Chapter 1: Where am I?

"Hey, stop zoning out! Hello?? Alex, are you alright?"

With his hand a bit smaller than what it was, his hands looked thin too.

'Alex? Is it me? And who is this kid?'

They then heard the sound of a carriage running near where they were.

"Come, let's go!"

And so the guy, taller than him, maybe around 13 or so, jumped into the cart full of trash.

"Hey, Frank! Watch out!"

Surprised by him calling Frank with no hesitation, he felt numb as he remembered everything that happened to this body.

Thrown out by his own family, he was sold as a slave but luckily got out of their hands when bandits ambushed the cart of those slave merchants. In his wandering around, he ended up in this place and met Frank. Living by snatching waste foods from the waste carts, they were doing this day by day.

"Hey, why did you not jump? It is a bounty today. What a waste, they have lots of this meat, a bit smelly but better than nothing. Hehe"

"Frank, what do we call this place again?"

"Huh? You mean this slum?"

"No… I mean, where is this slum? What kingdom does it belong to?"

"Alex, you are really weird today, well, all I heard is that it is near the Floranteine borders but it is still part of Voneveir."

Hearing those familiar names, he was surprised as chills ran up his spine.

"Why did you ask anyway? If you want to know more, maybe Clad can help you. Wanna go to his place? I can also borrow his pan to cook this. Tee hee, let's go!"

Spirited as he was, Frank was only a year older than who he was now. Alexis had no idea how he became Alex but there really were many things to unfold in this world.

'Maybe brother Clad can help me know more things about where I really was.'

Clad Volmar is a kind man who helps street children like Frank and Alexis. His house was up the hill.

"Brother Clad!"

Frank shouted with enthusiasm as he knocked on the door of Clad's house. But even with his hand hitting the wooden door, no one answered him.

"Brother Clad? Are you alright?"

"Is he not here?"

"No, Alex, he would put a notice otherwise…"

Putting down the waste foods he got this morning, Frank took a peek through the small hole in the window.

"Brother Clad?"

But his eyes widened as he saw the sight inside.

"Alex!! Get away from the door! Now!"

He shouted and soon Alex did as he was told. Hitting the door with his shoulder, Frank gave all his might to open the door but to no avail. That made Alex worried about why Frank was acting like that. But the moment he peeked through the hole, he was terrified by what he saw.

Clad shared the very image of Conor for some reason. He was also lying on the ground, unconscious.

'Conor…'

He thought to himself.

If before, he did nothing to save Conor and ran away for his safety, this time, even if he knew that it wasn’t Conor, he couldn't help but have the urge to save him.

'I failed to save you before, this time, I will not let it happen again!'

Seeing how Frank still failed to open the door, he looked at the window and saw how it was not as thick as the door.

'I think I can smash open this.'

With the use of a large rock he saw nearby, he used it like a hammer and hit the window forcefully.

Creak,

It was now damaged and had a hole enough for him to get inside.

"Frank, help me!"

He shouted and soon received assistance from Frank to lift him up. Opening the door, the two of them burst in running towards Clad. He was cold and unconscious.

"His heart is still beating!"

Frank happily announced. But they knew that it was not going to end just like that.

"I think he is poisoned,"

Alex mumbled as he saw how there was a weird skin color on Clad’s arm.

"What is that?"

Frank shouted hysterically. Even in his life as Alexis, it was the first time he encountered someone bitten by a Kranses. It was a bug mutated that releases venom. It was not deadly but if left on its own, it could be.

"Kranses, a bug with venom bit him."

"Kranses? What is that? It is my first time hearing it!"

'Yes, after all, the high officials don’t want to cause a ruckus in the kingdom. Even the antidote is not costly to produce and there are lots of alternatives but with those in power, they took advantage of it and kept it for their own use. 

"A bug that mutates from Voneveir, we need to find a cure right away!"

"But how??! Do you know how to get one?? Can we buy it??!"

Frank shook his shoulder, wanting to know an answer right away.

"I… I don’t know where we can buy it but… I think I know how to make one."

Holding a bunch of Cinnada leaves, it is a plant that grows everywhere. Some even pull it and think of it as weeds. But not everyone knows the value that this grass holds.

"Are you sure this is all we need?"

Frank asked as he put down all the Cinnada leaves he could gather.

"Yes, make it into a powder and soak it in water to make small round balls as big as a fingernail, once we burn it inside a coco husk, we can have the cure."

"That’s all?"

"Yes."

Immediately doing what was told, the final product was ready. A black round ball could be seen inside the coco husk where they burned it.

"What do we do next? What do we do now with this cure? There is no way he would drink that burned grass, Alex."

"No, it is not used like that."

Picking up one black ball, it was hot but he just blew on it to not burn himself.

"It would hurt a bit but this is the only way."

And so he smashed the antidote between his hand and Clad’s bitten arm. It turned white in no time.

"Alex…"

Clad’s breathing then turned stable but the moment Clad opened his eyes, his hand cornered Alex on the ground with his wrist pushed on his neck.

"You…"