The cure

“Do you really think this is right ?”

“Of course it is, we do this for humans sake!”

“But who gave us the right to do this? Who led us play … something like god?

“You want to know who gave this to us? We did … and we are using this power! And now begin.”

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He opened his eyes slowly and a few seconds later he felt the extreme headache. He blinked to become clear but it didn't really work, the world surrounding him was blurry and everything inside his body felt dizzy.
He never felt like this before and only slowly the world became sharper and he was looking into the face of a young girl, red curls were hanging into her face and freckles were filling her face, two anxious eyes were looking back.

“Aleyu, are you okay?” she asked and leaned a little back when the young man began to sat up. His short brown hair was scraggly and he began to hold his head but in the end Aleyu was nodding.

“Yes … yes … I'm okay … just a little headache. What are you doing in my room Susan?” he asked to the younger girl.

“Dad told me to get you up and when I entered the room I saw you talking while you were sleeping … a nightmare?”

“I don't know. Can't remember anything completely, just that it was something very … confusing. But that's not important. Tell Dad I'm coming downstairs in a few minutes.” and with a nod Susan  turned around and left the room, leaving Aleyu alone.


Aleyu was  18 years old and since he was able to think he lived inside this house on a world they called Gren IV. The young man was adopted, his “family” wasn't his real family what really happened to his parents nobody knew, he was just set out into the wilderness where his adopted-father John found him and took him home.
They told him this story every year and every time when he asked about his parents. But he loved his new family, John and his wife Alina and their two girls Susan and Jenn, he was the only boy in the family and the whole proud of his father.
He went downstairs and the smell of fresh bread came into his nose, his family was sitting at a table and John smiled as Aleyu came back and sat down on his chair.

“Good morning son, hope you are fit enough for the work today in the forest?” John asked and Aleyu nodded in reply while he was taking some bread. The older man nodded “Very well, we have lot to do … we need some fire-wood for the colder days and we have to finish before it becomes dark.”

Aleyu nodded again and then he could see how Jenn, the youngest of the family, snorted. “I wanted to go out tonight if this is okay dad?” she asked in a tone that told Aleyu that she already knew the answer of her father and in fact; she did.

“No, how many times should I tell you this again? Nobody is going out by night! It's too dangerous! The windows have to be closed and nobody is going outside! End of discussion.” John said in a strict tone and everybody knew that it was useless to talk about this subject.
Aleyu never argued with his father about this, if he said it was too dangerous, it was too dangerous for going outside. John always explained his son that in the night all the man-eating creatures came out of their hidings and that they would kill everything they find outside the house.
That was also one of the reasons why no room upstairs had windows, even not Aleyus, because it was too dangerous. The young man accepted this, he didn't need to get out in the evening and so it was never a problem.
But Jenn was a little different, especially in the last months. John always sad that she became a teenager and that it would be normal.


During the day every member of the family had his own job to do. The girls were preparing the house and the food while John and Aleyu were going into the forest where they hunted and collected wood for the colder days.
Aleyu learned the hunting very soon from his father and he was even better than his Dad, many times he was able to hear animals before John could hear them or his instincts were sharper than John's, Aleyu didn't know why, John always said that it would be a gift from nature.
Today they were able to hunt a deer, it took half a day before Aleyu could strike the animal down but in the end they could bring enough meat home to survive the next weeks without any problems.

They went back home before the sun was vanishing behind the horizon. Johns aid that they had to hurry, he was suddenly extremely nervous, he always stared up to the sky and as they finally reached the house he took a deep breath. Aleyu was allowed to recover from the hard day while John was going outside into the small hut behind their house and skinning the animal.
Aleyu wanted to ask if he could help but the only answer he got was; “Nono, son … it's okay, stay inside, I'll make the work …” and the he vanished. Sometimes his father was a little strange in his behaving but Aleyu was quite sure that it was because he was exhausted from all the hunt and so he went up into his room. He just passed the door of Jenn's room as he heard some voices talking with each other; his sisters were chatting, normally nothing interesting but Jenn seemed to be very angry and so Aleyu stopped shortly to listen.

