Chapter 3

𝟎𝟖/𝟏𝟎/𝟓𝟓𝟖 𝐤𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫.

After I made a promise to myself I left home and went to the house of Mr Esberg, a nice old man who liver near home. The man who read Vasily's Condolence letter for me a few years before. He would never talk about his past so I didn't know a lot about him, other than, he was from another country and came some years ago with a lot of money, he knew how to read, write and do math, and had a small shop under his house where he, his wife, which he married locally, son and daughter worked.

𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘭𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯, 𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴, 𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘢𝘳, 𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦, 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘶𝘯𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘐 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵, 𝘪𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘱𝘢𝘸𝘯…

In his store his son, Klaus, was on the counter. He was thirteen years old and had black hair.

"Hi, Klaus is your father here?"

"Hello, Mikhail, he is upstairs, need something to be read? I can do that already you know?

"Actually I need to speak to him about something important, can you call him, please?"

"Sorry, I can't leave the counter, can you wait until Bertha or mother come down?"

"No problem"

I went to the corner of the store and just waited for a time, clients entered and clients left, until Bertha, a ten years old girl with black hair, came down.

"Sis, Is father awake?"

"Yes bro, want me to call him?

"Yes, say that Mikhail wants to speak with him"

"Okay"

She left and in some minutes an old man in his sixties with grey hair came down the stairs.

"Mikhail it's being a long time, you grow old while I wasn't looking, I hope the circumstances this time are better," said the man on the stair, he was referring to the last time I came to see him when Vasily died. since his children take care of the store most of the time I wouldn't see him much.

"You can relax Mr Esberg, I just came here with a request."

"I've already told you to stop calling me Mr Esberg this makes me sound elder than I already am, call me Peter, and came here, go up with me."

I went with him, and we seated at a table upstairs, his wife brought us some tea. she was blonde, beautiful, and way younger than him, I didn't stop thinking that she is only with him because he was rich in the slums, like that saying "In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king".

"what do you want Mikhail?"

"Mr Esberg, I want you to teach me how to read and write!" I said decided.

Mr Esberg sounded surprised but didn't say anything, I Waited for almost one minute without any answer.

"Mr. Esberg?"

"I don't know any Mr Esberg..." he said blatantly

"PETER!" I said a bit riled up, I was just trying to be polite.

"I can teach you, but don't you have to work?"

"I was fired, but I have a bit of money saved, so while I search for another job I can learn how to read and write"

"you are the first one who ever asked me to teach you, people usually don't see the importance of reading and writing."

"It's not their fault, they need food on their tables and a job for that purpose is more important than studying."

"Hmm I see, wait here for a moment." Peter went to one of the rooms and brought a bit of paper and a pencil with him.

" It's Time for our first lesson"

We seated and he told me, every letter of the alphabet, how it sounded, how it was written. and I had to copy it several times. The alphabet had 31 characters with 7 Vowels and 24 consonants, and it had upper and lesser cases like the Latin alphabet at Earth, but they were applied only on the last letter of a name.

𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸, 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘐 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘬𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘌𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩? 𝘐𝘴 𝘮𝘺 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺, 𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘌𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥? 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘌𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦, 𝘴𝘰 𝘐 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘻𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘱𝘩𝘢𝘣𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺.

"Peter, can you read this?" I asked and showed him something I wrote on the paper, it was just my name.

He then asked me to write other words, I took a time to write every single word since in my mind I was spelling them, and had to sometimes look to the paper to see the respective letter.

"Are you sure you never learned this before?" he asked me.

"Never" Well, I never learned this alphabet, or how to read and write in this world.

"You must be a prodigy! If you could have learned this many years before you could be a scholar by now." Said an excited Mr Esberg.

"Calm down, Mr Esberg, calm down!" I said to him, he looked a little displeased, but he calmed down.

"But you should keep writing, your handwriting is very bad… what I mean is the way you write is ugly, you must keep writing those letters until they are more fluent, let's end for today.

" can I keep the paper and pencil you gave me?"

"I wouldn't want any other way."

