ONE

I am walking towards a forest, I simply want to go deeper, I have no more reasons to stay in the kingdom, I only wear my leather clothing, a sword, a knife, and on the strap my crossed-out insignia.

I kept walking more and more until a moose gave me a great scare and I realized that in that forest there were only animals that could not cause me great harm, so I decided to leave my sword stuck in the ground, out of nowhere owls began to hoot filling the place of their song. At first, I did not care and kept moving forward but after walking a few more meters I heard a woman hum a beautiful song. Instinctively I started calling her, I wanted to know if there were more people around here but no one answered me, I kept moving even deeper, the fog thickened and I slowed down until I saw her, a hooded shadow approached me and instantly my chest began to hurt, I fell to my knees without being able to do more and she spoke to me, she spoke to me with a very soft but imposing voice ...

-I just want to know only 2 things: Who sent you? and because?

- No one has sent me - I said quickly - I am an exile, they condemned me to spend the rest of my life away from the kingdom, my emblem shows you - I show him my crossed out insignia with trembling hands - they only do this with exiles, no we can never take it off, that's the law.

- .....Then what do you want?

-My name is Randall and I just want a place to live, I thought that this forest would be inhabited only by animals and I did not expect to find another person here. -with a pleading voice I managed to say- If you are the guardian of this land please let me live here, I will comply with the conditions you want.

-Okay, don't disturb living beings here and don't make noise.

And so the pain disappeared, when I looked up it was gone, leaving thousands of doubts, everything happened so fast that my mind could barely process what it was saying, I got up and from a distance, I heard it.

-There's a very old house up ahead -she said nonchalantly- go straight ahead and be careful not to get lost, that's easy here.

At first, it seemed very strange to me that he agreed so quickly, or that he was leading me into a trap or planning to do something with me. Without thinking, I went where she told me (I know, very smart, right?). After all, he had no other options for where to go. As the woman said, after walking for a while I found the cabin and it was in better condition than I imagined for an abandoned house. Upon entering I found some stacked pieces of wood, some tools, and an ax. From what was here, it was obvious that the place belonged to a lumberjack.

Well, I thought aloud, I guess first of all I should look for some source of water ...

But before I could finish the sentence

-There is one nearby -she intervened again- exactly to the left when leaving the cabin but beware that the fog is very deceptive.

I was afraid, at what moment did she come in? I didn't hear her coming

- Thanks for the info...

I couldn't even finish the sentence and she was already right in front of me, she with both hands she took my face, looked me directly in the eyes and said:

-Here I am going to decide whether to kill you or not -she said in a colder tone- you won't be able to refuse, tell me how you ended up being an exile.

Her green eyes began to glow somewhat strangely. It's magic?

- Wait, that's hypnotic magic ...

I lost control of my mind, I was still quotient but I couldn't focus with anything but those beautiful eyes and without realizing it my lips began to articulate words one after another.

-Everything happened when I decided to do a friend a favor, he wanted to go see his partner but he had to patrol the city, he had nothing to do so I offered to replace him. Everything in the city was in order until when I reached an alley I heard groans accompanied by cries and screams, it immediately alarmed me and I ran in the direction of the screams. Someone was trying to abuse a woman, I went in quickly to try to stop the subject, I did not use my gun but I quickly pushed him away from the woman and hit him. After hitting him, I knocked him to the ground to immobilize him and that's when I recognized the subject, he was the captain of the navy. Before he could say anything, he used strange magic that emanated from a ring that I had never seen before, that magic froze me, the captain took my knife, he finished with the woman so fast and ruthless that I choked. He was very cautious, somehow he avoided staining her uniform. I could see her hands covered in blood and when I thought that I would be next he approached me, he placed the knife in my hands, wiped his hands on my face, and even finished hitting me. I ended up on the ground almost unconscious but I heard him say, "You shouldn't have been here boy, I can't tarnish my image, how about an early retirement?" and he fell unconscious. When I woke up I was in a cell and 2 days later they took me to trial under the charge of assault and rape, he blamed me for everything and the worst thing is that the culprit of all this was an executioner, he could silence me with magic or simply taking my life but what he did to me was worse.

-He blamed you for his crimes and they exiled you -he said calmly- but why didn't you say anything?

-Which word do you think has more weight, that of a soldier or that of a captain of the royal navy? -I answered instantly- I no longer had a voice, they deprived me of all my rights, and besides, who would believe me?

- Didn't it occur to you to return the favor?

-I do not earn anything, I would continue to be an exile and now I would be a murderer, I preferred to take his "early retirement" was the best, besides it is not as if someone was going to miss me, the old men. Whoever raised me died a long time ago, I no longer have anyone else.

Apparently, she was already satisfied with my answers and she broke the trance, leaving me with a terrible headache.

-Hey! -I shouted indignantly- if you wanted me to speak you should only

She sighed and left without making a sound.

-And now you leave me talking to myself - I said into the air, waiting for her to listen to me- whatever you want now, leave me alone for a while.

But she no longer responded, leaving me completely alone.