After reading Jonek's book, her heart was as heavy as a stone and a gnawing need to escape from her home ate at her. Her godfather's words were like Pandora's box- perhaps it was never meant to be opened, only to be displayed, for the sheer weight of the knowledge that she had just been exposed to was now trapped in her.

There was only one way where she could free herself from the suffocating feeling- she had to go to the Excidium Forest.

Even for the poor, a favourite pastime of theirs was shopping, and it was common for families to save or eat less just to be able to afford some trinket that they truly yearned for

Not her.

For Alara, the Excidium Forest was it for her.

Her reason for her love for the forest was incomprehensible even to the poor. While the others usually grew valuable medicinal herbs to barter and sell with, Alara loved the forest not for the money it would bring her, but rather for the serenity it gave her.

The forest gave it to her as willingly as Jonek devoted his life to her and her family.

To her, the Excidium Forest was a place of solace. There was nothing she loved more other than listening to the hummingbirds' tuneful melodies; breathing in the less polluted air- the air in her hometown was polluted. When she felt like indulging in her silly whims, Alara would dance, her only audience the warm, non-judgemental Sun.

Everything is going to be alright. I can do this. Reluctantly, Alara got up on her feet, deciding to gather more herbs after she collected herself. My duties never end. Since I'm here, I might as well gather herbs to make a poultice for Mama.

Though one poultice does momentarily stop her mother's illness from deteriorating further, her mother required a continuous supply to prevent her illness from exacerbating.

Before she had picked up her worn satchel and left the house, she had taken a brief glance at her mother, who was, as per normal, sound asleep. Alara could only wish that at least in her dreams, her Mama was free from her demons.

Unlike others, she didn't pray as like her mother, she had lost faith in the Gods and no longer believed in their existence. Atheism became her belief.

Before the relentless series of misfortune, she had believed in them as that was what her father's choice of faith was. She had been inspired by his unwavering faith but after his death and her baby brother's kidnapping, that faith vanished along with them.

How could she when as soon as she lost her father, the Governors had taken over and started their reign of barbarity?

How could she when, not too long after the Governors' victory, Renald was cruelly stolen from her and her mother? How does one keep their faith and trust in the gods after enduring through all that?

It was no wonder that her mother had chosen to give up on the Gods too. After all, their pleas and prayers were always unheard, and the one thing that Alara learnt from all those ordeals was that the only person she could trust and have faith in was herself, and nobody else.

Nonetheless, since there were few luxuries in her life, Alara never failed to treasure the peaceful, quiet stroll to the forest. Her tense body would always relax as soon as she heard the cacophony of the birds' melodious calls echoing throughout the luxuriant forest. Its song was such a sweet one that it soothed her tortured soul whenever she heard it.

As she furthered into the forest, she began looking for the herbs that helped in preventing her mother's condition from exacerbating. The herbs she was looking for were lemongrass, crepe jasmine and crepe ginger.

It wasn't long before she found them. After all, she was practically a veteran in this, especially because she was practically the sole caregiver of her mother and breadwinner of the Berrera family.

Smiling when she spotted the crepe ginger and crepe jasmine, she quickly took them. These herbs were excellent at killing bacteria that caused tuberculosis quickly, which was what she suspected was her mother's illness. The incurable tuberculosis.

Her mood further improved when she saw the long stalks of the green lemongrass herb. The best thing about it was it could destroy the cellular structure of mycobacteria efficiently which helped her mother's illness somewhat subside.

Once again, her appreciation of the forests in Excidium grew. There was never a day where she was not thankful that these treasures of the world were more abundant in the rural parts. This was the only gem the poor had over the Governors.

The Governors simply could never be bothered to care about nature. To them, matters like housing the poor was a redundant issue, preferring to build opulent manors for high-ranking classes in the Excidium Court and Governors.

Unsurprisingly, this had always been a prickly issue with the poor.

The forests also let Alara roam freely without fear of dying or being maimed. Some poverty-stricken Excidiums even managed to have their own secret gardens in the dense forest. Without their literal secret gardens, they would have perished in the freezing winters.

When Alara gathered all of the herbs needed, she started making her way home. Yet on her way out, she heard heavy footsteps approaching her.

Her heart started palpating frenetically.

Who could be following me? What am I to do? Come on idiot, gather your wits together! You've done nothing wrong; walk briskly in case of danger.

Forcing herself to collect her wits, she prayed that she appeared cool as a cucumber as she continued her daily activities- digging up the lemongrass, crepe ginger and jasmine. All the while while she was gathering herbs, she could feel the stranger scrutinising her every movement. And yet the stranger made no attempt to slaughter or maim her in any manner whatsoever.

After a while, she could no longer sense the stranger's - or is it strangers? - presence. At that, she expelled a huge sigh of relief. Though she was capable of defending herself, Alara simply detested any sort of conflict- especially the ones that would result in physical harm.

Suddenly, Alara had an unanticipated flashback of her good friend and confidant, Jonek.

"I don't think your Mama would survive if she lost you too. As it is, she can barely support herself anymore." Jonek had informed her honestly, never holding back as usual.

For that, she had felt both furious and indebted to him too.

It had been a month after many failed attempts to console the broken Cynthia Berrera. Renald had been stolen, but Qas was still safe and sound. Though Joanne had made countless attempts to comfort her old friend, Cynthia had been unkind and cursed her, damaging their priceless friendship in the process.

"You have to be the head of the house now. I know you're young, Alara, but you have no choice." continued Jonek.

"Don't you want to see your Mama eating again? Smiling again? Really living again?"

"Yes, I do," she had replied solemnly.

