1

Aista woke up on the hard ground. The ground muddy from the storm that had occured the night before. Aista looked nothing like her former proper self. The mud had covered her shiny golden locks, her clothes were covered in mud, and her skin was covered in cuts and bruises from the trees she had shoved when running away. Not even her looks were different, Aista herself was different. She could no longer remember who she was.

The first thing Aista felt was confusion. She could not remember why she was in such state. The second feeling she encountered was intense hunger. She could not believe how hungry she was. She understood that she could no longer stay sitting on the ground. So, she got up to explore the town before her. Looking around, she found the town to be small but busy. She passed various pleasant houses and various merchant stalls. She viewed hungrily, the food stalls, especially the skewer stall. The smell of the meet and the sizzle of the grill made her mouth salivate. She could not resist having one and just as she was about to reach for a skewer, her small hand was slapped away by the stall owner.

"Hey you, do you have the money to pay for that?" Aista looked him in the eyes, unable to answer him. She did not have a concept of money. It was as it was unknown to her. She responded sheepishly and honestly a silent, "no." The man seemed to get angrier at her answer. "Damn rat, keep away from the skewers if you can't afford them. Go away before I call someone to sell you!" Aista was frightened at the sound of his voice and scared still at the idea of being sold off. She did not at all expect someone to yell at her in that way. And so she ran and ran until she was back at the edge of the forest and the town. She was hungry but did not know how to get food. She was lost and alone and she was so scared. Feeling down and having given up, she sat under a tree, tears coming down her face, head in-between her knees, ready to accept death. And so she sat there for perhaps 3 hours which turned 4 and then 2 days and then 3. She could no longer hold her head up and soon, her sight turned blurry and she could no longer see. In her last moments of consciousness, she heard some steps coming towards her...

"oh my, what poor child!"

"Quick, Herald, help me get her home!"

"Poor child, please be okay. Hang on for a bit longer. You will be ok. Please be ok."

And thus like that, Aista woke up and found herself in an unknown house, in an unknown room. WHERE WAS SHE?

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Authors note:

sorry it's short. Just... Dunno. School. 🤷

Anyways enjoy. I might post another small chapter in a few hours. Love ya 😘