Welfare and Warfare

Chapter 3

Day: 3102

Days Left: 2378

Lives Saved: 16

Days passed as Henry's legs healed and grew strong enough that he could walk around with the aid of Nia and a makeshift cane. Nia showed him the house that had been Corinna's, and they were given permission to look around. It was just like all of the other houses at first, apart from the majority of it being painted green, and then Henry noticed the small notches in the bricks.

Eleven tiny notches, with the words: days until Corinna finally tidies her side of the room.

There was a response underneath which read: vandalism will be punished.

And then underneath that was a drawing of a cartoon frog with its tongue sticking out rudely, etched into the brick.

Henry chuckled, tracing the etches in the brick. His second cousin wrote this, or at least a part of it. She was real. And she was only a few months away from here. He was close. Henry glanced down at his leg, and the fear of something bad happening again came into his mind, that there would be some other setback that would stop him from ever meeting her.

Nia and Henry exited the house, thanking the people who were the current inhabitants. Outside, construction of the new house was well underway. Nia had been helping due to boredom and also wanting to repay the kindness the village had extended to them.

In this time, the prisoner Klei had said had been at The Warren had finally transformed back into a human. When the man had been given time to recover, Klei introduced the man to Henry and Nia.

"Yven, this is Henry and Nia," said Klei.

"It is nice to meet you," said Henry, extending a hand in greeting.

Yven snorted at the formality and shook it roughly, his body still shaky from being a monster a few hours ago. "You all the new residents?"

"We won't be staying," said Henry.

"Really?" Yven shrugged. "Up to you, I guess, but in my opinion, this place is the best place to be if you want to survive in the Abyss."

"Not the Warren?"

Yven looked to Klei.

Klei nodded.

Yven sighed. "Ah, I see... that's why you're talking to me."

"I'll leave you to it," said Klei, walking away.

Henry sat down on the grass, his legs aching from standing still; Nia joined him.

"You kids really want to go there?" Yven scratched the back of his neck.

"I'm looking for a relative of mine," explained Henry. "Klei says she's there."

Yven nodded. "Oh, then that might be alright."

Henry frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Look, whatever you have heard about that place, about it being a utopia..." Yven scrunched up his nose. "Well, utopias are impossible; we all know that. That place, The Warren, it is hiding some dark secret."

Henry and Nia leaned in.

"I was a guard, patrolling around and ensuring everyone was safe and following the laws," Yven continued. "And then I come across an area I hadn't seen before in the guard quarters, and I let my curiosity get the best of me, so I went through the door."

Henry and Nia leaned even closer.

"What was inside?" whispered Nia.

"Don't know." Yven shrugged. "Before I could find out, I was caught, and then I was exiled from the Warren."