''AAHHH—! Get away from me!'' A child screamed out of terror in a high-pitched voice, as tears were falling down the child's cheeks.
It was autumn and the leaves were orange and yellow, falling to the ground.
The child was lost in the woods, its clothes ragged and dirty. This child was a girl, around five to seven years old, her physique small and petite, almost like a small delicate flower against a strong wind, trying not to break. Her skin was bruised all over, with scratches and cuts piercing into her skin everywhere one could see.
In front of this terrified little girl stood a group of – people? Creatures? Monsters? What could they be called?
The name didn't matter. These 'creatures' had the anatomy of humans, and they also walked and moved like humans, sort of.
But they were a lot different from humans; they might have been humans once, but all that was left was a burnt walking corpse.
They had no face, and what looked to be their skin was now just a red-ish black rotten, burnt, and bloody layer of meat. They looked like they had just escaped the depths of the underworld. Their skin was all black and red.
There were seriously big wounds on the surface of their body and even some deep holes that penetrated so far into the skin that one could see the bones.
They moved in an unsteady manner as if they were so drunk that they barely stood on their feet, unable to keep balance. But regardless of their wobbly and shaky movement, they moved quite fast, a little too fast, in fact.
One of these creatures sprinted towards the little girl and swung its long and sharp nails, but before the nails reached the little girl's face, these monster-like things suddenly fell to the ground, now completely unmoving.
The little girl's face was as pale as snow and her eyes tightly shut, because she was too frightened to even move as she stood there stiffly, her arms still covering in front of her face in the hope of protecting herself just a little.
She only heard a 'swish' followed by multiple 'thumb' sounds, and when she looked up, the creatures were, just like the one that attacked her, unmoving on the ground.
There, she spotted a figure holding a bloody sword in their left hand. This was most likely a living person, a human.
The person was a woman; she had a tall but slim figure and long reddish hair that reached her waist tied in a ponytail. Her clothes were black and tight. She wore black tight shorts with a leather belt hanging on her hips, and a — also black tight — crop top.
When this woman turned to look at the little girl, it turns out the woman didn't look to be a bad person; her gaze seemed cold but soft, not a face that would carry bad intentions. Her eyes were black, her lips a little bit red, and her skin was very pale, contrasting with her clothes.
She approached the girl and spoke in a cold yet gentle tone, ''are you alright? Are you hurt seriously anywhere?''
The girl was still almost unmoving, but now, her little body was trembling and her face was terribly pale.
''Look, little girl, I wanna help you, alright, kiddo? My name is Nadia, and your name is..?''
The little girl managed to stutter out, ''An-Anasta..sia.''
''Alright, then Ana it is. Come with me, I will treat your injuries.''
Anastasia hesitantly followed the woman named Nadia as she led her towards somewhere.
They walked and walked, but the scenery was still the same. Woods. Until, Nadia stopped walking and announced, ''here we are kiddo!"
There was nothing.
Suddenly, the woman made a hand gesture and closed her eyes to focus when something dispersed in front of them, and what Anastasia now saw was a wooden house of a fair size and a quite big yard. But it was messy; orange leaves everywhere she looked, chopped wood tossed around randomly.
''Hurry, the barrier will close soon and I would have to re-open it again.''
And so, the child quickly entered the space as she saw something transparent close-up. It was probably the barrier.
''Uhmm Ms. Nadia, where are we?'' Anastasia's voice was trembling and weak as she said these words.
''Oh? Oh yes, I forgot to tell you. This is my home, I will take care of your injuries now. I can't leave you to be devoured by the demons outside, can I?''
Demons. So the thing that attacked her was called a demon.
Nadia guided Anastasia inside the house and gestured for her to sit down on the chair that was behind the table, while she would get medicine.
She was in the kitchen which was also a dining room. In the middle was a wooden table with four chairs. Almost everything in this house was made out of wood.
Anastasia looked around with her gaze a little when she saw the woman Nadia return with a box. That was probably the medicine that she needed to get.
''I have the medicine, now be a good girl and don't jolt, the medicine will sting a little. I need to disinfect your wounds and then wrap them in bandages.''
Anastasia only muttered a weak ''thank you'' but Nadia didn't seem to hear it.
She rolled up the girl's sleeve; she saw that it was bloody and sure enough, there was a big cut that didn't seem to be made by a blade but rather by claws.
She applied the medicine and it really did sting a lot, but Anastasia didn't even dare to move, she just gritted her teeth and bore with the pain.
When Nadia was done applying the medicine, she sewed up the wound and wrapped a bandage around it.
Anastasia yet again said thanks.
''So where are your parents?'' Nadia asked.
Anastasia responded, ''Left me.''
Nadia seemed shocked and angry, ''THEY DID WHAT?!'' Nadia took a few seconds to calm down her anger and continued, ''then where do you usually stay?''
The girl just indifferently replied, ''anywhere.''
Nadia said with a determined look on her face, ''I'm adopting you then!"
Anastasia was confused. Not that she didn't know what adopting meant, but she was shocked, ''???''
''Well I can't really adopt you, but I can take you in and I can teach you everything you need. I can even teach you magic and stuff.''
This person Nadia — she was really straightforward and easy going, wasn't she?
Anastasia tilted her head in confusion as she asked, ''Magic?''
Nadia nodded her head and said, ''well you will have to recover first. I have some spare rooms. You can use one.''
''Thank you.''
Nadia showed Anastasia her new room and said that she can decorate it however she wants; the room is now just hers.
Nadia told Anastasia to just stay in bed for now so that she can heal as she went downstairs to do some things.
So this was her new home. She didn't even have a choice of whether she wanted to stay with Nadia or not!
She jumped on her new bed. It was way more comfortable than where she slept for the past few months.
She fell asleep immediately.
And so a few weeks passed by, Anastasia and Nadia became closer. Anastasia also helped out in the house; first, she helped out with the smallest tasks such as boiling the water, later she started doing more difficult tasks such as cleaning. Nadia also taught Anastasia some stuff; reading, writing, and counting.
One chilly morning, Anastasia woke up first. Wanting to surprise Nadia, she tried to prepare breakfast, but she needed to get water from the well first.
She went out of the house to the yard. The yard was quite big, with a path leading from the entrance of the door; the path then split and circled the whole yard, making a border as there was no fence. The border was where the barrier was placed. Thanks to the barrier, nobody from the outside could see this house or anything inside the area protected by the barrier, no sound could escape either.
To the left, there was a well. She carried a clay jar there and placed it next to the well as she pulled out the bucket full of water from the well. Anastasia was very careful not to spill the water when she poured it into the jar, and when it was full, she picked it up and was ready to go back into the house when she heard a strange rustling sound by her right.
She looked in the direction of the sound and spotted something familiar breaking through the barrier. It was the very same type of demon that attacked her before; the same feeling of terror overcame her body and she couldn't scream for help no matter how much she tried. She stood there very quietly, not moving an inch, not even breathing — the demon didn't notice her. But soon enough, Anastasia had to take a breath and the demon turned in her direction; the demon looked very focused and when it confirmed someone's presence, it leaped toward her at a high speed, ready to attack with its sharp nails.
But just like before, she didn't get hurt. Anastasia opened her eyes to see, the demon was still alive, but it was, stiff? It looked scared and confused. And so was Anastasia. This made Anastasia wonder, do demons have emotions? If so, then there's no wonder it was scared. Was Nadia's energy that strong? Well, it certainly was, but who remembers what that 'energy' was actually called.