In a forgotten village on the edge of nowhere, a boy named Jio grows up ignored by the world. Quiet, unimportant, barely surviving — he’s the kind of kid no one would remember if he disappeared.
But kindness has a strange way of shaping things.

When Jio helps a stranger left to die at the edge of the desert, he doesn’t expect anything to change. He just does it because it feels right.
That stranger isn’t quite who she seems, and Jio isn’t just some quiet beggar boy.
Not really.

But for now, this is just a story about surviving, about learning to care in a place where no one teaches you how, and about how small acts of kindness can begin to shift the world — even before the world notices.

"You said that out loud," Havella muttered flatly, blank eyes fixed on Jio like he'd just announced he wanted to marry a storm.


Jio didn't blink. Just stared calmly back.


"You're unbelievable." She rubbed her face. "'Not luck... something else'— gods, that's the kind of thing a drunk old man says right before getting eaten by a boar."


Havella turned away, lips pulled tight in secondhand embarrassment, but mostly… in jealousy. That power. That strange light. The way he simply called it without a gesture, without training, without cost. How?


She had bled for her magic. Bit by bit. Scar by scar.


And here he was. Calm. Expressionless. Holding a miracle in his hand like it was just another tool.


He was also the idiot who shared dried roots with her without complaint. Who covered the faces of the dead. Who burned no bridges because he had none to begin with.


Survival dulled into routine. Dull meals, cold mornings, rough sleep, silence broken by wind.


But food was thinning. What they'd found wouldn't last another week. Even Jio, who never said much, looked toward the hills more often now. Like he felt the edge of something closing in.


Finally, Havella stood, brushing dirt from her coat.


The wind stirred her hair. Her eyes narrowed a little — not in anger, but something closer to disbelief.


She hated how simple that was. How calmly he said it, like it was the most natural thing in the world.


Like this wasn't a cruel, broken world that would eat him.


"…You know what I am, don't you?" she said softly.


Jio stared at her. That same deadpan expression.


She froze. Her mouth twitched slightly.


She groaned, turning away. "Gods, you're the worst."


But there was a strange relief in her laugh — thin, but real. Her shoulders eased for a moment, until the silence returned.


She had survived alone for years. Alone — because that was the only way to stay alive. No attachments. No softness. No baggage.


Quiet. Persistent. Dangerous in a way she didn't understand.


If they continued together… he would become her weakness.


"…You slow me down," she said. No bite in her voice. Just honesty.


She looked at him, frustration rising. "You don't care?"


"Because if you leave me behind, I'll still follow."


There it was again. That terrifying simplicity. No threats. No desperation. Just fact.


She wanted to hit him again. Or hug him.


Instead, she turned away and started walking.


"Fine," she snapped over her shoulder. "But if you get me killed, I'm haunting you."


Chapter 8 - -8