With the final light out, the village of Calton has gone to sleep.
The darkness that comes with the night coats each house as if it were a warm blanket but the full moon lights up the pathways to combat it. For at least a brief moment, the lack of noise and stillness of the night make it seem as if there's complete tranquillity...but with a sudden burst of a small orange light along with the sound of burning wood, it's completely destroyed. Despite the disturbance, the village does not wake up...but someone else does.
"Ahh, that was a nice nap...huh? Why is it already dark out?" Arthur lifts his head up and rubs his eyes. "Should I go back to sleep then...wait, something doesn't feel right."
Pushing himself into a droopy sitting position, he quickly flops back into a laying position with his head slamming against the bed. It takes him a moment for him to realise the lack of an uncomfortable hat brim.
"My hat! Where is it?! Oh, I bet Francis ran off with it. Now he's not allowed back here for sure! But...I would really like my hat back. If he realised he was wearing it, maybe he left it behind somewhere? I guess it's worth to have a quick check..." Arthur argues with himself for a quick moment, choosing to push himself off the bed and get running down the path to the village entrance to Calton.
Often stopping to peer in bushes for his hat, Arthur runs at a rather slow pace; getting more annoyed, upset and worried the more empty bushes he finds.
While checking a bush, the smell of burning wood that floats through the air on smoke brushes across Arthur's nostrils. His eyes widen, and his senses heighten as his hairs rise to stand on end.
"F...fire..."
Sharply turning his head in the direction of the smell and smoke, he simply stares for an entire second that feels much longer before running as fast as he can in that direction.
"If nothing is done about it, it could spread to the forest!" Arthur tells himself, trying to give himself a reason as to why he is approaching the one thing he fears the most.
Slowing down as he approached the entrance to the town, all he did was stop and stare ahead. The sight of a single burning the building. The entire roof was on fire with the source of the flames likely being a room up against the back wall, as that was completely alight as well. Fire bursts out of the windows and the house starts to slowly collapse; it looks as if the house is melting under the heat. He wanted to look away, but his eyes were attached to the sight.
Inside the house as wooden pillars keeping the ceiling up begin to fall, the loud crackling of wood and with the thuds of wooden clumps crashing to the floor was finally enough to wake up one of the house's inhabitants.
"Ah!"
Snapping awake in an instant, a boy with platinum blonde hair, rather pale skin and dull blue eyes pushes himself up to a sitting position on his bed. Looking around frantically, he sees his house is alight, with the wall on the opposite end of his bed already set alight.
Smoothing out his hair to the right side of his face and jumping out of bed, he grabs the blue coat on the end of his bed and slips one arm in before running over to the cot that's placed closer to the wall coated in flames. There's a sleeping child inside the cot, matching skin tone to the older child, soft white hair and dressed in a plain yellow baby onesie.
"Emil!" The older child coughs, pulling the side of the cot down so he can grab the sleeping infant. Just barely managing to pull the infant into his arms, the older child - no older than Arthur - attempts to run to safety, first step being to run through the doorway of the bedroom and into the hall.
"H-hold on Emil! I'm gonna-" The older boy stops talking because of a sudden cough due to the smoke, lifting one arm up to cover his mouth as he does so. This causes his grip on Emil to slip and he suddenly tries bumping Emil up with his knee but this only causes him to trip and fall onto the floor of the hallway, the fire right behind him.
Emil doesn't react to falling at all, seeming to remain in a deep slumber.
"E-Emil!" The older boy says with a cough once more, crawling over to him. He tries nudging Emil at first and expects some kind of reacting, but there's nothing. Not even an attempted breath for air.
"...Emil?" Suddenly, the boy's mood saddens. Gently placing his hand on his brother's chest, he doesn't feel anything. Not even a heartbeat.
The lack of reaction registers immediately. The boy's eyes well up with tears and he bows his head down. "Emil..." He croaks silently.
He then lifts his head up and lets out a loud wail into the sky, having lost almost all will to drag himself out of the house now.
The loud wail was just loud enough for Arthur to hear through the crackling flames.
"There's someone still alive in there!"
