《Noholm》
Prologue - The Independent
When I stood behind ''it'' I felt from it''s direction no presence at all. It simply stood perched on the edge of the crimson carpet below us. Its back facing me as its front looked ahead. Unmoving and lifeless, as a statue.
Standing in the presumed aim of its sight stood a grey stone wall. Tall and endless. Stretching out infinitely into the bright clear sky above. A stark contrast from the origin below: where a muddled cloud had set upon the place, covering it in a grey tone that had nowhere near the amount of life present in the boundless sky above.
The wall that stood so colossal was adorned with an equally infinite assemblage of carvings that were present as far up the wall as one could see.
They portrayed beings of many kinds. Most were identical, only slight deviations in their sizes and forms contrasting them from another. A few stood tall and individual above the many, bearing swords, scrolls, or other manner of tools that convened in them some power to stand outside the others. A few among the masses seemed to want nothing other than to be mistaken for just another beside them as they took on a near unnoticeable form. But nothing could mask the reek of cowardice and beguilement that oozed from the souls beneath. There were beings of incredible presence, exerting in enormous waves both feelings of peace and discomfort. Some bore the dignity of knowledge and kindness while others wore only visages of the same. Hiding underneath it a more pernicious nature.
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The carvings portrayed all variety of land. Tall mountains that pierced through clouds and deep oceans that drowned even your eyes in its depth. No matter how far up the wall you gazed there would not be an inch devoid of the life-like sculptures.
I set my vision back upon the stone-still figure now beside me as my fascination with the wall seemed to have drawn me unknowingly closer. I understood intrinsically that this existence had created the wall. That he had carefully revised it at each curve and dent, visited with his eyes each singular feature of it an impossible number of times. And now, those same eyes that he cast upon it were devoid of the passion it may have once had. His eyes had lost their light. He had grown tired of this wall, of his creation.
The figure did not turn to face me nor speak in any form. But I understood that it was leaving this wall, now, to me. I am sure that the only reason I understand is because I was made to. Yes, surely it had created me, if nothing else, to understand. It was only a short while afterwards, that it had disappeared to a place I could not sense, and surely not follow.
The wall ahead soon opened up, a hollow cave of tremendous size revealed on the inside, as if it''s gorging mouth.
And I walked inside, allowing it to swallow me whole.
Prologue - The Boy
"Cshhh" The rough scraping that dragged across the ''wall'' was the only proof that he was still alive.
He trudged forward in the endless black that eluded to no beginning or end. It had been long since he had seen. Longer since he had felt. It was only the sound of the scraping that promised him his continued existence. Somewhere.
Purgatory? Hell? Heaven? Perhaps none had really existed, and this was simply all that awaited after death. A pointless march through oblivion, deprived of beginning or end.
If it could even be called a march. There was no certainty that he was moving. Deprived of his senses, it was only some vague instinct that convinced him he was in motion. That, and the scraping of the ''wall''.
He recalled the moment he had woke up here. Although everything was a bit fuzzy, he was certain only of the fact that he had died.
He remembered trying to open his eyes, only to meet with a hollow lack of innervation. There was no longer any sensation where his eyes had once been. It was as if he only imagined the act of opening his eyelids. The feeling was present, but only in memory. He was faced with a complete black.
It was not long after, that he ascertained his complete numbness. There was no light to see, no object to feel, no air to breathe. Nothing.
He panicked, at first. Struggling to breathe, but no air came out. It seemed that muscle memory had convinced him of his inane panic, that there was something to panic about.
It was neither too cold nor too hot. There was no ache or itch on his body and neither was there the subtle gnawing of the brain of which every living mind was comprised. Without feeling, there was no longer pain or discomfort. Just simple¡ existence. A permanent dream.
He calmly tilted back, or at least thought to do so, and did the only thing he could do.
''Ugh, did I really do that? Even a 12-year-old should''ve been able to tell that was a dumbass idea.''
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Sift through his memories.
''Arrrrgh, you freaking idiot, who the hell says something like that to someone they just met?.''
The embarrassing memories, as they often do, popped up first. But the regrets never lagged too far behind.
Albeit a short one. He felt as though he''d wasted the entirety of his life in preparation for the future. One that never came. Still, he wondered why he did not feel sad at all.
Although there were things he wished he¡¯d done better, he felt no despair at the concept of his death. There was nothing that lingered in his mind, nothing that would haunt his memory enough to want to go back and make it right.
He knew that he probably did not wish to die. But when confronted with the question of why he lived, what he had been living for, he could not answer.
He pondered on his life a while longer. He did not know for how long he had done so. It may have been just a few hours. Perhaps a few hours longer. Or perhaps much, much longer than he could hope to tell. He suddenly felt himself being filled with a profound sense of emptiness.
All the discomfort, the pain of his failures and joy of his accomplishments, the emotions of life no longer had any place with him. As the idea crossed him he realized that it had been long since his emotions first began to dampen. And his thoughts became harder and harder to form before dissipating almost immediately after being formed. He felt as though his entire self was slipping away. The small regrets, the tinges of nostalgia, shame, or joy in the memories of his past were instead replaced by apathy. Fear overtook him.
No, it was not that fear came for him. Instead, he had seemingly forced this fear into himself, knowing in some deep part of himself that he would soon cease to be. He did not know, however, what to do. He felt no ground, no body of his own, and no sense of direction. But he did recall a vague scene from within his memories that now grew hazy and blurred.
He was surrounded by yellow -no, perhaps purple flowers. He could not recall, and it did not matter. What did was the memory of his legs being lifted off the ground. One after another. Before stepping back onto the wet soil below. Moving forward ever so steadily.
As if invoking the memory, he felt himself pull ever so slightly forward within the empty void. And as he did so, he recalled another important memory. A blurred face, vaguely moving lips. Who did they belong to? Again, it did not matter.
''Run''
The girl''s voice spoke the word over and over again in his mind, along with some other things he could no longer understand. Her bright green eyes trembled as she spoke, and her pale blonde hair danced with her animated style of conversation. The memory repeated itself many times over in his head.
He focused his entire remaining being into maintaining the memory that hopelessly became more and more jaded. The scraping of the wall had now dimmed until it had become nothing more than another vague feeling. Another dead memory of an existence long since become meaningless.
''Run¡.'' ''Running¡..'' ''Ran¡..''
The words continued to ring out. Not in the void around it, and certainly not in its non-existent ears, but in what little remained of its soul.
Like that, it remained. Marching on with singular purpose. By no thought, no words, not even an intent. But rather the compulsion, perhaps even the simple habit of doing so.
Time could not tell how long it had remained wedged against the other side of that wall. But surely, it must have been surprised. When a gorging cavern had opened up in the eons unchanging wall, and swallowed the nameless, faceless thing up whole.
Noholm: Eiat Deta (1)
Bright, too bright and too cold. That was the first unimpeded thought that had run through her mind.
The cold-searing burn on her cheek accompanied the bright white blotch that obstructed her recovering vision.
The white gradually faded into a pale silver as she rapidly blinked her eyes. Slowly, her vision returned enough to reveal the bright, white sphere that hung in the blue sky above.
She rose up on her legs as her vision had settled, freezing on the view in front of her.
The whistle of a cool winter breeze brushed past her ears as goosebumps danced down her spine. She turned to be greeted by the vast, open sky from where the wind came. Stars dotted the sky like many peering eyes; come to see the same mystic landscape in which she had now found herself. Clouds floated around her, both above and below, moving as slow, giant behemoths.
An ache struck her heart. Yet the discomfort was not unwelcome. It was not the beginning that the ache marked. But rather the last ache of a great pain that fled her body. Escaping somewhere far off in the sky above.
The freezing winds continued to rush around her, flying between her fingers, which she pulled in closer to protect from the cold. Her hand reached the soft embrace of a thick white fur as she did so, prompting her to look down unto herself. There she noticed a thick white coat wrapped around her torso, black leather pants that stuck tightly to her legs and black boots that rooted her firmly onto the slick ice underneath her feet.
