An unexpected journey

  Onto a six-foot-deep hole in the ground, Thalric threw the body of his adoptive father. For it was now just a hollow shell of flesh, bearing only his appearance. The liveliness it was supposed to possess had long since faded away, and now even that appearance was gradually succumbing to the same fate.

  Around the graveyard, there was no one to weep for the loss of Thalric, for he had lived a life of loneliness, untouched by the outside world. Not much could be said about that outside world except it was dark and gruesome, for Thalric had been born in a place called Prison Gap.

  Right after Thalric was born, he was placed in an orphanage by his unknown parents. He lived there until Lucus came, adopted him, and became his father figure. Thalric did not know the origins of his father, except for the small fact that he did not have the face of a criminal like the others in this place.

  After the adoption, Lucus and Thalric bought a piece of land at a far corner of the Prison Realm, away from those with the minds of maniacs. There, they planned to build a beautiful wooden house. Unfortunately, after paying for the land, Lucus had little money left to buy more wood for their house. So, the two had to scavenge wood from nearby abandoned places. And unexpectedly, other than the necessary wood, they found more.

  Soon, the two built a house in the lonely space. It was a beauty, just as they had planned, with a tall wooden door at the front. Painted green, it led to a round space that served as the living room. It was very spacious, featuring a chimney and a comfy cushioned sofa nearby.

  Leading away from the living area were the personal rooms of Lucus and Thalric. Other than that, there was a kitchen and a storage room where they stored the things they had found in those abandoned places. They had more than enough clothes in their storage and the tools needed to grow anything they wished in the field.

  In his early years, Thalric lived with his father in their cozy, small house. In his memory, it was a time of warmth and happiness. His father taught him many things, including skills that ordinary citizens would never be able to teach their children. How to run in silence, how to steal, how to wield a sword, and how to ride a horse—these were things only someone like a knight from White Castle could learn. The place somone like thalric coud never hope to reach and didn't even know about it yet.

  Thalric knew nothing about such things before, and he learned everything his father taught him. But as the years passed, Lucus fell terribly ill and became bedridden. With poor medical care they had, it did not take long for Lucus to say good riddance to his son for ever.

  Back at his father’s grave (which Thalric had built a considerable distance away from their home),he wept until the sorrow in his heart faded. But When the light began to dim, he had no choice but to return home.

  Since then, Thalric had lived alone in his little house, but he found it enjoyable, as he was already used to solitude. He had stored more than enough food and supplies to last at least a few years and did not need to go outside to face those with crazed minds.

  As mentioned earlier, he lived in Prison Gap—the home to the worst criminals in Albion.

  Albion—the land of humans. It was located in an unknown land, yet well known by its own citizens, who were called humans.

  Unlike other animals, they could stand upright on their back paws while moving their mouths to communicate. They could also create wonderful things using their front paws—just like the very place called Albion itself.

  Long ago, these humans appeared in this world out of nowhere and began living there without the permission of their neighbors, who lived in the deep forest nearby. Called Plumairs, these neighbors initially gave the humans scars of war deep enough to thicken the walls around Albion to be more than twenty feet wide.

  Through that war, later named the Great Beginning War in the history of the new humans, figures of greatness and heroic deeds were born.

  Such as Arthur, who had named himself a great king in ancient history, one such figure emerged. He was brave, great, and courageous, soon becoming the leading figure of Albion.

  Just after the war, he declared himself king and built a great white castle in the middle of Albion, atop a pile of rock.

  He built it near Prison Gap, though the reason was unknown to many. Much said it was to show off his greatness to those who had committed crimes, making them regret their horrible deeds. While less believed it was an act of kindness.

  You see, Prison Gap wasn’t just a hole in the ground—it was surrounded by tall walls to prevent anyone from ever escaping. Because of that, sunlight barely reached inside, except when it was directly overhead at midday.

  But when sunlight fell upon Arthur’s great white castle, which stood far higher than even the walls of Prison Gap, it reflected the light back into the deep hole, allowing the criminals to see the light throughout the day.