Arthur stares at the flaming house. If it is possible to save the one that cried for help, then he should, he wasn't going to let an innocent person painfully burn to death when they didn't deserve to. Not taking a second thought, Arthur quickly looks around to make sure he's not forgetting anything. He then spots his hat by the side of a bush, as he begins to run to the burning house, he scoops up his hat and twists it onto his head. He pulls out his wand from seemingly nowhere as he gets closer to the house. Once he gets close enough, he swings his wand and blows the door to smithereens, allowing him to enter the house without any effort.
"Hello?!" Arthur tries calling out, running about the house, avoiding the flaming walls.
"Someone there?" The boy calls back, lifting his head up and looking around to see who just spoke. The answer soon walks around the corner.
Upon seeing the other boy, Arthur runs up to him and quickly grabs his hand. "Are you alright?"
The other boy doesn't seem able to reply with a straight answer, coughing and pointing at the fire behind him before speaking. "My parent's bedroom is down there, I'm sure it's too late for them. My brother Emil here...I think he suffocated in his sleep..." He says, almost choking.
Looking down at the seemingly dead infant, Arthur gently picks him up with his free arm and tosses him over the shoulder. "There's still a clear path, I'm getting you both out, alive or not. No more people deserve to turn to ash."
With a desperate nod of approval from the other boy, Arthur begins running back to where he entered the burning building.
"Watch out, the ceiling-!" The boy warns, pointing up and ahead.
"Ah!" Quickly sidestepping to avoid an incoming pile of the ceiling, barely dodging the flaming pile. Turning the corner the exit is in sight. "Come on, just keep running, we can make it!"
A loud crack comes from directly above them. The ceiling directly above them is about to fall and crush them. There's no way they can run out of the way in time.
Arthur forces himself to halt as he pulls the other boy in close. Before the boy has any time to react to the sudden situation, Arthur lifts up his wand at the ceiling and the tip of his wand begins to glow. Once the light reaches its seemingly maximum brightness, a sudden blast of light evaporates the flaming pillars that would have crushed them.
"Wh...what was that?" The boy asks, looking at Arthur.
Arthur says nothing, putting his wand away and finishing the sprint outside, pulling the boy along with him to the safety of the front yard of the burning house. Arthur then gently places Emil down on the ground and gives him a rather pitiful look, as if to apologise that he couldn't save more than his body. He then looks back up at the older boy.
"...may I have your name?" Arthur asks the boy.
Coughing one last time to try and clear up his lungs again and then keeping steady eye contact with Arthur, the boy replies.
"My name is Børre. Børre Thomassen."
Arthur nods and keeps the eye contact given to him.
"Well Børre, you did not just see that. You did not see me pull out a wand and destroy a clump of physical objects that were going to crush us. I was never here. You got yourself and your brother out. Alright? Don't say another child helped you get out...I was never here...never here..." Arthur lowers his head as he ends his request, breaking the eye contact.
With a flick of the cape, Arthur sprints back the way he came, back towards the woods, leaving Børre to watch in confusion.
Once the caped figure that is Arthur disappears into the darkness of the forest, a loud slamming of a door is heard from not far off.
"FIRE!" A deep voice yells across the village, followed by the loud ringing of a bell.
Soon after the sounding of the alarm, adults are running about the village, carrying buckets, bowls and anything big enough that can carry water. Notably, two men run up to look at the fire, one huffing as he arrives at the scene; out of breath.
"Ah! This is terrible...how did it get like this...without anyone waking up?" Huffs the out-of-breath man with short, dark hair, coughing as he asks, coughing afterwards.
"I don't know...wait, Julius? What are you doing out?" The man with long, blonde hair is quick to ask his friend.
With a wide grin, Julius just smiles. "Just because I'm sick doesn't mean I...should lay in bed and ignore a fire, Conrad...it could spread from house to house and...if action was taken any later..." He gives his excuse, coughing once more. His smile droops a bit as one of his legs gives in and he begins to fall. Conrad is quick to rush in and catch him, holding Julius up by keeping his arms under Julius'.
"Take it easy Julius...you wait out here, I'll see if there's still anyone inside." Conrad insists.
"Um..." Børre sounds up.
The two men draw their attention to the two young children before them.
