>>===== Through the eyes of the father =====

“You don’t have to come, you’re still a bit weak kid.”

“I think I’m alright Mauldred.”

We were asked by the town head to go to the farm. Mauldred was hesitant, but the Chief only asked us to keep an eye on the creatures and report back.

He was wearing his plated arm guards and had his axe strapped. All of the equipment his friends left behind was too big for me so apart from what remains of my jumpsuit, I had the falchion sword sheathed by my side.

Some of the other youths were sent to go tell the other farmers and rural residents that it wasn’t safe. The chief wanted everyone to come to the main town church for a few days until the gladiators came.

He wanted someone to keep an eye out on the pack of creatures and that was us.

“They’re probably dead so we don’t need to get too close.” Mauldred was worried for me after I had needed to rest. It was a miracle that I retained my walking despite being in space, but my legs were still horribly weak.

We walked for a while with only a small sense of urgency. My stomach was twisting and turning. I was tense on the idea of predators that could kill men like Mauldred, yet being with Mauldred I had no fear.

When we reached large open fields Mauldred guided me off the road. “The fields over those hills should be the barley farm. We’ll cut through the forest since I don’t want them to see us in the open if they’re still there.

“But wouldn’t it be easier for them to sneak up on us in the forest?” I was a bit worried about the idea.

“It’s okay kid I’ll pour my mana into the air.”

There he went again. Talking about magic.

It felt like he was a senile old man when he talked about these things but I still humored him.

“Wait if you could “sense” the monsters, how did they ambush you guys.” I was a little shrewd with my question, but I felt close enough with Mauldred to call him on it.

“Ha ha ha, I may have drunk a little too much at the time. Ha ha ha.” He just laughed and patted me on the back as if it was common sense.

I questioned his sense of responsibility in my head with a sharp gaze.

“Lighten up, using my mana was how I was able to find the bastards that killed Elnie and save yah, yah know. Ha.”

He definitely knew how to lighten up the mood, I wanted to know how this “mana” worked.

“Oh, it’s the way blind people see, they just kinda work with the air to feel stuff around yah.” Mauldred thought he was talking to me with such confidence as if he was a renowned professor in the subject.

As I was about to ask him to specify he quickly shushed me.

“Shh, there’s a little girl nearby.”

We stood quiet as Mauldred concentrated with his eyes closed.

“Come, kid, she’s still alive. She may tell us…”

We walked through the forest avoiding crossing into any open areas.

“Awe, the poor thing is frightened out of her gourd.” Mauldred pointed his axe upward into a tree.

There I saw a sad-looking child. She was trembling all over covering her face into the tree.

“Hey brat, you're safe now, calm down and help us.” Mauldred had a soft hardy voice, but the kid didn’t look down.

Mauldred grabbed his axe and hit it into the tree with so much force it shocked the kid.

“Hey..” I was going to tell Mauldred off, but he ignored me and instead talked in the native language.

The little girl had messy brown hair and single dirty, ripped fabric that acted as a dress. The maroon dress emphasized the dirt stains all over her body. I couldn’t tell if it was freckles or dirt that stained her cheeks. Her face was covered in crust from tears and mucus.

As she listened to Mauldred, he extended his arms and caught her as she jumped down.

My heart ached a bit as she resembled my own sister so much. Sadly I didn’t like other people’s children so I stayed silent and listened.

They had a conversation as she was sobbing, and although Mauldred seemed rough with his voice he was just too nice to scare anyone away.

“She said the monsters followed her earlier today. Shit her entire family must be dead.” Mauldred’s gaze stiffened as his head turned into the deep of the forest.

“They’re coming around, I can see the farm from here. Let’s run to it.” Mauldred picked up his axe with one hand and picked up the girl with the other.

I followed behind immediately running out of breath. I had to hold on to the handle of the sword to keep it from bouncing around my leg. A deep sickening growl came from the forest forcing me to speed up.

As we ran through the field we came upon the farm buildings. The upper half of a youth was littered on the floor. This girl seemed to be very young. Her intestines were stretched out over the fence. Her lower half was completely missing.

Mauldred quickly brought the girl's head to his chest to keep her from looking. The corpsed looked like an older version of the girl. Pessimistic thoughts circled in my mind causing my stomach to twirl.

Mauldred snapped me out of trace by grabbing my head and turning it around.

“Let’s go to the stable, climb to the roof however you can.”

