Whether it be one year, ten years or twenty years, time held very little meaning to the Slums of the Capital. It was the same in any year, for the most part. ing off the post-years of the rebellioainly left a stronger sense of fear among the popubsp; However, life tihe same as it always had. Nothing ged in the end. Before the rebellion still felt the same as after it.

  It was always the same. Thievery ran out of trol ireets. Death was just as on. If something happened, no one cared. They had their own life to live and wanted nothing to do with others' problems.

  That was the general case for people in the underworld, the shadows of the glorious civilization of Atntis. A few sparks of weak light could still be found, one just had to look hard enough. One such faint sign of hope had adopted an abandoned child. A girl no one wanted.

  Still only a baby, barely two years alive in the world, she already saw too much of the ugliness of the world. But she was too young to uand any of it. She could just py and live. It was simple.

  Reality forced her to grow up fast. Fate had other pns in store.

  “Now wait a minute!” interrupted Yuki. He shifted his position around from Ayumi’s side to stand in front of her. They had a pce to be, so he kept walking backwards to keep their pabsp; “You’re tellihat you remember iail your life from the age of two? Bullshit!”

  Hardly affected by him anymore, Ayumi stopped her story. It wasn’t the first time he interrupted her to deal with some insisten her story. She couldn’t eve a it anymore. He was so picky. “No, I don’t remember the details of my life that far babsp; My first memory is leaving the Slums.”

  “Then how are you g to know what happehen?”

  “I never said I didn’t return back here at any time. My power’s simple enough to extract the information I need.”

  Yuki saw the cold expression in Ayumi’s eyes. “Scary.” The thought of her forcibly hunting down the people with her memories just to know what happened hardly seemed out of character, but still the lengths to go still came off a little shog. “The way you talk about your life here, it doesn’t seem like something you’d want to remember. Why do you know so much?”

  “Because I was looking for something.”

  Now she had Yuki’s attention. She couldn’t say something so mysterious aig without expeg to get some curiosity. “What were you looking for?”

  “It’s personal.” Ayumi walked around Yuki, makian the matter clear.

  “What!?” Yuki turo rush after her. “You ’t just dump something like that and expect me to just let you drop it. It was important enough to you te up your past. What was it?”

  She stopped abruptly. Her head turned just enough to meet his gaze. “It’s a private matter.” The finality iare said everything else.

  Sweating a little and turning a bit blue in the face, Yuki cut his losses and accepted things, for now anyway. “Fine.”

  Chapter 240 – The Unwanted Gift

  Ael was the woman that took her in off the street. She just found the baby crawling around an alley with no dire. No one seemed to be giving her any notibsp; They just ignored her. Most had no i in plig their life further with an unknown child. However, Ael couldn’t let her just roam.

  It wasn’t something that went unnoticed by the others. “What were you thinking, Ael?”

  “A child? She’s going to die anyway.”

  “She needs someoo watch over her. It’s because she is a child that I’ll give her prote.”

  “But she was abandoned.” “There must be a reason for it.”

  “All the more reason to keep her safe. It’s too harsh for a child alone.”

  “What if it was because of that.”

  “You’re right. She might be one of them, Ael.”

  “Does that ge the fact she needs help?”

  “You’ll regret it.”

  Despite the warnings from her neighbors, she tio watch over the child. They kept talking about her. They tried to vince her to get rid of the baby. It would be only trouble. No one wahe baby. She wasn’t even the first person to take her in. Everyohat took her in threw her out just as quickly. There was never a wele home. Yet Ael kept her.

  It was nearly a year. Persistent fear m wasn’t enough. Ael resolved herself to the task. Nothing she could imagine would be enough to ge her mind. She felt it impossible to break.

  However, it was a simple act that revealed the greatest crack to shatter everything. It wasn’t even anything dramatic or threatening. Just an everyday wish.

