why did she want me to work so damned hard all of a sudden!? She was…Treating me like I was…Older… Wait… Wasn’t this a good thing? And so… I could only make her happy and learn some defensive strategies…   Really though, I was still young, why was she making me do so much!? I mean, it’s nice to be thought of as ‘older’ but…Come on! I want to do what I want to do, dammit! But…This went on for another two years! When I was five, I was stronger than any other five-year-old! I was faster, both in running and in figuring out solutions to problems. I was also doing grade ten work now! How much more do you want!? I was…Thoroughly exhausted! Running to my Rexxie, I jumped into his embrace and like always, he not only caught me, but he hugged me back. There had been a few times he had been busy, like so busy that I willingly went to mum to let him concentrate. I had tried to help with a few things, but it was not something that I felt like I could contribute much too, even though I had my wolf back to be a hundred percent again and a certain strange power of seeing red and green…   The fight was beyond me and honestly, I was sort of over it! The Shifters were being cut in half, some here, some there, some changing sides and blah…Annoying! Rumors changed things, stories changed things, fights changed things… When was it going to stop!? I started to even think it was immature and selfish! One person wanted something and so all of us have to live this way!? Not cool!   What seemed to have stopped though, was the disloyalty that was around Rexxie now. I felt better seeing that there was no red around him and felt that there wasn’t much I could do at the moment. Although, I have to say, I’m sure our fight together some time ago now had changed a few things. They seemed to treat him better after that, and me, well I am their Queen after all. I was doted upon extremely well by many and no one had the guts to do anything to me…Except my mother! “Sweetheart, is something wrong?” Hearing my mate’s voice, I snuggled into him further. I was getting bigger now, but nothing changed, I cuddled him a lot still!   “Mum…” Was all I said. It wasn’t the first time that I was complaining, so Rexxie would understand. “Mmm, then stay with me tonight.” Rexxie stated like a knight in shining armor! I nodded and played with his hair, while Rexxie continued doing his work. It sort of sucked that we had to wait for me to grow to bond the way Shifters do. The idea of Rexxie marking me had come up, because at least then we would share the beginning of a bond at least…But the doctors stated that he shouldn’t do it because it might make my rare case of getting my wolf early into something they can’t predict. Actually, it was obvious they couldn’t predict anything because this had never happened before but…I suppose I understand…   So…At the moment, I was just a normal part of the pack. I hadn’t been marked but I always had Rexxie’s scent all over me. I wasn’t a wolf either that went into heat, as I was still a child…It was confusing to not just me but also to everyone else! And since I was in this type of predicament, I had started to become a subject to the kids here. There wasn’t all that many really, but they were started to just look at me with scorn. It’s not like I could just say ‘Stop it!’ and tell Rexxie on them… I was mature after all but…It really was starting to get annoying!   I’m their future Queen, will they regret doing this!? Were they really that jealous of me? Or was it because I was an Omega? What made them look at me that way? I wasn’t a bad person… I wasn’t unclean or dirty!? I just…Didn’t get it!   Yet, they badgered me in an immature childish way and the adults let them be, probably thinking as I was and that it wasn’t a problem. Unbeknown to me though, it was something I had to deal with, as a learning curve to become Queen. Of course, I didn’t think that Rexxie was watching me this closely, even though he was still so busy… At first, it wasn’t a problem, they just did their kid act, as I just continued doing whatever I wanted but… It seems that me being who I was seemed to pay a price. I was the only child that they knew that had a wolf. I was smarter than them at the moment. I was also their future Queen. I was doing what I wanted, being doted upon by many. But it seemed it was too much!   ***   As I turned ten, things had started to turn worse for me, from certain someone that had it in for me. She was older than me by five years and finishing what I had finished the year before in her studies and learning how to fight in human form. Obviously, she couldn’t do much more, as she hadn’t gotten her wolf yet, but it seemed her jealousy had gnawed at her through the years and she finally started doing things that was deemed a problem to me. After all this time of whispering into my ear of names that she hissed at me, it slowly turned to playing tricks on me. I would suddenly loss what I was doing, whether it be a book I was reading or a pen. Then, it turned into trying to trip me or even push me into another, where upon she’d have no other person see this, but I knew that I had felt her hand. Not only I knew it, but my bodyguards did…But I told them to not worry about it, also saying that they didn’t even say this to Rexxie…Because it wasn’t worth it. Well it wasn’t, this girl, I thought she would just grow out of it, mature up a bit, you know?   It was sad in my eyes, how her aura, or light I suppose, had slowly turned from green, to change to a near red colour. I really didn’t need those dots though to help me out, I could see it without them! But what had strived this little girl to go this far? Why had she been tormenting me throughout all these years? Having finally asked these questions seriously, I came to a few conclusions. One was, she was an Alpha. The second reason was that her family was relatively well known and well respected… The third…She seemed to have some teenager, puppy lovely dog eyes upon my man!   Her being an Alpha didn’t seem to worry me, but she has used that against me many times already. She was trying to break me down and to be honest, I am sure that Omega’s are implanted with some type of personality that does not help with being talked to like that, especially by an Alpha. My wolf, head and heart tell me not to worry about it and for the most part I follow that but…There was a small submissive part of me that sometimes did seem to let her words get to me and I disliked it. That I wasn’t worthy, that I was useless, that I would not bring anything good to being the Shifter’s Queen… Blah, blah, blah…   Her family was a problem that I couldn’t change, so I had tried to not let that bother me either but…It seems her family have this power of letting her off the hook on small cases of me being pushed and they stating that they believed in her innocence. Of course, I didn’t make a big deal about it, but I saw this and found it to be a worry. If things got more out of hand, Rexxie would be forced to be involved and I believed this was such a small thing and that he might even get upset about this. On the other hand, how would I have known that Rex was just waiting for me to ask for help. He was willing to do anything for me, but he could only accept my answer as a way that I was trying to grow up. Rex didn’t want me to grow up so quickly, as it was their time together that had already slowly become less and less and now, he was even not being asked for help, he sort of felt hopeless…

Finally, after ten minutes of walking and having no idea of where I was going, a flash came to me…Who was that? Being transferred to other people, as the others that had brought me here had gotten sent away, I then followed these men to a more secured area, finally seeing what I saw in my flash… There was a sleeping figure there…Or where they dead? Grapping my arm, they walked me up to him, and then said, “Alister?” Before I knew it, I was placed out of control and took the place of where the puppy just was. What was going on!? Within moments of my question upon not knowing, I finally understood… Just a touch seemed enough to reverse the effects of what seemed to have happened and I was cast out… I felt a strange, severe pain and felt like I had become air… Red enveloped my whole eyesight, which seemed to be the room…As I was floating…Away… Through the red, I finally saw the man, that had been sleeping, open his eyes and that was when I finally understood the bond between mates…   I connected to him in a way I never thought possible… Reading about it and going through it was so different! But, yet, it was similar to some of the descriptions that I had read! Strangely, I felt the need to live my life just for that person, the need to be with him always…And to be there for him in also the exact same way! It was…Magical… But…Just like I had promised, it was like the girl had returned and now, I was slowly leaving…Well, to be precise, I hadn’t wanted to leave, I was cast out by force…So, even if I didn’t want to fulfill my promise, I did! Just as I was feeling heaven…A reason, a dream, a known lifetime of happiness…I was also feeling an agony that I had never felt before, making me unable to process the entire mate bond that I felt like I should have! My soul…My soul was breaking…Not just because I was leaving a body and feeling like I was becoming nothing, but because I felt like our newly seen bond was breaking as well!   “She’s…Not breathing…” “…Naomi?” A strange sense of sweetness enveloped my pain, making me feel like smiling…That voice was really…It sounded so…Good. “Do something!” As I started to slowly float further away, I saw two people come in, from being called for, and they had put the girl’s body upon the bed that the man had been on earlier. I tried to continue to watch, but the pain really became too much and I… It felt like I became nothing…Is that what death is? Nothing? I couldn’t see, as black enveloped my entire sight. I could no longer hear anything, as though everyone had left the world…Or that I had left the world… …Was I…Now…Completely gone? What a load of bullshit! I just found my mate you assholes! I didn’t care who I was cursing, I cursed my anger away for a good hour…Even though no one heard my silent yells…   ***   I have no idea how long the blackness had been there…I don’t even know if I’m back on Earth or still on the other planet…But…I didn’t like it… I wanted to play and have fun, yet here I was, like I was nothing…Doing nothing…Wasting my time away! What a world, what a world… Melting away like the wicked witch of the west…Oh, I get it…Haha, wicked witch, west…Haha, they are all…W’s… …Get me the hell outta here, before I go completely insane! Feeling a strange…Consciousness…Start to take place, I could finally hear noise, but it didn’t make any sense. I could also start to see blurry images, but again, it didn’t make any sense… Having nothing else to do, but wait for something to happen…I ended up trying to come up with games in my head and sang songs to pass the time… I sang ‘99 bottles of beer on the wall’, ‘this is the song that doesn’t end’ and ‘I know a song that’ll get on ya nerves’…Only to find a very small change after that…So, I revisited my life on Earth, remembering all the little tid bits and talking about it as though I was doing a biography on a tv show! I talked about my first crush, my first kiss…Blunders that made me look like a complete and utter idiot and the time when I went to the police station and pretended to ‘kill myself’, just so they would let me go! Ah…The good ol’ days!   Finally, after doing all that, I did see a change…Something had come! What…Oh…It’s a wolf! How interesting you are, my dear… Yeah, I think I was interesting too! Well, I mean…If you’re not ganna get along with yaself, life would only be harder! I had learnt this in my last life and decided to become my own best mate and we seemed to get along great…I mean I…Get along with me…Well, whatever! But, getting back to the point of a new discovery here, this was similar too…Having the puppy in my head! Yes…He is my mate…And I am your wolf. My name is Isilesah. Ah, wow, awesome! I had a wolf! I haven’t been destroyed and cast into nothingness! But…What was going on still!? Because, really, I still felt like I was nothing…Although, now that I thought about it, I haven’t been in pain for a while… Uh… When did that happen… Nonetheless, it’s a good sign! …For quite a while, Isilesah and I got acquainted and I felt completely better to have someone to talk to!   I told her who I was, and where I’d come from, repeating my biography again, even though I had just thought about it, and she seemed interested, making me happy. She was like a mother…Telling me to be proud and that I had done the best I could, or she would lightly laugh. Actually, I could see straight away that she was a lot more sensible then myself, a lot more selfless… She told me what kind of wolf she was, and I just smiled happily, not entirely sure what it meant. Apparently, she was the colour of all wolves, one that should be able to hold up justice for all and not take another wolf in favour. She was a wolf that already cared for everyone and had already accepted our fate as an omega already. There was a whole lot of nonsense about being an Omega is something that reminds her not to take power to heart and that she will remember the unfortunate a lot easier but...It just sounded like she wanted an excuse or something hey… I thought it was stupid! Who cares if you’re an Omega or an Alpha! It was like black and white on Earth. Or Asian or whatever! But I was still new to this place and she had to explain that there was an obvious difference between the them… Strong and weak, powerful to powerless, blah, blah, blah…Sigh…   In the end, I still didn’t worry too much to what she said because…I had died hadn’t I? What is she talking about Omega for? How am I going to use that when I’m nothing? What’s the point!? I did start feeling upset to my predicament, and she tried to coax me out of it…Which worked because…I don’t like being upset! So…My thoughts ended up as…Whatever! I was just glad I had someone to talk to and that she was really warm hearted and patient. Whenever I got too silly, she would calm me down quickly and want to lick me! Hehe! And finally, I was seeing and hearing more clearer…It really was a strange, sudden occurrence and it had interrupted my time with Isilesah… Well, bugger me… I had just gotten reborn…Literally!   Now that I think back, I did feel like I was in something and that I thought I was in a strange place…But, not until the strange pressure enveloped me…Did I feel like I finally understood what had been really happening! So not cool! And…What the hell!? I had honestly thought I was a goner and finally was on my way to heaven, yet here I was…Seeing myself surrounded by big hands and feeling so small and cold, that I cried! Yeah…It was so different and strange, that I cried! Call me a cry-baby, because, I’d say I don’t care, but in this case…I really was a cry baby! Haha… Was this real? I was happy and sad, all at the same time! I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to live a whole other life all over again…Living could be such a pain in the ass! Yet, remembering all the theme parks and fun I could have, made me conflicted and just made me cry even more! Then, suddenly with a big gust of air, the door close by was opened and I finally saw that man again…The one that had been sleeping and looking dead…And those eyes…   With all the questions I had, nothing overtook how I felt at that moment, reminding me upon when I had seen his eyes open back…Before…Yes! I immediately stopped crying and just stared at him…. The books, the feeling, the world…It all made sense…In a strange kind of way. And all I wanted to do, was be in his arms. Ah…I was just a baby… I wanted to run to him or walk to him…But I could do neither! But, just like me, he seemed eager as well, as we were staring at each other. “Is it certain now, Your Majesty?” I saw him nod after this question and smile, touching me with his hand. Eagerly, I tried hard to take his finger in my irritatingly, small hand and held it tightly! You’re not going anywhere mister! And there it is…Those tingles that I read about! Sighing in relief, I held the finger tighter and tried to get my other hand to it too, wanting to pull him closer to me! No doubt about it…That man, was my mate…And obviously, I distinctively felt Isilesah’s happiness to that she had found her mate as well…     While I had been in the state of ‘nothingness’, it was that mate of mine who could never admit that I was truly gone. When ‘the girl’ had indeed woken up, having been saved, Rex had thought he would finally see his long-lost mate, but, it had never happened… Alister had told him all about the ‘strange idiot’ that he had traveled with, especially the feeling of never being able to be completely mad with her, and it had felt like he had raised his hopes for nothing… It had felt good to have traveled with ‘Naomi’, never able to have treated another girl the same, yet also knowing at the same time, that something was missing, and he thought that was because everything had been switched…He really did think that things would pan out after Naomi awoke. But…To his astonishment, and complete sadness, not only was the idiot gone, but there was nothing there but of the former owner of the body! Nothing at all! The girl didn’t remember anything about having traveled up here to the north and Alister had been upset when he remembered his vow that he had made ‘Naomi’ make. That she was to exit the body when the girl returned… But…What were they to do… It had felt right, that their mate could definitely be here, yet…It wasn’t her…   Upon waiting for the girl to have woken up, Alister had told his original master everything and Rex had been quite disturbed at first to thinking that his long-lost mate was an Omega. He hadn’t known anything, as for these past few days, he had indeed been completely unconscious and had no idea that he even had another wolf with him that wasn’t Alister! It had happened so completely out of the blue, that no one would expect that the strong King would suddenly fell into a strange coma! Since that is in the past now, and with the pride of an Alpha King, no one no longer spoke of it, but the fact remained that his mate may well be an Omega… He was the strongest wolf…How was it possible that he was paired with an Omega…What was the reason that the moon goddess would do such a thing? It was a common fact that the King of Shifters needed to bare strong heirs, obviously having no less then a Beta as his mate…But…His destined mate…An Omega? If it wasn’t for the fact that his mate would bare him the strongest heirs, he perhaps would have thought of moving on from his mate…But…For some reason, he never thought of that… Whether it was because of what Alister had told him or because he deeply craved for his one and only destined mate, he was still loyal…

