《Darkness, Silence And Really Bad Breath》 1: A Fairly Uncommon Place To Wake Up In 1: A Fairly Uncommon Place To Wake Up In Most people can''t really tell where or when their memory starts; some people claim that their first memory is that of hugging their mother''s leg while she stands by the kitchen table making lunch or maybe the child is having a lesson with his/her father, or playing with older siblings; others are not that fortunate, sometimes a first memory is that of receiving heavy beatings from parents for asking the wrong question at the wrong time or simply because of their existence. But in some special cases a person can precisely pinpoint their very first thought, their very first movement as easy as breathing not because of something fancy like reincarnation with memory erasure while fully saving a developed consciousness. This time it''s because of a simple waking up in seemingly nowhere. ''I''m in a wet nowhere'', that is where this child was. And that was the child''s first thought, done while carefully opening eyes that felt heavy enough to make a thought that these eyes have never been opened before appear ¨C but wouldn''t that mean that the child didn''t exist before waking up here - this (as the child now knew) dark place that smelled like something has been rotting away in here for centuries? And just how It was able to tell that this place was wet if It had never before encountered wetness or anything else at all? A quiet moan escaped the child''s lips while it tried to move ¨C it seemed like not only the eyes have never been used before but the muscles also for they started to ache immediately. ''No,'' the child thought frowning, ''that isn''t right.'' The ache seemed to be too... heavy to be created from the child''s own body; and now that the child thought about it - being wiser and smarter than a minute ago - , the child understood that the pain originated from something that was on top of it. From something big, and heavy, and rotting. And really smelly. Smelly enough to make the child frown again. Nevertheless, the child''s pure heart seemed to start beating faster now that the child knew that this wet and dark place wasn''t a complete nothingness ¨C even if the rotting thing on It was the only thing that existed besides the child Itself. - §¿§Û, - a low voice echoed throughout the wet, dark, and smelly place. The child was really positive that the voice wasn''t It''s own for It didn''t remember speaking anything out loud and it didn''t even know if It was capable of doing so. And the child also was positive that it wasn''t the big, rotting thing''s voice for it was most likely dead. Could it be that there was something else in this cursed nothingness besides the child and the rotting thing...? Should the child rejoice for It would certainly learn something new about this place and the reason why It''s here? - §£§ã§Ö §Ó §á§à§â§ñ§Õ§Ü§Ö? - the voice called out again, this time it seemed to be closer. In fact, it was a LOT closer as the child understood a second later when something suddenly touched where It thought It''s shoulders should have been if the knowledge about It being humanoid was true and pulled strongly enough for the child to start a high-pitched scream. - §¿§ä§à... §Õ§Ö§Ó§å§ê§Ü§Ñ? - the owner of the voice seemed to be surprised, and now the voice was so close that the child felt a bad, stinky breath (it was even worse than the rotting smell!) flowing inside it''s own lungs. Disgusting. But wait... where those words (those were words, right?) directed at the child? Did the voice expect the child to answer, to understand what it was saying? Or, or... or the child was simply too stupid, too uncivilized to know something like that?- What...? - the child nervously tried to speak. But the Voice just continued to breath in the child''s face, it didn''t seem to understand what the child wanted. Well, the child didn''t quite know either. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. Then suddenly the child didn''t feel the breath, the other person seemed to have turned away. - §°§ß§Ñ §ß§Ö §Ô§à§Ó§à§â§Ú§ä §ß§Ñ §ß§Ñ§ê§Ö§Þ §ñ§Ù§í§Ü§Ö, - the voice said again. - C§Ö§â§î§×§Ù§ß§à? - another but a lot more annoyed voice from deeper in the darkness responded. Until now the child thought that there was only itself and the person that stubbornly insisted on holding it''s shoulders, but.. there were a lot more! Not only the voice that responded to this person with bad breath, but there seemed to be at least three more voices. ...but why was the child unable to see them? Well, it is not like those people would be able to answer even if the child decided to ask, and those people seemed to be too busy discussing something between themselves, not really caring about the child anymore. Was this the time when it should start to pout? ¡°Pff,¡± the child loudly sighed and the reaction was immediate. Although the child wasn''t able to see, but it felt that they all started to look at it. Once of the distant voices had started to drift closer, while mumbling something. This voice was a more softer one, even the palm that touched the child''s cheek was gentle. - §¬§Ñ§Ü §ä§Ö§Ò§ñ §Ù§à§Ó§å§ä? - the voice asked. The child knew that this person was talking to it, otherwise it just wouldn''t make any sense, would it? But the child didn''t understand what it was supposed to say so it just decided to look in the general