  Arthur was a king but the land of Albion was unlike the kingdoms in old human history, where the land was ruled by a king’s sole order. Instead, for that purpose there was another place bearing a name from history: the Round Table.

  Once in a while, when the time was right, figures of great honor and wisdom gathered to decide where the future of Albion lay.

  After many years of silence, whispers began to spread across the land of Albion that the Round Table would gather once again. Around this time, a giant golden eagle flew across the sky of Albion. It soared around King Arthur's white castle, following the reflecting light, and then dove into a deep pit leading to the ground beneath to the Prison Gap.

  On this particular day, an occasional time when Thalric had slept past his usual schedule, he heard a keen knock on his door. It was a sound Thalric, who had lived alone, had almost forgotten.

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  Getting up, he put on a shirt, a clean one because the one he already wore showed himself as someone lazy and dirty. His room is also on the messy side; the pumpkin pie he ate two days ago is still rotting on the table, and a few flies are already considering it their home. If living alone taught him one thing, it’s that cleaning should be done regularly, not once a year as he does.

  But Thalric still remembers his manners well. His father always taught him that what’s most important to a person when meeting another is the first impression. And whoever this stranger knocking on his wooden door might be, Thalric would make a good first impression of himself infront of this person.

  "In a minute," said him in the midst of putting on a pair of new pants. They were new to him, but to his home, they had been on the shelf for years without being used.

  With a new shirt and pants, Thalric came to his door. The vertical red-painted door had a round doorknob in the middle. To the side of it was a tiny hole, which Thalric peeked through to the other side. He saw the lower half of someone who was abnormally large. Pondering who it might be in his memory, Thalric opened the door—only to have his expectations broken upon seeing the person.

  As a young man living in the underground world of Albion, Thalric was already used to seeing the crazy and maniac, foolish ones in the streets as ordinary people, and he expected to meet someone of that sort. But at his doorstep stood a woman with an otherworldly charm. What made her charm otherworldly was her abnormal height—she even had to lower her head to avoid hitting the roof while approaching his door.

  "Pardon my delay," said Thalric,remembering his manners while looking up at the woman's face. She wore a long grey robe covering her entirely and a grey scarf around her neck, which managed to cover half of her face like a mask. Her revealing face felt pleasant to look at,with deep, dark eyebrows and green, gem-like eyes. Her hair was tied tightly, resembling snakes coiling around a giant egg, and it was the same color as her eyebrows.

  Witnessing her stunning figure, Thalric stood in silence.

  "Oh... where are my manners? Good morning," said Thelric again, erasing the awkwardness in the air, As He remembered another one of his father's lessons—to greet someone before speaking to them.

  "Lucus?" enquired the woman in her deep, aged voice.

  "No, my lady, you’ve got it wrong. Lucus was my father, and he was buried beneath the soil a long time ago..." said Thalric, but in the midst of speaking, he remembered another lesson his father had taught him—never reveal too much about yourself so easily.

  "Ahem." Thalric then wiped his mouth and stood straight. "Pardon me, ma'am, but if I may, who are you to ask?" he said in the most respectful way.

  She was a woman of beauty, and someone like her didn’t belong to the underground. That meant she was from above, where one could see the bright sky during the day and shining stars at night. Because of that, she deserved to be respected by underground people like him.

  "I'm someone very dear to Lucus, but I must have misjudged him, for it seems he didn’t told his son about me," she said. While speaking, her large hand reached for Thalric’s face and touched it all over.

  "Weird. You don’t resemble him in any way. By any chance, did his lover...?" The tall woman fell into thought.

  "I'm not his own blood related son," Thalric said in hurry, taking a step back away from her hand.

  "Oh, his adopted son. Now I remember—you must be Thalric, then." She looked at Thalric with a sweet smile.