The training steadily got harder in the third week and they suddenly demanded me to shift into my wolf. …I couldn’t help but do as I’m told, as the higher, dominating power that went through me really was unstoppable. It wasn’t the first time they had used this damned power over me, but most of the time, it was to tell me what to do! This time however, it was for me to shift and I wondered what they were up to… And so, for the first time, they saw my wolf and they had been stunned for a moment and whispers went through them all. But…Why did they suddenly do this? “It’s true…” Oh, so they just want to have a good look at my absolutely fabulous piece of work!? Fine, take a look at my tail…Isn’t it great!? “How the hell can a damned Omega be able to change at the age of fucking two!?” That was all that needed to be asked, as everyone else agreed to that same question, but I had no answer to give to them…   As far as I was aware, I was normal…Everyone else was strange! Being only two, I didn’t even feel weird that my wolf was smaller than theirs, except I was more questioning why the shifters couldn’t change earlier like I was able to. Isn’t it natural for wolf pups at a young age to be small and already a wolf, yet why was it that shifters are only changing upon the age of eighteen? That’s why I didn’t get why they think themselves above humans, because simply, weren’t they all humans for eighteen years? Weird bastards… Before I could do much more thinking though, I was picked up by the hair and skin around my neck and put into a ‘ring’… They wanted to make me fight straight away, with the youngest shifted wolf there. Right this very second… A growl made me shiver, my thoughts in complete urgency to get out of there! I couldn’t believe how nasty they were! I was two for crying out loud!   I wanted to say, ‘You win!’, but I had a feeling that won’t help me in the slightest! No…It seemed that they were waiting and watching…Having no intention of helping or taking me back out of the ring… Let me take over, my dear. Isilesah!? Letting her take the front, I wondered how she could be any more powerful then I. Honestly, our wolf was not that big, it was probably half of what this youngest shifter’s wolf size was…How could we possibly beat that with our two-year-old strength!? As someone said, “Fight”, I panicked! I wanted to close my eyes and shake my head. I wanted to tap my heels together three times and go back home! No…Why…Why do I keep on thinking about…That movie… Oz, that’s it…It’s ‘Wizard of Oz’… My thoughts stopped, as Isilesah defended us and looked a lot like she had done this before… My dear, I will not let you die, but I can’t let on that we are any better than this…Forgive me… That’s when I saw that she let the other shifter bite her on shoulder! Isilesah! Hearing a whimpering wolf, I see that Isilesah goes to the side of the ‘ring’ and cowers.   “Haha, better then I expected! The little girl’s want to survive is pretty strong! Good, good!” I see Isilesah stare at Alpha Mallick and then finally spoke to me. Just as I thought, it would make them happy to see me fight to the best of my ability! Please take care, my dear! In the next moment, I was put in charge again and felt a bit of pain on my shoulder. I nearly screamed to what I saw! My baby flesh had a huge gash on it! It was bleeding! Help! Blood… My dear, you won’t die, I’ve also taken a lot of the pain for you. Just keep on your guard! I was already breathing heavy, already clenching my teeth…Why!? Getting picked up and even handled roughly, where they even placed force onto my shoulder, I felt even worse! I’ve just been beaten, and it wasn’t enough for you guys!? If it was to place pressure on my wound to stop the bleeding, that would have been something else, but it really looked like they just wanted to torment me some more! Seeing them pull out two of their fingers from the gash in my shoulder, I shuddered…Not in my two lives had anyone done this to me before…And Isilesah was taking the pain! How dare they!? Bastards! They took me to where I have been sleeping, then was told, “Be ready to work and train tomorrow!” Then I was alone…   ***   Even though Isilesah had taken the pain of my shoulder away and she kept telling me that I will heal, I was…Getting very angry… I wasn’t a dog! I was never a fighter, you know, I stayed away from alleyways and didn’t go out much at night! I wouldn’t know the first thing about being in a ‘ring’! How dare they treat Isilesah like this! How dare they, how dare they, how dare they!? Breath, my dear! We still need to find a way to get out of here! I let out a deep breath. I know! Then that is good, sleep, little one. Tomorrow your shoulder will be a lot better and it’s a brand-new day! I rolled my eyes, yet still did as I was told. I was hungry, thirsty and needed to go to the toilet, but…I held it in and pouted. After just one minute, I groaned and got up, unable to sleep while I needed to pee! Going to my ‘home made potty’, I sat on it and did my deeds, noticing that it hadn’t been cleaned out today. Cleaning this thing was up to me and going into that ‘ring’, had destroyed my routine! Widening my eyes, I shook my head really fast, making me dizzy. What bloody routine! Stop it! I slapped myself across the face and growled out! Getting up and wiping myself, I went back to my ‘bed’, after I washed my hands. You’re damned right, tomorrow’s a new day! I nearly forget how nasty I could be! Haha, let’s make em regret for taking this omega away from her family! I might not be able to put em into a ring, to make em fight, but I can scheme and play tricks pretty good! I chuckled a bit in my half sleepy state, before I let the ‘z’s’ overrun me…   ***   It was the fourth week, when I finally found a door out of that place! But… …I knew a few days ago that we get away, seeing it in a vision, I just didn’t know how! Keeping my eyes always on the way people did their guarding and whatnot, I found a loop hole and watched to see if that same loop hole, at the same hour of everyday, was going to continue… For three days, I found that nothing changed and that I could use this ‘loop hole’ to get out! Strangely enough, it was around the time that the pack would be eating, and I was supposed to have my bath and clean my own ‘living quarters’, so they weren’t too big on watching me at that time… I couldn’t help but think that this was strange… Seeing that nothing changed on the fourth day, I still did not use this advantage and held back from running away. Feeling eyes on me on the occasion, and even having been shown this particular path on purpose…I couldn’t help but think this was…Most definitely a trap!   Isilesah was getting antsy, which I could understand, because we had been away from our mate for so long. We were getting emotionally weak and missed him very much! Both of us talked about this possible trap, yet both of us still wanted to take it! For a whole day, we tried to come up with ideas on what they could do to us, if we were caught, and, in the end, Isilesah stated that she will do what she can for us to survive…That she will have to show them of how tough she really was. I wasn’t too sure how much tougher she was though, I mean, realistically I had never seen her fight with her true power so forgive me if I doubted her a bit! She did not take any offense to this thought of mine and only wanted to lick and nudge against me in reply, making me feel bad for thinking this way… I will trust her then! It really had been our last card to play, yet if we get caught, I felt like we would be in deep trouble afterwards. Already, I was a slave and was treated like this, so, wouldn’t they treat me even worse? And…If they knew that we were much stronger, they’d probably get one of the adult shifters to fight us next time in that stupid ring! I hated that ring, and gladly, they hadn’t put us back into it since the first time! I just wanted to break that stupid ring apart! What would they do if I suddenly turned it into a square uh!? Would they still fight then? I felt a bit stupid after that, because I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t care and would still fight…So…I decided that I would try to make the ring into a rectangle instead…With an elevated part…Yeah…   ***   Finally, on the fourth week and sixth day of being away from our beloved Rexxie, we decided to do what we must to get out of there…Even though we weren’t sure where we were, we felt like we could do something outside to get us back to Rexxie. It’s not like I can’t hail a bus or show some two-year-old leg to try and get into a car…Well, maybe that wouldn’t work as well as I think but I was desperate! Shifting into my wolf…I decided that it was now or never! Fight to the bitter end! No, scrap that, secretly trot like a wolf to the better end! Hehe… So, obviously I was pretty happy, even though I thought this as a trap, but I knew a had a few things that I could count on! I had my future sight, that wasn’t the best, but it was still something to help…I had my red and green sight, that will definitely let me know if I’m travelling the right path or not…Then, we had Isilesah’s hidden strength just in case too.   On guard and being discreet, I followed the path out, knowing previously, that at this particular time, there probably was no one around this area and then followed my green sight out of the pack land. Nothing looked familiar, as we trotted North, out of the boundary of the pack now. …I didn’t want to go too fast, as I might miss seeing red and I couldn’t have that! No, this was the most serious I had been in this life! I’m so serious that I wasn’t thinking about anything else as I looked around trees and bushes, ducking as I went. Both Isilesah and I were very watchful of our surroundings and did not let our guard down as we continued on, away from Light Exalted Pack…   Stopping in my tracks, I let the scene of the future flood into me and I wanted to see more but couldn’t… What’s wrong, my dear? For a moment, I was unable to respond. Sadness, extreme sadness flooded into me and I held back from crying about something that hadn’t even happened…Yet… Hearing the strange whine come out of me, I tried to get myself together. Why are you like this suddenly!? If we go back as we are…Rexxie will die… I chocked up the last three words and heard myself whine again. Even if I couldn’t repeat the future sight from wherever it came from, my head was redoing it from when I saw it anyway. Never had I felt so extremely sad over seeing a death…Ever… It was horrible! The thought would be enough for anyone to get upset, but I had seen it! Seen it as though I was there! Felt it, as though it really happened!

