Both Ananke and the kid were on their knees sitting on legs as their palms closed and touching the knees, scared as Rhina was angry.

  ‘Oh I see. wait 3 days? no wonder my mouth feels dry.’ said the kid jokingly trying to calm her down.

  “Stop joking around, you know how worried we were.”

  ‘I am sorry.’ said the kid with his head down. She sighed.

  ‘And thank you.’ whispered the kid embarrassly.

  She looked up and saw him pull out the iron chain from beneath the clothes.

  ‘Thank you for this.’

  This was the first time she saw him being so embarrassed about something in her whole life she spent with him.

  She smiled gently as she patted his hair “How cute. You're welcome.” The kid said ‘I am too old for this’ embarrassed.

  ‘How nice’ thought Ananke.

  She coughed and looked towards Ananke coldly saying “And you. Fix that door” as she walked away.

  ‘She is scary when angry.’ said the kid

  ‘I can tell.’

  Ananke looked towards the kid and said ‘Hey kid, you can go back to sleep. I will fix the door…’

  The kid sighed and said ‘I guess I am to be blamed for it as well. I will help… So stop trying to sound cool while staring at me with those puppy eyes.’ as he looked at Ananke looking at him as if asking for pity.

  As they began to fix the door. Ananke asked the kid. ‘Hey, what is your name?’

  ‘I don’t remember. Call me anything you like.’

  ‘Well I do plan to take you with me to the town if you decide to. If you have anything you are interested in then tell me.’

  ‘So you really kidnap kids?’ as he looked at Ananke with pitiful eyes.

  ‘Oh spear me. Wait, you were awake during that?’

  ‘Somewhat. I barely was able to make sense of what you were saying though.’

  Ananke looked at the kid with concern and asked ‘How are your injuries?’

  ‘I will live. Probably.’

  ‘No seriously. You have gone through the 2nd phase. People barely stay normal especially after taking 3 days’

  The kid pats himself around ‘I dont really feel any pain and can move easily.’ as he tried moving his arm and stretching them ‘I am probably just tired as I am seeing things’ as he looked near Ananke's foot with confusion.

  The kid asked ‘And what is this 2nd phase about?’

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  ‘I do have some stuff to tell you but you are probably exhausted. Let us discuss it tomorrow. It is pretty late. For now go to sleep … kid’ he paused as the kid had no name.

  As he walked towards the door ‘Take your time, I will be here for some time prob… I would be happy to know’ said Ananke as he started to walk away.

  Just as he was about to leave the room he told him ‘Good night, kid’ but the kid was lost in his own thoughts.

  ‘A name huh…’ thought the kid and had a sudden flash back… he looked up and smiled ‘Call me Smiley’ but Ananke was already far… it was not possible for anyone to hear the kid from that far.

  Ananke looked back at the kid as he smiled as he said ‘Good night Smiley.’

  The kid smiled back ‘Good Night’, He was worried of him not listening and him never even saying it back disappeared.

  While Ananke just thought of it as a simple way of accepting the offer to go to town with him and his strong will to continue. It held a whole different meaning for Smiley.

  Smiley thought to himself ‘I wonder why I keep thinking of this name…’. He looked seriously in his thoughts… He took on the blanket and thought ‘No need to overthink it, lets just sleep’ as he went to sleep.

  Tomorrow morning, Smiley woke up and noticed the string was in front of him once again. Smiley extended his arm once again and as usual, he was not able to touch it at all.

  It led him outside the window as if it was telling him to jump off and on the exact moment someone knocked.

  ‘Its me.’ said Ananke.

  Smiley let him enter and Ananke noticed him as he was staring at the air oddly.

  ‘Do you see a white string by some chance?’ asked Ananke.

  ‘Yea, How did you—’ as he was smiling with a confused look but it disappeared instantly as he saw Anake drawing his wooden sword.

  Ananke instantly drew his sword and slashed the air. Smiley yelled ‘What are you doing?’

  He noticed the string got slashed in half and started to disappear by Ananke strike when he was not even able to touch it.

  ‘Do not ever follow the string.’

  ‘Huh? How did you—?’

  ‘Those are called strings of death. If you follow them, they will lead you to the closest and surest way to your death and do not be fooled. If you don't follow it, it will try to outsmart you another way. If it gains your trust then you will surely die. It will come back again randomly if it wants to.’

  Ananke continued as he stealthed his sword ‘You were lucky I was here. If you had followed it even once, You would had died’

  ‘But I already did that…’ responded Smiley.

  …

  ‘Haha… You would have died if you—’ and it struck him ‘Wait by some chance, is that the reason why you went to void…’

  ‘Maybe?’ replied smiley as if he was admitting to it but not making it too obvious.

  Ananke thought ‘Something seems off about this all’

  Smiley asked him with a different question ‘How did you cut the string? I was not even able to touch it.’

  Ananke just smirked and said ‘Someone tries to kill me with the string of hers. I just have gotten used to it’. Smiley just said ‘Poor you, fate must really want you dead.’

  ‘Haha… yea something like that’ Ananke responded which was pretty suspicious.

  Ananke instantly averted the topic and asked him about his injuries once again.

  ‘I feel pretty much fine. It is weird how I am almost fine after all those injuries.’

  ‘Do you know about the ring?’

  ‘This one?’ as Smiley took it out from underneath his clothes.

  ‘Yes. It had healing ability in it, that is why you were able to survive those injuries and are feeling normal right now.’

  ‘I see… I guess this was not just a random ring to keep me going…’

  ‘But its healing effects have died out. I am not quite sure as it looks like an ordinary ring but something is still off about it as it was healing you without any magic in it. We can probably get it inspected back at town if you have decided to come with me.’

  ‘Why do you want me? Is this due to the 2nd stage?’. Ananke simply nodded.

  ‘What even is this second stage?’

  ‘Basically you rejected hero awakening’

  ‘Wait, Rejected what?’