Roy awoke the next morning to the creaking of the tree above him. His back was stiff, his joints were achy and he was in quite a bit of discomfort. He wasn't surprised; a night sleeping under a tree will do that to a person.
He gingerly got to his feet and winced as several audible pops sounded from his back as he straightened up. Rubbing his back woefully, Roy glanced up into the sky to see that a few dark clouds were drifting in from the south. The air was thick and hot, the left side of his head was aching slightly; a sure sign that rain was on the way.
Leaning down, he swept up his backpack and Μόνος, strapping the latter back onto his hip. Walking down the side of the plateau to the road, Roy continued heading east.
He felt the first drop of rain hit the tip of his right cat ear and flicked it lightly. He had no idea where the next town was and thus felt no need to hurry. He simply continued walking forward as the rain started to fall.
There came a moment when the smattering of drops seemed to stop; then the clouds unleashed their deluge onto the earth.
Roy stopped in his tracks; The rain pouring down was warm and strangely comforting. He turned and, stepping off the road. he walked into the open field to the right of the winding dirt path. He reached the middle of the field and allowed his knapsack to slip off his shoulder. Tilting his head upwards toward the sky, Roy allowed the rain to fall onto his upturned face.
The rain poured down, drenching his clothes and hair. The black fur on his faunas ears collected water like a washrag and made their presence all the more noticeable. Roy allowed himself to fall backwards into the grass of the field and lay staring upward into the grey expanse of the sky. As he lay there, the sun broke through the clouds, but the rain continued to fall unabated. The sunlight hit the falling water and the light was spread across the field in a deep rich gold.
The beauty of the afternoon took Roy's breath away. Sun showers had been rare in Atlas and Roy was grateful whenever he had the chance to experience one. He wished he could stay there, in that meadow, for ages. But he needed to keep going; it wouldn't do to be caught out in the wilds after dark.
Standing up and retrieving his backpack, Roy walked back to the road and continued east. Eventually, the rain slowed and gradually stopped. The clouds retreated and the sun once again shone brightly down onto him.
Roy reached up and lightly gripped one of his faunus ears. Giving it a light squeeze, he wrung as much of the water out of it as he could and then repeated the step with the other ear. Reaching into his pack, Roy retrieved an extra shirt to use as a towel and dried off his hair and his faunus ears. He paid extra attention to his faunus ears as he didn't feel like getting an ear infection while on the road; ear infections in ears the size of his were very unpleasant. Wringing the shirt out, he stashed it back in his backpack and continued walking east.
The sun had sufficiently dried him off and left him feeling warm, at least physically. Mentally, now that the distraction of the rain had gone, the loneliness had begun to set in. It was just him and the wind here in Mistral, with only the occasional village to break up the the solitude with brief beacons of humanity.
A sign post along the road informed him that he was 10 miles from next village. Civilization promised the possibility of a warm bed and warm food so he quickened his pace slightly, eager to reach the village before nightfall.
As he passed the five mile marker, he saw, approaching him from the direction he was traveling, a odd sight. Two figures limping toward him at a very slow pace.
As they drew near, Roy was able to make out a woman supporting a man who was bleeding from a wound above his brow. The woman was struggling to keep the man, who was at least a head taller than she, upright and as they came closer to Roy, the woman's grip finally gave out and the man started to pitch forward.
Roy leapt forward and supported the man.
"Oh thank the Gods!" the woman exclaimed, "I didn't think there was any huntsmen this far away from Haven."
Roy helped the man over to a nearby tree and gently set him down, leaning him against the trunk.
"What happened?" Roy asked, motioning to the man's wound,
"Grimm." the woman said fearfully, "They attacked the village and took it over. That was a day ago."
Roy blinked in surprise, "Have you been walking all night?" he asked.
The woman nodded as she slowly walked over to the man's side and sank to her knees by his side, "Yes, I had to get my husband away from the village." she said, gently dabbing at her husband's brow with her sleeve. "We were the last ones living in Oniyuri, everyone else left a while back."
Roy turned his head to look down the road. In the distance he could just faintly make out the white walls of Oniyuri in the distance.
Taking his pack off, Roy rummaged around until he came up with a handful of provisions and another of his spare shirts. Taking his canteen, Roy soaked the spare shirt and pressed it against the man's head wound,
"Keep pressure on it," he said to the woman, "It should stop bleeding eventually."
Handing the rations to the woman, he replaced his backpack and straightened up. "I'll go check it out." he assured her. "When you can, keep heading back that way," he pointed the way he came. "There's a village about 20 miles that way."
The woman nodded her thanks and returned to tending to her husband. Turning toward the village, Roy took off at a brisk jog toward the city gates.
He slowed as he reached the entrance of Oniyuri. Stealing inside, he scanned the wide lane that ran down the center of the town. Houses, half finished and skeletal, stood in neat rows along both sides of the paved main street. Roy walked slowly from house to house, scanning the interiors briefly before moving on.
A flash of red in the street caught his eye and Roy moved over to investigate. What he found was a small doll, made to look like a small ursa in a red shirt. Roy picked it up and looked at it; the small bear reminded him of Paws, a small beowulf plushie his mother had made him when he was little.
Roy turned the bear over in his hands several times and eventually stashed it in his backpack. He didn't know why he was inclined to keep the bear, but some part of him couldn't stand the thought of leaving it there to rot.
As he straightened up, wiping dust from his knees, a loud thud came from an unfinished house situated behind him and across the street.
His faunus ears flicked in that direction, he put a hand on Μόνος' hilt and crept forward silently. As he set a foot on the wooden porch of the house, it creaked and groaned under his weight. Roy gritted his teeth, desperately willing the creaking to stop.
Reaching out, he slowly inched the door open to reveal a room shrouded in shadows. Roy's night vision cut through the darkness and cast everything in sharp relief.
A large table lay in the center of the room, cracked down the center, the wood gouged and scratched from numerous claws. If there had been any chairs in the room, they had been turned to splinters over time. A large tapestry hung on the back wall of the room, depicting a man and a woman, they appeared to be floating above a city, their bodies encased in a white nimbus of energy. Three large claw marks rent the woven threads directly through the man's torso, but the woman was surprisingly left untouched.
Roy stepped further inside, keeping his hand on his weapon as he did. A scratching noise coming from a door at the back of the room startled him and he forced himself not to make a surprised exclamation.
He crept toward the door and carefully placed his hand on the knob. He breathed in and gave the knob a brisk twist.
Author used cliffhanger...it's super effective!
Sorry XD. This was a fun chapter to write, playing off of my love of sunshowers and warm rain. If this chapter gave you the warm and fuzzies, I'm glad! We're getting super close to 3,000 views!
Until next we meet.
-Ar3mRising.