direction of the voice even if it wasn''t able to actually see anything. - §¯§Ö §Ù§ß§Ñ§Ö§ê§î...? §ä§à§Ô§Õ§Ñ... J¨±ra, - the voice seemed to be very pleased with itself, it seemed to be even giggling. The child didn''t quite understand why, but the person with the soft voice had decided to point at where the child''s heart was while saying ''J¨±ra'' repeatedly. Could it... be the child''s name? Was the reason behind pointing simply to make the child understand that it now wasn''t just a child that had woken up in dark, wet, and smelly place but and individual with a name? Or maybe that just meant ''child'' in the language of those people ¨C a thought that the child tried to get out of it''s mind. - J¨±ra, - the child immediately tried to say it''s name out loud. It rolled nicely on the tip of the child''s tongue. - J¨±ra, - the child called out again, a faint smile had appeared on it''s face. ''I have a name,'' the smile on J¨±ra''s face grew even wider, while the voices around had started to chuckle. How is this for a start? It''s not like every person can remember the moment they were named, but J¨±ra could; it was this child''s precious first memory. And who cares that J¨±ra came in existence in a place that is by no means fit for a child? This still was a memory that J¨±ra held strongly on to. ...because what followed was not pleasant at all. ------------------------------------------ 2: This Is Not What JÅ«ra Expected [version 2] 2: This Is Not What J¨±ra Expected As soon as the weird voices around It understood that the child had more or less accepted ''J¨±ra'' as It''s name, they began to talk between themselves. Although the child couldn''t understand anything from what was said, It surely knew that they talked about something very Important - some of the voices seemed to be very agitated, some were nervous, while others sounded so calm that it made poor J¨±ra feel uncomfortable. The owner of the smelly breath that J¨±ra could still feel being blown straight into It''s face, however, didn''t seem to care, instead from his voice the child could hear joy. J¨±ra wondered why did this person sound like that - did any of the voices said something amusing enough to make the owner of the smelly breath laugh? Or was he just that kind of person that didn''t care about anything as long as he could have fun? It would be an understatement if anyone were to say that J¨±ra didn''t understand this persons goals and, to tell you the truth, the child didn''t care - other than currently being held by this giant person, J¨±ra had nothing to do with him, that much was clear even to this child who seemingly came into existence only a couple of minutes ago. Why would anyone care about anything but learning about the world? Who cared about some smelly person''s life-goals? J¨±ra just wanted, no, J¨±ra felt a need to explore and not to be bounded to these Others and dragged down; J¨±ra wanted to live this life - or whatever it is called - that was given to It meaningfully even if the child didn''t quite understand what a meaningful life was or why would It desire something like that. Was it because of some event that the child wasn''t able to remember? Did It exist before waking up in here? And just were all this intelligence and knowledge that It used to describe everything happening around came from? How did the child knew what a ''voice'' was? Just why was J¨±ra able to tell that the first smell that It ever felt was from a rotting flesh? Even J¨±ra understood that someone, who came into existence only just a little moment ago, shouldn''t be able to know what a life or breath, or person was; shouldn''t J¨±ra be more like a newborn? This all was too confusing! J¨±ra decided to put aside these thoughts for now, because It didn''t understand where they came from in the first place, just as the owner of the smelly breath decided to hand the child to someone else; to someone that didn''t smell as bad, but certainly didn''t sound nice. This person even seemed held J¨±ra as if It was something disgusting and continued to yell something in that strange language, and... was it just J¨±ra or they actually started to move somewhere? At least, the child could feel that It was now held by It''s arm and dragged along like a sack of rocks (Just what were rocks, anyway? Sounded like something really heavy...), and J¨±ra could feel It''s legs on the ground. Just how were It supposed to use them? The child tried to move It''s legs, but they didn''t seem to work the way J¨±ra wanted them to, furthermore - being dragged like that certainly wasn''t helpful, it was painful if anything; J¨±ra would rather stick to the gentle approach of Breath The Smelly and the lady who named It ''J¨±ra''. But just what caused this sudden change of treatment? Was J¨±ra somehow different of those people? Was it a ''bad'' difference? Or maybe they just wanted to make It feel more secure so It could be brainwashed more easier this way because of the small amount of trust that was built in the first minutes of the child''s so short life? If so, why bother with being nice at first? It''s not like J¨±ra could do anything to any of these people. