Lost Within Time

Deep in a forest there laid a small village with a river that circled around the village, marking the end of the tamed fields and the beginning of the wild forest. Normally people wouldn't be worried about forests, but this was the time when the thing called guns first came out and these dangerous weapons were held by dangerous humans. With the armed evils of the world out there, the wooded areas were the best places for ambushes, so people would steer away from these shaded woods. This village was surrounded by a forest, so naturally this village never sent out their people and other people never came through this village.

The reason why this village wasn't burned and ransacked with the evils in this world was because the river that encircled the village and its meadows always had a deathly fast current. The depths reached farther down than any object that could be found or made. This river washed away any evil that tried to cross it, and the bridge that led to the village was destroyed long ago.

The other reason why this village still stood was because it was guarded by a gentle deity that loved its little home dearly. There was a temple that this deity dwelled within in the middle of the town, with flowers decorating it and a small tree standing in front of the temple. This temple was not large at all, but it was beautifully made and made out lovely white birch trees. Most of the village knew little about this deity, but the most they knew about this deity was that it protected the village, loved wine, seduced women, but never seemed to sleep with them, or at least impregnate them. No one seemed to even know his name. This village lived peacefully for years after the start of the gun age, but it was shattered with one stranger….

It was a beautiful day; the sun was just crossing the midpoint of the afternoon sky, a light wind rustled the leaves of the far off trees, and the river ran clearly and furiously. The men were in the fields harvesting the summer wheat for the upcoming winter, while the women were in the village cleaning and preparing the newly harvested barrels of wheat for storage and baking. Suddenly a darkly clad figure that appeared out of the wheat caught the eyes of the workers in the field, but with figure walking quickly to the village no one could see its face, so fear struck the minds of those who saw the figure. A single voice was heard, then went a bell in the village rang, snapping everyone out of the trance, sending them running to the village for weapons.

The figure closed the space between it and the village, which now had armed men and women. When the figure got close to the village, a man with brown hair and matching brown eyes, wearing a simple light brown tunic and matching pants came forward to question this strange creature. "Who are you that comes to this village?! Are you a monster or man?! Do you come with evil or good intentions!?" His deep yet loud voice carried a respectful tone but distrust was heard in his voice.

The figure stopped only a few meters away from this man and the village. Movement could be seen underneath the cloak, and then a pair of hands came out and pulled down the hood of the cloak. The face of a man with short blond hair, forest green eyes, and ungodly large eyebrows surfaced from the shade of the hood.

"Put the weapon down. I'm not an enemy." Calmly, the man put his hands in the air with a slight scowl on his face. "My name is Arthur Kirkland and I come here with pure intentions and promise no harm as long as you promise the same", his accent was strong and while speaking Arthur walked towards the village again.

Wearily, the villagers put down their weapons. The man with brown eyed man walked towards Arthur before stopping and held out a hand, "Welcome traveler, I am Marcus. I pray that what you say is true, and if it true then we will not try to harm you. But what bring you to our small village and how did you get across the river that protects us?

"That river wasn't that hard to get over if you know that right spells," Holding up a hand, Arthur extends his hand to grab Marcus's hand, "but I guess is that you can only pass if your protector is satisfied about the persons thoughts and intensions? But forget that, like I said, I am here for a reason and need to see the dwelling place of your villages protector." With a sudden change in tone, the Arthur looked at Marcus with a darkened look.

Slightly worried, Marcus obeyed the Englishman's order. Parting the villagers that were there, Marcus led Arthur through the village until they came up to the middle of the village, where the small shrine stood in all of its loveliness. The milky white wood faintly glowed with the reflection of the sunlight; patterns were carved into the wood work, colorful flowers grew around the base of the shrine and two small trees grew on both sides. This whole set up of the shrine made it breathtaking, doing exactly that with Arthur. It took his breath away.

Walking up to the shrine, Arthur ran his fingers over the delicately carved patterns and took in every detail of the shrine. "This is where your protector lives? This is their shrine?" Turning around to face Marcus with his deep green eyes, Arthur continues to trace the patterns before moving down to look at the flowers. "I can sense a strong power from this area…. You men and ladies must have lucked out with getting someone with this kind of power to watch over this place in these harsh times."

How can you tell that he is powerful?" Marcus asked with surprise in his voice. "I can faintly feel a calming presence whenever I come to the shrine, but then that means that you must have some kind of power right? Are you a deity?!"

"Oh bloody hell no!" Slightly irritated, the Englishman snapped at Marcus. "I'm not a bloody deity! I was born with magical powers and trained to use them properly. The last thing I want to be called is a deity!" Arthur puts a hand to his left temple to rub it in order to calm down. "My apologies, I didn't mean to react like that…. but seriously, I do not like to be called that."

"I-I'm sorry!" Marcus replied, "I didn't know that you had special powers and weren't a deity".

With a sigh, Arthur looked at Marcus, "I forgive you. So let's get past this and get onto other matters." Looking back at the white shrine, Arthur lays a hand onto one of the walls and continues to speak, but in a softer tone; "I need to see your protector and talk to them. When do they tend to show up, or do they come when beckoned?"

A confused look crossed Marcus's face while Arthur spoke, "You need to talk to our deity? He'll probably show up if you call him when you're desperate to see or hear him…"

"Okay, thank you or the information. I'll come back later on tonight to talk to 'him' so that I won't have to worry about being interrupted by anyone"

"What is so important that you had to come here and talk to him?" Marcus asked cautiously and in a quiet voice.

"It's nothing of your concern" Arthur replied in a cold tone.

A silence developed around the two with the only source of noise from the birds chirping in the distance. The bright sun started to dim, dyeing the blue sky a purple and pink as it started its decent down towards the horizon. All of the colors darkened with the diminishing light. When the sun touched the horizon, footsteps could be heard and the glow of moving fire danced around the houses of the village as the torches that stood in the village were lit.

Minutes passed as the lighting continued before every torch was lit and the people were satisfied with the light that dimly lit the streets. When silence crept up again, Arthur broke it with a still soft voice, "Now good sir, please leave me, head back to your home and go to sleep so that I can conduct my business….." With a small nod, Marcus headed to one of the dimly lit streets and out Arthurs line of sight.

Night crept up and the lighting continued until every torch was lit and the people were satisfied with the light that dimly lit the streets. When silence crept up again, Arthur broke it with a soft voice, "Now good sir, please leave me, head back to your home and go to sleep so that I can conduct my business….." With a small nod, Marcus headed to one of the dimly lit streets and out Arthurs line of sight.

When Arthur was sure that Marcus had left and that he was alone, he turned towards the softly glowing shrine. But the Englishman did nothing; he just stared at the shrine. If anyone was around, they would have clearly seen the doubt that was showing on the Englishman's face. I came here for a reason… but was this really a good decision? Well I'm here already, might as well get this done and over with. With a sigh, Arthur placed his hand on the milky white wood and kept his green eyes on the wood as he spoke.

"The one who dwells within this shrine and guards this village, I, Arthur Kirkland, have come to ask for your help… Please grace me with your presence…."

He waited for an answer, or for a sign. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Oh you better not actually refuse to see me… This is too important for me to be turned away. When the stars could be seen clearly in the sky and no reply, Arthur knew that whoever this deity was, was not going to see him. A soft curse escaped his mouth before he turned away from the shrine to walk away and try another day.

"Do you call for an audience with moi? " A foreign accent