As he scrutinized the wound, a silent question echoed in his mind. "Um, so you really bleed blue blood, huh? What are you? I mean, it's my first time seeing a person bleed blue blood," he pondered inwardly. Regardless of the mystery, his compassion prevailed, and he offered assistance, proposing to take her to his home where his mother's knowledge of medicine could be of aid.

However, as Timothy leaned in with the intention of helping, the atmosphere shifted abruptly. Without warning, the little girl launched at him, sinking her teeth into his neck. Panic set in as Timothy struggled to push her away, but her grip was unyielding. Slowly losing consciousness, he felt the vitality draining from him.

In a disoriented state, he regained awareness sometime later. The first sight that met his gaze was the little girl, transformed and staring at him with a complicated expression. The memory of the sudden attack rushed back, and Timothy recoiled in fear. Weak and disoriented, he cautiously backed away, his eyes never leaving the enigmatic girl.

"You—you bit me," he stammered, his hand instinctively reaching for the spot where she had bitten him. To his astonishment, he felt no wound. The confusion escalated as he retrieved a dagger from his boot and examined the reflection of his neck. Strange symbols, forming a chain, glowed faintly and emitted a purple light.

"What is this? What did you do to me?!" Timothy exclaimed, his voice filled with a mix of fear and bewilderment. The girl, seemingly amused, cautioned him to keep quiet to avoid attracting predators. However, instead of hostility, she approached him, prompting him to defensively raise his dagger.

Contrary to expectations, the little girl knelt down, placing her neck on the tip of the dagger, locking eyes with Timothy in a silent and mysterious exchange. As the tension lingered, Timothy grappled with the unfolding enigma, his fear and curiosity entwined in the presence of this extraordinary being.

Little boy don't you think that if I truly wanted to kill you i would have done it while you were unconscious?" She said while revealing her fangs 

"Wha-what are you ? A monster , a ritualist ?" he asked with a shaken voice 

Timothy is a smart child but he's still a child and while facing the unknown he lost his composure , he kept thinking of ways to escape this but he's hopes were a crashed in the next second as he heard a sigh but where did it come from ? cause he's looking at this little monster infront of him and she hasn't made a sound 

-Do you really think you can escape from me ?- A look of horror appeared on his face 

, the voice he heard just now was in his head the little girl had a smug look on her face as if she was taunting him , he instantly gripped the dagger tighter as he slashed at the girl , but his hand couldn't move no matter how hard he tried his hand didn't budge.

" You fool you can't kill me , we are now bound to each other." she spoke

Timothy's thoughts were racing he didn't know what to do , the monster in front of him could read his thoughts , and he had nowhere to run to . As he was still thinking , she interrupted his thoughts. 

"You wanted to know what i am?" She said as she turned around with her back facing him .

She slowly lowered the bands of the chemise she was wearing exposing her small back , her whole back was filled with strange markings that looked liked floating chains and in the middle they were two cuffs like symbols emitting a purple light just like the mark on his neck. After the demonstration she quickly covered her back then she looked at him with an expectant expression as if he knew what she was.

"you're a 'CHAINED' ? but those are legends used by parents to scare their children how can they be real?"he spoke in a whisper.

"Mmh is that so ?" she scoffed "you humans are much more naive than i initially thought , in every legend there's a tiny bit of truth " she said

Timothy's mind was a mess he couldn't believe her words even if she was the actual proof of what she was saying but his mind couldn't accept it , his denial came from the innate human fear of the unknown , a few hours ago he was on his way to get water then -...

"Damnit you're an idiot Mí'tûr mother's probably worried sick " he said with pained expression as realization dawned upon him , mustering the courage to stand he spoke.

"I have chores that needs to be done , so if you're not going to kill me I'll be on my way " he picked up his sword and walked to the entrance 

One thing about the 'CHAINED' the stories emphasized was their ruthlessness , but this little 'CHAINED' before him had no killing intent directed towards him so he took his chances and decided to leave this place afterall he had nothing to lose , so he simply walked out of the colossal tree following the trail of dried up blue blood back to where he had left his buckets.

On the way back he kept trying to forget about what happened but deep down he knew that his perception of the world was going to change.

He found his buckets and he took the path that led to the river , planning on going home quickly afterwards . The river was on the side of the outer city wall or to be precise the magnificent city wall was built on a river bank . How was that possible ? No one knows , he quickly approached the river and he filled his two buckets with water and as he was about to leave a cheery voice called out ,

"Oii you Mesa bastard !! How dare you leave without greeting your river pal " a lean yellow skinned boy with long curly Ebony black hair called out as he approached him with a huge smile plastered on his face.