I followed him to the tallest building on the farm. There was the corpse of a horse-like creature with a single horn and six legs decorating the large open entrance.

Mauldred had set a ladder on the outside and the little girl was already climbing it. He gestured to me to go up as he went inside. The girl was struggling to hang on to the thatch material that covered the roof. As I climbed I wrapped my arms around the girl and held on to the top incline of the roof. I was hanging off from my sheer grip holding my weight and trying to support the little girl.

I heard the wooden creaking of the ladder as someone climbed it. Looking over my shoulders I could barely make out Mauldred’s figure as he chunked contents from a barrel unto us.

It reeked of something rancid.

Before I knew it there was the rough sound of heavy footsteps and the ladder collapsed.

The little girl almost shrieked from the scare, but I tightened my grip on the roof and gently shushed her.

Her entire body was trembling. I tried hard to stay calm in hopes of projecting unto her. I cleared my mind and cuddled as tight as I could to comfort her while maintaining the grip that started to become painful.

I was relaxed and focused on my breathing.

Time went on and eventually the turbulent sounds of creatures eating died out.

I didn’t know how long we spent there, but my arms gave out.

I fell from the roof and collapsed backward, losing my breath from the sharp pain of landing on the floor.

It only took a few seconds for the little girl to fall on my chest, adding more hurt to my already unnecessary pain.

She quickly stood up and talked in an apologetic tone as she pulled on my arm. I sat up to her request but my arms felt so weak I ended up resting with my back on the side of the barn.

What remained of the black finger on my left hand was gone and only a black stub remained.

I looked to where the ladder lay and saw the large metal gauntlet Mauldred wore. His hand was still attached inside. There wasn’t anything else left of the jolly old man.

My eyes teared up and my chest hurt. I hated this feeling so much. I barely knew the guy and now…

“FUUUCCKkkk!” I was frustrated. My lips curled as I forced myself to hold in my tears.

The stupid little girl made it worse.

She clung on to me with a tight hug as I sat there. I couldn’t see her face, but her hair was tickling mine.

I lifted my head in arrogance trying to avoid touching this brat.

But my tears came down anyway. My chest inflated with my heavy breathing. I was so frustrated about this world.

Questions about my family flowed in my head. Were they okay? Did they know I disappeared? Et cetera…

I never experienced as much death as I had in a single day. Today felt unnecessarily long and the sun still has not set.

I propped myself up pushing the girl away from me. I adjusted the sword and went over to the gauntlet.

I picked it up and removed the bloodied hand.

Remembering our conversation at the pub I then took my time to bury it. “Just move on.”

After contemplating in silence I stood up. I smelled like shit, I was tired, and felt worse than when I was struggling to survive.

When I turned to look at the little girl, she had been standing there watching me. She was holding an axe in her hands. Mauldred’s axe. She must have found it and picked it up as I sat in silence.

I grabbed it and caressed the top of her head. As my hands got closer the little girl flinched and closed her eyes, but she didn’t resist.

I understand being traumatized after all this. I didn’t want to bring a child around with me when I could barely take care of myself. As I looked around seeing the bloodstains on the farm I didn’t want to leave a traumatized kid among this mess.

“Let’s go take you to the church...” I said timidly as I gestured with my hand. It seems she at least understood my gesture since she followed along.

I purposefully avoided walking past other corpses on the farm. I don’t know if they were all her family members, but I selfishly didn’t want to waste time burying the bodies of others.

Thinking about how the chief sent out runners to warn other families, I threw my guilt away by convincing myself the town folk would handle it themselves.

We walked until the sun finally reached the horizon detailing many stars and colors across the sky.

But I was in no mood to bask in nature's beauty.

When we reached the town it was still busy as ever but they had men with long pikes patrolling the city perimeter.

One of them gestured to walk in, however, his gaze was oddly concentrated on the little girl next to me.

I wanted to reach the pub where Mauldred arranged for us to sleep.

Along the way, I felt heavy gazes on us. More precisely they were hostile gazes on the little girl. By pure instinct, I grabbed her hand with my free hand and she didn’t resist. Her hand was rough and blistered, unlike the smooth gentle hand of my own sister’s.

I felt myself get angry at the unwanted glares of the people as we walked through the town. I simply followed the neon signs that still glowed brightly despite the little sunlight.

On the way, I saw a sign that had a barrel and a naked lady. I immediately took the opportunity to bathe at a bathhouse.