When I left Mr Esberg house/shop the skies were beginning to darken, I went home to translate whatever was written on the dagger, I hid it under a loose floor at home. I took both daggers and the paper Mr Esberg gave me to a table. it had different inscriptions on both sides of the blade.

R-u-r-i-k-o d-i-v-i-n-e d-u-c-h-y

G-o-l-d-e-n h-e-a-v-e-n-s

𝘙𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘬𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘩𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘴. 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘵? 𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯? 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘺, 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘰𝘥𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥. 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘨𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘳𝘺, 𝘐'𝘮 𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘸𝘰 𝘣𝘪𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘪𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘩'𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘳𝘺, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘨𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘰𝘥𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘚𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘗𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳'𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘳𝘺, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩𝘺, 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘴𝘰 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘰𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘯𝘰𝘸.

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘐 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘢𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘳? 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘥𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘮𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘢𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘰 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘣𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘴. 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘺 𝘪𝘧 𝘐 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘪𝘵, 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺, 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘢 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘶𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺, 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳, 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘩, 𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘺 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥… 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘵 𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘳𝘪𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐'𝘮 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺... 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘺𝘦𝘴 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘪𝘵.

At night I went to Raz's house to return his coat but who opened the door was Anya his younger and only sister, she had long curled black hair.

"Mika!" she said before jumping at me and hugging me, she was sixteen years old and worked as a seamstress. Normally people had a lot of siblings like me, but Raz lost their parents at a young age, and because of that he became overprotective of his sister, at her age, it was normal to be already engaged, but he would let her go that easily. and Raz didn't have time to search for a partner, or had any family member for search for him, so he kept single like me.

𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘶𝘨𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭, 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘶𝘨 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘢 𝘣𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘸𝘬𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐'𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘸.

"Any, you are so tall! it seems it was yesterday that you were half of me."

"And you Mika, you look so old!"

I didn't know how to answer that so I just laughed a bit

"May I enter, I need to give Raz his coat back, and talk with him a bit"

"Raz still didn't show up, but he soon will arrive, wait here, I will make dinner for us"

𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬, 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯?

"There is no need, I can come back later" I was turning back but she holds my hand.

"No please, wait, stay here, you are a close friend, it's the least I can do"

"So let's cook together then, what were you going to make I will at least help with the ingredients?"

" Normally I would cook a porridge, but what do you want?

𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘨𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘌𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩, 𝘢 𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘨𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘰...

"Let's make something new, I can teach you? do you have wheat flour, eggs, milk, water, onions, and garlic?"

"Do you know how to cook? Raz said you are a terrible cook"

𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘺𝘦𝘴, 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘰𝘬.

"He probably was just joking"

"Okay, I have flour and milk, the water there is a little. Eggs I used all of them this morning, onions are too expensive to buy, and what is garlic?

𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘷𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘤 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦. 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳... 𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘵' 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥.

"I have some eggs at home, I have to use them before they spoil, I will go home take them, and bring more water"

I went home took the eggs and a bit of salt and return shortly with a bucket of water I took from a well. we started cooking by cleaning our hands with a small wet towel, this world hadn't the custom of cleaning hands with water before cooking or eating because it was needed to go to a river or a well to bring water home, but the towel at least served its purpose.

We mixed the flour with eggs and a bit of salt and make pasta with it, she would occasionally touch me with the hand dirty with the dough in the face and I would answer the same way, later we made bechamel sauce with flour, milk and salt as we put the pasta to cook. we were together alone just having fun, it was way more fun cooking here than on Earth alone.

"Any, I'm home!" said Raz when he arrived he didn't know I was here but soon he realised that I was in the kitchen with her.

"Mika... Any, what were you doing?" he asked us puzzled, not knowing how to react seeing his dear sister and best friend so close to each other, both with their faces dirty of dough.

"We were just cooking together... Mika wanted to deliver your coat and talk to you, and I invited him to stay here until you arrive, and one thing led to another and ended with us cooking together. " Said a reddish Anya quickly

"Here prove it," she said taking a spoon and putting it at Raz's mouth.

"You have really outdone yourself, this is hella good"

"It's Mika's recipe!" she said with a smile.

"Mika's…" he looked even more puzzled since he knew I didn't know how to cook a few days ago.

We ate together and talked about many trivial things, until…

" I am going to sleep, I need to wake up early tomorrow, don't go to sleep very late." Anya said to us before leaving to her room.

