XINOX

chapter 2

she laughed and laughed at the irony of life, snow fell but what was on the ground was not white at all it was all pure-dripping blood even the snow that fell and the clouds in the sky seemed black as sooth filled it, sooth?

Nerezza laughter began to die down as she looked for the source of danger, her adrenaline began to pump wildly, she looked down the hill she was on and spotted a burned down village, you could see the wheels turning in Nerezza's eyes, if she goes down, the possibilities of her coming back was close to zero, if they were survivors who would think she was definitely an enemy sent to spy on them or worse sent by the gods but if she didn't go possibilities of her surviving was still close to zero, she lost all her supplies escaping the slave center, she only got out with a dagger and a little herb. She had no option, she had to go down and be very discrete of where she is going.

She came down the hill and she was blown out of her mind with the damage done to this village, she was sure no one would have survived but she was sure not to give up on supplies as she moved into the village hoping for supplies when she saw the half burnt drum from a distance she ran toward it, the drum was half burnt and sooth filled the top of the water, but Nerezza looked at it like it was the gem of sage. She quickly drank the water and looked around if she could find pouch she could use to store the water, as she looked she saw a barn, she entered to see burnt horse, pigs and sheep, she smiled at her dinner like the saying goes 'A man's food can be another man poison' in this case, a death of this village gave her the strength to survive, behind the burnt horse, she saw a pouch rack half burnt , she sighed with relieve and rushed towards it hoping it wasn't fully burnt but before she could the freaking thing shocked her "f**k!"

She quickly covered her mouth with one hand and glared at the pouch, but on second glance you could see an animal-like creature and she was sure now a hand was holding the pouch, that is definitely a human and an anix, looks like the horse gave cover for the human and got burnt itself, what a great chivalry. If the prince can't save the princess then the white horse becomes the knight in shining armor, Nerezza chuckled at this thought, she probably was the only one that can laugh in a situation like this

"mmm" she could hear muffling under the dead horse, she barely dragged off the dead horse and looked at the lady under, it was no joke or no lie that the person on the ground was a woman even with the dead livestock and sooth floating in the air, you could see the beauty in the woman below her, "Help me", she whispered softly, she was definitely at the verge of death, to bad she met a selfish person like Nerezza she clicked her tongue and looked at the woman

"What a shame pretty thing, but you have to try to survive" she grunted as she tried to peel the pouch out of the woman hand, the anix sensing this tried to hurt her but was just too weak. She moved her head to the side "What a shame" the woman tried to hold her hand but Nerezza stood up and pushed her hand away, she sighed and turned to the half burnt pig and smiled while bringing out her dagger from its holder and cut the pig stomach while smiling "it's a shame, isn't it, you must have been fed well look at how big you are, am sure if I was your slave we could have been best of friends but..."

Like a light bulb clicked in her head Nerezza realized she just escaped from the slave center, even thou she escaped she is still a slave and a slave in this recent time or even in the past was the worst, compared to her that is a slave and anixless even if the war is over, if she doesn't have a family or home her war wasn't over, she looked into her dagger holder and saw the small herbs remaining, she didn't even use it for herself she clicked her tongue at what she was about to do, she stood up from her crouched position and turned to the beautiful lady and walked over to her, bent down and grabbed her hand, her anix hissed at her and with the little strength the woman could muster she looked at Nerezza through half-hooded eyes.

"I can help you", you could see the flicker of hope in the woman's eyes as Nerezza held her hand

"But you have to make an oath with me from now on, you will be a close ...." She looked at the woman, she didn't know the kind of family she was from, if she was from a noble family, all the family's dirty little secret was on her, though Nerezza was young she wasn't stupid, she was far more advanced in knowledge and wisdom for an 8 years old, an era like this, a sin of one person was shared with everyone in the family

"A close family friend, no, as part of the family, you will protect, feed and give me a roof over my head during or after the war in return, I will give you a little of my hill top ginseng" she knew just a little of it can give her the needed strength in some minutes, while for Nerezza she needs to take it constantly, the woman slightly nodded her head and you could see a little light flickering around their hands to see the oath had been made, Nerezza smiled, near-death experience really changes people.

She brought out a pinch of her ginseng and put it into the woman's mouth, as the woman swallowed it, you could see sleep drifting in the woman's eye

"Hey! make sure you survive the war ok"

"I need a roof over my head" Nerezza chuckled and that was the last thing the woman heard before she drifted off to sleep,

Nerezza knew she was just replenishing her energy and went back to get some meat after she was satisfied she packed a little and looked for another bigger pouch in the barn to save some meat but instead found a protected mana filled pouch with some money and some jewelries

"Ah, pretty lady you sure you're not my savior" she chuckled as she alternated her eyes between the pouch and the pretty lady

"Ahh" she scratched her head

"You're lucky we are now like family" she said as she dropped one silver coin out of everything in the bag on to the woman's hand and smiled

"Am so generous" she turned back to her meat and put some in the pouch and smiled at her good deed, for her she had done the best deed in the world, but one silver coin was for just half a meal.

Nerezza was done packing her meat and looked at the pretty lady that now was her present madam and owner of the brothel in recent time

"Make sure to survive" she said before stepping out of the barn.

....present time....

“Nerezza” the madam called

“yes ma’am” she looked at her madam with a 100 megawatt smile, the madam rolled her eyes as she brought out a file from inside her desk and dumped it in front of Nerezza.

“The new group of slave is heading north”

“North!?”

“mmmh”

“You’re really upping your game huhh, if you want to kill me just kill me already” she said sarcastically with her arms open and chest leaning forward

“O trust me Nerezza if I could I would have done that a long time ago”

“But I thought our love was special”

At this point a nerve broke out in the madam’s face as her facial expression grew to be one in disgust and anger

“Out!”

“But…I” the sound of something sizzling on fire made me pick up the file and leave

“North”, she whispered to myself.

“Hey Nerezza”, Amy said, a pretty sweet girl indeed the only person that treated Nerezza with the least disgust according to everyone in the brothel but for Nerezza she knew better and she knew who this person is really despite her timid behavior,

Amy had white hair and grey warm eyes the appearance itself shows one of peace not to talk about her anix which was a blue bird and seemed pretty harmless, people never know better not to judge a book by its cover

“Hey Amy” she said showing a smile as usual but if you look closely you could see the hate dripping from her eyes a hate that looks like one day it will explode if not taken care of, but she knew someday it would it’s only a matter of time.

Amy side-passed and moved away as she walked away so did her smile as she closed her eyes

She had no time for this she had to plan for her next move and strategies for the trip up north, she didn’t die in the war, she's sure as hell not going to die now until she is sick of herself and she was never going to be sick of herself at least not yet as she opened her eyes and moved forward.