" Oh I didn't see you there Jake , How come you are still here this late ?" Timothy responded with a smile of his own 

The boy named Jake took one bucket from timothy and they started walking back towards his house.

" Well have you forgotten that it's your birthday today and I wanted to wish you happy birthday in person , Ver was also here but she left. So I have been sitting here since dawn and you showed up midday , mind you , you've never been late before and here you are late and distracted what is going on with you?" He asked noticing Timothy's unfocused gaze

"Its nothing , I'm just thinking about the knight exams"he responded with a shake of his head

As the two boys were talking they didn't know that they were not alone on this narrow path , a pair of blue eyes were fixed on the dark skinned youth with grey hair as he walked with his river pal to his house ...

A few hours later

It's midnight; his birthday had passed. Timothy found himself immersed in the silent hours of midnight, grappling with the memories of the recent events inside the colossal tree. The weight of the mysterious encounter lingered in his thoughts. Determined to quell the haunting images, he rose from his bed, the wooden floor cool beneath his feet. The room was bathed in the soft glow of a lone candle, casting long shadows on the walls. He practiced sword forms until his body quit on him , and he fell asleep on the cold floor.

While he was in Dreamland, a heated conversation took place between his mother Gabrielle and his father Edward. "The boy is old enough, Gabby; we have to tell him the truth about this world of ours, about where we came from," Edward said in a soft tone.

His mother lay down, looking at the ceiling with a complicated look in her eyes. "But, Ed, we said we were going to give him a normal and happy life, not a life filled with ancient dangers and horrors," she said in a shaken voice, as if recalling bitter memories.

Seeing his wife's expression turn bitter, Edward pulled her close to him. "I know, Gabby, I know. But the world is in turmoil; the kingdoms are about to go to war against one another. Many secrets buried in the last war will be revealed to the whole world. At least it's best if we give our boy a head start and a fighting chance. Plus, he's training to be a knight, which means he'll be on the frontlines facing powers he doesn't know or understand," he explained.

Gabby knew Edward had a point. If their son was to survive the impending war, he needed to know what this world truly is. "Have you heard from Carol? She's been gone for three years now, and I tried connecting with her astral form, but I couldn't establish a connection, which means she's very far away," Gabby skillfully changed the subject.

"Ah, yes, I forgot to tell you she sent a handwritten letter this time," Edward got out of bed and went to his table to pick up the letter. "Here it is," passing the letter to his wife.

"Hmm, why did she write using ancient kafey?" she asked as she started reading the letter.

Dear family, forgive me for not updating you on my whereabouts for the past three years. I have traveled from island to island trying to find the tablets of ancient. But for the first two years, I found nothing. I had even planned on returning home, but then on one day on an island named Xoj, I overheard a bunch of pirates talking about a place where many ships are lost as soon as they enter its calm waters, never to be found again. So I went to the pirates and asked for the coordinates in exchange for a god coin, but they refused the payment and gave me the coordinates for free. And guess what? I went there and found out that this place is the rumored emerald sea, home of the cursed. The sea here is dead; their water is acidic; it corrodes the ship before it even reaches the dark island. That's why the pirates were saying many ships were lost here. And it is here I found the first tablet of ancient and the last of the cursed, but the cursed said that I can't leave the place with the tablet until she has imparted all her ancient knowledge and power unto me since she's the only one left out of the four ancient beings. I think I'll be back in a year or two. Please apologize to my nephew that I've missed three of his birthdays. I love you guys, and please take care of yourselves. War is coming. Love, Carol.

After she read the letter, Gabby understood why Edward was so anxious. "She's found it, huh? But what did she mean that the cursed wanted to impart her knowledge and power unto her first?" she asked her husband.

"That I don't know," he answered with a shrug. "It's already past midnight; love, you need to get some rest," he said with a warm smile.

"Okay, but let me go check on him first," she got out of bed, wearing nothing but a chemise. She got to her son's bedroom and opened the door slowly, only to see the boy sleeping soundly on the floor with his sword by his side. She stared at him for a few more minutes, then closed the door and left.

After the door was closed, the figure of a little girl appeared in Timothy's room, hovering above him as he slept. "Your family is interesting," she said before vanishing, leaving the room as quickly as she appeared.