A warm feeling. His body was engulfed in a purifying bath, drowning in a drowsy, burning yet charming sentiment. Was he still falling? Friture didn’t believe so. This heaviness weighed on his everything, freezing any intention to contract his muscles to provoke any kind of movement. Was he perhaps paralyzed? Well, after a chute of a hundred metres or so, he shouldn’t be hoping to remain unhurt or anything.

Or maybe was this… The afterlife? So there was an existence, even after death. Should he be relieved of this news, he didn’t know. Supposedly could he finally take a rest? A long, well-deserved, never-ending rest for eternity?

A small light appeared in front of him, making everything brighter in the vicinity. Had the world around him always been so dark, before he noticed the change? It grew, bigger and bigger, until everything became blank with a tinge of red.

“Oh, so I was just sleeping…”

After trying his best to note somewhere inside his brain how a lucid dream felt, he timidly stirred up his eyelids, at last taking account of his actual surrounding. To his surprise, he found himself on top of a comfortable bed, gently covered by a blanket that prevented his body to fear the coldness of the night. Also, he found himself partially undressed, with only a few bandages there and there to cover scratches and wounds.

Right, he did painfully fell from the pine. Did he not break a bone when he hit the ground? Luckily, seemed like he was just fine. Still a little exhausted from his chase, and… Oh, right, he was pursued by soldiers of his homeland, by compatriots that labelled him as a heretic. And Dragee. What happened to him? Did they caught him, and…? Just remembering those frightful moments made him depressed, his ears dropping and his tail circling around him in gloominess.

Somehow, he was still alive. But for what? What now? He was a criminal in his own country, they wanted him dead for obscure reasons. What kind of future could he choose now? He lost everything. His job. His ideal. His dreams.

“Oh, you’re finally up. Hello!”

Pulled out of his dark thoughts, Friture set his sight on the stranger with a voice full of joy. He… Was a she, popping out of the sole window of the place. Totally a she, with her long yet attached bright hair, and the-oh jeez her cleavage was dangerously leaking! The sight terribly embarrassed him, and it took a lot of himself to discard those wild ideas and to not appear to be rude to the lady.

Focus. Focus, Friture!

“You seem fine to me. Care to get up? I’m going to prepare your breakfast.”

Did she notice? She definitely noticed trough his behaviour. How embarrassing, looking at such a fine woman with those image in mind and-oh jeez it was unstoppable now!

Focus Friture. Focus! She asked you to get up, so get prepared. Find your cloth, do your best to hide your shyness and go for it. For the breakfast, dammit!

But who was that girl? Watching the room he was in, Friture couldn’t help but think that it must have been a secluded shelter. The walls made of some kind of wood looked frail, however even if they creaked at the pressure of his palm, it didn’t seem to be ready to collapse anytime. Same for the ceiling, made of a heavy amount of straws to prevent any leak during rainy days. There wasn’t a lot of decoration, it was as if this place was only supposed to be a small room and nothing else.

After putting on his shirt, Friture set his eyes past the scenery of the window. On the other side of the wall, a large and dense forest sprayed out, blocking his eyesight only after a twenty or so metres. It would be easy to get lost inside those woods, however it never stopped the greedy merchants to transport their goods across the country.

Right, maybe he was mistaken, but he recognized this forest, as the trees looked similar to the ones surrounding the castle of Biscotti where he was working. This means… Did he perhaps fall near this isolated house, and this woman was luckily walking around and picked him up to treat his wounds? What a lucky coincidence.

At last ready for the next event, Friture guided himself toward the entrance of the lodge, pushing the door and discovering a sight he would never forget for the rest of his lifetime. The sequoia extended themselves in a straight and vertical direction, expanding not their branches but their trunk toward the sky as if their only purpose was to touch the stars. Among the pleasant nuance of the green leaves and the brown barks, a delicious and calming perfume of sap emanated from somewhere, entering his curious nose and filling him with a powerful yet tranquil feeling.

The glade wasn’t that large because he never saw any from the laboratory, yet, at ground level, he could still calculate an enviable open surface, covered with fallen leaves and many littles bushes imitating the meshes of the shade of the environment. And just there, on his right, was the unintroduced lady, quietly sitting on a log and playing with a stick to irritate the fire.

Yes. This girl was playing with fire, because Friture could see a plate full of food on her side, and nothing roasting above the campfire. Was she bored while waiting for him? He should apologize first, then…

“Muahahaha… Burn, burn little bug…”

… Finally, let’s back down slowly, then disappear from this weird place and never come back again. That was his intention at first, but was somehow instantly noticed by the girl.

“Ah, you’re here. Take a seat, breakfast is ready.”

She sounded like the kind who never left their happy mood, and took everything with ease. An easy-going kind of woman who lived far away from civilisation and enjoyed burning bugs in her free time? Friture internally sighed, then made himself comfortable on a nearby log after picking his plate, and…

“… How do you eat this?”

“What? It’s refined and fresh fruits and berries. I cultivated them myself, go give it a try.”

She sounded confident in her own labour, so why not try and trust her a little more? It looked lighter than what the chiefs prepared for the canteen’s user each morning, with more sugar and a less persistent feeling of satisfaction. There just wasn’t any fork and knife to help yourself, only your own hands and fingers to bring the food to your mouth. Still better than nothing, he thought.

