I was led to another cage. I think prisons love me. They just can’t get enough of me, can they? I was thrown in the cell. The metallic door slammed shut behind me. The guards left me with some harsh words before they left. I didn’t understand them anyway. I just shrugged.

My stomach growled and my knees wobbled. I thought of the broth I missed and the warm food I might have had. My mouth watered and I felt despair fill my entire being. What did I do to deserve all this? I just sneezed. I didn’t even feel sick. There was no fever, no shivering. Why did they get scared of a little sneeze anyway?

I sneezed again. Cold sweat ran down my spine. I suddenly felt cold. My head grew heavier than it already was. I felt numb.

‘There, there,’ Eva said. ‘Want to come to me for a hug?’

‘I’m in no mood for your jest, your imperial highness.’

‘Don’t be like that,’ Eva retorted.

‘Your seductive voice won’t work on me unless I’m in your personal space, you know,’ I said.

‘At least they didn’t kill you,’ she said, ‘or burn you alive.’

‘Is that supposed to make me feel better?’ I asked.

‘Yes,’ Eva said. ‘Get some sleep. There’s that animal skin on the floor.’

The prison cell was barren, save for a bed wrap on the floor. It called to me, asked me to lie down and cover myself. Maybe if I huddled inside it, I’d feel better upon waking up.

‘Come to think of it,’ I said as I obeyed. ‘Do you think they breed animals here?’

‘How would you justify their woolen robes then?’ Eva asked. ‘It’s a pity you don’t get to explore the city.’

‘Don’t remind me,’ I grunted.

‘Sleep,’ Eva urged. ‘Que sera, sera!’

‘Hmmm, when did you learn Bolignois?’ I asked.

‘There’s a lot you don’t know, Stalwart.’

I lay on the bed wrap and closed my eyes. Sleep came almost immediately. It wasn’t the restful bliss I hoped for though. I felt delirious. My eyes were closed, but my body twitched right and left. I felt my skin burn against my flesh. No position I chose to sleep in was comfortable. Voices spoke to me, indistinct, angry, desperate. I shook my head to chase them away. My bones ached as well. I just wanted to sleep peacefully. Then everything stopped.

I was standing in a dark place. I couldn’t see past my two feet. My second eye was back and I realized I was dreaming again. I walked around. The echoes of my footsteps were my only company. I reached out to Eva, but she couldn’t hear me, or wasn’t there at all. I walked further, but nothing changed. I knew I had to go further. Don’t ask me how, I just did.

So I pressed on. My feet went click-clack with every step. I was wearing wooden sandals. Sandals! What weird part of my subconscious liked sandals? I didn’t know. I felt ashamed of myself as I walked, looking down at my feet, at the overgrown nails protruding from my toes.

When I looked up, seconds later, I saw a bright light in front of me. I shielded my eyes with my right arm as I continued to walk forward. The light subsided after a while then I saw the pretty little animal. The white fox observed me with its crimson eyes, its tails bobbing sideways playfully.

“What do you want from me?” I asked.

The strange animal didn’t respond. It just kept bobbing those fluffy tails, blinking at me as it did.

“Are you some kind of God?” I asked.

It swung its tails furiously.

“Are you an animal then?”

I swung its tails once more, with more ferocity.

“Then I don’t know what the fuck you are and what you want from me!” I shouted.

It jumped in place, turned its tails at me then ran forward.

“Hey!” I yelled. “Wait! I’m not done with you dammit!”

I ran after the sly fox.

Have you ever tried running after an animal? If yes, could you catch it? The most obvious answer would be no. You’d be huffing and puffing before you know it. The animal would stop, leagues away, and look at you, taunting your slow human legs.

To make matters worse, I was in a dream world. You can’t really run while you’re dreaming. Your legs suddenly turn into jelly. You try your hardest, knowing full well that you can run faster, but your legs won’t respond. They’d just wobble helplessly in the air, as if you were attempting to run underwater.

Every time I thought of giving up my pursuit, the freaking fox would surprise me with a pat on the head. It would hop away then, leaving me behind. When I stopped responding to its pats, it struck me, pretty hard, in the back of my head. The dream wouldn’t end either. I had no choice but to follow.

I ran after the damn fox for what seemed an eternity. After many pats and some strong hits to the back of my head, we reached another bright light. The sly animal disappeared inside and I followed.

I saw a little kid. His legs were crossed, and his back hunched. It was me. I must have been five or six back then. I sat, looking at the man I recognized as my father. He was younger, sober. His eyes had this special light to them. He was proud, hopeful, beaming. He was telling me a story of the time he beat a sorcerer in a duel. I watched him with that look of admiration I forgot I had for him.

