Year 340 of the empire's calendar
The empire had prospered for centuries on end now due to the rule of the marked bloodline.
The land was divided into four vast areas with towns and villages within them, of these areas each had a role to play in the system.
The capital city of the empire sat in the last area with mountains behind and around it like an enclosure, every other area was in front of it with a large river at one side, and the mountain range extending down to the last city at the other end.
This certain town was one of the main suppliers of wood in the fourth and last area of the empire, but it was also known for something else - it was the one at the forefront of every other area and settlement, a contrast to the empires location.
It sat between the rest and the beyond.
It was the town at the edge; Mjiormire.
Two boys in their mid teens were hanging around the entrance of an alley near a local pub.
They seemed to be having a conversation, that was until another came to join their company; they were now three.
"Look it's Marcus"
Leo, one of the two boys that had stood there said with a smirk on his face.
The 'Marcus' in question was running towards them hurriedly.
The other boy Moore also looked at him gleefully, as if waiting for his arrival all along.
The three boys were now together, and walked into the alley.
"So? what new discovery do you have for us today 'researcher', better be good this time." Said Moore while rubbing his palm on Marcus's hair.
"I don't know what exactly I heard, I couldn't get anything from my dad"
He answered, gulped, then continued;
"But I overhead something while he was talking to my mom…something about the construction of the wall resuming in a week's time"
The look on their faces was plain and blank.
Matters of an incomplete wall wasn't one to be intrigued by.
"Well that was to be expected, it's been over 300 years since the construction began, it's weirder they haven't completed it ever since" Moore said while rubbing his chin with a smug demeanor.
"Doesn't that make it even weirder, why would they even bother after leaving it for so long?"
Leo pointed out, his words came from a place of deep concern since he was a very cautious person and also unusually analytical for his age.
Whether the former was the result of the later or vice versa was unbeknownst to him or his friends, but they had become used to this over the years.
"Leo being Leo as usual, it can't be anything serious. I think it's understandable since the new emperor might have thought it right to complete the unfinished projects"
Moore said this as he picked up a stone; just to throw it off to the distance.
It landed some distance away from them.
Marcus upon seeing this, set his glasses straight with his index and middle finger.
He picked up a stone and threw it in the same direction Moore did.
It landed right in front of the other.
He then straightened his glasses once again.
"Heh"
He let out a quirky remark with a quirky smile to follow it up.
Moore was obviously vexed by this, but he acted unbothered.
"of course...I was better"
Marcus left this remark subtly while being loud enough for the others to hear.
This was the nail in the coffin.
"you little!…" Moore stormed Marcus; they got into a scuffle.
This however did not last for long as Leo picked up a stone and wanted to have a go at it too.
He was now in a throwing posture.
"Nooooo…."
They both screamed in sync while running towards him in hopes of stopping him.
They both held him down, but he overcame it with brute strength and swung his arm forward.
The stone had been thrown, it's purpose fulfilled.
The stone flew past the alleyway, finally reaching the end of its arch out in the open streets.
"Hmph, at least 10 feet more"
He said while protruding his chest out, his ego had been inflated beyond reason.
The other two felt defeated, they both ganged up on him and three got into a scuffle until they got worn out.
They just laid on their backs breathing heavily.
All of a sudden one of them let out a scoff and soon enough it turned into laughter and giggles from all three which soon filled the surroundings.
A while later, footsteps surfaced from the direction the stones where thrown, it was a middle-aged lady putting on bar tending attire.
She walked up to the kids and her shadow soon cast over them.
The three then knelt at once as if automated, sweat ran through their faces as they tried to avoid the lady's stare.
"you guys seemed happy, why the sudden silence almost as if a ghost passed by" She said while giving them a cold stare, they still avoided eye contact with her.
"well…you're…like a ghost" Leo remarked slyly while fiddling with his fingers.
The others scoffed at it but muted themselves immediately.
She looked dumbfounded, she put her hands together and crackled her knuckles.
"Ehh…really, then I should start acting like one"
As she said this, Leo signaled to the others with a slight nod, they seemed to understand too since they followed up with a nod each.
He started moving backwards a little bit while kneeling then spontaneously ran through the path to the end of the alley, the other two followed suite without any delay.
"Where do you think you're running of too?!" She screamed at the top of her voice.
"Tch...these kids always making a ruckus"
She said with a mild tone and a faint smile, then turned around and went back to her place of work.
The boys kept on running with Marcus taking the lead, they were really energetic - that could be attributed to their young age.
Now nearing the edge of the town's boundaries they reduced their pace, they thought Marcus would stop as he usually did; he did not.
They had strayed far from the town now, they walked on a not so narrow path.
There were traces of carriage wheels on the dry ground and tall grass beside them on both sides.
The sun reflected on the hay coloured grass which was now only getting taller as they walked further into the path even reaching their waist level.
Leo and Moore were getting a bit nervous, it got to a point where Leo had to voice his thoughts:
"I think we should head back, don't you think so too? The guards are going to chase us if we get to the boundary"
Boundary - Though named "Boundary" the boundary of Mjiormire was not the real boundary but more of a preemptive barricade stopping people from getting to the true boundary and it's wall.
Since the wall under construction was less than 2 meters tall and about 27 feet across it wouldn't be difficult for someone to climb over it to the other side.
The distance between the fake boundary and real boundary was about 50 kilometers, the reason behind a fake boundary is unknown and seems strange to most of the residents of the region.
"Don't worry my dad usually follows another path, it'll be alright.