"Now we can talk more privately... what happened to you Mika, your missing day, you cooking, your hair?" he said speaking lower after Anya closed her room's door.

"My hair?" I asked, then tried to see it by holding a bit in front of my eyes, but I couldn't see much difference like that.

"Wait a minute" I went to the bucket we used the water in the kitchen, it still had some water on it which settled and I could see my reflection on it. I've always had a strong blond hair, which seemed like gold, but now it was way more whitish than yellow. It was not completely white, was more like a blond so light it looked like white.

𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘙𝘢𝘻, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵. 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘐 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘸 𝘰𝘭𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵.

"I didn't realize my hair changed"

"What happened to you, Mika?"

I could trust Raz, he was like a brother to me.

"You won't believe in what I am about to say, but trust me."

I told him almost everything, the man who killed himself in my hands, my life in another world, my theories about myself, the dagger, everything except for my promise. He stood there seated just hearing everything, and when I finished he kept quiet.

"You think I'm crazy, don't you?

"I… I don't know, what you told me is a lot of craziness, but it explains some things, you missing for a day, the blood on your clothes the other day, your hair, and your cooking which was shitty, but it may be just craziness, you may have killed some guy and painted your hair, and lied to me all those years about cooking" he answered

I took the dagger hiding inside my pants legs and put it on the table. He looked a bit surprised and scared.

𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵, 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘢𝘤 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘱𝘰𝘯 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴. 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵.

"This is the dagger I told you about, if this isn't proof enough, I ask you if you believe I could kill someone and do everything you told?"

"No… I believe you, more than belief, I trust you, as you said, I don't think you would lie to me something like that"

We then started to talk about Earth about everything, how it was there, the differences between here and there, technology and politics, he looked interested in many things.

"You said your old world was more advanced, can't you use this knowledge to make money?"

"It's not easy like that, this world is not that behind in technology, It's like two hundred years more or less, and I wasn't formed in the field of enginery."

"I didn't get this last part"

"I didn't study how to make things, I may know the principle behind things but don't know how to create it"

"So what the fuck you studied?"

"Politics, economics, sociology"

"what?"

"I studied about people!"

"COULDN'T YOU STUDIED ANYTHING MORE USEFUL!!!" said him shouting in a low voice

" I WASN'T EXPECTING TO COME TO THIS WORLD!!" I answered the same way

"Shhh, you will wake up Anya!"

"you were the one who started shouting!"

"But what about the food you made can't you sell it? that food you made was something else?" said Raz changing the direction of the talk.

"It would be possible, but no one would buy, people like us normally wouldn't have the money or time to buy it, so we would have to sell it to the wealthy, but we don't have the money to start a business like that, and even so they would buy food of some guys of the slums, and this food I've made it's possible it already exists in this world."

"Why do you think this? I never saw this food before."

" This world has cultures on its own, but they share similar patterns with some cultures at Earth, for instance, the people's names of Kruschev sounds like the people's names of Eastern Europe at Earth, and the food is also similar, so it's possible the pasta I've made is already a normal dish in another country, and the sauce used in another, but it's not guaranteed.

"Do you have any idea to make money?"

"It's not like to make money, but I was thinking of organizing a strike"

"A strike?"

"If all employees of one factory stop working, the factory doesn't make anything, and as such it makes a great loss to the owner, we can use this fact to bargain better work conditions or increase payment.

"If the point is to make a loss to the owner wouldn't be easier just to break the machines?"

"No, the owner would just substitute the machine for ones newer and even better, the power of the strike is in the union of workers to achieve a common goal.

"So let's make one at work"

"it's not that simple, even if we were to organize one it wouldn't work, the unemployment is so on the rise, that they would probably fire everyone and hire the people in front of the factory, they would have a loss since they were using inexperienced people, but they would break the strike, and in some weeks it would normalize."

"So why you had the idea of a strike?"

"What we gonna do is a Total strike, if every worker of Kraven stops working, there aren't people enough to fulfil the empty spaces of the factories, and our bargain chip grows larger, probably, the Godking himself will have to intervein."

And we talked a lot more that evening.