Capítulo 1: Chapter 1
Rain sounded against the window and roofs while footsteps splashed in the rain as Rhen walked along the road on his way home from work at the store, A mere part time job but thankfully it was enough to let him afford food and maintain his health from deteriorating any further. His pale skin that seemed as if it had never seen the sun made the healthy look he used to have from the swimming and running he did when his parents were still alive seem like a lie, After the accident he had stopped all activities and he doesn't remember much outside of the funeral and being forced to visit relatives.
Then it was just being pushed around from one home to the next as each one wanted his inheritance but didn't actually want him, Reaching the age of 14 his current guardians 'gifted' him their permission to live independently but all that really meant was that they couldn't squeeze anything out of him and didn't want the responsibility anymore.
Over the last eight years Rhen had learned exactly who his relatives were and how they hid their secrets and greed and tricks as this was what it meant to be part of the Song family, Rhen felt that he would be perfectly happy if he never saw any of them ever again and wished this would be the last of his entanglement with them.
Two years have passed since then and saying it was difficult didn't fully describe just how much he had to struggle at first but thankfully with lots of reading Rhen was able to learn and could now manage to take care of himself fairly well, Even if he didn't fully understand how poor his health is at least he was no longer losing weight or getting sick every other day.
His body had slimmed to the point that even some girls in school would ask him how he did it but this just flared his anger so he would lift his shirt and show that they could see his ribs and told them they just had to starve, Most tried to say something in response but seeing the hardened glare and vicious appearance he cultivated they would lose the words that they wanted to say and leave.
Rhen lamented that there were guys that thought that he would be an easy target at first but they taught him how to fight and soon after they learned that it would cost them far more to mess with him than they could ever get in return, They would punch and kick him leaving bruises and scrapes but never broke bones while Rhen wasn't so sloppy and always aimed to do the most damage by injuring joints, breaking bones, knocking out teeth or even twisting and snapping arms or legs.
In those two years everyone from the local school and near by ones learned to leave him alone and due to his fighting style they gave him the name 'Madman' because when Rhen started fighting he wouldn't stop at beating them, He broke limbs and knocked out teeth but if there came a time that it was truly beyond him Rhen would tear his clothes and run to guards or police or anyone near by and shamelessly cry foul and since his body was thin, pale and always covered in marks from fighting so it always appeared they were the evil doers and weren't left any room to wiggle.
Rhen had thought he was free and that he'd never have to deal with the Song family again but little did he understand their persistence and greed to get what they saw as rightfully theirs, Rhen would show up in courts or at lawyers as was required.
Lawyers would laugh in his face every time he came and tell him they would find where he was hiding the money as they all had misunderstood who Rhen's father was, He was good at business and had leveraged everything for their work and family at that time and there hadn't been a single dollar returned yet. All insurance that was paid out was snatched up by the debtors instantly.
Rhen sat in the run down room he is renting and looked out the windows at the red sky as the sun was slowly setting when the silence was broken by microwave beeps signalling the instant meal was now hot, pulling it out and peeling the cover off it released the steam and he held his hands over the meal and gently rubbed them together in an attempt to steal what heat he could.
His thin and delicate hands warmed slightly before the overall chill in the air caused his whole body to shiver again as he pulled the heavy quilt around himself and tried not to eat too quickly even taking time to pause and drink water, Finishing the meal Rhen stretched out on the bed in his tiny apartment and glanced at his cellphone near the pillow to see it was 11:27pm before he pulled out the book he had recently been reading and opened to where he had left off.
Rhen had liked to read even before his parents passed away when he was little but after they were gone it was his only way to fill the time that he spent alone and it seemed like he was always alone, Even when he was forced to live in the houses of his aunts and uncles with other children. The other children always wanted to get close to him because of his appearance, Skin like fine jade and chestnut coloured hair that he had let grow long while it was his green eyes that he got from his mother were absolutely stunning.
Now that he had slimmed and his skin paled people in malls or stores often mistook him for a girl or a model with his cold distance and sharp appearance but this was only after the accident, Back then he was very social and out going and had many people around him but he learned the cruelty of the world after losing his parents and he no longer had money or status.
Rhen retreated even further into books at that time and they would often tell of strong warriors and heroic deeds or wizened sorcerers and mythical beasts but Rhen wasn't that picky about books and would read just about anything once, He had even lost count of the number of books that he read through and with some he had even learned useful skills like how to knit and sew while his cooking finally got some help allowing him to slightly improve his life.
Another shiver ran through his body making Rhen glance at the clock and saw it was now after midnight and thinking of the coming day he placed the bookmark and set the book aside before he clicked off the lamp and curled up under the worn out blanket best he could.
Heat to the building had been on and off for the past few days but sadly this was nothing new with how cheap the owner was but at least the rent was cheap too, Swallowing his complaints rather than earn the resentment from the landlord Rhen pulled the blanket closer around him as he tried to fend off the cold.
A faint 'Ding' rang out from his cellphone making Rhen pick it up and he stared at a notification from the system saying 'Happy Birthday' for a moment before his fingers swiped across the cracked screen and put the phone away as his whole body shivered, He had forgotten it was his own birthday but with his life as it was this was just another day that would pass uneventfully in his opinion.
Having been in the rain for so long on the walk home and with the heat out his shivering made Rhen believe that he had a fever, Wiping the sweat from his brow all he could do is just bundle up since there wasn't spare money for him to spend on medicine or a trip to the hospital.
Thankfully after a while his shivering started to slow down and if felt like his body was holding heat as the chill faded so Rhen let his heavy eyes close while thinking he could finally rest, Rhen thought of his favorite book with magic and beasts and before long he felt the embrace of sleep but it was a little different.