“It's totally unfair! All my friends in school are allowed to go out into the city by night, but I have to stay at home! Sometimes I hate Dad because of this!” Jenn was ranting.

“You know why he's doing this … it's for the sake of us all …” Susan replied in a more soft tone.

“It's because of HIM! Without Aleyu we could go out and be normal people! I have enough of being called a strange and scary girl just because I can't go out when everybody else can!”

“Come on Jenn, you know that it is necessary … and look, Dad doesn't need to work anymore, we don't have to pay the rental … and Aleyu is a nice boy, you know that, even if he isn't our real brother.”

“Yeah he IS nice but when will all this end? Seriously, I don't want to live in this way all my life!” Jenn said annoyed.

“I don't know, maybe not too long, who knows … only Dad knows ...”


Aleyu blinked confused and stared at the door, he wanted to listen more but then he could hear how somebody was standing up and walking to the door so he hurried and slipped into his own room and began to lie down at his bed.
His eyes were fixing the ceiling, what did Jenn mean when she said that it was his fault that they couldn't go out in the evening? What had he done? He always did his work, he never argued with anybody of the family, so why they would punish Jenn because of him? The more he was thinking about these questions the bigger his headache became and he had to close his eyes, he was suddenly extremely exhausted and then he felt asleep.

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“It seems to work … it really seems to work ...”

“I still think that we make a mistake with all this.”

“Why? Because we start to make the world a better place?  Come on ...”

“We don't know if this will really work withall these side-effects … you know that there were complications!”

----

“We want you to take care of him, be careful … maybe a few months, maybe a year, not more ...”

“Look John, now we finally have a son … a real son”

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When he opened his eyes again it was still dark in his room. The candle that was most of the time burning was burned out and his head was droning. He didn't know what time was but as he forced his body to stand up and went downstairs, his father was sitting at the table. After recognizing Aleyu he smiled

“Son … perfect. I have a little job for you today. You did very well yesterday and so you can go into the city to have a free day. Enjoy it but be back before the sun goes down! I don't want to find my son dead inside the stomach of a monster, okay?”

Aleyu blinked two times before he realized what his father just told him. Then all the thoughts about yesterday vanished and he nodded smiling. He have been to the city only two times before and it was always something great when John allowed him to visit the city.
“Of course Dad I'll be back punctually!” he said and with these words he was already grabbing his coat and ran outside; he had to hurry if he wanted to enjoy his day before the evening.


One of the bigger cities of Gren IV was called “Malentron” and here you could buy everything, well not exactly everything but enough to be “everything” for Aleyu. The young man was always amazed when he walked through the streets of the city, looking up to the high buildings and watching all the different people. Today he wanted to explore a part of the city he has never been before; the southern part. There were many shops and also many side-streets with interesting items and people.
Aleyu was just walking through one of these streets, in one hand a grilled rat – the specialty of the city. He wanted to get into a shop as he could hear a scream from one of the smaller side-streets.
These streets were completely empty and dark, nobody was going into them voluntary, but the scream had a female voice and Aleyu couldn't ignore it so he went into the street and followed the voice that became louder and louder with every moment.
More voices began to mix with them, one … no … two other voices, male voices, where laughing and talking and after Aleyu turned around the corner he saw two men standing in front of a girl who was sitting at the ground and staring upwards to both, her eyes were wide and she was pale.


“Ah come on Lilly … you own us something … if you can pay the secure-fee we will go … but it seems like you don't have enough money, huh?” one of the guys said and grinned bright while he wanted to pull his pants down.

“Yeah, a little fun, not more … than you can go.” the other said and smiled cold.

The girl was now screaming again and she wanted to escape but she couldn't. Behind her back was a wall and in front of them the two men. Aleyu narrowed his eyes, took a deep breath and walked forward.

“Hey! Leave this Lady alone!” he shouted and led his food fall to the ground. Both men now turned around and the one with the lowered pants was blinking confused.

“What do you want kiddo? Go home or we have to hurt you ...” he said with a cold voice.

“I want you to leave this Lady alone … now!” he replied.

“Or something?” the second asked and took a step forward so that he now stood in front of Aleyu.

“Or I have to punish you.” he replied with a stern view.


