Story Compilation with Unlikely Friendship Theme

A breath of
fresh air

Fatin Nurshuhada
Jamaludin

“Ah Cheng do you think Gusu is more lovely than our country,
Yunmeng?” Weiying inquired his older brother as they both
sauntered passed the colossal gate of Gusu.

Ah Cheng looked around and admired the green vegetative
scenery of the place. It was a remote district and only people that
had invitations to Gusu could enter. “It is charming but it is too
quiet, we can only hear the sound of the waterfall. In Yunmeng,
every day is festive, very boisterous”.

Weiying only nodded agreeing with the remark. Within a few steps,
their presence was acknowledged by the leader of Gusu’s clan,
Lan Xichen. “Thank you for willing to help us, our clans are very
sorry for troubling both of you. We have no other option than
requesting you to send Lord Ren’s son back to his kingdom because
the other cultivators are having martial art lessons at Jinling. Only
Lanzhan can chaperon both of you and Ren Lin”.

“Lanzhan? Oh no! Five years ago, we had a sword fight on the roof
just because I was being a chatterbox.”

“Weiying please mind your P’s and Q’s.” Ah Cheng nudged
Weiying, already feeling humiliated by his little brother’s attitude.
Lan Xichen tried to suppress his chuckle and bow before telling the
brothers to meet Lanzhan and Ren Lin at Gusu’s government
office.

[At Gusu’s government office]
“Lanzhan! It has been a long time! How have you been?” Weiying’s
high-pitched voice caused Lanzhan’s body to jolt and his mind
was stupefied. He had always viewed Weiying as a nuisance. It was
peculiar for him because other clans were always composed and
disciplined but Weiying was one of a kind. He was loquacious and
carefree. He was the only person that managed to cause
pandemonium in Gusu five years ago.

Lanzhan ignored Weiying and rode the horse with Ren Lin, the
four-year-old son of Lord Ren.

During the journey, Weiying chatted relentlessly even though both
Lanzhan and Ah Cheng turned a deaf ear to him.

[On the way to Ren’s kingdom]
Halfway finishing their expedition, the rain pelted down in
bucketloads, the gale was howling and all of them could feel the
wind shivered down their bones. Because of that, they decided to
find a shelter to rest and wait for the sun to show itself again. They
dragged the horses to a cavern nearby and only lazed away at the
entrance of the cave because it seemed too dark, dreary and the
length of it was unilluminated to be entered.
Ren Lin was waddling around at the entrance and collecting some
random icicle-shaped rocks that were scattered on the ground.
Pretty obvious, the rocks were the tips of stalactites that had fallen
over from the ceiling of the cave. The three gentlemen only
grinned feeling amused with Ren Lin’s curiosity. Their smile did not
last long though, it soon turned into an ‘O’ shape the moment the
little boy sprinted into the cave without giving a second thought.
“Ren Lin come back!” They screamed at the top of their lungs in
unison only to see the silhouette of Ren Lin gradually disappeared
into the darkness.
“You both run after him! I will take care of the horses! If both of you
do not come back after two hours I will go back to Gusu to inform
Lan Xichen” yelled Ah Cheng, he catapulted two swords that were
left on the horses to Weiying and Lanzhan. Weiying and Lanzhan
dashed into the pitch-black cavern. As they got in, their hearts
palpitated, their hands became sweaty because the air was thick
with humidity. Not to mention, they both could not even see
because of the absence of light.

“Lanzhan please hold my hand. Let us walk slowly...” Weiying reached out
his hand.
“Do not touch me,” Lanzhan warned him.
“Shut up Lazhan! Stop being so egoistic. Just take my hand...” Weiying
pleaded in exasperation. Finally, Lanzhan gave in. Instead of holding
Weiying’s hand, he proffered his sword. “Huh, whatever as long as we are
together” exclaimed Weiying. Now they both trudged deeper into the cavern
with the sword intertwining them.