Confused by her situation, the girl looked beyond to see that she was stood on the wrong side of an icy cliff. One that tapered off into a cloudy void below, extending well beyond where her sight could reach. Slowly, she backed away from the edge. Scared that she might slip if she were to suddenly turn, she made her way backwards, turning just her head to see the forest behind she was making her way towards. The bed of ice on which she stood must have recently frozen still in the blizzard that now raged around her. This was evident from the frozen river that led towards her from the snowy land behind
In the distance, a low rumbling began to sound out, causing the girl to stop quickly in her tracks. The low rumbling came from behind her, somewhere deep in the forest that she could not quite entirely see.
SHTTKK
The rumble rose into a large tremor as the sound of cracking ice came out from under her. Swiftly, the girl forgot about her previous precautions and pivoted to run straight ahead off the icy plane as fast as she could manage. As she did so, her prior worries came true, the heel of one of her boots digging itself into a crevice in the cracked ice. She was quickly thrown onto her backside, her back colliding directly with the ice below. The ice quickly caved in to form a person-sized hole where she had crashed. Bits of sharp ice pierced into her exposed hands and pricked her face like many cold needles. Around her, the sound of snapping ice filled the air before coming to an eventual stop. Thankfully, she had not yet fallen fully through the ice,
Keeping her body as still as a statue, she cautiously lifted her head to see the ice around her webbed with crevices that threatened to shatter at the slightest disturbance. As the girl lay there in the ice, terrified at her predicament, a low grumble sounded from the forest ahead, causing her to turn and face its direction.
Her eyes widened in shock as her eyes rested on the sight in front of her. There, in the light of the moon stood something she had never before seen. A blue-skinned creature stood in front of her, nearly four meters in length. Appearing almost human, yet not at all, its limbs were nearly twice the size and length of its small torso, its dark blue skin was dotted with grotesque moles and bumps that seemed more akin to tumors than any natural skin condition. It had a face like that of an elephant, it''s large nose greedily taking up the entire center of its face while its jaw was more similar to that of a dog, cutting deep into its head. It wore a leather skirt and nothing else, something clearly unpractical for the snowy climate.
It''s appearance, however, wasn''t even the worst thing about this creature in front of the girl. Upon its head rested the loose and leathery face of a man. One that flitted and whipped in the flurry of the midnight wind. It was barely held down by a brutal metal piercing that grounded it into the head of the gnarled creature. The pale skin did not seem rotted in any way, indicating that it was not in any distant past that this man was killed.
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The sight of the creature left the girl frozen in fear as it curiously sniffed the air around it, stopping for a moment before turning to see the girl. As it did so, it''s dog-like mouth widened, exposing a bright pink tongue that looked to be stained with many layers of blood and gore that retained a fresh moisture. Her scent seemingly giving her away, the revolting creature began to curiously approach her. As the creature made its way past the snow-covered soil of the forest and onto the slick ice beyond it, the ice let out a sharp screech.
Upon hearing the warning of the ice below its feet, the creature took a step back, it''s eyes still never leaving the girl who lay frozen in front of it. The girl, on the other hand felt her fear deepen at the discovery that this creature, despite its animalistic appearance seem to be capable of understanding the danger of the ice bed below. However, the short-term relief from the fact that the creature could not yet reach her was what rose most prominently in her mind.
Still, she was most definitely stuck in a terrible situation. Around her, was the deadly terrain of the mountains that threatened to kill her in more ways than one. And now, in front of her was a creature who likely wanted the same. Fear began to slowly paralyze her mind as she stared ahead into the eyes of the patiently waiting creature. The feeling began to flee from her legs and the girl shook her head fiercely despite the danger such movement posed to her situation. Winning back her will was more important than avoiding the cracking of the ice around her. As she shook off her destructive thoughts, she scoffed at the thought of letting her own fear kill her before the monster in front of her did. The creature tilted its head in a disgustingly human way as she did so, seemingly in reaction to her incongruent actions.
As it did so, she felt some of the strength return to her extremities. This creature may not be dumb enough to kill itself along with her on the ice, but that sure as hell didn''t mean it was smarter than her. She raised her head to observe her surroundings. There had to some way to get out of this situation. Looking to her left, there was nothing but an icy cliff that veered off into the nothingness below. Seeing this, the girl tore her eyes away to look the other way. There was a strange pull that tugged at her gut whenever she stared down at that abyss, a feeling almost unnatural that invaded her senses.
Looking to her right, the girl saw the better half of her right arm pulsing a sickly purple. Though the sight alarmed her, she knew there was no benefit to giving it more than a moment of attention. Looking past her frostbitten extremity, she saw the ice bed stretch a couple dozen feet ahead before it sank down near identical to the situation on her other side. The marked difference, however, was a cliff of soil that held upon it a single rotted oak tree. It''s mangled branches and roots contorted in every which direction, including towards the ice bed the girl laid upon.
Seeing the tree branch that stretched out towards her as if a beckoning hand, the girl felt she knew what she had to do. Carefully, she turned over onto her left side, relying on the strength of her not yet battered arm to push herself up to her knees. The creature, in an excited sort of tone, let out a high-pitched click. Unable to stop itself from moving ever so slightly closer to its kneeling prey. The girl, doing her best to remain unbothered by its cry, steadily began to shuffle her legs, sliding her way towards the right side of the ice bed inch by inch. Knowing it was best to spread her weight as evenly as possible as she maneuvered the thin ice, she did not yet dare to stand up on her two feet.
Nearing the thinner sheet of ice, the girl slid her hands over one of the frozen rocks that she had spotted earlier. With her left hand, she enclosed the rock in her palm feeling its cold sear of protest. Proceeding to yank it out of the ice with haphazard precision. She looked over toward the forested land on her left to see the creature had followed her along the edge of its safe zone. It''s beastly eyes brimming with curiosity. The sight perturbed her but was nothing short of what she had expected.
"Heh. Would''ve been nice if you''d just stayed put, though." The girl voiced her baseless hopes into the cold sky above. "Hmm?" The girl''s face scrunched into a confused scowl at the sound coming from her own mouth.
"What..." Although she couldn''t quite place her finger on it, she felt something off about it. A sort of discomfort and surprise that she didn''t quite understand.
"SHHHTKKRLLL." The sharp screech of the predator she had carelessly forgotten rang from a distance far too close for comfort, dragging the girl back to reality. Whipping her head towards the beast''s direction, she saw that it had spread itself across the ice much like she had just done herself.
"This thing!" The girl yelled out in exasperation and surprise.
Its arm stretched out towards the girl as it let out its shrill cry grabbing onto right leg. "Shit-" The girl yelled as the creature''s grip tightened fiercely onto her calf. A painful groan escaped her throat as the creatures pull sent her plummeting once again to her back. Looking down at the creature, she saw its large body spready unevenly across the ice below while painting its face was a ghastly smile. As if it was proud of its poor imitation of the girl''s crawl.
"You!" The girl shouted loudly as she realized the detrimental situation she now found herself in.
"YOU F***ING IDIOT" The girl screamed loudly at the creature as the ice below began to snap and splinter below. The symphony of cracking ice grew exponentially in frequency and volume as the now panicked creature quickly let go of the girl, sloppily lifting its flabby body onto its feet in an attempt to escape its inevitable fate waiting in the abyss below. Of course, it''s bumbling actions only served to expedite the snapping ice below. The ground below it immediately opening up to swallow the idiotic troll up whole along with the victim of circumstance who screamed bloody murder all the way down.
Noholm: Eiat Deta (2)
"Hey, get up. Hey... wake up!" A tall and slender boy spoke in an overly authoritative tone through lengthy, ice-laced hair. It was a wonder that the boy could even see through his long mane that left no corner of his eyes unveiled.
"Stop shaking her so roughly, Arton! Are you trying to help her or make sure she''s dead?" Another boy with spiky hair shouted at the first.
