It's been 3 months since the day when Miranda stopped him from going into the forest.

In the 3 months that passed, certain things changed, Miranda began monitoring his actions like that of a hawk and followed him wherever he went, if anything the incident made her grow even more attached to him and he was slowly getting more attached to her.

To everyone's bewilderment, the killings and the body trail all stopped after that day and although it was all over, it never truly left both their minds, she began to develop a feeling of insecurity that he would leave her at any point in time if the chance presented itself.

He stopped going into the city to ease her insecurities about him leaving her and it seemed to help quite a bit, she wanted him within arm's length and she had it.

She believed that he would've opened up to her more within that time but he never did, she still knew nothing about him, down to his name and the thought of it to her made her a little angry on the inside but still, she was extremely happy with the way her life was moving and he seemed to be a good man, calm and laid back,he helped her with whatever she wanted and if she wanted to talk about things he would hear her out and give her some feedback, of course, this was providing the conversation wasn't about him and she began to experience new emotions towards him.

For him however, in the 3 months that had passed he had finally begun to cope with his self-hatred and although they were living a happy life together, the joy and happiness never fully reached him to the extent it did to Miranda,the pain he was experiencing escalated to a daily basis for prolonged periods of time and he had no idea of the cause.

It was bad, on certain days he couldn't even bring himself to get out of bed as any form of movement increased the pain. It was the worst pain he had ever felt and the main problem was his body wasn't coping with it.

Every day the intensity of the pain would vary and he would experience it in many different ways, some days he would feel as if he was being impaled, some days being cut to pieces and on various days he would feel as if his skin was being burned and being peeled off.

His body hurt in ways he had never even experienced before and his mind was slowly crumbling from it.

The thought of seeking a doctor or healer and getting a consultation ran across his mind but he would have to go to the city for that and leaving Miranda alone wasn't an option. It was the excuse he came up with in the fear of finding out what could be wrong.

He began to put on facades masking the pain whenever it would occur while she was with him to ensure it never showed to worry her.

The prospect of living a peaceful life with her being carefree was something he never truly thought about but deep down he wouldn't have minded it, living a life he never got a chance to live.

The slave traders were still an issue but within the time that passed, Zerbia hadn't once passed by the house and the boy eventually forgot about the slave traders as he began to grow content with the life he had with her.

It was a new day and they carried out their daily routines of heading to the settlement then returning home and cooking. and he was washing the wares whilst she washed the clothes.

They had finished eaten and he was washing the wares whilst she washed the clothes.

Although their daily lives only consisted of those things, for some reason it was never boring.

"Miranda, I'm done with the wares, you need help over there?" the boy asked as he turned to see Miranda scrubbing the clothes.

She took the clothes and rinsed them in water then twisted them, freeing them of the majority of water then she placed them into a wooden bucket.

"No, I just finished up, let's head outside and put them to dry," she said smiling as she passed the bucket to him.

They headed outside then put the clothes on the grassy plain with the rays of the scorching sun hitting them, slowly drying them.

"It's a beautiful day today isn't it?" Miranda asked him looking up at the sky.

"It's fuckin hot, I dunno how that's beautiful" he responded.

"You're always so blunt heh heh heh" she responded giggling.

The breeze began to blow strongly, pushing the clouds over the sun making the place slightly cooling the environment.

"Maybe I was wrong," the boy said as he took a seat on the grass and looked up at the clouds.

If it was one thing she had realized in the past couple months, it was that he was like a completely different person whenever he stared at the sky.

His usual expressionless face softened up and his calm and serious demeanor would break down and he would become more serene.

"You mind if I sit next to you?" she asked.

"No, feel free" he responded and she took a seat next to him.

A few minutes passed in silence with both of them looking at the sky with a strong breeze blowing.

The forest was within sight, around 500 meters in front of them and Miranda began to look at it.

"What's wrong?" the boy asked, seeing something was off.

"I was now thinking about my life back with the tribe" she replied.

"Wanna talk about it? You don't have to if you don't want to" he asked as he placed his hand on her back.