I didn’t get involved in any commands, as I watched Rex get more Shifters to guard the outer boundary and start recruiting more combat Shifters. He got a place ready for the woman and children, for when the fight may begin and also got another area with doctors and beds, just in case… I watched and finally felt like that red threat looming over the horizon was something that we could deal with…As before now, I had felt like it was stifling, like it had its hand around my neck. But now, now I felt slightly better, like we were aware and would fight better and not so surprised… Rex had often stated that he was glad that I had told him about what I had seen, thanking me like I was his savior but…He had a strange look in his eyes…   Feeling what he was feeling, I was confused upon Rexxie’s confliction towards what his cousin was doing and the near certainty of war approaching. Asking why he felt that way, Rex sighed and held me tighter, “War is death. There’s not many that aren’t connected to another, so death would bring sorrow and sadness to at least one other person. Sometimes, I just…I just feel like I would prefer to stop the war, then let it happen.” Moving, so that I directly faced him on his lap, I put my hands to his face and smiled, “War is a part of us whether we like it or not. It’s a factor that seems to follow us everywhere, something that will most likely happen in any type of future we try to forge our way through. Granted, I believe it as a human factor for sure, but…As Shifters, being part wolf, we also have a fighting spirit about us too.”   Rex put his forehead against mine and sighed, “I know this, Sweetheart. I will fight for everyone in my pack, I will try to keep from someone getting hurt or killed but, this is all because of someone wanting to be known as the King. Why is everyone involved for such a selfish act? That is why I’m so conflicted.” Kissing his nose, I pulled slightly back, to look at him right in the eyes, and smiled, “More is involved because of their belief, their loyalty, their trust, their own opinions, their own desires…Again, it seems it’s just a part of us…That’s all.” Rex let out a small laugh and held me tighter, “Such a precious, little treasure you are!” Bringing our lips together, we were once again in our own little world. Tingles spread from my lips and across my body, like lightning, and I sighed as Rex took the kiss deeper.   Every time we kissed, I felt so willing to go to the next base, whatever that was, but for some reason we didn’t. I don’t know if it was Rex or me, but it seemed like we had some hidden law that we both unknowingly knew not to cross…It was weird! All we did was kiss and I guess that was alright, I liked it a lot and I was sure Rex didn’t mind either. I knew he was getting older, probably a few people getting antsy over him having an heir but…I was getting older too! Not once had he complained about my age, not once had he complained about not being able to do more. I felt it through our link, our bond, that he was not complaining there either. No, actually, I felt his happiness a lot, so much that I was giddy nearly all the time! I really did feel like I was having one of those teenager, puppy dog, type of loves that people had back on Earth! Ah…No…It was more than that! Rexxie really was…My everything!   ***   Within just days, the whole compound had changed. It looked more like an army camp now, instead of the casual…Well, like an office? Or maybe like a park? Whatever, I shrugged, it was just obviously much different than before! “My Queen, please help us!” Seeing a few people suddenly rush towards me and throw themselves before my feet I took a step back in shock. This is new! People weren’t often coming up to me and stating ‘my Queen’… I suppose though, it really was out there everywhere now, that I was indeed the upcoming ‘Queen’… Right, there’s another issue here besides being called ‘Queen’! Pay attention!   But before I could even understand the situation, they were practically knocking their heads on the ground! Widening my eyes to the ‘never seen before with my own eyes drama’, then to also see people staring at me… Was this a plot? Haha, was someone filming some old movie? Actually, that’s not a bad idea! It’ll give this place a little more…You know…It’ll give it some happy, smiley faces atmosphere…But I suppose, a war was coming… …If not a movie then…What the hell!? Didn’t bowing go out of date like…A millennium ago!? “My Queen, we are from a pack to the south, the Free Horizon Pack, only getting here recently but having been held prisoner before that. Please, my Queen, we haven’t done anything wrong, yet we are still being treated like outcasts like we had joined the enemy! What if we go rogue!? Will you take responsibility!? We came here in hope that it would be better than joining the enemy but…Please, my Queen, there’s already so many of us now without a home!” …He was telling the truth…By the looks of it he must have been picked out of the group to be their spokesman and one other near him might have been the one to get him over to me as he seemed to be quite a large Shifter…Hey Mr Muscles! Seeing that someone was indeed after them and that their attire was not at the best, probably because it had been pulled on and what not, I told those who were now running towards us that it was alright. …They did well, I suppose, they found someone that could help!   Seeing no red in these people, I was suddenly put back into shock once again upon finally understanding the words that had been spoken. Right, the country has changed because of this up and coming war and now innocent people have been put through hell… Seeing these people as green, holding what I would call ‘no threat’, I turn to one of the Shifters that was taking a guarding post close by and asking them, “How many people are in this predicament?” The Shifter blinked at me and I could see that he had no idea! “Don’t worry about it!” I told him, a bit angry…Just not angry at him… Wasn’t Shifters supposedly more ‘family’ like and care more for each other! I mean, humans tend to be more selfish and I was glad to become a Shifter and all but at the moment, I just can’t see a difference! Whatever, I’ll do the work! At least then I know it should be done properly! Well, if it’s not done properly by me, then I’ll just… Focus!   Putting out a hand to the man that seemed to be in charge of the four people kneeling in front of me, I pull him up and the other three got up too. “Tell me…No, show me! Take me to all the people like yourself.” The man bowed his head and in just a small amount of time he figured that he’d probably still be able to save his family if he did as the Queen asked. “This way!” His original objective was to get the King, that is what they all agreed upon before leaving but…The Queen seemed just as good, even if she was only as tall as their shoulders at most! I was led through two different opened areas, then went into a very secluded and underground place that seemed to be to the side of the huge compound. And just as I thought, these people weren’t the only ones that may have flocked here and were now being detained due to not being trusted.   I guess I understood Rexxie and the higher ups for not trusting new people but…It seemed a bit too cruel. Who knows how long it would take before they turn rogue and well, then wouldn’t all of them be in danger!? Some of them might still be with a connection, probably because the Alpha might still be alive or be here amongst them but if the Alpha had been killed, the connection is cut and that is why Alpha’s are protected by Beta’s. Now that I recall through some boring ‘history’ lesson, there was a time that nearly all Alpha’s had been eliminated, but that was a long time ago… So, something had to be done but how were they to tell if they could be trusted or not? …After all the preparations for war and not having come up with a good plan as of yet, the people have just stayed here… Seeing the people look like they could form a grudge at any second, I clapped my hands together and sighed to my new mission. With that small action, I got half of the area’s attention and I walked right up to them, seeing at least half of the people here as ‘green’.   