Pulling the girl along with me we entered the open-air establishment. It had no roof and instead was decorated with tapestry surrounding large wooden barrels filled with water.

A woman who wore a loose white cloth grabbed my attention with some words I didn’t understand.

“Anglaise?” I asked in hope that she spoke the language but she simply shook her head.

I pulled out some coins that felt cheap on my open palm and she nodded her head. I pointed at the little girl and the lady shook her head in disapproval.

I doubled the exact amount and the lady still shook her head.

“Maybe they don’t allow children,” I whispered to myself, "maybe, if I added a bribe?"

I added a larger type of coin and the woman agreed. She held out her hand and I gave her the money.

She walked behind a curtain and out came two younger women in their early twenties.

One gestured to me and the other hesitated with the girl that was following me.

It was a simple bath… The woman undressed me and allowed me to enter the large water basin. She kept removing water with a bucket and refilling it with steaming water. I had to rub myself down with a rag. They also washed my clothing and boots.

After I was done I waited for the child by the front of the establishment, however, she was the one waiting for me. She seemed to be shaking. I placed my hand on her head and she was indeed cold. They didn’t even dry her dress.

I grabbed my equipment and walked out with the girl following from behind, giving the ladies who were smiling and waving a sharp gaze.

The people here seem to hate this girl for some reason. A child who seemed less than 10 years old hated by an entire town? I could only wonder what had happened.

Finally reaching the pub I felt relief. My stomach was aching and I assumed the girl's stomach was as well. I took her to an empty table and went to purchase food.

I remembered they didn’t speak Anglaise here either so Mauldred had ordered for us. I simply gestured and pulled out coins similar to how I paid at the bathhouse.

I went back and sat in front of her. Her face wasn’t dirty anymore. She had long pretty brown hair and equally colored freckles that emphasized her childish factions. She had pretty red lips and deep hazel eyes. Eyes filled with life. There were pain, sadness, and hope in those eyes. She looked lonely. She was staring at my face as well. I hope she doesn’t get attached because I would be dropping her off tomorrow at the church.

The lady eventually brought us pear juice for both of us.

I almost snapped. The barmaid spit inside the child's drink directly in front of us and set it in front of her. I was emotionally unstable from everything that happened to me but not to the point to lash out in a foreign place where I could ruin both my life and the life of the child in front of me.

I basked in my anger and when the lady walked away I switched our cups. The little girl’s depressed emotion turned into shock when I did so. She fiddled with her drink as I had done with Mauldred, so naturally, I edged her to drink it.

“Fucking backward ass medieval ignorance.” I didn’t know what the ordeal was, but I was already assuming ridiculous ideas similar to the “witch trials” where a whole town hated a child for absolutely no logical reason.

When they brought us food it was as I expected. Her soup was basically pure water while I had a bounty of vegetables and I switched our bowls as well giving her the better meal.

Refreshed and full-on veggie water I wanted to sleep so I brought her with me to my room. Tomorrow I would take her to the chief and see if they had an orphanage or something similar at the church.

For now, when I entered the room with two beds I pointed at one so the girl could sleep in it and I took the other.

She was crying.

“What the fuck?”

I was too exhausted to comfort her. As I undressed my boots, she just stood there whimpering to herself. She was of similar age to my sister so I took the forceful method to comfort her.

Since she didn’t resist before and the way people treated her it was obvious this brat lacked physical comfort so I did what any good older sibling would do. I threw her unto my bed and forcefully cuddled her. I began to stroke her hair as she cried more.

There was no resistance, instead, she dug her face into my arms. I didn’t care, I tried and that was enough for me, so I slept.

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>>===== Through the eyes of the daughter =====---

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I had been crying for so long that my boogers dried up on my face.

I really was the bad girl everyone hated. I brought the monsters to my family and now they would all be dead.

I was so scared, for my sister, and for myself. I heard voices below the tree and I didn’t want to look down.

“Go away,” I whispered in such a low tone that I’m sure they didn’t hear me.

The tree shook with so much strength I felt my soul leaving my body. I looked down trembling that the monster was climbing the tree, but instead, I saw an old man.

“Huh,” I remembered him from somewhere.

“Get down girl, we’re here to help. Just jump, I'll catch ya.” The man stretched out his arms when he said that.

“I know you. You were supposed to shoo the monsters.” He was one of the mercenaries. The old man who seemed to be the leader.

I didn’t hesitate to jump down. I had made up my mind to run away and work with them before the monsters made me hide in a tree.

