Year 157,

Near the end of the fall season

I’m not sure what day it is.

I am a youngster who lives in the peaceful village of “Unut”.

And today I am helping village elder by choping some logs for him.

“But he is not going to pay me.”

I said as I swung my axe,

I’m only helping him because he’s like a father to me.

I was a little child when my family abandoned me.

Yet he took me in and raised me to this age.

“And I am going to do this for the rest of his lifetime.”

Once again I said as I swung my axe.

“So about another 10 year or so.”

I halted my axe stroke.

“This axe could help reducing that time to seconds.”

Whack!

Right after I said that, something whacked me behind the head.

“You could commit suicide with it; it’s simpler than killing me.”

I look back and see the village elder holding a plank.

“Stop talking nonsense and get back to work.”

As he finished speaking, he threw the plank away and walked inside his house.

I started swinging my axe again.

“Someday, I’ll chop wood for his coffin.”

Some time passes...

I swung my axe for the last time as the sky started getting red.

The last log was chopped in half.

“It’s done!“, I yelled.

I hear the wooden door open with a crack.

“Good job,” said the village elder as he got out of his house.

He gave me a towel and gently pushed me towards the open door.

“Come inside and get warmed up before you head back.”

I nod silently, as I am too tired to say another word.

We get inside, and he gestures for me to sit on the chair next to the fireplace.

I walk towards the chair while trying to keep my eyes open.

I sit without even looking at the chair.

“Ouch!” I yelped and jumped.

“Hahaha!” exclaimed the old man.

“Wakes you up, doesn’t it?”

I turn my head and look at the chair.

There were nails standing upright on top of the chair.

“What is your problem?”

“Just helping you stay awake.” he said while smirking

“Is this how you repay me? remember these nails; they are going to seal your coffin.”

“Come on now, stop crying.”

I put the nails away and sit down,

He brings me a basin full of hot water and some clean cloth.

“Here, wash yourself.”

Some time passes...

“It’s about time I leav-”

Crack!!!

Before I even finish my sentence, the wooden door opens with a bang.

“I came to visit you, Grandpa!” a child yells happily

“Oh! if this isn’t my granddaughter.”

It was the village elder’s granddaughter “Angel”,

running past me the little girl jumps towards the village elder.

village elder grabs the girl mid air and hugs her.

While this happens another person walks in from the open door.

It was a slender woman with a long brown hair.

“Hehe,she must have missed you father.” says the woman while closing the door.

Woman gives me a smile, bows her head, and walks towards the other two.

What a lovely sight, a family meeting...

I should leave before they start making me do more chores.

I sneak my way to the door and hold the knob almost free...

“Wait!”

I sigh and turn my head towards the family.

“What?”

“Could you let Pickle out before you go.” He throws me a key.

“Pickle” is the name of the village elder’s pet “Cellurk”;

Cellurks are friendly creatures that you can find anywhere in the forest,A green,furry and fat animal, so just like village elder but green and friendly.

Pickle is one of them, at daytime Pickle stays in the cellar.

When it’s night, we let him out.

“Fine.” I turn my back and open the door.

But before I go outside, someone grabs my arm.

“Can I come too? I wanna see Pickle.”

Angel, the little girl, was staring at me with wide eyes.

Before saying anything, I looked at her mother, and she nodded, smiling.

“Okay,Let’s go then.”

And finally, outside, along with the little girl, we start walking.

“Hey, big brother, I have a question.”

“Hmm? What is it?”

“Why is Pickle able to jump so high?”

“I don’t know, maybe your grandpa put some nails under its feet.” I said smirkingly

The girl looks at me with a confused face.

“I am just joking, but it’s true that I don’t know how they are able to jump so high.”

An adult cellurk stands about 145 cm tall and is able to jump approximately 3 to 4 meters.

They jump on the tree branches to eat fruits and leaves.

They are green, so it’s a great hiding place too.

“I have another question.”

“Ask away.”

“Since they don’t have arms, what happens if they fall? Are they able to get up on their own?”

“Well, I have never seen a fallen cellurk, so I guess they are able to get up on their own.”

“Is that so?”

“We could knock Pickle down to test it.”

“Noooo!” Girl shouts

“Okay, okay, we don’t. Instead, how about we cut your arms and try it?”

“!?” Girl shrinks back in fear.

“Just kidding,I left the axe inside the house anyway.”

“You would if you had it?”

“No, not to you; no promises about your grandfather, though.”

“Why do you hate my grandpa?”

“Because he makes me do lots of chores for him and pays me nothing.”

“Hmm... I understand.”

“Oh! here we are.”

We arrived at our destination.

I unlocked the cellar with the key the village elder gave me.

I grasp the door handle, but before I can pull it, some force pushes the door open from inside.

Knocking me down, I look up above me and see a shadow-like figure jumping over me.

“PICKLE!!”

I get up and look behind me.

Angel was hugging the cellurk with all the force she has.