  Everything ged. A frozen time.

  pining, the baby wanted something. Ael was busy w on dinner for them. She had just enough to keep them from not having growling stomachs. Any more was too much to ask for. “I’m making dinner, dear! Just wait a little bit longer! I know you’re hungry!”

  The baby whined again. She seemed to be getting more impatient with Ael. Calming and reassuring words meant nothing. They cried more. “Just a little bit longer.”

  Longer was too long for the baby.

  Suddenly, the air felt cold and Ael could see her breath. “Why’d it get so cold so suddenly?” Everything in the room was covered in snow an instant ter. She stared down at her hands holding what used to be a knife, but now looked like a toy a kid made out of snow. It was impossible. The impossibility quickly turned into a sihought in her mind. She knew, just not who. Fear rattled her bones. “The baby!”

  Ael turned around to the table to see her cheerfully pying with the snow. She didn’t seem to uand. Rushing over to her, Ael pushed her up quickly. “It’s alright. We just have to hide and they’ll pass by.” The baby whined wanting something, they stretched out their tiny hands to something no longer in their reabsp; Ael realized quickly they waheir cup. However, when she picked it up she realized it wasn’t one of her cups. It was made from pure crystal so clear it acted like a prism. “This isn’t yours…” She still wa and Ael gave into the request since she went quiet.

  Taking cover in the furthest part of their snow-filled house was all she could do. The temperatures kept dropping as she tried to keep the baby warm, even though it didn’t seem to notice even the cold. Ael shivered in the er praying for it all to end soon. The water in the cup emptied with the baby happily. All of the snow disappeared a moment ter with the room warming back up.

  It was over.

  She sighed with relief. Yet something her. Ael looked at the baby seeing the cup went missing. It was o be seen. “You were thirsty huh?” She looked happy and pletely oblivious. Ael could only stare at the baby. The missing cup. The snow. The crystal cup. The baby. Each piece suddenly fell into pce.

  Ael set the baby down on the floor. It paralyzed her knowing it. She uood. It made sense. She stared down at the tent child, unaware. Ael’s hands shook. The cold she felt still chilled her body, only more unnerving than before. She walked to the other er of the room sliding down as small as possible.

  More than an hour passed before she was startled awake to the world. It was a touch from it. The baby’s hand poked her. She tried to grab her finger. It watention. She stared at Ael. It didn’t uand.

  The shaking wouldn’t stop. It only seemed to get worse the more it stared at her. She could do only ohing. Ael rubbed her arms trying to warm up. The lingering chill still gripped her tightly.

  The baby was alone again. However, everyone knew. Fear fell in quickly. Ael disappeared. Alone she quickly started to uaain things. Her power respoo her desires. Even alone, she only to survive. It came to be surprisingly useful. She even mao evade the military searches.

  Another year passed.

  A stranger in worn clothes stepped into the Slums. They looked like they fit in, but still stood out. Something about them made people naturally want to avoid them. He looked aged from years of hard living. “I must be getting close,” he ented. It became very apparent to him passing another blobsp; ‘There’s no one living in any of these homes. Normally, these would all be filled. I’m not even seeing beggars.’

  It was a sign.

  He k all too well. They all gave a silent message. ‘Leave and don’t look back.’ The message didn’t bother him. He kept walking forward deeper into the ghost town. A paper came out from under his tattered robes. Several notes were carefully written out along with a map. It matched the area he was in.

  The straopped in front of the house. He gnced down at the stoeps. Something seemed to have caught his eye. “It’s here.” He walked into the house. It looked abandoned, but with careful signs of life. He walked around the single room searg around before ing to a stop in the middle. Pg a hand on the floor, it suddenly opened with a tunnel.

  Dest through the tunnel brought him to the no man zone of the Slums. The area between one yer of the Underground and the . The area colpsed and built upon. Old never used tunnels formed from the crushi of the above on top of leftovers from a dead period. It was too dangerous to go ih no ce for exits and high ce of cave-ins. Yet a perfect pce to hide. It was something the military knew well, yet they still mao miss it.