"Uhh, I-I think we should just wait for Tetsu to get back here with an elder, guys. S-she could be dangerous..." Spoke a third boy that cowered far behind where they both kneeled.
"Rafal... don''t you ever get tired of being such a wuss?" The spiky haired boy turned to question him.
"S-shut up Roan. Elder Souan says that sometimes cowardice is just cleverness in disguise." Rafal said as his face contorted to one of displeasure.
"Well if the village elders were all as ''clever'' as you Rafal, we''d all be living as slaves to the forest boars just so we don''t incur their wrath." Roan joked.
"Ugh" The girl awoke to a throbbing pain in her head as she forced open her tired eyes. Finding herself awaken once more in a pit of snow she laughed aloud in a self-deprecating tone.
"L-Look guys, I-I told you she was dangerous. She''s laughing like a d-demon would." Rafal said as he slowly retreated away from the other two, pointing indicatively towards the girl.
"Man, calm down. She probably was just laughing at my awesome joke." Roan said with a somewhat shaky voice as he looked suspiciously down at the laughing stranger.
"Or maybe she just saw your face when she woke up. Actually no, if that was the case she''d be screaming now, not laughing." Arton said to Roan as he himself laughed at his own cruel joke.
"S-shut up." Roan said in a very similar manner to his cowardly brother as he began to run his fingers over his face. ''Am I really that ugly?''. His self-examination was interrupted, however, as the stranger lying down in the sharp and uneven snow next to him rose lifted up her torso to look up at him, then spoke.
"Where am I, kid?" The girl''s coarse voice resounded harmoniously in the cold mountain air. Now getting a better look at her face, Roan noticed that the girl sitting so elegantly in the snow was not just some girl, but rather must have been a princess. Her flawless clear skin shone from freshly melted snow as her clear, golden eyes struck a piercing gaze into his own. Roan could do nothing but freeze up and gawk at her as she looked at him expectantly for an answer to her question.
"Aw, uh..." he struggled with his words for a few moments before turning away from her, his face flushing red.
''Huh?'' the girl looked confoundedly at the strangely acting boy in front of her as he turned away his gaze. ''Is there something wrong with me?'' she wondered before feeling around her face and looking her body up and down once again, finding nothing wrong. ''OH SHIT.'' the girl''s face lit up with an extreme shock as she recalled the events which had transpired just before her awaking here. Quickly, she shot up to her feet to examine her now surely mangled body after that monstrous fall from the mountaintop.
"UAHH" Rafal was immediately sent fleeing backwards with a jump as the stranger in front of him suddenly shot to her feet. Arton and Roan simultaneously took a step backwards at the stranger''s abrupt actions but soon decided against fleeing in terror as quickly as their cowardly counterpart.
Nearly as quickly as she rose, the girl fell sideways into the cliff face. Just barely raising her arm up far enough to prevent her face from smashing against the frozen surface. "Ach..." The girl audibly groaned in discomfort as she felt her blood slowly sift back into her legs. ''Maybe suddenly jumping to your feet after laying in the snow for god knows how long isn''t the best idea'' The girl criticized her rash actions internally.
Taking the moment she had while still standing to inspect herself, she noticed that apart from a few tears and slits on her leggings and boots, there was hardly a scratch on her. The revelation shocked her as she took a moment to recall her previously treacherous situation. ''"To think that after all that..." The girl struggled to explain her situation as she rested more of her weight into her right hand that rested firmly on the cliff-face. "Right! My hand!" The girl pulled her head upward to see her perfectly whole hand that rested strong against the cliff-face. Forget a missing finger or two, there was not so much as a gash on the outstretched hand in front of her. This only served to further confuse her as she tried to drum up an explanation of this phenomenon in her mind.
Could it have all been fake? Was she perhaps dreaming? ''No, in the first place where the hell even was, she?''
"Hey, are you okay?" Arton suddenly asked the stranger, to both Roan as well as his own surprise. Despite openly mocking his cowardice, they both knew that Rafal was right in that it was best to wait for Tetsu and the village elder before engaging with the stranger themselves.
The girl turned to face Arton and Roan, the former of which looked fearlessly back into her eyes. By the short untrimmed hairs on their faces, they must''ve been around 16 years each, the kind of teenagers you''d see making a scene at the mall or playing around at a skatepark. Except for the way that they were dressed of course. They each wore thick and bristly fur jackets which would be expected of anyone living in this arctic environment. Underneath their jackets were equally uneven leather tunics and leggings that seemed to have also been stuffed haphazardly with fur for the purpose of keeping warm. Roan seemed to have noticed her scrutinizing eyes as he stiffened up even more at her gaze.
"You guys... who are- ... No, before that. Did you see anything else fall down here with me? Some kind of large creature, it was dark blue and had a trunk like an elephant." The girl asked Arton without answering his question.
"Elephant? I don''t know what that is. But if it''s big and blue I''m guessing you must be talking about a troll. And yeah, I''m pretty sure I did see something like that sticking out of the snow over there. Arton answered back in a lax tone, pointing out towards a large mound in the snow a little way north of where the girl had fallen.
"YOU SAW A WHAT!?" Roan shrieked out in audible fear at the words of the two conversing in front of him.
"Thank you." The girl responded with an awkward smile as her face was still frozen nearly stiff. She looked intently at the mound that the long-haired boy had just pointed out, taking a deep breath before lifting up one leg and planting it firmly in the snow ahead, making her way slowly towards the mound while keeping one hand on the cliff-face to support herself. She reached the suspicious pile of snow in a few short moments, quickly falling to her knees before beginning to shovel away the snow with her bare hands.
Arton followed behind the girl before asking "You want some help? Doesn''t seem like you''ll find what''s under that anytime soon at the rate you''ll be going." The boy spoke again as if talking to an old friend rather than a complete stranger.
The girl paused for a second as if contemplating before looking back up at the boy. "If you wouldn''t mind." The girl responded briefly before returning to her task.
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"Sure." Arton responded as he began to dig away at the snow with the girl one handful at a time.
"..." Roan stared blankly Arton and the girl as they began slowly excavating the snow. "HOOOLLD ON A MINUTE" He shouted loudly, making his way towards Arton.
Crouching down beside the long-haired boy, Roan began to whisper loudly in his ear. "Hey random stranger! Are you okay? No answer? Alright. Oh, you want help digging up a troll? And oh, you won''t even bother explaining who the hell you are how you survived falling off a cliff, and why the hell you want to dig up A GODDAMN TROLL? NO PROBLEM!" Roan spoke with unbridled sarcasm as he berated Arton for his direct and blunt actions. At the same time, he snuck glances at the still digging girl ensuring he wasn''t speaking loud enough for her to catch wind of his words.
"Does that make any goddamn sense Arton!? What the hell are you doing!?" Roan continued his whisper-shouting.
"Calm down Roan." Arton responded in a suddenly serious tone. "Did you not see her face just now? I doubt there''s much she''d be willing to discuss before we dig this thing up."
Roan stared Arton down as he contemplated on his words. Arton was a very sarcastic and taunting person by nature, but it was always in times like this when he became very blunt that he usually was right about whatever it was he was saying. Roan looked back towards the girl who despite her clearly impaired movement was now single-mindedly digging away at the snow beneath them.
"And, either way, she doesn''t seem like she wants to do us any harm. Neither will this thing down here if the fact that it hasn''t gotten up to kill us yet remains true." Arton added on as Roan continued to study the stranger.
*PAAT* Suddenly, Roan felt a sharp sting on the back of his neck. He turned swiftly to face the culprit that kneeled down in the snow next to him. "What the hell, Arton!?"
"Quit staring at her and help us dig this up, are you stupid? You look like a complete pervert." Arton responded, making sure to speak loud enough for the girl to hear his words.
