Her food is always great, but today it might be even better.
[I should go right away. I'll take the axe and head to the dried trees near the river.]
Excited and full from breakfast, I rushed out the door.
Our house was on the edge of the village, facing away from the river.
If you walked further past it, the path led straight into the forest.
As I was walking down the road, I noticed the village elder—his name was Hans.
Hans was a man in his early thirties, still unmarried, yet he led the village.
He once trained at a swordsmanship academy but had to leave before graduating after the sudden death of his father.
Returning to the village, he took up his father's role.
He always carried two swords with him.
He said he had trained in dual-blade combat at the academy.
From time to time, he even taught me the basics—how to hold a sword, how to land a clean strike.
Out of everyone in the village, Hans was the only person who treated me like a little brother.
That's why I respected him.
"Hey there, little one. Where are you off to with that axe that's bigger than you?"
Same as always—he was teasing me.
But Hans wasn't the kind of person who made fun of others just to hurt them.
It was his way of showing we were close.
"It's not that big. It's just right for me. And anyway, I'm not little anymore—I turned twelve today!"
"Oh, so you're a man now, huh?" he smirked.
"You've got a long way to go before you're a real man.
When you can take responsibility for yourself—and protect others—that's when you'll be a man.
Heh, you little warrior."
He had a point.
A man should be able to protect his family and the ones he loves—stand by them in hard times.
There was truth in his words.
"It's my birthday today."
"Well, would you look at that. When you first got here, you didn't even know who you were.
And now look at you—growing into a fine young man."
Being called that… it made me happy in a strange way.
"I'd better go chop some wood now."
As I walked past Hans, he shouted something behind me.
To be honest, I didn't quite hear what he said at first, so I just nodded and waved.
"Be careful—don't go too close to the river!"
Eventually, I reached the forest.
Now I just had to gather enough firewood and bring it back home.
I started chopping.
To make it easier to carry, I began stacking the logs in piles.
After a while, I had gathered a lot of wood and looked at my growing stack.
[I should chop just a little more.]
I continued working.
Just as I was nearly finished, a tree branch scraped against my arm, leaving a cut.
Blood began trickling down from the wound.
[What should I do about this blood?] I thought.
Then I remembered—the river wasn't far from here.
Wanting to wash it off, I made my way toward the riverbank.
There, along the water's edge, lay pieces of carts, wheels, and broken planks—debris likely carried in by the recent floodwaters.
As I approached the water, I untied the cloth around my eyes and started rinsing my hand.
Since I'd worked up a sweat chopping trees, I also splashed water on my face to cool off.
In that moment, I caught my reflection in the river.
Gazing into my own red eyes, I fell into a brief daze.
Then I shook myself free—[No point in dwelling on it.]—and looked up.
Just then, something shimmered in the water.
It glinted faintly—something shining beneath the surface.
Curious about what it was, I reached into the water and pulled it out.
To my surprise, it was a red crystal—like a gemstone, almost like a ruby or diamond.
When I saw it, I immediately knew it had to be valuable, and I felt overjoyed.
After all, you don't find something this precious lying under your feet every day.
As I stared at the crystal, a thought struck me:
[Now maybe my mother doesn't have to struggle anymore.]
Just one of these crystals had to be worth a lot.
While I was still marveling, another thought crossed my mind:
[If a crystal like this was lying in the river, maybe there are more nearby.]
I began to search around carefully.
After about half an hour of searching the water, I managed to find five more colorful crystals.
With both hands full, I imagined the joy on my mother's face when I brought them home—my heart swelled with excitement.
But just as I was about to head back, I heard a strange sound.
Crack
"Did something happen to the crystals?" I murmured and looked more closely.
That's when I saw it—tiny cracks had begun to appear across their smooth surfaces, slowly spreading wider.
Panicked, I brought them closer to examine them.
And then—
In the blink of an eye, the crystals shattered into dust, and that dust rushed straight into my eyes.
Though they were as fine as powder, when they entered my eyes, the pain was excruciating.
I couldn't bear it and began to rub my eyes, screaming in agony.
"Aaaaah!"
The riverbank was far from the village and already noisy with rushing water,
so there was no way anyone could hear me.
The roar of the current easily drowned out even the loudest of voices.
No one was coming to help me—and I could do nothing myself.
All I could do was keep rubbing my eyes, hoping the pain would pass.
But rubbing them only made it worse.
As I pressed my palms to my eyes, I noticed something else—
blood was trickling from them.
It wasn't gushing, but enough that I could feel it clearly.
I pulled my hands away, intending to run home and show my mother.