Lotus brought her hands down on Rin and struck her with fury that shook the room . She hit and hit and hit her with Rin losing count on the number of times her mother hit her. 'This won't do' , Rin heard her mother , Lotus say . Rin became terrified even more , what was she going to do . Rin wondered. Rin shivered as her mother started walking closer. Before Rin could react , Lotus began stripping Rin naked . Rin tried hard to cover her sensitive parts from Kian , who was still standing there with an unreadable expression on his face . 'Don't worry , I'm not interested in girls like you' , Kian said in an icy tone . 'If I remember quite well son , you have a fire spirit root or you have an affinity for fire or whatever it is' , Lotus said as she rolled her eyes at Kian . Kian simply nodded affirmatively. 'Then you know what to do. Don't let me repeat myself' , Lotus said as an evil grin crept up her face. With a single exhale, he pushed his qi outward- turning sparks into inferno that melted the air. Kian ignited the fireplace till it became very hot . Lotus brought out a piece of metal rod from her storage bag and gave it to Kian to do justice. The rod was on the verge of melting but Lotus pushed Kian to make it hotter till she was satisfied. Lotus collected the hot iron from Rin and said in a low tone ,' Turn your back to me ,dear.' Rin reluctantly obeyed. Lotus pressed the hot iron on Rin's back again and again. The room fell silent , but this time it was thick with fear. Rin's distress was clear , and the injury needed attention but who was going to do that? The event left Rin shaken , frightened to move or speak , unsure of what might happen next. It was moment that would not fade quickly - an act of harm that no child should not experience . Rin sobbed silently as her mother tossed the admission letter into the fireplace. Lotus threw Rin's clothes at her and yelled ,' Out! Get off my sight before I do something else '. Rin tried to get up , but the pain was too much to bear.
She staggered to the farm in pain. Every step she took was pain itself. She managed to gather some herbs and apply it on her body. She was too exhausted to do anything even she was tired of crying . She just lay there on the ground looking at the stars. Frustration crept through her skin. 'Pops , why did you leave me here? ' , she thought as she slowly drifted to sleep.
A sudden sweep of warmth streaked across her face , the creature's tongue pulling her out of her consciousness. Rin jolted out of her sleep. 'Eww eww get away from me' , Rin yelled as she wiped the saliva off her face. It looked like a puppy, just that it had wings. It was white in color and it had the cutest eyes ever. Rin was enchanted. 'It 's cute ', she said as she patted it's fair. 'Wonder why you are here?', she asked herself. 'Stop treating me like a damned kid' , the creature spoke in a rude way. Instead of becoming angry or shocked to see a beast talking , Rin burst out saying,' Oh my goodness , you are even cuter that way'. The creature sighed and muttered , 'what have I gotten myself into?' . 'You must be a high ranked beast. My dad told me only top ranked beasts are powerful to speak in human language', Rin said to herself. She had completely forgotten about what had happened the previous night at the sight of the cute creature before her. ' Yeah , you are right but you look like a dumb person to know this. It seems I've underestimated you then' , the creature snorted. 'My name is Rin , what is yours?', Rin asked. 'I have no name dummy , I am a magical creature' , it snorted. 'Fine , I will give you one then. What about Fluffy , no no. Yes, your name is Bokie ', Rin said after thinking for some time . 'Bokie , what type of foolish name is that?' , the creature grunted . 'That means you have agreed. So Bokie it is' , Rin finalized . 'I did not even accept the name and you are forcing the name on me' , Bokie complained but sighed when he realized the person he was talking to was not even listening. 'Ha , the system has already accepted my name' , he muttered. 'Let's go' ,Rin said as they walked to the direction of the house. The pain had lessened due to the medicinal herbs Rin applied to the wounds. However, the scars remained and this made Rin wear clothes that covered her completely. Bokie said she looked like a freak but she brushed his comment off.
Time passed swiftly , Rin made sure Lotus never saw Bokie . If Lotus did , Bokie would be dead in a few seconds. They grew a special bond that looked like it could never be broken . They did everything together and talked about everything together. Two years passed and Kian had gone back to the capital , to school. Bokie was getting tired of Lotus's behavior although it just involved Rin. He could not bear to see Rin suffer.
One night as they lay on their backs staring at the starry sky , Bokie said ,' Dummy, I think it is time you left here and tour the world. Trust me , there are a lot of beautiful things out there than staying here and getting married to someone who is old enough to be your great grand father'. Yes , Rin was getting married in two weeks to an old man from the capital. He owned several pawn shops across the Qi continent and it was easy to draw a conclusion that her mother was basically selling her daughter. Before Rin could say something , Bokie cut her off by saying, 'Don't tell me you want to become a great and powerful alchemist so I should be your guide. No , not with your mediocre talent' . 'I am not mediocre . It took me three solid years to reach the third level of the Qi Refining stage' , Rin snorted . 'I am not', Rin argued . 'You are , someone could do that in three months' , Bokie snorted. 'So , what do you say? Are you ready to see the world?' Bokie questioned.