"We always lived on the outskirts of the village as outcasts but it wasn't all bad, some members of the tribe didn't shun us and helped us out now and then, even the village elder would provide us with some degree of help, even allowing us into the village to stay sometimes.................my parents really did love me and they tried their best to make sure I grew up well *Sobbing* I really miss them" she said as she began to cry.

Parents huh.................

"Let it out" he told her as he pulled her in and began to hug her.

From what she had told him just now, however short it was, he understood something about her people which maybe she hadn't noticed. Although her parents were of different races and broke a law of the tribe, some of the tribesmen and women still helped them out whenever they could, down to the head of the tribe, if they were truly outcasts they would've been kicked out of the village yet they were still allowed to live on the outskirts most likely for protection if needed, although some of the people had shunned them,some still decided to help and in the end, they still looked out for each other despite breaking one of the laws of their tribe.

In the time he had spent thinking about it, he hadn't even realized that Miranda had fallen asleep on his lap and he was stroking her hair, he chose not to wake her as he just stared at the clouds moving for hours passing by until it was afternoon.

*YAWNS

What am I lying ontop of.....................is someone stroking my hair

"What happened to me?" she said softly as her eyes slowly opened.

"You fell asleep on me," he said shaking his head left and right.

She quickly raised her head and began to look at him but he made no eye contact and continued staring at the sky.

"'I'M SORRY" she shouted as she quickly got off his lap.

"You fell asleep, what's there to be sorry for" he replied as he pat her on the head as he got up.

He picked up the clothes and put it in the bucket and began to walk towards the house.

Why is he so unfazed by everything

"You coming inside or not, I don't know about you but I think I got too much sunlight for a day," he said turned and faced her, standing in front of the door.

"I-I'm coming" she said as she quickly got up and began to run towards him.

They spent the remainder of the day sitting on the couch with an awkward silence, she felt embarrassed at what had happened and as a result thought that was the cause for the silence but in reality he sat there in pain, holding back the urge to scream out loud, it felt as if the bones in his body were being broken one by one and if he attempted to speak he would lose his composure. The pain lasted for a couple hours until nightfall and he sat on the couch like a log.

They quickly ate dinner and each of them headed to their respective rooms.

With that time that had passed, the nightmares he used to have slowly faded away and they became a thing of the past, now all he dreamed of was a pitch black darkness, well it was all he could remember when he woke up.

He took a quick bath, brushed his teeth, changed his clothes and jumped in bed.

As he closed his eyes, the sensation of continuously falling took over his body, most people would find that feeling to be uncomfortable but for him, it was oddly pleasant.

After it was over the feeling had subsided he had fallen asleep with the abyss surrounding him within his dreams.

In the dream, there was nothing, just pure darkness, no feelings associated with the surroundings, he had no physical body and just existed in a state of consciousness looking into the darkness.

After a couple hours passed, something was off, he could feel something on his arm, it was soft.

The feeling caused the dream to end abruptly and he sat up immediately with his fists ready and opened his eyes looking around the room directly infront of him.

As he turned and looked to the side of him, there she was.

It was Miranda lying on the bed next to him.

Miranda huh

He quickly dropped back on the bed and closed his eyes again.

.

..

....

.........

..........................

Wait, the fuck

It took him a second to catch on.

He turned his head slowly and made sure he wasn't seeing things and poked her on the back to make sure he was right.

It was her alright.

He had been through a lot in life but this was the first time he was in this kind of situation, it was the most confused he'd ever been, it felt as if his brain had started to lag.

He closed his eyes and hoped it would go away but then she turned and began to hug him.

How the hell do I deal with this situation............

He turned and glanced to the left again and looked at her face whilst she was asleep.

I guess it isn't so bad

Closing his eyes he went back to sleep as if it was nothing.

As she woke up in the morning she immediately realized his hand was around her waist and he was basically cuddling with her.

She got up slowly ensuring she didn't wake him up and headed downstairs.

A few minutes later he woke up.

Groggy he looked to the side and saw she wasn't there.

