Berry lay on the ground, ropes biting into his wrists. He shifted slightly, but the knots held firm.
The boy hadn’t tied him carelessly—there wasn’t an inch of slack he could use to wriggle free.
His mind drifted back to the events that had led him here.
It had started with stolen food. He and his party hadn’t wanted riches or power—they had just wanted to help.
Children back in their settlent had been starving, their ribs poking through their thin skin, their cries echoing through the alleys.
So Berry and his group slipped into the storehouses of the higher-ups and stole what they could.
They had shared it with the kids, only to find themselves dragged before the leaders the next morning.
No trial. No chance to explain.
’Thieves.’
’Traitors.’
They were cast out, banished into the frozen wilds.
At first, they had managed. The group scavenged, hunted scraps, and rationed carefully. But on the second night, the beasts found them.
The hunt was rciless.
One by one, his friends were torn apart, their screams still haunting Berry’s ears. He rembered blood splattering on white snow.
He rembered his own desperate struggle to escape, only to fall under the weight of exhaustion.
The last thing he recalled was claws coming for him—and then... nothing.
When he opened his eyes, he wasn’t surrounded by snow or corpses. Instead, he was here.
A valley-like clearing, warm despite the outside cold. It wasn’t stifling—just enough warmth to make it feel safe.
Trees stretched upward, leaves swaying as though mocking the lifeless world beyond. Strange flowers blood, and crops grew in neat rows.
Berry had thought it was a dream at first.
But no, it was real. He could feel the soft soil beneath him. He could hear the faint hum of sothing unnatural in the air.
And then there was the boy.
The child who couldn’t be older than six had been the one to drag him here. Alone. Alive. Well-fed.
Berry couldn’t understand it. Kids didn’t survive in this world. Adults barely managed it. Yet this brat had not only survived but created a place where food and warmth existed in abundance.
During lunch, the boy had even brought him a bowl of food. Actual food.
Grains. Vegetables. Freshly cooked.
Berry had stared at it in disbelief, saliva filling his mouth against his will. He wanted to refuse—he hated owing debts. But his stomach growled, and his pride lost the battle. He ate.
Every bite was a miracle. The taste was richer than anything he had known in years. Food like this didn’t exist in the frozen wastelands.
Berry had finally asked, his voice trembling.
"Are you sure I can have this?"
The boy had replied without hesitation.
"I grew it. There’s enough to share."
Simple words. But they hit Berry harder than any blow.
He had lived in a world where food ant power, where nobles hoarded and the poor starved. Yet here was a child, offering a stranger food as though it ant nothing.
Berry stared at the boy for a long ti, unable to decide if he was foolish... or terrifying.
Because no one gave without expecting sothing in return.
That ant the real master of this place must be testing him. The boy had to belong to soone powerful, soone who controlled this strange oasis.
Berry was sure of it.
So he waited. Through the afternoon, he kept watching. Surely soone would show up. An adult. A warrior. Maybe even a mage.
But as the sun-like light in the clearing dimd, nobody ca.
Instead, he saw the boy working tirelessly.
Lucian—that was his na, Berry rembered hearing it when the kid muttered to himself—moved like an old craftsman.
He adjusted strange devices, shifted scrap tal, and checked on the crops.
Most shocking of all was the strange orb-like construct sitting in the center of the clearing. It glowed faintly, like a miniature sun.
Berry had only heard of the sun in legends—stories passed down about a ti when the sky wasn’t filled with snow and darkness.
To see sothing that even resembled it made his heart pound.
’Is that... why food grows here?’
It had to be. Nothing else explained how trees could stand tall or how crops could thrive.
Berry licked his dry lips. If this device could create warmth and light, then it wasn’t just valuable. It was salvation. Whoever controlled it could control entire settlents.
And yet, there was no master here. Only the boy.
Berry frowned. That didn’t make sense. A brat couldn’t build sothing like this. He couldn’t maintain crops, fight off beasts, and tinker with strange devices.
But every ti he tried to dismiss it, his eyes landed back on Lucian.
The boy’s movents weren’t clumsy. They were deliberate. Skilled. Like soone who had done this for years.
Berry’s stomach twisted. Was he really looking at a child? Or sothing else entirely?
Dinner ti approached. No adult ca. The boy cooked again, humming softly under his breath. He didn’t even glance at Berry, as though feeding a bound man was just another chore.
Berry clenched his fists against the ropes. His thoughts grew restless.
If there truly was no adult, that ant this clearing, this food, this sun-like reactor... it all belonged to the boy.
But how?
And more importantly... why?
Why was a child living here, alone, with resources that could overturn entire settlents?
Berry’s instincts scread at him. This wasn’t normal.
He studied Lucian’s back as the boy stirred a pot over the fire. For the first ti, fear and curiosity warred inside him.
If the boy really was the one in charge, then Berry wasn’t dealing with a helpless child.
’Should I try and steal the reactor? If I bring it back and grow my own food, maybe I will be able to have enough to feed everyone...surely, more people would be able to cultivate more land. This way, we won’t have to bow to those disgusting officials for rcy.’
This felt like a dream opportunity for Berry, and the only thing he needed to do was make the kid lower his guard and steal the furnace.
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