The wet mud below Kai's feet made him wince as he made way through the swamp.

It was quite soft, squishy and he would sink onto it at every step.

It was also quite slippery, his sandals weren't made for this type of terrain, mud soaking through and wetting his skin.

It was cold.

It made him shudder.

The place was unknown to him, it was a swamp, sure, but that's about it, surrounding him was thick fog, he couldn't see anything more than a few meters upfront making walking that bit more difficult than it already was, there were also a lot of insects.

The tall trees and foliage didn't help at all, making the already dim sunset diminish even more as afternoon made space for the night.

Truly a scary place.

Especially for a five year old.

Kai just squeezed his father's hand tighter as they walked, he felt his father squeeze back.

Looking up he met face to face with his father's worried face which momentarily broke into a soft smile.

Kai gave a small smile back despite not feeling it.

His father was fooling no-one but if he was trying so would Kai.

Because there wasn't anything else he could do.

The five year old looked back from where they'd come, watching the fog swirl around the place, slowly getting thicker and thicker as their trip moved to the depths of the swamp.

He huffed and kept up his pace.

After a while he let his eye navigate around, nothing he hadn't seen in all these hours but he did manage to catch a glimpse of his mother who was cradling a sleeping Nya in her arms.

Nya.

She had finally fallen asleep.

Ever since they reached the swamp she couldn't stop wailing, no matter what his mother tried she wouldn't just calm down.

Eventually she just tired herself to sleep.

Kai couldn't bring himself to blame her.

All this was just so… disorienting, scary, even if their parents were here.

And he was a big boy. He was five! But if this scared him then, what would his baby sister feel? Of course she was scared!

But despite everything Kai trusted everything would be fine.

Why? Because their parents were here, and the would do anything! They were strong and capable and just… everything else Kai wanted to be when he was older.

He trusted them.

And if they said they were going to be fine then they were going to be fine.

So he kept on walking, pathetically dragging one foot after another as he kept sinking onto the mud.

Out of the corner of his eyes he saw something slither around, a snake.

He tried his best to ignore it.

Even as he could feel the eyes on the back of his head,

He kept on walking.

It's dark by the time they finally arrived at two small buildings in the deepest parts of the swamp.

One looked like a small house, way smaller than the one they've been living in, the other one seemed to be a forge.

It didn't help with Kai's uneasiness, the place just looked… off, lifeless, nothing like the warmth place Kai used to call home.

They were ushered onto the forge first and Kai couldn't help but stare.

The walls were bare, the tools were just there, collecting dust and overall it seemed as if not a single soul had ever worked in there.

It was just… empty.

No unfinished projects lying around, no used tools, no weapons, cloths or buckets, not even a teapot or bench for when a break was due.

It didn't sit right with Kai.

He really hoped they wouldn't stay for long on what he could just assume it was an impromptu business trip and they would be back home in a few days.

His parents had passed Nya onto his arms while he sat against one of the walls, on the floor.

It was freezing cold and made him shiver just slightly for the first time in a while he wanted nothing but a warm bath.

Still he obeyed, cradling a sleeping Nya as he waits for his parents.

Sighing tiredly he slumped, hitting his head softly against the brick wall as he looked up, watching the faint light of the moon barely illuminate the room.

He tore his gaze away when some chatter caught his attention, drawing it towards the door.

His parents were talking with a man.

It was a friend of theirs, Saunder was his name.

They seemed to be arguing about something, he couldn't tell about what, they weren't whispering but not exactly yelling either and he was just too tired to make sense of whatever

they were saying.

He just wanted to go home.

Something told him that wasn't happening anytime soon though.

Kai closed his eyes, hugging Nya tightly..

…

He's jolted awake by his father who was suddenly carrying him towards a bed, there's a warm murmur in his ears as he yawned, cuddling closer to the source of warmth that is his father.

He fell asleep again.

Kai eventually lost track of how long they've been in the swamp, which was honestly making him a bit crazy.

Everything's the same whether he's awake or not.

Cold, foggy, wet, damp and boring.

It didn't matter if it's day or night, it's dark, very dark and Kai hated it all, he missed the sun, the green hills and the rice farms.

He missed his bed, his room, his home where he and Nya could spend hours playing hide and seek on the secret passages of their small home.

Here it was just the same, same muted yellow walls, same stone floor, same weather.