"Oh. Are you two the Thomassen siblings that recently moved into this house?" Conrad is the one to ask.
Børre nods. "I escaped with my brother, but I think he suffocated on the smoke...he hasn't been breathing..."
"Are you sure?" Julius asks, trying to reach down and reach Emil laying on the ground, but he is restrained by Conrad.
"I'll do this...don't tire yourself out." Conrad insists, gently lowering Julius into a sitting position then walking over to and cupping Emil in one arm so he can search for a pulse with his free hand. The longer it takes to find a pulse, the more worried Conrad gets about the situation. Julius and Børre watch him with a slight glimmer of hope until...
"...I can't find a pulse. He's gone. I'm so sorry this had to happen to you Børre...losing your entire family at such a young age to a fire with no warning..." Conrad says in a rather sad tone so he doesn't sound like an emotionless monster. He bends down in an attempt to match Børre's height better to seem less intimidating. "We will give him a proper burial in the morning. In the meantime, you can live with me. I'm sure Julius would offer to do so, but his hands are full enough as it is..." Conrad then turns to the seated Julius and holds out Emil for him to take hold of. "You watch over Børre; I'm going to help with the fire." He stands up once Julius takes Emil into his arms and runs off, probably to get a bucket.
Julius can't help but watch the flames, almost awestruck.
"Just a little over a year ago, a fire was used to rid the town of wizards and a witch. I feel as if this is...too much to be just a...mere coincidence." Julius then tilts his head away from the two children as he coughed, then looking back at Børre. "You didn't deserve any of this..."
While Børre wanted to keep silent and just nod, the word 'wizard' triggered the image of the boy from earlier in his mind.
"Um...wizards you say? Are you sure you got all of them?" Børre just has to ask.
Julius gives him a funny look but gives him an awkward and soft smile. "Of course. We even got the one that tried to...hide in the forbidden woods. Do you think wizards...burnt your house down?"
Børre looks toward the forest, then back at Julius. "I...guess you could say that." He mumbles, followed by a yawn, then looking at the woods again. "May I ask, why it's called the forbidden woods?"
Julius lets out a pained groan as he forces himself to lie down and look up at the stars. "It wasn't always referred to as that. We often went in so we could...take a shortcut to a nearby village, as well as...gather stuff like firewood. Ever since the Kirkland incident, people who...go too deep into the forest never come out, it's as if they...cursed the place with their dying breath..." He says, letting out a sigh afterwards, followed by coughing before he sighs. Børre looks at the sickly adult and sighs a little bit. He turns his head back to the forest, tilting his head in confusion. If people never came out of it once they went in, then why did the boy from earlier go in? And the magic he performed no doubt made him one of those fabled wizards. Did he escape death by faking it? Is he a completely different wizard boy? Børre had so many questions for that mysterious boy. Even though it's been described as a death sentence, he will have to go into the woods and find the boy so his questions can be answered.
Børre looks at the sickly adult and sighs a little bit. He turns his head back to the forest, tilting his head in confusion. If people never came out of it once they went in, then why did the boy from earlier go in? And the magic he performed no doubt made him one of those fabled wizards. Did he escape death by faking it? Is he a completely different wizard boy? Børre had so many questions for that mysterious boy. Even though it's been described as a death sentence, he will have to go into the woods and find the boy so his questions can be answered.
"Good Morning..."
Børre opens his eyes, blinks a few times then his vision becomes clear. Still wrapped up in bed and sleeping on his right side, what he sees next to his bed is a Brunette boy with violet eyes and glasses. The boy smiles brightly. "Looks like you're ready to greet the day!"
Børre gives a slight tilt of the head to display his small amount of confusion.
"Oh, right! I should introduce myself! I'm Roderich Beilschmidt! Second eldest child of this family. You met my father last night, right? Conrad? The man with long, blonde hair that put out the house fire?"
While the boy made things clearer by explaining, Børre didn't feel like replying to him and he chooses to stare back with a rather blank and speechless expression.
"No need to explain your silence, I understand why you don't want to talk about anything. What you went through...ah, apologies. I won't bring it up." Roderich reassures the younger child. "Now, I came here to tell you that breakfast is ready. If you're not up to it, I can get you a plate and bring it here." He offers.