It was dark but light too? Rhen was sleeping but could somewhat feel things around him, It wasn't cold or hot and it wasn't dry or wet but it did feel like he was floating, Rhen's mind pictured all the things that he had wanted in life as if it was answering questions.
Money? Only enough to live a good life.
Love? A partner that would treasure him and maybe children that they would raise together.
Work? Anything was fine as long as it could feed and care for his family, But maybe he would be the one to stay home while cooking and caring for the family? That sounded pretty good to him.
This floating feeling seemed to go on for forever and Rhen felt at peace in the silence until it felt like a horse kicked him in the chest, Rhen gasped for breath while his eyes went wide as his whole body was jolted with every part of him hurting and aching.
His muscles burned like they were on fire when the feeling hit him again and 'THUD!' he slammed into the ground, Rhen laid on the ground gasping for air before rolling onto his side as he coughed violently and water escaped from his lungs before he vomited and then slowly rolling onto his stomach while cursing out loud "Fuck!"
Rhen continued to gasp and panted for a few minutes before he slowly sat up and found himself and his clothes completely soaked with water? sweat? His heart thumped in his chest like he had just been running a marathon, Looking around the only thing that was obvious was that he wasn't in his apartment anymore.
Rhen held his head that throbbed in pain while he tried to think, Did something happen? Was he drugged? Kidnapping? Human trafficking wasn't unheard of or was it organ trafficking? Flashes of pain passed through the base of his skull with each one feeling like a hot knife. Stopping and looking up at the blue sky Rhen could hear a river nearby so he turned and crawled his way over to it.
The water had an ethereal quality to it as it the surface reflected the sunlight and the depths were crystal clear and flowing, Splashing his face with the water gave a cool and refreshing feeling and even somewhat soothes the pain in his head but the back of his neck and skull still feels like it's burning and just touching it he could feel a sensitive spot.
Pulling and tearing his shirt into strips he soaks the cloth before laying it on his neck and at first the sudden cool stings and makes him hiss but after just a second or two a sigh of relief escapes his mouth as the cooling and burning sensations start to cancel each other out so he continues to dip it back into the water and then wrap it around his neck.
Looking around again all there is in front of him is trees, grass, greenery and the river. None of which held any sort of landmark or unique properties. Rhen rubbed his head while wondering if this was a park? A forest in the wild? But all of the trees nearby are so tall and were the wrong types for the northern climate he was used to.
After thinking a bit it seemed like the best choice was to walk along the river while trying to forage for anything that would be edible, Cities, towns and even villages have always been built along rivers right? His books said so. Then all he had to do was continue along the river and he would eventually find somewhere with people and then he could figure out what to do after that.
Waiting here wasn't an option since he had nothing on him and there was no one around, Is it possible they dropped him? Did he float on that river? Rhen shook his head and decided to leave that for later as staying here would only lead to him starving and after looking down at himself he felt that it wouldn't take much for him to waste away.
The first few hours passed smoothly and Rhen had fairly high spirits as he walked along and paid attention to the plants along the way and was even hopeful of seeing if he could recognize any of them, but shortly after Rhen had a lesson revealing he had forgotten a very vital fact.
He had kicked the root of a plant and it was only now that he realized he had nothing on his feet not even socks, The fresh air and vibrancy of the flora had reminded him of the trips he used to take as a child with his parents and while being lost in his memory he hadn't paid attention to his own body.
After making fairly sure his foot wasn't broken Rhen spent the next little while gathering up large leaves from the plants nearby and after tearing his pants into a pair of shorts so that he was able to make something like sandals for himself. It wasn't great and it wouldn't last long but it should be enough for him while he walked along this river.
Rhen took a deep breath as he stood up and found there was the faint sent of mint in the air but his neck was starting to burn again and after soaking more cloth the minty scent was stronger, He thought back to one book he read on edible herbs and remembered that mint had at one point been considered a weed and when left to grow wild it would go rampant.
Time progressed as did his walk and it seemed that he was actually heading in the direction of the mint field because it was slowly getting stronger and while not his favourite scent in the world it was pleasing and it helped to cover the scent of his own body sweating so Rhen didn't mind it much at all.
There had been a number of different grasses and plants that he had passed so far and they seemed similar to what he knew so he took a chance and would chew a few pieces at a time, There were quite a few he had tried but each one tasted bitter to the point that he had to wash out his mouth in the river.
The few berries he had spotted tasted like soap and seemed to even foam when he bit into them making him almost vomit while the few young trees and leaves he spotted just tasted of green and wood, So Rhen gave up on his 'scavenging' for today and noticed that the sun wasn't as high in the sky so he looked around for a tree near the river that he could climb.
After about an hour of looking and as the last of the daylight was fading he finally spotted one and was able to get about 4m off the ground before the branches couldn't hold him, To his dismay there was no way to find something to lay on so he found a series of branches he could sit on and lean against so that he wouldn't fall.
Rhen recalled learning to sleep without moving after one of his cousins would play pranks and even injure his legs until he didn't move. It was unpleasant and painful memory but right now he would use anything he could to survive, He even felt the smallest bit of pride that he knew he would be able to manage even with the slightest bit to eat after everything he had been through previously.
Rhen planned his way home and then he figured it would just be a matter of finding which one of his aunts and uncles tried to sell him off, His eyes grew colder and the area around him went silent as he sat in the tree plotting until his eyes finally closed and he slept.
REFLEXIONES DE LOS CREADORES 
SilveryMoonlight
SilveryMoonlight Hello,
I am new here but I hope to share Rhen's story with you all,
I hope you will enjoy it.
Please share your thoughts as I welcome all comments.
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