Immediately I started to point out to all the ‘green’ people, separating them from the rest and sending them to the wall nearest to the door. The people were looking around curiously, wondering what was going on but they just did as asked, probably just glad that finally something was being done and perhaps they could get out of this place that seemed to be more like a quarantine, as they had been cut off from the rest of the world while stuck there. Without needing to know that these people had not actually become part of the pack, simple because I was not obviously connected to them, I had also an idea that only simple things were written down about them, probably due to the fact that they had been so busy planning and preparing for war…   Now that the ‘green’ people were separated from the ‘red’ people, I turned towards a guard, ready to ask him about the knowledge of these people but then thought against it… He might not even know! And well, it was probably better to get out of there and not let the people know what was going on just yet, as…What would I say? ‘I was just getting the ‘green team’ and the ‘red team’ separated, that’s all!’? I nearly laughed but simply went on with my decision to get out of there first, before questions were asked and my careless personality came out too much…   Turning back to the people that were the ‘green team’, I simply state, “Follow me.” With that I started walking and all of a sudden, I had a few loud mouths getting upset and a few people stop us from the front. The ones to stop us looked uncertain and the loud mouths were saying, ‘Hey, what about the rest of us?’, ‘Where are you taking them!?’ Sighing, I thought for a moment and turned to the rest of the Shifters that were the ‘red team’, and said, “Do not fret, I will come back soon!” That was when I saw a faint redness elsewhere…   In a quick flash, I flinched to what I saw in my mind and realized what this probably will do, now that I’ve seen it! Being reminded of the bomb that was in my shoulder a few years ago, I widened my eyes to thinking of the ‘what if’s’. These people, they were from elsewhere, being held at a distance from the King, it could happen…It could happen that someone here could be a kamikaze suicide bomber… Would the person even know that they had a bomb? Maybe, they are red after all… At the moment, the slight redness was not coming directly off a Shifter, like it did normally…It was more so around an ankle. …I had to get out of here before that Shifter finds out who I am!

Feeling utterly shameless of himself, Rex knew that if he stayed inside this room much longer, he may kill both this father and daughter! He was now placed into such a corner that he didn’t know how he was going to hold himself back! Only certain people knew that he had been drugged, yet the rumors going around had not been stopped and he no longer knew how to speak with his treasured mate! How could he have let this situation come to this point!? Due to being worried for his mate and the situation of his cousin changing endlessly, he had not paid enough attention to what everyone was saying otherwise! This was his fault!   Too much was happening, and Rex felt suddenly tired. He had not slept well from when his treasured mate had been hurt, he had not been able to handle things normally and so now things had gotten out of hand! No, no more, the situation has to change, and the truth needs to be known! He was sure that he could do that! As easy as stating dates and changes of scents, as far as finding another that was indeed a part of this but could be hidden away! He had to find everything and expose everything to everyone and not for himself, but that of his mate and how she was dealing with this! He was going to get out of this mess and prove that what this father and daughter were trying to do was all just greed!   Before now, Rex had been able to endure it…Just! He had felt terrible and continuously sought out his mate’s link, feeling her feelings! His Naomi had and still felt like she was doing her best! She was telling everyone that she was okay, but he knew better! From her younger self to now, she has changed! She might have grown up a bit, but she has changed to be someone that she wasn’t, because she is scared! After a whole month, his mate was still scared! All because of this father and daughter! “I’m getting to the bottom of this!” Rex yelled out, rushing out and leaving the other two behind.   “Father, what if he finds out…” Danika whispered a few seconds later, a tear falling down her cheek. Pushing the girl away from him, the father disgustedly looked at her, “This is your fault!” “I’m sorry! You know how it is! How could I have kept away from him!?” Danika cried out, placing a hand on her stomach. “You changed so quickly! We were in this together! If you don’t do as you are told…I will kill him!” “No! No…Alright…I will do it! Please, don’t kill him!” Danika cried out, defeatedly staying on the floor before her now standing father. “…You better!” He stated, before walking off.   Danika squeezed her eyes shut and covered her mouth as she let her cries out. Everything had changed when she had met her mate…Everything! She no longer cared for the King at all! So, she no longer even cared for the girl that was the King’s mate! It was only three months ago, just after turning eighteen, that she had met her mate and of course they had wanted to be with each other very much! Not telling her father that she had changed her mind, one thing had led to another and she had confessed when she found out that she was pregnant with her mate’s child. She thought that after she confesses, she would then be able get the blessing from her father to finish their mate bond completely and that they could just leave the King alone…   She had never thought that her own father would make her sleep with the King! She had never thought that her very own father would go to such lengths! Regret…She held so much regret! She regretted not letting her mate mark her! As it was, she had felt wrong by having to get rid of her mates’ scent all the time but…She shouldn’t have worried! She should have just let their bond take place without worrying for her father! Why had she been so scared! But…It was true, her fear really had turned out to be true! As now…Her mate was in her father’s hands!   Having been the one to stop the King from taking her body any longer, only it just being a couple of minutes, Danika had felt her core crush her, making it hard for her to breath! Her mate had suffered… Since they had met, and had half completed their mate bond, he had really suffered through her father’s scheme of drugging the King and forcing them to become intimate! Yes, she regretted it! Having caused her mate, the one that accepts her completely, to go through so much pain…Makes her feel completely unworthy of him!   Now…Her mate was secretly imprisoned by her father and her father had just told the King that the baby she was now carrying was his! If she hadn’t met her mate, this would be great...But now that she had, she felt like this was too much! Why was her father so keen for her to be with the King!? They were working on completely eradicating a monarch from Shifters, to have them be free under another type of government…Why did it matter still if she was no longer someone that wanted to be with the King!? Placing a hand over her stomach, Danika wiped at her tears and stood up. Taking a few deep breaths, she could only do as her father states, as…She didn’t want her mate to die! Anything…She’d do anything for her mate! And if that meant that she had to state something that wasn’t true…Then so be it!     