  He found a wall that stopped him frressing. “A strong one.” The wall disappeared like it was nothing and he tinued. Traps aours couldn’t stop him.

  “Here you are,” he said, finally reag the end of the line. He found a child held up in a er so far removed it was just as easy to have missed her. The difficulty of reag made him uand why the Academy had such trouble looking for her. They would have eventually found her, even the best at hiding didn’t st forever. He was fortuo have found her first.

  Ice spread out everywhere. ered, she wasn’t ready to go without a fight. He k down holding out his hand. “I’m not from the military. I was looking for you, but I wao help you.”

  Shards of ice appeared around her looking ready to fire. “No you don’t.” The shards flew at the stranger without any warning.

  The ice disappeared before even toug him. He smiled a little. “You’ve got a fire in you. That’s good.”

  She immediately uood what he was. The signs were clear. She tried to back away even further. “Go away!”

  “I don’t want thten you any further. I’m only here to help.”

  “You’re lying!”

  “It’s the truth.” He tried a warm grin for her as a sign of safety. Though his rough appearance made it look more forced than natural. “I want to offer you a new home.”

  She shook her head. “No! You’re just saying whatever you want! You want to take me away!”

  “I’m not with the military. You already saw before I’m stronger, but I want you to have the choibsp; They wouldn’t give you one.” He sat down trying to give every sign possible that he meant no threat to her. “You’ve been on the run. No one wants you. You’re afraid of everyone. You ’t trust. I’m sorry you had to learn the cruelty of this world at such a young age. But I’m like you. I know how everything ges and those close to you no longer look at you the same. When they know you see it in their eyes. You see their fear. Evehey try to hide it, you still see it.”

  The girl looked at him a little strangely. He realized that he was talking a little too plex for someone barely even a child. She was too young to uand everything he said. He had to rewind his steps. “Would you like a home? A pce where you’re among those that love you and aren’t afraid? Where you be yourself?” He offered his hand out to her across the long distanbsp; “Would you e with me?”

  She stared at him for a long time. Everyone was always afraid of her. They all knew her a immediately. The moment they learned nothing was the same again. He was like her. He wasn’t afraid. She felt like he might be telling the truth. She just wao be warm again. “I-I’ll…I’ll e.”

  He lit up quickly with a wide smile on his fabsp; Jumping over to her and pig her up, he looked even happier than before. “I’ve always wanted a daughter!” He realized that it was a little too fast for her. She already started to look like she regretted the decision. The ma her back down. “Right! Let’s get you out of here. I’ll keep you hidden, so you don’t have to worry about anyone seeing you. You’ll be safe with me!”

  It was all a whirlwind and daze for her. She didn’t know when the Slums ged, but eventually she stood in a giganti. It seemed rger than the whole Slums, but it was simply the scale that threw her off. She wandered around the pce seeing a bed and toys, anything she might have wanted.

  The strahrew off his robes, suddenly ging back to his inal appearanbsp; His Field dropped the disguise. He had an aged appearance, but a much kinder look in his fabsp; Hidden behind it seemed to be something deeper, a darkness. The ge startled the girl a little. “Sorry, I ’t use this face around the town, everyone would reize me.”

  “Who are you?” She didn’t know. Her head tilted a little curious, but seeing the real him actually made her feel more fortable. The rough appearance gone, he seemed like the warmth she wanted.

  “You don’t know?” He was actually surprised, but he was so used to being so well reized that it only made sense a child would not know. “I’m the King of Atntis.”

  “King? What’s that?”

  He ughed a little embarrassed and amused by her innobsp; “Just a title with a heavy burden. But more importantly, what’s your name? I sort of fot to ask earlier.”

  “Name? I don’t have one.”

  “What?! That’s terrible! How could no one have given you a name?” He raised his hand up to his face to think for a moment. “Your name is Eudokia! You’re my daughter starting today!”