He hated it all.

But there wasn't anything he could do, not really.

He found himself accompanied by Nya all day, at all time.

But that's fine, because he liked having his sister around, it meant he wasn't alone.

They're usually left at the small cabin, their parents a few meters away working tirelessly at the new forge.

Every couple of hours or so one of them would pass by, checking on them, it was usually their Mom but their Dad made sure to pass by too, those small breaks were the best in Kai's opinion.

Right now their parents had left not too long ago, maybe thirty minutes ago or so which meant Kai and Nya wouldn't be seeing their parents for at least another hour.

Today Kai found himself sitting above a chair which he had pushed towards the only window the small house had and just… kept watch on what little of the swamp was around.

It was boring, he couldn't even see the forge since it was on the other extreme of the house so he was left watching mud and fog, but it was better than seeing the brick walls for the hundred times that day, eventually he just left his eyes drift around without noticing anything in particular.

At least until they settled on Nya.

Currently she was flopping on her stomach on the cold stone floor, drawing random doodles with some chalk. Kai honestly didn't even know where she got from, maybe their parents handed them over it at some point.

From his spot he can barely make what she's drawing but is mostly nonsense.

She's probably going crazy too.

With a slight sigh Kai gets down from the chair, making sure to put it where it belongs before walking towards his sister.

She looked up, both of them meeting eyes as she made room for him, he sat besides.

"What's that?" He asked, pointing at one of the unidentifiable doodles that's now adorning the floor.

Nya just shrugged.

Kai scoffed slightly, she's not fun to be around when she's in a mood, then again he hasn't been any better.

Admittedly his own energy had been on the low end, sometimes even more than Nyas and a lot of his time was used to sleep, the time increasing more and more with each passing day, he just… felt tired, for absolutely no reason.

And Nya? Nya had been more silent.

This was so unlike her.

She had always been fussy and quite loud, difficult to manage as some other adults would say but now? She had been quiet, not speaking much, not even complaining, hell she hasn't cried ever since they had arrived.

It freaked him out, just a little.

If anything he completely blamed the swamp, nothing is like it should be and it's been this way since they arrived, it just- off putting.

He flopped down next to Nya, stomach down and grabbed her hand.

"Can I get some?"

She nodded, clumsily breaking off the chalk before offering her brother the other part who happily took it and both went back to drawing in silence.

He started to draw butterflies and flowers and soon Nya joined, giggling whenever Kai drew an especially bad-looking one on purpose.

None noticed the snakes slithering outside the house.

Their parents' friend came by again, Kai pointed it out as soon as he saw him.

"He's not a friend anymore" Maya had said to them soon after they arrived.

Well… the man came by again.

He wasn't Sanders because apparently that wasn't even his name but Kai couldn't remember his actual one.

Nya thought he's pretty weird. Kai had to agree.

They called him "The Strange Man"

The first time they had told so to their parents, in unison, both had laughed, their mom had scoffed and giggled while their father sighed while chuckling tiredly.

"Don't call him that to his face" They were lightly scolded.

Had had just shrugged while Ray sighed in resignation.

Not like the man ever came close to them, it was as if he had forgotten they existed.

It was probably for the best.

They hadn't even seen him close.

At least, not until now.

It's one of the days were Nya had been particularly fuzzy, for whatever reason and after a small discussion the siblings were taken to the forger, Kai felt as if it had been forever since he had been inside one, Nya even more, since she's younger she had been allowed less time to visit.

But for now, Kai laid on a bench, on his side, hugging a sleeping Nya close to his chest as he watched his father and mother work.

He knew better than to go around playing, fuzzing or just bothering in general and fortunately Nya knew too, and she had been more tired than usual which alongside the warmth of the forget it made him all fuzzy and warm inside too.

He wasn't sure when he drifted off but he knew I had been a while because he felt cold.

That only happened when the forge wasn't in use.

At some point Nya had scurried off of his grasp and was currently hiding behind the partially closed door, well, not really hiding as she was actually trying to peek from the gap.

"Nya" He hissed.

Startled, she looked up, annoyed and brought a finger to her lips, before going back to her endeavor.

Kai sighed and as quietly as possible he went to his sister's side, wobbling slightly as he got up from the bench.

He knelt down beside her, doing his best to copy her movements.

