A week quickly passed by for the village of Clear View. These days were bright and peaceful with nothing extraordinary happening. The day Kan woke up was a joyous one and everyone in the village had visited Kan with gifts.

On this morning within the clinic was a happy family sleeping. The only person awake within the room was Kan. Kan looked towards his parents and a smile appeared on his face, they were still there. For the past week, every time Kan woke up, he would cry for his parents thinking he was still in those memories. He was afraid that whenever he woke up, he would once again appear in that eerie darkness where he was all alone.

Hearing Kan cry every night for them, both Clive and Claire decided to move another bed into the room so they could sleep with him. They didn’t want him to feel distress and also wanted to spend more time with their son before they couldn’t anymore.

Kan stared at them with a smile on his face but eventually his smile disappeared. For the past week he had been pondering on whether to tell his parents about the events that were going to happen but he knew this would change the future. Kan had concluded that in those last few memories both his parents and the mayor knew when the village was going to be attacked and there was unexpected circumstances occurring.

Kan was stuck in between a rock and a hard place. If he tells his parents about the future then unforeseen events would occur but on the other hand he can’t solve the problem by himself. By the time the village is attacked he would only be 8 years old and he wouldn’t be able to do anything by himself. At the moment Kan was too weak to change the outcome of the village being attacked.

‘What should I do? I’m too weak right now.’

As Kan was thinking to himself, faint knocks could be heard from the door. Jane whispered and waited for someone to allow her in. Kan also quietly answered her as to not wake up his parents. Jane opened the door and walked towards Kan’s bed.

“You’re up pretty early aren’t you Kan?”

“Yeah, good morning Aunty Jane.”

Jane looked at Kan and smiled nefariously.

“You’re pretty sweaty Kan. You want to go take a bath with Aunty Jane.”

“Ok Aunty Jane. Last night was hot and I couldn’t sleep with my clothes sticking onto me.”

Kan agreed to Jane’s request without thinking anything about it. Jane helped get Kan off of the bed and helped him walk. Kan still couldn’t walk normally and was still a little bit wobbly as he walked but he was still better than when he first woke up. When he first woke up Kan could barely stand up on his own two feet. He had been asleep for an entire month and his muscles had experienced muscle atrophy.

It took them awhile but Jane helped Kan walk towards the bathroom. On the way there Kan had almost fallen a few times but he had balanced himself out. At one point he even let go of Jane’s hand and walked a little bit by himself.

“I see that you can walk better now Kan.”

“Yeah! By next week i’ll be running again just like normal.”

Jane smiled at Kan’s enthusiasm. When Kan found out he couldn’t walk he was quite sad but now he was excited on recovering soon. They had reached the bathroom and Jane reached towards the handle and opened the door. As soon as Jane opened the door, steam rushed towards the both of them.

“WOW! Aunty Jane we’re having a warm bath!”

Kan looked at Jane excitedly and this made Jane smile even more. She had woken up even earlier than Kan and prepared the bath. She had clearly planned it all out. A normal household would only bathe or shower with cold water because gathering the wood just for a bath was wasteful so it was only done on special occasions. Kan had rarely taken a warm bathe and he loved bathing in warm water.

“Hehehe, I prepared this just for you Kan. Ok Kan, can you take off your clothes by yourself?”

“Yeah Aunty Jane and also thank you for the warm bathe.”

Kan rushed towards the warm bathe and jumped into it. He was excited that he was able to bathe in warm water. Kan was already sitting within the tub while Jane was still grabbing soap to add into the water. Jane grabbed the liquid soap and poured some into the water to make it smell fresh.

“Aunty Jane, the water smells really nice now. What did you put in it?”

“Haha, it’s my specially made herbal soap. It will leave you smelling good while also healing your body.”

Jane got into the bathtub and grabbed a hold of Kan. Kan was floating and swimming around in the bathtub but he could only swim so much. Jane easily reached her hand out and grabbed ahold of him.

“Aaah, it’s been so long since i’ve held you like this Kan. You know I was so worried when you were asleep. Everyday I prayed that you would get better but you wouldn’t wake up or show any signs of liveliness. I missed the happy and joyous boy who would always come over and play.”

“I’m sorry Aunty Jane.”

Kan was now resting in between Jane’s breast as Jane held him. Kan did not resist her because he felt the sadness within her voice. She was distraught over him being poisoned but never showed it to anyone. Now that she was with Kan, she could release all the pent up anxiety that had built up.

Jane continued to hold Kan in her embrace but eventually calmed down and let Kan go. Kan floated away but he came back and gave Jane a hug. Jane felt that Kan would be uncomfortable within her embrace so she let him go but didn’t expect him to come back for another hug.

“Thank you for worrying so much about me Aunty Jane.”

“Hehehe, it’s ok Kan. You are basically a son to me so I have to take care of you.”

Kan was hugging Jane and a thought appeared into his head.

“Aunty Jane do you know someone named Nicole Blaine.”

“Nicole...Oh, Nicole Blaine. I do know someone named Nicole Blaine but how do you know them Kan?”

“Oh. Uh. A while back before I had fallen asleep I met this mysterious woman and she said that she knew you. She also told me that her name was Nicole Blaine and that I should give you her regards.”

“Ok. She could’ve have just stopped by and said hello.”

Kan had mixed truths and lies within what he said to Claire. Although he did not like to lie very much, he needed to do this to find out more on Nicole.

“Hey Aunty Jane how did you meet Nicole?”

“Hmm. I think I met her before I had come to the villager of Clear View. I think I had met her when I was around 20 years old. I had been traveling around the various kingdoms selling my heal...medicinal skills around. One night when I was resting on the road, I heard rustling sounds coming from the nearby forest and I immediately thought that it was a monster or wild animal but it was a man, about 30 or 40, carrying an injured little girl. In fact this man was also the one who had told me about the peacefulness of the village of Clear View which eventually led me to moving here. Now back onto the story, this man asked me if I had any medicine or knew where to find medicine for the little girl. From the look on his face he was panicking and distraught so I told him how I knew a little bit of medicine. The man brought the little girl to me and that was the first time I saw the skills of a combat locksmith. The girl’s body was in chaos and my skills could help but it would take some time for her to heal. Her blood was flowing extremely fast in some areas and in some areas the blood was locked in place. Her young body couldn’t take it so she was still unconscious. I raised my head to tell the man that she would take a while to recover and his face was filled with relief but immediately he told me that he had to go. He disappeared into the forest and I was left with this little girl who I would eventually learn was named Nicole Blaine.”