Hadrien was calmly grooming his four eyed yak; he rarely got free time, for he was the only one who could somewhat trap those dark Cursers, thus he could hardly get some time to groom his yak. Well, giving him all the credit felt wrong to Hadrien as his yak did most of the work, he merely gave it important instructions and took care of it.
The four eyed yack — Rien as he called her — suddenly grew alarmed, it looked towards north as its white fur glided through the air and snorted; as if telling Hadrien of another dark Curser's location. Her behaviour gestured that someone might be in fatal danger or she would not have snorted.
Hadrien sighed deeply and sat on Rien almost immediately
No escaping work today
…
The dark figure was less than a moment away from touching Flieday's face. Flieday was sweating profusely as something mystical happened; the distance between her and the dark figure increased exponentially.
Flieday was not running randomly, of course, she was running towards a mid-sized tribe near her; hoping that the tribe could slow the figure down, or better help her kill it.
Ah, I finally got lucky
"Are you okay?"
Hearing the sweet voice of her saviour, So Flieday looked at the young man; he was wearing thick animal fur and had piercing blue eyes.
"Thank you for taking care of that," Flieday grimaced as she continued, "that thing"
"You did good, coming here and surviving is no small deal"
Judging by the young man's attire, he did not seem to be from the militarists, which was a relief; Flieday would not like to be 'pay' for their services. She tied her blond hair behind her head as she followed the man to his tribe
The young man — whose name was Hadrien apparently — brought her to the tribe; Flieday immediately asked for a ride to her tribe but Hadrien kept dodging her questions and requests. After a while Hadrien grimaced and said
"The militarists reported that many tribes were wiped out by these beasts… your So tribe is one of them"
Flieday seemed dazed for a moment, her eyes unfocused; she opened her mouth to say something but stopped, eventually she asked
"Can i take shelter here for now"
Well, the militarists only care about money, so they would not have saved stranglers, at least not children or old people; however, people from tribes are tough, they would survive for long enough for her to find and save.
Hopefully, her family will too. But that is a distant matter; she needs shelter, food and water now. Thankfully Hadrien helped her with the necessities. Flieday later found out that he is the only person who can stop the dark figures.
Flieday settled down in her new makeshift house and rested, In the season of dusk the sky was always dimly lit. Every twenty hours people would estimate the passing of a dusklay and moved according to their Calender.
Flieday was laying on the bed of leaves as the memories of her family kept haunting her but she bottled up her feelings for now.
…
Flieday was calmly sitting next to Hadrien, the poor man had to work constantly so she gave him company; that was not the only reason she was staring at the twilight sky with him though
"Hey Hadrien, I want to find people whose tribes got eradicated"
"You want to face those cursers again?"
"Sure do"
Hadrien stared at the sky expressionlessly, his eyes filled with mix of understanding and regret, he eventually shook his head.
So Flieday heard a faint whisper, was it her imagination or the man just mumbled "Naive girl"? No, that wasn't possible. Hadrian is not a man who would say things like that; it was her imagination! Yes, she imagined it. She was just some days shorter than her too!
…
The great cloud slowly rolled off the horizon, leaving a sky made up of thousands of hues of crimson, orange, and blood red on the edge of the horizon like a painting. A new Dawnlay was starting.
The subtle sound of bugs and insects chirping and chittering mixed with the sound of water flowing gracefully from a stream nearby could be heard as Elias tasted the weird flavour of mist surrounding the pond.
It was the 21st Dawnlay of the 24th day in the 9th millennium when the festival was reaching its climax.
With each Dawnlay being around 20 hours long and there being 400 such lays in a day, the new millennium was young.
This was the time for guards to end their shifts and for new ones to replace them, giving Elias and his sister a small time window to break the biggest rule of their tribe — they were going to take a dip in the pond.
Using the pond greatly enhanced combat warriors strength and even gave them inspirations; why would elias get so close to the easy cheat and not use it.
Getting up from the tall grass Elias fixed his animal skin and vines and glanced at his sister
"You are taking a dive in there too, right?"
"What? no!"
Elias stayed quiet and gave his sister a long look, and started to walk towards the pond; his sister followed him hesitantly
"What is that sound?"
Aubrey seemed disturbed and slightly… scared? Elias stopped and tried to hear something, but he heard nothing noteworthy.
"Its just the bugs"
The sound of bugs had become louder, their chitter slowly getting on his nerves, but he had better things to do; he took one more look at the pond and took a deep breath before glancing at his sister.
Ha, she is right! these bugs are so loud today
She was trembling; damp with cold sweat and shocked to her very core. Before Elias could react however, she… pushed him towards the pond.
She pushed him towards the pond!
At first Elias got cheerful, but what he saw happen next turned playfulness to pure, utter horror.
Elias wearing animal skins bound by thick vines was falling into a magnificent pond. His purple hair dancing in front of his eyes.
A huge centipede was opening its giant maw as it inched closer to a girl with radiant red eyes; saliva was already falling on the beautiful girl. Elias's eyes widened as his sister's vines snapped and animal skin flew. The enormous insect tore off her fair leg as bones cracked and tendons snapped. Before Elias could see the hideous creature feast on his sister, he was already in the pond.
Nothingness
That was what Elias felt when he found himself in a strange place; not paying it any heed, he covered his head and pulled on his hair
"What the fuck just happened… no, no, no, this can't be real, this is a dream, yeah, it-" Elias stopped his mumbling as he looked around for a second
Familiar
This was not the first time he had come here, and that meant that this was not a dream. This revelation made Elias shudder; he shouted and wailed. He bit his lip to distract himself, but it was futile. So he did the only thing he did best — laugh at whatever this world can throw at him.
He laughed at himself, after all, he was the one who brought his sister to the pond.
He laughed at his tribe, after all, they were the ones supposed to keep the children safe.
He laughed at the warriors, after all, they could not stop the insects from killing.
He laughed at the gods for whom the festival was arranged, after all, the god was supposed to bring fortune.
Then he came to his senses.
"Where the fuck am I!?"
Is this the place I lock my memories?
Elias contemplated deeply: should he lock memories of his family and friends? Would he be himself if he locked such core memories?
Would these memories haunt him, even if they do, what good would forgetting himself do?
What does he truly desire?
Why did I come to this pond?
Why did I want to go outside the woods?
What drives me?
Elias tried to laugh but ended up choking himself, but no matter; when he peered into himself he found a small but prevalent desire, constantly eating him.
Strength.
I want to get stronger
I want to be owner of my fate
His hand moved forward, shaking as a golden key manifested out of thin air; The gold key had intricate designs with ghosts and symbols embedded in it, shining brightly as if something beyond divinity itself resided in it. The ghosts wailed soundlessly as the metal shone without light.
He had made his decision. If he desired strength, then he should desire it wholeheartedly; he should be ready to sacrifice everything to achieve his ambition — then why shouldn't he spare himself the trauma and help himself grow?
If he cannot sacrifice himself for strength, then how can he sacrifice anything else for it?
Wind blew frantically as a lock appeared out of thin air; it shone with bright light as a colourful slate of glass rose from his head. The sculpture-like glass slate shattered, and its pieces entered the lock, so did Elias's key.
Damp, A young boy with wet dark purple hair sticking to his face walked out of a radiant blue pond. He tried to take a deep breath, only for his senses to be assaulted by the horrid stench of blood enveloped him as he stepped onto a dark red puddle.