It really was a dream, thank the gods

He got up stretched, brushed his teeth and exited his room and began to walk down the stairs.

"What should I do?"

"How do I explain it?"

He could hear Miranda talking to herself and but he couldn't make out the words she was saying due to her speaking in a low tone.

Upon descending the stairs, he could see she was sitting on the couch in deep thought.

"Miranda you good?" he asked as he began to walk towards her.

She gave no response and he took a seat on other couch directly next to the one she was sitting on.

It was like she was in a trance.

After a few minutes, she snapped out of it to see him sitting on the other couch.

"So about last night....." she said, averting her gaze from him.

"What do you mean last night?" he responded confused.

Is he pretending he doesn't know what happened?

She ducked her head and began to stare down at the ground.

Looking at her, it took a little while for his brain to process what was going on.

Oh...................last night she really was in my room.

He began to think about it deeply, the life he was living with her so far and everything that led up to this point.

"Y-You kn-"

"I'm heading to the city today, okay" he interjected

I don't know what's going on anymore but I don't want to be the one that's holding back a life she could have, I'll find the traders and get her freedom then let her decide what she wants, I need to start getting a move on for Rex's funeral anyways

"Why, is it because of last night? If so, I'm sorry, I know it wasn't my place" she said worriedly

"Ah no, it's not that............... I didn't really mind it.....................I just have some stuff I need to take care off" he said as he got up and shaked her hair and walked off heading upstairs.

God, what have I done

After about 20 minutes he returned downstairs after showering, wearing a clean long-sleeved white shirt, brown leather pants, and his boots. He could be seen carrying something in a brown cloth bag.

He could be seen carrying something in a brown cloth bag.

She stood at the door waiting for him.

"Miranda, I'll need your blood," he told her as he pulled a blood vial out of the brown bag.

"Why?" she asked.

"The business I'm going to deal with involves you obviously," he said.

"Oh" she replied surprised.

"You wanna draw the blood or you want me to?" he asked.

She walked over to the kitchen space and picked up a kitchen knife and brought it to him.

"It'll hurt a little," he said as he took the knife from her.

He took the knife and made a small slit near the bicep region.

"Ouch," she said in pain.

"Sorry about that but that's it" he said as he jammed the opened vial against her arm and let the blood flow into it.

He put the lid on and placed it back into the bag and began to walk towards the door to exit.

"You're coming back right?" she asked worriedly.

"Hmmmmm, 50/50 I'll think about it" he responded with a poker face, he was joking but his face showed no sign of it.

Her face went cold as if the blood in her body was drained out.

Did she really not get that one?

"It's obvious I'll be coming back.............well most likely," he said as he walked over to her and hugged her and gave her a kiss on the forehead and left the house.

He kissed me

"W-Well I'll be waiting for you" she shouted

I kissed her on the forehead, I'm getting dumber with each passing day

He slowly made his way to the city and forcefully pushed his way through the crowds to arrive at the street where the bank was further down.

However, he stopped in his tracks, he had forgotten the reason why he had come to Mephisto in the first place, this was something he had to get out of his mind before anything else. It was the one thing that itched his mind since he was a child, it was his parents, although they were the source of all his problems he needed closure.He wanted to know why they did what they did to him when he was younger.

He wanted to know why they did what they did to him when he was younger.

"Excuse me," he said as he stopped a woman who was looking in his direction.

"Yes?" the woman responded.

"How do I reach the southern border of the city?" he asked.

"Follow this path you're on and you won't reach anywhere [Points at bank] however if keep going in this direction down the road and you'll reach what you're looking for" the woman replied pointing down the main road and then she walked off into the crowd.

He didn't even get the chance to thank the woman as she had already vanished.

He walked past the road leading to the bank and followed the woman's vague instructions.

As he kept walking, he ended up at the town square where he and Miranda resided for a night and kept walking straight past the square into the road directly in front of him.

After around 20 minutes of continuous walking through the lively city, he ended up at the southern gate and looking at it, it mirrored that of the northern gate.