“So? What happened. Did you see the monsters?” The old man was direct, but I didn’t mind. He wasn’t scary at all.

“They um. Well I..” I was still struggling to calm down, but he was patient with me. “The Mootsies were trying to eat me, and I was so scared I ran away. They followed me and went to dad’s farm.” I pointed in the direction of my family farm.

The man touched his beard as he thought for a moment then turned to another adult. He spoke in a strange language. I think I heard it before, but so many foreigners come to our town I didn’t pay much attention to their languages.

The younger man looked as young as my mom. He had a clean unscarred face. Almost like a rich man’s. His black clothing was scary looking and his boots were like I’ve never seen before. He had a sharp-looking sword on his side. He looked so skinny and frail I would have never guessed that he would be a soldier or mercenary.

The older man, Mauldred as I remembered turned serious. He suddenly grabbed the axe that was in the tree and picked me up.

Both of the men ran to the direction of the farm. Before I knew it I had my face smashed into a burly chest. The man who was carrying me was holding me tight. I knew strangers would treat me better than people I knew, but this was completely different.

I was being protected like a princess.

Mauldred said things in the weird language to the younger one. They took me to dad’s Equestrian shed where we kept our families’ unicorn.

“Oh no,” I said to myself as I saw the poor creature dead by the front door of the stable.

Mauldred had grabbed dad’s ladder and placed it on the side of the building. He picked me up and placed me on it. “Go up child, climb to the top!”

I did as I was told, but the roof was hard to grab on to. It took a bit for my small body to climb to the top, but it was hard to hold on.

The weirdly dressed adult grabbed on to the roof behind me. He held me tight so I didn’t slip off the roof.

Unicorn poop was thrown on top of us and it was really stinky. It was probably so the monsters don’t smell us.

I heard the roars of the monster and I began shaking out of instinct, but the man tried his best to comfort me. I felt his grip get tighter as he pressed harder unto me.

He was calm. His heartbeat was gentle and that helped me calm down as well. So much time passed by and the scary noises continued. After a while, I couldn’t tell what had happened.

I was sliding off the roof and fell unto the young man.

“Oh no, are you okay?” My voice was so timid that I don’t think he heard me. He was groaning in pain from the fall. He placed himself against the stable wall when he sat up.

He was looking at his left hand. He had black things where his fingers were supposed to be. He had protected me with that ugly hand.

I saw his gaze look around and stop where the ladder fell. It was covered in blood. There was Mauldred’s hand on the floor. It was his hand because it was the same metal glove he had.

It made me so sad. I may have been 8 years old at that time, but I knew exactly what happened to him. I knew that it was probably the same thing that happened to my sister and parents.

The young adult in front of me looked like he wanted to cry. He saved me. I wanted to make him feel better. I didn’t want him to cry as I did, so I hugged him.

But it made me feel worse. I started crying in his arms. I couldn’t feel him hugging back and that made me feel so lonely. I was alone now. My parents were dead. My older sister Claudia was dead. Everyone I knew hated me. He also didn’t like me. He probably thought it was my fault that his friend was killed. Or was Mauldred his dad?

It was my fault this person’s dad died. It was my fault again.

Before I finished crying the man stood up and brushed me aside. I felt so guilty I couldn’t even wipe the boogers on my mouth away.

I sniffled as I saw him walk to the hand. I watched silently as he buried it. I grit my teeth as I swallowed my tears. I held them back and forced my hands into a fist. I quickly wiped my tears once and began to look around.

I wanted to help find more of Mauldred for the person that saved me.

I didn’t want him to hate me too.

I looked around as the man sat in silence. “Ah!” I was a bit happy with myself when I found the axe Mauldred had.

I wanted to take it to him, but when he wasn’t moving from his spot I decided to wait. He was mourning his dad and I didn't want to disturb him. His dad was such a nice person and he looked like a hero from afar. I wished my dad was nice to me too.

I didn’t want to bother him so I waited, and when he finally turned around I saw him smile a little bit when he saw me.

He took the axe from me and his hand was coming too close to my face. I didn’t know what he was going to do, but I closed my eyes in fear.

A warm hand caressed my head. He was patting me. I felt warm inside. When I opened my eyes he was looking around.

“?????” He said something to me but he moved his hand to follow him.

I was happy he still wanted me around.