Rex climbed in through the window, seeing his mate sleeping on her bed. It had been well over two weeks now that she had come back to her mother and father and…He couldn’t take any more time from being away from her! Taking a couple of steps, to be right beside the bed, Rex held no reservations and simple laid down, taking the girl into his arms. Straight away he felt better. Straight away, he felt at ease and comfortable. It was like he had been waiting all week to do just this!   “Rexxie?” I mumbled, slightly waking to not only movement but that of the one awesome scent coming into my nose. “Hush, Sweetheart. Sleep…” Rex stated, kissing his mate on the forehead. They had not rested in the same bed for so long! Having cuddled only once recently, it was still something that had felt uncomfortable, but Rex was glad that his treasured mate was getting slowly used to him again, but this… Pulling the sweet girl into his arms more, Rex placed his head into her neck and instantly felt like he was in heaven.   “I have an idea…” I mumbled through my dreams. “…Mark me.” “Naomi?” I loved how he called me that name and unconsciously smiled to it. His smell, his voice…Ah, it was a great dream! With such a feeling in my dream, I held him tighter to me unconsciously and sighed. Rex was stunned for a moment and wondered if it really were something he could do. She was still quite young, at an age that normally she wouldn’t even know who her mate was! Would marking her now be something that might harm her? Rex fell into contemplation over the idea and wondered of what he knew about markings…   ***   After having been in the hospital for a while, I went back home to mum and dad and I was spoilt. I know why they were acting this way, I knew that they felt at a loss and that this was the best that they could do…The problem was, I was also just trying not to think about it but seeing pity on their faces really rubbed me the wrong way! It was so obvious to everyone…That I was no longer going to be the Queen… Yeah, you know what, being a Queen is like…Overrated! Being Queen was a huge responsibility and I was sorta glad that I didn’t have to worry about it anymore! I no longer had to worry about acting in a certain way, I no longer had to worry too much on studying or fighting…I was now…Just an ordinary girl! Sounds pretty good to me!   Rex had come by, but we had rarely touched each other. I miss those hugs, those simple small gestures but…It all felt wrong so soon after…A certain…Thing… It was weird because I knew how right it had felt before, but how wrong it felt all at the same time! He was another woman’s man now, I guess. I know that he had not marked her because our link was still there but…If he were to mark her, our link would significantly drop to a point of hardly being there, if at all…Well, that is what Isilesah says… Yet, for some reason I was focusing so much upon marking that there had to be a reason for it!   Rex looked exhausted, as the time went by. He looked defeated and furious…And it was so obvious that he needed me… It was weird how he still would come that one time a week and I would let him feel what I was feeling. I knew it wasn’t the end of the world and that I still loved this man dearly, so I sent him all my trust and faith through our link, which seemed to make him feel better, well, at least I thought it did… “I will fix this! I will be with you and you alone! Trust me!” Each and every time he stated this, I nodded with enthusiasm, “Of course!” “Relax…If the new laws come in, you don’t have to worry about being a Queen anyway so…Just relax.” His hand reached out to me often, but he hadn’t touched me. It seems that…I had become forbidden fruit to my own mate…   It was only the last time that we had seen each other that both of us had hugged once before he had left, and…It had been nice. It wasn’t rushed, it wasn’t forced…It wasn’t uncomfortable. We held each other and I felt like it was worth it, that this small step forward was worth doing and I had no regrets. Then…It was one sudden night that I felt like a dream was so real, so unbelievably real… We held no grudges or worries, no reluctance… In his arms, I felt like nothing else mattered, that I was his and he was mine! And there was only one way to make that happen! Marking… If he was true to me, wouldn’t that be it? The answer? Would that help him feel better? Would that be… Such an awesome dream…To be marked by my one and only destined mate!   Having no idea that I had spoken this thought out loud on one particular night, it really had kept Rex up! While content, with his mate in his arms, he went through what he knew about markings, wanting to know if anything had to do with one of the mates being younger then eighteen… Normally markings are done when two mates are also connected in body, which was normal...But this little mate of his was not of age and that meant it would only be a half of a connection. Could it be possible to only connect halfway when one was so young?   There was more to marking then just a bite on the neck, the connection of bodies helped with their bond and if their bond was only half complete, would that make things worse, instead of better? The opposite has been known, and that was the intimacy of connecting bodies without the marking…But marking with absolutely no body connection… Does it suggest that it can happen then? If the opposite can be done… Rex was sure that both had been done before but again, all Shifters that might have done a half connection, were all eighteen years of age…Not twelve!

Travelling for god knows how long, I finally awoke to find myself in a completely different place. Sadness that was out of my control entered me, as I realized my mate and his scent was nowhere to be found and I couldn’t help getting upset! Dam these bastards! I don’t ask for much hey! Some food, a roof, to be clean and my mate! Dramatically, I rolled around in the blanket that was unfamiliar to me and banged my small fist into the ground. This was so not cool, the red in my sight was bright and there was one green light that barely showed! I’m in the wolf’s den… Haha…Wolf’s den… Wanting to laugh to my pun…I was still unable too, because of the stupid, uncontrollable sadness that flowed through me from being away from my mate. I sighed.   “She’s awake Alpha!” Looking towards the voice, I then see someone come through a door that entered into where I was staying. It wasn’t anything luxurious, I can tell ya that! Wasn’t I the mate of royalty, how dare they bring me here! Sitting up, seeing my feet as I put in the effort, I grumbled as I was able to sit up. Being a small kid really sucked! “Mmm, I see.” The man that came through the door, kneeled down to my level and I stubbornly looked at him. “You have to be his mate…But…It doesn’t make any sense…” The person that apparently might have been close by all along, came closer to me too and kneeled down too, “Clinton stated that the two of them were close and that she being able to shift into a wolf already might mean that they already know that they are mates.” Clinton! I told Rexxie about him! Dammit, we were too late!   If only I could wrap my head around talking earlier or something! A week earlier would have been better! Actually, I had tried a month ago and a week ago, but only if I tried harder! Dammit, when I was little I should have cried more, maybe that would have worked better! “She…She doesn’t feel like she’s only two.” The ‘Alpha’ said. Glaring at them, I clenched my fingers together and they laughed at me. What!? I touched my face and honestly didn’t feel anything wrong… “She’s really cute…” Said the other man. Smiling uncontrollably to the compliment, they smiled back at me, “Perhaps this might not be as hard as I thought. If she’s intelligent and she’s his mate, we can definitely use her!” Use me? Against my Rexxie? Are they stupid?   