The Gods are Always Wtaching

Two Sisters

Adam woke up one hour later next to the well. His head was lying on a pillow.

"It's so bright. Where am I again?" He sat up and rubbed his eyes to wake himself up.

"Good morning. You took your time." Layla said to him, noticing that Adam had woken up.

She was sitting on the ground, her back against the well on the opposite side of Adam.

A book was open and lying on her legs.

The face that was full of tears an hour earlier was nowhere to be seen.

Adam turned back from a moment to look at her before lowering his gaze back down towards his legs and asking.

"Why am I... Did I fall asleep here?"

"You slept while hugging grandma. It would have been cute if you were 5 years younger."

Adam's face reddened as he thought about the scene.

'Elizabeth must have felt awkward.' He thought.

"So, you lost your family that day?" Layla asked coldly.

Adam nodded, remembering that he had told his story to Elizabeth and Calvin.

"They told you about it?" He asked while scratching his head.

"No, I was standing in front of the three of you. None of you noticed me though."

"Oh. Um yes. I did lose them that day..." His eyes felt dry and his throat was sore.

"I'm sorry for your loss." She said, without looking away from her book.

Adam didn't answer. He raised his head towards the bright sky.

"What were they like?" Layla asked as she closed her book.

"Well, the monsters were green and kind of scary, but once...."

As soon as Adam muttered the word 'monsters', Layla turned back to face Adam.

He was interrupted mid-sentence.

"Are you an i***t?" She asked with genuine curiosity.

He turned back to face her with a puzzled look. "What?"

After looking at each other for a moment, they both turned back to look in front of them.

"Well, I just said that I was sorry for your loss. So obviously when I ask what they were like, am not asking about monsters." Layla openned her book again. Her voice had a tone of disinterest.

"Thank you for asking, but you don't have to feel sorry for me. I'm just passing by, and you have your owm problems so..."

He was interrupted again.

"Why do you think I feel sorry for you?"

Adam turned back again to face her.

After a short pause, Layla kept talking while looking at her book.

"I don't really feel sorry for you. I mean I don't know you." She took a long pause to let her words sink in.

She continued

"My parents went into a Dungeon you know. My sister and I didn't get dragged into it, so I can thank god for that. Nevertheless, it's been three days since they went in there. Most people who get out of a Dungeon do so during the first day they spend there.  They're either dead, or they took the money from the government and went somewhere far from here. Either way, they are dead to me." Layla closed her book and stood up. She continued talking while facing the house.

"Grandma and grandpa have things to do so they told me to wait for you to wake up. We're taking you in, but don't expect too much from us. Don't tell my sister abour your story. Not only would she cry for days about your family and our parents, she would also start to believe that her nightmares are some kind of visions or something. Who knows what that might lead to. Also stop crying so much. You're not 6 anymore." Layla walked towards the house.

A screen appeared in front of Adam

["The Everlasting Winter" likes Layla's character.]

Adam was lost in thought. He was impressed by how strong Layla was. But he also didn't like how cold she was. Still...

'Even though she believes she lost her parents, she worries about her sister. She doesn't dwell on the past. I wonder if that's how a person should think...'

Layla walked towards the house with an annoyed face.

She too was deep in thought.

'What are the monsters like? Why would I care about that? It's weird how guilty he feels. Not only did he do nothing wrong, there wasn't anything he could've done. He's lucky he's alive. And yet he feels guilty about...About what? Being alive? So typical for good people. They just feel guilty about everything.' She got inside the house.

"Layla?" Her little sister Salma was standing in front of her. "Why are you crying?"

Without Layla realizing it, a single tear made it's way down her face.

Layla raised her hand and wiped the tear. She looked at her hand for some time before muttering

"I'm..I'm not sure. Anyways, am going to my room."

She walked towards her room. She was annoyed and kind of angry.

'Am sick of these good people. Why do they make me cry? Even when I trip over my own feet and fallto the ground, the moment someone extends a helping hand towards me my eyes start tearing up! That's so unlike me!'

She went into her room and closed the door.

Seeing her sister like that, Salma had to tell someone. She went outside and found Adam.

He was standing and facing the wheat field. With eyes that looked far into the distance.

She walked closer to him.

"Mister?" Salma said in an apologetic way.

No response.

"Mister??" She said in a louder voice.

No reponse.

"HEY MISTER?!" She shouted.

Adam finally woke up. Not only was he deep in thought, it was the first time someone had reffered to him as mister.

"Hello, ummm, Salma?" Adam said not sure about the little girl's name. It was the first time he talked to her.

"Yes! That's my name hahaha. I'm glad you remember." She raised her hands to the sky as if she had won some kind of prize.

"Don't call me mister. Am younger than Layla you know" Adam said with a smile.

"Oh Layla yes! That's why I came. Do you know why she was crying?"

"She was?"

"Yes she was, but she was suprised when I asked why." Salma said while rubbing her chin.

Adam looked towards the house.

He turned back and kept looking at the wheat field in front of him.

"Anyway, Mister! You went into one of those portals right? How was it? How long did you stay until you went out of there? Did you find gold and diamonds??" Salma jumped in excitement as she talked.

"I did go in there yes. And I did find gold hahaha quite a bit of gold really...." When it came to the other questions, Adam didn't know what to answer. Layla didn't want him to talk about how he lost his family in there. He was also worried that telling her that he spent about 6 days in there would give her hope, a hope that might turn out to be false hope.