Børre gives a bit of a sigh before rolling over, completely breaking his eye contact with Roderich. "I'm not hungry...sorry."
Roderich looks a little upset by this but nods. "Alright, I'll leave you alone. You probably need time to adjust. Just ask me if you're looking for something..." He then takes a few steps back before turning around and walking out of the room.
Once Roderich is out of the room, Børre shuffles himself up into a sitting position and then looks out of the window to the left of him. It isn't an open window, but it looks as if it can be pushed up to let fresh air in.
"...I need answers." Børre murmurs to himself, gripping onto the blanket to toss it to the side and off of himself. He bounces to his feet and then off the bed, feet almost sticking to the wooden floor as he lands. He suddenly sprints towards the wall with the window and taking a leap to reach the sill so he can climb and pull the window upward to open it. Grabbing the wooden bottom of the window, he pulls it up until he has to change it to a push. Once the window was open up wide enough for Børre to slip through and go outside, that's exactly what he did; landing on the rather dry dirt.
"Now, from here...the main entrance to the woods seems to be over there."
Børre shifts his heads to his right before running in that direction and out from behind the house. The path that leads into the forest is now very clear to him, as it seems just to be a quick jog down the dirt road and past the lake. With his target locked on, he makes sure no one is there to watch him run before sprinting towards the entrance. A few round stones get stuck in his feet as he runs along the dirt path, but are quick to fall off and back on the ground. The ground beneath his feet eventually turns into soft grass, and his feet are cleaned as they brush against the tips of the grass.
"How deep do I have to go till I find answers? Will I make it out afterwards even?" Børre asks himself, not able to find an answer just by standing around. "I guess it's worth a shot to find out."
Pretending to roll up the sleeves to his coat - instead simply brushing up against the sleeves - Børre glares ahead and starts walking down the given dirt path before him. After only half a minute of walking, he feels as if he isn't walking in the right direction.
"No, this is too obvious...if people get lost, they stray too far down this path trying not to get lost. But if you try to get lost..." Børre looks to his sides to see nothing but groups of trees that appear to just get thicker and thicker the deeper it goes.
With a gentle shrug of the shoulders, Børre chooses to run off-course from the given path and into the collection of trees.
Not turning back, Børre keeps running straight ahead; side-stepping away from trees so he doesn't crash into them. Aside from small concentrated rays of sunshine, the forest was rather dark with a lush green hue, as well as a lot of dark browns for the bark of the trees.
Stepping on twigs and stumbling after stepping on mossy rocks, Børre was slowly losing speed. He couldn't keep up with the pace he wanted to go at, and what's worse is that he saw no end to the trees in clear sight. After slowing down more and more, he comes to a complete stop to catch his breath.
"Ugh...everything looks the same. Where did I even come from...?" Børre asks himself as he huffs. "If I can just find a clearing...then maybe..."
"Francis? Is that you?"
Børre shoots his sight quickly to his right. The voice is that of the young boy he met last night.
"E-eh?" Is all Børre can reply with, not thinking of anything else fast enough.
"What are you doing over there? It's not tea time yet but..."
Børre holds his breath for a moment, readjusting his body and now walking towards the direction of the source. The closer Børre gets to the source, the brighter his surroundings become.
The final step in the approach toward the voice holder is a stumble through a bush, and falling flat on one's face.
As Børre's face kisses the soft grass, the young boy sounds out once again.
"Y-you're not Francis! Yo-"
Approaching Børre, he the bends down next to him and waits for him to get up himself. "You're the boy from last night...what are you doing here? You shouldn't be here...did anyone follow you in?"
Børre stutters in an attempt to quickly explain himself. "D-don't worry, I checked. No one followed me in...I'm pretty sure." He manages to clearly say after putting his lips together for an extended time. "N-now, um...I don't think I got your name?"
"It's Arthur." Arthur answers him fairly quickly, not having much patience with Børre.
"Well, Arthur..." Børre clears his throat before continuing his sentence. "I came to find answers about last night...like why you saved me, why you're in here yourself and who you really are..."
"...You're asking way too much." Arthur replies, glaring at Børre. "How do I know I can trust you?"
