It seemed like the child would not wake up, Michael had been walking for the last 2 hours, trying to get to this grassy location he found on the map.
And yet, all this child was doing, was grumbling and tossing around on his shoulder, not looking like he would wake up soon enough.
Or that’s at least how it seemed on the outside, however, Michael still had some memories from his time at the orphanage, he could tell a few irregularities apart.
“Should I just leave this kid here? It’s not like he wants to wake up anyway, my shoulder is starting to hurt” Michael said in a slightly sarcastic tone.
However, to the child, it seemed like it was about to be abandoned again so he quickly sprang up from his shoulder, almost falling head first to the ground.
You could have used better wording for that you know…
‘Mincing words won’t bring his family back to life, I don’t want this kid to lose himself to his own delusions.’
“Are you alright kid?” Michael held him by the foot, mere centimeters off of the ground.
Just as he was about to put him down on the ground, the kid started crying, holding his arms around his eyes while the tears fell onto the ground.
‘…’ Michael decided to give him his time, slowly rotating him so he doesn’t feel dizzy and putting him on the trunk of a nearby tree.
He had not arrived at the grassy plains yet, however, the trees remained, albeit, they were all withered away, just barely standing.
This barren land lacked water, the sun was shining for most of the day as well, it must be like torture.
‘How come the floating islands aren’t casting a shadow of the sun?’ He thought while making some distance between himself and the kid, he didn’t want him to feel afraid.
After all, Michael still had a bunch of dried blood on his clothing.
Not sure why there are no shadows, probably for the same reason you can’t see the floating islands from all the way down here.
He glanced at the mountain he had come down from and could just barely see the very peak.
There was nothing else around it, as if those islands never existed in the first place.
‘I guess the humans of the ground level do not even attempt to climb to those heights, what would one achieve besides glory?’ He thought to himself with a bitter expression.
He knew the world was unfair, frankly, the barrens had it the worst.
The city he had seen back then was lively, the people looked happy and certainly not malnourished or lacking anything in any way.
Yet, a simple glance at this kid could tell someone that he had been mistreated and not fed.
Such is life, there are some worlds that are even harsher, where the weather is so hot, if you were to go there as you are now, you would melt in an instant.
‘Are you referring to hell?’
No, hell is even hotter than that, I am just referring to a slightly higher realm than what you are used to seeing.
Michael shrugged and glanced back at the kid, by now he had already finished crying, wiping the tears away from the corner of his eyes.
“What’s your name?” He asked the kid in a gentle tone, trying to not seem frightening.
“..Orin” The kid hiccuped in the middle of his word, however, Michael ignored it.
“I see, my name is Michael.”
Michael did know how to deal with kids to a certain degree, however, he had never dealt with a kid who was on the verge of mentally breaking apart.
He thought for a moment before asking the kid “Would you like to accompany me for a little while? Until we find you a place to stay..?”
The kid gazed at him with slightly hollow eyes and nodded, continuing to wipe away the nonexistent tears.
“Stop doing that” Michael walked up and flicked the kid’s arms away from his eyes, they were starting to get bruised for all the rubbing.
However, that seemed to set something off inside the kid, as he once again began bawling his eyes out.
You said you were good with kids?
Michael tried keeping a straight face and ignoring the system’s comment, however, he couldn’t help but let out a sigh.
‘I guess I should have been a bit more gentle with him..’
You think?
After another couple of minutes, the kid finally stopped crying, it seemed as if he ran out of tears.
“Sorry about that, can you please not rub your eyes? You are hurting yourself..” Michael said with a small smile and healed the kid, causing a golden light to envelop him for just a moment.
Orin’s gaze remained fixed on his own hands, they were previously tattered, but, now they were silky smooth.
As if all that hardship he had gone through moments ago was all but a dream.
Orin put his hands down, finally listening to Michael’s nagging.
“Good, look, there is a cool place close to here, follow me there and after that, we can go searching, deal?” Michael pointed at the far off distance, there was a tinge of green just barely visible.
A small glint appeared in Orin’s eyes that definitely did not escape Michael’s gaze, causing a faint smile to appear on his face.
‘How about that?’
It was better, at least he’s not that afraid of you now.
Michael felt proud of this little accomplishment, in the grand scheme of things, it did not seem like much, but at the current moment, he was happy.
“You are safe for as long as you are with me, don’t worry” He added for extra reassurance and started walking towards the greenery.
Orin was right behind him, his steps were a bit slower than Michael’s so he had to slow down to match their pace.
Michael tried striking up a conversation, however, besides the time Orin told him his name, he had not talked since.
He took a glance at his map, making sure there were no hostiles around him.
However, a yellow dot appeared in front of him, it was only one, however, Michael felt a bit uneasy.
‘System, what exactly does yellow mean?’ He knew green meant they were good, while red meant they were evil, was yellow something in between?
They are individuals who do not choose a side, they killed both monsters and humans and under certain circumstances, they could either change to red or green.
‘So wait, what happened back in the settlement? I swear I saw them turning red but in the end, they still died..?’ Michael asked with a tinge of confusion.
They thought that siding with the monsters would guarantee their survival, why else do you think some of those people died in more humane ways than the others.
Looking back on it, he could remember seeing sword wounds on some of the dead, he just didn’t exactly pay attention to it in that moment.
‘So, should I try to attack whoever that yellow dot is?’
From what I can see, don’t, just try to pass by peacefully.
He could sense a bit of unease in the system’s voice, he assumed that meant the yellow dot was someone strong.
And upon arriving near the forest, he saw a lone woman sitting on a rock, staring at the sky.
She noticed him and locked her gaze with his.
Her green eyes mirroring the forest in front of them, she looked quite enchanting.
But nonetheless, Michael chose to not antagonize her, so he just simply walked forward, ignoring her attempt to taunt him.
He walked past her and into the forest, neither of them saying a single word to one another.
Meanwhile, Orin was just walking by his side, not paying any attention to the surroundings, nearly tripping on a few pebbles on the ground.
‘That felt.. disturbing’ With those thoughts, he walked further in eventually arriving in front of a small grassy area with a cave by the side.
Michael took a deep breath and settled down, he saw a few red dots on the map, he assumed they were either monsters or food.
‘I can eat monsters right..?’ He asked the system for confirmation.
Do you know how to cook them?
‘I can learn..?