Roan''s face immediately flushed red with embarrassment and shame at Arton''s words. "Shut the hell up idiot! I wasn''t-" Roan struggled to find the words to exonerate himself of Arton''s entirely truthful allegations.
"Whatever! You want me to dig? I''ll dig. And much faster than you in fact you damn mosshead." Roan shot back as he got his knees to help the two excavate the pile of snow below.
Arton smirked wordlessly with his head still facing down at the snow, a small chuckle escaping his lips.
"What was that?" Roan asked in an offended tone, lifting his head to look at Arton.
"Wow, are you still looking for an excuse to raise your head and stare at her? Sometimes enough is enough man. You''re even making me uncomfortable now." Arton responded in a fake disgusted tone.
Roan flinched with at his words. "You..." The boy took a second to think before looking back down and continuing to dig up the snow below, deciding that he had fallen too far behind in this verbal battle to keep going on.
"Rafal! What''s going on here? Are you all alright?" A little way down the path leading up to where the three others were digging at the snow, a man wearing an intricately complicated warbonnet upon a regular fur-stuffed winter cap walked hurriedly towards the boy fleeing the scene in a terrible panic. Beside him stood a man nearly twice his size that stared out at the boy with a piercing gaze from his dull grey eyes.
"V-Village Chief!" Rafal shouted in surprise as he hurriedly bowed his torso in what seemed like both respect and fear.
"Easy boy, there''s no need for such things. I don''t remember doing anything so great to garner such respect. Just tell me where Roan and Arton are." The Village Chief spoke in a soft tone with a warm smile spread on his face. Such a quick and unnatural change from his earlier alarmed state was worthy of a politician that had lived his whole life through lies. But it didn''t seem like the boy picked up on any such thing. As he looked up in respect and admiration to the Village Elder.
"Y-Yes sir! They''re right over there." Rafal said as he pointed far behind him towards the two boys and a stranger that sat in the snow between them.
"Roan! Arton!" The two boys quickly stood up and ran over towards the Village Chief as he called their names, lining up in front of him. The Village Chief sighed heavily in relief at the sight of them alive and healthy. "So, what happened exactly?" The Village Chief asked again, now much calmer.
"T-There''s a demon! It d-disguised itself as a girl though..." Rafal quickly spoke up and pointed towards the strange girl who continued to dig away at the snow beneath her.
"Stop spewing nonsense Rafal!" Roan shouted again at his brother with thinly veiled anger in respect for the Village Chief in front of him. "We found her lying by Ice marrow''s Drop Village Chief." Roan spoke to the Chief with his hands twitching at his sides. "S-s-she''s too pretty to be a demon." He spoke again but in a much more hushed voice.
"What was that?" The Village Chief asked Roan, knitting his eyebrows in confusion and bringing his ear closer to him.
"A-Anyways! There''s no way she''s a demon. She just fell from up there, so she probably hit her head or something!" Roan said, pointing up at the cliff that stood nearly 200 feet above the ground they were standing on.
"From there?" For the first time the tall, grey-eyed man spoke, sporting an incredulous tone as he raised his eyebrows, pointing out the absurdity of Roan suggestion.
"Yes, from up there! Don''t get all sarcastic just because you''re tall Tetsu, I''m still older than you, where''s your respect for your elders?!" Roan shouted back at Tetsu''s remark.
''That little chibi is older than that giant?'' The girl thought in disbelief at the prospect as she listened in to the arguing tribesmen in front of her. She had many questions on my mind at the moment: ''Where the hell am I? What happened to my body? Who the hell are these people in front of me?'' Only the last of which could be answered right now. But there was no benefit to lose herself in what she could not answer so she decided to just focus on what was in front of her. Digging away at the last remnants of the snow that began to reveal a familiar scaly, blue skin. One that was much paler than the last time she had seen it.
Freezing for a second, she took no more than a moment to process the death of her ex-predator. A wave of relief spread over her body as she began to turn away to focus on the other situation developing just beside her for a while now. With the knowledge that the damn thing was dead and gone, she finally felt free to turn her attention to what really mattered right now. Finding out what the hell was going on.
"Um... hello?" The girl spoke in a voice so small and broken she questioned herself as to whether they''d understand what she was saying or not. It seemed as though her wanton focus on digging up her deceased enemy sapped her of more strength than she had time to notice. As she walked forward with my question, the body she was still unaccustomed to walked jaggedly and imbalanced. It wasn''t long before she ended up falling ungracefully face-first into the snow, tripping on her own feet. The feeling of being buried in it was shamefully familiar.
"You fools! Do you not see how much she''s struggling? Go help the poor girl!" Seeing the pitiable sight of that young woman speaking in such a frail voice before falling over struck a heavy sense of guilt into the hearts of the boys and Village Chief who spoke leisurely beside her for so long.
His commanding statement immediately sent the four boys running over to her side, however the extra three were unneeded it seemed, as the large grey-eyed boy lifted her simply with one arm before whipping her over his shoulder like a meat sack before running back towards the Village Chief.
"N-no.. you don''t have to..." Was all that came out of the young woman''s mouth as she hung over Tetsu''s shoulder like a bag of potatoes.
"Easy child, there''s no need for such modesty! Let me and these young n''s here take you back to our village, out of harm''s way, for now." The Village Chief spoke to her in another warm voice. But this time with much more sincerity. He beckoned towards the other three boys who stood with mouths agape at Tetsu''s coarse handling of the girl.
"Come on then, we don''t have much time before nightfall. Back to the village, you three!" The village chief ordered.
It was just moments ago that the girl was violently pulled from her limbs and swung around like a rope before landing chest first on a steeled shoulder, knocking all the wind out of her. As she lay there, nearly unconscious, she begged the feather-hatted man in front of her to let her go but was met with a beaming smile and generous response as if the man was doing her a favor. ''You''re the ones harming me right now dumbass!'' She shouted in my mind, struggling to get loose from the boy named Tetsu''s arms. But his grip only tightened on her back at her resistance, causing her even more pain.
"oogh" She groaned out in pain as she relented to the tribesman''s determination to take her away. "Poor child, you must have been left out here for quite a while.. Hurry up boys! We have to get her back to the village quickly!" The Village Chief''s words were like a Judge''s sentence to her as the pace of the group quickened and her face contorted in pain at the increased repetition of shoulder strikes to her stomach...
''God, please let their village be close.'' She prayed; hands raised to the sky in her mind. Her prayers, however, were left undelivered as the stomach blows persisted for another hour before the group finally reached their destination.
Noholm: Eiat Deta (3)
A dingy way-post stood short and fragile at the foot of a beaten path that started and split in three ways immediately. The sign was crudely stained in a red dye that came off at the corners. Clearly inscribed in the block of fettered wood were beautifully calligraphed characters that seemed wasted on such an unkempt canvas.
The characters glowed with a yellow hue that stood out starkly from the red dye surrounding it. In front of the way-post the Village Chief whipped backwards towards the four boys that followed leisurely behind him.
"Tetsu... huu, you take her over to Llana. I have to return to my meeting with the delegate." The Village Chief commanded through strained breaths before turning to the other three boys. He clearly wasn''t used to such physical exertion, having just jogged for nearly an hour.
"As for you three, you might as well go with him there. Do whatever you want, but just remember what I told you." He said cryptically, making sure to emphasize his words.
"Yes, Village Chief" Reltin answered for the group and the Village Chief nodded briefly in response before walking off. Tetsu was already well on his way down the rightmost path that led into an opening in the nearby woods.
"What was it again that the old man told us to do?" Arton questioned Reltin leisurely as his eyes trailed the girl that bobbed up and down on Tetsu''s fleeting shoulder.
"Old man? That''s the village chief Arton! Show him some respect." Reltin snapped back and yelled at him but was only met with Arton''s cold eyes that moved once again to meet his.
"I don''t like that guy." He stared coldly into Reltin''s eyes while speaking out in a monotone voice. "He''s no good, my intuition says so." Arton tapped his head with his finger a few times as he said so.
