Pa?ca’xahr, 4044 AOT

  Eldoon New City, Adam’s Main Residence

  I lived all my life believing that the norm of the society I was raised in was the same anywhere else. Has the life I had always been sheltered?... That it took me this long to see… how unfair the world really is.

  I was lost in thought when I noticed a figure outside, on the balcony. Someone was standing on the railings of the balcony.

  “This is the second floor.” I said softly as the image became clearer. My eyes widened recognizing that person.

  Life is hard.

  “Azalea!!!” My voice was loud but trembling. My heart skipped a bit at the thought of her accidentally falling.

  I almost died once… and I lost a loved-one.

  I rushed towards the girl who thought of nothing of the danger she had created on her own. “Azalea! Get down from there!” I shouted once again as I stepped into the balcony.

  I know everyone is suffering all the same.

  She turned towards me. A casual look. I stretched my arm to help her get down safely.

  “Yan?... I can’t die of something like this.” She responded with the same smile as always. She took my hand and carefully stepped down. “It’s all fine.”

  “Don’t do that again.” I looked straight into her deep purple eyes. I was contemplating what I needed to say to her so that she could understand. I hope she would consider how other people around her feels every time she acts recklessly.

  Everyone has their own struggles. Each one of us suffers in various ways. It brings pain in immeasurable level, and we all need to deal with it differently.

  Her deceptive smile vanished for a moment. “Ah-! I get it.” Her expression looked as if she just realized something. “I’m sorry, I made you worry. I won’t do it again.”

  It’s as if those words sounded empty.

  The moment she let go, I noticed how cold my hands had been. “Where are you going?”

  She calmly walked back inside. “Nap.”

  “You’re supposed to be catching up with your studies.”

  “Huh?” She frowned. “I’m done with today’s work.”

  “Really? Let me check.”

  “You really have no faith in me, huh?”

  I accompanied her back to our make-shift study room. It was a guest room beside the room that Azalea used. Since it was not occupied by anyone and I think we needed a wide space where she can focus, I had it quickly cleaned and prepared to become a study room.

  As we walked side by side, a sudden realization popped at the back of my mind. Maybe, it’s not that she was not considering other people’s feelings. It’s just that she had been fighting alone for a very long time that she was never in a situation where she needed to be concerned. She might as well have forgotten what it means to care for someone and be taken cared of.

  Had I always been the one being inconsiderate all this time? I wonder…

  It has been a couple of months but her eccentric personality have not changed at all. Just like that time…

  ∞×∞

  Triini’xahr, 4044 AOT

  Dimatagpuan Region, Uar

  It was far deep into the forest. The path was full of challenges. There were monsters everywhere and we must move in a way that does not provoke them. We must avoid the territories of the aggressive ones. After two days of travel and a night of camping in this mountainous region, we managed to find her. Or more like, we ran into her. She fell from a tree casually ignoring the threat around her. Indifferent. Aloof. She was radiating a very unapproachable aura. Her back that was turned away from us felt eerily ominous.

  If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

  “What a difficult person to deal with.” That was what first came into my mind.

  We cannot make a decent conversation with her, in a sense talking with her made me feel heavy. Her words were heavy.

  “What is it that you want?” Zharyx asked her directly. “Why did you become a demon hunter?”

  “I’m going to hunt Naraka down!” Azalea answered with a cold smile.

  I thought what she said was absurd. I cannot tell if she was serious or just messing around. Her purple eyes looked like a deep endless void.

  “No way.” Earl Spade muttered to himself.

  Zharyx almost frowned after hearing her answer, but he managed to pull his thoughts together. “Do you even understand the weight of that answer?”

  “Nobody-! Not even ICA knows when Naraka will appear again.” Earl Spade added. “The demon shows up randomly, wreaks havoc and disappears.”