Børre gives a bit of a scared glare at Arthur but tries to give off a neutral look. "Because you saved my life. What kind of person would turn their back on their hero?" He does his best to answer adequately.
Arthur replies by softening his glare and letting his tense arms relax, knowing that he won't need to get out his wand.
"Well then Børre, I'll explain a little bit to you if you promise to keep it all to yourself..."
With a nod, Børre accepts his responsibility. "I will."
Arthur then grabs Børre's wrist and pulls him along to his home in the hollowed tree. Børre drags himself along by making an effort to keep up.
Once the two are inside, Arthur lets go of Børre's wrist and walks over to a dangling string next to the entrance. He gently tugs on the string and a curtain made from huge chunks of bark fall to cover the entrance; the room immediately becomes darker with only a few cracks of light slipping through.
"Please, take a seat." Arthur insists.
Børre looks straight ahead, managing to see a table and a stool in the darker room. He assumes the stool is Arthur's personal seating so he chooses to sit on the other side by bending down his knees to a sitting position; sitting on his butt would probably have the table obscure most of his face.
Arthur does indeed take his seat on the stool; his feet dangling just above the ground.
"Now...you want to know why I saved you?" Arthur asks; just trying to make sure.
Børre replies with a silent and quick nod.
Taking a deep breath before speaking, Arthur begins to answer.
"I saved you because...well...I was there at the right time and any type of fire just..." Arthur holds back his explanation, not wanting to go into a sob story. "Well, fire and I don't go together at all. And seeing the house up in flames, I knew I had to do something, especially because I heard your cries...I couldn't leave you there for dead. I didn't want more innocent people to perish thanks to the flames..."
"More?" Børre replies with a tilt of the head.
"...Your family aren't the first to be killed by fire. You should know this...I'd tell you more, but that's all you need to know really; both our families were eaten by the flames." Arthur replies, with a rather 'done' look on his face. "Now, you got your answers, time for you to leave."
Børre gives off a flustered look at the immediate command. "But I just got here! And I still have-"
"I'm already risking it by having told a boy that looks like a girl. I'm not going to say any more to you." Arthur cuts him off. He says it in a harsher tone than before but the shakiness that lies deep in the tone is clear to show that he really does want to tell more.
"Well, I don't want to go back! Unlike in the village, I feel...surprisingly safe here. No one would dare try to burn an entire forest, and after last night...well, me and fire don't agree with each other anymore." Børre tries coming up with an excuse to stay, half actually wanting to and half wanting to have an excuse to have the remainder of his questions answered.
Arthur says nothing while he remains seated. He jumps back down to the ground and speed-walks toward the string next to the entrance. He begins pulling down on it to roll the cover back up, letting all the light back in.
"If you don't leave, they'd burn down this forest to find you once they search the village up and down. For reasons of my own, I can't leave to live in the village, you can." Arthur lets go of the rope then turns back around to look at Børre before he continues talking. "You obviously lied for me back there for whatever reason, please do that again and return to the village. No one else can know that I'm here."
"Oh...that makes sense. I'll leave." Børre accepts the request. Gripping the edge of the table he then lifts himself up back onto his feet. He prepares to walk off, but stops and stares at what would be a bare spot on the wall. "Hi there..."
Arthur gives a puzzled look at Børre. "You can see him?"
Børre - in return - turns his head to look at Arthur. "Of course I can...is there something wrong with that?"
"No, I just thought that I was the only one that could see them..." Arthur replies, approaching Børre. "He hasn't spoken his name, so we all just call him Mr Troll."
Børre looks up at Mr Troll.
Green skin, huge jaw with small pointy teeth that stick out and upwards, pointy ears like an elf, big nose, muscular yet fat overall figure, pupilless white eyes and surprisingly long hair as well as a thick beard.
"Hm, you seem awfully lonely...does Arthur talk to you often?" Børre walks up towards him, hoping to get his attention. "Or maybe you're just not the talkative type. That's alright..."
