What.
Just.
Happened.
One moment I was just in my dorm room. The next, I'm outside with bright rays of sunshine and green scenery all around me. Hills could be seen in the distance and lush forests are behind me. On the right, I can spot a road leading to what I can assume a town of some sort, but I cannot see past the small hill because the road takes a right behind the hill. There is no other signs of human interaction with the environment besides the road that leads towards the sun. I got on my feet and followed the dirt road. A carriage drawn by houses passed right by me. I have never seen a horse on a road before, but I heard about it that they sometimes have those in Cantor. Could I be in Cantor right now? There's no way. Plus the stories I've heard about the horses seems to not match with the same setting as I recall the horses only draw carriages inside cities. This was a carriage on a rural road going towards the forest. After following the road behind the hill, I spot what seems to be a small town. It looks way smaller than Rhyston or even Falkia. I wonder if this place even has a school like UVR or something similar. Upon entering the town, I spotted some signs on some of the nearby buildings. Written in symbols and alphabets that I cannot read. An ancient language, maybe? I don't know the language, and these buildings are culturally different from the ones I'm used to. I cannot even tell what material or mineral they used to build the building. The people were also odd compared to the manners I was taught with. There was a group of people who was being treated differently, but I couldn't figure out the discrimination. Usually, I could tell if they were discriminated by race or gender. Sometimes, I could tell its because of their economic or social status. But as for this, I could not put my finger on why these people were being discriminated against. Everyone around this group of people push them around. Maybe its because they're homeless? That's another discrimination that usually happens at my hometown. I looked closely at the group of people. Some of them were dragged away by merchants, and others were dragged by thieves. I followed the smaller group dragged by thieves. I overheard their conversation.
"Give that back!"
I peeked my head enough so I can see what's going on, but not quite enough where they will be able to see me.
"Huh? Now, why would I have to listen to a twerp like you?"
The sounds of a smack followed by a grunt and a scream could be heard. I can only see one of the thieves as my vision is limited. He is clearly holing a small knife or dagger while I can assume the other thief is holding some sort of blunt weapon and they are currently beating what sounds like a child.
"You know that this is our fucking turf, right?"
"This is what you get when you chose to steal on our territory."
Turf? Steal? So this is a fight between thieves, and I have no right to interfere.
"Little kids like you are the worst. I can't believe you think you can get away with this, scratch-free."
Multiple grunts can be heard, but the child did not scream. Like I thought before, I shouldn't get involved with this stuff. I should just close my eyes and walk the other way. Walking away from a situation I do not want to involve myself in. They have weapons while I do not. How would I even help a little kid anyways...
...
...
Do I really want to walk away from this scene?
...
...
No. This isn't right.
...
...
The child may have done something wrong, but they do not deserve to die over some small details. I walk back to the alleyway. I start running. The first thing, I need to do to save this child is to disarm the knife wielder. If I can either twist his wrist or take out his legs so I could pin him. The second option is not ideal since there is a chance he'll still stab me anyways and that there's more than one thief here. The only choice I have is to rush at him fast enough where I can grab his wrist, twist it, and kick the knife away. As I approach the place where the thief used to stand, I realize that they all left. The child could be seen within some garbage bags, and contain some cuts and bruises all over their body. It seems that I was too late, and they have left already. I guess the thieves got what they wanted and left after beating up the child. I moved the garbage bags out of the way and slowly held the child in my arms. The cuts could be from the thief holding the knife, and the bruises were from the other one with the blunt weapon. But I do not know if that was the case since I did not see anything. I moved the child to a better location. One under a tree outside the town near a river. I tore up a piece of my shirt to use a rag to clean up the cuts on the child. The child woke up after I finished up cleaning all the wounds they had.
"You awake now?" I asked.
The child nodded. I started to leave, but the child tugged at my shirt shaking their head. Does this kid want me to stay? Can I even take care of this kid when I know nothing of the situation that I am currently in? I can't remember what had happened before I came to under that one tree. But even if I tried to leave, the child will try to stop me. I looked back at the child. I just can't say no. I started to walk down the road, and the child follows, still holding onto my shirt.
