"Just eat already. You're making my mouth water."
Briar's insistence was too much. Midas looked away so he wouldn't have to see her face so close. This girl didn't know the meaning of shame. Of course, she wasn't human, so it made sense, but there had to be limits to this kind of thing. Midas didn't understand her at all, and leaving things like this would only make it worse.
Besides… being fed like that by a girl…
'This isn't something friends would do.' His face burned with embarrassment. 'Come on, Midas, you're already an adult. Act like one.' But even as he told himself that, it was easier said than done. Briar was still right in front of him, eager to eat too.
"Are you really going to leave me like this?" she asked, her voice impatient. Drool dripped from her lips. The small drops of blood that touched her tongue only made her hungrier.
Midas, with an awkward gesture that involved looking everywhere, thought in silence. He looked at the sky, then the ground, and instinctively glanced at Briar's chest. He didn't know which was worse—being fed like a baby bird, or looking at a girl's chest. Actually, how old was she? Was she younger than him? Those questions crawled through his mind like ants, but in the end, he made a quick decision.
The meat was raw, but it was better than bread and water. Even if he had been the only one who received food in that dark abyss, that didn't mean the food had been good. Besides, fresh boar meat, as far as Midas remembered, was delicious even when eaten raw.
It was worth trying…
"Midas, if you don't hurry, I'm going to eat it myself!" Groaning in agony from hunger, Briar dropped to her knees. With her greatest strength and weakness—her hunger—she felt like she was dying. Honestly, the fact that she could hold back with a piece of meat in her mouth was already impressive.
From Briar's perspective, Midas was being cruel.
"You have no shame," Midas growled. He moved closer, kneeling and opening his mouth.
Briar widened her eyes and watched silently. Midas was doing what she told him, like an obedient puppy. She actually liked that. No one usually listened to her when she spoke. Having someone who listened felt nice—even if it was from Briar's twisted perspective.
With difficulty, Midas bit into the meat and tried to pull it away from Briar. However, he didn't expect her to want to play right now. Briar didn't just refuse to let go—she seemed to want to fight for it. Midas really didn't understand this unpredictable being, but somehow… he joined in too.
They struggled like two stray dogs fighting over a scrap of trash. If anyone saw them right now, they'd probably look away and pretend they hadn't.
The struggle lasted only a few seconds before Briar let go of the meat, and Midas fell backward, hitting the ground with his back.
"Hahaha. You're stronger than you look," she laughed. During their brief struggle, Briar had felt a surprising amount of strength coming from Midas's body.
"I don't even believe it myself. I thought my muscles would be completely useless after doing nothing for ten years."
Midas had been modified with hemomancy and all kinds of dark arts. Embedded in his back were seven small, stone-like objects engraved with arcane symbols, granted by the mysterious LeBlanc of the Black Rose. These runes amplified Midas's magical power so much that the first time he used it, his power exploded like a bomb, turning everything around him into gold.
Just like Briar, Midas was also an abomination of the Black Rose. In simple terms, he was no longer human—so he didn't possess human strength. On top of that, the fact that he had been agonizing for hours while being dragged by Briar proved his abnormal endurance.
With the juicy meat in his mouth, Midas chewed while looking at the sky. The flavor was exotic and surprisingly delicious. The blood was salty, giving the meat a richer taste. It was a bit tough, but the boar's muscle fibers were packed with strength and energy—enough to revive a man after years in a cell.
"Hm… It's good, I guess," Midas concluded. He sat up to look at Briar, but what he saw was far more unsettling.
Briar was tearing into the boar's insides with her teeth. Blood splattered across her face and clothes. Her maniacal grin sent chills down Midas's spine.
'She's not going to eat me, right?' There was always the possibility that Briar could lose control and try to devour him. There was no denying that.
After seeing that grotesque sight, Midas lost his appetite and lay back down on the ground. A rest was well deserved. While waiting for Briar to finish eating, he closed his eyes and allowed himself to relax.
***
He had no idea how long he had been asleep. In fact, he didn't even realize he had fallen asleep. He simply opened his eyes after a short nap and looked to the side. Briar was there, asleep, sitting with her back against the trunk of a fallen tree.
"How can she sleep like that? Doesn't her back hurt?" he wondered how uncomfortable that must be.
Then he noticed something—they had slept out in the open and hadn't been attacked by any wild animals. Was it luck? Not at all. Briar had killed one of the largest beasts in the forest, so other animals wouldn't dare come close.
A few meters away lay the boar's skeletal remains. Midas had no idea how such a large animal could fit inside Briar's stomach.
"With such a small body…"
It wasn't like Midas was particularly big. He was only about ten centimeters taller than Briar—around 1.71 meters. Not short, but not tall either. Maybe his appearance was more average than he thought.
