As the pair of young nobles scoured the halls of the residence, the child willingly stepped out of her room for the first time since her birth. Excitement built up within her at the idea of meeting new people; perhaps she would even befriend them.
As she met face-to-face with the pair, however, she fell to the floor, and before she could get up, she felt a shoe press against the top of her head.
"Since Kedra ran away, from now on, you're the new Kedra!" Said the young lord in a snarky tone.
"Elder brother told us you don't have a name anyway, so be grateful." Added the young lady.
Any excitement that the young child had was instantly crushed. Her mind suddenly went blank as she grew numb to the subsequent torment inflicted upon her by the two lords. She heard nothing but a loud ringing, she saw nothing but a blurred mess, and eventually she fainted.
As she awoke, she found herself in her sorry excuse of a bed and discovered at least a dozen new wounds that she did not previously have, but what weighed heaviest on her mind was the name that the two nobles had given her: 'Kedra'. This was the very first time someone had given her a name, and in spite of what the two had done to her, she could not help but accept 'Kedra' as her new namesake.
Kedra continued to grow despite her harsh living conditions; her maids never changed, always the same five that had overseen her from the moment she was born. Though they practically spent their entire day in the manor, none of them cared to interact with Kedra, who, cooped up in her room, had nothing to do all day but count each second that passed by.
With each passing moment, Kedra's boredom grew. The boredom grew into sadness, and the sadness into anger. Eventually she sought someone to blame for her terrible life up to this point; her encounter with the two young nobles had made her realize that she was being treated poorly, though any complaint she had was met with violence.
Her thoughts of blame grew larger and larger until they were nothing but a collection of different feelings of hatred. Kedra had nothing to do when she wasn't eating or sleeping, and so she did the only thing she could: she sat on her bed and let her anger fester. She was trapped in her own mind with nothing but her building scorn.
Each day was painfully slow; she couldn't pass the time; she hated living, and yet she could not let herself die.
However, a few days after her tenth birthday, her torrent of thoughts was interrupted by a bird's cry. As she stared at the creature, she was dazzled by the bird's brilliant blue feathers, which had an almost metallic sheen. She wanted to move closer to properly admire it's beauty but was blocked by a window—a window that had remained locked throughout all of her life, like all of the exits to the residence.
Kedra, with nothing to lose, decided to make a decision for herself. For the first time since her birth, she wanted to leave the manor. In the child's simple mind, finding an exit would have been much too difficult; instead, she opted to break through the shabby glass window of her first-floor room using a stool.
With difficulty, she gathered her strength and threw the stool at the window. The weak, unmaintained glass shattered with ease, and Kedra climbed through. As the maids arrived in the room, all they saw was the broken glass and bits of cloth that the shards had torn from Kedra's clothes, along with specks of blood.
Meanwhile, Kedra was already running; she knew neither where she was going nor why she was even running away, but one thing was certain in her mind: the fresh air was intoxicating. It felt as if she was finally alive.
As she reached the wall around the residence, she noticed multiple large holes within it, easily slipping through. She was met with a deep, dark forest. The sight of the forest would have been terrifying to any other child, but to Kedra, it was exciting and new, and without a second, she began moving forward.
As she moved further into the forest, Kedra felt the adrenaline rush subside and fatigue begin slowly setting in. She was lost, but she did not care; she continued to move forward, undeterred by worry or fear. For the very first time, she was free.
After hours of aimless wandering, Kedra's body, due to hunger, fatigue, or both, simply could not function any longer as her legs gave out and she felt into the cold dirt of the forest. Her vision slowly faded as the sounds of the forest began to fill her mind, and before she completely lost consciousness, she saw the bird that had grabbed her attention back at the manor land in front of her face, tilting its head.
As she stared at the bird, she could've sworn that it had spoken to her; perhaps she was becoming delirious from fatigue, but she was almost certain that the bird had opened its beak and said.
"What a waste."
Before she could contemplate any longer, she closed her eyes and fell asleep.
When she woke up, she found herself sat in a dark room, with nothing but a large flat rectangular shape in front of her. When she tried to move her body, nothing happened. As she looked at the strange object, she saw images of herself. However, she was not in control of her body; something had possessed her, and she was now but a mere spectator.