First Part - Chapter two

Anastasia was terrified, her heart beat as fast as it's humanly possible and she just wished to be gone from this situation. 'I am going to die!' She thought when suddenly all these thoughts disappeared the moment she heard Nadia's voice, ''Ana! Are you okay? Stand still!"

The next thing Anastasia saw was the same as the last time. Blood, a demon lying unmovingly on the ground, a woman holding a shiny silver sword covered in blood.

But this time, Anastasia wasn't terrified of the woman.

''Anastasia! You have to be more careful!"

The feeling of guilt, sadness, and stress overcame Anastasia and she blurted out ''I'm sorry..''

''No need for apologizing, stupid.''

Anastasia still felt the need to apologize, ''I won't do it again.''

Nadia replied with a tone that couldn't be identified, ''good.''

After that, Anastasia went to help out as always but she was still feeling extremely guilty. The feeling of guilt that wouldn't go away no matter what.

The day carried on as normal until Nadia called Anastasia to talk.

''I can't have you go around like this, in this world full of demons.''

Anastasia- ''???"

''As the person who takes care of you, I should also be a good teacher, shouldn't I? And that's why I will teach you to defend yourself and how to recognize multiple types of demons and dangers.''

This made Anastasia excited. She could learn how to defend herself! Which means she could go outside!

Nadia continued speaking, ''first I should teach you basic stuff perhaps.''

Well yeah, what else is she supposed to teach her first!?

''We start tomorrow when the sun starts rising!"

That's not too late nor too early. It was an ideal time.

The next day came in a blink of an eye and Anastasia woke up to a sound of a ringing bell. When she opened her eyes, she saw a figure with red hair ringing a small golden bell non-stop, a faked serious look on her face.

''Mmm so early..'' she was still sleepy and her eyes felt heavy, forcing themselves to close.

Nadia frowned, ''if it weren't for someone constantly exposing herself to danger, I wouldn't have to teach that certain someone self-defense, no?"

'That woman—' but she couldn't deny the fact that Nadia's statement was in fact true, as much as it pained her to admit it. She very reluctantly got out of bed, as if she'd have to suffer thousand lifetimes of sorrow and witness her most loved ones die if she stood up.

Nadia kept her annoying attitude, ''look who finally decided to get out of bed.''

Anastasia rolled her eyes almost to the back of her head but didn't say anything.

The room was dim, and the only source of light was the candle on the desk that Nadia just lit who knows when. Outside was also still quite dark, but the sun was soon to rise; a few sun rays were already peaking through the trees, creating golden strokes upon the dark land of the forest as if painted by a steady brush on a dark canvas.

Nadia spoke up, ''I give you ten minutes to wash yourself, change clothes and get ready.''

''Ten minutes?! That's too short!" Anastasia yelled in surprise.

''You're short. And, that's part of the practice, kiddo.''

'Who are you calling short? I'm a child! Of course, I'm not gonna be meter seventy!.'

But Nadia can't read her thoughts, so as much as Anastasia cursed her out in her head, it was useless. She swiftly left the room; her footsteps were light and quiet, almost unnoticeable.

Anastasia rushed out of her bed to the bathroom and quickly washed her face. She took out some comfortably looking black and dark blue clothes and put them on. She combed her long brown and wavy hair as it was messy since she just got out of bed; she used a dark blue ribbon and tied it into a simple ponytail so that it doesn't get in her way.

'What now? I should go downstairs to wait for Nadia.'

And so, she did just that. Nadia was already standing by the front door, looking bored to death. ''You took exactly nine minutes and twenty-seven seconds.''

''So I did it in time.''

''What are you waiting for, kiddo? Let's go outside.''

''Yeah yeah, I'm coming.'' Anastasia rolled her eyes.

The two of them headed to the yard outside. Anastasia had been curious what they'd be doing. What exactly was she about to be taught? Would she need to study all kinds of useless stuff?

''Nadiaa, what are we gonna do anyway?'' She asked impatiently.

''Not much. I will start by explaining you the races and how to tell them apart, and later I will teach you to sense mana so that you know how possibly dangerous your enemy can be.''

''Sounds easy.'' Anastasia sighed in relief.

''Not really,'' she laughed mockingly, ''you will have to learn to fight as well. Believe me, a weak kiddo like you wouldn't survive a year.''.

Anastasia rolled her eyes and humphed, ''I would manage somehow.''

Nadia looked at her yet again mockingly, ''says the one that almost died two times already.''

''I—'' her words got stuck in her throat, unable to come up with anything as an argument; thus, she gave up and just stayed quiet.

Nadia spoke up, ''so to the important part. I wil tell you all you need to know for now.''

Nadia explained the most basic things about races, magic, magic types, weapons, the way the world works, and such.

" * * * * ◇ * * * * "

Around six years have passed.

It was one winter morning when Nadia called the kids downstairs.

''Ana, Tobias, how old are you two this year?'' She asked. This question was rather strange and unexpected.

Anastasia tilted her head with a puzzled look crossing her face, but for the sake of keeping her head intact, she answered Nadia's question without much thought to it: '' I'm thirteen.''

But the other — younger boy — showed no care in this question at all and said, ''Eleven.''

The boy Tobias had black hair with a grey shade and his eyes were the color of a day clear sky. He was a careless and easygoing child despite the fact of how the world works. Danger after danger, not even safe at home. But Tobias doesn't understand the concept of danger yet.

Nadia nodded and her eyes unfocused as she stared at an empty wall, standing still, when she finally spoke up, ''I see... Tobias, you can go back. Anastasia. You. I need to talk to you, kiddo.''

When Anastasia heard that nickname, she made a 'tsk' sound while her eyes made a trip behind and back and followed the rude woman to the yard. ''Imagine forgetting our ages, tsk,'' she said.