Adam thought that a Dungeon could demand it's participants to survive in there for who knows how long. So it wasn't completely false hope. In truth, it was hypothetically possible that they were in a Dungeon that required them to survive for weeks or months.

Ultimately, Adam decided not to answer those questions and continued.

"....and it's not mister, it's Adam." He found his escape.

"But mister, how long did you spend in there?"

"It's not mister, it's Adam."

Salma only cared about the answers to her questions. Therefore, she didn't even register Adam's responses that didn't answer those questions. So she kept asking more questions, and Adam kept telling her his name.

["The Fox That Blesses Men" is interested in the character Salma.]

Adam was suprised by this message.

"System, why is she referred to as a character?"

Another screen appeared, but Salma talked before Adam could read the answer to his question.

"Hahaa the System didn't answer you."

"What do you mean?"

"Well when I talk to it, it talks back."

"Really? System is that possible?"

[If the user wishes it to be that way.]

"Yes I do! Ummm except when I whisper." Adam said excitedly.

[Changes have been recorded inside the System.]

[The answer shall now answer questions using a human voice.]

"Thank you Salma! Am sure that will come in handy in the future!"

Salma didn't answer. Instead she looked at the groud.

"Do you think my parents will come back?"

"Um.." He had no idea what to say. Every answer was basically a bad one.

He could either say what he honestly thought, give her hope or tell her some kind of lie.

"Adam?"

In a second, his mind came up with dozens of answers, but none were good enough for him.

"Adam?" Salma called out, with a voice more desperate than before.

Adam turned to face Salma.

It was the first time he really looked at her.

He saw her fierce red hair. She was the first person with red hair he saw in his life.

He saw the same freckles that her sister has.

He saw the same worried expression Mina had from time to time.

For a moment, Mina's image seemed to overlap with Salma's figure.

At that moment he realized.

The person in front of him wasn't someone he could lie to. It wasn't someone he wanted to lie to. It also wasn't someone he wanted to deceive by keeping the truth away from them.

He strongly believed that the truth was the best thing to say.

Adam had a sad smile on his face while Salma looked puzzled.

He sat on the ground and faced the wheat field.

And Salma sat too.

"I...I don't know if they will come out of the Dungeon. They might, but they also might not. Having gone into a Dungeon myself, I know that succeding in leaving a Dungeon is possible. But it probably highly depends on the Dungeon. I stayed in there for 6 days before going out. So there definitely is hope for your parents. But I must tell you that going into a Dungeon is basically dancing with death."

Adam raised his clothes to reveal the scar that went across his whole upper body. It was the scar he got from the Hobgoblin that wielded two longswords.

He continued.

"I got this scar from a monster. It nearly killed me. I got very lucky..." He thought about the fall from the cliff. "...multiple times. I got lucky multiple times." He lowered his clothes back down before continuing.

"Once again, I did spend 6 days inside a Dungeon. So there obviously is hope for your parents."Adam lowered his gaze." But I think...I think you should be aware of the possibly that they won't come back."

Salma was looking at the wheat field, a handful of tears started flowing down her cheeks.

"Really? Well am glad it is possible that they will come back" Her face completely betrayed her words of reassurance. "But it is possible they won't? Is that what you are saying?"

Adam didn't raise his head.

"Yes...that is what I think." He answered in a low voice.

Tears started flowing down much more rapidly. She had difficulty speaking. She took sharp beaths between words and sentences.

"Well, isn't that...isn't that how it..it always is? Even..even...even when you take the car to go to the store, you...you..you might hi-hi-hit another car and...and...and not come back."

Adam raised his head and looked in Salma's way.

He had never seen such a sad face.

He looked at the bright sky.

Tears started going down his cheeks too. His fists clenched against the ground using great strength.

"I guess...that is the way life is." He said weakly.

The life the Gods had given them. A fleeting moment that could end abruptly.

"Do y...yo...you think I...I should lose hope?" She turned her head sideways to face Adam

"Um. Maybe.... maybe not. I don't think you should. After all, I have only gone into one Dungeon. So who knows how other Dungeons are."

She lowered her gaze towards the ground and started wiping her tears.

"Okay, I...I..understand." She added

"But I...really will miss them a lot if they don't come back." Salma raised her head to the sky as she silently cried.

"I wish I was like Layla. She's so cool. She never cries. I mean, she rarely cries. And she always thinks of tomorrow, never of yesterday." Salma said as she wiped her tears.

"I also think she's very cool. Do you want to be like her when you grow up?"

"Ummm, am not sure that I can. Am a bit of crybaby. Just like you! All I can hope is that I won't end up like you! Hahahaha! Don't look at me like I said something crazy! Grandpa said that even when he found you in the field you were already crying. Plus, I started crying and you are older so you are supposed to comfort me. Instead, you ended up crying too!" Salma was crying less and less.

"That is true. Even your sister said that I have to stop crying so much."

They both laughed while wiping their last tears.

Even though both were so young, the Gods introduced them to the concept of life and death.

But that was the nature of the Gods.

They were fair in that way.

Once misery and despair struck, it struck everyone and everywhere. Only sparing the very few lucky ones.

They sat side by side for a bit, looking at the wheat field.

Outlookers would think that they were brother and sister.

"Do you know the story of the Hero who came to a small village to rest from his travels?" Adam asked.

By that time, Salma had also stopped crying.

"No. Tell me!" She said, with the curiosity all children have.