  "Indeed, Thalric would be me. But you still haven't answered my question, ma'am," said Thalric, growing very curious about the origin of this lady who had suddenly appeared at his door. It's not once that he felt the urge to invite her inside for tea and a talk, as he was growing fond of speaking with someone new—especially someone of the opposite gender. But he had to put that thought aside once he glanced back into his house. It was messy, dusty, and in no condition to welcome a guest in any way.

  "My, my... It seems my dear old friend kept a tight seal on his past from his son," said the tall woman, lowering her head to gaze at Thalric. "You can call me Belladonna, for that was the same name your father and my old friend used to call me."

  "Belladonna... Belladonna... BALADONNA!!!" Poor Thalric felt a chill down his spine as he recalled her name through his messy memories. There were very few things he was truly cautious of in life—the neighbor's dog, Barky, who had once almost ripped his neck open when he was still a child; the old man Bill, who had tricked him not once but twice into stealing from the downtown market; and a name his father always warned him about—"Belladonna."

  "Did you remember now, little boy?" asked Belladonna, noticing the change in expression on the little (to her) Thalric's face.

  "Kinda..." said a frightened Thalric, taking a step back.

  "Kinda what, little one? Mind telling me how your father, my dear old friend, introduced me to you?" she asked. As she spoke, her tall body began to shrink just enough for her to stand under the roof without bumping into it.

  "He said you're a shapeshifter..." muttered Thalric, growing even more frightened.

  "As you can see," said the woman after her little magical display. "What else did he say?"

  At her words, little Thalric's mind drifted away into the past—to a time when laughter still filled this home. Sitting on the floor in front of a dimly lit fireplace, surrounded by its warmth and glow, Thalric remembered listening to his father's old tales.

  "Not that I remember the last time she told me to rest, but even then, she would work me like a slave she owned. I brushed her dirty, long, and large toes—you don’t know, but she was someone who traveled a lot barefoot, Through the Featherkin Forest and lands beyond, she has countless tales in her arsenal—enough to inspire even a child to wander off to the unknown.

  After those journeys, as a sign of all the lands she visited, her unconditional body bore the marks of her travels, and I was the one who took care of them. I remember one time I cleaned a gallon of mud from just one of her toes. And another time, I helped brush her back when she had taken the shape of a bear—round-backed with thick brown fur. I helped her as a friend, but the moment I brushed past some of her long brown fur, those things turned into long wriggling worms and jumped onto me like leeches. Ahh... still gives me chills.

  If we humans are afraid of strange and grotesque things, then Belladonna is the devil we need to be careful of."

  As a kid who inherently afraid of such abominations—just like his adoptive father—little Thalric had wanted nothing more than to curl under his blanket and hide whenever he heard those tales. His father’s stories didn’t stop at just one; they went on, countless horrors, all about Belladonna—tales Thalric didn’t want to remember but also couldn’t afford to forget, for they were the only glimpses he had into his father’s unknown past.

  Those tales were not things he could tell to anyone’s face, especially not to Belladonna herself. Fortunately, among those, there were some things his father mentioned about her that would not frighten him.

  "That you're a person with strict words and one who keeps her promises, even after death," said Thalric, mustering all of his courage to look at her face again.

  "Oh, interesting, interesting. So that old friend of mine finally told you something useful, and it's the same purpose I came here to visit. Like he said, I'm someone who keeps my word, even after death, and even now I should abide by those rules. since my old friend is already buried underground, as his son, you should be the one to uphold this promise," said Belladonna as her hand reached for Thalric once again, and this time, she caught him in her grasp.

  Poor Thalric, frightened to his core, stood like a stone statue, closing his eyes without moving.

  Her giant but slender hands reached under his clothes, like wriggling worms in Luther’s tale, tapping onto his skin as if tasting him. It was only after she withdrew her hand that he felt alive again.

  "Well, toned muscles without any disability, and getting enough nutrition even in a poor place like this—remarkable. As for the promise, I will be back to bring you there. You have enough time to prepare."

  It was the last time Thalric heard her voice that day, and it was some time after, when he opened his eyes, that he realized she had disappeared. Wondering if he was dreaming or not, he stepped out into the front yard