"Then you must do as I say. I'm sorry you have to grow up so early- but you're the only thing keeping her together and preventing your Mama from collapsing. Be strong for your Mama- and your missing brother. You must be the glue that keeps the Berrera family together."

"Yes, Jonek, I understand." Tears rolled down her cheeks. It seemed that her brain chose to give her a sudden flashback to remind herself of her burdensome duties and not let fear consume her.

Before, she had not understood all of Jonek's words, and all the eight-year-old wanted was her brother and sanguine mother, which was why she had nodded, because she heard the words "be strong for your Mama and your missing brother".

Now, the eighteen-year-old Alara knew what he had truly meant. And nothing would get in her way of her promise to her family.

Time was like the river, always moving on. Days had flown by and Alara continued with the mundane routine of her life- healing her mother, exercising and trading. She tried to make herself content with her life and with the fact that she had little to no troubles lately except for utterly bewildering experience at the forest.

Sometimes though, it was challenging for her to stay satisfied as whatever she earned inevitably went to paying the private investigator she had hired to find and track down Ren.

Yes, she was cognizant that these kids captured by Amorals often went to the diabolical Governors' homes. But Alara had a foolish tendency to retain hope that if she could just somehow track down her brother or even who took him, she could travel all the way there to get him back and avenge her family.

Nonetheless, Alara was thankful for the private investigator as over the years, he had charged her less than his normal rate as he empathised with her. After all, he was in a similar situation- his little sister had been taken too, two years after Ren was.

However, there was always that greedy part of her craving for adventure to escape her boring life, and Alara was cognizant that that was one of the perks of joining the A.A. would give her.

However, she had initially hoped that her answer would be satisfactory enough to be accepted, allowing her to gain entry into the exclusive Agency. Yet as the days slowly turned into weeks, Alara realised the bleak truth of it- that she was undoubtedly rejected and would have to find sketchier ways to provide for her family. And find my brother.

Perhaps this is my fate. There are several sinister rumors surrounding it anyways... and everything related to it is so secretive too. Perhaps this is a good thing after all.

Moreover, Alara remembered a guard notifying her before her departure that she would only know when she was in if she was contacted by an agent. However, the chances of that were slim as despite some disquieting stories surrounding it, there was a string of potential candidates that applied for the job and could easily fulfill the tasks that the A.A wanted.

And I am definitely not as skilled or talented as these people are. The knowledge, their skills that they are fortunate to be equipped with will always outweigh mine. Always.

After all, when people need food and money, they become desperate. When people reach that miserable and devastating point, they would even move the mountains and do anything to survive.

Alara sighed, feeling lost. She had believed that she would be accepted and that the Agency could aid her in her attempts to find Ren. Now, her hopes were dashed; the future seemed like a desolate one.

Is Lady Luck never going to bestow fortune upon me?

Just as Alara was about to prepare the medicine, she heard a series of knocks on the door.

Tap, tap, tap.

Startled, she instinctively removed her pearl hairpin from her braided hair- the only accessory she had left that was given to her from her Papa.

It was not only pretty, but it also proved to be useful as a weapon. Thumbing it, she decided to hide it first.

If she lost the fight, she would lose her only gift from her Papa and she would never forgive herself if that happened. She'd have to risk it and use an equally useful weapon: a long wooden pole that she used to hang laundry with.

As soon as Alara unbolted the door- she had ensured that her hairpin was hidden in the intricate braids of her hair before doing so- she grabbed the pole and pointed it threateningly at the intruder who turned out to be a tall, muscular man.

For some unknown reason, he felt familiar to her, even though she had never seen such a dashing man with steel-blue eyes.

"I always knew I was handsome, but this is the first time one has been so obvious in her desire for me." He flashed a flirtatious smirk at her, and Alara fought the urge to retch.

"Wow. I've never met such an egoistic man in my life." Promptly locking the door, she held the pole in a fierce stance. "Who are you?"

"I'm the man from the forest," revealed the man, dropping his impassioned act. "I know you sensed that I was present- why didn't you attack me?"

"Why didn't you?"

He gradually took a step closer towards her, smirking as he aimed for her pole. Alara took a step back and kicked his thigh, blocking his attack. Yet he seemed unaffected by it and shoved her in an attempt to deflect it.

But she had the wooden pole. She swung it at him, hitting his stomach. The man appeared dazed for a moment, surprised by her fighting skills but started to unsheathe something.

A blade glinted menacingly, reflecting bright rays of the sunlight. From then onwards, it soon became a dance of sorts between them. She would attack and defend; he would deflect her blows, pretending to attack her but as a fighter, she knew that whenever she got hurt by him, it would not be a fatal blow.

So he's not aiming to kill me. Then why is he here?

Eventually after a few minutes, Alara grew weary from the build up of lactic acid in her muscles causing her to experience fatigue. She started to stumble but managed to steady herself, and for a split second, she felt something drop from her body but ignored it when the man started to say something.

She didn't hear it though as she was busy regaining her composure. I need to remain fierce at least in my appearance so that I can ensure he won't try anything with my Mama. But then it clicked. The pretense of an actual fight, the game of it all.

"You're from the Ascendancy Agency, aren't you?"

"Aren't you brilliant." His tone implied that she was anything but. "I was testing your skills through the fight."

"Why through a fight? Why a test?"

"So many questions. I won't answer them, at least not now."

"Why won't you?"

"Now, where's the fun in that?"

"Now, where's the fun in that?"

The sarcastic, narcissistic agent got on her nerves.

Was this how all Agency agents behaved? What exactly have I gotten myself into?