We'll take a left before the first building at the guard settlement" Marcus reassured them.
It didn't ease them, not even a little.
But they kept to themselves all the same, Marcus eventually broke the silence with a statement:
"You guys need to see this, at least once"
The other two weren't still as interested in whatever he wanted to show them. Leo's thoughts were placed elsewhere;
"It should be a bit past noon now by the looks of it,
I wonder what Hermes is doing back home.
Dad was going to be coming back today, well he didn't say so, but mom is preparing so much it couldn't be for anything else.
But wow…the grass looks so good"
In an act to enact his thoughts, he moved closer to the grass fields on the right and extended his right hand towards it.
He then lowered his hands to his waist's level where the grass was.
As he walked forward the grass softly brushed past his hands, he gradually moved faster until he began running.
He had now overtaken Marcus who was acting as their guide and slightly diverged a bit more into the fields.
"hmm? Isn't that Leo, why is he running"
Marcus wondered.
"Looks fun!"
Marcus smiled as he said this, he followed Leo's suite and ran into the fields.
Moore upon seeing this chased them too.
"Right behind you~"
He said, while pulling on Marcus's hand in an effort to pass him; it didn't work as they soon got into a spin.
Amidst the sweat on their clothes and the smile faces, their giggles arose and filled the vast fields;
It was grass as far as the eyes could see.
Leo had gapped them a little now, he had ran out of breath, fell, spread his arms out and laid back on the floor with his eyes closed.
He let out heavy breaths that softened over time, shadows soon overarched him; it was the other two.
Moore took a stick he had found and poked him twice with no response.
"Is he dead?"
Moore asked Marcus who was beside him, Marcus nodded his head in agreement.
"And he was still so young"
"Excellent physical abilities but only for short durations, he probably expended his life force trying to defeat us both"
"Poor little thing, his little brother will probably ball his eyes out"
They both mocked him satirically for a while.
He used his arm to cover his eyes from the drip of their sweat then he decided to talk back.
"You sad little things, it seems I won so many times it traumatized you both."
The other two paused, then he made a sad face that was an obvious guise.
"hmm hmm" he noised out, while nodding his head slightly two times.
"Must have been hard living under my shadow"
There was silence between all three for a while and then they got into another scuffle.
Though it could be attributed to how close they were, their scuffles were usually playful and as with every other time it didn't take long before they budged out of it.
All three now laid on the floor, tired and seemed to have forgotten why they were there.
Moore stood up and stretched both hands out to the other two, they took his hand and got up with his aid and proceeded to dust off the tiny pieces of grass from their clothes.
One thing they had forgotten before entering the grass field was how much of an itch it usually caused.
Marcus led them to the path once again and they were finally back on track.
"That seemed to have eased them down.
I was also tensed the first time my dad took me with him hrough here, though it was different since it was my da-"
Marcus's thoughts were cut short by Leo's waves of questions.
"Hey why do you think grass itches this much Researcher?"
"My dad said it's a skin reaction, in the capital I think they called it 'skin rash' or something along those lines"
"Oh that checks, you mentioned something some time ago about a phenomena called 'rain' would that cause a rash too?"
"First off, rain is something I saw in a book my dad got from the capital's library.
It's probably all fake, 'water falling from the sky' sounds nonsensical…
To answer your question it probably wouldn't since it's water"
"Makes sense, also one more question" Said Leo.
"This isn't the last question is it" Marcus thought as he knew Leo's ever so often thirst to quench his curiosity, but he chose to follow through.
"Sure what is it?" He answered.
"Isn't that the settlement" Leo said, while also pointing to the few houses that had now come in their line of sight.
Moore's eyes glistened, he put his hands on both of their heads and attempted to sprint forward ahead of them.
Marcus quickly held his hand and subsequently gestured him to calm down, he called them to close in on him and then shared a few words.
"Remember what I said earlier about taking a left?"
He took a look out for the guards.
After confirming there weren't any in sight he then said;
"on my lead"
The other two nodded and followed his lead.
There wasn't a clear path, since it was nothing but tall grasses, even taller than the ones before, this time even reaching their upper bodies but he navigated through flawlessly, without an ounce of doubt in his eyes.
After hours of moving through what seemed like an endless endeavour it was now getting dark.
Marcus finally broke the silence.
"We're only a few steps away from what I wanted to show you both"
The other two didn't respond.
"I guess they might be tired, but might as well get this off my chest"
He thought and then kept on talking.
"How much of human history do you think is recorded, how much knowledge do we really have about our world-"
"…Huh?!"
He was dragged by the hand by someone behind him so randomly, a hand wrapped around his mouth muffling his exclamation.
He was dragged down into the grass along with the person that had dragged him, he struggled but there were now two sets of hands holding him back.
After a long struggle he finally got a bit of a chance to get a look;
It was the other two.
They signaled him to hush, but he couldn't get why, he could see them profusely sweating but also couldn't get why.
'Why' that was the question running through his mind at that moment.
All of a sudden, he also started to sweat, he looked at his friends, their eyes looked in disbelief.
After taking a look forward he understood.
What laid bare to their eyes was something that couldn't be defined by common sense;
It had the figure of a human, and also postured like a human while it was sitting down.
Even in that posture, it towered over 17 meters, it had a face but not of human;
No eyes, no ear nor mouth, just a extension that resembled a nose and a horn that protruded from it's forehead.
Even then it felt like it stared directly at them.
Leo only had one thought at that moment.
-
"This can't be real."