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'
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 dont 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 if nothing but maggots? slaves? i dont know...'
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 Crack."
"Wow, you're really stupid. This is a whole new level of stupidity"
The girl said while making a funny face.
Sean wanted to retort but thought better of it and 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.
She sat down on the wood block and signaled him to sit on another.
"I am sorry for asking this so late but what is your name?"
She studied me for a couple of seconds and then looked at the purple sky. Then she said in a low tone.
"Its Ela. It seems you came from the same crack as me but for a stupider reason."
'That sounds so misleading.'
"Ye...yes. Are you heading back anytime soon."
"I will be heading back after couple days. Sadly for you, I wont be able to take you with me"
"I see"
With that the conversation ended and both of them were 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 alot of meaning but that meant nothing to him. His gaze was settled on the purple sky. Strangely to him, the sky looked so peaceful. He had no worries left. Sean felt free.
After a while, Ela left Sean alone and went to gather food. While Sean had not known Ela for a long time. He did know she would not share her food and he didnt want 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 tree and took a peek, there he saw a figure of a monster which had two heads and looked like a wolf which was about two meters tall.
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 at the start. He noticed nothing unusual except for the crushed grass which was 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, unlike anything else in the area and the trunk of the tree was like an onyx pillar .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 atleast wont die hungry'
With this stupid thought, he sniffed the berry and put in his mouth. After chewing for a bit while his arms were crossed. He thought.
'This is honestly good and I am also quite hungry'
After eating some of the berries, his gaze settled on the tall tree again. He was not worried about getting lost as took note of the directions he came from by marking the trees.
After looking at the tree for a bit, he thought.
'I will use this as a food source for now i guess'
Sean was about to head back when he heard a low growl.