10 Years Ago.

  Location: The Lower Slums of the Capital of Valeria

  Age: 6.

  ?The darkness of the unconscious mind didn't stay black for long. It shifted, swirled, and reformed into a memory as sharp as broken glass.

  ?I was six years old again.

  ?I was small, skinny, and dirty. My ribs poked through a shirt that was three sizes too big, and my feet were wrapped in rags instead of shoes. But I wasn't sad.

  ?I was laughing.

  ?I sprinted down the cobblestone alleyway, clutching a loaf of steaming, fresh bread to my chest like it was a gold bar. It burned my fingers, but the smell yeast, salt, and warmth was better than any perfume.

  ?"GET HER!" a voice bellowed behind me. "CATCH THAT RED RAT!"

  ?I giggled, a high-pitched, childish sound that echoed off the damp walls.

  ?"You're too slow, Tin-Man!" I shouted back, not even looking over my shoulder.

  ?I knew these streets better than they knew their own wives. I vaulted over a stack of rotting cardboard boxes, my small body light as a feather. I ducked under a clothesline, weaving through the masses of people who lived in the filth.

  ?They knew me.

  ?"Go, Red!" a beggar cheered as I zipped past him.

  ?"Run, little fire!" a washerwoman laughed.

  ?I was the ghost of the slums. The girl with the hair like blood and eyes like poison.

  ?I burst out of the alleyway and onto the Main Boulevard.

  ?The world suddenly changed. The grey grime of the slums vanished, replaced by a riot of color.

  ?A parade.

  ?There were thousands of people. Flags waved. Trumpets blared. Flower petals rained from the sky. In the center of the road, the Royal Guard marched in perfect unison, their golden armor gleaming in the sun.

  ?And in the middle of them, walking instead of riding in a carriage to show his "connection to the people," was the King.

  ?To anyone else, this would be a majestic sight.

  ?To me, a starving six-year-old with a stolen loaf of bread and two angry city guards on her tail, it was just an obstacle.

  ?"Out of the way!" I screamed, diving into the crowd.

  ?I didn't care about royalty. I didn't care about etiquette. I was small, I was fast, and I was hungry.

  ?I ducked under legs. I elbowed thighs. I swam through the sea of bodies.

  ?"Hey!"

  "Watch it, brat!"

  ?I ignored them. The guards were getting closer. I could hear their heavy boots clanking.

  ?I burst through the front line of the crowd.

  ?I was in the open street.

  ?I ran. I ran straight across the parade route, aiming for the alley on the other side.

  ?But I miscalculated.

  ?I didn't see the tall man in the velvet robe walking directly in my path.

  ?WHAM.

  ?I slammed full-force into a wall of purple silk and gold embroidery.

  ?"Oof!"

  ?The impact knocked the wind out of me, but I held onto the bread. I bounced off the man's leg and stumbled back.

  ?I looked up. Way up.

  ?He was tall. He had a beard that looked like it was made of silver wire, and a golden circle on his head.

  ?"Watch it, old man!" I shrieked, my voice cracking with adrenaline. "Move!"

  ?The crowd gasped. The sound sucked the air out of the street.

  ?The guards who were chasing me burst through the crowd.

  ?"THERE SHE IS!"

  ?I tried to run. I tried to bolt to the left.

  ?But a hand large, strong, and covered in a white glove clamped around my wrist.

  ?It was the King.

  ?He had caught me. His grip wasn't crushing, but it was iron-firm. He looked down at me, not with anger, but with pure, stunned confusion.

  ?"Let go!" I yelled, yanking my arm. "Let go of me!"

  ?I pulled. I kicked his shin with my ragged foot. He didn't budge. He just stared at my face, at my bright red hair that stood out like a beacon in the crowd.

  ?"Child?" he murmured.

  ?Panic took over. I was a feral animal. I was a cornered rat.

  ?I did the only thing I knew how to do.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  ?I bared my teeth.

  ?CHOMP.

  ?I sank my teeth into the fleshy part of his hand, right between the thumb and forefinger, biting hard through the expensive white glove.

  ?"ARGH!"

  ?The King shouted in pain. His grip loosened for a split second.

  ?I ripped my arm free.

  ?"Ha!" I laughed, a wild, triumphant sound.

  ?I spun around, clutching my bread, and bolted.