Not-Sanders was arguing with their parents, they couldn't see them that well considering they were standing meters away from the main forge and the fog wasn't helping.

But if his hand motions and body language were anything to go by… he seemed frustrated, and he had a sword on his hand, a sword that wasn't made by his father as he couldn't recognize it from before.

Nya gripped Kai's hand hard as the man pointed the sword towards their parents, Ray positioning himself between Maya and him.

Both hold their breaths, leaning into the door a bit more as they tried to listed to-

The door creaked and both fell forward, onto the humid floor of the swamp.

Kai groaned as he quickly got off of Nya.

Head turned towards them and Nya squeaked, Kai thinking fast and grabbing her hand before turning tails and going inside the forge, hiding below the bench.

Their parents eventually came inside again and honestly, both siblings were expecting a scolding but the only thing they got were tired pats and hugs before their tired parents went to go back again.

Outside, an orange snake slithered around.

They weren't allowed onto the forge again.

A bummer in Kai's opinion, especially because Nya and him were on the verge of massive boredom.

Recently both had taken on scurrying out, playing around in the swamp, not far of course, and coming back before their parents noticed.

If they did notice they didn't say anything (Of course they did, hard to hide muddy clothes and hair), they had started to left them alone for longer periods of time too.

Kai felt at a loss, Nya just rolled with the days.

Was this their new life? Just doing nothing for hours and hours? Exploring the swamp until they knew it like the back of his hand?

Kai decided it didn't matter and recently had taken to just flop himself onto the closest mud pit and laid there, dreaming of the green hills of Ignacia.

"Kai! " Whined Nya, pulling his hand trying to get him up from his current mud bath somewhere behind the shed.

Kai whimpered, feeling too heavy to do much, he just wanted to sleep.

"Kai!" Cried the little girl with an even higher pitch and this time the boy did his best to get up, he knew that pitch, he knew she would start crying soon.

What kind of brother makes his little sister cry?

Sluggishly he did get up and with heavy steps he walked towards the cabin hand in hand with Nya bith covered on mud that stuck to their body almost as a second skin by now.

It was cold.

He thought he might be able to give them both a bath before their parents came back.

But the moment the siblings stepped inside the shed both made a beeline towards their bed and quickly fell asleep.

Kai woke up.

It wasn't a nice wake up.

Not in the slightest.

He felt warm, too warm, hot, as if he was burning up, lightheaded and the thought of throwing up made itself present despite knowing he went to sleep without dinner.

It had been supposed to be just a nap, a nap after playing in the mud during most of the afternoon, because they were supposed to bathe before going to bed.

So they had taken a nap, waiting for their parents or at least until nighttime when it was bedtime.

But then?

Why was the bilis burning his throat if it was just a nap?

Kai could feel it climbing up, it hurt even as he tried to swallow it back down.

A shiver ran through his small body.

He felt cold.

So so cold.

He whined.

There's a hand on his forehead, a curse or so he thought and a wet cloth.

He sighed with relief, feeling the bilis retracting just enough so he didn't feel nauseous anymore.

He couldn't remember feeling this sick in all his five years of life.

There's some voice he couldn't discern but honestly it didn't matter, he curled up under the thin sheet that was covering his body.

Between his feverish dreams there's a voice that kept talking to him.

And a looming figure above him.

There's also a small constant source of heat curling up besides him.

Kai murmured stuff, just delirious musings from a sick, bedridden kid.

There's voices above him.

He was told once he felt better he and Nya would be able to go back to his parents at the forge and the small cabin at the swamp.

Uh? He couldn't remember leaving in the first place.

Maybe it was the fever, or the childhood innocence that still lived in him, maybe it was just the wishful thinking that everything would be fine.

He believed them.

So he closed his eyes, resting his sickness as he hugged his little sister tighter who, unknown to him, was equally sick.

It's fine, he just… needed to get better and then he could see his parents.

Yeah.

He just… Needed to rest.

Eventually between the fever and tiredness he fell into a fluffy dream, he dreamed of his mom singing, her hands combing through his hair, his dad telling him stories about dragons before bedtime and him juggling at the table before dinner.

Just happy memories all around.

He wondered if things would ever return to normality once they go back to their parents.

Surely after this they would go back to their home in Ignacia, right?

He couldn't wait.

Truly.

…

They never went back.