Dawn- An age of Darkness
Chapter 31 - And I Thought, My Troubles Were Bad

I didn't have a response to that. If that was her grandfather then it meant Lianne would turn into something like that too. And it also meant the whole thing gave her much more than just sadness, yet she was consoling me instead.

"Don't worry. It'll be okay. I was the one who said you should come along, remember?" Lianne reassured me.

"But…" I couldn't apologize, and I couldn't thank her either. It felt like if I said something, I'd be downplaying her efforts.

The demons were probably here for me. It felt as though I was betraying her.

She finished skinning. "You have the potential to change this world. To be honest, when I first met you, I knew you were different. That's why I'd saved you and that's why I asked you to come along…"

"What do you mean, potential?" I was useless. I couldn't do anything. I couldn't even save the people who saved me.

"You see there were legends that in the past, warriors from another world visited us and saved us from a great calamity and changed the world. It's just a legend so we don't really know if it's true or not. But now that I've met you I'd like to believe that it's true. And after evaluating your character, I can say whatever you'd do you won't do anything horrible." She chuckled.

Isn't that too early to tell? I smiled. The dread in the air decreased a little.

I didn't say anything afterwards. I didn't want to think about the complicated things. Some part of me still hadn't accepted the reality of me coming to another world. And here she was talking about changing the world. Like I cared about all that crap! All I wanted was to get off this rock.

She started a fire from the woods and boiled the water. I believe that was to remove the micro stuff from the water. The meat was prepared with some dry fruits and seasonings as soup. She also made skewered meat with salt and lemons. Honestly she would make a wonderful housewife. However I most certainly wouldn't want a wife who handled a knife like that. Probably because, I didn't want to be skinned after a heated argument.

The dishes were wonderful both in smell and in taste; especially, the soup was delicious. "How did you replace something so good? It's rare to see normal animals out there." I kept on buttering her up. But she was actually pretty good, so most of my flattery was actually just genuine praise.

"Normal? You mean small? The trees told me…."

Ignoring her question I voiced mine. "The trees? But …." I never heard of talking trees. This world was magical, but that didn't mean there were talking trees around, were they? If so, then why hadn't I met one yet?

"If you pay attention you too will be able to listen to them. Understanding would be tough though." Lianne giggled. I finally got the picture. Those large-thin ears weren't just for show after all.

"Now that you mention it, I did hear some creaking sounds," I said.

"If you want I can teach you, how you can listen to trees and understand what they are saying. I don't know if you'll be able to pull it off or not though." She didn't seem that hopeful but at least she was willing to teach me.

"Really? That would be awesome."

I ignored her last statement. I wanted to be as optimistic as possible. Otherwise I wouldn't even be able to sleep anymore with all the constant worries. Besides I always wanted to be able to talk to trees. Call it a wish or a fetish but I was obsessed with it in my early days. My cousins would often hide behind trees and try to scare me, but I instead found that amusing: I didn't know that anyone was behind the trees though. And then I turned eight and learned the hard truth, trees couldn't talk.

"With your language gift it should be possible in theory: Let's say it should take less than ten years. Anyway, rest. Meanwhile I will take watch." Lianne just casually dropped a bombshell. It was just so like her.

Ten? Ten! I smiled it off. "Sorry to make you do all the work," I said. My head was spinning.

"Don't worry, as I don't need sleep, this is the least I can do." She smiled.

Her smile was beautiful but contained sorrows and mysteries that I could never comprehend. She was kind yet mysterious. Though I spent so much time with her, I never saw her face, yet I could tell whether or not she was smiling.

"By the way-" That reminded me of that guy I met in the forest.

"Yes?"

"Back in the forest near the village, I met a mysterious man cloaked in grey. He had crystal like eyes. Ever heard about him?" I explained things about how I met a man in the sacred forest and how he saved me from the demon. I didn't go in-depth about the elixir though. I still didn't know how much it was worth after all.

"N-no. But judging from your words… I sure hope not." Lianne averted her eyes. She knew something.

She wasn't making any sense. I sighed and gave up. "I see." Pressuring her wouldn't have got me anywhere. I decided to play the waiting game. I'd take my time asking her about things.

The way she stuttered made me suspicious. But it was pointless to ask something like that anyway. After all, I hardly knew anything. SO I changed the subject. "By the way, you said things about imperial grade potions. What are those? I mean what are grades?"

Lianne's eyes lit up for a second. "You see. There are various qualities of items. First, there are the common ones, then the rare ones. The third level is the imperial level and the fourth is the legend or Myth level. That's it. This also applies to weapons and armor too. You can buy up to imperial grade as long as you have money. But Myth or legend class, as the name suggests are very hard to replace." Lianne was awfully talkative about the grades. Maybe she had a fancy for this kind of stuff."Well, then again these are elven grades, so humans probably have a different system." I didn't need to hear the last part though.

"I see. Thank you."

Lianne was delighted at the compliment. Perhaps she really did have a fancy for the grading system.

I finished my dinner and made the bed. Lianne kept watch.

Before actually falling asleep I reminisced about my life. Being a college student wasn't easy. My mother had given up on me and my siblings always quarreled with me. I just wanted to disappear from my life. That was the reason why I wanted to live a fantasy life. But if I'd actually known what a fantasy life would be like I most definitely would have never hoped for this. But in the end, would it have mattered? I didn't particularly feel that bad about not being able to see my family but what I did feel bad or rather horrible was this damn world! I could only sigh to that though. Cause no matter how bad I felt, I could do nothing about it.

I went to sleep and surprisingly slept like a log. It's been a long time since I had a good rest: it was probably thanks to Lianne.. I dreamt a little about my old life.