Putting that aside, Midas struggled to stay calm. Every time he got distracted, his eyes were drawn to the same part of Briar's body.
'It hasn't been long… and it's still affecting me… How do I forget it?' A man's life was simple in many ways. You either die from an axe to the chest or live long enough to see a girl's chest. There was no comparison. Honestly, dying seemed easier than forgetting that image burned into his mind.
Anyway…
"Hey, Briar," he stood up and nudged her knee with his foot.
Briar grumbled, growled, and kept sleeping.
"Don't tell me you're one of those people who sleeps like a rock at the bottom of a river…"
He called her again, but she reacted the same way. She looked like a discarded doll. She seemed so light that Midas briefly thought that if he kicked her, she'd go flying. Of course, that was just an intrusive thought.
Waiting in silence, he sat in front of her and studied her carefully. She still had dried blood on her clothes. Actually…
"She stinks…" he thought. Then, following that thought, he raised his arms and sniffed himself. "I'm supposed to smell bad too…" But after spending ten years in a cell, he had grown used to his own scent.
A good bath would do both of them good—but separately, obviously.
"Briar… wake up… it's morning…" he sighed tiredly. Looking at her up close was… pleasant. Setting aside all the atrocities she had committed, she was undoubtedly a very beautiful girl.
Despite her pale gray skin, her eyes and round face were quite adorable. Her body clearly showed she was an adult woman of short stature. Well, not that short—she was about 1.61 meters tall. That wasn't exactly small.
"If anyone saw me right now, they'd think I'm a creep. My sister would probably beat me and laugh at me. That's just how she is."
Midas closed his eyes. 'Now that I'm thinking about you… Maissa… I hope you're okay, wherever you are. I want to tell you everything I've been through… I want to be with you again. When I see you, I'll probably cry. I won't be able to handle having grown up without you. I don't know what you look like now, but I'm sure you've become the toughest, most dangerous woman in all of Zaun. Wait for me… I'll come home soon.'
Midas missed his older sister deeply. There hadn't been a single day when he didn't regret leaving her alone. Of course, he had agreed to go to Noxus to get them out of the Lanes. He thought that if he earned enough money, he could return to Maissa and live together in a luxurious home in Piltover, with good food and nice clothes. No one could blame him—he was just a weak kid who wanted to protect his sister at all costs. No one told him he was making a mistake.
But thinking about that didn't help. The past was the past. There was no going back. Now, all Midas wanted was to find his sister.
"Maybe, with this power, I could get you out of there…" He looked at his hands, remembering the magic flowing through his body. With a single touch, anything could turn into gold. That meant free money, but…
"But this power also killed a lot of people…"
Money stained with blood…
"What are we looking at, Midas?" Briar's voice came from right over his shoulder.
Midas jumped slightly. He had been so lost in thought that he hadn't noticed when she woke up. He almost panicked, but calmed down when he saw her wide eyes.
"You almost gave me a heart attack."
"Well, you were staring into space like an idiot, so I thought it'd be fun to talk to you. Come on, you looked like a zombie staring at a bone."
"Aah…" He shook his head, tired, already imagining he'd have to deal with these scares for the rest of the journey. "I was thinking about a lot of things. Anyway," he stood up, scanning the surroundings, "we've eaten, we've rested. It's time to move. We don't know if Noxian soldiers are still around. Later, we'll need to find shelter."
"Yeah, yeah. Sounds normal."
"You'd better pay attention. The road to Zaun will be extremely dangerous, but having you around lowers the risk a bit. That is, if you don't kill me first…" he muttered the last part under his breath.
"The journey on foot will take at least a month or two. If nothing goes wrong, we should make it safely."
"That's good. I already want to see where you're from."
Midas looked at Briar in silence for a moment, then turned and started walking toward Zaun. "You might not like how people live in Zaun."
Life in Zaun was a constant struggle. Midas knew that firsthand—he had lived it. But now that he was heading back, he hoped to change both his life and his sister's. With Briar here, that hardly mattered. For now, they would cross these horizons together.
"Hey, don't leave me! Wait up!"
"If you don't walk faster, you'll fall behind."
"Huh. I'm super fast. If you want a race, then that's what you'll get."
"What? Hey, wait! Don't run!"
***
"Tell me a story, Lamb."
In the shadows of the world, Kindred—the Wolf—spoke. The Lamb looked at him in silence as she watched lives fade on a distant battlefield. They stood hidden among the cold snows of the Freljord, watching bandits clash against a man wielding a massive sword.
"Yes… that sounds like a good idea. Listen closely, my dear Wolf. This is the story of two travelers. Together, they crossed the world and discovered themselves, but along the way, they faced many obstacles."
"I've heard stories like that before."
"Of course. But this one is special, so listen. Two travelers, Gold and Gray, hungry for the same life, broke the chains of their own torment…"