Like A Fairytale

Bonus 9

The year 2061. May 1

Third cycle.

"Bao? Tell me a story, please," Elrik murmured tiredly. He lay on Bao's bed, brazen as he was. But Bao didn't mind.

Slowly, their friendship returned to what it once was. Although Bao didn't feel comfortable in his new body, he was alive. And his friend didn't force him to do anything. Instead, he did everything he could to make Bao's second life as comfortable as possible.

Well, as long as Elrik wasn't too busy.

Bao spent most of his time in his room, under the dome, or inspecting the progress of Burgstadt. On some days, he followed Elrik like a shadow.

Bao only had this one friend.

Not because he didn't want to.

He just wasn't ready to mingle with the crowd just to make new friends. He had no shortage of invitations. He never accepted them. Not yet. He was met with understanding everywhere.

He was not doing badly.

But not good either.

"What kind of story? You know I'm not a good storyteller." Bao sat on the floor, in front of his bed. A book lay on his lap. The class book Elrik had brought with him from their former home.

The paper had discolored over the years; some pages were loose in the book, the writing had faded, and the spine was damaged. Bao read the many entries. School grades, homework, 'student offenses'... Elrik and his twin brother appeared quite a bit. They didn't do their homework, caused trouble, but their grades reflected their intelligence. Bao found only a few entries about himself, apart from his written grades. One entry caught his attention.

'Bao has become friends with the twins. I hope this will make him more self-confident and more daring to be present in class. The twins could be good for him. And he for the two of them. '

"Your brother was the storyteller," Bao murmured, his eyes still fixed on the entry.

"I know." Elrik hung upside down with his head from the edge of the bed. He grinned at Bao. "But I want to hear a story. Today has been a long day. We have... 10 people died on their way back. They were eaten. Only two made it back alive. Injured. We also lost equipment. And almost everything they had brought from the city. Samples. For research."

"Hm." Bao sighed. "You need a distraction?"

"Please."

"Fine. Once upon a time there was a little Chinese boy."

"Were you the boy?"

"Elrik!" Bao rolled his eyes.

"Yes, yes... Please continue." Elrik laughed softly, slid backwards from the bed (without hitting his head), and sat down next to Bao. "Please."

Bao nodded. "Okay. The boy lived far away from his parents' home country...

He was 11 years old, and it was summer vacation.

The boy planned to spend the summer playing video games, but things turned out differently.

His parents unexpectedly sent him to a holiday camp. 'Summer camp for researchers and explorers. ' He stayed there for a whole four weeks. When he came home, two weeks before school started, the atmosphere in the house seemed strange to him.

The almost always unused guest room, in which he liked to set up his Ligo worlds, was locked. It needed to be renovated, his parents said. Everything was fine. He didn't have to worry. But they looked kind of sad. The boy was very surprised by that.