The red expanse of the sky stretched far over her head. The bare soles of her feet were covered in blood, soot, and now dirt as she stumbled over the wreckage out into the open. Even as a child no older than six, the stinging pain on her skin and burns in her eyes weren’t enough to stop her. She viciously rubbed her eyelids in vain before setting her blurry sights on the trees and darkness before her.

In her memories, the dying flames and the cries of agony for help seemed distant behind her. It was very likely because at that moment, she could only care about herself. Yet if she had to go back to this time, she knew she would still do the very same.

Still, the future was the future, and this was now.

It wasn’t long before she found herself close enough to the woods to have to crane her neck up to see the full view of the trees. One single step was all it was going to take to begin treading into her darkness, a place she could not fathom at that time for the life of her. The large branches swayed ominously above her, the wind whistling through her ears. Whereas before it was hot and merciless back in the burning manor, it was now chilling but soothing. Courage built up in her little body, and she prepared to run.

“Elle!” A man’s raspy voice shrieked her name, followed by a series of coughing. She froze, and her heart began to beat rapidly. “Where are you, Elle?!”

Even as every morsel of her body and soul told her to keep on going, she could not help but glance back just one last time. The ruins of the manor were now covered in shadows, once so grand and beautiful up close, and now less than half the size it once was with smoke rising up into the air. She had escaped through the back, long abandoned by the head of the manor and the few servants he bothered to keep. The groves that she now stood in, surrounded by overgrown weeds and the echoes of insects hidden nearby as they, too, went to the only place of the manor least affected by the fire. Yet now a lone man was also there, wandering among the ruins, searching for her.

“Elle, WHERE ARE YOU?!”

The repeated question snapped her back to her senses. She stepped back once, and then again. And again.

“COME BACK, ELLE. COME BACK–IT’S WHAT YOU OWE ME!”

Just when the man’s head seemed to turn in her direction, she spun around and sprinted deep into the woods. She could have sworn there was another pair of footsteps running after her for a long amount of time, but she could not spare the luxury of paying it any more attention. As long as she got far, far away, that was all that mattered.

The darker it got, the more she wanted to run. Eventually, her body could not keep up with her heart. She could not tell the difference between opening and closing her eyes. Somewhere amongst her blind escape, her legs gave out and she promptly fell endlessly into the abyss.

It was only after she opened her eyes again, greeted by streams of golden light, that she realized she had passed out.

It took a very long time to let the silence of the clearing she was in sink in. The grass and soil beneath her skin was prickly, yet dry and cool. Shadows danced before her bleary eyes as the trees continued to sway, as if welcoming her presence. There was no one shouting for her nor following after her.

She hadn’t known the word for it then, but this was the very first moment she had ever experienced peace.

Haggard and covered in complete filth, the child began to wail in both sorrow and deep relief.