81 Unsteady and Volatile

PAST

Amidst the relentless rain, a young orphan found herself perched in the heart of the muddy soil, a desolate figure battling against the elements.

Her hair, inky black like the depths of a moonless night, clung damply to her forehead. Her eyes, deep pools of dark brown, mirrored the weight of her desolation. Starvation had claimed her fragile frame, reducing her to a mere wisp of a child.

Cold, unyielding chains bound her to a gnarled post, the cruel punishment for stealing a loaf of bread.

Alone she stood, a solitary soul in the rain's relentless downpour. The tempestuous assault served as a somber backdrop to her pitiful plight, drowning out the echoes of her gnawing hunger in the midst of the storm. The world stretched vast and uncaring before her, a cruel expanse that mirrored her own forsaken existence.

Then, as if summoned by the very tempest itself, a figure cloaked in mystery emerged from the swirling mist.