… Travelling Tales…
Due to some complains I've decided to take away the italics, don't expect me to take the bolds too, ya hear!! Anyways, now without any further delay… Here it is:
Tale of sealed spirits… Travelling Tales…
A small figure comes cautiously from the woods, slowly sneaking into a house which could easily rival a modest manor, the kid creeps closer into a window, looking around for any guard that would stop the kid's advance, his hand twitches twice before moving into the window's frame, however, as soon as he touches the frame of the window, he feels a sharp, stingy pain on his hand… "Sis…" The young boy mutters, his eyes are completely filled with tears, a sad look accompanies the rolling drops… a gruesome scene is set for him… but his eyes are fixed in only one thing…
"Bro… Brother" A girly voice replies from within… her body glistens with sweat in the dim light of the candles… a young child it is… "Please… get out of here…" Her eyes suddenly widen, a sharp pain in her back only adds to his worries, as she starts to breathe heavily, then letting out a long, painfully scream, the boy horrified takes a step back, clenching his fist and writhing his teeth, the boy finally turns back and disappears in the darkness of the night…
It's already been 2 days… and this whole thing of the 'Master' and 'slaves' still lingers in my head… Why didn't anyone tell me until now…? Maybe… because I would be against it… isn't it?
"Koel, are you sure there's a village north of the Hirin peaks?" Mina sudden question snaps me out of it… I only shake me head weakly and look over the shoulder, Mina's holding my father's map…
"Of course… don't you trust me?"
"You really want me to answer that?" Mina's eyes narrows as she gives me the evil eye… A few seconds passes and… she is still looking at me… Is… is she serious?
"Of course I do, ya dummy!" I sigh relieved… Mina can be sometimes really serious sometimes… anyways… I'm more worried about our money… I hadn't noticed until yesterday that we had spent already like half of the money… I might have to get a… Oof! My head… I just hit something…
"Ouch… Koel, be more careful…" Nina says as she rubs her head, "Nina, why did you stop so suddenly?" I say, rubbing my head as well… "Oh, that's right… you can't hear it" Nina mutters silently… "It's a bit too far, but I can hear someone is crying for help" Biting her thumb she closes her eyes and her cat-like ears suddenly twitch twice…
"He… He's in troubles!!" Nina suddenly shouts, a lot of anxiety in her voice, "Aaaaaaahh!!" A long, loud, painful scream breaks the silence… I can't help it, we must… "We must help him! Where is he?" This uneasiness I feel… "C'mon on!" Nina is already ahead of us, I look back at Mina, she is following closely enough with her bow already in her hands… I, too, have my reliable knife in my hands… "The kid is this way!" Nina says in a hurry as she suddenly turns to the right… It feels like an eternity, these woods seem endless… Wait, I can see a clearing right ahead… A strange pale light suddenly flashes for a moment or 2 as we continue forward… It feels a bit strange but we keep moving nevertheless…
As we come out of the forest, a scene is brought up to us, an almost unconscious kid is being taken by some men, 3 to be exact, closely followed by a beautiful auburn haired girl clad in a light black armor… "She is only a girl" Mina murmured under her breathe… "Let the kid go!" Nina shouts, giving away what could have been a surprise attack, "Nina, why did you do that?" I say, looking over my shoulder, only to find that Nina is gone, I whirl back to my right, Mina has disappeared as well… they… left me alone... well... I somehow wasn't expecting that but… come to think of it, I should have never brought them… none of them can really fight...
"Hmph, you worm don't have anything better to do, do you?" The fiery red haired girl said out coldly, 3 sets of feet suddenly make themselves heard as the 3 men rushed to engage in fight… huh…? Everything is moving so slowly… It's like if time is slowing to aid me… Suddenly I snap back to reality, as I crouch I hear the whistle of the sword cutting through the air, cutting 3 of my hairs as it passed above my head… I slash at my attacker, and leap to a side, the man comes crumbling to the ground, breathing a lung-full of air, before passing away…
The smell of blood… my hands are all bloodied up… This scent is… intoxicating… "GOT YA!!" Before I can react… my body is sent flying into the air, as though I was floating, I look at the sky, my arm hurts the same as my head as I come crashing into the ground, I quickly jump to my feet, and as soon as I fix my fighting stance, I spot the 2 men are about to attack again, and I find my chance to retaliate… I roll on the ground, swiftly avoiding the 2 silver blades and ending behind both fighters… Didn't expect that, did you…?
What? They are laughing at me? I turn back, two massive fists meet my face, and my consciousness and my awareness fade away for moments as I stagger. A brutal kick lands yet again on my face, I fall on the ground in pain as I look at the blurry red sky above me.
… My nose is bleeding and I can taste the flavor of blood in my mouth as well… I try to squirm to my feet, everything is foggy, and I can only make out the shadowy figures of the trees around me… Where are them…? Agh!! What's this…? I struggle as I find myself hanging a couple of feet from the ground, frantically gasping trying to get life-giving air into my lungs, I can feel my neck is about to break under this soldier's grip… "Are you… one of the 8 earth seals?" Suddenly asks the sapphire-blue eyed girl, question after which the soldier's grip suddenly loosens… "You are a shame for all of us… and still…" What's going on…? Her eyes just changed… a feline glance in her big shining golden eyes… I must… Huh? My… legs… I can't feel them… No… it can't be… They cut off my legs…!