"Eh.." Reltin stared back him not knowing quite what to say. Arton''s rarely ever brought up his intuition but whenever he did, it was usually right. Reltin turned back to look at the fleeting back of the Village Chief with a troubled expression.
.....................................................................................................
She continued enduring the drilling at her stomach that evolved into now what felt like a javelin jabbing in and out of it. ''Were this boy''s shoulders made of steel!?'' she continued to cry inwardly but soon found her salvation in the form of a small structure that the giant had stopped on the porch of. Evident by the wooden flooring that now met the girl''s vertical eyeline as she hung over his shoulder. The flooring, however, was quite crude, and she could spot multiple tiny cracks and gaps between each plank.
"Llana." The giant spoke gently before knocking repeatedly and violently on the wooden door in front of him. His smooth voice sounded in stark contrast to the thunderous banging that came after it.
The girl could feel a shaking from his extraneous gesture but soon realized that it was not just his arm that shook but the entire hut that was trembling under his hand as he continued to pound on the wooden door that she looked up to find was quite shabby as well. It was a wonder to her that the thing had held under such violence.
"What, what, WHAT!?" An impatient voice squeaked from the other side of the door before opening it from the other side and squealing even louder. The figure on the other side stood short as a gnome in comparison to the giant that the girl could only assume was staring down at the woman called "Llana" from next to her. The woman had to be no more than five foot tall as she looked up with exceedingly squinted eyes and a dangerous look that the girl assumed were aimed at the giant next to her. The woman wore a dirtied, blue apron atop a simple white shirt and black leggings which were also quite bruised as well as a pair of thick, brown gloves that gave her the impression of a gardener that had just come out of an intense wrestle with a bush.
"This, take her." The giant spoke in the same manner of a five-year-old child before the girl felt the shoulder that supported her disappear and the world spin as she was flipped forward and presented to the lady in the hut as if she was a gift basket. The sudden propulsion left her too dizzy to protest at the continuous inhumane treatment.
"Huh?" Llana''s face contorted into a frown as she looked down at the girl and seemed to study her body. Her squinted eyes trailed over the girl, stopping only to stare briefly at her stomach before she looked back up at the man behind her.
"What, is she supposed to be injured or something?" Llana snarled at him, clearly not taking the girl as a serious case. Well, it only made sense. She was, after all, completely fine.
"She fell. From Ice marrow. " The giant replied in more short sentences.
"From the top of Ice marrow?" Llana asked incredulously, answered only by the continued silence of the boy. She looked down at the girl again but this time with a much more peculiar gaze. Her face held the same expression for a couple more moments as she looked back between the dizzy girl and the boy''s serious face before clicking her tongue, seemingly having relented. She opened her eyes from its previously squinted state, revealing green pupils that glowed with a similarly bright green light, taking the girl aback and causing her to unconsciously recoil at Llana''s gaze.
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Llana''s eyes trailed the girl once again but this time feeling much more piercing, giving her the feeling of being completely exposed. Her eyes stopped on the girl''s stomach but only for a second before they darted up to her head and Llana''s face contorted drastically. She quickly grabbed the girl''s shoulders, propping her up on her feet before grabbing her hand and pulling her into the hut and slamming the door shut behind them.
Tetsu remained still outside, puzzled at the girls'' sudden disappearance.
The girl''s untrained steps almost caused her to trip over herself multiple times. With extreme focus, she somehow managed to keep herself upright until Llana unceremoniously pushed her down onto a bed that was nearly double her size.
"I''m going to need you to lay down for a bit." Llana said as she flitted with something on the other side of the room.
Llana sat down at the bedside and the girl''s eyes drifted around the room surrounding her. The interior was about what you''d expect from a typical cabin in the woods. A few buckets sat on the ground around b what seemed toe seeds that littered the floor, above them was a tool rack on which hung a pan, tweezers, and a variety of other tools that didn''t quite fit in a gardener''s kit. Although she had called it a bed, the cloth she sat on was nothing much more than that: a thick fur blanket that covered a wooden frame which not even a soldier would be able to sleep on comfortably.
"Sorry, that bed was made to fit even that blockhead outside, so you''ll just have to deal with it." She said, rummaging through a variety of flasks and trays on a table that covered the length of an entire wall. She seemingly found what she needed as she turned around with two flasks of a strange yellow liquid in one hand, and a tray of red herbs in the other that looked similar to chili peppers.
"Y-yeah no, it''s ok." the girl spoke in a soft tone, still uncomfortable with the unfamiliar voice that came out of her mouth. Llana put the unusual vessels on a cart that was just by the bedside before putting her hand over the girl''s head and asking her to lay down. The girl was still very much confused by the entire situation but feeling Llana''s gentle touch and seeing genuine concern in her eyes, she complied.
"How do you feel?" Llana asked as she grabbed some tools from the rack nearby and began to do something with the ingredients on the cart the girl couldn''t quite see from her prone position on the bed.
"I''m fine, a bit of a headache if anything." she replied, feeling guilty that Llana was still under the impression she was gravely injured. Llana approached and sat by the girl on the bed. Her left hand was cupped, as if she was holding something in it. She put her right hand on the girl''s head once again and opened her squinted eyes to reveal her green eyes once more.
"What''s wrong with your eyes?" The girl asked, inwardly cringing at how her question posed in the soft voice that came out of her sounded like the tone of a five-year-old asking why the sky is blue.
"What? these?" Llana asked, pointing at her eyes with the hand that left the girl''s forehead, winking them at the same time as a bad joke. The girl nodded at her question, and she smiled in a motherly way that reminded the girl of something she couldn''t quite grasp. "Have you never met a healer before?" Llana asked as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Healer?" The girl asked incredulously, thinking the woman was pulling a prank on her, but Llana''s expression remained unchanged.
"Did you not have a healer in the tribe you came from?" Llana asked, curiosity -but more prominently concern, visible on her face.
"Tribe? what tribe?" The girl asked, her mind now running in circles trying to figure out what the hell was going on. Blue monsters, healers, grey-eyed giants, glowing eyes. What the hell was happening to her.
"I think you may have a brain hemorrhage." The woman explained. "I can try to heal you but it''s going to hurt. A lot." She said with a serious tone.
''A brain hemorrhage?'' The idea was ludicrous at first and honestly much too scary for the girl to consider, but after some consideration it didn''t seem so unbelievable. Trouble walking, a headache, coupled with the fact that she heard her own voice differently and that she was seeing things it wasn''t so crazy. The idea of being operated on by a tribeswoman out in the middle of nowhere, however, was terrifying and she was reluctant to agree to go through with it. Maybe it was because Llana could see the panic in the girl''s eyes, but she brought her hand down to the girl''s and held it gently before speaking.
"I know it''s scary but if I don''t do anything, you won''t survive. You have to be brave." Llana''s words immediately broke the girl out of the spell of fear she was under, and she inwardly slapped herself for behaving like such a child. Sure there was some serious doubts that this tribeswoman could somehow contain the bleeding in her head, especially in a way that didn''t leave her permanently impaired, but the woman seemed confident enough and if she truly was suffering from some internal bleeding doing nothing was never going to be the right option.
She took a few deep breaths before looking back up at Llana and nodding with determination. The woman brought her cupped hand up to the girl''s mouth before dropping unfamiliar herbs with the texture of dry leaves into it. She brought a flask of water with another swift movement, and the slurped it down quickly, swallowing the strange substance and sending it flushing down her throat. She braced herself as she expected the woman to bring out a scalpel or some other sharp tool, but instead, the woman moved her hands over her in a strange gesture.
Llana brought her right hand once up to the girl''s forehead, while her left one sat idle on her chest. Suddenly both hands began to emit the same dull green hue that shone from her eyes, and the girl began to feel an intense burning in her chest. The burning quickly progressed into strangely familiar searing pain. Her eyes closed shut seemingly by instinct and the girl felt as though she was repetitively slamming against the door to her subconscious. The door, however, refused to budge an inch let alone open. However, as if responding to this sudden raid a single black speck emerged from under the door, moving ever closer until it struck her temple causing her to feel an impossibly real physical pain from her head. All at once the memory of a certain abyss came crawling up into her mind before flooding her thoughts entirely.