“Look Lanzhan, there is light!” Weiying cheered when he saw a shady beam
of light shining through the hole in the ceiling. Of course, the light was not as
bright as the scintillating sun because of the rain but it was enough for them
to see the surroundings. Weiying released his grip on the sword and marched
forward. In front of him, there was a waterhole. The brim was crusted with
mud, the water was green like dishwater with toxic waste thrown in it.
Weiying tried to dip his foot into it but was halted by Lanzhan’s yell.

“Do not do that!”

“Why?” Weiying asked out of curiosity.

“Look, the water is turbulent. It is definitely not because of the raindrops
because the water is swirling. Plus, I do not think this waterhole is as shallow as
it seems.” Lanzhan calmly explained the investigation that he had in his mind.

“Wow, that is the most sentences I have heard coming out of your mouth. You
barely speak with me, the most are probably two sentences I guess. So, you
think there is an underwater world down there? You are funny Lanzhan. ”
Weiying mocked Lanzhan and provoked him by dipping one of his feet into the
water. “Look nothing happen, you are being delusional Lanzhan”.

Lanzhan gritted his teeth, irked by Weiying’s behavior.
“Argh!” Suddenly, Weiying’s left foot was yanked into the water. “Help me
Lanzhan!”

Lanzhan quickly unsheathed his sword and sliced the creature’s hand that
was latched on Weiying’s foot. The hand was an enormous purplish tentacle.
With its size, it definitely could engulf a whole human’s head.

“Lanzhan... I think that monster has abducted Ren Lin”.

“Probably”. Lanzhan responded shortly.

Weiying walked closer to Lanzhan and handed in his sword and offered his
wrist to Lanzhan. “I think we must summon the monster with blood so that
we can retrieve Ren Lin from it”. Lanzhan quivered with the request, he
shoved Weiying to the side and went ahead near the waterhole. He put up
his hand and sliced his wrist. Blood oozed out and dropped straight into the
water. He did it because he knew Weiying was a hemophobia, he would
collapse upon seeing blood, especially his own. Once again, the water
churned aggressively. They both stepped back and waited for the monster
to come out. The most awaited moment has come, the undisclosed
creature finally appeared. It was gigantic, purplish-red color like a bruise,
coated with mud and fallen leaves, very slimy, the closest way to describe it
was that it looked like a hideous and repulsive squid. It has two legs and two
arms however one hand has been segmented by Lanzhan.

Lazhan and Weiying gave each other a nod before attacking the monster
with their swords. With his uninjured arm, he swung his sword through the
creature’s flesh with all his might. The monster yelped in agony, the cave
was echoed with its shriek. Now, the monster was limping as one of its feet
had been mutilated by Lanzhan. The jumbo tried to catch Lanzhan with his
tentacle hand. Luckily, Lanzhan managed to counterattack by piercing his
sword into its hand. With his sword already inside the flesh, Lanzhan
wrenched it all the way down completely
amputating the creature. Now the monster was handless no longer able to
ambush Weiying and Lanzhan. At the same time, Weiying stabbed the
monster’s body in order to climb it with his sword, since the creature is
mucilaginous. As he reached the chest of the monster, he punctured its skin
with his blade. He penetrated in his sword deeper and deeper then he ripped
apart the flesh with his hands. Inside, he saw Ren Lin in a cocoon hanging
upside down. As the leviathan slowly died, Lanzhan continued to strike its
legs till it was finally subsided.

Inside the monster, Weiying used his sword to lacerate the cocoon. The
cocoon only swaddled Ren Lin’s body. His head could be seen and luckily Ren
Lin was breathing fine. He was just unconscious. After the cocoon was slit,
the creature finally exhaled its one last breath. The monster had replaced

That was why it was quite easy for Weiying and Lanzhan to handle it. Weiying
carried Ren Lin bridal style and got out of the monster’s chest. After laying down
on the ground next to Lanzhan for a while, Ren Lin finally gained consciousness.
He was feeble and perplexed, but that did not matter. As long as he was alive
then it was perfectly adequate.