  “Several decades ago,” Zharyx narrated with a serious tone. “ICA’s elite warriors and every country’s strongest soldiers gathered to defeat Naraka. They were annihilated. Not even an army of a hundred thousand of the world’s best fighters were able to stand against that demon. And you think you have a chance?”

  Zharyx does not mince words.

  “I wouldn’t know unless I try, right?”

  “You wanna die that bad?” Earl Spade gritted his teeth.

  “Of course, I don’t wanna die.” She chuckled, a sound devoid of soul. “But if I’m going to, I might as well make it grand.”

  Earl Spade suddenly stood up. “You’re crazy!”

  What’s wrong with her?

  “It can’t be helped.” She replied not minding the sour atmosphere. “But even alone, I’m strong. How many scratches do you think I could put on his armor?”

  “Don’t joke about death.” I can no longer stomach this situation. “It’s unpleasant.”

  “I’m sorry, I made you uncomfortable.” She responded with the same habitual smile, not a single glimpse of light in her eyes. “My life had been a continuous joke all this time, how come I can’t joke about my death too?”

  How could I ever get through her?

  The silence that followed was suffocating. Her words were heavy. Her eyes were dead. Her smile was only there as a habit, something like what a salesman wears in front of a potential customer. It’s just for show.

  We didn’t really know much about Azalea’s background. The information available was very limited. She became a licensed demon hunter recently. It seems that something happened in Aesbyl, she must have some sort of altercation with local powers. Before that, there were something about having a conflict with her previous hunt where everyone died except her. The rumors around her does not paint a good image of her at all.

  “I see.” Zharyx’ voice broke the chilling silence. “That’s how it is. Your ways are quite self-destructive.”

  Azalea’s pretentious smile fell for a split second. “This is a first. Everyone else called me reckless.”

  “That’s right but I tend to be more specific. If you are left to your ow devices any longer, you’ll surely end up as dead as how your eyes look right now.”

  “Ah-” The sound of sudden realization. “Does this appearance bother you?” That’s not the point. “It’s been a while since I talked to people.” She turned away and covered her eyes for a moment. When she faced back to us, her eyes looked normal. “How’s this?”

  Victor flinched. Earl Spade raised a brow. Zharyx and I were just at lost for words. Now, she looks genuinely happy, like an easy-go-lucky spoiled teenager. However, I can never forget that this appearance was nothing more than a pretense.

  It’s like putting on a mask that doesn’t fit.

  “Everyone likes a cheerful person.” She said. “Even if it’s fake, a happy looking person is easier to approach.”

  Zharyx sighed. “You’re not wrong. Still…”

  She slightly tilted her head side way. “What now?”

  “Nevermind.”

  For us who already knew these two sides of her, it just made her appear weirder. It made me worry just imagining how she would act after we take her back with us to Eldoon New City. Will she be fine attending school with this kind of personality?

  ∞×∞

  Pa?ca’xahr, 4044 AOT

  Eldoon New City, Adam’s Main Residence

  Since she decided to come with us, Azalea maintained that mask of hers. She wears it so well that sometimes it almost felt real… if only she doesn’t slip back to her empty expression every time she’s left alone.

  “Hm.” I looked at the practice exam that I gave to her a yesterday.

  “Is something wrong?” Azalea asked after staring at me for a moment. It’s as if she was trying to read into my reaction.

  I paused. Checked her papers again. “N-nothing. I’m almost done checking and-”

  “Oh, everything’s fine then.”

  “No-! I mean, how did you do this? You got all the answers right.”

  “How?” She looked confused. “What do you mean? I did everything according to what you’ve taught me. I’ve read and studied the books you recommended.”

  “Yeah. You’re right.”

  For someone who lived away from the norms of the big city for so long, she adapted quickly and learned fast. A true prodigy indeed.

  If only she learned to be more aware of her own value, then maybe she would be able to turn that pretense into something real someday. She could act more natural by then.

  Because the layers over layers of masks she puts on is her own way of being considerate.

  ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞××× End××∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