  ?I made it three steps.

  ?CLANG.

  ?A wall of steel appeared in front of me.

  ?I skidded to a halt.

  ?A Royal Guard stood there, his spear leveled at my chest.

  ?I turned left.

  CLANG. Another guard.

  ?I turned right.

  CLANG. Another guard.

  ?I turned back.

  The King was standing there, clutching his bleeding hand, surrounded by five more knights who had their swords drawn.

  ?I was surrounded.

  ?The laughter died in my throat.

  ?I clutched the bread to my chest, my small heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird. I backed up until I bumped into a shield.

  ?There was nowhere to go.

  ?I looked around wildly, my green eyes darting from spear tip to sword edge.

  ?I was six years old. I was alone. And I had just bitten the King of the Human Realm.

  ?The bread suddenly felt very heavy in my hands.

  The memory continued, vivid and unrelenting.

  ?I was six years old, cornered in the street. Five Royal Guards surrounded me, swords drawn. The King stood in front of me, clutching his bitten hand.

  ?But there was no anger in the King’s eyes.

  ?He looked down at me a dirty, starving child clutching a stolen loaf of bread like a weapon and he didn't see a criminal. He looked at me with a strange, soft expression. A look of concern. A look a father gives a daughter who has scraped her knee.

  ?"Come here, child," he said gently, stepping forward.

  ?But I didn't want pity. I wanted freedom.

  ?I looked left. Steel.

  I looked right. Steel.

  I looked up. The King.

  ?Then, I saw it. A tiny gap between two distracted guards who were waiting for the King's order.

  ?"Think fast," I whispered.

  ?I wound up my arm and threw the only valuable thing I owned.

  ?"FETCH!"

  ?I hurled the steaming loaf of bread in a high arc right over the King’s head.

  ?It was a ridiculous move. Everyone—the King, the Queen, the guards, the crowd—automatically looked up to watch the bread fly through the air.

  ?For one second, nobody was looking at me.

  ?That was all I needed.

  ?I didn't run away from the guards; I ducked between the King’s legs, scrambling like a ferret, and bolted through the gap in the line.

  ?"HEY!"

  ?By the time the bread hit the ground with a sad thump, I was already gone, disappearing into the dense crowd of the marketplace.

  ?I didn't have the bread. I was hungry. But I was free.

  ?Behind me, the Captain of the Guard was furious. "After her!"

  ?"Hold," the King ordered, raising his hand.

  ?He watched the spot where I had vanished. A small smile tugged at the corner of his beard. He chuckled, a deep, rumbling sound.

  ?"Ten elite soldiers," the King mused, shaking his head. "Defeated by a six-year-old and a bakery product."

  ?He looked at the Queen. She wasn't angry either. She was looking at the alleyway with a strange longing in her eyes. She smiled back at him, a sad, knowing smile.

  ?The Hideout.

  ?I didn't stop running until I reached the Industrial District.

  ?I squeezed through a loose ventilation grate at the base of an old factory and slid down a rusted chute. I landed in my home.

  ?It wasn't a house. It was a junction in the old storm sewers. It was damp, it smelled of moss and rust, but it was warm.

  ?I crawled onto my bed a pile of old newspapers and cardboard boxes. I lit a small stump of a candle with a stolen match.

  ?"Home sweet home," I whispered to the shadows.

  ?I reached into my secret wooden crate.

  ?First, I pulled out my only friend. It was a doll I had cobbled together from scraps. It had red yarn for hair just like mine. But I had added something special. Two small, curved twigs sewn onto its forehead.

  ?A horned doll. A monster doll.

  ?"Hello, Lucy," I whispered, hugging the ragdoll.

  ?Then, I pulled out my treasure. A book I had found in a trash bin behind the Wizards' Guild. The cover was torn, and half the pages were missing.

  ?I opened it.

  ?The text was complex. High Theory of Mana. Words that grown men studied for years.

  ?But to me?

  ?I ran my dirty finger under the text. I didn't struggle. The words just... made sense. It was like reading a storybook.

  ?The flow of mana is like a river... you must not push it, you must guide it...

  ?I read until my eyelids grew heavy. I fell asleep clutching the horned doll and the magic book, my stomach growling, but my mind full of wonders.

  ?The Palace.