The girl''s eyes tore open abruptly and she howled out in pain as the memory struck her along with the already intense searing on her chest from the Llana''s hands. She nearly lost her consciousness before the pain slowly faded away and she was left panting in relief, sweat trickling down her forehead. She felt as though she had just run a marathon. As she lay down exhausted, her now empty head was occupied only by the memory of the cold and unforgiving grasp of death.
And then a single thought. Something more akin to an external reminder than any kind of remembrance.
"Who... am I?"
Noholm: Eiat Deta (4)
The villager sat hunched over in the rickety wooden chair, cradling his injured hand like the paw of a wounded animal. Dozens of hair-thin black thorns had embedded themselves in his skin, clustered mostly along the back of his hand and curling slightly under the flesh. A dozen tiny pouches of pus had begun to bubble up in between them, and he winced as Llana began to pluck away at the many foreign teeth dug into his flesh.
¡°Chase,¡± Llana said, not bothering to lift her eyes to look at the girl, ¡°bring me the yellow bowl¡ªthe one with the sedge root mixture.¡±
With an eager nod, the white-haired girl darted to the pantry on the other side of the room. The sound of rustling from the other room was followed by the uneven shuffling of footsteps¡ and then a clatter. A second crash. And then a third.
Llana¡¯s mouth flattened into a line, though she kept her gaze fixed on the injury in front of her. The man grimaced again as she pulled a particularly large thorn from his skin.
A few seconds later, Chase appeared in the doorway, gripping the mixing bowl between both hands like it might jump away from her if she didn¡¯t hold it tight enough. ¡°Here,¡± she said, wearing a bright smile. She appeared a touch too proud of herself for all that Llana had heard take place in the other room. ¡°Took a second to find it.¡±
Choosing to remain silent, Llana accepted the bowl with one hand, dipping two fingers into the thick paste and beginning to stir it as she studied the man''s injured hand once again. No thorns remained, instead only the dozen pockets of swelling skin dotting his hand like many small ant hills. Silence hung in the air for a few moments before Chase finally broke it.
¡°What happened to him?¡± she asked, peering closer.
¡°Thorn rot,¡± Llana replied flatly. ¡°Jain thistle, most likely. Though it doesn''t have a particularly potent toxin compared to most¡ª¡±
The man gave a pained groan and turned his face away from the sight of his own infested hand, as if ignoring it might spare him the pain. ¡°¡ªThe body''s already begun to purge it,¡± Llana continued, her tone unaffected by the man''s struggle.
"By moving it into those little bubbles, right? Chase said suddenly, her eyes narrowing on the small mounds in his skin. "His body''s trying to push the stuff out by itself, like it''s quarantining itself or something."
Llana paused.
Her fingers stopped mid-swirl as she left them submerged in the bowl. Her eyes flicked to the side --not quite to look at Chase, but to gauge something more subtle. The corner of her mouth tightened ever so slightly.
The girl had been a stumbling mess of clumsiness and wide-eyed confusion ever since she had shown up. But this wasn''t the first time she had said something just a little too knowledgeable for her to know. She claims her memory to be a hollow cavern, and yet, sometimes she spoke as if a better trained healer than Llana herself. Not consciously, perhaps --but suspicious nonetheless.
Chase leaned forward to watch as Llana, as if to dispel herself from her own illusions, retrieved a slender, curved blade from the cart beside her. Her eyes widened, breath catching audibly in her throat as she watched Llana carefully lance the largest pustule in the man''s skin. A thin line of puss seeped out onto a cloth she had placed below his hand. Pressing her palm gently to the side of the man''s wrist, Chase watched in awe as the faint green light emitting from it stirred beneath the man''s skin, the many mounds of puss shifting above the swollen red of his hand and pulling out towards a single mound under the thin laceration Llana had just made.
Next, a reed-thin siphoning tube danced in her hands, meeting the wound and drawing out the fluid in a slow, quiet hiss.
Chase gasped as she witnessed it. "That''s --is that healing magic? That''s amazing?" She attempted to curb her exclamation into a whisper, though it was obnoxiously loud nonetheless.
Llana''s brows softened ever so slightly as she heard the girl''s amazed tone. ''No way'' she thought. The girl couldn''t have been deceiving her in whatever way she had been haphazardly suspecting. Her expression as she awed at Llana''s work was too raw, too unguarded. It was difficult to even pretend to be so astonished --not convincingly. It only confirmed what she had gradually began to believe. Though the girl was hardly normal, her memory loss was genuine.
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She glanced at her again, briefly glossing her over before returning to her work.
''Still. Run?'' Llana held back a rare chuckle as she recalled what had happened just one week prior. The girl had looked her dead in the eye, insisting that such a thing was her name. It didn''t take long for Llana to discard the prospect of it. Though she wasn''t certain she was better suited to name the girl herself, the name "Chase" had come to mind instead. It was a nice name. Llana quite liked it. And it was close enough to what the girl had so stubbornly tried to cling to at the beginning, but far easier to stomach.
''Run'' sounded too much like a warning, Llana mused grimly. ''Chase''.. at least it sounded like a person.
Llana secured the final wrap of cloth around the villager''s wrist, fastening it into place before tucking it into the end of another fold. The swelling already appeared to recede ever so slightly. She stood, brushing her palms over the least dirtied edges of her apron before speaking.
"All done. It''ll sting for a few days, but as long as you don''t pick at it --or do anything else foolish you should be fine."
"Th-Thank you, Miss Llana," the man responded gratefully, though his voice remained tight with residual discomfort.
Before Llana could finish sending him off, the white-haired girl stepped up from beside her, beaming with an idiotic smile she had gotten painfully familiar with over the past few days.
"Don''t be too shy to come back if you need more help, alright? We got you covered." She fashioned a proud thumbs-up as she spoke.
The man blinked at her a few times, his expression eventually melting into something slack and pink. He stammered a few words of thanks, nearly bowing to the girl before shuffling out the door, the gratitude continuing to spill from him like a leaky faucet.
Llana watched as the door swung closed behind him. Though she had done all the work, she was somehow confident that Chase''s smile would be the only thing he''d remember from his visit. She soon shook the thought, turning towards the girl who had already shifted her attention to the picked thorns laying on the cart behind her.
"You shouldn''t be so friendly," Llana said outright.
"Huh?" Chase turned, dropping the few thorns she had been inspecting back into the cart before directing a confused gaze in Llana''s direction.
Llana simply crossed her arms as she looked back at her. "Men around here aren''t all acquainted with, what you might call chivalry. They''ll get the wrong idea if you let them."
Chase stared at her, tilting her head in genuine bewilderment, her eyes darting upward as she appeared to be trying to divine the meaning behind Llana''s words. Then, with a sudden shrug, she looked back at Llana as if she had finally come to her answer. "I think it''s you that''s just too grumpy." She said simply, giving Llana her childlike advice with a solemn look.
Llana released a quiet sigh as she found her words falling on deaf ears. Even for someone without a single memory to reflect on, the girl was far too naive.
It was then that she felt a sudden discomfort. Like something had pricked her skin. Blinking, she soon realized that she had never heard the door completely shut.
Drifting her eyes slowly upward towards the wooden frame, she spotted a figure standing in the doorway. His silhouette loomed tall against the daylight that bled into the cabin from behind him, framed by the warped wood of the open doorway. He wore a thick cloak, edged in black fur that hung off his narrow shoulders like a mantle which far surpassed the man who bore it. His hair had grayed at the temples, the rest swept back to expose coarse, weathered lines across his brow. A patchy bear framed his face, rugged and trimmed just enough to suggest some small attempt at refinement --like someone had tried to sculpt gold out of mud.