His mind was blank and he kept walking, exiting the city at a fast pace.

2 hours of continuous walking through the isolated, quiet, dirt road, he was nearby his old "home".

I'll leave the moment I find out why, its the only thing I want from them

The cold breeze blowing gave him no comfort along with an intensifying gut feeling.

He had arrived.

Looking at the house, it could be seen in ruins, the sheds which held livestock next to the house were all gone.

It was a small boxed flat house, the stone which laid the foundation for the house laid there withered and in ruins, the panel windows on each side of the house were shattered and the door ripped open.

Deep down, he was happy, they were gone and he hoped they had died.

He began to walk towards the house and entered it soon after.

The room was relatively small and as he looked to the left, he could see a circular wooden table on the floor covered in dust, the kitchen counter was broken, the walls of the corridor in the center of the room leading to the bedrooms were covered in dirt but looking to the far right made him feel sick.

It was the whip his parents used to beat him with, covered in dust.

"You fucking monster, get away from me"

"Don't waste your time on a piece of shit like that, it isn't worth it"

"Hahaha, Luciana look, he looks just like a dog"

"You're lucky to even be alive filth, if we could've killed you we would've"

The memories began to flood through him and he began to recall everything.

He had walked into the house calm and composed but with each passing minute, the composure he had was slowly going away and although he knew it wasn't good for him he stood there and took it all in, bathing his mind with all the memories of the past and the wounds on his back began to pain as they once did long ago.

He managed to keep his composure but at this point, anything would've made him snap like a twig, he left the house emotionally unstable and began to make his way back to the city.

As he walked through the dirt road, the pain was slowly creeping up on him but for some reason, it didn't hurt as bad as it usually did, it was sharp like a knife being driven through his organs but his brain wasn't registering the pain for what it was.

He forced through it and staggered back to the city and by the time he had arrived it was already afternoon.

Making his way through the crowds to arrive at the bank, the pain had begun to disappear and as he entered the bank it was fully gone but that was just the pain, he was still unstable from visiting the house.

Looking at the long lines and the tellers frantically trying to meet the demand, it was louder than usual.

Zerbia could be seen talking to a teller and the boy made his way to the front, cutting past the lines.

"Hey, Zerbia," he said as he waved at Zerbia.

It took a second for Zerbia to notice the boy was waving at him and he exited the door near the tellers and came to greet the boy.

"Hello Sir" Zerbia said as he shaked the boy's hand.

"Can we talk in private?" the boy asked.

"Sure" Zerbia replied as he opened the door and led him to his office where they both took a seat at the table.

"I can see you're busy and all, sorry bout that" the boy said as he apologized for taking him away from his work.

"It's no problem sir, if you're here I assume you want to find out about the slave traders right?" Zerbia enquired.

"Ah yes" the boy replied

"I feel bad for saying this, but I found out about the location around a month ago but because the way work's been I didn't get the chance to pass by the house" Zerbia said sadly.

"It doesn't matter, I don't really mind, so where is it?" the boy asked.

"I'll have to show you" Zerbia responded.

"I know you're swamped but I'm looking to leave this city tomorrow," the boy said.

"Why Sir? Did something happen?" Zerbia asked.

"I've got to head to Gudrun's funeral, they've held it off long enough because of me" the boy replied.

"If that's the case, I'll come with you now, it was getting boring anyways, also the girl, is she going with you?" Zerbia enquired.

"That brings up another matter I wanted to speak to you about, is it possible for her to get into a school here?" the boy asked.

Zerbia could be seen in thought.

"You said she was from a tribe right?"

"Yea"

"What kind of tribe?"

"Elven tribe, she's mixed between elf and human"

"She's a crucis semino then"

"Crucis semino?"

"It's a term for cross breed, any place would love to have her, crucis semino's are always wanted because of their potential,they tend to become better mages than others, as a result society is always in a demand for them as they can serve to the betterment of the kingdoms, they are rare so as a result any school would want her"

"That's good, if possible can you get her into a school today?"

