Beleth woke up surrounded by darkness, the flames beside him extinguished, their ambers emitting a bleak light. He moved the blanket covering him and instantly flinched-stung by the cold air.
Beleth quickly hid beneath the blanket, rolling and tucking it tightly around himself.
Minute after minute he tried falling back asleep but couldn't.
He opened his eyes once again, the embers in the fireplace had gone out. He looked around. The surface he was on was way bigger than him, so big his feet couldn't reach the other side.
"Mr.Erden?" he whispered into the empty room before curling up. I wonder what will happen to me? He thought as he looked at his dirty hands, Will I really be accepted into his family?
He turned his back on the fireplace and stared at the wooden wall on the other side. If they ask me where I came from, will I be able to answer? Will Mr.Erden and Mr.Conrad reject me if I answer.
The boy turned once again laying flat, looking only at the darkness above him, the cold air gently grazing his cheeks. He pulled the blanket up to his eyes, his breath warming the rest of his face underneath. I like it here.
Beleth became restless, I like it! I like it so much! He hugged the blanket tight, I want to stay, I will do everything I can to stay!
A sudden growl broke him from his thoughts as hunger began creeping in, he straightened up and looked back at the door. His cheeks flushed red as he slowly curled into a ball. How unsightly of me. He thought as an even stronger growl followed. I will just ignore it.
For unknown time he lay there his stomach growling, the hunger slowly turning into pain.
The air got colder as the pain became unbearable. Desperate, the boy got up and sat straight. Wrapping the blanket around himself he reached to step on the ground, his naked feet feeling the smooth hard surface.
Trembling, he walked past the fireplace and to the door. It was one he had never seen before, dark and brown it looked more like a part of the walls though it was outlined from the wall. In the center of its left side there was a small hole and above it some sort of appendage, like a deformed tree branch that had grown sideways, only it was smooth and made of metal.
Beleth reached out to it and tried pushing it up, but it didn't work. He then pushed it down and a clicking sound echoed in the room. The door opened ever so slightly as Beleth prepared to pull it back completely but before he did he stopped himself. Am I allowed to leave this room? He gently closed the door and looked around to see if there was any food left for him in the room.
Unfortunately there wasn't.
I am not yet a part of his family. He put his arm on his stomach, I have yet to earn the right to eat. He thought as he blushed, How shameless of me.
He went back to the surface he slept on and laid on it.
Hours passed, the hunger getting worse with each passing moment, his head began aching from the constant growling his stomach produced. The boy thrashed around, sniveling, like a wounded animal. A knock coming from the other side of the door echoed across the room as Erden's voice followed, "Beleth, I am coming in."
Hearing the door open, the boy straightened up and gulped to quiet his stomach then settled down, pretending to be asleep.
He heard Erden coming closer, then felt the shift of the surface as the man sat down next to him. "Beleth, are you awake?" He asked calmly.
The boy shook his head.
Beleth felt his hair being gently ruffled, "There is a lot that needs to be done." Erden continued, "So, get up."
The boy opened his eyes to a dimly lit room, illuminated only from a single window on the ceiling. "I was not really asleep, I am sorry." he said looking down.
Erden exhaled and got up and adjusted his robe. "The apology is unnecessary, you have done nothing wrong." He placed a pile of clothes before the boy. "Pick whichever ones are up to your taste and come with me. I will be waiting outside if you wish to try them out."
Beleth looked back at Erden, "Can you choose instead of me?"
Erden smiled at him, "No." Before walking out.
The boy sighed and scattered the clothes on the bed, they consisted of two tunics, one green the other brown, a pair of small bag-like things he didn't know the purpose of, two pairs of pants one of them white and thick. The other brown and more loose with a rope around the waist area. And last a deep blue mantle with a hood and next to it, a black coat with white fur on the inside.
There was one last item left behind, it looked like pants but only for the area from below the belly button down to the upper thigh.
It didn't take too long for the boy to choose, with him leaving the things he did not know the purpose of behind.
"Mr.Erden, I am ready."
The man entered once more, the boy sitting on the ground the clothes he had picked in his hands. The ones left on the platform, not escaping Erden's notice. He went to him and patted his head, "Good choice, though." The man picked up the bag like things and the short pants. "These two are not up for debate."
"But I do not know what they are."
Erden's eyes widened, and after a quick explanation the boy was left flustered, his face as red as an apple.
They left the room both in silence as Erden led him through a small corridor to a different room. One built out of stone brick with water flowing from small holes inside the walls and into a large outlined puddle.
When they entered, heat immediately hit the boy in the face as Erden once again left him alone.
After a quick bath Beleth came out in his new clothes. The brown tunic with the white pants and the black coat on top.
Erden smiled at the sight. "It looks very good on you."
The boy, still red-faced, looked down, "Thank you." Suddenly his stomach growled violently, blushing even more Beleth looked aside.
The man chuckled, "Are you hungry?"
"N-no," he stuttered, his hands on his stomach as it continued to growl ferociously.
Erden smiled and went to another room with the boy following quietly. In there he felt something he could not describe, there was a door on the opposite side of the one he entered from, with large windows around it. Snow fell outside, its entry stopped only by some sort of translucent surface placed inside the window. The left side of the room was decorated by beautifully crafted wooden boxes with the designs of winged lizards carved into them.
On the right side stood a lifted structure with four legs that overlooked one of the windows, on it there was something covered in cloth. Around that structure there were shorter ones however from what looked like a chosen side, an oddly shaped wooden plank extended upwards.
Erden led the boy to the four legged structure inviting him to sit upon one of the shorter ones.
Beleth obliged and sat down, his face twisted as he seemed to wiggle around on it. Incidentally he looked out the window, his eyes widened as he saw what was outside Erden's home.
A peaceful road leading to a gate surrounded by trees, other children playing outside that gate, throwing snowballs at each other. An unfamiliar feeling overtook his heart as he began swinging his feet.
Erden took out whatever was inside that bag Beleth had noticed, it looked like the bread the boy had been fed whilst still in that prison. However this one's smell was far more alluring.
Erden broke off a big chunk of it, the inside was filled with strange green plants and something else that looked like discolored meat. He placed it before Beleth whose stomach growled once again.
The boy stared at it for a long time, with each passing minute. "Is there something wrong?" Erden asked calmly.
"Am I permitted to eat?"
The man's expression turned dark for a moment before relaxing-his lips forming a soft smile. "Do not worry. You eat as much as you like.
Beleth looked at him, then he looked back at the piece of bread placed in front of him then back at Erden. "Thank you, sir." He said before he started ravenously devouring the bread. Tears formed in his eyes as his hunger was finally being satiated.
"Say, Beleth." The man started talking whilst looking the boy straight in the eyes. "Do you like it here?"
Beleth put down the bread and with absolute certainty replied, "I do." His eyes expressing a foreign glimmer as crumbs fell from the side of his lip.
"Do you truly want to stay here?"
"I do!"
Erden smiled and looked out the window, "You can stay here, but I want one thing from you." He looked back at the boy with a grim expression as his next words sounded colder than the ones that came before, "Tell me everything about yourself."