The result was that the guy in front of him began to laugh first, then he balled his hand into a fist and tried to hit Aleyu inside his face. First Aleyu thought he wouldn't be able to react fast enough but something inside him led him dodge and he hit his own fist right inside the stomach of the guy.
Because of all his daily work he had enough power and so the man sank down to his knees, gasping for air.
His partner now started to attack too and he could hit Aleyu at his right cheek; the weight of the hit led him tumbling back and for a few moments everything became blurry but then he looked up and began a counter-attack, he lifted his right foot and kicked directly into his lower parts; because his pants were still lowered and so the soles of his shoes kicked him directly into his sensitive area, the result was a loud scream.
Aleyu prepared for another attack from one of both but the first one managed to stand up, hold his friend and pulled him away from Aleyu and began to run. The only thing Aleyu could still hear was “You will regret this kiddo!”


After both vanished Aleyu looked down to the woman who was still sitting on the ground. She had very short black hair and her clothings were damaged, she was thin but a relieved smile was on her face.

“That was pretty good … thank you very much.” she said with a grin on her face and Aleyu was a little surprised that she suddenly didn't look so frightened.

“Erm … no problem … I really hoped they didn't touch you or something … I mean ...”

“Ah these cowards? Nono ...maybe I would have bite them something away if they would have tried something but fortunately this wasn't necessary. Oh by the way, I'm Lilly, and who is my protector?” she asked with a sweet smile.

“Erm … I'm Aleyu … nice to meet you … well … I'm glad I could help … think I should go now ...”

“Why? You rescued me, I owe you something. And you don't look like you are from the city. So maybe I can show you some nice and interesting places as a reward?”  

“Mh … well … why not. Okay, sounds good!” he replied and smiled while he was helping her up.


Lilly guided Aleyu through the whole city, during this he learned more about her. She was living in Malentron but she had no own place to sleep. She was something like a thief and a gambler, but for this she looked pretty nice and beautiful, Aleyu thought all the time.
An advantage of this was, that she knew the city very well and so she could show him very exotic places that the usual tourist wouldn't find without any help.
They walked together until the afternoon came to an end and Aleyu wanted to say good bye, but Lilly blinked confuse.

“You wanna go NOW? Are you crazy? The night-life is the greatest in the city, you can't go.”

“I have to, my father is waiting and he told me about all these monsters outside ...” Aleyu tried to explain but he was interrupted by Lilly who began to laugh now.

“Monsters? Honestly Aleyu … the only monster that I've ever seen outside the city was my mother … there are no monsters anymore. In the past there were maybe some nagas but they went back deep into the wilderness and they wouldn't dare to attack the city or the small villages around. So believe me, you can stay … enjoy this evening, I promise you, it will be wonderful.”

Aleyu was staring into Lilly's eyes, something in her view was hypnotically and amazing; absolutely beautiful. But he promised his father to come back … but otherwise; he never did something against the words of his father and if it was really safe here, he wouldn't be angry with Aleyu. This was his chance to be like every other young man in his age and so he nodded.

“Okay, let's go, what could go wrong … ?”

“Nothing” Lilly answered with a smile on her face and so they went back into the big nightlife of the city.

They were visiting different clubs and discos, it was the first time Aleyu could enjoy something like this and Lilly showed him all these wonderful parts of the night. He also met the alcohol at this evening because from time to time Lilly was ordering some beer and liquor but with every drink more, Aleyu felt how dizzy he became, how everything seemed to fade away …

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“Don't go out there! It's dangerous, you know this!”

“Come on … what should happen? Nothing! We cannot stay here forever, we have to live! What kind of life is this when we always fear something?”

“We don't have to take a risk, why you always have to prove something to me?!”

---

“Maybe it's wrong to hold him … you know … we destroyed something …”

“Again my dear, it is for the sake of all of us, and he would thanks us for this if he would know!”

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As his mind became clear Lilly was leaning against Aleyu's shoulder and whispered something in his ear. “Let us enjoy the rest of the night on the hills in front of the city … just you and me.”  And he agreed, he would finish this wonderful night with a great view into the horizon and into the skies.


Nothing could go wrong … nothing … nothing he knew about.