Fericire

Chapter 3: Ruined City

Ever since the day Almeric ate Ilyia's homemade food, he has had a change of heart and decided to change himself for the better. He spent countless awkward hours alone all by himself where he tried to eliminate rude or dismissive language from his speech, which he found to be extremely difficult, even near impossible levels. He enlisted in the military from a very young age and spent most of his life training in the army with other soldiers, and eventually participated in the war. Crass and direct speech was the norm in the military and that manner of speech became second nature to Almeric.

"Can you go away?"

"--No, that's no good! I should say 'Can you please leave me alone for a brief moment' instead!"

As Almeric says this, he looks at himself in the mirror and cringed.

"I-I SOUND SILLY!! THERE'S NO WAY IN HELL I CAN EVER GET USED TO SPEAKING THAT WAY!!" He ruffles his hair and crashes his body onto his bed, tossing and turning. This is completely unlike his usual calm demeanor, which shows little to no signs of emotions. The impact of Ilyia's actions on this ex-soldier has played a major part on him loosening up.

While Almeric struggled with himself, Ilyia, on the other hand..

The young girl is curled into a human ball on her bed, clutching her stomach, coughing and hacking. Her fists are clenched so tightly that her fingernails started to dig into the skin of her palms. All of her toes shiver, curling inwards. The pain in her body was so intense that Ilyia couldn't even tell where the pain was coming from. It felt as if sharp pain permeated throughout her entire body, with her not being able to find a single moment of respite since the pain started. Veins were surfacing on her neck and temple, visibly swelling. Her bloodshot eyes darted at every corner without stopping, accompanying the tears that flowed endlessly. She continues to squirm helplessly in pain this way over the next few minutes, her body sweating profusely, with her mind eventually going blank with the hellish pain flooding it.

After being in this state for about ten minutes or so, the pain subsided and Ilyia is sprawled over her bed, her limbs lying limp and spread far apart. Her heavy and panicked breathing started to take a more consistent rhythm as she slowly recovers from the severe bout of pain caused by her illness.

She has suffered from these random bouts of severe pain ever since she was rescued from the first-aid center where the large-scale poison attack was launched. It was determined that this was an incurable side effect that the poison had on her organs, and she was left for dead by the government at the shelter. The government refused to give her any medical aid as the financial investment they would have to put in for even having a chance to save her was too high to even be considered worth giving a try.

Every time Ilyia writhes in pain like this, she would convince herself that everything's alright and she'll eventually get used to the pain, making the next time she suffers like this easier to get through. However, she never got used to the pain, with it being so unbearable that each time feels even worse than the last. It would have all been too much for her to handle if not for the presence of Evesteria Systoli, a 16-year old orphan living in the shelter.

She is the oldest among all the children in the shelter, but her entire existence is the complete opposite of a big sister figure. Without taking her impulsive and somewhat bratty nature into account, her appearance itself already does not reflect her status of being the oldest. She is of very short stature, with her height being no more than one-hundred fifty centimetres. Furthermore, she has both a childish face and voice, leading to everyone who she has met recently believing that she was no more than 12 years old. She currently tends to crops growing in the very little fertile soil that's still around in the shelter.

She, however, has a big heart and cares deeply about the well-being of others. Evesteria is the only person that Ilyia shows her pained expressions and weaknesses to. Evesteria refers to Ilyia as "Big sis" affectionately, and the two of them get along well.