Weiying noticed that blood still exuding from Lanzhan’s wrist. He sat next to
him and offered help. “Lanzhan let me bandage your hand” Weiying
dissevered part of his garment and wrapped Lanzhan’s maimed hand even
though he wanted to vomit because of the putrid and pungent smell of the
blood.
“Thank you” Lanzhan murmured under his breath, looking away from Weiying.
“Wow... am I crazy or did Gusu’s number one overweening cultivator just thank
me?” As usual, Weiying scorned Lanzhan. He quickly carried Ren Lin on his
back and hasted towards the entrance of the cave. Lanzhan trailed him from
behind, he could not believe that he just thanked Weiying. Indeed, Weiying was
a breath of fresh air in his life.
When they reached the entrance, Ah Cheng just arrived with Lan Xichen and
three doctors from Gusu. They all were treated before pursuing their journey
again.

TWO SIDES OF WO RLD

AN UNLIKELY
FRIENDSHIP

BY: MURNI ATHIRAH MD ROZI

“How does it feel?”
“What? Feeling on what?” 
“You know having those kinds of feelings being brave, cold
and tsundere, how does it feel?” Asks Mia

“Well, nothing different, its just me being myself. Saying
whatever I want to say” Says Rania

How nice is it, being cold and able to talk out what you like
and dislike bravely unlike me, who is an introverted shy girl
who is a scaredy-cat in the class. Says Mia in her head.

Well, that Rania, who has been her best friend since
secondary school. They have been together over 10 years
from secondary school till university. Both of them are in the
same major which is accountancy. Coming from different
backgrounds and personalities, both of them click very well.

Rania is very cold and stern. She rarely smiles or talks to others.
Compared to me, she is the complete opposite person. I am
very shy and always follow others. Everything they ask to do, I
do even though it is not my job. Basically, I am the victim in
everything. People always bully me, asking me to complete
their homework and tasks as I do not know how to say no. I am
very weak and cowardly. 

UntiI one day a hand reached out for me. Yes, that Rania. On
the first day of her transfer into our school, she protects me
from others. She gets very angry when people bully me or ask
me to do the tasks or anything else. She will directly tell the
teacher about them and cause others to keep a distance from
us. She even used harsh words and never cared about how
others view her. 

I am afraid of her, but after seeing her protect me and be brave.
I believe that she is really kind. I begin to sit with her and try to
start a conversation with her. Since she is so cold, she only
replies to one or two words but I keep going and here we are
right now. After quite some time, her real personality came out.
She is very sweet and soft but only with me, her best friends.

I want to be like her, cold,tough and brave. I realised I need to
change. I began to follow her steps, her ways of talking and
even her personality and style. I forced myself to be brave and
confident. I scold myself if I cry from harsh words and actions.
She finds it weird but never cares enough to ask. Until one day
on our way home, she asked me this one question that struck
my head.

“Why do you want to be like other people?”
“Huh! What do you mean?”
“You know, trying to catch up with everything, faking your real
personality, forcing yourself to be brave and tough. I mean, it is
good to change but if you are changing to be like others and
not your own self, does not it mean that you are lying to
yourself.” Says tsundere Rania.

It hit me right in my mind that I am too stunned to reply to her.
Everything she says is true. I realised that I am actually faking
myself, my own identity, and my personality. Tears fall down. I
hurt myself this time.

“I prefer you to be your own self, having your
own identity and style, you do not need to
change so that people will be afraid of you, just
be yourself and the right person will approach
you. You also do not have to be like me, I mean
that this is my personality and I am comfortable
with it. I can deal with harsh words or actions but
I know you cannot deal with it. You have a very
soft heart, Mia. You even cry seeing a kitten lose
its mother so how can you be a tsundere. You do
not need to waste your time living someone
else's life, it’s useless, your time is limited so
live a life you want not them.” Says Rania

I keep thinking of her words on my way home. I mean, I do
want to change but thinking of how tired my mind is these
few days makes me feel that being my own self is better
than living others life. I should be proud of myself and how
much I have to deal with. To be brave and confident, I do
not need to be tsundere or what, I just need to be myself.