Arthur was rather surprised at what had just happened; Børre wasn't scared of Mr Troll. Even though he trusts Mr Troll himself, he always thought Mr Troll was a tad scary due to his appearance and lack of presence half the time...but Børre walked up to him and started talking to him as if he was a relative at a family gathering. And to surprise Arthur even more, Mr Troll starts to move; not by much but it was still movement; movement was rare for Mr Troll.
Mr Troll lifts up his arm and hovers it above Børre before gently lowering it onto Børre's head to ruffle his hair.
Børre seems to like the feeling of his hair getting ruffled, as shown by the small smile on his face.
"He appears to like you, Børre." Arthur comments, softly smiling.
"You think?" Børre then tries to smooth down his hair.
"Yeah...well, you should-"
"Oh, you have fairies here too? Ahhh, they look so pretty! Their wings sparkle as they flutter about...hello there!" Børre is soon mesmerised by what look like tiny girls with bug-like wings in rather frilly dresses.
With a sigh, Arthur walks up to his fairy guardians. "Um, not to be rude to Børre but I think he has stayed a little bit too long...Alice, can you escort him back to the village?"
The small fairy in the blue dress with her blonde hair tied up in two long ponytails nods. She bounces and signals for Børre to follow her by pointing to the exit of the literal treehouse.
"Oh...alright. Will I see you later, Arthur?" Børre asks.
In response, Arthur cups his hands together before he starts twiddling his thumbs. "I don't know...I can't guarantee anything. Goodbye."
"G-goodbye then..." Børre replies with a bit of a sigh before looking straight at Alice to follow her out.
"Alice, do you even know where you're going? I think I've seen this bush three times already..." Børre squeaks as he whines a little bit, then he hears rustling nearby.
"W-who's there?" He asks out of instinct, even though he thinks he shouldn't have said anything.
"...I could ask the same question! You don't sound like the one I'm looking for, though." The voice replies.
Alice seems to recognise the voice and flies over to the location of the holder.
"A-Alice, wait!" Børre huffs, begging to pick up the pace and run to keep up with her very fast fluttering.
Børre runs till he reaches Alice's new location, stopping only once he collides with something; that something being what appears to be a girl with shoulder-length blonde hair, a blue dress and brown boots on her personnel. She also appears to be carrying a woven basket.
"Well, my name isn't Alice, but I guess I can look like one at times!" Is the girl's response to Børre's earlier call. She then bends her her knees so she's closer to Børre's height. "Now, what are you doing out here?"
Børre's rather stumped by the girl's question. Alice attempts to speak up, but Børre cuts her off by saying something in response. "Well, do you have a reason to be out here?"
Before the girl replies, she surveys the nearby area to make sure there isn't anyone else around; there isn't. "Do you know...Arthur?" She asks.
Putting on a more serious face, Børre replies once more. "Why are you asking me that?"
With a soft smile, the girl seems to have seen right through Børre's defences. "Ah, so you do."
Børre would have asked how she knew that, but keeping Arthur a secret is something he has promised to himself ever since last night so he chose to remain silent.
"You don't look like one that would tell anyone else so that's good...now, you're heading back out, right?" The girl dismisses Børre's silence and asks another question.
"Um, yes." Børre is quick to answer, wanting to move away from the topic of Arthur as quickly as possible.
"Well, just head in that direction and you'll reach the main path, head towards the light, and you'll arrive back in the village. I just came from there." The girl then points in a north-east direction from where Børre is standing. "And, if my siblings ask where Francis is, please don't tell them that I've gone into the Forbidden Woods..."
The girl gets back up to a standing position then lifts her leg up in preparation to run, but lowers it back down. "You are from Calton village, right?" She asks one last question.
Børre nods. "Yes. I moved in fairly recently...does the name Børre sounds familiar?"
"Ah, that's why you didn't look familiar, you're new. And Børre...that's new to me!" The girl replies, now smiling sweetly. "Well, you head back home now, Børre I'll be off." The girl lifts her leg up once more and then runs off in the direction Børre came from.
"...don't be fooled, that's a boy." Alice comments in her rather high-pitched yet rusty voice.
"W-what?!" Børre looks up at Alice who is fluttering next to him; shock covers his face.
"Francis is his name...I'll tell you more as we go back." Alice says. "Come along now."
"Right." With a nod, Børre begins walking back once more, Alice by his side.