Pickle looks happy to see her as well, and I am sure Pickle would have hugged her if it had arms.

I let the girl hug and pet Pickle for a while.

“Hey... it’s okay if you want to play with Pickle, but don’t let it bite you or you’ll start hallucinating.”

“Okay, I’ll be careful.”

Cellurks are very timid creatures and will rarely bite people, but when they do,

You’ll start hallucinating every other living being as a cellurk.

It’s nothing serious, but last time Pickle bit me, I tried to pet the village elder.

The hallucinations lasts about 6 hours.

Some time passes...

I yell out:

“Okay, okay, enough playing Pickle is hungry. Let’s let Pickle go.”

“But I want to play with Pickle.”

“It’s too late to play.”

“But I can’t play with Pickle in the morning, he sleeps.”

“You can keep playing with Pickle tomorrow evening.”

“Okay.” she says while pouting.

“Good girl.”

“Oh, I almost forgot!”

Girl reaches into her dress’s pocket and pulls something out.

“A ribbon?”

“Yup,big bro, help me put this on Pickle.”

She hands me the ribbon.

“It’s okay I guess.”

I wrapped the ribbon around Pickle’s neck cautiously.

Then I tie a knot and I’m done!

Pickle seemed to be pleased with its new ribbon.

“Looking good there, pickle.”

“He looks very handsome.”

“He does, and what is this ribbon for?”

“It’s so that we don’t mistake him with another cellurk.”

“Understanble. Okay, time to say goodbye to Pickle.”

“Okay, goodbye, Pickle.”

She hugs the animal one last time and steps back.

As soon as she lets go of the animal, it jumps above my head again and disappears into the forest.

girl waves behind the animal.

“We should head back too.”

She nods.

After I return the girl to her family, I start walking towards my home.

I silently walked while watching the starry sky.

When I finnaly arrived I was dead tired.

I straight went to my bed and closed my eyes...

Growl!

That was my stomach.

“I should have stayed for the dinner.”

RUMBLE!!!

THAT WAS NOT MY STOMACH!

“An earthquake!”

The house shakes for a while and then stops.

“It stopped.”

I let out a sigh of relief.

“Happens a lot this days.”

“Now is not the time to think about that.”

“I need to check the hou-”

Suddenly everything becomes dark...

I pushed myself to my limit.

I passed out...

...

*sniff* *sniff*

I can smell burning wood.

I regain consciousness and stand up.

My home is engulfed in flames!

I rushed towards the exit, putting my life above all else.

I approached the door and turned the handle.

But the door refused to budge.

I have to break it.

I backed up and ran as fast as I could towards the door.

I repeat the process againg and again.

Still the door didn’t budge.

The flames are getting closer.

“No choice I have to jump from the second floor.”

I rushed the stairs without looking back.

I went into my bedroom, got up on top of the bed, and opened the window.

This fall will very certainly break some of my bones.

I look back to flames that are coming closer.

“Better than dying, I suppose.”

I crawled through the window and leaped out.

I turned over while in the air, making sure to land on my arm.

*Crack*

I crashed heavily on my left arm.

“GODDAMN IT!”

“MY ARM!”

It was broken.

After rolling on the ground in pain for a while, I get up.

With what little power I had left, I shouted,

“SOMEBODY HELP!”

And shouted,

“I NEED HELP!”

Shoted,

“HELP... PLE...ase!”

“Hof.. pof..”

“Nobody... is coming.”

I wobble to the road and arrive at my neighbor’s house,

Or, what was left of it; it seems I wasn’t the only one whose home was burned down.

“HEY, IS ANYBODY THERE!”

...

“No answer.”

Either nobody is there or SOME-BODY is there.

I can’t accomplish anything by myself right now.

I need to go to the center of the village and bring help.

I keep walking and come across more burned-out houses.

“But where is everybody?”

“They must have all gathered somewhere as nobody is in the area.”

“Maybe the lake?”

“They must be bringing water to put out the fires.”

I set the lake as my destination and continued on my path.

As I walk,I spoke loudly to myself.

“Everywhere is in flames.”

...

“My arm hurts.”

...

“This going to be realy tough night.”

...

“It will be difficult to extinguish all of this fire.”

...

“Ah, here I am!”

I was at the lake’s dam.

“What the-”

I gasped at the scene.

The once-blue river that emerged from the lake was now completely blood crimson.

All of the village members dead bodies were floating in the river.

I did not accept what I saw.

I jump into the water to make sure I wasn’t having a hallucination.

The water reached up to my chest, but it was shallow enough for me to walk.

I walked over to one of the corpses.

It was the body of the village elders.

I put my right arm behind his cold body.

*splash* *splash* *splash*

I heard water splashing.

I looked in the direction of the sound and noticed that the dam gates had been opened.

The rushing flood was heading straight for me.

Yet, I was too shocked and injured to move.

I waited still for the water to engulf me.

“Who cares anymore.”

I managed to utter it before I went underwater.