My father only knew some basic spells. Magic was never his strong suit. He’d always tell me how he had disappointed his own father, but that he didn’t care. He knew how to deal with mages, and that was with a solid knife thrust, between the fifth and fourth rib.

Why was the fox showing me this specific memory? I had made sure to bury the memories of my father along with his deformed body.

We were sitting in the living room of our small shack in the slums. It was hot outside. Sitting by the shade inside the house was actually worse than being outside. Despite the open windows, I remember how it felt clearly, stuffy, damps from the river that flowed right beside the city, and it smelled of garbage and human shit.

“Don’t fill the boy’s head with your idea of glory,” my mother’s voice reached me from the kitchen door.

I looked at her, and I felt my heart jump to my throat. I didn’t like seeing her, nor did I like seeing that inflated belly, bearing my little sister. She smiled at me, the kind of smile that makes your worries disappear, the kind that lets you know there’s an adult around there for you, ready to hug you and lift any weight off your shoulders.

I wanted to run to her, hug her and tell her I was sorry. But I couldn’t move. I was a silent observer, stuck in a memory I didn’t wish to revisit.

“What’s wrong with that?” my father protested.

“Yeah, mum,” I said. “I want to hear more!” I sounded too excited.

There was a time when I looked up to my father. There was a time when I aspired to become a hunter, just like him. I wanted to slay dangerous beasts and claim the glory.

“You should study, find a stable job at the Administrative district,” mother told me.

Her gentle voice and the serious look on her face betrayed her background. She was an excellent thief, from what I gathered later on. I bet she didn’t want her children to grow up the same way she did.

“Look at Liam,” she went on. “He’s an apprentice with Lucius now. He’ll grow up to become a fine perfume artist. He’ll be able to afford a nice house for his family. Wouldn’t you want that?”

“I want to kill monsters,” I replied, a little too eager for a child who didn’t know how deadly monsters were.

“Let the child dream,” father protested. “Leave the bureaucrats and the merchants to their boring lives and their petty schemes.”

Mother gave him a scornful look, and father swallowed his next words.

“Well, kiddo, it seems story time is over.” He gave me his brightest smile, lifted me up and kissed me on the cheek. “Viraldo and I are going for an elite class bounty hunt. Our trip may take some weeks. Be good to your mother, alright?”

I nodded.

“You’re almost a full grown man now,” he lied. “You take care of your sister. Your brothers couldn’t care less about her.”

Mother protested, but it was father’s turn to frown at her. It was true that my older brothers only cared about themselves. Father gave me one last look. His happy-go-lucky demeanor had disappeared.

“You are my son, you hear? Don’t let anybody take that away from you,” he told me. “And you make sure you grow up a Stalwart. Don’t follow on your brothers’ footsteps, you hear?”

I nodded once more.

“Don’t go sprouting nonsense now,” mother protested. “Let the kid have a child’s life. He’ll worry about training later.”

Dad nodded and gave his wife a passionate kiss. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be back before you know it.” He gave the little girl that grew in my mother’s belly a hearty kiss.

“When did I ever worry?” mother said, jokingly. “Go, and don’t let Viraldo get under your skin.”

“You got it!”

Father strapped his long sword around his back, buckled the throwing knives around his waist, then made for the door. He gave me one last glance, winked, then left.

That was the last time I saw him happy. Upon coming back from the hunt, he had lost his leg. Viraldo took the position of master, the one that was promised to Tibault Stalwart. I guess this was what broke him, led him to excessive drinking and the downfall of our happy little family.

I was sucked out of that memory and into darkness again. The three tailed fox was there, looking at me with his oblong crimson eyes.

“You’re a nasty animal,” I told him. I knew he’d understand me, he just wouldn’t answer. “Why show me all this?” I asked.

Silence…

I expected that answer. It didn’t stop it from being outright infuriating.

“Speak dammit!” I yelled and stomped my feet. The wooden sandals thumped at the dark surface I was standing on. Now I was even angrier. Why oh why was I wearing sandals?!

The fox swept his tails at me and a strong wind carried me away. I flew, slowly at first, then I picked up speed. I felt my hair ruffle. My clothes flapped against my back. Then the wind stopped, as abruptly as it started. I fell down, deeper, faster. I didn’t know when I’d land but I braced for impact.

“He’s no longer delirious,” I heard a familiar female voice say. “His fever has gone down.”

My body jerked, as thought I’d just fallen to the ground. I opened my eye to find Zoey and Eli observing me with worried looks over their faces.

“Welcome back,” Eli told me. “I thought we’d lost you.”

“What?” I said. My voice was cracked, too hoarse. “What happened?”

“You came down with the flu,” Eli said. “Lucky Zoey figured it out quickly.”

“How long was I asleep?” I asked.

“Three days,” Zoey said. “I thought you’d never open that eye of yours.”