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. A sudden sound, that was different from the voices of the people around the child, brought J¨±ra back to the reality; the sound that It had never hear before (for obvious reasons) made It think about something opening, even though the child couldn''t quite understand where this association came from. But surely J¨±ra knew that something Important must have happened. - AAHH, - the child tried to cover It''s eyes as somewhere in the dark something... well, happened. Whatever it was, it was different from the darkness that the child had know until no. In fact, it seemed to be the exact opposite, and it really hurt ¨C just what was that called? The child could swear It knew the word but couldn''t quite put a finger on it. ...whatever that was, it appeared suddenly and made J¨±ra''s eyes, that It had opened before because it seemed to be more pleasant that way before, water. Nevertheless, the people around the child didn''t seem to mind the... LIGHT (''So that was the word,'' J¨±ra noted to Itself), and, as the child''s eyes started to slowly get used to the light, It was able to see for the very first time in It''s overly short life. The back of a really tall and brutish man with an overly long pony-tail. The man''s hand, that was covered with a lot of brownish-red spots, was holding J¨±ra''s wrist (and it still hurt). This person continued to drag J¨±ra further into the light until finally the darkness had disappeared completely - now all J¨±ra could see was light, the man''s way too muscular back, and something that could be only described as an endless wasteland ¨C there was nothing but sand. Wherever the Others were trying to take It, J¨±ra just hoped that It wouldn''t have to die so soon after the beginning of It''s existence. ------------------------ Ok, then. Edit: fixed the mistake in the last sentence (as well as spacing. seriously, just what''s wrong with the text editor here?) 3: From Endless Darkness To Endless Suffering 3: From Endless Darkness To Endless Suffering Some of the Others seemed to suddenly have noticed something about J¨±ra ¨C at least, that was what the child thought when It heard two women clothed in tatters mention It''s name in their conversation, but, as soon as the child took the liberty of looking at them in hope that they will finally say something that It actually would understand, one of them threw a piece of cloth on J¨±ra. - ahhaguae''vrkadec wnonWnael nk te ir d, - the woman said, and the child recognized her as the one that gave It It''s name, - hjavvf''ssns aeieu ee stl. - J¨±ra remembered the woman''s voice to be gentler, but now it seemed to hold disdain ¨C although the child didn''t know what she talked about, It could feel a shiver going down It''s spine. - naottsmrD''te e, - the muscular brute in front of J¨±ra said as he suddenly stopped and turned to face the woman that was following. The man''s gaze fell on the child, no, he looked at the cloth that was thrown on It''s head. As he released J¨±ra''s hand, J¨±ra collapsed on the sand due to not being able to even support It''s own weight ¨C that''s what can be expected when a person has never actually walked before. The brute made a gesture with his chin and the woman quite crudely pulled the child''s arms up so she could tie the cloth around It. Now J¨±ra was not only dragged around like a sack of potatoes, but also looked like one. The woman turned around and went back to stand next to the slender woman she was walking next to previously and seemed to quietly say something to her ¨C although J¨±ra was interested in that, nothing changed the fact that even if It was able to hear anything from that conversation, It still wouldn''t be able to understand anything. But this single moment did make J¨±ra think if It wasn''t able to understand any spoken word other than It''s newly acquired name or It wasn''t able to understand just this one particular language since J¨±ra didn''t know if It was even able to speak since It hasn''t even tried that before, but the child knew for sure that the language that It thought in wasn''t something that those people had ever heard of. Perhaps, if J¨±ra tried to speak, then the man who had started to drag It by It''s hand again would stop to listen to what It had to say. Perhaps, J¨±ra would be able to voice It''s confusion about this whole situation and just why these people suddenly had started to treat It differently. Was there really something that different between It and the Others? J¨±ra quietly re-observed the man in front of It ¨C massive and really muscular body, pony-tail. It tried to compare the muscular brute with the woman who dressed It ¨C the woman was slender, her ears were pointy and located at the sides of her head, her hair were light and much more cleaner than anything that It had ever seen so far. The brute and that woman had nothing common except for being humanoid. Was that it? Was J¨±ra not a humanoid? For the first time since J¨±ra had been able to think, It had tried to learn something about It''s outer appearance in order to understand the difference between Itself and the Others. While still being dragged by the brute, J¨±ra tried to use It''s left hand that wasn''t being held by the man to examine It''s head. