Alisha sat cross-legged on the roof of a carriage. Hearing something behind her, she looked and saw Eid steadily catching up.
She smiled widely with her mouth open and raised her hand.
"Reid!!"
Once Eid got close, Alisha pointed at herself and the seat beside Eid, trying to say something. Eid thought and nodded with a warning. He pointed at the back with his thumb before he gestured sleeping.
Alisha shushed herself to show she understood. She jumped down from the roof and did another jump that was so high, she can jump over houses. Using her cloak against the wind, Alisha smoothly glided onto the seat beside Eid.
Thud*
Well, not entirely smooth as she landed with a thud, making an impact on the carriage.
Eid frowned at her while Alisha lowered her head apologetically. Seeing Eid no longer frown, Alisha finally talked with a very low voice.
"Who... there... sl...ing?"
"What?" Eid didn't quite understand, "You can talk in your normal voice. Master is a heavy sleeper. Just don't shout."
"Oh, your Master," Alisha turned around and kneeled on the seat to look through the window and saw an old man deeply asleep on the couch inside, "Hmm, when I heard the word 'Master', I thought he would be more... glamorous."
"Eh... Master is rather humble."
"Is that so..." Alisha lost interest in the 'Master' and sat back down, continuing the conversation from before, "I was wondering about the prophet you told me about. What's a prophet?"
Eid didn't ask why she didn't know such common knowledge and just answered, "A prophet is a follower of Fate and has the special ability to receive prophecies from the fairies."
"Fate... I've heard that name a lot. Like Order, Judge, and..." Alisha pointed at her fingers but couldn't quite remember the last one.
"Founder?"
"Ah, yeah, that one. What are they?"
Eid was stumped. She doesn't even know the deities. Does she live in a cave?
"They are the Deities of the universe and beyond that, we call them True Gods sometimes."
"Wow, they sound mythical. I kinda wanna meet them."
"You can't meet them," Eid chuckled.
"Why is that?" Alisha frowned, seemingly offended.
"They are the most powerful beings in... everything. I think at least you need to be a Demigod to meet them. Or, I don't know, some theories say that they are formless."
"A Demigod... what is that and how do I become one?"
"... you have so many questions, let me have my turn." Eid's head ached a little. It seems that he had a lot of explaining to do.
"Oh, sure," Alisha then smiled as she said, "Reid."
Eid began his questions about her origin. Alisha would answer them as long as she knows the answer. In turn, Eid would explain more about the world.
For the rest of the ride, Eid learned more and more about this mysterious lady while Alisha gained more common knowledge.
As Eid thought, Alisha is an oddball in every sense of the word.
Her first memories were of her father bringing her out into the woods to play. She doesn't know how and when, but she woke up underground, in the soil. Alisha was consumed by terror and the feeling of asphyxiation. She didn't know what's left or right, up or down.
She didn't know how long she was underground but eventually, she clawed herself up. When she saw herself in the reflection of the mirror, she already looked like a teenager and was already clothed like what she had right now. After that, dusk settled, and she experienced the nightmare of the darkness.
Alisha was powerless at first. Fortunately, no claws or fangs can penetrate her skin. She fought back by instinct. For some time, Alisha lived like a feral girl until she got out of the deep forest and into the plains. The more she fought, the stronger and more skillful she gets.
She would meet a lot of people on the way. However, interaction with them didn't last long as they were scared of her unnatural hair color, or they were too interested in her...
Alisha went through all that with a mental age of an eight-year-old girl. The nightmares were kept at the back of her head, only returning when she wanted to sleep. She kept forgetting a lot of things, repressing those horrible memories.
She traveled anywhere she could, wanting to find her home. That was her ultimate desire- to come back to the time when her father and mother were still taking care of her in their big house, surrounded by delicious meals and hot baths.
However, even after walking through blizzards and storms, reaching the edge of the continent and back, Alisha only found monsters and people who wanted to harm her. She learned how to hide herself from other people.
Until she got hopeful when some men seemed kind. Alisha was ecstatic to find people who wanted to help her. Well, she would later find herself wrong and the rest was history.
While listening to her story, Eid found more oddities in her.
'From what I heard, it seemed that she doesn't need the basic necessities normal people have like food, water, and air.'
Just from the start of her story where she crawled herself out of the soil, she should've died from the lack of air since she did say it took her a long time.
Alisha's story just added more questions than answers.
In some parts of the storytelling, Alisha would tremble when remembering that portion of her life. But in the end, she had the brightest smile.
"I feel relaxed all of a sudden." she leaned back in a carefree manner. There was no better feeling than telling your story to someone who wants to listen. Eid understood this as well.
"That's good to hear. You've been through a lot."
"Yeah..." Alisha smiled and went silent.
Eid thought she was thinking about something until her light snoring reached his ears. Her body let loose and slowly drifted to the side, towards Eid's shoulder.