  ?While I slept in the sewer, the King and Queen sat in a room full of silk and gold.

  ?But the air was heavy with grief.

  ?The Royal Physician, an old man with trembling hands, lowered his head.

  ?"I am sorry, Your Majesty," the doctor said softly. "We have run every test. The issue lies... with the King's lineage. The mana strain is too potent. It sterilizes the bloodline."

  ?The Queen let out a small, broken sob. The King grabbed her hand, his knuckles white.

  ?"So there will be no heir?" the King asked, his voice hollow. "No children?"

  ?"No, Sire. Whatever magic runs in your veins... it ends with you."

  ?The King and Queen held each other and wept, surrounded by wealth, yet poorer than the girl in the sewer.

  ?The Next Morning.

  ?Sunlight filtered through the grate, waking me up.

  ?I stretched, my back popping. I tucked Lucy the Doll back into the crate and climbed up the chute, emerging back into the noisy, dirty city.

  ?I walked down the street, kicking a stone. I was filthy. My face was smudged with soot.

  ?The citizens gave me a wide berth.

  ?"Look at that hair," a woman whispered, pulling her child away. "Red as blood."

  ?"Demon brat," a merchant muttered, spitting on the ground as I passed. "Her eyes... they aren't human."

  ?"Monster."

  ?I kept my head down. I was used to it. In the Human Realm, anything different was dangerous. Demons, Elves, Beastkin—they were rare here, and hated. And because of my hair and my green eyes, they thought I was one of them.

  ?I turned into a narrow alleyway, looking for food scraps.

  ?I stopped.

  ?Ahead of me, two boys nobles, judging by their velvet tunics were laughing. They had cornered a small, brown puppy against a wall.

  ?"Stupid beast!" one boy shouted, kicking the puppy in the ribs.

  ?Yelp!

  ?The puppy cried out, shivering.

  ?"Monster," the other boy laughed, raising his foot.

  ?Something inside me snapped.

  ?I didn't care about the guards. I didn't care about food.

  ?I sprinted forward.

  ?"HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING, ASSHOLE?"

  ?The boys froze. They turned around to see a small, furious red whirlwind charging at them.

  ?The taller boy sneered. "Ha. Look what we have here. A freak."

  ?I stood between them and the puppy, spreading my arms. My knees were shaking, but my chin was high.

  ?"How dare you," I spat. "Two against one? Pick on someone your own size!"

  ?The boy laughed. "I found something better to kick." He reached out and yanked my hair. Hard. "You red witch!"

  ?"Ow!"

  ?I gritted my teeth. "You snot-nosed, ivory-tower brat!"

  ?The boy's face turned red. He balled his fist and swung at me.

  ?He was bigger. Stronger. But I was from the streets.

  ?I didn't block. I ducked.

  ?As he swung over my head, I dropped to my knees. I grabbed the waistband of his expensive velvet trousers.

  ?YANK.

  ?I pulled them down to his ankles.

  ?He froze. He looked down at his white undergarments.

  ?"Hahaha!" I laughed, pointing at him.

  ?The boy tried to step forward, tripped over his own pants, and fell face-first into the mud. SPLAT.

  ?"Get her!" the other boy yelled, charging at me.

  ?I stepped back with my left foot, waited until he was close, and simply stuck my right foot out.

  ?Trip.

  ?He flew over my leg and landed on his nose next to his friend. CRUNCH.

  ?"OW! My nose!"

  ?I didn't wait around to gloat. I scooped up the shivering puppy in my arms and ran.

  ?I ran until my lungs burned. I ducked into a quiet side street and set the puppy down.

  ?"You're okay now," I whispered.

  ?I reached into my pocket and found a single, dry crumb of bread leftover from yesterday. I gave it to the dog. He licked it up happily.

  ?"Go on," I said, shooing him away.

  ?I smiled, walking backward, waving at the dog.

  ?"Bye bye!"

  ?I took one more step backward.

  ?THUMP.

  ?I bumped into something hard. Something metal.

  ?I froze.

  ?Slowly, I looked up.

  ?It wasn't a wall. It was a chest plate. Polished steel with a golden lion crest.

  ?I looked higher.

  ?A helmet. A visor.

  ?It was the Guard from the parade. The one I had escaped yesterday.

  ?He looked down at me.

  ?"Gotcha," he rumbled.