I followed quietly behind him. He took me away from my dad’s farm and to the road. I didn’t see anyone’s body but I already know they’re dead. I didn’t want to see what happened to my sister.

I tried to avoid thinking about it as I followed my hero all the way to town.

The town folk were guarding the entrance. It was probably because of the monsters. One of the guards was the butcher whose son died lighting a fire in the forest after the monsters chased me.

He was staring at me angrily so I looked down at the floor.

I simply followed my hero around while I looked at the floor. I know people looked at me with mean faces. Claudia would talk about things to distract me, but the guy I was with didn’t speak my language.

It was so unexpected when he grabbed my hand. I was flustered. I don’t know why he did it, but I felt safer. It gave me, the little child, confidence. I was able to look around the town as if I was with my older sister.

I noticed he was taking me to a bathhouse. I have never been to one, but I know I wasn’t allowed. No kid was allowed.

But he took me anyway. There was an older lady who I saw before. She was one of the people throwing stuff at me when I was punished.

“Anglaise?” The man asked the woman, but she shook her head.

So that’s the language he spoke? I thought to myself that I would do anything I could to learn this language. I wanted to be able to speak to him.

“Huh?” I saw how much money he was paying. It was a lot. Was he paying this much for himself? Wait, he pointed at me?

I assured myself that he didn’t want a little girl who smelled like unicorn poop following him around.

Two young girls walked out and one pulled me along. She was very rough with me. “Take off your clothes, the other guy paid for you to take a bath even though the Mistress didn’t want to serve you so be grateful!” The lady was mean with her voice.

As I was removing my shirt, she yanked it before I could finish taking it off. “Geez, you’re so slow! Hurry and get in the water you normally smell nasty, but somehow you managed to smell worse today!”

I didn’t want to say anything to her. I was grateful to the man for paying so much for me so I got in the water basin.

“Colddddd.” I started shaking.

“You ungrateful bitch, wash your own clothes then.”

The girl heard what I said and threw my dress at me. I washed it and my body in the cold water. I was trying to finish fast since the water was freezing.

After I finished the lady wasn’t there so I put on my wet dress and went to the front bench by the entrance. I was shaking as I waited for my hero to finish. When he came out I saw his gaze was strong but it was directed at the girls.

I followed him from behind as he stormed out. I was still cold, but it didn’t take long before we entered a warm building.

It was a pub my dad used to frequent. He took me to a table and left to talk to the owner. He fiddled with money before he paid and came back to me.

He sat in front of me and I was finally able to take a long look at his face. It was different from anything I’ve seen before. His cheeks were so thin I could almost see his bones. His eyes were really dark and his skin was so pale.

There was a pain in his eyes, but they were so lively. It was as if he was thinking of so many things at once. Eyes filled with wonder. Eyes like my sister Claudia. He was staring back at me with a serious expression. I wanted to be with this person. I wanted to repay him and help him.

The barmaid interrupted my thoughts, she brought us juice. She placed his with a smile and spit in mine as she made eye contact with me.

I wasn’t sad, it was fine, but the man in front of me had a blazing expression. I was concerned that he would hurt the lady, but he didn’t. He then looked at me with pity and switched out cups.

I didn’t want him to do that. I was already grateful that he treated me to juice. Yet, he edged me on to drink it.

I didn’t want his kindness to go to waste so I did. It was delicious. It was pear juice like Claudia made. She would grab some pears from mom’s orchard and we would go to the riverside to pick sugarcane. My sister would mix them together to make this juice.

Soon food came. It was cabbage soup like my mom made, but mine was almost pure water. This was normal for me since we struggled to have enough food for our family, but the man switched our plates around.

I didn’t hesitate to eat as my stomach was hungry.

I promised myself I will pay him back for all the kindness he has shown me.

But his kindness continued. He took me to a room upstairs. I guess this was where he and his dad slept.

He gestured to one of the beds as if it was for me. No, it couldn’t be. But, he was serious. I couldn’t hold back my tears. This would be the first time I’d sleep on a bed.

I was so happy, yet so guilty. I wanted Claudia to meet him.

“Claudia!” I mumbled as I sobbed. I missed her so much. I really did. I didn’t want to stop crying, I wanted Claudia back!

I was suddenly thrown to a bed. My hero wrapped his arms around me and cuddled with me. He began to stroke my hair amidst my crying. I couldn’t stop crying. I choked my sobbing with his arm. I cuddled deeper with him and cried myself to sleep.

I was sad, but at the same time, I was happy!