'She at least needs that much rest.'
A moment later, Grandpa Frodo's voice sounded from within.
"Aaahh, that was a good nap. I'm ready to smack some ghouls later!" he opened the door and felt the fresh air, "Are we almost there?"
"Yeah, I see city walls from here," Eid answered before adding, "Also, a lot of things happened while you were asleep."
"Like what?" Grandpa Frodo only needed to bend forward a little bit to see over the corner and see Eid and when he does, he saw another pair of legs besides Eid. Stumped and curious, he further leaned forward and saw a beautiful girl resting on Eid's shoulder.
Grandpa Frodo's jaw was unhinged for a moment before giving an approving thumbs-up.
"I admire your determination to please your Grandpa, Eid."
Eid just shook his head before briefly telling what happened all the while the old man was sleeping...
"Oh, that's one strong lady, perfect for my grandson."
"Shut it, Grandpa," Eid snarled.
Grandpa Frodo wasn't someone who was willing to accept such disrespect, so he snarled back. He had a 'you already have the guts to talk back to your own grandfather!?' face right before he noticed the other people in the front.
The old man pointed, "Are they the Palion people you were talking about?"
The Palion Kingdom is a neighbor of the Iron Kingdom and where these people were before they were attacked.
"Yeah"
"Golden hour is almost up. Fortunately for them, we're almost there."
Grandpa Frodo said and Eid nodded. But something stuck with Eid.
Something about Grandpa Frodo's comment rang a bell in Eid's head.
"Golden...?" he looked at the sky, "When gold turns to blood, mankind's faith strengthens." he recited the description of the manual to the Rohde Family's scripture. At the same time, the ephemeral golden color was dyed red as it darkens.
"When blood turns to shadow, the vermillion's justice reveals itself."
Something flashed within Eid's head. An inspiration!
Now, he couldn't wait to get a room and meditate once more!
Eid excitedly grinned while thinking about it. It didn't take long before they reached the city gates of the White Steel City.
The guards stood there like statues. Only when they saw the approaching carriages that they moved. The lost people from the Palion Kingdom stopped and looked at Alisha who was still fast asleep on Eid's shoulder.
They looked at each other and hesitated.
"Should we disturb the Great Heroine's rest?"
"Do we have a choice, it's almost dusk...!"
But as they were discussing. the 'Master' got down from his ride and confidently walked to the guards.
"Entrance token, please."
Grandpa Frodo calmly showed a green token.
Seeing the symbol of Judge on the token, the guards immediately knew it was real. It also has the sigil of the Iron Kingdom on the back.
Grandpa Frodo sighed. There are many types of entrance tokens. The most common is the green token which anyone can get by issuing it from their district hall. From there, there are the yellow, orange, then red tokens which signify one's standing in the Kingdom. Grandpa Frodo could only show a green token since any other color would have the Rohde Family's signature on it.
They are excommunicated so using special passes would only get them in trouble.
"How many are with you" the guard rudely said.
Grandpa Frodo was annoyed but swallowed it in, "Everyone here." he extended his hand.
"Alright, please line up and we'll examine all your belongings. You have to pay 1,000 cennies for each to enter."
"A thousand!?" Grandpa Frodo exclaimed in shock.
"Yes. You only have a green token, you get no discount, old man." the guard just waved his hand, saying that they should get lost if they don't have the money.
At this point, Grandpa Frodo was fuming. Whenever he entered the city gates before, not only would he get a free pass, but he would also get people cheering for his return. Now, these people that he had risked his life back then are shooing him away!
The nerve!
Grandpa Frodo looked at the Palion people and asked, "How much do you have?"
"We..."
No one could blurt out that they had none since they were also robbed of their money. They were frozen stiff as well. The sky was turning darker and darker. Soon, the ghouls would appear. If they were not within the city wall by then, they would turn into food!
At the same time, all of them were aware they couldn't force their way in. Once these guards knew of their origins, they will be imprisoned!
They fell between a rock and a hard place.
At that moment, Grandpa Frodo gave Eid a meaningful glance. Eid is the only one that has money with him.
Meanwhile, Eid right now was counting the Palion people and thought, 'There are twenty-seven of them. Plus, me and Alisha, that number would be twenty-nine. How convenient, I still have a thousand cennies left!' he sarcastically thought.
There was no debate in his head. He could easily earn the money back, but not easily the peace of mind.
Eid returned the glance at his grandpa which the old man understood.
"Alright, I'm just joking. Everyone, line up!"
The Palion people all sighed in relief and lined up with grateful looks towards the 'Master.' But when as soon as they lined up, the guards noticed that they had nothing with them but clothes.
The fact that many are hiding the bruises on their wrists just makes them more obvious.
"Wait, where are you from?" a guard stopped a Palion man.