1 Man's awakening

The first thing the man realized upon awakening was that he was in a dark room and it smelt absolutely horrid. Few rays of light stretched across his body through small cracks in the walls. The man begrudgingly sat up, noticing that he was atop a bundle of straw and closed his nostrils with one of his hands.

That's when he noticed it, the faint sounds of multiple bodies breathing. The laboured breath of large beasts and the small snores of pigs. He slowly pieced together his surroundings within his groggy mind, blooming into a realization of utter disgust, "mother fucker I'm in a goddam stable!"

The man shot up in an instant before quickly falling down, his hands trying to grasp at the booming pains firing within his head. His wobbly legs were also not helping his current situation. After a couple minutes of deep breathing and a few cuss words damning his current situation and alcoholism, he was ready to take another step.

He managed to finally reach a wall after grasping within the dark for a while, stubbing his foot on an unseen piece of wood during the process. His seething anger starting to blossom into a deep red rose of pure rage. His throat filling with words and phrases that was about to burst.

A sudden explosion of light stunned the man, causing him to fall flat on his ass. His fuzzy eyes could make out a dark outline standing in the middle of the pathway of light. "Can ya not maké a ruckus in da goddamn morning!" the outline yelled in a youthful, feminine voice.

His eyes started to clear, the figure unravelling into the appearance of a small dark-haired, girl in dirty overalls. The shock of the girl however quenched his anger leaving him in just utter disarray. "Ahhh sorry, it seems that I've randomly awakened in yourrr …. Humble stable with no recollection of how." The man told in a gentle voice.

"Thought this would happén, daddy always léts you wish washers with no place to go stay in our 'humble stable' for the night" The girl groaned, leaning against the wooden entrance, an obvious disgust in her eyes. "Then in the morning you making a ruckus like a cow givin birth."

"Right, I suppose I get what happened now." The man responded, drifting closer towards the girl. His mind trying to collect the loose pieces of last night that were drifting within his mind. "I seem to loosely recollect that your father was the one that ran the bar that I rather indulged myself in?"

"That would be correct"

"So would it be safé to say that I might be ablé to procure some …" the man continued, one hand slipping into a pouch on the side, the other gesturing towards the girl. "food" the man finished flicking a glossy, shiny gold coin towards the girl.

The girl let it drop to the ground, not distracted by the temptation. The man clicked his tongue. What is wrong with children nowadays.

"My pa told mé to come out and tell ya that breakfast will be in a bit." The girl said turning away, heading towards a larger, two-story wooden building next to the stable before turning around to finish, "for a pricé."

The man shook his head with a grin whilst picking up the coin off the ground, "Is there at least a bath or some water I can wash myself in the meantime." He called out after her. Without looking back she points to the side of a large house where a shoddy looking tub lay.

The man pattered around his dusty black, cotton coat, feeling around the many hidden pouches and pockets before landing upon a familiar object. He pulled out a small pouch and grabbed a ruddy looking brown pill, fuck last one, I might have to slow down my drinking. He flipped the pill in the air, crunching down hard when it landed in his mouth. That should help with the head, he thought spitting some of it out. Still tastes awful.

The man went over to the tub noticing the brown, murky water, his grin vanishing. "okay guess I going to have to pull all the stumps out." He groaned, cracking his hands and neck, the pleasure oozing some of the annoyance in his still painful head and stiff body. He first opened up a satchel connected to his leather belt, revealing a multitude of vials. Unconsciously, he picked a vial containing a white power, pulled the cork and dropped a dash in. He then gently reached for another vial that contained a shard of a dark rock, red pulsing veins running through its surface, his fingers only grasping the cork.

After waiting a few moments, the man focusing intensely on the water, after dropping the powder and rock into the water, it slowly started to clear up, steam emitting from the water's surface. The man dipped a finger into the water, a smile creeping on his face from feeling the warm sensation. "Benissimo!".

