As the sun set behind the mountains in the distance, the sky was alight with pinks, oranges, and purples. The air was getting colder and crisper by the minute. Arslan and his group of friends he's made along his long journey, trotted along a dirt road on their horses. They were all on the lookout for a place to stay the night. As Arslan's group was ahead, a larger group of twenty two thousand soldiers traveled behind them.
"Prince Arslan!" Elam, the cook, called, immediately grabbing Arslan's and many others attention. "We can use that meadow as a camp ground!" He calls again, pointing to a field to their right.
The field was bright green, and as the grass was covered in a fresh layer of mist from the earlier rain shower, it glistened orange as the sun's final rays touched the water. The area was closed in by a forest of different colored greens, quickly darkening as the sun sets. The trees also kept the field from several animals that were too big to fit in between the small gaps.
"We will set up camp here!" Arslan yells above the neighing of the horses and chattering of the soldiers. They immediately stopped talking and followed their Prince down a slightly steep decline.
The dirt path started mixing with grass as they descended. Flowers of all colors became more apparent the closer to the bottom the were, and bushes full of many different kinds of berries were scattered along the border. Vines twisted and turned along the ground and the trees, some full of grapes and some empty.
When they finally reached the bottom of the path, the flowers were clearer. Shades of oranges, golds, and yellows; blues, black's, purple's; any color you can think of was there in the flowers.
As soon as all the men pooled around and his company, they started taking the tents out of their packages and setting them up. Arslan goes to help, but Daryun shoots him a look and Arslan knows not to argue. He sighs and sits on a soft patch of grass and starts twirling the flower stems between his fingers. Daryun, Arslan's over protective guard, looks over and sighs at the sight of his prince looking so bored.
"Highness?" Daryun calls out. Arslan looks up, pausing his actions.
"Would… would you like to help?" Daryun asks hesitantly. Arslan's face brightens as he shoots of the ground. He nods his head vigorously, jogging over to Daryun. Daryun,still looking hesitant, looks around for the least strenuous activity his prince could do.
"Could you help the guards collect wood for the fire, along with picking up the sticks so the tents don't get holes?" Arslan smiles and nods, wandering away to find some wood. Daryun keeps a worried and protective eye on him the entire time.
When all the sticks and twigs were picked up, along with some thicker pieces of wood, Arslan picked his way back over to Daryun.
"Where should I put these?" Arslan asks him. Narsus, the strategist and resident (horrible) painter, walks up to the two with Alfreed, a girl he rescued and now calls herself his wife, clings to his arm.
"You can put them over there by the fire pit Elam is making." Narsus speaks up respectfully.
"And as soon as the fire starts going, we can burn those horrid things you call paintings." Daryun adds. Narsus adopts a playful look of offence, scoffing, and Alfreed angrily hits Daryun's arm, not affecting him like she hoped.
"How dare you threaten my Narsus. His paintings are a masterpiece!" She exclaims. She then turns her back towards Daryun, crossing her arms and giving him the silent treatment. She would have stormed off if her beloved Narsus were not by her side. Before the fighting gets out of hand, Arslan puts a stop to it.
"Stop fighting!" The young Prince exclaims. They all look at the prince, surprised by his outburst.
"We apologize, Your Highness." Daryun says. Alfreed just bows and walks away with a loving glance at Narsus, who soon follows. Arslan sighs in exasperation and walks over to Elam, placing the wood beside him. The other guards notice this and soon follow, all of them getting a small nod of thanks from Elam.
Arslan walks back over to Daryun who's is feeding his horse Shabrang, and strikes up a conversation.
As the two converse, a rustling is heard in the bushes. One person starts marking rocks and trees with symbols, casting a spell as they work. They go over each mark several times, making sure it's right and that it's deep enough for the spell to work. When he is satisfied with the looks of it, he stops chanting the spell and starts making sounds, moving the bushes and such to catch the Prince's attention.
As Arslan and Daryun talk, a soldier runs over and snaps at attention.
"Sir! There was suspicious activity in the forest a few minutes ago." He announced. Arslan nods and turns toward him.
"Alright. Lead the way." Arslan says. The soldier bows and starts off to the forest, checking once to make sure the Prince is still following him.
When they entered the forest, Arslan diverged from the soldiers, Daryun following him, and went into a clearing that shouldn't be there. There were strange markings on the trees, faintly glowing an orange-ish color.
"What's this?" Arslan question, walking over to one of the marking. He traces it with one finger, and when he takes his finger away, sawdust stays on.
"Daryun!" Arslan calls. Daryun comes up behind Arslan.
"Yes, Your Highness?" He asks.
"What do you make of these?" Arslan wonders.
"They were probably made for a ritual of some sorts." Daryun answers.
"Then we should probably leave them alone, shouldn't we?"
"Most likely, Highness." Arslan sighs and they turn to leave, but before they are totally out of the clearing, Arslan trips on something unseen.
The markings glow bright orange, the light seeping from out of the trees and making Narsus get up to check it out. Naturally, that also made Alfreed, Elam, Farangis, and Gieve follow him, and they all trudged into the forest.
When Daryun noticed that Arslan fell, he came back to help him up. Daryun turned to leave again, until he noticed the markings getting brighter. He pulled Arslan into himself as the ground started disappearing and he tried to leave, only to find out that whatever those marking were, made a barrier around the clearing, keeping anything from going in or out.
Trying to figure out how to leave, Daryun noticed Narsus and the others running over. Narsus tried to get in, but he slammed up against an invisible force. Arslan looked at them, trying to get further away from the disappearing center.
"Highness, Daryun!" Narsus calls to them. Arslan turns to them, eyes showing his slight panic.
"It's okay! We'll be fine!" He yells back. Narsus looks at him with doubt in his eyes, and Daryun and Arslan back up to the edge of the barrier.
Just as the ground falls from under Arslan and Daryun, Daryun pulls Arslan closer into his body and they fall into a black void, their friends calling after them. They watch as the ground slowly patches itself back up, and their friends run to the center, trying to reach them before the ground closes fully. Narsus reaches his hand down to try and grab them, but the dirt comes together and closes before he can.
Daryun and Arslan fall, the wind slaps their faces and their hair comes undone. Arslan has tears streaming down his face as they plunge through the air. Daryun looks at him, concern and worry in his eyes.
"Daryun, how are we going to get back?" Arslan asks, his voice almost mute as the wind flys past his ears.
"I don't know, but I swear, I will find a way for you." Daryun answers, determination in his voice. Arslan nods and holds Daryun tighter, making sure they don't separate so they don't get lost from each other.
Looking down, trees start coming into view, along with a sky that is different from their own. It's almost… calmer, more blue in it, less tinged with blood. They fall through the trees, branches scraping at them and catching their clothes, tearing them. When the tree branches disappear, there's bushes and a green ground. Daryun tightens his grip and twist his body around so that they don't land on their heads, but their side or back.
Arslan and Daryun close their eyes, bracing for impact, and their bodies land on the ground with a loud thud. They starts losing their senses to unconsciousness one by one, their grips loosening, and their bodies relaxing until they are dead to the world, but breathing shallowly.
Updated as of Friday, July 28, 2017
