"I don't really understand why you're so curious about when you're the peculiar one here," I chuckled upon hearing his response, "well, you already know that I joined as early as when I was only 6 years old."
"Uh-huh. What brought you there?" He inquired, tilting his head ever so slightly.
"Hmm, it wasn't my decision. My country was in a very tense situation at that mont, and we were just basically waiting for sothing major to happen so one side could start a war," I smiled sadly as I rembered the young, innocent , "so the army was especially active, and there were forced conscription and stuff."
"They conscripted kids? How foolish," general Zhang snickered, "don't they know that children are surprisingly Pliable, but not in one way."
My eyes trailed down as I stared at a smirk that ford on the corner of his lips. I couldn't see his eyes from above, but even I could tell that it wasn't a happy smile, at all.
"No, they don't Legally, at least," I sighed, "you know how dirty warno, humans could be. War only brought out the worst in them."
General Zhang nodded, tickling my neck with his strands of hair.
"At that ti, I knew nothing. I didn't have the slightest idea that my country's higher-ups were planning to strike the other country using backhanded thods," I continued while scoffing, "I haven't even learned the multiplication table yet, but I was already sold off by my parents to join their Group, I suppose. Ah, do you know what a multiplication table is?"
"Of course I know, little cub. Sotis I think sothing's wrong with your already wrong brain." He replied while pinching my cheek using his hand as he chuckled.
Ugh, annoying. But if teasing was what it took for him to cope, then I shall endure But it better not be for long.
"I was more concerned about your parents who sold you off. Why?" He questioned, and this ti he slowly lifted his head and looked at straight in the eye with his piercing, lonely gaze.
Lonely?
Huh, why did I get that feeling when he stared at ?
"Because, why not? They had no reason at all to keep ," I chuckled ironically, "people throw away stuff that is no longer important to them, right? You should understand since you just throw away dirty clothing, you money-waster." I flicked his forehead.
"That part I understand. Parents, at the end of the day, are still humans. There's no guarantee that they won't see you as an object, just like so people do. How shitty," he chuckled while rubbing his forehead as the light in his eyes dimd, "but I don't understand how they could go to such extent, selling you off to war."
"Hmm, you're curious about the weirdest stuff, I swear. Don't you wanna know what I did that made my parents hate , instead?" I tilted my head in confusion. Weird. When I told my story to my fellow soldiers, every single one of them asked what happened, how could things turn out that way, and yada-yada. Well, it would be better for not to explain the reason yet, though.
"Not really. Will it make a difference if I knew? You were still 6 years old. They probably hated you way before that for them to be able to make such a decision," he looked into my eyes with a chilling stare, "how can it be the child's fault when the child wasn't even able to rember what they ate for dinner last night?"
I gulped when I heard his answer. He said it with such certainty, as if it was already engraved into his soul. His piercing stare sohow felt like it wasn't targeted at , but at himself. He was definitely looking at , but it was as if he was seeing a reflection of himself in .
"I know they're guilty, but sotis The situation also contributes a lot, you know? They might crack under pressure. After all, just like you said, they're also humans." I smiled bitterly at him.
"If they can't handle a child, then why bother bringing them into this world? I know that life fucks you up in every way possible, but I can't imagine a situation where a good parent would willingly do sothing to harm their children for their own benefit. Keyword, willingly. Not because they're pressured to do so." He scoffed while he brought his hands up to cover his eyes.
As I watched him hide his eyes, my hand instinctively reached out to grab his hand away from his face, gently.
" too," I smiled sadly as I clutched his big, rough hand tightly, " too. No matter how hard I try to justify their actions, I never could. Until I reached the point where I just accepted that they made a mistake, simply because they were shitty people, and there was nothing I could've done to fix it."
He stared back at with wide eyes, before grinning, "I envy your ntal strength." He shook his head while sighing.
"No, it wasn't all because of my effort. I had, um Soone Who was always there for ," I hesitated and looked away, "that's why, uh I managed to keep my sanity, I guess?"
"Still, a help won't an much to soone who isn't willing to be helped, so in a way, that's also your credit," he said and tilted his head slightly, "rather, who was that soone?"
