Sean sighed as he was caught by surprise. He put on a polite smile and turned around to see a beautiful armed woman with black hair and emerald green eyes which were bright and vivid like a gemstone. Her youthful face and sharp gaze suggested she wasn't much older than a teenager. He thought about how he should introduce himself and what reason should he give for his appearance and then muttered some words in a friendly tone
"Hello. Yes, I'm human... But the fact that you have to ask that makes me a little nervous about this place"
The girl examined him and then asked in a flat tone as if disappointed by something.
"Name?"
'She is quite young. Did she also attempt suicide? But that's unlikely.'
Sean forced a small smile and replied, keeping his tone light.
"My name is Sean. You look like you have been here for a few days."
The girl averted her gaze and spoke in a flat, arrogant tone, as if addressing an inferior being
"You don't seem to be an awakened. How did you end up here?"
'What an unfriendly person. It seems like she is one of those awakened who look at normal people such as myself as inferior creatures'
He thought and then replied to her in a low but respectful voice to avoid trouble.
"I was walking while looking at the stars and tripped on a bridge. I fell in the river and survived thanks to the Aqua rift in the river."
"Wow, you're really stupid. This is a whole new level of stupidity I am seeing. Did you hit your head as a child or something? I bet you did."
The girl said while arrogantly laughing at my face.
'Alright I get it, that wasn't the best excuse but the reason i used it was because if i said something complex, she would definitely get suspicious, its better if i stay out of this girls radar. I am sure i have seen her somewhere.'
Sean wanted to retort but thought better of it. After thinking for a while, he remembered he had seen her on television. He decided against bringing it up as it was already a miracle she didn't kill him on sight, perhaps she was lonely in this place.
'Heh, As if... this place is full of monsters, she wouldn't be lonely at all. But still... To think she is from that family....'
Sean recalled seeing her on television on a huge gathering of prestigious awakened families. It was only a couple months ago.
'He was also there, wasn't he....'
Sean remembered why he was watching the gathering in the first place. His amethyst eyes darkened and his thoughts turned sorrowful at the memories.
The girl sat down on a wood block and signaled him to sit on another.
To distract himself from his memories, he decided to ask about the situation. The girl told him that they were in an unclassified zone of Aliha where the amount of monsters were scarce but present. Sean already knew but did not point out any of it to avoid trouble.
"I am sorry for asking this so late but what is your name?"
She studied Sean for a couple of seconds and then looked at the purple sky. Then she mumbled in a low tone.
"Its Ela. It seems you came from the same rift as me but for a stupider reason."
'That sounds so misleading.'
"Ye...yes. Are you heading back anytime soon."
"I will be heading back whenever i want . Sadly for you, I wont be able to take you with me"
"I see"
With that the conversation ended as both of them got lost in their own thoughts.
Sean knew she could take him back if she wanted, but her pride as an awakened wouldn't allow it. While his intentions were never to get saved either so he just didnt comment on her harsh behavior.
Sean didn't dwell on the danger. Instead, he felt strangely lightheaded, as if the concept of death had lost all meaning to him.
For Sean life had been meaningless for as long as he could remember. One could say his life had a lot of meaning but that meant nothing to him. His gaze was settled on the sky. Strangely, the sky looked so peaceful with uncountable number of stars illuminating the dark yet purple sky . He had no worries left . Sean felt free.
***
After a while, Ela left Sean alone to presumably gather food. While Sean had not known Ela for a long time. He did know she would not share her food and he didn't plan to die starving.
Sean stood up and started walking to the opposite direction of where Ela had gone. As Sean was walking for about ten minutes, he spotted some movement a bit far from him. He hid behind a mutation which had grown from the giant onyx-maroon trunk and took a peek, there he saw a figure of a monster which had two heads and looked like a wolf about two meters tall from the distance. As Sean was quite far, it was hard to discern the size of the wolf accurately. The visible features was the unusual white color and extremely long tail. After a closer. He came to a realization that the wolf did not have two heads. Instead the second head was another wolf, albeit smaller, resting on the bigger wolfs neck. Presumably its child...
Fortunately for Sean, the monster was walking in another direction as to where he was. After waiting for the monster to get away. Sean went to the place where the monster was standing initially. He noticed nothing unusual except for the crushed grass which looked clearly out of place.
Sean started walking again and soon he found an unusually tall and majestic tree. The tree seemed out of place, its leaves had a rare amethyst color, and the trunk of the tree was like an onyx pillar with no hint of maroon in it unlike the norm of the area. The tree was also of the same size of the average trees on earth . Except the trunk was big enough to fit a small bed. Sean was not surprised as he was in the middle of a forest with trees big enough to rival earths mightiest mountains. The branches of the tree were flexible just like that of a willow tree and those branches had what seemed to be red colored berries hanging from them.
Sean plucked a berry within reach and examined it. He thought.
'If its poisonous. I at least wont die hungry'
With this stupid thought, he sniffed the berry and put in his mouth. After chewing for a bit with his arms crossed.
'This is honestly good and I am also quite hungry'
The berry tasted a mix of sweet and sour and Sean started to pluck more of them to satiate his hunger After eating some of the berries for a few minutes, his gaze settled on the tall trees surrounding him again. He was not worried about getting lost as he took note of the directions he came from by marking the trees. Rather he just started to compare the unusual tree to the tall Colorless Mapples.
After looking at the Colorless Mapples for while. He looked at the unusual tree again. He decided.
'I will use this as a food source for now i guess'
Sean was about to head back when he heard a low growl.