Llana''s breath hitched for a moment, her chest tightening as she met the eyes of Village Chief Deta. Her fear remained as his eyes trailed from her over to the young girl beside her. Llana felt her fingers curl subconsciously against the fabric of her sleeve before she spoke.
"Chief Deta." She began in a blank tone, just warm enough to mask the cold fear she felt underneath. "Please, come in." The man passed through the doorway with a wry smile as his eyes turned back to Llana.
"I appreciate the invitation! Haha." He spoke lightly before letting out a playful chuckle, though it only served to make Llana even more uncomfortable. She noticed his eyes trailing over to Chase once again who appeared to shift uncomfortably under his silent gaze.
"Chase, go tend to the garden." Llana said suddenly, her tone quiet but firm. "The alcra stems need watering, and go collect whichever blueroots look ripe enough. Don''t forget the bucket this time."
Chase took a second to glance between Llana and the Chief, appearing to have something to say, though she decided against it in the end. Unease flickered in her expression for a just a moment before she nodded at Llana, turning to slip through the back door which led out to the garden.
Only once the door clicked shut behind her did Llana pull out a chair from the dull drum table which sat in the corner of the room.
"Would you like some tea?" She asked the man in a stiff tone.
Noholm: Eiat Deta (5)
Chase felt as though she was reuniting with an old acquaintance, meeting the settling cold on the other side of the door. A wooden bucket in one hand and wielding a black hand trowel in the other, she flitted with the crumbled apron tied haphazardly around her waist. She winced at the stinging brightness of the blush-white snowscape ahead of her, squinting as her eyes adjusted to the scene.
The garden behind Llana''s cabin was little more than a patchwork of frost-dusted herbs and oddly shaped stalks. The entire menagerie was boxed in by a short and crooked iron fence that had long since turned to rust in the open mountain air. It looked to be one windstorm away from collapse. Just beyond the boundary of the collapsing garden unfurled a vast white field, stretching a couple hundred feet into the distance before meeting a sheer drop into whatever wilderness lay below. Flanked on one side by a dense tree-line, the field cut short only to give way to the sight of distant mountain tops. Slopes of lush green woodlands turned to snow smothered peaks, the entire scene so distant and lofty that low-floating clouds drifted by to obscure the sight in a translucent fog.
Though it was beautiful, the sight did more to unsettle Chase who couldn''t help but ponder morbidly what kind of monsters --other than those she had already seen, could be living within the many folds of the picturesque landscape.
Turning her attention back towards the garden, she allowed the familiar work to busy her. She crouched low by a cluster of crooked red bulbs --the strange flesh-like pockets of liquid produced by the Alcra stalks, if she remembered right. Dunking the watering ladle into a large bucket of water nestled in the corner of the small garden, she wet the soil beneath each of the curling stalks with no more than three ladles each. ''Three ladles. No more, no less," Llana''s stern face engraved it''s visage into her memory. Though it wasn''t just her advice that motivated her to ensure she did everything here right. She shuddered at the memory of what had happened the first time she''d picked a blueroot plum too soon.
Speaking of --she walked over to the cluster of blueroot stems tucked away on the opposite side of the garden, gently twisting off only those which appeared absolutely brimming with a bright purple undertone. It was strange, the way her body seemed to remember things before her mind had managed to. Over the last few days, she had somehow become almost competent at this --tending to the plants, mixing the herbs, distinguishing the roots from the weeds, remembering what each strange organism that populated Llana''s garden did and didn''t like as she called it.
Though Llana had corrected her many times, she''d begun to call this place a ''clinic''. Referring to Llana as a doctor rather than a ''healer'' as she requested to be called many times.
She wasn''t quite sure why. The words just made sense for what she called them. Important, and clear. But distant, too --like it was borrowed from a dream.
The eruption of a vindictive yelling interrupted her thoughts.
At the sound, she straightened up, her eyes squinting as she peered up past the fence toward the field beyond it.
A familiar group of figures danced through the snow. Baggy furs bouncing on their childish shoulders as their wooden swords swung wildly in the air.
Well, not all figures on the field appeared so childish. A large grey-eyed boy stood at least three heads above the other boys in the field, holding another boy by the back of his collar as he flailed wildly in protest. Roan appeared red-faced, shouting ferociously as he continued to writhe under the titan''s grasp.
"Let me GO, Tetsu! I''ve gotta beat the SHIT outta this guy-!" The spiky-haired boy shrieked as another boy, his hair growing over his face like a moss, stood a few paces away from the scene, utterly unbothered by Roan''s threats.
"This little fungus rat --no, this little shit fungus rat threw BOAR DUNG on my face! I''ve gotta plant his little mushroom-shit... rat-fungus... shit-FACE! --deep in the ground Tetsu! It''s a matter of honor! Don''t you know what honor is you little shit rat!?" Roan roared as he glared at Arton. "Who the hell does that in a duel?" A smear of brown decorated one cheek of Roan''s face.
Chase blinked as she watched the comical scene unfolding before her.
"Real fights get dirty, Roan. It ain''t always sunshine and boar dun- Ahem, I mean sunshine and rainbows. You gotta get used to it sometime." Arton shrugged his shoulders, donning a wise look as he gave Roan his advice.
"You! I''ll show you dirty you smug bastard!" Roan''s face appeared to somehow turn an even darker shade of red as he flailed even harder in Tetsu''s grip. Even a giant like him began to lose his grip from the constant struggle.
"You lost, Roan." Tetsu finally spoke, his tone blank and unimpressed as he gave Roan a solemn stare. "Take it like a man. The duel''s over."
Roan turned to face him with a growing look of incredulity as he opened his mouth in protest. "But--"
"You''d dishonor the duel if you try to get revenge. What''s point in having duels you won''t honor?" Tetsu reaffirmed his opinion, scolding Roan with a serious expression as he seemed to crumble under his glare. Tetsu finally released the boy from his grasp, causing him to crash sloppily onto the ground below from the sudden pull of gravity.
"Still." Tetsu frowned as he turned to Arton. "That was cheap."
"Never said it wasn''t" Arton shrugged again as Tetsu''s glare turned to him.
Just to the side, a fourth boy busily swung his sword, appearing to perform his movements with incredible focus as his eyes didn''t dare to move so much as an inch from the wooden blade in front of him. It was only when Tetsu''s gaze finally turned to him that a crack appeared in his diligent facade.
"Rafal, it''s your turn." The fourth boy''s sword zigzagged wildly as the giant spoke to him mid-swing. He immediately froze up under the larger boy''s piercing gaze.
"U-uh, I think I need to practice my form a little more before--"
"You''ve been practicing the same swing for a week now, Rafal." Tetsu quickly refuted the boy''s words, but Rafal wasn''t about to give up that easily.
"Yeah, but I haven''t mastered it yet." He said quickly, trying his best to emphasize the word ''mastered'' to convey the importance of the matter.
"There''s no such thing as mastering a move you''ve never applied practically. You won''t master it without fighting." Tetsu explained.
"I-I don''t think I''m ready yet--"
"No one ever is." Tetsu cut him off, digging his heel behind him before raising his sword parallel to his torso. The snow audibly crumbled under the weight of his heel as he prepared to take his first step.
Taking a single step forward, he raised his sword as he approached Rafal, moving in before-
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"I YIELD! I YIELD! PLEASE, DON''T KILL ME!" Rafal surrendered immediately, lifting his arms as the sword he''d been so diligently swinging just a few seconds earlier fell limply into the snow below.
"Ugh. Coward." Roan groaned at the sight.
Then from the garden, a burst of laughter sounded in long waves. Chase couldn''t help it.
All four boys immediately turned to the source of the noise, seeing Chase as she stood at the fence, arms resting lazily on the wood as her hands cupped her cheeks while she stared back at them. "Hey, giant. Are you training to fight honorable duels or to harass children?" She asked in a tone barely disguising her amusement.
