1 The Cursed Outlander

"Ouch," a boy winced. Something sharp had hit him hard on the back of his head. He tripped forward, scraping his face with the hard black ground.

Rocks – shining like stars sparkling in the night sky – scattered around him as they spilled from the sack which the boy was carrying. They were ores. Even unrefined, they were pleasant to the eyes.

"What the hell!" he cursed as he lifted his face from the ground to feel something stinging his eyes.

Blood started streaking out of the gash on his forehead. Some got in his eyes while some flowed to his cheek and chin, dripping down to form a small puddle of red on the ground.

The boy propped himself up and dusted his clothes. One of his bloody red eyes wandered around, searching for his aggressors while the other one with the blood squinted.

He spotted them a few meters away from him. A trio of boys could be seen laughing out loud, bemused by the fallen boy's reaction.

"Hahahaha! Look at him. He just went 'ouch' there and fell right on his face! And that's me not even trying my best."

"That outsider isn't as good as I heard he is. Just because he could mine a couple of ores more than us doesn't mean he is a better miner than any of us," spat another boy.

"His name's Aero, right? More like Error to me. He couldn't even evade a single tiny little rock. I say, serve him right," said another one.

Who is this poor boy unfortunate enough to cross paths with some brats in the middle of his jolly return to The Hole? Yup! That's me, alright.

But again, 'who am I?' is the question I had been asking since this change of scenery. Since the blue sky – that I vaguely remember for no reason - turned to black, the flash of green meadow turned to this vast expanse of nothingness.

They all soon stopped laughing when they noticed that I was eyeing them. The sight of gleaming red eyes, glaring at them in silence must have sent shivers down their spine.

I could see the disgust and contempt they had for me. But somewhere deep inside, a tinge of fear could be seen. Swaying ever so softly by their waves of emotion. Deep enough that they could just brush it off. Unnoticed.

'They are just like their world. Dark, gloomy and dead. I hope other worlds' inhabitants wouldn't be like this.'

Just as I had those thoughts, a sudden voice sprung me back to reality.

"Hey!! Who threw that rock at him?" shouted a girl's voice.

'Ahh! Finally, my angel has come to rescue me from these devils,' thinking that I had gained a supporter, I turned around towards the voice.

"Look at what you boys did, now that spot is infected with that outlander's blood."

'Nope. Looks like I have to get my ears checked. It's just a bitch barking to her pups.'

"You don't belong here, outlander!" the girl shouted. Contempt spitting out of her words. I could feel it in her tone. She really meant every single word that she said.

'That I could agree on,' I thought to myself. 'Outlander has a nice ring to it doesn't it?'

"Go back to whatever world you come from."

In this world inhibitants' knowledge, there are no other worlds apart from their own. The Mine was the only world that exists in their mind. So in a way, the girl was asking me to kick the bucket or bluntly put, "Go die, outsider!"

"You are being a nuisance around here. Everybody here hates you, can't you see that?"

The fuming girl's words felt more like a statement than a question. But to answer the girl's question, yes. I could see that everybody here hates me.

Crystal clear.

Exactly a month ago, I woke up to find myself in this god forsaken place. It felt like I had just been born. I had so many questions but very few answers to them.

Something like, where do I come from? Certainly not this world. Yes I remember the concept of worlds? But why do I remember them and not other things? The only two things that define my existence were my name - Aero Vermilion.

And the other one was my Gift that I loathed and cursed so much you would not call it a Gift but a curse instead.

Much like my fate. I was sent to a cursed world.

They had this belief that any outsiders are to be ostracised. Nobody ever came to my help as I wandered around this wide barren world aimlessly.

As I was about to give up hope of finding a way out of this place — though even till now I didn't know how — a man came to give me a helping hand.

My heart moved for a moment. The kindness that this man showed me made him the 'peculiar' inhabitant in my eyes. The man promised me food and shelter as long as I could pay for it.

"Don't worry," the man said. "I will teach you the way of this world."

'Better than nothing,' is what I thought back then.