The big ‘Alpha’ picked me up and I glared at him again, it felt completely wrong to be touched by any other man besides my daddy and my Rexxie…I didn’t like it at all! “Ah! Look how she puffs up her cheeks, so cute!” The other man said, touching my cheek. Sexual harassment…With compliments… Blinking, because I was unsure on how to act in return, they both laughed at me. Ah! This is making me angry! Right! I was potty trained, well of course I was, I take great pride in telling mummy or Rexxie when I need to go! But…I decided to forget about that at this moment and let my bladder out…Besides, I was busting anyway…Did they not see that I didn’t have any type of cloth there to soak up anything!? Feeling the yucky warmth flow out of me, I cringe my face in embarrassment. I had done this not to long ago to a female who had chased me around, but I disliked it then too… Ah, yuck! “Wh…Hey! Stop that!” I want to, believe me! I’m only doing this on purpose to piss you off! I felt the ‘Alpha’ move me away from him and look at me angrily, his eye twitching… Dismayed, I finished my deed. Since having already started, I might as well finish it and then I just hung there, while his arms held me out like that. So embarrassing!   “Alpha…” “Don’t! Just don’t!” Then I felt pain, as the man holding me let go of one hand and I looked up seeing him looking at his soiled clothes. “Dammit!” His other hand that was holding me got tighter and I tried to free myself from his hold, but my puny strength did nothing. “Brat!” In the next second, he let go of me and I fell to the ground, hurting all over again from my rear. Hey…That…That was too far, you old man! Clenching my jaw, I stopped myself from letting out a cry as I put a hand to my sore bum. Dammit that hurt! “Watch the brat, I’m going to shower!” “Yes, Alpha!”   When the old man, who wasn’t too old but older then me, left, the other man came up to me and shook his head, “You can’t do that to the Alpha, little pup, he’ll get mad! You are a hostage now, so you should do as you’re told! Don’t be naughty!” …I’m not two you know! I’m… Once again, I hanged my head…They obviously think I’m two because my body is two! This…Was getting to become so unfair that I really did wonder if I unknowingly did something terrible in my last life! “Ok, let’s get you cleaned up little pup!” I’ll show you little pup! I put my fist up to him, glaring at him…But all he did is let out a chuckle and say, “So cute!” Defeated…I’m defeated… Letting the guy take me to a side room and put me into big bucket, I guessed that I was going to have a bath. But when he went to start taking my clothes off, I panicked. Girl, I’m a girl! Don’t do that! I held his finger in my hand and shook my head at him… Let me do it! “You want to…Undress yourself?” I nodded, yes…So bugger off! He let go and stepped back, looking at me in disbelief. Just stay there…   I turned away from him and took off my clothes as best as I could, luckily the bucket didn’t tip, like it was threatening to do. Then, only turned my head and nodding, I expressed when I was done. He laughed and scratched his head, “Alright then, I’ll add the water now.” The bath went alright, and it made me feel better, but afterwards…I was upset once again. They had no clothes that would fit me… Glaring at the clothes, then at the man, I shook my head. “Hey, hey, little pup, you can just grow into them! We have the first expectant she wolf we’ve had in ages, but no clothes for a little one like you.” Raising my eyebrows, I wondered how many were in this…Pack… Wasn’t there any two-year old’s? Putting on the clothes that were fit for a five-year-old, I hanged my head once again. Really, I was trying so hard not to get depressed! I was really, really trying!   “So cute! Alright, come here!” Before I could do anything else, I was picked up and perched on the hip of the man and he took me outside. Unable to stop a frown showing on my face, I hated the feeling that was going through me…It was like I was cheating! Rexxie, please come and save me soon! If you don’t save me… Hey, this could be my chance to escape…But… I looked around to see nothing familiar, just seeing trees and some dirt area. Then there were quite a number of males and females that were adults and a few teenagers. Where is this place? “Is she the one?” I looked at who was speaking, and they glared at me… What…What’s that for!? What did I ever do to you!? “Yeah, Alpha believes it to be true that she might be the mate of the so-called King.” Sneers and grunts could be heard, and I clenched my small hand to a fist when I heard them speak like that about my mate. “Now we got her, we’ll get Alpha to take his rightful place back!” Looking at the next one who spoke, I see him looking back at me with contemplation. Mmm, what are they thinking of doing with me? And why does it feel like they think that the King shouldn’t be the King?   Then, I turned to see the small green, in amongst all the red in my eyesight, and that man looked at in contemplation as well. He did not look familiar and I smiled at him, feeling like I could trust him. Straight away, he was stunned and looked away, but the light still showed green. At least I had someone here that might be able to help me get away from here! “Looks like she has no idea that she’s a hostage! Pfft, we should do as Tangie said and get her on our side.” Looking now at a female, who was walking straight up to me, I raised my head at her. When she focused and looked like she sniffed into the air, she scowled at me, “An Omega…How pathetic!” She looked…Really bad…I mean…She had like a killer aura or something… Just moments after, the ‘Alpha’ put a hand around her and he had changed from what he was wearing before. He was worse…If the female had a killer aura, the man had a murderous, killing aura…Obviously he had killed quite a number more than the female… I didn’t like either of them! “Baby, she might very well be someone we can use like that! Everyone is to keep an eye on her but pretend to welcome her in. If she becomes one of us, she might be our biggest weapon!” I blinked and chuckled inside of my head… So, is that their plan? Are they telling me because they think I won’t be able to do a thing about it? Oh…Wait… They are underestimating a toddler…That has to be it! What idiots! Except…I really did only have the strength of a two-year-old… I didn’t know whether to be happy or sad! Happy to know their plans but sad because I was only ‘two’!   The ‘Alpha’ turned towards what I thought was his mate, and smirked, “Get some experience in, look after her.” The female in his arms grimaced, “Why should I!? She’s that man’s mate! I don’t want anything to do with him or an Omega! Especially a two-year-old who is claiming my place as the Queen!” I saw the ‘Alpha’ put a hand to her tummy and quietly say, “For now, don’t think about it. Just get her to help you out with the laundry or something.” Uh! Me…Work? Are you kidding me! For years I haven’t worked! I was…On a vacation! Widening my eyes, I started to feel like…This was really going to be a real bothersome problem! Hanging my head, I narrowed my eyes… I have to get outta here…And fast!   ***   And just like I thought, I was then placed as a slave under that cold woman’s service! In just a couple of days, I had learnt a whole new way of life! Their glares really got to me and some called me names and stayed their distance, but I tried not to get too grumpy about it and continued not to speak. …And I was not only forced into hard labor, but that of being trained… I hadn’t been taught anything yet from being with Rexxie. Not only because I was still so tiny, but because Rexxie hadn’t allowed it yet. He had only asked me once when I wanted to train, and I had been completely astonished by his question…So, Rexxie had just smiled and said not to worry about it…But now…I had no choice! I got hit by a stick whenever I did something wrong and I started to get weak, not just because of the abuse but because I was just running out of stamina! I was only two for crying out loud! Did they not have a caring heart amongst the lot! Stop glaring at me! Stop hitting me! Stop ordering me around! The anger started to boil inside of me, and I held it in…I held it in because not once did I stop coming up with ideas and ways to get out of here! And I was saving my anger for that! When I was going to run away, I was going to use that anger to be faster and be more vigilant than ever! Just you wait!