"It's only afternoon, I can go talk to the members of the board for the Institute of Magic, they'd definitely want her, are you leaving her behind?"

"Dunno, she said she wanted to go to school when I first met her, I don't want her to stay with me because she feels she has no choice, she should have options, when I'm done here today and I get her freedom, I'll ask her if she wants to come with me or go to school here,then we'll part ways if need be"

"I understand sir"

"I brought her blood with me too"

"Smart move, you'll need it for the traders and I'll need it for the school"

"Also, can you open an account for her and I need some money"

"Sure"

Zerbia pricked his thumb finger using a needle he pulled out from the drawer and approached the wall and drew a half of a circle on the bottom of the cross on the wall as he had done before and began to chant.

"The blood of the chosen shall open the door where the records are held, my name is Zerbia Holdsten, I command thee to open for thy master" he chanted as the wall began to break apart and a rift began to show.

He entered the rift whilst the boy patiently waited and he returned around 4 minutes later and as he emerged the rift closed itself.

In his hands were a brown cloth bag which had the document with the amount of funds the boy had and there was another document rolled up and tied by red string.

As he took a back a seat, Zerbia untied the string and unrolled the paper onto the desk.

It was in a foreign language which the boy couldn't even begin to comprehend and at the end of the document were two square boxes side by side.

"This document is similar to yours, I'll be needing your blood and the girl's blood in those boxes, yours in the form of a blood fingerprint to the left and a drop of her blood to the right"

"Can you deal with her blood? I keep thinking I'm gonna break this vial" the boy said as he passed the vial from his pocket to Zerbia.

Zerbia took one drop from the vial then dropped it onto the document.

From the brown bag, Zerbia pulled out 2 empty glass blood vials and split Miranda's blood into thirds in each vial.

"One vial for identification which will stay in the blood records, one for the school and one for you to deal with the traders" Zerbia informed the boy as he passed a vial back to him.

The boy picked up the needle on the table and pricked his finger.

"Wait sir, before you stamp it, how much money will you be putting in her account?" Zerbia enquired.

"Um, 20 000 drachma?" the boy asked.

"...................I wish I was that girl haha" Zerbia chuckled.

"Hahaha, I don't know, is that too much?" the boy laughed.

"I understand you're looking out for her and with the funds you have, it shouldn't be a problem, 20 000 drachma should be more than enough to last her years on" Zerbia informed the boy.

"Ah, ok cool, well I'll put 20 000 then," the boy said.

Zerbia pulled out a fountain pen and a jar of ink from the desk drawer and began to write on Miranda's new account in a different language and then he opened the boy's account and wrote the same thing then the boy placed his fingerprint on her contract, finishing the deal. Then he stamped his document with blood issuing the transfer of money.

"You said you needed some money too right?" Zerbia asked.

"Ah yes, how much does a slave go for?" the boy responded with a question.

"A slave hmmmmmmmmm I'd say around 400 drachma for a normal slave but that girl isn't normal, her value could be even triple that, if you plan on paying for her freedom carry around 2000 drachma" Zerbia answered the boy.

"I would carry 2000 but I don't know the kind of people I'll be dealing with so I think I should carry about 3000 for good measure" the boy responded.

"That should be sufficient," Zerbia said as he began to write on the boy's document again, updating it.

"Don't I have to put my fingerprint again?" the boy inquired.

"No sir, I can update it without the blood because you just stamped it" Zerbia responded.

"Ah ok, you ready to leave?" the boy asked upon seeing Zerbia stop writing.

"One minute sir," Zerbia said as he tied both documents with string and opened the rift again, he entered then quickly exited soon after and closed the rift.

"Let's go," Zerbia said as he picked up his overcoat from the rack as they exited the room.

They headed to the vault where Zerbia took out the 3000 drachma and put it into a money bag and passed it to the boy.

Then they made their way to the teller's counter where Zerbia informed them he would be out for awhile and then they began to move towards exiting the building.

"Ok Zerbia, show me where the traders are and I'll deal with them while you deal with the school thing," the boy told Zerbia as they both exited the building.