Wind lightly blew over a large expanse of plains, the occasional brush swaying lightly. A mountain ridge spanned one side of the view, so distant in perspective it seemed like it would take several days to reach the base when in truth it would only take two. A worn dirt road stretched off into the horizon devoid of the green grass the terrain so proudly boasted. The cloudless sky let the sun shine free of obstructions, basking a small lake with sunlight distanced about 7 meters away from the road. A herd of deer drink from the lake, while some linger nearby grazing on the grass.

  A small child staggers on the road, looking to be about 6 or 7 and wearing ragged clothes. His face is devoid of color and his arms and legs are thin like twigs. A small growl emanates from the child's torso as he continues his endless journey. He takes a glance over at the lake not too far from him, but turns his gaze and continues forward.

  The deer take notice of the child and watch cautiously with their beady eyes. Some of the fawn stray from their mothers, but quickly return.

  A small mouse scurries past, pausing in the center of the path right in front of the malnourished child. His eyes slightly widen at the sight of the mouse, and continues slowly approaching. The mouse starts to scurry off again, with the boy suddenly leaping forward, trying to grab the mouse so close to him. Even with the sudden, almost animalistic leap the boy did, the mouse quickly and easily dodged away from the boy, scampering off into the grass.

  The boy now laying on the ground stayed there, no energy to get up or even move. He slowly closed his eyes, deciding that this was his fate. To die. He was just so tired... So hungry...

  His eyes shot back open, his mind shooting back to full alertness, and with a newfound small amount of energy, pushes himself back up. His stomach growled again, sending lethargic waves across his entire body. He now sat in the middle of the road, slumped over.

  He tries to push himself to his feet, and stumbles back to the ground. After a moment, he tries again, this time successfully. He steadies himself, and pushes forward down the apparently endless road to the unknown.

  * * *

  After an hour of walking down the road, the child once again collapses to the ground. His body can't continue any longer no matter how much harder he tries to push himself.

  "H...help...me...s-some...one..." the child huffs.

  So this is how I die...Starve to death before I even reach Arnita...

  His eyes start to close once more, but with no remaining energy to keep them open this time. As he closes his eyes, his consciousness starts to slip away as even the boy knows without help, it will be the last time he closes his eyes. At the last moment before he fully looses consciousness, he has a feeling of floating in the air, like his entire body is lightweight.

  Ah...Is this death...?

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  * * *

  The child opened his eyes, to see a wooden ceiling and what felt like sheets on top of him. He pushes himself up from a small mattress of grass and looks around. He was in a small rectangular room with two desks and chairs in opposite corners of the room, both desks facing the wall, the closest directly to his right. A door lay in the center of the left wall, with two centered small windows with wooden shutters slightly ajar on the far and right wall, letting in a moderate amount of light and a slight breeze. The grass mattress the boy lay on was situated in the corner along the back and left wall, with his feet towards the far wall window.

  The boy didn't feel like he was starving anymore, but he was still hungry. Even if he was hungry, he was still curious as to who saved him. He pushes himself up off the mattress, and moves over to the right wall window pushing it fully open. Instead of a field of grass, a forest cabin, a small quiet town or the like, the boy was instead greeted by the face of an elderly man who was peeking through the shutters.

  "G-gahh!!!" the boy yelped, stumbling back onto the floorboards in the room.

  "Hahaha!" the elderly man chortled, as if he pulled off a particularly funny practical joke.

  "W-what are you doing, spying on me?!" the boy exclaimed, now a bit miffed.

  "What? Spying? Me? I never! You should know to respect your elders, boy!" the elderly man shot back at him.

  At that moment, the door behind the child burst open. As the boy looked behind him, an elderly woman dressed as a nun was standing in the doorway, taking in the situation. After just a moment of seeing the elderly man outside the window and the boy on the floor, she just sighs.

  "Father Samel, I believe I told you that spying on the children you save will come off as 'creepy'. What would you do if rumors started floating about?" the woman addressed the man known as Father Samel.

  "Sister Mara, I believe I responded that there is no one out here where we live, so rumors can't spread!" Samel retorted.

  "Father Samel! It is still quite rude for you to watch the children through the window of all things!" Mara exasperatedly exclaims.

  The boy still on the floor just watched in astonishment as the two kept bickering as if they have had this exact conversation many times over. What made this back and forth stop was when the boy's stomach growled loudly.

  "Oh, bother! I'm sorry, I completely forgot you hadn't eaten anything yet," Sister Mara cried out. "Father Samel, come on inside and let's get washed up."

  As she said that, Father Samel immediately attempts to climb through the window.

  "Father! Through the door, like a normal person!" Sister Mara exclaims. "Do you ever learn, Father Samel?"

  Father Samel begrudgingly turns away and leaves the window and walks off muttering to himself. Sister Mara bends down and offers a hand to the boy while smiling.

  "I know Father Samel can be a bit...Eccentric at times, but he means well. In fact, I'm not sure you would have survived if it weren't for his healing magic," the nun says, almost a hint of admiration in her voice.

  The boy reaches for the hand extended out to him and takes it, pulling himself up. He holds onto the hand and looks outside the window once more, seeing the edge of the plains he had collapsed in, now at the edge of a forest with small mountainous peaks casting growing shadows as the sun dips in the west.

  "Oh! Do you have a name? It's alright if you can't remember it," Sister Mara inquires the boy.

  The boy looks down and thinks back to where he had grown up. His family. His home. His town.

  "I do. A name I mean." the boy says as he looks back up at Sister Mara.

  "Oh? What's your name then?"

  "My name's Arin."