After losing my left arm and my only friend, I was mildly put, not in my best condition. I attended classes and kept mostly to myself. I ate every night at the noodle house alone. Though the owner was being very friendly toward me. It might’ve been pity or genuine goodness, I appreciated either very much.

My grades kept dropping and my debts did not decrease at all. The executioner was already waving at me expecting to have my head soon. It was only polite to wave back. The students around me looked at me like I was contagious or something. Who cares about them. I sighed regularly now.

Mom would say that all my luck would leave my body that way. But I think there is no good fortune left in me to lose. And who believes in luck anyway? It never visited. I’d have invited it to tea and cake, maybe even macarons, the expensive kind. I was again caught up in my thoughts, not paying attention to the class. Stupid me, no wonder my grades are getting worse by the minute. I told myself: “Starting now I’m a good student!” But a forming restlessness announced the end of class.

“... That is how the great catastrophe enabled humans to cultivate. See you in two weeks. Enjoy your holidays!”

“Holidays!? I forgot all about them! I really became a true cultivator. Living in my own bubble. Thinking only about myself. Holidays mean spending time with family, eating soft-boned heavenly turkey, playing board games, watching bad movies on the feed, all in all, fun times. It means I get to go home. I really should say hi to mom and dad, tell them about her little daughter in the big city. So I went home.

“And here I am. Any Questions? Anyone? I didn’t expect any answers but it’s nice pretending to think, you know, that you could answer. It really is lonely without you, Mom. And you never taught me how to fight with a sword, Dad! It’s only a fluke that I won my first fight. Sitting here with you two and grandpa is really soothing. The apple trees are blooming already. You will have plenty of snacks. But… But I brought you some more things. Here a whole apple tart with fresh honey for grandpa. The biggest present for the oldest, hehe, like you taught me, dad. I brought you freshly baked bread from your favorite bakery with spiced cowling sausages. I know I can’t go wrong with that! For mom I… I have stir-fried tofu with lemongrass, citrus soap, and a bouquet out of the brightest summer flowers… “

Torrents of tears were running down a smiling face. Meadow couldn’t keep them back. A sudden gust of sadness engulfed her very soul, “Mom, Dad, I’m sorry! I’m a disappointment!” She choked, “I swear I can do better! I will be better! I won’t be beaten!”

A raven black haired girl, in a pink school uniform, healed her broken heart at the hill of her sorrows. She never was determined to achieve anything in life but at this moment her resolve was beaten by the hammer of her misfortunes. Only a bit remained until it was steeled like adamant. There was no stopping her anymore, she will succeed and become immortal, to free her home out of the control of the mecha beasts, forever.

Meadow stayed with her parents until sunrise. Only a few mecha beasts were night-active but many prowled the vast pastures of her fathers in daylight. Before she left she decided to meditate, calm her mind, refocus on everything. There deep within her lay a translucent verdant sea. Its size was not spectacular. Like in all regards, quantity is not all that matters. The once tranquil expanse was being disturbed by a thunderous black storm. Her mending heart steadily decreased the intensity of this ominous apparition, until its violent nature completely disappeared. A tiny snake-like black dragon with golden plating was orbiting a single blade of grass as if to say ‘It’s mine!’. Meadow did not notice it at that moment and that was a good thing. She desperately needed her holidays. When she left one of the apple flowers began to bear fruit. Its speed was unnatural and some might say eerie. A brooding windblast harvested the apple with ease and put it on Meadows’s grandfather's grave. “She is enlightened”, whispered a creaky voice. “I know”, responded another in a deep baritone.

Her aunt waited at the foot of the hill. Her silver lined black cyber steed stood on the dirt road, ready to drive at moments notice. She smoked one sutra after the other while walking the same three steps over and over again, like a tiger in a cage. In this case, the tiger preferred to be caged because nature was way too scary. “Come on, Meadow! The sun is rising already!” She shouted toward the rapidly descending girl.

“I’m sorry auntie!” Meadow apologized out of breath.

“Do you feel better now?” Concern was written all over her aunt's face but she was assured, “I do!”

“Then hop on!” Meadow and her aunt mounted the cyber steed and drove towards the new borders of the frontiers. She looked back one last time. “Mom, Dad, I will come back and I will make you proud,” she solemnly promised into the wind, “I will take back our land, our home!”