That was… until I looked the man in the eye. That was how long my heart was moved — a moment.

Nothing ever comes good from using this curse. But that's how I had been born. That's my fate. That's my Gift. To be cursed…

"..."

Thinking back to all of those things that had befallen me in this past month, I could easily brush this rock throwing incident off as 'normal' occurrences.

Ignoring the girl's no brainer question, I went to pick up the ores that had fallen out of my sack. Usually, my sac would always be full to the brim with those ores. Now only half remained as the other half scattered around me.

"Hey! What do you think you are doing?!" the girl shouted again. Her tone was more of anger this time.

I let out a tired sigh before answering, "What else do you think I'm doing? Collecting rocks to throw like you guys? I'm picking up my ores, of course."

It wouldn't do without a pinch of sarcasm, would it?

"Don't you know that this area is my territory. You dare steal my ores right in front of me!"

"Excuse me?!"

I was wide-eyed with disbelief.

'Is this girl trying to…"

Before I could finish that though, something entered my field of vision. It came flying straight at me. I tilted my head to dodge that object.

"I know you are a thief! There is no way you could mine all those ores by yourself!"

It seems like the boys hadn't had enough yet with their rock throwing session.

"Get lost thief!"

"Just do everyone a favour and die!"

The boy's two cronies also threw their own rocks my way. Seeing this, something inside me finally snapped.

'Are they trying to rob my hard earned ores right in front of me?!'

Instinctively I drew the pickaxe hanging by my hip and hit those rocks midair before they could even reach me.

The other kids were left with their mouths wide agape. I had just hit those two rocks away with only one hit. Also, my crimson eyes must have gleamed with such anger that they could literally feel the heat from where they stood.

"Over my dead body!" I howled.

"Tsk!"

Seeing the sheer craziness in my eyes, the kids could only swallow their saliva hard and turned to their last and final resort.

"Arrrhh!!!" the girl suddenly shouted. Her shriek reverberated through the air. With that kind of volume, everyone in The Mine could hear it.

The boys on the other hand, dived to the ground. They rolled around like their lives depended on it. Though their tight black garments could protect them from the sharp hard ground, they rolled so hard to the point of tearing their own clothes and wounding their own bodies.

'Crap…'

The genius me immediately understood what these brats were doing. And as I had expected a moments later, hurrying footsteps could be heard coming towards us.

"Kids! Are you alright? What happened?" an adult asked as a group of them arrived at the scene.

"That outsider attacked us!" the girl complained. Tears dripped down from her eyes.

"He tried to steal my ores there and the boys told him off. He immediately attacked us. Look at what he did to the boys!" the girl pointed to the boys ouching on the ground.

The adults glared at me. The me, who was still holding the pickaxe, the wounds on my forehead a consequence of the boys' 'retaliation.' In their eyes, I was as good as guilty. Without even needing to hear the other side story.

"How dare you outlander! You mere outsider. After all the grace we give you, this is how you repay us. By hurting our people. You ingrates!" one adult spatted.

'What the heck!'

The adults hurriedly picked up some rocks and hurled with all their might. There were too many this time for me to defend against all of them using just a pickaxe.

Since some full grown adults were the one that threw the rocks, it came wheezing at me faster than the kiddy ones. I tried to evade some and hit those I couldn't. Alas, I couldn't possibly 'receive' all of their combined 'hospitality.'

Knowing that I couldn't win against such discrimination, flee is my only option. I had to abandon any thoughts of defending and instead nimbly reached out to my sack of ores and ran away from the scene.

In their view, a beast was running away with its tail between its legs. But what else could I do? They never view me as a fellow human nor they ever tried to.

All I could do was run and retreat. Wound from the earlier confrontation with the kids still bore upon, leaving a trail of blood as I escaped the scene.

Along with the dripping blood, clear pearl-like tears were shed. Gnashing my teeth, again and again, I had endured such discrimination. But to what extent must I hold back? When will the situation change for the better?

Deep down I know, I couldn't hold this feeling much longer. They should also know, the most dangerous of beasts, is the one cornered with no way to retreat…