Poet

Time passed slowly.

Loreto and his traveling companion held hands during this journey filled with difficulties. The footprints were formed on the soft ground, the shadows of the objects were moving while the blue star in the sky was getting closer and closer to its apex.

"My body is getting weak, my mind is slow…" He closed his eyes, smiling.

The cells in his body ran out of energy, every fiber of his body burned.

Even after going through the lactic fermentation process, his muscles could no longer move. The icy atmosphere made Loreto's lungs have difficulty finding oxygen to fuel all this physical activity.

His smile faded.

His despair faded.

His tiredness faded.

Loreto Esmorte fell, his body stopped moving.

.

.

.

"Hey! Come here and see this," a man's voice echoed throughout the wooden house. The place was dirty, cobwebs decorated the ceiling. The walls had small holes in their structure, allowing the bluish midday light to illuminate the interior of the room.

"He is awake. Salazar, you better prepare the money hahaha!"

In the midst of that cheerful voice, a black-haired man opened his eyes. That person's eyes widened but closed as soon as possible. The glare made the man's sensitive eyes twitch in pain.

"What happened...?" The black haired man asked as he reached out his hand to touch his own face. However, as soon as the bandages covering this limb made contact with his skin, his mouth dropped open.

"Uncle, Linda and I found you in the stone forest. You were unconscious when we found you, and we decided to bring you here. Do you remember your name?" A very young boy's voice greeted the man's ears.

"I… I am Loreto, Loreto Esmorte." He forced himself to open his eyes to see the face of the one who saved his life.

Loreto's eyelids drooped, making the space inside this wooden house visible once more. In total, two children, three adults and one dog with gray fur inhabited this area.

The furniture was simple, all made from the same dark wood found in the stone forest. The comfortable sofa where Loreto was lying has been patched up with colorful rags, making it look tacky.

The boy who saved Loreto had short gray hair, about 1.60 meters (5' 24'') in height and pale skin that contrasted with the dark background behind him.

Beside this boy, a similar-looking girl had long gray hair, 1.55 meters (5' 08'') tall and eyes the same color as the sky of this icy world.

As for the adults, two of them were men, while the other was a woman.

"Loreto Esmorte, you were lucky I found you early. Otherwise, you would have already turned into a popsicle," The owner of this voice was the woman next to the children. "As you might have guessed, my name is Linda, Linda Esbim. Nice to meet you."

Loreto nodded, still looking at the others curiously. In particular, his eyes focused on the gray-haired boy who had saved his life.

"Uncle Esmorte, my name is Gaspar Esbim," the boy bowed his head in a simple gesture of respect. "Very pleased to meet you."

"Gaspar Esbim, Linda Esbim. Haha, looks like I owe a lot to your family." Loreto curled his lips upward, the act was involuntary.

It was difficult to control emotions, maybe it was easier to remember what he had eaten yesterday than to hide his current feelings.

"Young man, it's good that you recognize that," despite lacking the characteristic white hair that came with seniority, one of the dark-haired men with the typical Middle Eastern nose couldn't help but praise his age. This man was 1.80 meters (5' 90'') tall.

"My name is Turico Salazar, and I am the owner of this house. The Esbim family also lives here, but it's not free. Now they've brought one more mouth for me to feed," Turico looked at a portrait on the wall, in it was a man with a long beard and a nose similar to his own.

"I don't want to make things difficult, but I also don't expect you to be just an expense for us. Am I clear?" His serious gaze then withdrew from the portrait on the wall and looked into the depths of Loreto's soul.

"As crystal. I'm just curious, what can I do to pay this debt? I need to find my family." Loreto's words drew sympathetic looks to him.

"It's good that you care about what's important. Okay, I'm going to need you to work at our restaurant for 10 years." The old man without any white hair did not even blink as he said those words.

"10 years?!" Loreto's mouth opened, maybe even an ostrich egg would fit there.

"10 years. We are considering many things here, such as the fact that you spent important medical resources and made all of us here stop working to receive you." Salazar continued to stare at him, keeping his expression impassive.

'I didn't ask you to stop working!' Loreto wanted to curse this shameless old man, but held back his words.

"Alright, I will work here for 10 years. However, I want to receive the same rights as the other residents. In addition, I want to have ways to continue looking for my family." Turico's eyebrows rose at those words.

"Very well, you are determined. I like that, hope you keep your promise. As for looking for your missing family, I can't guarantee anything. As long as you don't interfere with your work on this search, I'm willing to accept your terms."

The two men closed their deal with a nod.

"Loreto, as a new member of our household I'm going to introduce those who will be your companions for the next decade," Salazar looked at the man to his left.

"Loreto Esmorte, Yan Melbor," his right hand swiveled from right to left, using that hand to gesture what he meant like an Italian discussing the taste of good pizza. "Yan Melbor, Loreto Esmorte."

"Nice to meet you, Loreto."

"Same thing, Yan."

Yan Melbor had skin as pale as the inside of a coconut, skin which was covered by several thick hairs. If he claimed to be the son of a gorilla, Loreto would agree with claps. He was 1.76 meters (5' 77'') and had gray hair.

"As for this young lady by your side, would you mind introducing her to Loreto, Gaspar?"

"Not at all, Uncle Esmorte, this is Lucia Esbim. She is my cousin." Gaspar patted Lucia's shoulder on the shoulder, making the latter blush with embarrassment.

"Nice to meet you, Lucia."

"Uh, nice to meet you, Uncle Esmorte."

After everyone's introduction, an awkward silence settled in all corners of the room. His reign seemed to have no end. The reign of the Awkward Silence king only came to an end when Loreto voiced the question that had long roamed his mind.

"Where is this place? I mean, if you were to introduce this place to a stranger."

Silence threatened to reign once more with those words. Gaspar and Lucia had curious expressions, which contrasted sharply with Yan and Linda's faces. Among adults, only Turico Salazar remained unchanged.

"Uncle Esmorte, are you a foreigner?" Gaspar scratched his chin with his fingertips, turning his head slightly to the side.

"No, that's not it. The truth is that in addition to wandering around this world searching for my family, I am also a poet who is always trying to understand more of this world. It's because of this weird hobby that people mistake me for a foreigner." Loreto scratched the lower corner of his cheek, showing a helpless smile.

"Is not strange! It actually looks pretty cool. Can you tell me a poem? I've never heard anything like it, just heard the adults at the bar talking about it while they were playing chess." Gaspar rubbed his hands together like a merchant about to make the best deal of his life.

"Haha, of course. Listen carefully, I dare say it's a masterpiece." Loreto cleared his throat and prepared to repeat one of the poems he could remember:

"You are what no one sees.

The collection of stories, histories,

memories, pains, delights, sins, goodness,

tragedies, successes, feelings and thoughts.

To define yourself is to limit yourself. You are an eternal open parenthesis till your life lasts,"

"What did you think?" Loreto asked, his smile masking his nervousness.

"It's different from what I expected, but also beautiful…" Gaspar frowned.

"Hahaha, that's the purpose. The poem seeks to give its listener a feeling of how complex people are, of how they can challenge themselves to overcome fate." The black-haired man did his best to maintain his mysterious pose.

No way in hell he wanted to be recognized as a foreigner in this strange place!

Be mysterious!

Be weird!

Be poet!