Inside a room filled with darkness and a biting chill, sat Alice (17); a young girl with dark skin and curly hair, possessing beautiful features despite the factory soot that covered her face like dried mud. Beside her was Fain, pale with unkempt hair and exhausted eyes, and Louis, tall and thin, lying on the cold wooden floor.
"How long will we stay like this?" Louis exhaled in a broken voice. "Trying to steal and failing every single time!"
Fain stared at the ceiling in a daze. "When was the last time you ate a meal until you were actually full?"
Alice replied with bitter sarcasm, "Full? I don’t think anyone in this hole even knows the meaning of that word."
"You’re right about that," Louis muttered hopelessly.
Suddenly, someone burst into the room. They tensed up, fearing a debt collector or another thief, but it was Marta (27). With her calm beauty and soft red hair, she entered carrying a tray that radiated the aroma of a whole roasted chicken with a few vegetables.
As soon as the children caught the scent, it overpowered every foul odor drifting in from outside—the smell of rusting iron, the thick industrial smog, and the endless filth of the city. The children rejoiced as if she had brought them Christmas gifts, each taking a piece to eat, thanking Marta feverishly.
"How did you manage to get this chicken?" Louis asked curiously.
Marta replied in a tender voice, trying to hide the ache, "I worked hard today... the brothels don't earn as much as people expect, but I got lucky."
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
A heavy veil of sadness fell over them at the mention of the "brothels." Alice tried to cheer her up: "I heard you’re moving to one of the Upper City’s houses, right?"
"Yes," Marta replied with a suppressed sorrow. "I’m going. I don’t know how you’ll manage without me, but don’t worry—my work there is in shifts; I’ll work four days and take two days off to come back to you."
The children fell silent, their emotions swirling. Marta added with a forced cheer, "I heard the pay there is substantial. If that’s true, it means you won’t have to steal ever again." The silence continued; they wished for it with all their hearts, but in a world like Yggdrasil, they knew the impossibility of such a dream.
They ate the chicken ravenously, nearly swallowing the bones. Marta laughed until she collapsed into a fit of laughter. Fain asked with concern, "Why aren't you eating with us?"
"Oh, don't worry about your big sister. I had a huge meal at work today. Now, you must sleep. I’m leaving, but I’ll see you soon."
Marta bid them farewell and stepped out the rickety door. As soon as she was alone in the dark corridor, the roar of her empty stomach rose, and she burst into silent, bitter tears. She hadn't eaten for two days; she had been saving every coin to secure a small apartment in the Upper City, but thieves had simply stolen her life's savings. She had decided to steal that chicken only when she realized the children were starving.
Marta walked through the streets of the Under-city, where junk shops lined the alleys selling rusted scrap parts, and bars teemed with drunks and angry laborers. Gas lamps flickered, and the smog wrapped the place in a heavy gray shroud. She passed by the "Broken Gear" tavern, where sounds of vulgar laughter and the smell of sweat and cheap tobacco spilled onto the street.
As she collapsed weakly near a dark alley, a fat man approached, smelling of smoke mixed with cheap wine. "You! Why are you crying, little one? Are you hungry? I can get you food." He heard the growl of her stomach and added slyly, "All you have to do is open your legs for me."
In total humiliation, Marta surrendered. The man lunged at her filthily. When he was finished, he tossed a worthless piece of copper at her and left as quickly as he had come. Marta gathered the fragments of her tired body and walked between the scrap shops and the dimly lit bars—whose flickering lights gave a deceptive beauty to the ruin—until she reached her destination: a food cart selling meals that tasted like copper.