𝐌𝐎𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐀 ✮ 𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐋𝐃𝐄

8 ✧

𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐋𝐈𝐀

"Behind that child-like interior
lies a finely honed instrument of war."

In his early days, he was not addressed as Tartaglia nor Childe, but as Ajax, his birth name. It was given to him by his father, who named him after some hero's tale.

His father would tell him about his never-ending tales of adventure as a young man. These soon became the future Ajax longed to have. So he listened to his father, and visualized himself in his shoes, losing himself in them fully.

But a sudden fateful encounter at the mere age of fourteen marked the end of his youth. He ran away from his dull life in the little seaside village of Morepesok, with only a shortsword and a small supply of bread in his hand. However, after being pursued by bears and wolves, he lost his footing and plummeted into the bottomless crack of the earth's surface.

At first, he encountered a forgotten realm, endless ruins with foreign letters engraved on them. Childe felt anxious, for he was all alone in this domain. Then he came across another human. It was a girl, who was wore the same expression as Childe.

"The Abyss has recognized your burning desires and ambitions. Come, my children, and challenge yourselves. Let's see if you're really worthy of your dreams."

A mysterious third person's voice echoed. The teenagers eyes widened in surprise, as endless  monsters swarmed towards them. Being the
troublesome boy he was, Childe flung his bread somewhere he would probably forget, and charged straight into the monsters. He stabbed his shortsword blindly at any monster, trying to hit their vital parts. The boy ploughed through them, although he ended up getting minor scratches from monsters who got too close.

The monsters he struck had died, and he was left alone, catching his breath.

Once he felt that it was safe enough, he looked around for the girl, though he wondered if she was dead, for the mere reason is that when he first saw her, no weapon was in her hand. He found her sitting on the ground, a hilichurl laid on her lap. "Hey! What do you think you're doing?-" Childe stormed towards her. It could kill her any moment.

"I'm sorry.. I'm so sorry. I'll come back soon.
The Prince and I will return and restore Khaenri'ah. Please hold on for a bit longer... "

He heard her whisper to the hilichurl. Khaenri'ah?... that place was mentioned in his father's tales. A fallen kingdom. The Prince? Was she from Khaenri'ah? Shouldn't they all be dead? Too many thoughts and questions raced through Childe's head. The girl noticed his shadow, and turned her head sharply at him. The outer corner of her eyes were red. She had been crying. "Y- you killed them all?" The girl sniffed, wiping her eyes quickly. The boy looked at the hilichurl, then back at her before answering.

"Yeah.. what about that?" He pointed at the hilichurl on her lap. "It's dead. I had to kill it." She murmured. "How did you kill it? you don't seem have any dagger or blade of any sort?.." Childe's voice trailed off. The girl's expression changed, along with the atmosphere. He immediately felt defenseless and threatened by this girl.

"sleep."

Childe's mind suddenly went blank. The domain disappeared, and he was back in Morepesok, outside his family's home. Snow was falling all around him, little snowflakes landing onto his pink nose. He inhaled the aroma coming from towards his house, and it seemed his mother was cooking his favorite dish, calla lily seafood soup. He excitedly ran inside. "Mama, Papa-"

Childe froze at the door. The scene in front of him was his biggest nightmare. His mother and father were both slumped on the kitchen floor.

Dead.

Their lifeless eyes still widened with shock with whatever slaughtered them. Blood was
splattered all over the walls of his kitchen. Childe couldn't even find the words or process this correctly. He couldn't even scream. What he felt was beyond mere nouns. What about Teucer? Tonia? Anthon? He stumbled towards their bedrooms, ignoring the feeling of dread creeping up from the pit of his stomach. He opened the door to Tonia's room, and regretted it instantly. Just like his parents, Tonia and Anthon were lying on her bed, the sheets soaked in blood.

If not to make the situation more horrifying for Childe, his two oldest siblings corpses were rotting away. Flies and crows picking at the flesh. At the sight of this, his legs trembled and collapsed underneath him. His heart throbbed loudly in his ears, loud and irregular, but he barely heard it, for his mind was clouded with fear.

It was at this moment, that the young boy's nightmare had ended.

Childe squinted through half-lidded eyes. He was back in the realm. Coughing and choking from what he just witnessed, the boy slowly turned over to his side, his energy consumed by the nightmare he just experienced. The girl peered over at him, her face riddled with curiosity. "It seems I've gotten a bit stronger.. oh well," she sighed, her arms folding.

"Why did you hold back?"

The words left Childe's mouth before he could even stop them. She looked down at him, her eyes
lingering over his weakened state, before answering. "Cause' it's too early for you to die yet. She's waiting for us at the end of those stairs." She explained, and pointed over to the other side, where there was a staircase. "It's only just beginning, so get up." The girl began walking over, leaving Childe. He didn't want to be on his own again, so he forced himself to stand back up. He winced, his head was throbbing excruciatingly. "What's your name?" He called out after her. For the first time, the girl swivelled around
and smiled cheekily at him.

"(y/n)"