The next day, I thanked her for her words. I decided to be
my own self again. I am glad she is my best friend and will
be there when I take the wrong step.

There is us, a weak and tsundere friendship. An unlikely
friendship

Tell Me About

The Sky

by: Nur Nadia Afifah

Aldrich hisses as his fingers make contact with the fresh
poppy bruise on his forehead. It is his usual day, where
the children of the small orphanage in the secluded
town would laugh, shout and throw stones at him for
being different. Maybe it is just the orphans or the
villagers that see him differently, but the small village is
his whole world. Thus, today too, the world shows its
disagreement to his existence. But, deep in his heart he
wishes there is another world out there that would see
him as a human being. A world where he would not be
blamed for going through something that did not only
end with nightmares, but also a scar. A big visible scar
that plastered on his face as if to tell the world about
the dreadful fire which brought him to the orphanage.

That is the reason he cannot wait for next week to come.
The day he becomes an adult. The day he can leave the
hellish town and look for the better world he sees in his
dreams.

The golden beams radiate all around as January sits on
the green carpet that spreads as far as the eyes can see.
The autumn breeze has a way of moving her long wavy
hair into curls. The grass flattened under the wind,
momentarily reflecting the brilliant sunlight.
Nevertheless, no matter how breath-taking the view is,
all she can see is darkness. Her visual receptors fail to
stimulate the light around her no matter how much the
sun offers. She inhales deeply, breathing in the
fragrance of earth.

“Did you sneak out again?”
The familiar voice coming from a distance brings a smile
to her face. The grass flattens as the young man plops
beside her.

“What good would come from staying all locked up
somewhere I can’t even feel the sun’s warmness on my
skin.” Aldrich smiles wryly. He knows what that smile
hides. It is not easy being monitored all the time. “What
if you got caught again?”

“Then I’ll just get dragged home again.” The smile on
her lips does not match her words. “Adrich, how does
the sky look today?”

He takes a moment, gazing up to the sky. “Hm… The sky
today looks endless. The more you stare, the further it
gets. The light blue makes me feel peaceful, like I have
no worries at all, like rain would never pour. They are so
beautiful it is almost heart breaking. It feels like there’s
no way an asteroid would have struck the earth from the
sky and killed dinosaurs millions of years ago.”

She chuckles. “What about the clouds?” January asks
again. Aldrich looks around. His eyes landed on the tiny
plants near him, plucking one of them. He
then reaches for the girl’s hand. “The clouds look like it
would feel like this.” He tickles the plant to her soft
hand. “What is this?” She tilts her head.

“Cotton Grass.” He says with a little laugh.

That is how their days have been. Though they only
meet once every one to two weeks, those days are
better than any other days in their 17 years of life. Their
meeting was what made Aldrich put his faith in the cruel
world again. He knows it makes no sense for a boy who is
called monster to be friends with the mayor’s daughter,
a beautiful girl with deep blue eyes prettier than any
sea. People say she would have been perfect if those
eyes worked. But for him, her beautiful heart is what
completes her beauty. “Aldrich.”

He waits for her next words. “I’m leaving next week.
Another treatment for my eyes. Father said they are
experts.” Aldrich falls silent. Deep inside, he wishes
January would always see the world with her heart
forever. “That’s great.”

“You know, I’m actually fine the way things are now. I
have you to describe the sky, the ground the plants. But
there’s one thing I want to see by myself.” She smiles
meaningfully.

“What is it?” He has always tried his best to give January
the images she cannot create with her eyes. Was he
lacking? “You. I want to see you.” He holds his tongue.
That is the only thing he wishes January would never
see.