The man joyfully exhaled, feeling the warm water loosening his tight muscle, the gritty sensation on his skin dissolving away in the water. This is the best damn feeling in the world. The man stared off into the distant land occupied with farms and animals, a gentle breeze picking up along the ground swaying the grass in the fields.

The man started to drift off, unwanted memories swirling into the surface of his mind. It's really a curse, the things we want least in life to remember always being the things we remember the most. The things we want to run away from always following, unrelentingly and forever.

Their chase only stopping when we end up confronting it and resolving the matter. Our fear of said confrontation, the facing of the unknown, the unwanted, makes us prolonge the run or often never breaking pace from the infinite run and chase game.

These were memories he was unable to face, problems that he refused to accept, emotions he couldn't yet process. So they swarmed him, drowned him in their clutches in the tides and waves of emotion and reminiscence.

The images of a room burning, the entrance blocked by rubble, the screams filling his ears, arms pulling him back, tears flowing uncontrollably. Then the scene of an infirmary took over, the thick smell of rotting flesh, sweat and medicine mixing into one. The body wrapped in a white blanket next to him, a person in a shaggy uniform standing over him spouting words calmy into his ears, yet he heard nothing. He laid their unmoving, staring into the brown, crumbly concrete roof of the building, his mind unable to work anymore, unable to bear the pain the man was telling him.

The sounds of creaking wood detached him from the grasps of the memories. He turned his head towards the wooden building behind him, the little girl standing on a small deck that connected to a few steps that led to the ground next to him. "why aré you cryin?" she asked blatantly. That's when the man felt tears sliding down his face.

"My dear it's only a tear." The man replied wearily, an obvious strain in his voice. The girl's eyes hardened before shrugging the growing tension in the air off.

"Right. Geesh you even cleaned out the tub and everything, how uptight are y…" the girl stopped after noticing the steam drifting away into the air, eyes widening. "How did ya get the damn water brewnin?" she exclaimed, in a high voice.

The man chuckled before replying, "Aaaah now I've finally got a reaction out from you. Mystified are you from my steaming hot bath?"

"yeah, how ya do it? Would've taken too long to light a fire!" She questioned rushing down to the tub, examining its surroundings. The man stared in wonder, as the girl was completely lost in her examination and questioning that she wasn't at the least bothered that he was still in the tub. Naked at that!

"Umm, well firstly I didn't change the water, I purified the water and you are correct there about the campfire. Such things become obsolete to a man such as myself when you acquire such things..." the man decided to go on, one hand attempting to cover his groin and the other reaching for a glove before plucking at the steaming rock at the bottom of the tub. "...As this." He finished showing it off in the girl's eyes.

"A hot stone!" the girl exclaimed, eyes wide.

"hahaha sure, or if you're going to be correct a Hephandrite stone." The man chuckled, holding the stone near the girl. "put your hands near it, c'mon don't be shy lass. You're not going to be burned unless you touch it directly."

The girl slowly brought her hands towards the stone, a wonder like a smile sprawling across her face. "Bloody aigh, this is crazy."

"I'm surprised you recognised it in the first place." The man questioned.

"The town has one for the communal washes, but it's hoarded by the damn party moocher's." the girl added, spitting on the ground at the mention of the people. "The only time we can use it and see it is when they bring it out for the public baths and showers warming the water for us, once a week, as to apparently, 'not deteriorate the stones ability'. Hell I just think they don't want to warm us up to much and spoil us, make us more apprecie… appreciate…"

"appreciate…"

"I got it! Appreciative towards the party." The girl snapped, drawing her hands away, disinterest the small stone becoming more apparent "So what are you anyways, a rich, party bastard or some alchemist and something."

A smirk crept upon the mans face, "well my dear, what do you think after talking to me for a while?"

"A cocky bastard." The stated blatantly, causing the man to let out a burst of laughter. Eyes glimpsing a mark on the outside of his right hand, after he took the glove off.