"You must be quite special… if my sister chose you" When…? How…? It hurts so bad I can't focus at all… "I'll let you live… this time… but…" The hypnotizing golden glow in her eyes slowly fades away, leaving her former deep-blue colored pupils in their place… "Good night young Koel, Seal of dangerous ways, I look forward with great anxiety the day this land's story ends by your very own hands" She is reaching my face with her hand… Wearing a shy smile as her face reddens a bit, "Seems sis was right… you are special" She suddenly mutters… closing shyly at my face, touching my lips with hers… She is kissing me… Wh-why…? It's like… like if it was her first time… She just… this… the pain is excruciating… I can't breathe… there's a lot of blood gushing out from my chest… The coldness of the metal inside of my body… She is enjoying it… My senses are fading… I'm blacking out… I'm…
"Gah!" What was… that just now…? Was that just a dream? It was so real… Those words… eight Earth… seals?
What's this lying on the ground; it's wrapped in a ravaged, old piece of cloth… It's a ruby dagger… it has incrusted a green gem in its golden grip… Suddenly, a piece of paper gently drifts into the air before landing on the ground; it says "Seal of destruction" What does this means? The air is whispering something; although barely audible I think it's some sort of the weak mutters… It's calling me; it's not that clear but… I can tell it's my name…
This is so weird… Maybe I was truly asleep… but what in the blazes is doing this dagger here?
"Koel?" The sudden call takes my mind out of its thoughts, looking over the shoulder, I spot Mina…
"Is it already morning?" Nina says from behind, uncurling herself and getting up, it was a dream… but what about this dagger…?
"It's already morning… What a bummer, I wanted to sleep a bit more…" I wish I could say the same as Nina but, that dream… it was way too real… It will do naught to worry about it… sigh…
"We are running low on supplies… We should buy something too eat at the next village" Beads of cold sweat run down my cheeks as Mina talks
"Yeah… we should…" If only Mina knew that we are almost broke… I must find a job real soon or we'll begin to starve to death in about a couple of days…
"Koel… what's the matter?" I can't let Mina worry too much, she is already ill, and taking care of us isn't helping one bit either…
"It's nothing, I was just thinking"
"About what Nina told us… isn't it?" She is still a bit upset about it… It took me by surprise too, a tale a bit too hard to swallow all at once…
"It's been bothering me, it's true… but I'm completely opposed to it… Nina is our friend… I don't like her to call herself a slave…"
"You really mean it, huh? You were always kind-hearted, Koel… But I though for a moment, after Nina called you her "master"… for a moment I really though you were some sort of…"
"…"
"Please forgive me… I was such a fool to think you… I" She really means it… Mina…
"Are you guys talking about me?" Nina suddenly pops out from nowhere, scaring Mina and me to death… Huh? What's that on Nina's back?
"Hah, did I scare you guys?" Nina says with a playful smile, as I get up, I can't help but to wonder what is Nina carrying…
"Nina, what's that on your back…?"
"Oh, right, Lethe found this kid lying on the ground not too far from here, he seemed fine to me, but Mina would know better, isn't it?"
"Um… Well, thank you Nina…" I can only help to smile at the sight of Mina blushing, however only lasting very few for me to chuckle under my breath. "Alright, let's see him" Mina finishes quickly as I help her to stand up, Nina nodded and took the body of a young kid, I'd say about 10 years old…
"Why would…"-"He be in this place?" Suddenly Mina interrupts that serious look on her face can only mean something bad. "We won't find out Koel, we better take him to that town you mentioned earlier" She finishes, looking back at the unconscious kid
"How is that? Is he sick?"
"He's been poisoned…" P-poisoned? Who would poison a kid?
"Koel…" Mina suddenly calls out quietly, like talking to herself
"What's the matter?"
"Nothing…" Is she ok? Come to think of it, she looks a bit pale…
"Mina, you look tired, you alright?" So Nina noticed too…
"It's nothing; I just couldn't sleep very well… Someone, was kicking on my head every once in a while…" Heh, she says, staring at Lethe who is… patting the kid with a stick…
"He is alive, isn't it?" That's…
"He won't be, unless we take him to a hospital by the end of the day" Mina says coldly as she gives me the kid, I just hope we're not to far, father wasn't too accurate drawing maps…
"Seems they found him"
"But sir, why couldn't we just go there and get 'em"
"You just lack the capability to understand what's going to happen next"
"They'll take that runt to a hospital, so what?"
"We still possess his sister, which is all you need to know"
"Sir…"
"Those kids will come here and the preparations will be complete… This country will burn down with the impending war…"
Nothing seemed to happen while we travelled toward Doudem village, but, lots of thoughts loom in my head, and now, this kid… Why do I have a bad feeling about all of this…? Things will change for the worst, I'm sure…
"What's the matter?" Lethe asks quietly, looking at me with her big, cheerful eyes… I can't look at her and not feel guilty, I feel so anxious…
"Kolly?" Please Lethe… don't look at me now…
"Nina, what's up?" The sudden shout startles me a bit as I see Nina coming back, that smile can only mean something good, god I do hope we are near the town…
A good night of sleep will make up for this trying trip… All that has happened, somehow I think this is some kind of trial… but if it was like that, Mina and the girls would have stayed out of all of this… I try to take a nap… wishing for this sour test of the goodness to stop once and for all…
End of "Tale of sealed spirits"