They spend the rest of their time there in silence but not
one that is filled with awkwardness. The sound of the
cool breeze accompanied them. Nevertheless, Aldrich’s
mind cannot seem to stop driving him into thoughts,
preventing him from enjoying his favourite place with his
favourite person. January pardon herself after some
time, saying she does not want their secret hideout to be
ambushed by the maids and guards looking for her.

Day after day passes by. Aldrich spends the rest of the
week preparing to throw himself into the new world out
there. Who knows the world he dreams of might be a
worse hell. On the night he finally turned 18, no one
knows about the orphan who leaped out of the old
orphanage, or maybe, no one cares.

On top of the mountain that marks the end of the town,
Aldrich looks back, silently praying that January’s
treatment will finally bring her to a new world, just like
the one he is seeking for. He wishes for her to only catch
the sights of beautiful things, which is definitely not him.

An unlikely friendship Mb
of a girl and a cat Oy



N
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Cj
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Ia
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"A-choo!"

Fiona's nose turns red as she keeps sneezing every
now and then. She grabs the medicine her doctor
prescribed her since she was little and quickly
swallows 2 tablets. Two orange cats were just
chilling next to her which explains her condition. She
has always loved furry animals but the allergies she
has from little say otherwise. Fiona quickly tidies up
her things to move to a safer place where her
allergies will not get any worse.

"Fiona, are you alright? Your face is swollen!" Her
best friend, Katie says as she sits next to her.
Seconds after, she falls off her chair and faints in the
middle of the cafeteria.

Fiona's view is blurry with a hint of lights. She opens
her eyes slowly only to see that she is now in the
hospital, due to her allergies. She knows that it has
gotten bad but she does not know that it is going to
be this bad. Gradually, she can see Katie sitting next
to her bed, sleeping.

"Katie, wake up"

"Fiona, you're awake. Thank goodness, I was so
worried. I have never seen your allergic reaction that
bad before" Katie's eyes soften.

Fiona smiles and nods to let Katie know that she is
alright now. Her smile suddenly fades, eyes go wide
and she screams in silence.

"Why?" Katie panics as her eyes follow where Fiona
points at.

"Fiona! It's just a cat! Also, she is still far from us. It's
okay, I won't let her go near you alright? The nurses
said that she lingers around this level a lot and she is
very affectionate.”

The next day, Fiona wakes up alone as Katie has
classes to attend. She searches around for her
spectacles when her hand lands on a soft surface.
Something that feels like a fluffy wool carpet. She is
shocked to see that the cat she saw yesterday is
sleeping next to her! Instead of screaming, Fiona is
frozen on her spot while her big eyes look directly at
the cat, trying to process what is happening. She
starts petting the cat, she knows it. Her allergies are
not acting up!

“Wake up kitty.” The cat wakes up and nudges closer
to Fiona, purring loudly. Fiona freezes at her place,
still scared and wonders if she is safe from her
allergic reaction. About 10 minutes later, she is still
feeling alright. No redness, no difficulty in breathing
and no rashes at all.

Katie walks into Fiona’s room and is shocked to see
that Fiona is snuggling with the cat.

“Are you alright, Fiona?” Katie asks.

“I never feel better, Katie! She has been snuggling
with me since this morning and I love it! There were
no allergic reactions at all” Fiona smiles from ear to
ear.

It has been weeks since Fiona went home after she
was admitted for 4 days. She still thinks about the
cat that miraculously does not trigger her allergies so
she decides to go there after the class. Upon arriving
at the hospital, she decides to see whether the cat is
around her room and is shocked to see that the cat is
sleeping on her bed! She greets and hugs the cat
tightly. Fiona finally decides to adopt the furry baby
and keep him with her. Fiona is grateful that she is
destined to meet Mochi that heals her from her
sickness and anxiety, and changes her lifestyle in
many ways.