The bird suddenly spoke, "You… you are the child of calamity."
At that moment, due to the pain, the bird let out a cry. When Lucas looked at it closely, he saw that the bird's leg was injured and bleeding heavily.
He didn't pay attention to what the bird had said about itself; all he could see was its pain, and he just wanted to help.
Lucas slowly walked toward it and gently asked,
"Can you speak?" The bird replied, "Yes, I can speak. Just stay away from me."
Lucas looked at it, not understanding its words. He said,
"I grew up right here. I can treat your wound."
The bird replied, "I don't need any help from you. Just go away. My leg is already injured."
The bird stood up and tried to spread its wings and fly, but it fell back down and screamed loudly in pain.
Lucas couldn't bear to see it suffer like that. He quickly ran into the forest, gathered some leaves and healing herbs, and wrapped them around the bird's leg using a large leaf as a bandage.
The bird tried hard to fly, but it was still sitting in Lucas's lap. It said,
"I don't need all this."
Lucas said, "You do. Otherwise, you'll just die in pain and never get back home."
The bird quietly sat there. Seeing Lucas's kindness and the way he treated him, it calmed down and started listening to him.
Lucas said,
"I just want to help you, nothing else. I know you're very beautiful and must be some kind of magical beast. You probably have powers, and people must have tried to hurt you because of that. You're just trying to escape from them."
When the bird heard this, it calmly allowed Lucas to apply the medicine to its wound and accepted his kindness.
After a little while, when the bird's pain had lessened, it said in a gentle voice,
"I thank you very much for helping me. If you hadn't helped, I might have died right now. Because of your help, I want to tell you one thing: always stay away from a person who has red eyes and white hair. If you listen to me, your life may not become worse."
Lucas was lost in thought. He asked,
"But how do you know that I should never meet a man with white hair and red eyes? And how do you even know about my life?"
The bird spread its wings, and while creating a soft blue magical glow around itself, it said, "You will understand everything later. For now, I just want to thank you for everything."
Then, spreading its wings, the bird flew away. As it flew higher and higher, it disappeared into a shining light right before Lucas's eyes. Lucas just stood there, staring into the sky.
A lot of time had passed; it had gotten very late. The stars were shining brightly in the sky, and Lucas was walking alone in the middle of the forest.
Lucas thought that he should quickly go back home and apologize to Luna's father because maybe his anger was not without reason. After all, he had raised Lucas since childhood and brought him up.
Whenever Lucas heard someone crying, he think,
" Is it Luna? What is she doing here?"
Hearing the sound of crying, Lucas hurriedly ran towards it.
In the middle of the forest, Luna was crying. As she cried, she remembered that whenever she used to cry, a voice would always come to comfort her. When Luna was little, the children in her village didn't like her because she looked different from them.
She was also given a lot of respect in the village, which made it very difficult for her to connect with the other children. Some children even used to trouble her and say,
"You are a witch! A witch with white hair and green eyes!"
Hearing all this, Luna sat down and started crying again.
But suddenly, from behind, someone came and said,
"What are you all saying? Saying such things is not good."
And then, someone gently placed a hand on Luna's head and said,
"There's no need to cry. They have all gone now. You can stop crying."
That person was none other than Lucas.
Luna remembered how Lucas had helped her ever since she was a child. Whenever she was upset, Lucas was always there by her side.
Luna had made up her mind that she would never leave Lukas and would repay every act of kindness he had shown her.
Later, when Luna's father got angry with Lucas and forced him to leave the house and go into the forest, Luna, without thinking twice, followed him. Eventually, she got lost in the dark forest. It was so dark that she couldn't even see a few steps ahead between two trees.
She could hear the sounds of animals and was getting scared. She kept saying,
"I will never be brave."
Just then, someone gently placed a hand on her head and said,
"There's no need to cry. I am back."
It was none other than Lukas. Seeing Lucas, Luna became very happy and hugged him tightly. Lucas asked her,
"What are you doing in the forest?"
She told him,
"When you ran away from the house, I came into the forest following you to bring you back, but I got lost on the way and started crying here."
Lucas very softly and gently comforted her and said,
"It's okay. It's all my fault. Let's go back home quickly now."
Both of them slowly, while searching for the way, started heading towards their home. There was a smile on Luna's face because she had reunited with Lucas and was going home with him.
Lucas was also thinking that as soon as they reached home, he would apologize to Luna's mother and father. And maybe, even if they refused to let him stay with them, he would find some new work and start a business on his own.
He thought to himself that even if he had to live hungry for a few years, he would manage.
Just then, Luna asked,
"Lucas, what are you thinking?"
Lucas, in a very sad voice, said,
"Nothing, just wondering whether I'll be able to stay at your house or not. Maybe your father will just kick me out."
Luna, getting angry, said,
"Are you stupid? They care about you, that's why they talk to you like that!"
Lucas, sobbing, said,
"But still, I know they raised me, but why would they always tell me that I was an orphan, that I was a burden on them? I know I shouldn't say this..."
Just then Luna stopped him and said,
"You shouldn't think about all this. If you think there is some bad in my father, then there is even more good in him too. Haven't you heard that where there is bad, there is also good?"
Lucas was thinking about this when suddenly both Luna and Lucas were shocked to see that their entire village was burning in flames.
People were screaming everywhere. There wasn't a single house that wasn't on fire or from where screams weren't coming.
Both of them were terrified seeing this sight, and their eyes were stuck, just staring at the scene...