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.First J¨±ra tried to find It''s ears. After a struggle during which It tried to understand how to move It''s hand, the child was able to feel something at the sides of It''s head ¨C Its ears seemed to be similar to those of the woman. After further examinations, J¨±ra was able to find two eyes, a rather small nose, and mouth, so this far It seemed not to differ from the woman, so It''s confusion, as to why It was treated differently from her, only rose. Could there be something other than these signs that could indicate a difference? Was there something like a second pair of ears on the top of It''s head that would make the Others think that J¨±ra was an inferior being? Was It inferior because of a genetic mutation? That seemed to be so wrong. J¨±ra gulped. It quickly tried to find the second pair of ears on the top of It''s hand with It''s left hand only to find something else. And it wasn''t just one. Whatever those things were, they were hard, rather high, rather tangled in Its hair, and way colder than Its head, but no matter how hard J¨±ra thought about those things, It wasn''t able to understand what those were, but It certainly knew that those things on It''s head must have been the reason why the Others treated It differently. - arntDbma, eoaetmfrvs, - the brute''s voice suddenly pulled J¨±ra out of It''s musings, so J¨±ra decided that it wasn''t a good idea to show any sign of resistance, it would be much safer to be obedient for now, so J¨±ra tried to do It''s best in using It''s legs to move even a tiny bit faster that It did before ¨C maybe if the Others saw that J¨±ra was a nice child and didn''t want any trouble, they would start to treat It better. And that would mean that It''s chances of getting out of this wasteland alive grew! At this thought J¨±ra even felt a small smile appearing on It''s face, but this small smile quite unfortunately seemed to have been noticed by the brute. - itmgplSsnoi, itetid gyrh yn, - the man spat on It, thus making J¨±ra utter a small, quiet scream in surprise. J¨±ra hadn''t thought about this before, but, by a chance, was smiling a crime? But it shouldn''t be! The man with smelly breath laughs almost all the time and even now, but no-one had spat on him! Was it related to J¨±ra being inferior? Just the thought of not being able to so much because the Others deemed It to be an inferior creature, made J¨±ra feel so weak and useless. Did that mean that It''s desire to have a meaningful life just became impossible to fulfil? Did J¨±ra just lost It''s freedom? Because of these thoughts, something seemed start to fall from It''s eyes and It''s breathing started to become heavier as sounds that J¨±ra wasn''t able to describe escaped It''s throat. - oesiySurl? tt t oait r groNhhsscwtnaty? - the brute mumbled as he heard gasps behind his back. - kumitcJs sat, - the voice of the man with the awful breath answered from somewhere behind the brute and J¨±ra''s backs. J¨±ra wasn''t able to understand, what happened after the smelly breath answered to the brute, but It felt It''s consciousness starting to fate. That and an awful headache. 4: A New-found Revelation And An Increasing Ignorance 4: A New-found Revelation And An Increasing Ignorance It was hard for J¨±ra to tell for how has It been unconscious, but It certainly knew that a long time had passed, because, first of all, the yellowish wasteland had been replaced by plain and grey walls, second, J¨±ra was laying down on a rather hard surface ¨C although It wasn''t sure how laying could be related to the flow of time. J¨±ra suddenly remembered about the headache that It had before passing out, so It instinctively touched It''s head to learn more about the headache. Its fingers run through Its head, they examined Its forehead, cheeks, and the back of the head that seemed to hurt the most, but J¨±ra concluded that this amount of pain wasn''t anything to worry about as it was something else that made It look at the walls and the space around Itself again. A noise? Where did it come from? Ah, from that person. Wait, didn''t that meant that J¨±ra didn''t notice that person before? It didn''t think that It was too preoccupied by the space around It to not notice a sudden change, so this person shouldn''t have been able to come into the space surrounding J¨±ra during the last few moments, therefore this person didn''t sneak up to It. But It also didn''t see the other before, so the only explanation was that... this person, who now had started to talk in the language that J¨±ra assumed to be the same one as the people who took It out of the dark place, had suddenly come into existence in the moment when J¨±ra laid Its eyes upon the other. Satisfied with this thought, J¨±ra now decided that It should somehow attempt to make a contact with that person, because perhaps that was the reason why the people who fount It decided to treat It so rudely (although J¨±ra didn''t quite understand what sort of behaviour was to be considered ''rude'' to begin with ¨C it seemed to be one of those words and concepts that It somehow knew, but at the same time was so strange and foreign). It took all of J¨±ra''s courage just to say ¨C He¡­ Hello¡­? - in a meek and broken voice that made Itself surprised. But¡­ this was the first time that J¨±ra had talked in Its entire life! At least It didn''t remember ever having said anything else... J¨±ra eagerly observed the other person''s face, but couldn''t quite understand what kind of expression the other was showing due to the lack of experience in the Most Important Skill (J¨±ra thought it was a somewhat funny sounding combination of words) of reading facial expressions. The woman''s mouth was slightly open and her left eyebrow