New Life

I passed out from shock after seeing the full body of the lady that saved me. As my consciousness fades, a vision comes to me. The voices of a man and a woman echo within a dream.

“──you'd seriously gave up everything for that?”

“I'm sorry, but please go away.”

“Think about █████! you'd rather go with them than our own child?!”

“It's just the way it is. At least I told you now instead of ───”

“This is ───! Why can't you just get out from ██████████ Instead of abandoning little █████?”

“... The ████████ are coming here in a few hours, you should go before they───.”

“───... █████, In the end, all humans are the same.”

“───...”

“───...”

“─────... mom?”

The vision quickly fades away as I regain my consciousness.

"MOM!!"

... *crackle* *crackle*

"..."

The same futon I was laying in a few moments ago, the same fireplace in front of me, and the same 'unfamiliar' ceiling.

I look at the fireplace and try to remember about what happened. The fact is, I fainted from seeing my savior.

(I was awfully rude to her, I should apologize before I do anything else.)

I put my hands down and try to get up, and─

"You're awake~."

"!!"

The lady surprised me yet again while sitting on the couch behind me, reading her book as she wear her hat indoors. She sits in silence, waiting for me to wake up the whole time.

(I was too startled last time, I'll try to brace myself more this time around.)

I get up and stand in front of the lady, then bow my head down.

"I'm sorry, Miss!"

The lady tilts her head. "Hmm~? For what have you done that needs an apology for me?"

"I... I've been so on edge this whole time, even though Miss has been helping me since the day I arrived, I've fainted just from seeing your... legs? I hope I didn't offend you in anyway." I say to the lady while holding back my tears of guilt.

"... Fufufu~, you don't have to think too much about that~. It'd be weirder for a child as young as you to not pee their diapers after seeing something so scary." The lady giggles, then slowly reaches for something behind the couch.

She pulls out a headless snow rabbit's corpse and hold it right in front of me. The carcass doesn't leak any blood, so it had been drained before hand.

"Sorry for my bad hospitality. I'm not quite sure what a child, a phoenix at that like you, would eat. So~, I scoured for anything I can find for now, hope this is enough~."

She gives me the rabbit's carcass.
(What is she expecting me to do with this?)

Just as I'm about to ask, she takes out the rabbit's head from within her breast pocket.

"I hope you don't mind I took a piece for a snack~." 

She hold the rabbit head with two fingers like she's pinching it, hold it up above her head, then drops it towards her mouth.

*Crunch!* *Squelch* Sounds of the rabbit head being chewed.

A grotesque sight to behold in front of a child, It certainly made me nauseous. But I've already steeled myself from anything just as I've promised.
(I might say that, but I still wouldn't want to eat a rabbit raw.)

The carcass still needs to be skinned, and I dislike eating the innards without preparing it first.

(The only time I've had organs was when the neighbor's uncle back home would grill them for celebration of a bountiful harvest.)

The innards are usually cleaned and marinated then grilled over charcoal on a wooden stick, making it odorless with a soft chewy texture, truly delicious.

(But I don't know how to clean it nor do I know the recipe for the marinade, but I did see the uncle skin his hunts.)

"... Miss, do you have anything I can use to skin this rabbit?"

"Hmm~? I think I do have something in the storage room behind the right set of stairs, you may search there if you want~."

"Yes... Thank you!" I bow to the lady, then slowly walk out of the room towards the storage room the lady mentioned.

*Step step step* 
As I walk, sticky strings covers the hall even more than before. I continue to walk towards the back of the right stairs, ignoring it all.

A single door in the corner of the hall, hardly visible from normal view. I jump to the hinge and opened the door. 

*Scree~* *Puff~* ...*COUGH!* *COUGH!* 
Dust flies out of the room and made me cough from it. I'd expect more of the stringy mucus from before. But surprisingly, this room seems to be the only one void of such things.

I see a light switch on the wall way up high above my arms reach. There's plenty of cluttered crates across the room, so I take some of them to make a makeshift step ladder. 

*Click*
The dangling light brightens the room, revealing even more dusty crates and clutters. Among the clutters near the back of the room, I see a knife inside a knife holder on top of a table attached to the wall.

*Skrrt~*
I bring the makeshift ladder to the table and grab the knife, it's super dusty. Before I do anything else, I decide to scan the room.

In the middle of the room where many clutters are piled, I see a similar table to the one that's holding the knife. I decide to clear the boxes to reveal a tall countertop with a sink on the corner surface.

(This room... I'm convinced it wasn't always a storage room, but was a kitchen at some point. Seems like the lady doesn't use the room much so she repurposed it.)

Now that I've discovered a sink, perhaps I can use it to clean the dusty knife. I go near the sink and turn the tap on.

...

...

... Nothing happened.

Considering she's abandoned the kitchen room, it's not unlikely that she removed the plumbing here.

(Not that this place could have any connection to a water source to begin with. Why is there a sink inside a mansion in the middle of a snowy mountain? the more I think about it the more stupid all of this looks to m─)

*Rattle rattle* ... *FSSSHH~!*
Suddenly, a stream of steaming hot water flows down the faucet.

I'll be damned.

(How does that work? Why is there steaming hot water pouring out of the sink?)

My curiosity peaks as any child would when finding a new discovery they've never seen before.

I move the step ladder away from the counter and open the cabinet door under the sink.

*Creak.* *Puff~* 

*COUGH* *COUGH* ... I forgot how dusty this place is.

After I brush off the dust on my nose, I see two glowing stones attached to the pipe leading to the faucet. One is pale azure blue like Ice crystals, while the other is bright scarlet red.

(Could these stones or crystals be the source of water and heat for the sink?)

As my curiosity take over me, I reach my hand towards the bright red stone─

"You shouldn't touch that!"

"Gyaaah!" *Thud!*
 I scream, startled by the sudden voice behind me and bump my head to the roof of the cabinet.

The lady stands by the door, staring daggers at me while I'm on all fours inside the cabinet. I look towards her as sweat trinkle down the side of my face.

(D─did I upset her? Hawawawa~!)