To try the taste of the food, Friture plunged his teeth in the flesh of a small fruit… And quite enjoyed its sweetness. It restored his usual tiredness of the morning call, giving him the strength and the vigour to start anew the day. The berries themselves offered a different savour, however the effect seemed to be the same.

“It’s delicious! Why did I never heard of such fruits inside the castle?”

“So you’re from the castle, eh? You’re an assistant or what? Kinda lost your way home if you ask my opinion.”

“Uhm… No, no… I am part of the National Research Institute of the kingdom of Biscotti. Was…”

It still was hard for Friture to accept everything that has happened at the center. The report of the discovery, the assassination attempt, the order of execution from the First General.

“Mmh. Seems you have some difficult circumstances on your side.”

“Yes… Yes, you’re right…”

A silent atmosphere flowed between them, before being shattered by her free-spirited voice.

“Well, I’ve learnt that everything goes back to its place after a certain amount of time. So take your time to rest, relax, and when you feel like it, I’ll lead you to the nearest town or something. What do you think?”

This was… A kind offer, from a stranger he knew nothing of. But he knew no reason to refuse her helping hand.

“Yes. Thank you, miss…?”

“Just call me Trellia. No honorifics. That’s what I decided my name should be. And your name, little budy?”

“I am… I am Friture Elmar… Please feel free to call me Elmar-No. Friture. Call me Friture.”

He still didn’t knew his family’s opinion on his sentence, but Friture still thought it would be a disrespectful idea to still utilize his family name. For now, until everything was cleared, he would only be the heretical researcher Friture.

“Alllllllright? Then Friture. What do you plan on doing starting today?”

“Starting today…”

What should he do? No idea, as he went with the idea that all his doors were permanently closed to him. Friture took this chance to take another look at the woman who treated him, now able to name her, but still not to identify her traits.

Despite what he expected, she looked quite young. A little older than him, but maybe only two to four years, or maybe not. Her hair shared the colour of a bright rind of the nearby sequoias, with slivers of foxy touches there and there, and were arranged in both a simple yet long ponytail that descended till her hips, and in a complicated manner next to her left ear, confusedly resembling a flower or something akin.

While mentioning the ears, Friture couldn’t help but think that they were plenty big. The normal size was slightly smaller or equal to one’s hand, but hers were undoubtedly longer, and still proudly stood their ground on top of her, giving the girl a curious-looking aspect. Her tail followed the same rules, and seemed both large and prolonged in an elegant way, adding even more charm to her ever-smiling figure.

But maybe the most eye-catching side of her was her garments, way more sophisticated than what you would expect from someone living in the middle of nowhere. The legs were hidden behind an elongated semi-dress with low, but brilliant shades on the textile. Maybe it was appropriate to call it a skirt, it depended on the girl’s mood on the subject.

A short garment half-covered her top, but you could guess from the wrinkles that it probably was intentional of her to show off a part of her bust, while drawing the rest of the roundness with a tight belt just under them. It was definitely intentional of her, yet she showed no shame in doing so.

“Is she a pervert, or did she lost her mind a long time ago?”

Now having a decent image of this person, Friture could finally gaze somewhere else, evading the so tempting desire to indulge in them-dammit!

“Show some self-control! I was just about to die yesterday, so… Right, I was about to die. It’s funny I kind of forgot about it.”

What should he do, starting today? He really… Really…

“I have no idea… A lot happened recently, like…”

Maybe because he wanted to dump a load off of his mind, Friture began reminiscing the previous events, narrating and describing them to Trellia what happened to him so far. How he was about to be murdered by a spy, how he lost an inspiring presence on the same day, how he was labelled as a heretic by his compatriots, how he was chased to death by them, how he managed to escape thanks to a new friend, how he lost everything else.

Yeah. He lost everything on the same day. Those words he repeated himself since yesterday still held truth in them, so there was no harm in repeating them again. Actually, the only thing left he possessed was his life and his knowledge regarding the divine energy. But it was pointless to share it now, and as it was considered a heretical technology by the higher-ups, he thought of bringing this secret with him in his grave.

Nobody would miss him or ask him any questions concerning the ‘Project: New World’ after all. Maybe his family would shed a tear or not, he had no way to find out now. So what? Should he just sit here until he passed away? Well, what else could he do here…

…

Now that he thought about it, a peculiar detail about his story fell off. He managed to run away from the soldiers, and even when the officer finally surrounded him at the cliff… Right, at the cliff, where in desperation he decided to jump and end the remaining of him by himself. So… How was he still alive?

“Wait a minute… I made a fall of more than one hundred metres, and yet I’m still alive… How is that possible? Am I already dead?”

The questions stirred a laugh from Trellia.

“Ahahah! No, no! You’re definitely alive, Friture. I caught you mid-air before you touched the ground, but you were already unconscious so probably you don’t remember any of it.”

“… What? You caught me mid-air? Like… How did you do?”

“Well, I’m a goddess. It’s, like, not impressive at all for my kin, you see? I could do it with my eyes closed if I wanted!”