A strange smell

Although Alice had already heard many stories about the obelisks, this was the first time she actually saw one. It was a big monument of at least ten meters in height. The base was a simple cube of roughly cut, grey stone, but on top of it stood the actual obelisk. The base had a square form with its four sides being about half a meter long, half as much compared to the sides of the stone-cube underneath. From there on, the four sides shot up ten meters, only slightly slanted inwards. The material of the obelisk was of a mysterious dark blue color, so dark that it looked black if one didn't look carefully or if it was not bright enough.

As Alice got closer, she started to see the golden lines on the obelisk. These were one of their many mysteries. It was said that there existed a countless amount of these obelisks all over the world, some of the small ones only being three meters tall, with the biggest going up for hundreds of meters.

Alice had always been fascinated by them. The reason these golden lines where such a mystery was simple, even though they were clearly visible, they actually didn't seem to exist. Those golden lines where floating almost a centimeter over the surface of the stone, but it said, that they were impossible to touch, and, even though it was almost impossible for humans to do that, if an obelisk got damaged, those golden lines would just disappear.

In the end, there were just as many stories of their origin as there were obelisks, countless.

As Alice got closer to the obelisk, she started to see her reflection in the smooth surface, only interrupted by the golden lines.

Only now did she realize how horrible she looked at the moment. Her beautiful hair that she had always been proud of, was only a mess. She could have just worn a bundle of red straw on her head and there wouldn't be much of a difference. Her face, just as the rest of her body, was completely covered in dirt, and after some animal had stolen her original clothes, she was wearing the pair of trousers and shirt that were her only spares. And even her eyes that were once bright and clear, looked now dirty and devoid of all emotion besides sorrow and grief.

Even though those days with her grandma had helped her a lot, when her thoughts started to wander again she just couldn't prevent herself from thinking about her family.

It wasn't long ago that she wouldn't have been able to go even a single day without cleaning herself. But after the last couple of days, she didn't waste a single thought on that. Instead, would someone offer her a bath right now, the chances were high that she would first drink the water.

Alice didn't look long at her appearance in the obelisk. Her eyes were instead drawn to the small bowl with bread that stood in front of it.

Over the last two days, Alice had met more and more people on the road and there had also been more settlements. Still, the more people there were, the less friendly they became, so she didn't have anything to eat for almost two days.

Even now there were actually some people that stood around the obelisk. Just as Alice grabbed the loaf of bread, one of them cried out. It was an old man that wore a long, simple, black colored robe over his body.

"How dare you little wrench steal our offerings to the great lord!"

Not knowing that the man was talking to her, Alice just started walking again, biting into the hard bread. Although the old man couldn't run fast, Alice too wasn't capable of fast movements, so the old man caught up to her fast.

When the old man came to a stop in front of her, Alice looked up. The old man had already lifted his hand, ready to hit Alice. Suddenly, an arm shot forward, stopping the old man. Looking up apathetically, Alice saw a young man in an expensive looking blue robe. On his back was a big backpack and on his chest a silver emblem of a pentagram with a big, golden ‚R' in the middle.

"G-Great magus, sir...", the old man stuttered.

"I know that you are angry, but isn't it fine? I don't think that your great lord is so small-hearted that he would insist on getting just one offering more if he could instead help a little girl that is obviously hungry. Wouldn't you agree with me?"

"But o-of course great m-magus, the great lord w-wouldn't be that small-hearted.", the old man kept stuttering.

Looking down at Alice who had stopped walking, the man with the emblem said:

"But, little girl, most things already belong to someone, so even if you don't know who's it is, you should still ask before you take something, Okay?"

Bringing his mouth next to Alice's ear and lowering his voice until she was the only one who could hear her, he continued: "Or make sure that no one sees you doing it."

Only giving a small, barely visible, nod, Alice continued on her way. She wasn't sure what had just happened and she didn't have the energy to think about it either, but she was thankful to the man in the blue robe as it seemed like he had protected her.

After that, the old man continued to stand on the road for a while with a troubled look on his face. In the end, he walked back to the obelisk and continued with his prayers.

....

About two days later while walking along the road, Alice suddenly sensed a strange smell in the air. In a way, this was a very natural smell, reminding her of the forest back in her village in some way, on the other hand, this smell was very different. It was something that she had never smelled before, but it seemed to give her a little bit more energy and put a faint smile on her lips.

At this moment, she didn't know that this smell would accompany her for the next years.