Within half an hour of being completely surrounded, the attack came in waves upon waves and if it wasn’t for ladders that could just be pushed off the walls or ropes that could be unattached, we would have had a lot more trouble on our hands! To the west, with their ropes and leaders, much like the east, was rogues and other shifters. To the south was the humans with their one big army and to the north, well, that was where the bomb had hit and…That too was where the leader of this grand attack was…Mallick was on his way in! The humans with their tanks were charging in, taking full attention of that of Rexxie and I. We even had an elite guard to go out there in the mists of the enemy to charge blindly towards what was doing the most damage but…Even if we were able to stop the tanks, losing our members in the meantime, we still knew a terrible fact upon this war! And that was…There was just simply no chance upon winning!   How had we thought earlier that we had hope? How had we not even the idea, with knowing red upon the horizon, that it would have gotten this bad? Even rogues…Humans… Had we really never thought that running might have been a better option!? Well… Whatever… I wasn’t in the mood to just lay down and let them trample all over me! Looking at Rex, it felt like the war stopped for a moment.   “Not afraid?” He took me into his arms, and I shook my head, “I’m with you.” “Even in death, my dear Queen…” I smiled and hugged him tight, “Mmm…” That seemed to be the last point of holding the ‘front door’ for us. Rex picked me up then and yelled out, “It’s time to regroup!” Through the mind link, I heard Rex’s order of retreating, retreating from the walls to the back, closer to where all our hopeless women and children were… The problem was…It became known to us that we had indeed already been breeched and so…We had to change our place of retreat to where the bomb had gone off. For the moment, we had to hold the line there or the women and children would be in trouble…   Leaving a few people behind to plant our own bombs upon the ‘front door’, we left it for out last stand. We were livid, with our loved one’s deaths. We were lost, with the fact that we weren’t fully prepared. We were sad and upset, angry! With the impending and obvious future in front of us, we still did not let go of something that we had left in us. Whether it be revenge, or anger. Whether it be wanting to get even or to save someone in trouble, we still had something left…So, we still met with whoever was left, in what had become the ‘beach head’ into the complex. They had done well…   The dead bodies on the floors were mixed. They were the ‘red team’, the fighters that had been sent here and a few were even that of the enemy. I thought it strange that war could bring people together in the most strangest of ways…When we are dead, it didn’t matter if we were laying lifelessly next to our enemies…Hell, we could be laying right on top of our enemy or them on top of us…But, we were dead, so it didn’t matter… Does that mean that we will have to die to obtain peace and no longer have an enemy? Is that really the only way!? For some reason, that made me really angry! Whatever! War…Peace…   War was death, territory and power! Peace is people getting along but really…What was beneath it all? This war was because of someone not being happy with what he had! Peace, what kind of peace can become of this!? No, peace is a word! It’s just a word! Peace will not be found if someone is killed to obtain it! No that’s…That’s something else! That’s like forced-Peace or whatever! It’s another word, meaning something completely different! What people need to learn isn’t peace and how it is obtained, because that is a dream! What people need to learn is to be more happy with what you have so that you don’t use other people to obtain what you selfishly desire! Perhaps then a war isn’t formed, to make people want to get revenge…It’s just like sickness…Prevention is the best medicine well…It’s the same thing for war!   Apparently, I was so high upon my own thoughts and opinions that I didn’t even realize my father’s body not far from where I stood…No, if anything, others were reading my thoughts and thinking similar thoughts. Some didn’t agree, some completely agreed and then some just didn’t care at that moment. Numb…Some were numb to feelings… Having felt a family member die, or worse, a mate dying, numbness had hit a few of them and so thoughts of war and peace were not part of anything for them, all they knew was that they weren’t going to leave this pack and a fight was still going on, and so they fight! That was all…   This was why I didn’t like to think about why’s so much…I didn’t want to think of questions, especially if there weren’t any answers! With that, I felt instincts take me over, not wanting to think anymore! Taking Rexxie’s hand, I bring him into me and suddenly, I felt…Bigger… Without thinking about what was going on, even though others were thinking, I made Alister take command of the body and shifted him into a wolf. It wasn’t like before, when Alister was in my body, no…This time Alister was twice the size, bring a complete halt upon the battle.   Not ever had anyone seen such a big wolf… Behind you! I yelled, focusing upon the red and green surrounding us. With no further words needed, Alister went to work, even though he was a bit in a shock to what had just happened. Then…I’ll focus on healing… Thanks, Isilesah! It really was quite miraculous as Alister raged through the area. He didn’t stop and stepped on, bit and hit other enemy shifters, using his weight and height to his advantage. But…Alister being so big was also a downfall as well, as he was a bigger target! Since he became the target, being attacked by so many at a time, Isilesah really did have her work cut out for her but…It helped our pack out tremendously, as Rexxie finally started to understand what he could do while sort of stuck in Alister’s wolf form, along with his beloved Queen and Isilesah.   It really was a team effort that the pack became so thrilled about! Their moral, that had plummeted down, did rise with this new…Transformation, and they were growling and jumping into the fight once again! With a two earth shaking noises, it became known then that the humans had broken through the front door…To what was remaining of them, they will probably find out soon…Hopefully the bombs that they had left behind had damaged the human army enough…Hopefully… This was…This was really their last stand…They had no where to go, they had only so many of them left, now surrounded…If they were defeated here, the women and children would probably die easily afterwards and then, this pack will be wiped away forever…   One big wolf, being the attacker, had his own healer, Isilesah. The wolf also had his own leader of the pack, who was Rex who told his pack members what to do, and his own…Well, I’d like to say I was some awesome…Helper? Green and Red seer? ‘Go that way’ chick? Bah, I’ll come up with a name for what I did later… The problem was, things got worse and I had to stop helping Alister with where the ‘red’ was. Bodies…Again it was bodies of all of us. Now that humans had come into the complex, boxing us in, guns were going off and now half of us that were left here had already fallen to the silver… Half… So quickly… The war felt like it had only just started half an hour ago, but it was getting to be at least two hours in now and it felt like there was no end to the enemies… Again, I felt… Dammit!   Without even thinking of how I was doing it, I brought in anyone that Alister came into contact with. With the connection of Alister, then the connection of Isilesah, I focused upon two things…Getting the pack into safety, which seemed to be inside of Alister, the wolf that was growing and growing in size, and helping Isilesah heal, by giving Isilesah whatever it was that was needed. It hurt…It hurt so much! I don’t know what was hurting, it wasn’t a body part…It was something else but…Since I had no time to locate where upon I was hurting, I didn’t know what it was that was making me feel so…Drained! So…Exhausted…Mentally! …Everything! It was like everything about me was hurting to a point that I could hardly concentrate just on two things…Two…That was all I had to do, these two things!   As I focused, and as Rex became restless to what was going on and the obvious pain that I was showing him in this ‘mind’ of Alister, the fight outside was becoming more and more like a dream to me. With Alister focusing upon trying to come into contact with the pack members, yet defending against attacks, it became aware to him that he was finished picking up any pack members when Rex stopped speaking… It’s not time to worry for her, keep going…Isilesah went back to healing, focusing after stating this. They all felt it…Everyone…Everyone who was absorbed into Alister could feel it…Especially Isilesah. They could feel something big was happening to their Queen, like a payment of some sort for being able to keep them alive like this. If it wasn’t for the emotional pain that went through their link, the pack might be more surprised and overwhelmed to becoming a part of their leader but not one was thinking about how great it was to be one with everyone else inside this huge, gigantic wolf…Not one…   With such a huge wolf, one that could now just stomp on a tank and it would become utterly destroyed, the enemy was now mostly cowering in fear. As much as Alister was swiping his paws, swishing his tail and stamping down on the enemy, putting their numbers down in just mere seconds, his heart was not in it at all! Being the aim of every enemy now, Alister had to keep moving, making sure he doesn’t go towards their hopeless women and children. He moved forwards, sideways and when he jumped, everything seemed to go in slow motion for some people as they looked upon such a magnificent wolf that made them all think that this was a legend of some sort. Mythical…Unreal!   The enemy had lost most of their numbers now, showing a lot more fear, many remaining were already attempting to run away… Letting out a majestic howl, Alister shattered not just ear drums but that of even building walls that were close by. Something was wrong with his mate! He didn’t want to fight anymore! Let us out, we are healed enough! Yes, let us go! My Queen, I am alright, let me fight! As the enemy covered their ears, Alister stood there, most of his attention upon both Isilesah and Naomi.   Through my dream, I see these people telling me to let them go, so I do…I let them go and I smile to their willingness. I liked having them in a place where they couldn’t get hurt but if they wanted to go, it wasn’t like I was going to stop them! In my dream, I felt like a relief went through me as they slowly all got like this, wanting to leave me… Well, it seems…They are all better now… Breaking whatever it was between Rexxie and I, making us all go back to normal. I feel into blackness…Completely unaware of what was going on…