Every muscle in my body stayed tense even after falling from its mouth, my arms constantly regripping around the stone. With every breath my body shook. I gripped and regriped the stone that must have been as large as I was. Afraid that if I let go I might still somehow slide into it's stomach.

The hot acid burned on my skin as the cold wind chilled my bones. 'I did it? But… it is dead, right… Right?'

I heard a boot squish into the mud next to me and my entire body shuddered, tightening around the stone even further like a snake. "You…" My father growled, his words muffled and unrecognisable as everything blurred together, my body being ripped from the ground, and my arms failing to keep a hold of the rock.

"It burns…" I squeaked out my eyes watering. And whatever he was saying got cut off as he froze, letting out another low growl. I could feel his chest rumbling as he spoke, but his voice may as well have been silent.

"Wait til Mara hears about this…" I muttered with a painful smile crossing my face.

It was so strange. I was in pain and had just done something exceedingly gross, but I was also happy. For the first time I could remember I was genuinely happy. At least, that's what I thought the feeling I was experiencing was, the truth was that I wasn't even sure… It didn't seem like it could be, given the circumstances… But it felt good. It was the first successful thing I had done in 14 years, and that fact was still sinking in, creating a high that numbed the pain.

My father dropped his ax and tried to wipe away some of the goop with his coarse leather glove, noticing what was wrong. I felt it scratch against my skin as the smell of worn metal carried over from his ax handle. It was all only making it worse. I tried to swat his hand away, but I was so weak that I barely managed to lift it up, gently resting it against his. He took it in his own as he carried me with the other. It was so large it made me feel like a toddler again, barely able to grip around his thumb.

The ground rumbled as the sound of hooves slamming into it echoed through the air like a low-pitched drum and surrounded us.. It was almost as if time stopped again as he looked up at one of the guards that was on horseback.

The sun broke through the clouds, its warm light bouncing off his face as he looked down at me and paused. I could see the light glinting off his orange hair making it a shade brighter down to its dark roots. Even though I was the one who killed the monster, I couldn't help the warm feeling inside of me from telling me he was my hero. Without realizing it I was still holding on, not wanting to let go as I closed my eyes.

He spoke gently and placed his hand over my head. If he were to make a fist it would have been as large as my skull, and strong enough to crush it. Still, I felt safe. I knew that everything was over and that one way or another, I really was going to be alright.

A sudden feeling of weightlessness overwhelmed me as I was sent flying threw the air and subsequently caught by the blurry image of a girl on horseback. "Catherine?" I muttered, wanting her to confirm who she was.

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to keep you alive?"

My mind finally began comprehending speech again, with some effort. 'Yup… It's her…' "a-aren't you sp-supa- poposed to be proud… I killed that thing you know…"

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After a brief pause, her horse suddenly sped up as she let out a similar rumbling growl to my fathers, holding me tight to her chest with one arm as I sat in front of her on the saddle, nearly falling asleep as I leaned into her. The horses hooves suddenly clicked against hard wood floors as a door crashed open and hot steam hit my face. "What's happening…"

"Shut your eyes tight."

Without question I listened and a sudden rush of warm water flooded over me.

"Try to keep them open this time."

Another rush of water flooded over me as I opened my eyes and the burning lessened. 'Oh, I think I get it… She's washing the acid off right? So… The bathouse… Did she ride the horse in here?' I slowly blinked as another bucket poured over my head and sent me to my knees, cracking against the ground and only giving me the feeling of a dull impact. "I'm fine…" I muttered even before the question was asked

'I must be quite the site right now… Sitting on the floor, covered in slop and not even able to see clearly as my eyes puff up…' I sniffled. "Keep going, it still burns…" I said with a cough. She poured another bucket of water over my face, this one sending me all the way to the floor. I closed my eyes and everything went black.

As I faded in and out of consciousness I vividly remembered sitting in a nice warm bath. For a moment it seemed like I was back on earth, and my mother was helping me try to wash a bucket of paint out of my hair. My mom expected me to break down in tears, and to be honest, I almost did. But I was also kind of happy that I had someone like her to take care of me and spend the 5 hours it took to wash all the paint out so that I didn't have to cut it all off…

"Mom…"

"..." I made out a soft and kind voice, but I couldn't understand a single word as I faded out again.

…

I woke up the next morning lying in my bed in the dark. Reaching up to rub my eyes I felt the sensation of a tight bandage wrapped around my face, covering them. I could smell the fragrance of herbs, and although my eyes were itching, I thought it best to resist the urge to scratch them.

'It feels like so long ago now.' "Mom…" I mumbled, tearing up and resting a hand over the blindfold as my eyes only became more agitated. 'I must have mistaken Catherine for her in a daze...' As I thought about it, I couldn't even remember what my mother looked like anymore. My memory from my new life was flawless as far back as the age of 1 with little exception… When my head was clear… My older memories felt like normal memories though. The longer I went on the hazier they became, and since I avoided thinking about my past life they only seemed to fade faster.

"I'm here…" I heard Mara's voice, but it was soft and quiet, like the wind whispering in my ear. The hint of uncertainty it carried was enough to make me think for a second that I had imagined it. She was firm, strong, and always certain. Yet, the voice I heard spoke like she wasn't sure if she was even supposed to. At first, I thought that it couldn't have been her… But… who else would have answered to that word other than my own mother?

I had only said it while thinking of my old mom, my mother back on earth. I hadn't intended to call out to her… So it's not like I knew what to say either… That isn't to say it was silent though.

My ears were acutely aware of every noise happening around me. I could even hear her lips separate before slowly closing as she hesitated to speak once again and information began to be filtered through my mind's eye.

[Status, acid burns, sprained ankle, severe blisters from hypothermia. Damaged vision.]

'What? What's the odds I recover from all that…'

[65%]

'I'm not just imagining this am I? 65% isn't really that bad either.'

I lowered my hands from my eyes back down to the bed. They tingled with a dull pain, and sure enough I could feel blisters covering them. 'It's good that my fingers only blistered, if the frostbite was any worse I might have lost them entirely…' "Mar–" I paused, feeling embarrassed and unsure of what to call her. "Mara." I finally said, falling back to calling her by name simply because it was what was familiar to me. "How am I doing?"

I heard her sigh. It was the same sigh I had heard a thousand times, a sigh of disappointment, and with it, her voice returned to normal. "Well, you got pretty bad frostbite, your ankle is badly injured as well, but I won't know the exact damage until the swelling goes down. I splinted it to make sure, but I doubt it's broken. Your eyes should be fine as well eventually… But just to be safe I'm going to have you leave the bandage on a while longer."

My train of thought stopped still for a moment as her voice began drifting further and further away, fading into a blur. I could feel sweat dripping from my skin, but I still felt cold. 'So it was accurate then? But why did I suddenly feel cold when that information popped into my head? Maybe coincidence? My head kinda hurts too…' I sighed. "Hey Mara… I did a thing…" Her mouth slowly closed. 'It's… over.' I almost pinched myself for thinking something so obvious. It was over the moment I ripped the magic stone from the monster's mouth. It all felt so surreal like it was a dream or something that had happened years ago. It almost felt like it didn't even happen at all and it was just a story that I heard. I had the injuries to prove it though. It really was something that happened, and it really was over. I was safe again… "Hey Mara… So about some new clothes…"

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