"Mama! Papa!" Mina cried for someone to respond, but it came to no avail. Her young, tiny frame shivering in the icy winds. She stood in front of her entire manor, being burnt to a crisp. People all around her screamed in terror as more soldiers from Eiden came in from above.
Standing atop a broken house was a man with a rifle. "Find the little girl this instant! I just heard her voice!" He saw a father carrying his injured daughter through the flames of the city streets. Aiming his rifle, he fired, managing to hit them both. The moment they collapsed, he screamed in excitement. "Fuck yeah!"
Mina shuddered watching it all unfold.
"T-These are n-not nice people... t-they're hurting everyone..."
The ecstatic cheers of the Eiden soldiers as they slaughtered hundreds of innocents and the screams of terror echoing in the night sky were a terror that is carved into Mina's mind. They were human, but they acted like absolute monsters. It was the first sight of seeing something so cruel in her eyes, as if God wanted to make her witness the ugliest side of humanity in one night.
Quickly, Mina rushed to the outskirts of the city, where flames consumed her entire territory. The House of Sylvet—a prominent lineage that spanned years—is now reduced to a flaming mess. Clutching her tiny, frail fingers, she shuddered with a mix of many emotions brimming with tragedy. "M-Mama, Papa... I'm scared." She fiddled with her fingers, an anxious habit she had ever since she was little. The people she cared about and loved were stuck in her mind. Her parents, her friends, and the kind butlers and maids at her manor. After seeing the horrid and deranged acts of the Eiden soldiers, she couldn't stop thinking about the people that she loved.
As she entered the forest, she observed her surroundings. It was dark, and there were many noises foreign to her. Tears streamed down her face, and she hysterically cried. "U-Uwahhh! I'm scared!" Her stomach rumbled, and her lips were turning pink. Just hours prior, she was comfortably tucked into bed; now she was in a state of despair in the middle of the forest.
What cut her crying off was the rustling of the bushes nearby. Her breath hitched, and she kept her mouth shut. They were footsteps, and heavy ones at that. Her heartbeat was increasing due to the intensity of the situation. Each step sounded like rocks dropping and pounding against the dirt floor.
"Eh? Just a lil' girlie?" He emerged from the darkened forest, slashing away at the leaves with a machete. His appearance wasn't very friendly. Dirt-covered military clothes, a ruffled beard, and a bandana. The machete he gripped onto gave Mina a shiver. "What are ya' doin' here?" he questioned, leaning into her before he caught a glow in the corner of his eye. Looking in the far distance where the glow settled, he saw the horrors in the Sylvet Household. Buildings burnt, civilians being shot to death, and soldiers of Eiden rummaging the place.
"Oh. That's prolly why a fancy girlie like you is cryin' here like a baby! Well, I'll take care of ya' from now on then! My name is Mr. Gregory! What's your name?"
"M-Mina..." The girl responds with a trembling voice.
Minutes pass in silence as she takes timid steps alongside Mr. Gregory. "W-Where a-are you t-taking me..." She wondered, shivering at the things he's going to do. "You got no place to stay, right? I'm the same. Might as well take ya' in!"
"What?"
He smiled, petting Mina on the head before lifting her by the scruff of her neck. "Yup, yer' my new daughter now! Hahaha!"
"I-I'm being kidnapped?!" Mina squealed, flailing her tiny limbs as she was lifted in the air.
Taking her to his own personal hut in the middle of the forest, he planted her down gently by a makeshift chair made of the log of a tree. His house was ragged and oddly constructed but somehow managed to be perfectly stable as he collided against the sturdy walls.
Coming out of the back of his hut, he pulled out two skewers. "Eat this!" he ordered as he approached her. Mina expectingly held out only one of her hands, expecting him to give only one of them, but he knelt down and shoved both of them in her hands. "Eat more! You're too tiny! Eat more and get bigger!" Because of his aggressive stance, she frantically ate both of the meat skewers, swallowing as much as she could until she was stuffed.
After finishing her food, she sees him walking back into his hut. Entering the hut, she finds him lying on a dirty blanket with a hay pillow. On the other side of the hut was similar bedding, left wide open for her. "Now sleep, lil' missy... we'll get you to work tomorrow!"
Her small bed was itchy and kind of cold, a huge contrast to her fluffy, warm, royal bedding at her old manor she used to have hours prior.
"O-Okay..." Mina didn't argue about her itchy bedding nor how the place smelled funky. She was grateful that she was still alive, at least. Yet, even if she was grateful, tears still trickled down her cheeks. Then the sniffling came, and soon the whimpers. Her eyes pooled with tears, and her mouth let out a loud cry. It wasn't just the cry of a young girl, but one who had just lost everything in a single night in the most tragic way possible.
"GRAHHHHH!!! SHADDUP! I'm tryna' sleep!" Mr. Gregory roared as he turned back to Mina.
Mina recoiled, but her tears still continued. Sniffling again, she stared at Mr. Gregory, momentarily stunned by the increase in volume. "Listen, yer' life is probably shitty, right? Well, what do you think my life is if you look at me?" His raggedy appearance, his crappy hut in the middle of the forest, and his poor bedding all scream sad in the eyes of Mina. "If life decides to push ya' down, get up and kick it in the balls! You gotta fight for the life ya' strive for!" He sighed, this time standing and sitting next to Mina as she continued to lay on the dirt floor.
"In my life, I ain't got anywhere to go anymore. My wife and kids dead, and my hometown burnt to a crisp. That's why I a homeless man now." He points at her and stares at her directly in the eyes. "And you're in the same boat as me!"
Mina's face crumpled. That statement didn't make her feel any better but instead magnified the cruel reality right in her face. "U-Uweehhhhhhh!" She was about to start sobbing like a baby again until Mr. Gregory pulled a piece of candy and shoved it into her mouth. Tasting the nice tasty treat, she started to chew it casually, immediately washing away the momentary sorrows.
"Stopped crying, eh? It always worked with my lil' girlie a while back! That was her favorite candy after all!" Still chewing the candy contentedly underneath her rough covers, she asked, "Mister... you had a daughter?"
He paused for a moment, staring into the beautiful starry night sky. "Yeah, I used to." His lip quivered as he stared blindly into the sky, and then he shook his head. GRAHHHHH!!! Get to sleep, ya' dummy! You'll be trainin' early in the mornin!"
"T-Training?!"
"Yeah!"