was twitching a bit, and she was shaking her head slowly as well. It wondered what was the reason behind that? Did It say something rude unknowingly? But J¨±ra was so sure it was a greeting! For a while they just sat there and looked at each other without knowing what to do, but then the woman suddenly closed her eyes and let out a deep breath. After opening her eyes again, she pointed at herself and said: - Loun. - J¨±ra looked at her, not understanding what the woman was trying to say. The woman breathed out again. - J¨±ra, - she said while pointing at It, - Loun, - she continued as she pointed at herself again. Oh! J¨±ra thought It understood what the woman meant now! Wasn''t this¡­ an introduction? Must be so, although J¨±ra wasn''t really sure for It had never seen an introduction before, least be a part of it.. - Loun, - It weekly and somewhat unsurely uttered while trying to point at the woman, because It though that the pointing would somehow signal to the woman that It had understood. The woman, no, Loun smiled briefly as she pointed at herself again: - Slave. -Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. What? But didn''t she just say that she was ''Loun''? J¨±ra felt confused, so It decided to point at the woman again: - LOUN! - There, this would make her understand that she shouldn''t have two names! It would be too confusing that way! But the woman just shook her head. - Loun, slave, - she said while pointing at herself, but J¨±ra still couldn''t understand how she could be both. One can''t be two, can it? Otherwise.. one would be two, not one; that wouldn''t be logical at all! It goes against the rules of... of... (J¨±ra almost had it!)... of (It was so sure It knew the right word!)... of MATHEMATICS! ...whatever the hell it was. J¨±ra didn''t really know but supposed it was something really logical. As It wondered why Loun used two words to introduce herself, the woman pointed at It again: - J¨±ra, slave. - So J¨±ra was ''slave'' as well? What was it? It couldn''t be a name now that it was used to describe both of them, could it? So... and adjective? (J¨±ra wasn''t sure where the weird words that It sometimes thought even came from, but they certainly made J¨±ra feel somewhat... educated (Again! See?) un really smart.) But - a word that described both of them? J¨±ra looked closer at the woman in front of It ¨C long hair, fluffy ears, not-so-fluffy long tail, and ragged clothes. Now, there wasn''t really anything in common between the two of them as J¨±ra already knew that Its ears weren''t shaped like that and It didn''t even have a tail. So was it related to the fact that they were both wearing something that could be only described as rags? Are people with ragged clothes ''slaves''? Too confusing. It all was too confusing for J¨±ra, so It just decided to listen to what Loun says and wait ¨C although J¨±ra wasn''t quite sure what It wanted to wait for, but it certainly seemed to be a good idea.
- No, - J¨±ra heard Loun''s inpatient voice, - a girl. - It seemed that no matter how much J¨±ra learned, Lound would still find Its knowledge lacking. So what if It didn''t know what a ¡°girl¡± was? So what if It didn''t understand what was the purpose of a ¡°bed¡± and would rather sleep on the floor or the table? J¨±ra was fairly sure that something like that wouldn''t hinder Its abilities to survive, in fact, It believed that being used to sleep on a hard surface would greatly decrease the discomfort in a situation if It somehow found Itself in the wilderness alone and without basic level of ''comfort''. J¨±ra didn''t need comfort. J¨±ra was fine. But if It was aware of the fact, It would be confused (and quite amused) as to why It wasn''t able to understand the word ¡°girl¡± despite knowing what a ¡°woman¡± was. Ridiculous. J¨±ra crossed Its hands on Its chest for It had decided that It didn''t want to learn more of this honestly ridiculous thing that the Others call their language and the strange concepts that they seemed to have just to confuse the people who weren''t native speakers.
From the moment It had been brought to a room, in which Loun claimed that It would finally be cleaned (for It hadn''t washed in Its entire life that supposedly had started nine years ago but of which It had consciously lived only three weeks) and the woman stripped of the cloth J¨±ra was wearing, J¨±ra knew. The water showed more than It would have liked ¨C during the last weeks It had learned enough to understand the basics. It showed the ears that were those of an elves; it showed the black horns, tangled by Its equally dark hair, sprouting out of Its head; it showed the amber eyes with slit pupils; it showed the scales that covered random parts of Its body, most noticeably under Its eyes. J¨±ra had finally learned why Loun had called It a freak. J¨±ra had finally learned why the people who brought It here where kind in the dark but cruel in the light. J¨±ra had finally learned why every person that It met had looked at It so disdainfully. J¨±ra now knew that It was different from others. J¨±ra now knew that It was something that was not supposed to exist. A cross-breed. The shining scales of lizard-kin and the ears and horns of the demons. The water showed more than It would have liked ¨C during the last weeks It had learned enough to understand the basics. Cross-breeds were just mistakes of nature. (And It also was a girl.)