CH.01

 In the darkness of the room, she slowly regained consciousness and opened her eyes. Her vision was foggy, and she was barely able to see anything. There was no light in this room except for the slight glimmer that appeared from a small hole in the door. The sound of jumping and dancing outside drowned out the sound of her and the rest of the detainees' moans in the room. Her head was spinning in her head. She did not eat anything since she was captured, in addition to the smell of vomit and urine in the room, and that was not the worst thing; a bad smell dominated the room; in fact, that smell was the reason for their vomiting in the first place, and it came from outside.

 She had the freedom to move her hands and legs, but her body was so weak from hunger. The Aluki did not care about restraining their hostages. It was as if they wished for them to escape so that they could enjoy chasing the emaciated prey on the verge of death before they caught it and put it in the boiling basin. She wished she had stayed in her village and agreed to the arranged marriage for a moment. Her fiancé, who was thirty years older than her, looked so handsome that even that bald spot on his head wasn't a concern anymore. A slight chuckle escaped her lips as she entertained that idea. It had never occurred to her to see Basson as the best choice, but the period of confinement made her accept anything other than what was going to happen to her.

 "Screak!" The sound of the door creaking echoed in the room. She slowly raised her eyes to see the silhouette coming towards her. She could not see clearly because of the strong light coming from the door, even though it was clearly night. Her eyes were not used to the light yet. The egg-like being looked at all the detainees in the room, then his eyes fell on her. He approached her. then lifted her up and, with one bite, put the upper half of her body inside his mouth. He left the room and closed the door.

 Her legs were still outside Aluki's mouth, which was located in a vertical shape at the top of his head, dividing his body in half. Saliva covered her face, hair, and every part of her upper body. The Aluki had no teeth; the stench was the worst thing in this place. She felt hot air. around her legs, causing her to start crying inside the aluki's mouth. It was night now, so the source of that hot air was only from the boiling pot in which the Aluki put their victims to thaw before the nest shared the soup.

 While she was crying, the creature stopped moving for a moment. She thought that her tears were the cause, but she certainly was not the first to cry inside the mouth of the aluki. That was when she noticed that the sound of jumping and dancing had stopped and was replaced by sounds of agitation and wailing, followed by the sound of something quickly cutting through the air. She suddenly felt gravity throwing her and the Aluki down. Her left leg fell on a rock, causing her to howl in pain.

 Suddenly, she felt a hand pulling her by her leg strongly, which made her cry more. She was weak, so she was pulled easily. She heard a distorted voice, but she couldn't hear clearly because the saliva was still in her ears. She couldn't see anything either. She wiped the saliva with her arm, but the thick saliva covered Everything was difficult to move. Under her hard efforts, she felt something flowing over her head. Initially, she felt a comforting warmth envelop her, but it swiftly transformed into a scorching blue flame that forced her to roll on the ground in agony.

 After two minutes of squirming and crying, the blue flame disappeared along with the saliva. saliva, she touched her face, and it was so smooth, like that fire cleansed her. The pain is no longer there, like it never existed in the first place.

 "Are you okay?" After all the saliva in her ears and eyes had evaporated, she could clearly see and hear the face of her savior. He was a twenty-year-old man who wore a red coat over a blue shirt and black pants, in addition to gloves of the same color. He hid The upper half of his face was covered with a metal helmet that hid his hair and eyes; the lower half was exposed. There were only a few small hairs in the beard area. and he did not have any other features. Her savior, who had a weird taste in clothes, gave her a pure smile when he asked her. That smile made her forget about the burning liquid. She just stared at her savior.

 From his coat, he took out a piece of cloth and gave it to her. She did not understand the meaning of this thing. She just looked at the cloth stupidly. Her savior did not speak. He took the cloth from her weak hand and began wiping away the remnants of saliva. On her face the cloth was unnaturally warm, and with the quick movement of his hand, she felt that her skin had become polished. After he finished, he tightened the cloth in her hand and said, "There is a river near here. You can wash yourself there." She did not pay attention to it. Previously, her savior carried a long, heavy accent that belonged to the people of the East.

 "Can you walk?" He asked her, waiting for the answer. She shook her head, denying it. She had been lying on the ground since she came out of the Aluki's mouth. She had not tried to stand on her feet yet, but after three days of extreme hunger she knew she couldn't walk, She was also certain that she hurt her foot when she fell from Aluki's mouth, and the way he pulled her from her foot made it worse.

 He got down on his knees, gave her his back, and told her to ride. She put her arms around his neck without saying anything. He stood up and started running lightly and quickly between the trees and bushes, as if she weighed nothing. Without any doubt, her savior was one of the knights she had always heard of. Her father told her that each knight had more strength than ten men combined. Even in her most ridiculous dreams, she did not dream of being saved by a knight.

 The smell of something rotting made her want to vomit. When she looked at the source of that smell, she wanted to jump off her savior's back and bury herself in the ground. Even though the blue flames had gotten rid of almost every trace of saliva, the smell was still there. Her knight didn't seem to mind. He kept running, not paying attention to her struggle. Or maybe he was running towards the river so quickly in order to get rid of this smell. Her internal struggle came to an end when she heard the sound of trickling water. After less than a minute, she saw a small stream where her rescuer stopped and lowered her slowly.

 "I will go collect some firewood and sit near here." "Call me when you're done cleaning yourself." He didn't give her any time to answer before he disappeared into the bushes. She couldn't stop blaming herself. She deduced that his fledgling was a desperate attempt to escape the stench coming from her.

 She plunged into the water with her clothes, determined to accomplish two tasks at once. The water was so cold, but it refreshed her mind. That's when she really felt it—she was really saved. The warm tears began to flow from her eyes. She lost hope and just waited for her death, but now she is in a safe place. True, her stomach was empty and the cold reached her bones, but she regained what she had lost: hope.