Tetsu blinked at her. "We''re all the same age." He said blankly.
"Oh, right..." Chase squinted as she once again found herself awing at that simple fact. She studied the boys, marking the stark difference between that of the giant and the rest of the group. "Still. Have you never heard the phrase ''pick on someone your own size''?"
Tetsu tilted his head, his gaze landing on Roan beside him who quickly averted his eyes, before landing on Arton who, too, only shrugged in response to his questioning gaze.
Then, he looked back at Chase, sporting an expression of genuine befuddlement as he did so.
Chase sighed at the sight. With a quiet huff, she untied her apron, dusting off the loose soot which adorned it before peeling it from her waist. The motion, though casual, appeared to set off a miniature crisis within Roan''s brain.
"W-What are you doing!?" He shrieked, spinning around and clasping both hands over his eyes as his cheeks flushed red.
Chased blinked at him, bemused at his gentlemanly display of courtesy. And to think Llana had told her there were no chivalrous men in the village.
Roan felt a sudden sting from his nape as he turned to see Arton staring at him with another revolted expression. "It''s just her apron, you filth. What exactly are you fantasizing about?" He scolded, not allowing the disgusted expression on his face to fade by even a hair as he did so.
"Maybe I was wrong to throw that boar dung on you. I think some of it might''ve gotten to your brain." Arton quickly added, his voice reflecting a sudden melancholic nature as he looked at Roan with a pitying gaze.
"You!"
Relieved of her encumbering apron, Chase hopped over the crooked in a single smooth motion.
''Woah...'' Rafal watched the movement with awestruck eyes. He wondered at that moment if he was capable of doing that too.
Chase walked up to the boys, dusting off the snow from her palms before phrasing a casual question. "So, what exactly are you training for out here, then? Even if it''s only been a week, I haven''t seen so much as an angry boar running around here. Let alone another troll." Her curious eyes studied the boys as she awaited a response.
"Boars are all hibernating right now. Won''t see ''em till spring." Arton replied curtly as he adjusted one of the overall straps hanging over his shoulder.
Chase took a moment, nodding to his adequate response before asking again. "What about the trolls?" she raised an incredulous brow. "They hibernating too?"
"You won''t see any trolls near the village." This time it was Tetsu who answered --his voice flat, yet a hint of pride present in his tone.
"What? Because they''re scared of you?" Chase asked him incredulously in response. "You''re big but, they''re wayyy bigger." She stated simply, widening her arms as if to demonstrate the difference in size.
He blinked once. "Because of my brother." He responded curtly.
She titled her head in response. "Your brother scares them?" She asked, puzzled.
"No. He kills them." Tetsu said bluntly.
"Oh." There was a short pause as Chase mused that she had received at least an answer of some kind to her questions.
Rafal seemed to pick up on this, however, as he took a few moments to build up his courage before picking up the explanation where Tetsu had so curtly left off. "Th-There''s a fort up on the mountaintop. Warriors from the village stay up there year-round. They keep the trolls away from the pass." He explained as Chase''s eyes trailed over to him.
Chase''s eyes widened slightly in response. "There are people who live up there? And, they just -fight trolls...? All day?"
Rafal shrunk silently under her gaze, recoiling like a turtle trying to retreat to it''s shell.
"It''s a huge honor," Tetsu quickly added, his face remaining stoic though his tone had grown considerably more proud. "Only a few boys are chosen each year to become a fortsman. My brother was chosen two years ago."
"And that''s what we''re training for." Arton added on, his tone appearing somehow even less passionate than even Tetsu''s.
Roan, now mostly recovered from his embarrassing display, piped up with a smirk. "If you don''t train hard enough as a boy, you''ll end up stuck in the village doing something way more boring --like carpentry, or laying stone. Or--" He suddenly paused as his eyes glanced back up at Chase who looked back at him with a puzzled expression.
"...or, uh... definitely not herbalism. Because anybody would wanna do that."
Arton rolled his eyes.
Tetsu, however, didn''t bother to correct Roan as he slandered all the domestic positions for men in the village. It seemed that even he was capable of being childish at times, Chase mused.
"But that''s weird." Chase started as she tilted her head in an expression of confusion. "How come nobody ever told me about all this?" She finally said.
Tetsu''s face distorted at her words, growing uncharacteristically telling. "Llana didn''t?"
Chase simply shook her head in response. "No."
Tetsu''s confusion seemed to only grow at her words. "But she''s... you''re her assistant, right? The fortsmen always visit the clinic before going up the mountain. There''s no reason she shouldn''t tell you." Tetsu attempted to argue with the reality being revealed to him as he took a step towards Chase in the heat of the moment.
"She never mentioned anything about it," Chase repeated, her voice grew a little quieter under Tetsu''s fiery gaze.
It only seemed to throw Tetsu off even more, however, until Roan decided to insert himself into the situation. He stuck out a scrawny arm in front of the giant, his face beginning to contort as he appeared to be trying to push Tetsu back with the back of his arm. The giant, however, didn''t so much as budge an inch under his force.
"Uhm... Ahem... I think you''re getting... a little too close there, Tetsu..." Roan spoke in between gaps of effortful work. It was only when Tetsu noticed the growing force on his abdomen that he realized how close he had come to Chase, immediately taking a step back as Roan''s hand was finally given the relief it desperately needed.
"Ah. Sorry." Tetsu apologized quickly.
"Ahem... Well," Roan began after taking a moment to discretely catch his breath. "I think that kind of makes sense, doesn''t it?" He finally said, the color returning to his face. "A girl like you shouldn''t have to worry about something like trolls. That''s what warriors like us are for." He stated proudly as he brought his fist to his chest.
Arton immediately rolled his eyes upon hearing Roan''s words.
Chase stared at him with a blank expression. Her face didn''t scrunch in confusion, break into laughter, or so much as look amused in the slightest.
"So, what?" She suddenly began, her tone sharp. "A weak, stupid girl like me doesn''t need to know about things like that because I can''t do anything about it anyways!?" She asked, irate.
Roan''s proud smile dissipated almost immediately at her words. "W-wait, no, I didn''t mean it like tha-"
Chase suddenly took a step closer as Roan shrank under her glare. "Should I remind you, that I''m the only one here who''s actually fought a troll?"
Roans mouth opened and closed a few times, but no words escaped his lips. "W-well, you didn''t technically f-fight it." He finally said, and Arton almost immediately held his face in disbelief at the words.
''This idiot...'' He thought as exactly what he expected came to pass.
"W-What did you say!?" Chase nearly immediately let out an angry shriek in response. "Aside from me, none of you have so much as been in shouting distance from a troll. So don''t talk like you know anything about what it feels like to be hunted by one!"
Rafal was nearly toppled over by the fear alone as Chase suddenly burst into anger.
"God!" She shouted again, this time almost to herself before turning back towards the cabin she came from. "Whatever! You guys can go play pretend where you want! Just don''t do it here. -Ever -Again!" She looked back to shout at them once more time before continuing her angry march back to the garden.
"Wait. You don''t have the right to-" Arton slapped a swift hand over Tetsu''s mouth before he could finish his sentence. Tetsu glared back at him as he pulled it back but Arton didn''t back away from his gaze.
"Not the time, man. Not the time." He said simply. Tetsu looked back at him with a confused tilt of his head, his eyes trailing back up to Chase''s fleeting back as she kicked at the snow around her in a vitriolic show of anger.
"And you..." Arton said suddenly as he directed a disappointed gaze in Roan''s direction. As his eyes happened upon the sight of Roan''s tear-stricken face, snot dribbling sloppily from his nose as his eyes welled up with another wave of his regret, he almost felt bad.
Arton reached over and gave Roan a slow, heavy pat on the back. "Hey, man..." he said dryly. "You really shit the bed on this one."
Roan looked back at him with wide, watery puppy eyes. And Arton wondered if he should try and find a nice, big bone to cheer him up.