"Umm, I don't know how to say this, but I'm also not really sure about that," I scratched my head in confusion, "like, I know his na and face and stuff, but I don't know where he ca from."
General Zhang waited for to continue while nodding.
"In fact, I thought he wasn't real. Ahaha! There was a ti when I thought he was my schizophrenic monster, or my imaginary friend, or so kind of demon. But there's no way my sleep paralysis monster can be that Bright." I smiled solemnly, thinking about the ti Eli kept my sanity in check. He truly was my sun. I couldn't have made it through all of that alone.
"You thought he wasn't real? So you've never t him?" General Zhang raised an eyebrow, seemingly confused by my statent.
"Ah, well We et regularly, almost every day, even. It's justWe don't really et like, et-et? You know?" I chuckled as I struggled to explain my view.
"No, I don't understand. You always use weird phrasing." He pinched my cheek as he pouted.
"Ow, ow. I an, like Um We didn't physically et, you know? Like Ah, I'm so gonna get called a freak for this, but we always et in a dream." I sighed, accepting my inescapable fate of being laughed at for saying that. I an, you wouldn't see a lot of adults clinging onto soone who appeared in their dreams when they were younger
"I see. You said you thought he wasn't real, so have you confird that he's real now?" General Zhang asked, "hmm, did both of you separate?"
Eh?
I blinked a few tis, looking into his face. Huh, he didn't find weird? Uh That was very much appreciated, coming from him. Probably he had seen weirder things in this magical world, I dunno.
"You don't have to answer if you don't want to," he said, taking my bruised hand into his as he started caring for my injuries, "but if you want to answer, don't worry. Nothing you can ever say will make think badly of you."
"That's a big thing to say. You never know, I might betray you. Ow." I flinched when he applied so ointnt on my stinging wound.
"Then, betray ." He casually replied as he continued applying the ointnt with care, before looking for a bandage among the scattered instrunts on the cart.
I gulped and watched him as he wrapped the bandages around my hand. Surprisingly, he did it well. It was much tidier than if I was to do it myself.
Then, my gaze went to his face. I watched his beautiful, long lashes dropping shadows over his bloody red eyes that appeared so forlorn. I wonder what happened that made him look so distant and so alone?
"You never know if I might one day," I spoke, answering him, "anyway, the person I ntioned is soone that you also know Maybe. Or perhaps they just coincidentally have the exact sa na and face and their backstory just happened to coincidentally line up so perfectly, I don't know anymore."
As I said that, my tone of voice got angrier by the second. Well, I wasn't exactly angry, but I sure was frustrated as fuck. I needed to know whether he was really the Eli I knew, the one I grew up with, just with amnesia and a complete 180 degrees flip of personality, or if I was actually schizophrenic.
"I know him?" General Zhang suddenly looked up, frowning," who is it? But you're not from here."
"Exactly. I didn't even know this world existed before. Now imagine , soone who was living in a completely different world, hearing a random boy that often appeared in my dreams talking about monsters and magic. Isn't it normal for to think I might've gone crazy? That I thought everything wasn't real?" I chuckled, "and yet, here I am. Using magic so carelessly that the strongest general had to patch my hands up."
I giggled and ruffled his hair using my other hand, "thanks for the bandage."
"When you put it that way I see your point," he shook his head, "so, who's the person?"
"Em What will you do once you know the person?" I questioned.
"Depends." He shrugged.
"How vague. Depends on what?" I pouted.
"Depends on whether you like him or not."
'Bonk!'
"Ugh, seriously!" I smacked his head as my face got red again. Geez, why would he ask that? There was no way I like Eli like that Right? Right, I just missed him and wanted to know what the hecc happened to him. And how was his life now. And Wait, why did I need to know, anyway? Ack!
"Sorry, sorry. But really, it depends." The white-haired man chuckled upon seeing my reaction.
"Ugh. I'll pluck your hair out and make you bald if you do that again," I glared at him, "well"
I inhaled deeply, before saying,
"it's Elias."
Reviews
All reviews (0)